BODYPSALMS

Into the Deep                                 Dobee Snowber

Each day is a hol(y)day
a place for presence
no day is more special than another
how you come to the day can be sacred

Remember the simple things –
expanse of one breath
limb of one branch
love in your heart

Life asks us to
welcome the unexpected
have compassion on the expected
chase curiosity

Know you will not get everything done
written, wrapped or made
celebrate incompletion

Come back to quiet
may your body be a zen garden
nap daily, practice slowness
greet the ordinary with fresh eyes
here are the echoes of the divine

Drink from your own deep well
and spill when necessary.

Artwork: Shift in Direction by Dobee Snowber

May the plans you cancel
return you to another life
the one waiting as a patient lover
wondering when you will arrive
to the shore of your inner ocean.

In the midst of restrictions –
self-isolation and social distancing
take some ingredients for the journey
probiotics for the soul
the curiosity for small things
quince and daffodil blooming
sipping tea slowly
the free range of kindness
daily practices of breathing deep
reading poems and calling a friend

Drink in kindness and compassion
as you live in a time of not-knowing
become intimate with shadow
live creatively in dangerous times
alive to what comes
a meditation on wonder
calling you to soften
to the unknown.

“Firefall” by Dobee Snowber

And in all this ~
shadows and light still dapple
in the sky, the river
keeps going, effortlessly
faithful to its source
and destination

so how can you and I
keep on our path
stay true to our original question
the call to be deeply alive
responsive to what is given
on this exquisite planet
in such difficult times
fraught with destruction and disaster

so choose YES
to what we deeply know
embedded in our cells
there is a soft sky within us
glimmering with colour
may it rise to the surface
and echo com/passion
with passion, being with all
held in the sentences of our skin.

“Something about Fish and Bicycles”  Dobee Snowber

There is the pace of external circumstances
and then the pace of your internal life
running through you
at a different speed
calling you to attention
to linger in a time
where you catch the twilight
pouring into your window
and ride the heartbeat
of your own path

What would it mean to stop
the madness of rushing
or answering every email
in record time or finding the answer
to all the questions

What ever happened
to remaining in the questions
going for a bicycle ride
without a destination
swimming for the sake of swimming
questioning for the sake of questioning
and loving the process
of just breathing and living
without the answers?

Honor the tiny shifts
in a life where magic unfolds
incrementally and slowly
take kindness to your heart
and choose to relish in
L I N G E R I N G
in the questions.

The earth is shaking within its core
and our cores in turn are shaken
now is the season to wake up
from the inside out
proclaim the interconnection
to all living beings –
neighbors near and far
sun, stars, sea, plants and plankton
and most of all
the fertile earth
which both gives and takes away

May we return to humility
where humus, humans and humor are born
and taste the mystery and beauty
beneath our feet and bellies

May our limbs stretch to the sky
our soles/souls kiss the ground
and may hope soak
our minds and bodies
through changes of weather
both of the heart and land

May we bear grace in our bones
and be rebodied to the truth –
our flesh is the earth
and the earth is our flesh

May compassion arise from our well
as we return to the fire of love
which has the capacity
to hold more than we know.

Photo of Rebecca Lux Parks and Celeste Snowber by Gary Bandzmer.

Out Any Window                            Dobee Snowber

The New Year is not outside you
inside is a thousand new years
built of syllables and sentences
of a new way of seeing

It is not the weight on your body you need to lose
but the thoughts which carry far more gravity
than any pounds or kilos of extra flesh
you are being called
to a flesh of heart – a heart of flesh
where body, mind & soul
usher you to a season of compassion

for everything and everyone
you could imagine or not imagine
your own unmet expectations and judgements
unfinished projects and dashed hopes
your untidy home or heart

Now is the time to eat and drink
the small beauties within and beyond you
become wide awake to the life you are in
so take off your socks or put on your socks
and step into this New Year
with the only life you have.

Live the glorious imperfect.

Go back to your priorities.
Don’t focus on the resources you don’t have.
Focus on the creative unfolding.
Nourish this every day.
Tend it as a newly born child.
Sometimes you have to go back again and give your self
the milk of what lies within you – the heart of wider love.
Accessing this love is a continual exercise in daily compassion
And most of all – be gentle with all your decisions.
You have done the best you can with the limits you have had.
Now is the time to have grace towards all your limits.
This is the time to trust in the One
larger than yourself and more importantly –
than in your own circumstances that seem insurmountable.
They are just details, not larger than
what can be accomplished by you compared to the ant.
When you keep focusing on the problem you get the problem magnified.
It is time to focus on the wonder.
Wonder begets wonder.
You are rich in experience, friendships, and surrounded by love
not to mention the muted light caressing the ground beneath you
You might not have planted maples, oaks or cedars
but they are rising from the earth wherever you peek.
You don’t always have to plant the seed to savor its beauty.
You have planted other seeds –
nourishing others with the seeds of imagination.
Sprout outrageously
has been your method of teaching and it is contagious.
These wonders do not reveal themselves in monetary value
releasing you from financial worries.
You have planted joy and there is not a price on joy.
It reproduces as a wild orchid growing on the side of the road.
There are such flowers of wild untamed beauty
Remember this:
It is in the noticing where the extraordinary life lies.

Celeste Snowber
March 27, 2009