this year i devote myself to Tolerance- to live this life with all the strength, compassion and acceptance i can muster. to realize that this life is a gift.

no thought, no mind, no sound, no syllables, no perception... no self

The Family

"...thoughts and emotions are the radiance and expression of the very nature of the mind. They rise from the mind, but where do they dissolve? Back into the mind. Whatever rises, do not see it as a particular problem. If you do not impulsively react, if you are only patient, it will once again settle into its essential nature.
When you have this understanding, then rising thoughts only enhance your practice. But when you do not understand what they intrinsically are - the radiance of the nature of your mind - then your thoughts become the seed of confusion. So have a spacious, open, and compassionate attitude toward your thoughts and emotions, because in fact your thoughts are your family, the family of your mind. "
Sogyal Rinpoche

Each of the seven days of Kwanzaa is dedicated to one of the following principles, which are explained by Karenga as follows:

Umoja (Unity) To strive for and maintain unity in the family, community, nation and race.

Kujichagulia (Self-Determination) To define ourselves, name ourselves, create for ourselves and speak for ourselves.

Ujima (Collective Work and Responsibility) To build and maintain our community together and make our brothers' and sisters' problems our problems and to solve them together.

Ujamaa (Cooperative Economics) To build and maintain our own stores, shops and other businesses and to profit from them together.

Nia (Purpose) To make our collective vocation the building and developing of our community in order to restore our people to their traditional greatness.

Kuumba (Creativity) To do always as much as we can, in the way we can, in order to leave our community more beautiful and beneficial than we inherited it.

Imani (Faith) To believe with all our heart in our people, our parents, our teachers, our leaders and the righteousness and victory of our struggle.

(from WIKIPEDIA)

Old Man with Torah 1999; Hyman Bloom

Hanukkah o Hanukkah, come light the Menorah.. lets have a party, we'll all dance the hora??.. while fried foods, candle lighting, and dreidels are all genuine markers of the holy celebration of Hanukkah, i want to re-mind us all that this Festival of Lights is also about rededication. and rededication is good. when one candle burned for eight long days on such a small reserve of olive oil, was it not like our own inner fire; the eternal lamp that kept our temple illumined; the flames of dedication? i devote this day of Hanukkah to all beings who devote themselves to their Higher Selves, no matter how the temple crumbles.

The Journey

One day you finally knew

what you had to do, and began,

though the voices around you

kept shouting

their bad advice--

though the whole house

began to tremble

and you felt the old tug

at your ankles.

"Mend my life!"

each voice cried.

But you didn't stop.

You knew what you had to do,

though the wind pried

with its stiff finger

sat the very foundations,

though their melancholy

was terrible.

It was already late

enough, and a wild night,

and the road full of fallen

branches and stones.

But little by little,

as you left their voices behind,

the stars began to burn

through the sheets of clouds,

and there was a new voice

which you slowly

recognized as your own,

that kept you company

as you strode deeper and deeper

into the world,

determined to do

the only thing you could do--

determined to save

the only life you could save.

-Mary Oliver

thanks for your support!

www.phloxpdx.com/blog/

again and again i try to bring the attention back to the present moment, the here and now. fingers crawl curiously along the keyboard, waves of chamomile and mint perfume the chilled air beneath my nose, posture in check. every detail is slowing down. not judging, just being. someone should say: practice mindfulness as if your life depends on it, beacause it does. once the practitioner enters into an active state of awareness they can then become one with the experience. and then there is focus. and then there is some serious ass whoopin' martial artists and musical masterpieces up the yin and the yang.
a mere chick in a nest of experience, i am endlessly reborn into the world. and learning to flex my mindful muscle is very new. so new, that i have just discovered the art of moving meditation: painting!! how on Earth did i not recognize to remember that painting is the process of self-actualization in the moment! oh dear, have i got a lot to learn... meanwhile, it all changes again and again.. a mere reflection of the conscious movements from one moment to the next..

I have taken to heart Francis Bacon's dictum that
"truth emerges more readily from error than from confusion".
- Donald B. Calne

The breeze at dawn has secrets to tell you.
Don't go back to sleep.
You must ask for what you really want.
Don't do back to sleep.
People are going back and forth across the doorsill
where the two worlds touch.
The door is round and open.
Don't go back to sleep.

-Rumi

Anger

Give up anger; renounce pride;
transcend all worldly attachments.
No sufferings touch the person
who is not attached to name and form,
who calls nothing one's own.
Whoever restrains rising anger like a chariot gone astray,
that one I call a real driver;
others merely hold the reins.

Overcome anger by love; overcome wrong by good;
overcome the miserly by generosity, and the liar by truth.
Speak the truth; do not yield to anger;
give even if asked for a little.
These three steps lead you to the gods.

The wise who hurt no one, who always control their body,
go to the unchangeable place,
where, once they have gone, they suffer no more.
Those who are always aware, who study day and night,
who aspire for nirvana, their passions will come to an end.

This is an old saying, Atula, not just from today:
"They blame the person who is silent;
they blame the person who talks much;
they also blame the person who talks in moderation;
there is no one on earth who is not blamed."
There never was, nor ever will be, nor is there now
anyone who is always blamed or anyone who is always praised.

But the one whom those who discriminate praise
continually day after day as without fault,
wise, rich in knowledge and virtue,
who would dare to blame that person,
who is like a gold coin from the Jambu river?
That one is praised even by the gods, even by Brahma.

Be aware of bodily anger and control your body.
Let go of the body's wrongs
and practice virtue with your body.

Be aware of the tongue's anger and control your tongue.
Let go of the tongue's wrongs
and practice virtue with your tongue.

Be aware of the mind's anger and control your mind.
Let go of the mind's wrongs
and practice virtue with your mind.

The wise who control their body,

who control their tongue,

the wise who control their mind are truly well controlled.

- Buddha