We come together with purpose

Whether or not we know what that purpose is

Someone, or something, brought us here—for which we are grateful

Perhaps we come seeking solace

or we are weary of solitude

Perhaps we come seeking justice

and we are weary of pain

Perhaps we come seeking joy

or because we want to share our joy with others

Whatever brought us here, let us be fully here, fully ourselves, and fully alive.

Let us open our hearts, our minds, and our hands to what may come.

 

January 2018

 

(c) 2018 Betsy Rosenblatt Rosso |
please only repost or reprint in entirety and with credit given

We face the world joyfully and we face the world fearfully.

We are as visitors for the first time—curious, apprehensive, hopeful.

We are as ancient fixtures, walking a familiar path but still wondering if we belong.

We long to be heard. We yearn to be known.

Or maybe we are just looking for peace and stillness.

May we be open to each other. May we share our true selves.

When we see or hear what we don’t recognize, may we turn to wonder instead of accusation.

May we reach out instead of shrinking away.

May our spirits be generous with welcome, with hospitality, with a willingness to understand—instead of fear—that which is different from us.

 

September 2017

 

(c) 2018 Betsy Rosenblatt Rosso |
please only repost or reprint in entirety and with credit given

Notice your breath. Breathe in peace. Breathe out love. Breathe in comfort. Breathe out compassion. Breathe in strength. Breathe out generosity. Whatever you need right now, feel it filling your body every time you inhale. Whatever you wish to share with the world, feel it gliding into the atmosphere on your breath.

We have been scattered near and far during the past week. Some of us are refreshed and rejuvenated by time off from work and reunions with beloved family and friends. Some of us are weary from tense and difficult moments and feelings of obligation rather than joy. Some of us labored, some of us were served. Some of us were surrounded by love, some of us were lonely.

Whoever we are, we can find refuge here, and now.

As we begin again today, we ask for another chance. An opportunity to be kind to ourselves. To truly love ourselves so we can better love others. We seek relief and ease because some of us are Just. So. Tired. We seek clarity when facing an uncertain diagnosis, or no diagnosis at all, in the midst of debilitating symptoms. We seek reassurance as we endeavor to do right by our children when parenting can be so stressful. When we are young and when we are old, we seek acknowledgment. We want to know that we matter. At every age, we wish to be heard and understood. We seek grace along the path that is littered with our mistakes. We seek courage to be bold and step onto a new, unfamiliar path. We wish for the strength to unclench our fists and let the anxieties, the fears, the old hurts be carried away on the winds, leaving our hands and our hearts free. We long for the freedom to laugh and to cry with abandon. We seek release.

Whatever we seek, may we glimpse it today, and claim it for our own.

 

November 2017

(c) 2018 Betsy Rosenblatt Rosso |
please only repost or reprint in entirety and with credit given

Fall down seven times

Stand up eight

Instructs the Japanese proverb

Our falls can be the briefest of stumbles

Where no one else but us even notices

Or they can be loud and messy collapses

That leave us bruised and embarrassed

But we stand up

Even when it is painful and awkward

We stand up again and again

we take a breath

we walk on.

 

July 2017

 

(c) 2018 Betsy Rosenblatt Rosso |
please only repost or reprint in entirety and with credit given

Some sacrifice peace of mind

A sense of ease inhabiting our own bodies

Long after returning from war

One Marine told me this:

“For a long time my wife would wake up

in the middle of the night

to find me under the bed

looking for my rifle,

speaking Arabic in my sleep.”

 

Some sacrifice food so their children can eat

Some sacrifice comfort so another can rest

Some sacrifice what they want so someone else can have what they need

 

We are asked to have the courage to sacrifice

The strength to give up something we have

for the good of others

This flame reminds of the sacrifices that others have made for us

We keep it lit in memory

And in gratitude

 

May 2017

 

(c) 2018 Betsy Rosenblatt Rosso |
please only repost or reprint in entirety and with credit given