Words of the Wise
									Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure It is our light, not our darkness, that most  frightens us We ask ourselves, who am I to be brilliant, Gorgeous, talented and fabulous Actually, who are we not to be You are a child of Grace Your playing small doesn't serve the world There is nothing enlightened about shrinking So that other people won't feel insecure around you We were born to make manifest the glory of Grace that is within us It is not just in some of us: It's in everyone And as we let our own light shine We unconsciously give other people Permission to do the same As we are liberated from our fears Our presence automatically liberates others Nelson Mandela, 1994
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								The Dash I Heard a shamaness who stood to speak at the funeral of a friend. she referred to the dates on his tombstone from the beginning...to the end. She noted that first came the date of his birth and spoke of the ending date with tears, but she said what mattered most of all was the dash between the years. For that dash represents all the time that he spent alive on earth, and now only those who loved him, know what that little line is worth. When your eulogy's being read with your life's actions to rehash, will you be proud of the things they say about how you spent your dash? So think about this long and hard, are there things you'd like to change? For you never know how much time is left (You could be at "dash mid-range.") If we could just slow down enough to consider what's true and real, and always try to understand the way other people feel. And be less quick to anger, and show appreciation more and love the people in our lives like we've never loved before. If we treat each other with respect, and more often wear a smile remembering that this special dash might only last a little while. For it matters not, how much we own; the cars, the house, the cash. What matters is how we live and love and how we spend our dash.

Mis estimados:

Do not lose heart. We were made for these times.
I have heard from so many recently who are deeply and properly bewildered.
They are concerned about the state of affairs in our world right now...
Ours is a time of almost daily astonishment and often righteous rage
over the latest degradations of what matters most to civilized, visionary people.

You are right in your assessments. The luster and hubris some have
aspired to while endorsing acts so heinous against children, elders,
everyday people, the poor, the unguarded, the helpless, is breathtaking.
Yet, I urge you, ask you, gentle you, to please not spend your spirit dry by bewailing
these difficult times. Especially do not lose hope. Most particularly
because, the fact is we were made for these times.
Yes. For years, we have been learning, practicing,
been in training for and just waiting to meet on this exact plain of engagement...

I grew up on the Great Lakes and recognize a seaworthy vessel when I see
one. Regarding awakened souls, there have never been more able crafts in the
waters than there are right now across the world. And they are fully
provisioned and able to signal one another as never before in the history of
humankind... Look out over the prow; there are millions of boats of
righteous souls on the waters with you. Even though your veneers may shiver
from every wave in this stormy roil, I assure you that the long timbers
composing your prow and rudder come from a greater forest. That long-grained
lumber is known to withstand storms, to hold together, to hold its own, and
to advance,
regardless.

We have been in training for a dark time such as this,
since the day we assented to come to Earth.
For many decades, worldwide, souls just like us have been felled and left for dead
in so many ways over and over brought down by naivete, by lack of love,
by being ambushed and assaulted by various cultural and personal shocks
in the extreme. We have a history of being gutted,
and yet remember this especially beloved ones, we have also, of necessity,
perfected the knack of resurrection. Over and over again we have been
the living proof that that which has been exiled, lost, or foundered
can be restored to life again.

In any dark time, there is a tendency to veer toward fainting
over how much is wrong or unmended in the world. Do not focus on that.
There is a tendency too to fall into being weakened by perseverating
on what is outside your reach, by what cannot yet be. Do not focus there.
That is spending the wind without raising the sails. We are needed,
that is all we can know. And though we meet resistance,
we more so will meet great souls who will hail us, love us and guide us,
and we will know them when they appear.
Didn't you say you were a believer? Didn't you say you pledged to listen to a voice
greater? Didn't you ask for grace? Don't you remember that to be in grace
means to submit to the voice greater?...

Understand the paradox: If you study the physics of a waterspout,
you will see that the outer vortex whirls far more quickly than the inner one.
To calm the storm means to quiet the outer layer, to cause it to swirl much less,
to more evenly match the velocity of the inner core, beloved ones.
till whatever has been lifted into such a vicious funnel falls back to Earth,
lays down, is peaceable again. One of the most important steps you can take
to help calm the storm is to not allow yourself to be taken in a flurry
of overwrought emotion or desperation thereby accidentally
contributing to the swale and the swirl.

Ours is not the task of fixing the entire world all at once,
but of stretching out to mend the part of the world that is within our reach.
Any small, calm thing that one soul can do to help another soul,
to assist some portion of this poor suffering world, will help immensely.
It is not given to us to know which acts or by whom, will cause the critical mass to tip
toward an enduring good. What is needed for dramatic change
is an accumulation of acts, adding, adding to, adding more, continuing.
We know that it does not take "everyone on Earth" to bring justice and peace,
but only a small, determined group who will not give up during the first,
second, or hundredth gale.

One of the most calming and powerful actions you can do to intervene
in a stormy world is to stand up and show your soul. Soul on deck shines
like gold in dark times. The light of the soul throws sparks, can send up flares,
builds signal fires, causes proper matters to catch fire. To display the lantern of soul
in shadowy times like these, beloved children of Grace, to be fierce and to show
mercy toward others, both, are acts of immense bravery and greatest necessity.
Struggling souls catch light from other souls who are fully lit
and willing to show it. If you would help to calm the tumult,
this is one of the strongest things you can do.

There will always be times when you feel discouraged.
I too have felt despair many times in my life, but I do not keep a chair for it;
I will not entertain it. It is not allowed to eat from my plate. The reason is this:
In my uttermost bones I know something, as do you. It is that there can be
no despair when you remember why you came to Earth, who you serve,
and who sent you here. The good words we say and the good deeds we do
are not ours: They are the words and deeds of the One who brought us here.
In that spirit, I hope you will write this on your wall:
When a great ship is in harbor and moored,
it is safe, there can be no doubt.
But that is not what great ships are built for.

This comes with much love and prayer that you remember who you came from,
and why you came to this beautiful, needful Earth,

Clarissa Pinkola Estes, Phd.