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A Joyful Noise

radiance sutras

Offerings

March 24, 2010 by Melodye Shore

I’ve been unsettled by a recent Nancy Drew discovery. Over Tuesday lunch, my writing buddies offered compassion and sage advice, which brightened my mood considerably. I wrote all afternoon, buoyed by their support and inspired by their wisdom. 

But when night fell, the darkness decended again. 

I gathered up my art supplies, in hopes that creative journaling would help calm my inner chaos. Pens, gesso, watercolors…I scattered them on the table. I flipped through an old issue of L.A. Yoga Journal, searching for soothing words and images. In doing so, I discovered a poem I’d previously overlooked.

You are stunned, powerless.
You thought you knew
What was going on.
Now you realize
You don’t have a clue.
You are stopped in your tracks.
Everything within your skin is shaking.

Enter this shaking.
Right here, in the midst of commotion –
Get curious, look around inside with wonder.
Unmind your mind.
All the walls have fallen down.
Go ahead and dissolve.

The One Who Has Always Been,
Who has seen much worse than this,
Is still here.
             ~Sutra 89 of The Radiance Sutras

The poem cradled my spirit, helped ease me into a peaceful sleep.

Fresh coffee in hand, I greeted the new day in my garden. Fog swirled around the rosebushes, swaddling the citrus trees like a gauzy blanket. "Soften your gaze," it seemed to say, "find your peace within." 

As the sun kissed the morning, my backyard was filled with the fresh scent of citrus blossoms.

And when the fog cleared, a tiny rose blossom appeared. The first of the season–the harbinger of many–she lifted her sweet Angel Face to the endless blue sky.

As promised, Joy cometh in the morning.

Posted in: Uncategorized Tagged: creative journaling, joy, nancy drew, radiance sutras

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