A Right Estimation

Let no child be told

she is average

(or above average

or special needs

or genius)

Let no child be weighed

among other children,

measured against them,

given a score

Let us teach ourselves

that finding out about another —

the nuances of thought, the joy,

the brilliance —

is a work of art for every individual —

it can’t be done in batches

and it can’t be done

without abundant love

This is life we’re dealing with, after all —

surging and primal, not to be trifled with,

not to be dismissed.

This is life,

larger than anything else we’ll ever know.

©Wendy Mulhern

March 12, 2017

Sentience

I emerge from sleep

into the bright light river

of sentience — I feel its keen flow,

delighted in presence,

poised and pleased

to cleave to its Life Source

along the rapid roaring course

of celebration and discovery

This being

is the only one that matters,

the only one that powers

the aliveness that my soul

longs for every day.

I endeavor to stay here,

bring this awareness

into my every move,

into my every breath.

©Wendy Mulhern

March 10, 2017

Lesson

I

t’s a good time

for me to be quiet.

It’s right to notice how bombastic

some of my voices can be —

they like to turn everything

into a lesson, so they can

be the teacher,

so they can feel that exalted

sliver of space between themselves

and those they would instruct.

Humility is required,

and that may mean

keeping my mouth shut

for what may seem

a very, very long time.

©Wendy Mulhern

March 9, 2017

Redirect

Within myself

I note the quiet purr and hum

of feelings, how they create thoughts

to prop them up, stories to sustain

their longer lives

I notice I can choose what I will feel

by careful observation of the stories

It is enough, it seems, to notice.

Then the feelings look up, startled

and forget what they were on about.

I can take them by their manes

and lead them home to calmness.

We can laugh together, a little,

I can redirect them —

Not every dip deserves descending into,

not every story testifies to truth.

©Wendy Mulhern

March 7, 2017

Healing

Yes, you will be healed.

Understand, though,

that healing will be deeper

than fixing what you diagnosed as problem,

it will be more

than setting up your life to jump through

all the perfect hoops you planned for it

There will be a great shifting,

a great melting within,

things will be smoothed

that you didn’t know were ruffled,

things will be roused and routed

that you didn’t know were there,

and in the end you’ll feel the resonance

through bone and sinew,

the sweet sustain that comes from being One.

©Wendy Mulhern

March 6, 2017

Following

True leadership

shows me how to follow

the liquid love that flows

under the surface,

the light that glows through

cracks in our illusions,

the course of which transfigures

everything we thought we were,

everything we thought we knew

We may have said

our life is crucible

for this appearing

but perhaps more accurately

this appearing is our life —

this pure substance

not only powers everything,

but is the everything,

all we ever hoped for,

what we’ll always be.

©Wendy Mulhern

March 5, 2017

The World Today

Can’t get too excited

about the choice between

the fox and the raccoon

to guard the henhouse

And though we well may be distraught

before the litany of fallen freedoms,

truth be told,

we’ve been chained

for as long as we remember

The shackles of any lie

will hold us prisoner.

Most effective are the ones

we never see

The amazing thing

is what unclasps them all —

miraculous, it seems,

when we consider 

number and duration

But it’s not a secret,

it’s what we all have heard,

for surely it’s the truth

that makes us free.

©Wendy Mulhern

March 4, 2017