Be nice or leave:)

We bottled our Christmas brew tonight. This is a picture of our friend Chris McKim.

He and his wife, Pam, own the Brew kettle in Strongsville where we have been going since 1996. He is such a nice guy...not to mention a fellow lefty and Gemini.

Have a great day and hope you like the word below!!!

Peace,

Michele

People who nurture revenge are liable to increased heart rate and blood pressure. A study at Harvard School of Public Health found that men who scored highest on an anger scale were three times more likely to develop heart disease over a seven year period than low scorers. These negative outcomes from held anger have been repeated a number of times. It is plausible that those who forgave were less depressed and anxious, slept better, and were free from obsessive thoughts and also from revenge fantasies.

Ken Keyes (in Love, Not Fear) noted that we create the world in which we live:

• "The world tends to be your mirror. A peaceful person lives in a peaceful world. An angry person creates an angry world. An unfriendly person should not be surprised when he/she meets only people who sooner or late respond in an unfriendly way."

Musings of an ancient wounded healer after a lifetime of listening

This is a picture of Mark and I on Wednesday at the Brew Kettle. We brew our own beer every year for Christmas gifts. This is our 13th year of doing it.

Hope you enjoy the poem below!!! I have posted this on here before....It is one of my very favorites and resonates with me so much!!!!
Namaste,
Michele

Musings of an ancient wounded healer after a lifetime of listening

Were I Godde I would dive
into the darkest shadows
of being human,
into profound pain,
outrageous loss,
unbearable suffering,
embracing all the tears and the joy I could find,
and I would swim towards Light taking with me
as much of the brokenness everywhere and of all time
as I could gather.
Were I Godde I would live in despair and in hope.
I would be  the inspiration of a poem,
the rainbow, the dew on the grass,
the color of fall, the gentle breeze,
the kind word, the tender touch,
the laughter of children.
I would abide in every flower,
every seed, every cry and sigh,
I would be the possibility of  each new moment.
I would be weakness finding strength,
never lording it over others,
but in every humble service,
pitching my tent among the poor,
preferring the outsiders.
I would nestle in vulnerability:
risking and giving Self.
Were I Godde I would hide
so subtly within all creation
that I could never be caught.
I would be so unutterable
as to resist being talked about,
and hate the name "God"
remembering the oppression
done in my name.
I would exist beyond any word
any symbol, any possible expression,
but I would dwell in every human groan.
I would avoid expected places:
some pulpits, rituals, churches.
I would never be snared
by theology, religion or even prayer.
No sacred book, system or creed could capture
or contain Me-- my incomprehensible awful immensities.
I would exist solely to be given away,
with heart not mind,
never to be comprehended or
held by safe orthodoxy:
far more verb than noun.
I would be yearning for freedom,
passion for justice, thirsting for peace,
searching for truth, craving for affirmation,
ardor for sharing, the making of love,
and the ecstasy of surrender.
I would be in every form of hurting
and its transcendence.
I would be gleamed in lowly favors, generosity,
courage, simplicity, compassion
but especially in forgiveness.
I would be aborning ever new
in the bruised and lonely heart.
I would be found more in doubt than in certainty
more in questioning than in righteousness.
I would need to be intimately concealed
because the human ego is so ready to use Me
to elevate itself by judging others.
I would despise the use of presumed truths about
Me to divide the human race, for every sectarian purpose.

Were I Godde I would enjoy leaving clues, riddles
and traces everywhere, being tracked only
by valiant searchers.
I would glory in the incompleteness  of my creatures
and all of my creation, knowing that the human spirit
I sustain could triumph over any human mess
and bring love and equity even as I do,
out of chaos.
I would luv (sic) transforming futility.

I would let myself be glimpsed in sunrises and sunsets
in the wonders of nature planet earth
--ship and voyager--
cosmic immensities
galaxies and darkness,
in human loving,
yearning and striving,
in quiet stillness and
becoming little
in EVERY human story.

Christmas, 1991,1997.1998 Paschal Bernard Baute