If you suddenly and unexpectedly feel joy, don't hesitate.
Give in to it.
There are plenty of lives and whole towns destroyed or about to be.
We are not wise, and not very often kind.
And much can never be redeemed.
Still, life has some possibility left.
Perhaps this is its way of fighting back,
that sometimes something happens better than all the riches or power in the world.
It could be anything,
but very likely you notice it in the instant when love begins.
Anyway, that's often the case.
Anyway, whatever it is, don't be afraid of its plenty.
Joy is not made to be a crumb.
~ Mary Oliver, "Don't Hesitate," in SWAN: POEMS AND PROSE POEMS
I believe that life is about finding the beauty inside oneself, and offering it to the world. I want to live a simple life of integrity and beauty; to live and work from the stillpoint, from the silence. I seek peace with myself, I want to be a person of thought rather than words. More than anything else, I am being asked to walk with slowness, thoughtfulness. Slowness invites an awareness of beauty.
~ from "Heron Dance," Issue 34, Rod McIver, artist