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Gratefulness
Enjoy this practice as a stand-alone experience or as the third of an eight-day series celebrating National Poetry Month and inspired by Br. David's appreciation of and experience with haiku.
Haiku is all about the fleeting preciousness of experience, nature, and our seamless connection to everything. ~ Tom Clausen
Welcome.
Today we will explore how approaching life with a haiku “mindset” is essentially a gratefulness practice that can reveal a profound sense of belonging. Through inviting all of our senses to be awake to the revelatory possibility in each moment we are in touch with the “fleeting preciousness of experience” and of nature. Br. David Steindl-Rast has said “Most of the time we go around as if everybody else was in and we were out and why am I the orphan in the universe? But once in a while something breaks through, this universal love, that universal ‘yes’ to belonging touches us and all of a sudden we come alive.” Opening to “that universal ‘yes’ to belonging” can be a gift of haiku.
Haiku and calligraphy by Br. David Steindl-Rast
As we turn our attention to writing haiku, Tom Clausen encourages us to:
Start with major signifiers in our universe, the stars, our sun, our moon, the planets, our water, oceans, rivers, lakes, ponds, streams, puddles, rain drops, dew drops, our weather, our seasons, our mother earth, mountains, hills, trees, shrubs, plants, flowers, and little by little the seamless connection and relation of yourself will become ever more aware, linked, and suffused in everything around you.
Such engagement with our world will make it clear “that we are all part of an intricate miraculous web of belonging.”
Today we invite you to connect with “major signifiers of our universe.” Gaze into a pond or up at the stars. Watch some ants or lean against a tree, feeling its strength, texture, and resilience. Contemplate the planets, seasons, or the wonder and miracle of the breath that animates your being. Allow yourself a few minutes to feel what arises — noticing if and how you feel connected to the universe of which you are a part.
Experiment with writing a haiku (or more than one!) that expresses your experience. Feel free to share your reflections or poem(s) in the reflection area below.
Enjoy the full eight-day Exploring Haiku practice.
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black dots on blue sky loosely forming a v floating onward
One more for this blustery day
Trees sound the overture Wind waits in the wings Time for her grand entrance
Knj 4/13/19
Comfortable gray Cool day, my hands in the soil Prune, weed, plan, wonder
Love this one,. Kept this one for my garden diary Karen. So many times I have experienced that moment
At dusk, after a Hot Spring day, even the trees look exhausted
This has a nice feeling to it. Well done.
Bath rim centipede hides a few legs show …
Not that a centipede is one of the “major signifiers of our universe.” What is major is a change of heart in me. I thought centipedes bit, and so a centipede in the bath in the morning normally got swirled down the drain. But then I read that it is hard for a centipede to puncture your skin, and if it did, it would not be a danger to your health. And centipedes love to dine on ants, spiders, cockroaches and bedbugs, which is not a bad thing. So, this morning, I scooped a centipede out of my bath onto the edge of the bath with a facial tissue. He tried to hide next to some Bic disposable razors, but some of his legs still showed. He was not as big as some of the past centipedes were. Made it also easier to accept him and let him live.
Thank you for your kindness towards the centipede Anneclaire!
The Spring sky opens, Once again- Snow falls!
Herd of wild hogs run Multitudes of babies follow Black and glistening.
it’s raining my bald head getting wet standing still listening
birds chirping loudly I wonder… will you share your happiness?
Tulips will not last too long, deer and bunnies come. All come for another chance.
Early morning pond breathes steam to greet the sun’s warm birthing light
Sun becomes halo embracing cold dark landscape letting shadows play
Fog’s breadth softens scenes with see through veils that invite eyes to surrender
Trees bark silently, hidden roots hold offering bouquets to the sky
Tender cutting grows survives blast of icy frost A lesson in hope
At the end of a beautiful spring day – soft light dying
The moon comforts me Whatever form it is in It reassures with Unchanging peace for it is Always there consistently
Nature includes me I am part of everything We live together
Spring season tweets hope Birdsong symphony of joy Life begins anew
The door swings open W I D E welcoming the smells of warm, damp wood chips and Earth.
Fresh start with each day the choir of birds Sing Out Morning BRAVADO
Goldfinches outside Yellow feathers glowing bright Spring snow on the ground
Where do I come from? I wonder, next where I’ll go Relax, follow the flow
wind waltzes with the willow – expertly
From current desert sojourn come these two haiku.
Desert dawn rolling starry blackness into blinding brillance.
Ancient gnarled truck Budding branch tips reach to God Tiny bird celebrates
# Waka Autumn visual feast Koyo, oyo, katsuyo Red, golden and brown Glorious and resplendent Forest version of sunset
Sing tweeting up-JOY High upon the canopy Ruffled feathers…wet!
This speaks to a canopy of rain flowing over us from Alaska, Vancouver Island, Sequim, Washington… yet the birds coucouphaiy is bright with noise
Write an entry in your private gratefulness journal
A seven-day practice to find nourishment, insight, and a sense of calm in the little…
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“Gratitude is strongest, clearest, most robust, and radical when things are really hard.” ~Diana Butler…
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