“A practice (as a noun) can be anything you practice on a regular basis as an integral part of your life—not in order to gain something else, but for its own sake… For a master, the rewards gained along the way are fine, but they are not the main reason for the journey. Ultimately, the master and the master’s path are one. And if the traveler is fortunate—that is, if the path is complex and profound enough—the destination is two miles farther away for every mile he or she travels.”  ~George Leonard from Mastery~

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like the clouds in the sky, moment after moment of beauty, of practice, of showing up, of  listening through the heart as she breathes all relatives alive, awake, aware…

today’s  journey of many thousands of miles brings us to the sea of peace, source of healing mother waters… thousandfold thanks for giving us life and blessing our earth walks… standing before you, we re-member we are water, we are the ocean in a drop… may our one heart be purified more than ever before for the benefit of all as we drink you into our being…

 i feel a deep song arising, a soul song of the many waves of the ocean, a song of peace passing all understanding and uniting us all in one frequency of harmony…

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Nothing could have prepared
Your heart to open like this.

From beyond the skies and the stars
This echo arrived inside you
And started to pulse with life,
Each beat a tiny act of growth,
Traversing all our ancient shapes
On its way home to itself.

Once it began, you were no longer your own.
A new, more courageous you, offering itself
In a new way to a presence you can sense
But you have not seen or known.

It has made you feel alone
In a way you never knew before;
Everyone else sees only from the outside
What you feel and feed
With every fiber of your being.

Never have you traveled farther inward
Where words and thoughts become half-light
Unable to reach the fund of brightness
Strengthening inside the night of your womb.

Like some primeval moon,
Your soul brightens
The tides of essence
That flow to your child.

You know your life has changed forever,
For in all the days and years to come,
Distance will never be able to cut you off
From the one you now carry
For nine months under your heart.

May you be blessed with quiet confidence
That destiny will guide you and mind you.

May the emerging spirit of your child
Imbibe encouragement and joy
From the continuous music of your heart,
So that it can grow with ease,
Expectant of wonder and welcome
When its form is fully filled

And it makes its journey out
To see you and settle at last
Relived, and glad in your arms.

~ John O’Donohue ~