“Starting here, what do you want to remember?
How sunlight creeps along a shining floor?
What scent of old wood hovers, what softened
sound from outside fills the air?

Will you ever bring a better gift for the world
than the breathing respect that you carry
wherever you go right now? Are you waiting
for time to show you some better thoughts?

When you turn around, starting here, lift this
new glimpse that you found; carry into evening
all that you want from this day. This interval you spent
reading or hearing this, keep it for life.

What can anyone give you greater than now,
starting here, right in this room, when you turn around?”

- William Stafford

The Journey

Above the mountains
the geese turn into
the light again

painting their
black silhouettes
on an open sky.

Sometimes everything
has to be
enscribed across
the heavens

so you can find
the one line
already written
inside you.

Sometimes it takes
a great sky
to find that

small, bright
and indescribable
wedge of freedom
in your own heart.

Sometimes with
the bones of the black
sticks left when the fire
has gone out

someone has written
something new
in the ashes
of your life.

You are not leaving.
Even as the light
fades quickly.
You are arriving.

En Francais

Le Voyage

Au-dessus des montagnes
les oies s’orientent de nouveau vers
la lumière

peignant leur
silhouette noire
sur un ciel ouvert.

Parfois tout
doit être
inscrit à travers
les cieux

pour que tu trouves
la ligne unique
déjà écrite
en toi.

Parfois il faut
un ciel resplendissant
pour découvrir cette

minuscule, lumineuse
et indescriptible
enclave de liberté
dans ton propre coeur.

Parfois avec
les os des bois
noirs qui restent quand le feu
s’est éteint

quelqu’un a écrit
quelque chose de nouveau
dans les cendres
de ta vie.

Ne t’abandonne pas.
Même si la lumière diminue vite.
Accueille-toi.

— David Whyte
from The House of Belonging
©1996 Many Rivers Press

‘We cannot con the existing experience of life; we cannot con our experiences or change them by having some unrealistic belief that things are going to be okay, that in the end everything is going to be beautiful. If we take that approach, then things are not going to be okay. For the very reason that we expect things to be good and beautiful, they won’t be. In a genuine approach to spirituality, we are not looking for a kick, for inspiration, or bliss. Instead, we are digging into life’s irritations, diving into the irritations and making a home out of that. Then the irritations become a source of great joy, transcendental joy, because there is no pain involved at all”.

Buddhist meditation has two aspects — shamatha and vipashyana. We tend to stress the importance of vipashyana (“looking deeply”) because it can bring us insight and liberate us from suffering and afflictions. But the practice of shamatha (“stopping”) is fundamental. If we cannot stop, we cannot have insight.
There is a story in Zen circles about a man and a horse. The horse is galloping quickly, and it appears that the man on the horse is going somewhere important. Another man, standing alongside the road, shouts, “Where are you going?” and the first man replies, “I don’t know! Ask the horse!” This is also our story. We are riding a horse, we don’t know where we are going, and we can’t stop. The horse is our habit energy pulling us along, and we are powerless. We are always running, and it has become a habit. We struggle all the time, even during our sleep. We are at war within ourselves, and we can easily start a war with others.

We have to learn the art of stopping — stopping our thinking, our habit energies, our forgetfulness, the strong emotions that rule us. When an emotion rushes through us like a storm, we have no peace. We turn on the TV and then we turn it off. We pick up a book and then we put it down. How can we stop this state of agitation? How can we stop our fear, despair, anger, and craving? We can stop by practicing mindful breathing, mindful walking, mindful smiling, and deep looking in order to understand. When we are mindful, touching deeply the present moment, the fruits are always understanding, acceptance, love, and the desire to relieve suffering and bring joy.
But our habit energies are often stronger than our volition. We say and do things we don’t want to and afterwards we regret it. We make ourselves and others suffer, and we bring about a lot of damage. We may vow not to do it again, but we do it again. Why? Because our habit energies (vashana) push us.
We need the energy of mindfulness to recognize and be present with our habit energy in order to stop this course of destruction. With mindfulness, we have the capacity to recognize the habit energy every time it manifests. “Hello, my habit energy, I know you are there!” If we just smile to it, it will lose much of its strength. Mindfulness is the energy that allows us to recognize our habit energy and prevent it from dominating us.

My wishes for all: A new year of shared Joy and Love.

I started 2011 on a Peniche – a boat house – in Paris. It’s an old River cruise boat owned by l Armee du Salut and which was reconverted two years ago into a shelter for homeless people. We came – about 12 of us – after a 5 days sesshin, to cook and share a diner with the 50 plus inhabitants of this boat and the social workers who work there full time. a wild mix of wrecked lives, exiled souls, from over 20 nationalities, Africa, Eastern Europe, Asia… and from all parts of France. People whose lives once fell off the jagged edge, young and old, lonely, sick, mad, angry, sad, all kinds of men and women, some couples, who somehow, where willing to share that night with us, rather than retreat into their cabins, alone.
It was wonderful to be there, and leave all that separates and differentiates us behind, for a few hours, and to share that time, together, simply, joyfully.
Peace,
Claire

Thich Nhat Hanh recommends the practice of “selective watering of seeds”. Deep in our consciousness we have “seeds”, which are our capacity to create cognitive and emotional responses to internal and external stimuli. When we or someone else water the seed of greed, greed arises in our conscious mind and takes over our being. When something waters the seed of compassion, compassion arises. Our responsibility is to be aware of the seeds we are watering in ourselves and others and to choose those that bring peace and joy into the world. (A reading from Thich Nhat Hanh on Selective Watering is below.)

For me- As I was reflecting on the true meaning of receiving and giving over these holidays, I came to realize that giving more of my time to my loved ones would be the most meaningful present I could give them. I also realized that in being more present for them, I would give myself the opportunity to become more receptive of them and that if I can truly receive them as they are in the moment, the space for genuine connection could really be created; a space where giving, receiving and what is given becomes one. One as a family, one as all inclusive love and connection.
So the seeds I intend to water for the holidays, are the seeds of selfless giving, and the seeds of acceptance.

What about you? Which seeds will you water this season, and which ones do you want to select for 2009?

Now is the most powerful time of the year for setting your goals, ambitions and targets for the year ahead. I invite you to reflect on these things and I would love to hear what you have come up with. Remember that the sole act of sharing your intentions with someone has undeniable power. And now I will leave you for this month, with the words of Thich Nhat Hanh. May his message be as inspiring to you as it is to me, and may it help you create a wonderful holiday season with your loved ones.

Here is the passage from “Calming the Fearful Mind”: A Zen Response to Terrorism by Thich Nhat Hanh

“We can help each other water the wholesome seeds in our store consciousness. We can say to those close to us, “Dear one, let’s be careful not to water the unwholesome seeds in each other. Let’s water only the wholesome seeds in each other and then we can have nourishing food for our consciousness.” When we water seeds of forgiveness, acceptance, and happiness in the person we love, we are giving them very healthy food for their consciousness, as if we were cooking them a delicious healthy meal. But if we constantly water the seed of hatred, craving, and anger in our loved one, we are poisoning them. …
The Buddha said, “Nothing can survive without food.” This is a very simple and very deep truth. Love and hate are both living things. if you do not nourish your love, it will die. If you cut the source of nutriment for your violence, your violence will die. If you want your love to last, you have to give it food every day. Love cannot live without food. if you neglect your love, after a while it will die and hatred may take its place. Do you know how to nourish your love?
If we don’t give hatred food, it too will die. Hatred and suffering grow greater every day because every day we nourish them, giving them more food. With what kind of food have you nourished your despair and your hatred? If you are depressed, you may have no strength and no energy left. You may feel that you want to die. Why do you feel like that? Our depression doesn’t just come out of nowhere. If we can recognize the food that has nourished our depression, we can stop consuming it. Within a few weeks our depression will die of starvation. If you don’t know that you are watering your depression, you will continue to do it every day. The Buddha said that if we know how to look deeply into our suffering and recognize what feeds it, we are already on the path of emancipation.
The way out of our suffering is mindfulness of consumption, not only for ourselves but for the whole world. If we know how to water the seeds of wisdom and compassion in us, these seeds become powerful sources of energy helping us to forgive those have hurt us. This will bring relief to our nation and to our world. The American people are capable of realizing this kind of wisdom and compassion”.

Intuitively we, as women sense that we have a role to playin this collective change. Our world has become dysfunctional and we realize that ideologies and technologies cannot, on their own, bring about the level of sustainable change that we need in order to engender true transformative solutions to the global problems we are facing. What we need is a collective shift of consciousness and unless we get involved at a personal level, nothing will really change… Yet in order to assume our role in this shift we each must dothe inner work that it takes to accomplish our individual and collective mission. As Gandhi said it beautifully: “We must become the change that we want to see in the world.

Women are innately creative, generous, compassionate, and intuitive. We have so much to offer: intimacy, balance, sensuality, joy, and pleasure to name a few… Our nature is to embrace and connect. Yet, the road to regaining our power also entails that we learn to embrace our shadow. Collectively, the feminine shadow shows up as victimization, confusion and loss of power. Too many of us still limit ourselves with all sorts of dis-empowering beliefs as excuses to keep hiding behind the roles that society has imparted on us. As natural multi-taskers,we over fill our agendas, we restlessly care for our families, we overtax our body with comfort foods, we fill up our minds with entertainment, movies,books, more education and even spiritual teachings in the hope that we eventually will feel whole and fulfilled. But it never quite fills that hole that we feel inside. As a result, we end up along the road wondering what this is all about and we keep on going on automatic pilot, dis-empowered. In the mean time, deep down inside there is this nagging feeling that something fundamental is missing…

Our biggest challenge today, as women, is to integrate all the paradoxes that our life brings us: How do we resolve our need to be in the world as active members of society, as care givers for our family and at the same time navigate our deep interior personal space?

Holistic Coaching Studio was born from a desire to empower women to realize their highest potential and to make their greatest contribution to the world. In my personal and professional work over the last fifteen years, I have developed practical and accessible skills and tools to support women discover their authentic selves and reintegrate the feminine back into their lives.

Do you feel intuitively that your purpose is much bigger than the game you have been playing so far in your life? Do you feel that it is time for you to start moving forward and stop putting your inner aspirations last?

Do you feel stuck and you don’t really know where to start and how?

The only time and place to start is now and from where you are.

This month, I decided to reach out to the women who have been sitting on the fence, waiting for a better moment to ask for help.

To them, I am asking: “What’s holding you back?

What are you waiting for to regain your power and to give the best of yourself to life? Do you know what your purpose and your aspirations are? What have you done so far to live up to them?

During the next four weeks I am offering a free intake consultation as an opportunity for you to explore with me exactly what has been keeping you stuck and what you need to start moving forward. During this one hour and 15 minutes consultation (That ‘s a 150 USD value), I will help you clarify your true aspirations based on your core values and increase your awareness of what could be possible for you today, that you might not be seeing for yourself.

Why such a generous offer?

Simply because I want you to feel the power of having a clear vision and the exhilaration of breaking free of self-imposed limitations.
Remember, there is not better time than right now to start moving forward.

For anyone who might want to sign in for a first complimentary session, please contact me via my contact page on this website and I will get back to you as soon as possible.

http://www.icoachacademy.com/teleseminars/spiritual_audio.html

You can read the details of this call and register here:

http://www.icoachacademy.com/lp/spiritual_coach.html

The call will be experiential and interactive, and it will be a wonderful opportunity to meet some of you.