I have been thinking about how a woman can hold life in her heart. A few weeks ago at the daytime center for homeless women, I arranged the chairs in a circle, lit a candle, and waited for the arrival of the women and my colleague. The first to arrive was the daughter of one … Read more
How do we care for the sacred in life? Many years ago, when I was experiencing certain difficulties, I had a dream. In the dream, a male singer tells me, “I hear that you are not in love with life. You have only one life, you know. You need to love life. Even the mistakes. … Read more
Listening…perhaps this is the most important time to listen. Listening inwardly as well as to our outer lives and life around us. This listening allows us to hear the heartbeat of our daily actions. If we do not work at this depth, the foundation of anything that we do will not hold. Recently, I had … Read more
There is a woman who has come to our group meetings at the shelter for several months. But last week she sat on the grass in the parking lot. “I can’t come today,” she said. “I would just cry.” But I invited her again, and she came. We sat in a circle. A candle was … Read more
Over and over in our lives, when we sit quietly, in the night or during a brief moment in the day, there is always this question: where do we put our attention? Holding this question, we can become receptive to an inner response. It is how the feminine works. We listen. I remember a few … Read more
Today a woman spoke about angels. Her partner had been injured and now she is living in a shelter, trying to care for him in a San Francisco hospital.
We sat in a circle again, with women at risk of homelessness. It was not easy to listen to the women that day. Sometimes all we can do is listen. And inwardly hold the women in a loving way. One young woman, striving to free herself from a complex family, was telling about her losses. I … Read more
Wisdom speaks to us, when we can listen deeply. Sometimes it comes through a dream.Here is a story about a friend who works in a public school kitchen making meals for young children. She works side by side with women who tell her their stories. Often she listens to tales of hardship and suffering.
As custodians of life, our families, our communities, the earth, we know the awe of responsibility. But how do we listen to the real need – both in ourselves and in life? For many years I have listened to women tell stories about their lives. Women who share dreams they have at night, and images … Read more
One woman shared with me, “As a mother, sometimes I am able to touch that point of deep prayer that holds us in its love, and sometimes I still worry deeply and get caught off guard. ”