It's Only Temporary

What can I say?
The heat has been, well, hot!
Slowing the pace of each moment
Do I love it?
Definitely.
I also respect heat 
that makes my body melt
dissolve and feel like sludge
despite attempts to slip into lovely bits of shade,
diving into any little breeze
cooling droplets of perspiration even for a second
slurping a dripping ice cream cone
drinking gallons of ice tea, 
rotating more and more ice cube trays.
A dip in the pool 
washes away summer lassitude 
yet builds and renews 
belief that I am not made of melted candle wax
But do I love the heat?
Oh, a thousand times…...Yes!

“The month of August had turned into a griddle 

where the days just lay there and sizzled.”

~ Sue Monk Kidd, The Secret Life of Bees

It's All a Set Up

Memory sets us up for good or bad
Snapshots of times bubbling or churning ~ a youthful lens growing distant, yet still real
To respect the sunny memories is easy ~ the stormy memories remain covered in cloud with little expectation that sun will ever shine on them
Honour and respect for life can change a life ~ 

can begin to calm the storms from the past, 

shaping the presence in the sunshine.

“There is peace even in the storm.”

~ Vincent van Gogh, The Letters of Vincent van Gogh

Author's note: Edited January 23, 2024

Attention to Details ~ 2

Attending to the details of life

has meaning in daily life
a morning cup of tea or coffee
the way we approach our day
belief in the work that we do

belief in fun and playtimes.
respecting minutiae in a day
denying details that overwhelm,
asking for balance and acceptance,
knowing that we are the sum of our own details

“When you pay attention to detail, 

the big picture will take care of itself.”

~ Georges St-Pierre

Traditional Relays

Time honoured family traditions

are to be respected

Ties held from childhood

Threaded through each day and age

A relay altered in substance 

only by progress and technology

Families blending cultures and communities

Family traditions are to be respected.

“Tradition is a guide and not a jailer.”

~ W.Somerset Maugham

Free Fall

Respect the power of noise outside
 When the noise inside grows
  Louder and more insistent
   Shaking your very being inside and out.

Move away from the outside noise
 Move into quiet and stillness
  Time to give mind and heart space to settle
    To grow quiet once more

Like a seed floating down from a gnarled old tree
 To be planted
   To root and 
     To grow

“Peace of mind arrives the moment you come to 

peace with the contents of your mind.”

~ Rasheed Ogunlaru

The Tell

The tell of respect is

A light touch

A firm handshake

A gentle offer of a helping hand

The tell of respect is

Honest eyes and ears

Space stretching wide or near.

Letting go ~ the only help to be given.

“Behaviour is the mirror in which everyone shows their image.”

~ Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe

Step Away

There are times when respect needs to be silent.
  Stepping away from the walls of privacy is necessary.

Powerful emotions ask for hesitation
 Only to be shared in safety and trust
  Step away respecting the depth of emotion, be silent.

Staying separate, yet close
 Allows safety and trust to build.

“Perhaps it is possible to discover more in silence than in speech. 

Or perhaps it is only that those who are silent among us learn to listen.”

~ Alice Hoffman, The Dovekeepers