Words from the Heart

"Mizen Head, County Cork, Ireland"  Photo Credit: Licensed under  Creative Commons Attribution- Share Alike 3.0 via Wikimedia Commons Today begins a new adventure, one that I will no doubt write a great deal about in the future.  Today is the beginning of an inner journey - an epic journey - an odyssey - back to the beginning of "me". Here are the two poems that began me on this quest. GRANDMA Grandma was short  like Mommy with blue-black hair cut pixie style and wild green eyes that you could never forget because they twinkled so! She laughed a lot - told funny stories from old Ireland - Mommy would laugh as she told me  the crazy things they did… Funny, she left this world long before I came -  but, Mommy’s words paint a Grandma to hold deep within my heart.  ©1983 LMRN O’Riordan – The King’s Poet When I was half-past six years old, the world still filled the 5 by 10 space of my room. Momma said the ...

Long ago, I learned to listen and reflect on the words I said.  At the time, my teacher was speaking about saying prayer mindfully, instead of rattling off words in an unconscious stream.  This was a lesson that stayed with me through the years, not only for prayer, but also for speech, in general.  When we are mindful of the words we are using, then we are more capable of saying exactly what we mean. To illustrate, let us look at the words to the Serenity Prayer written by the theologian, Reinhold Niebuhr . An acquaintance once mentioned that they loved this prayer.  I asked why.  They were unable to articulate what it was about the prayer that resonated with them.  Many people know this prayer by heart; however, they have never reflected on the exact meaning of the words. The prayer is:   God, grant me the serenity To accept the things I cannot change; Courage to change the things I can; And wisdom to know the difference. ...