Not today!

May12

I care about the news of the world
But not today!
I pay attention to my to do list
But not today!
I have my daily routine
But not today!

Sometimes I need a day
Like today
When I can leave my cares behind
Think of other things
Or nothing at all!

My duties and responsibilities will be there
Tomorrow and every other day

So, today I choose to forget them
Set them aside
Take a break from them
Banish them from my mind!

Because without days like today
I will bend and sometimes break!
We all have different limits of endurance
The load you can easily carry can break my back
I now know that I can’t and should not compete
With those who can carry heavier loads
Or have unrealistic expectations of my own

I hope I’ve learned how to take care of myself
I hope I’ve figured out what rejuvenates me

And so today…
I write myself into my peaceful place
The place of serenity and calm
The place of tenderness and love
The home of joy and peace of mind!

Lida Berghuis
May 11th, 2013

Beauty revealed!

May6

Beauty revealed!

The purpose of art if any needs to be stated
Is to bring beauty into our world
Or to reveal the beauty that exists!

Beauty inspires
Beauty heals
Beauty eases the suffering
That is inevitable
In life

Beauty soothes the soul
And calms the heart

Beauty elevates and
Bestows joy

Beauty vivifies and
Energizes

Beauty makes hope blossom!

Lida Berghuis
May 6th 2013

“Our spacious non-linear nature”

Apr11

“When the mind is quiet
We experience our spacious non-linear nature”
And access a sacred place

A place where the heart reigns
Where love is what counts
Where reason takes a back seat
Where what’s essential comes to the fore

A place where where we connect
To something greater than us
Assume a humble posture
And open ourselves to possibility
And greater wisdom

In a world where we need to know
To be in control
It’s a place where
We relinquish control
Ride the waves
And end up in places
We could not imagine

It’s a place that poetry can take us
It’s the place that poetry comes from!

Lida Berghuis
April 10th, 2013

*Kim Rosen

To my children…

Apr6

Try to enjoy life
What seems of huge consequence
Will wash away like a sandcastle in time

Look at the positive
The negative will always be there
Looking at the sunny side
Will bring light and warmth into your life

Don’t be too hard on yourself
There are many things you do well
We always need to improve
But with ourselves we must be patient

See what you have
Rather than what you don’t
Count your blessings
They are easy to ignore!

You may think you know
How things are or should be
But understanding life is not easy!

Things are not black and white
We realize we are mistaken many times!

What we thought we understood
Will suddenly seem all wrong
Confusion will replace clarity
A thunderstorm, a period of calm

Strength will leave us many times
But when we feel weak
We are learning to be strong

We will gradually realize the
Value of trials
Anger and confusion will be replaced by
Understanding and calm

The world has a way of teaching us
That we are very small
And to survive and thrive
We need sunshine
The sunshine of Faith and patience
And the heat of trials

Lida Berghuis
April 5th, 2013

Laughter and tears

Apr3

The one who laughs a hearty laugh
Has probably cried many times

True joy doesn’t exist
In one who has not suffered at all

Joy springs from understanding
From having endured difficult times

Let your laughter ring out
During times of joy and wonder
Let your tears fall when broken hearted

Laughter the sun
Tears the rain
Both are needed
In our life on earth!

Lida Berghuis
April 3rd, 2013

Dropping the pretense of perfection!

Mar28

We are raised to be independent
To accomplish things on our own
To stand on our own two feet
And that’s fine
But sometimes in the process
We forget that we still need
The love and support of friends

We forget that we need to be held
To be caressed
We need a shoulder to lean on
We need trusted friends we can confide in
We need to ask for help from time to time
That others aren’t so busy with their own lives
That they don’t have time for us!
That we are not a burden
When we reach out for a helping hand!

We forget how interdependent we are
We forget the value of true friendship
Sharing our thoughts and concerns with friends
Letting them hold us up for a while
Till we are strong again!

There is no shame in sadness
It’s not possible to be ‘up’ all the time
We don’t have to pretend to smile
If we are crying inside!

These are the things I had to learn
I had to learn not to be afraid to share my vulnerabilities
That moments of crisis come upon us all
And it’s during these moments
That our friends can be life boats
Rescuing us from turbulent sea of life

And I’ve learned that when I share
The stories of my trials
Others trust me enough to share theirs
And it’s this sharing that strengthens
The bonds of friendship

I’ve learned that to build genuine friendships
I need to be more genuine myself
To let the pretense of perfection drop
To share my sadness as well as my happiness
To reach out in times of trouble
To trust!

Lida Berghuis
March 28th, 2013

Sadness is the paint!*

Mar27

The trials and sufferings of life are the medium
The canvas, what we must find to reveal the beauty
That can come from the trials of life

The paint is not enough
Sadness does not translate by itself
Into a work of art
The canvas, what we much search for
There is work to be done
Habits to let go of
New understanding to emerge
Virtues to be developed
Wisdom to be gained

Then we will realize
The gifts sadness has brought
The paint it has provided us with
And we can use this gift
To make a beautiful piece of art!

The trials, the paint
Our understanding, the canvas
The work of art a testimony to our growth!

Lida Berghuis
March 27th, 2013

*Mark Nepo, The book of awakening

Starbucks

Mar26

The place I come to relax!
To write!
To forget my to-do list!
To just sit silently
To read
To be surrounded by people and music
To sit with my face in the sun
or next to the fireplace
To empty my cup
To catch my breath
To meditate and contemplate
To drink my morning coffee
To find my balance
To have some me-time
so I can care for others
the rest of the day!

Lida Berghuis
March 26th, 2013

The magic of poetry!

Mar23

 

 

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Sometimes we search for our identities
Especially if we are transplants in society

Born in the East
Bred in the West
I used to feel somewhere in between!

I felt at home in the West
But I was not sure
What to do with my Eastern roots
Eastern and Western
We are all one
But it took me a while
To reconcile these two parts!

It started when I began to read
The ‘translated’ poems of Rumi
The West made this Eastern jewel accessible to me!

For the first time I was really drawn to poetry!
This was not any poetry
It was mystical, and touched my heart!
It helped me understand!
It helped me heal!
It helped me see things more clearly!

Perhaps poetry is the great equalizer
It lets us know that we all have the same struggles
The same questions, the same fears and doubts
And we all need to love and be loved!

Perhaps poetry is all about love
Love for the Divine
Love for our fellow man
Love for the noble beings that we are

And then I put pen to paper
And wrote down my thoughts, my feelings
My experiences in life

Writing poetry was healing
Somehow feelings that were bottled up inside
Were allowed to slowly flow out!

The Western me and the Eastern me

Mingled and

The  poems were the result

 

Lida Berghuis
March 23rd, 2013

Lessons taught by pain!

Mar19

I always knew humility was not my forte!
There were times I felt very self righteous
I thought I had the answer to many questions in life
I knew I didn’t know everything
But I thought I knew a lot!

The confidence I felt
Came from not having lived long enough
To experience real pain and real suffering in life

I had not fallen hard yet
Unable to get up
I had not been brought to my knees by the trials of life

I had not been thrown into confusion
And questioned the fairness of life

I had not come to the point of questioning the point of life
Considering all the suffering it entailed

But life has a way of showing us how small we are
How mistaken we can be
How easy it is to break and lose faith
How hard it can be to get up again!

And perhaps that’s good
Because these are lessons
That can’t be learned the easy way
These are lessons
That require the sobering effects of pain!

Lida Berghuis
March 19th, 2013