“We break, bleed, and rearrange
Into yet another beautiful thing”
It’s the “friction of being alive”
That polishes the gems we are
A life of ease yields no fruit
The stone that is not polished does not shine
Lida Berghuis
March 8th, 2013
Tag Archive | Poetry
To be an immigrant!
To let go of where one is
In anticipation of going somewhere new!
To have the courage to
Face the unknown!
To be curious
To seek what’s on the other side
Not content with the status quo
Willing to accept the discomfort of change
And starting over
And tolerating feeling lost at times
And homesick too
To see the potential
To want to have new experiences
Realizing that there is so much
That is unknown
To be naive
Not anticipating all the challenges
Or just being so drawn to something novel
That one is willing to accept
The challenge and discomfort
To be an immigrant
A blend of courage and naiveté!
Building on the past
Somewhere new!
Lida Berghuis
February 26th, 2013
Slow
If you run too fast
You can’t tell what’s real
You pass by what’s real
Because you are in too much of a hurry
To go somewhere
If you run too fast
The rose will blur
The scent will not reach you
In your hurry to go somewhere
If you run too fast
You can’t contemplate
To contemplate
You need to meander
Take in what’s around you
Meditate!
If you run too fast
You may miss the entrance
To a secret garden!
If you run too fast
You won’t know
What’s real!
Lida Berghuis
February 15th, 2013
Not logical at all!
Love is not logical
Love is not practical
Love is not easy
Love is not convenient at all!
It arrives when it wants
It remains despite our protests
And doubts!
And it will be clear
Without a shadow of a doubt
That something extraordinary
Has happened
It can’t be ignored
Or put off!
Love is a journey
Not a destination to be reached!
The journey fraught with challenges
And road blocks
With joy and exaltation
With tears and laughter
With confusion and doubt!
But the one who stays on the road
Is not scared off
Does not give up
Reaps the rewards
And what are the rewards of love?
Joy and wonder!
Growth and the flowering of the soul!
A new lease on life!
And seeing the world
Through the rose coloured glasses of love!
Like the sun
Love is blinding
Powerful
And it can burn!
Like the sun
Love gives warmth
Sustenance
Brilliance
And life!
Like the sun
Love is essential
Has always been!
Love is not logical
It’s not practical
It arrives without notice
And refuses to leave!
Lida Berghuis
February 14th, 2013
"There is so much abundance wherever we are!"*
I feel in life
I’ve been often led
Sometimes even pulled and drawn
Against my will!
What I said never to
Has come to be
What I thought would break me
Has built me up
Somehow I thought I knew best
Somehow I thought I should decide
The unexpected arrived
And inconvenienced me
I complained
I did not know why!
Why were my plans
Turned upside down?
When I expected to go left
Why did I end up going right?
My unhappiness came from the fact
That I did not consider
That I didn’t have the answers all
That I was in fact wrong at times!
Maybe I didn’t have the humility
To accept a different path
A better path
In the long run!
Maybe I looked at the short term challenges
And did not look far enough
Maybe I did not realize that experiencing
Discomfort was part of growing up!
Lida Berghuis
February 21st, 2013
*Mark Nepo
Everything is unknown till we live it*
In the journey of life
I used to seek instructions!
Maps!
Guides!
Sign posts!
Even letters from God!
To show me the way
Map the route out for me
Take uncertainty away
and change gray to black or white
I was afraid to take a
step forward
Lest I stepped the wrong way
I used to crave certainty
As if it was something
I would find
If I looked hard enough
Prayed long enough
Or contemplated long enough
But I’ve learned
Certainty does not exist
Cannot exist
That I won’t have all the answers
Before I make a decision
I won’t know what tomorrow brings for sure
And that’s OK!
I now feel that
There is nothing called a
Perfect path or the only right way
Steps can be traced back
Or side roads will appear
I feel that there will always
Be a place to land
Even if I step into the void
And just because
I don’t see the landing place
It doesn’t mean that
It does not exist!
Lida Berghuis
February 15th, 2013
*Mark Nepo
Red
Red is a state of mind
It’s fire
It’s creativity
It’s joy
Red is a state of heart
It’s love
It’s friendship
It’s compassion
Red is a state of soul
It’s exaltation
It’s anticipation
It’s flight
Red is a state I like
To be in
Even if it’s From time to time
Lida Berghuis
February 15th, 2013
I thought I could not!
I thought I could not
But I did!
I thought I would crumble and fall
but I did not!
I thought joy was gone forever
But it returned!
I thought the night would never end
But morning came!
I thought all hope was lost
And the reason to live
Had become hard to find
I thought this time was different
And I would not survive
I thought I had come to the end of my rope and could not take another step
I thought life was unfair
And I’d suffered enough
I thought I had reached my
Threshold of pain
And continuing would only
Bring more of the same
But despite all that
Hope gradually returned
Suffering eased
And I smiled again!
Lida Berghuis
February 20th, 2013
Connection!
Connection!
Connections of the heart
Hard to wrap your head around
What is it that attracts you
To someone and
Compels you to extend a hand in friendship
What is that little voice that Insists on bring heard
These connections do not fade with time or distance
or hardships met on the way
They get stronger
As the years go by
And with each challenge met on the way
Connections of the heart
Other-worldly they are
Not limited to this plane of dust
They transcend space and time
Lida Berghuis
February 15th, 2013
The human condition
I learned, but I forgot
I saw, but I forgot
I knew, but I forgot
And so I pass the years
Of my life
Lessons learned are sometimes forgotten
Gems discovered, are covered by dust
What I saw clearly, is now blurred
What I thought I understood, clear as mud!
This I was told is the human condition
We dont learn right away
We may fall many times
Before we learn to look in front of us
We may burn our hands anyway
Even though we thought wed never do it again!
Forgetting is human
Erring is human
Learning slowly is human too!
How can I improve my memory
Remember better
Learn faster
I thought
Slowness remembers, hurry forgets
Softness remembers, hardness forgets
Surrender remembers, fear forgets
Its beautifully difficult to remember
who we are!
But we help each other every time
When we fill the cup of truth, drink it
And hold each other up!
Lida Berghuis
February 20th, 2011
Quotes from Mark Nepo
The book of Awakening
lida's musings 