Healing Our Hunger
Imagery and Poetry for Ending Food Insecurity
By Barbara L. Chapman
https://www.blurb.com/b/11671336
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Category Archives: love
Freedom to Be with Gentle Breezes and Birdsongs
The air is refreshingly cool this morning even though the sun is bright . I savor and relish in this mornings when I don’t have to go rushing off .
The morning quietness is a freedom all its own . Freedom from the harsh sounds of this world’s man made demands . Freedom society’s pushes and pulls . Freedom from the dictates of ego and one’s not your own .
Awakening gently into a new day of birdsongs dancing through the air and with light , cool breezes ever so subtly caressing the awakening joy of the freedom to just be .
The toils and turbulence of yesterday’s work day are nearly gone and in its place a quiet, deep peace .
What is freedom if it is not to awaken every day knowing that you can be who your are .
Gentle breezes and birdsongs and loving contemplation is my freedom today .
Does a Soul Choose …
A new life arrives . She is given away . Is the first experience of this life one of trauma ? Aside from the one of leaving a safe womb does the separation from her beginnings of life impact her sense of comfort and trust ?
She is born with a trusting heart no matter the circumstances . She loves deeply , so deeply that it surprises even her .
Welcomed into a home , into a family , that wants to be what it is not . There is love . There is love that battles within itself and with it’s own brokenness . Her love , in innocence , rises to the surface in moments of celebration . Like when she awakens first thing every morning , before opening her eyes , then is a joyous smile across her face. Did her soul choose to know the indescribable ache while also choosing to carry a joy filled heart and an ever replenishing trust ? The brokenness of the family integrated more trauma into her original wound and in quietness she finds a healer , herself . Did her soul choose ?
And in her quietness she sometimes dreams of knowing wholeness . Enchanted by the sight of the moon and the stars she finds a sense of rootedness in them . And when she is near water and it’s powerful timelessness then she feels held by the breath of all life past , present and future .
Space for New Dreams
The light is delicate tonight and the breezes cool. Someone not too far away is
listening to a soprano singing opera . The sounds drift faintly in the air as I watch the
evening light dance with with shadows before calling it a night .
It’s the sort of peaceful , summer night that soothes the soul and invites a restorative
rest .
New dreams are given space to arrive in the subtle , warm glow of the setting sun .
Giving Birth to a New USA
On the very day that we laid to rest one of our greatest human rights leaders of our time this :
I am a mom to a compassionate , intelligent young woman . Her kind and giving heart stands up for injustices against those with less privilege . People that suffer because of having less privileges and opportunities simply because of the color of their skin . I am of the same heart and mind as my daughter . Since early in my youth I have felt the call to stand up for human rights , protesting peacefully , writing letters to legislators , volunteering and …listening . And today my daughter faced the ugliness of hatred because of her values and principles . She has Black Lives Matter written on the back window of her car . She has other pro human rights sentiments on her window as well .
Today , of all days , someone chose to threaten her life because of it . A man chose to follow her off of a freeway exit , he sped up along side of her and turned his vehicle inwards towards her car as if to ram her and to force her off of the road . A life threatening action that could have been catastrophe with irreversible results . And all because he did not like her opinions . He violently opposed her values . His risked her life as well the lives of others by his actions .
Here we are America . Threatening each other over human rights . Over what it means to be considered a human being . Wiling to end another persons life because she or he stands up for social justice . It’s time to give birth to a new USA .
The process is painful . My hope is that what is taking place now with the violence against peaceful protests and individuals is like the birthing process . It is a struggle . It is painful and it is violent . And at the other side of it a more just , equitable and compassionate country .
The people fighting against the changes have caught the disease of hatred and fear . Desperation has taken hold of them . They are entangled within their own chains . How might we set them free from the hate ?
In the darkness of such hate we must be the light . Carry a peaceful heart and in the words of Mr.Lewis ” make good trouble ” .
Why the Earth Soothes the Brokenness
Her charms are never ending . Her power to delight an eternal story of love .
She challenges us and gifts us all at the same time .
The Earth and her inhabitants share breath as one .
And the when spirit feels stretched beyond the imaginable allotment of pain she soothes us .
She soothes us with a light rain calming and delicate .
she soothes us with the joyous brightness of the sun warming and exciting .
She soothes us with the wildness of thunderstorms and setting our own wildness free .
She gifts us with so many things .
Every moment , every breath
Dear Earth
I thank you .
Comfort in Isolation
As much as comfort can be found and nurtured in the reserves of inner strength carried in your mind , heart and spirit alone , on your own , the connection to each other is the infinite thread of love and compassion . That thread carries us through time . It carries us into difficulty and through it to the other side into the joy that is always there . The celebration that lives and is a single breath is our shared joy in life . We are staying apart in order to love life and to love each others life . In loving life we are asked to face to fears and challenges of what it means to be alone with our selves . In the quiet there is an opportunity to hear and to heal the parts that are slow to open up to joy , the lightness of laughter and compassion . In a place of fear we can heal fear . Inside of unconditional compassion is freedom . Expansive , weightless freedom . It is love . 
Healing
When the broken bits arise from your heart and ask for healing will you welcome them ? Love them and accept them and then the peace will come . in time , more and more , the peace of acceptance and love will grow .
Every part of yourself deserves the healing of love . The freedom to live in the sureness of acceptance and generosity . When the heart is open and with out self imposed restraints the beauty of living flows like a glorious river . Healing and abundant lifting us all into a state of grace . 
Free to Roam
Free to roam as the pieces that once baffled and brought tears of questions
roll over . Rolling over like the swells of ocean waves .
Transforming from a silent , soulful burden or thunderous , passionate outpouring
into wings open wide and strong . Soaring beautifully with the breezes , playfully diving
downward then swiftly upward once again .
The heart once again free to roam . 
Come Back
Come back . Come back to the trust in your heart . Remember a moment when your heart was repelled by hate and all you wanted was the feeling of home . The feeling of being loved in spite of hard times . The feeling that somehow it is all going to be fine .
Come back . Come back to the truth that you care . Have you been hidden from compassion because fear made you chase circles of lies ? It’s ok to put down the fear and to feel what’s real.
Come back to all humanity and be free .
blchapman 