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: Soul
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 .
Circumstances
A dance with changing circumstances ,
a drain or a lift ? A reestablishment of sense of self and finding one’s footing once
again.
Not for the faint of heart yet as we move through that which we fear in time it
is transformed into the familiar .
A dance with identity perceived by the inner self and interpretations of how we think
the world views us .
It’s the perceptions that we hold onto with fierceness can cause the most discomfort .
Is it habit or real ? If it is habit that doesn’t make it any less real .
Dancing through circumstances may feel more like trudging through mud in moments
of fear …all it takes is one moment and then you feel like your home and the comfort is
real .
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 .
The Winter’s Dream
The longest night has come and the light slows it’s beating heart . Rest into your dreams and warm your spirit with peaceful twirls turning into sleep .
The longest night has come and brings promises of new light . Lean into the winter’s darkness and feel the quiet inside of your heart’s sight .
The longest night has come and sings lightly to awaken your patience and creates stirrings of hope .
The longest night has come and invites you warm yourself in a blanket and to tenderly create visions of whats to come .
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 ” .
Above the Gases
How to see through the smoke ?
Soldiers in streets uninvited , The people rising . Higher than gases .
Division , is it’s fate to become unified ?
Human history as a recipe repeated .
We will take back our sovereignty .
Vulnerability and Shared Humanity
When one person shares their vulnerability that is an invitation to others to to share theirs and
when that happens it is a coming together in our shared humanity . It is putting down the fear ,
anger , hurt and embracing the profound , beautiful struggles that we share . That’s a place for
healing to begin .
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 . 
blchapman 