poetry Archives - Path With Heart Community

More For Your Passover Seder: On Freedom

Freedom Freedom. It isn’t once, to walk out under the Milky Way, feeling the rivers of light, the fields of dark— freedom is daily, prose-bound, routine remembering. Putting together, inch by inch the starry worlds. From all the lost collections. Adrienne Rich “For Memory,” A Wild Patience Has Taken Me This Far; W. W. Norton & …

When The World Is Too Much

Poetry helps. Especially poems like this one, “Lie Down” by Nancy Paddock. She reminds us to stop, breathe, be. (I’m not wild about the ant part, but ok.) Taking time out each day to just BE can be part of a Gratitude Practice that profoundly affects your health and wellbeing and helps remind you that …

Kavannah (Intention) For Those Not Ready To Forgive

Some hurts take time to heal. And some of us (mostly women) apologize too much and too fast – to our own detriment. This is for you.

Before We Move On: Thoughts About Endings

Usually when we think of the end of the year, we are either talking about December (in the secular year) or in Jewish time, right before the High Holidays in early Fall. Yet, there’s another time of year that is all about endings: the school or class year. As human beings, we have many different ways of …

“May You Be Blessed On Your Journey” Day 7

(Journey of the Soul: Making the Omer Count is a project of Rabbi Cindy Enger and Rabbi Jill Zimmerman. As Pesach moves to its close, so does the first week of the Omer. Beginnings and endings are powerful times. On this day, we arrive at the ending of this first part of …

“We Are All Just Walking Each Other Home”

A favorite poem, by Lawrence Tirnauer* for anyone who (sometimes or all the time) is challenged to get a full night’s sleep – accompanied by an amazing quote by Ram Dass. Whether we are meeting in our mind’s eye in the middle of the night, or in real life, we need each other on this journey “home.” …

Go Forth With An Open Heart – Lech Lecha*

Go – Go with a free heart, with open palms, with no expectations; Trust – That what is shown to you is exactly what you need to learn, even though at first glance, it may not seem so… Be – In the mystery of what is unfolding before your eyes; Know – That real truth …

“On What Disturbs, Then Nourishes” A guest post by Dani Shapiro

One of my very favorite authors and people – Dani Shapiro, writes about her frequent traveling, coming home and a poem (YES by David Whyte!!) that inspired wisdom within the constancy of change. Thank you Dani for allowing us to share this. Check out Dani’s blog – link at the bottom. And check out her …

Mindfulness, Poetry, Prayer and Song to Open Hearts

At our beautiful all-day retreat last Shabbat, “A Mindful Journey Through Shabbat” we did a morning of chant/kavannah/music/silence. As leaders, we chose several key prayers (only a few) from the morning Shabbat service and went deeper into each one. For example, we started with Modah/Modeh Ani, which means “Grateful/Thankful am I” and offered a brief …

Mary Oliver on Awe

Instructions for life: Pay attention. Be astonished. Tell about it. Mary Oliver (from her poem “Sometimes”) This photo was taken on a walk around our neighborhood in Mar Vista (Los Angeles) – You can just be walking, and come upon such beauty! Click on the photo to really see how amazing this flower is.