"Soul on deck shines like gold in dark times." --Estes

I was going to post this to an already existing thread, but which one was a problem, there were too many it could apply to. There are many numbers of ways I/we feel stress and disappointment, "bewilderment", in these here times, and yet I/we keep plugging along. I've been a "fan" of Estes since her book Women Who Run with the Wolves and I thought maybe some others of you may enjoy, take solace in, reading this message from her--

Message: 6
Date: Tue, 19 Oct 2004 16:06:36 -0500
From: "Planet Waves Moderator" <moderator@planetwaves.net>
Subject: calm in the storm...

Inspiration
by Clarissa Pinkola Estes
http://www.veteransforpeace.org/We_are_ … 041503.htm

My friends, do not lose heart. We were made for these times. I have
heard from so many recently who are deeply and properly bewildered. They
are concerned about the state of affairs in our world right now.

Ours is a time of almost daily astonishment and often righteous rage
over the latest degradations of what matters most to civilized,
visionary people.

You are right in your assessments. The lustre and hubris some have
aspired to while endorsing acts so heinous against children, elders,
everyday people, the poor, the unguarded, the helpless, is breathtaking.
Yet, I urge you, ask you, gentle you, to please not spend your spirit
dry by bewailing these difficult times. Especially do not lose hope.
Most particularly because, the fact is that we were made for these
times.

Yes. For years, we have been learning, practicing, been in training
for and just waiting to meet on this exact plain of engagement...

I grew up on the Great Lakes and recognize a seaworthy vessel when I see
one. Regarding awakened souls, there have never been more able vessels
in the waters than there are right now across the world. And they are
fully provisioned and able to signal one another as never before in the
history of humankind... Look out over the prow; there are millions of
boats of righteous souls on the waters with you. Even though your
veneers may shiver from every wave in this stormy world, I assure you
that the long timbers composing your prow and rudder come from a greater
forest. That long-grained lumber is known to withstand storms, to hold
together, to hold its own, and to advance, regardless.

In any dark time, there is a tendency to veer toward fainting over how
much is wrong or unmended in the world. Do not focus on that. There is a
tendency too to fall into being weakened by dwelling on what is outside
your reach, by what cannot yet be. Do not focus there. That is spending
the wind without raising the sails. We are needed, that is all we can
know. And though we meet resistance, we more so will meet great souls
who will hail us, love us and guide us, and we will know them when they
appear. Didn't you say you were a believer? Didn't you say you pledged
to listen to a voice greater? Didn't you ask for grace? Don't you
remember that to be in grace means to submit to the voice greater?...

Ours is not the task of fixing the entire world all at once,
but of stretching out to mend the part of the world that is within our
reach.

Any small, calm thing that one soul can do to help another soul, to
assist some portion of this poor suffering world, will help immensely.
It is not given to us to know which acts or by whom, will cause the
critical mass to tip toward an enduring good. What is needed for
dramatic change is an accumulation of acts, adding, adding to, adding
more, continuing.

We know that it does not take "everyone on Earth" to bring justice and
peace, but only a small, determined group who will not give up during
the first, second, or hundredth gale.

One of the most calming and powerful actions you can do to intervene in
a stormy world is to stand up and show your soul. Soul on deck shines
like gold in dark times. The light of the soul throws sparks, can send
up flares, builds signal fires, causes proper matters to catch fire. To
display the lantern of soul in shadowy times like these - to be fierce
and to show mercy toward others, both, are acts of immense bravery and
greatest necessity.

Struggling souls catch light from other souls who are fully lit and
willing to show it. If you would help to calm the tumult, this is one of
the strongest things you can do.

There will always be times when you feel discouraged. I too have felt
despair many times in my life, but I do not keep a chair for it; I will
not entertain it. It is not allowed to eat from my plate. The reason is
this: In my uttermost bones I know something, as do you. It is that
there can be no despair when you remember why you came to Earth, who you
serve, and who sent you here. The good words we say and the good deeds
we do are not ours: They are the words and deeds of the One who brought
us here. In that spirit, I hope you will write this on your wall:

When a great ship is in harbor and moored, it is safe, there can be no
doubt. But that is not what great ships are built for.

This comes with much love and a prayer that you remember who you came
from, and why you came to this beautiful, needful Earth.

Clarissa Pinkola Estes, Ph.D
Author of the best seller Women Who Run with the Wolves ++

It is not enough to be compassionate; you must act.
-- The Dalai Lama

(In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, this material is
distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior
interest in receiving the included information for research and
educational purposes.)

Today's mighty oak is just yesterday's nut that held its ground.
------
Life may not be the party we hoped for, but while we're here we might as well dance.
------
If you spin around on your chair really fast, things around here will make a lot more sense.