Courage

Kaddish Symphony, or Why We Can’t Wait

It’s the smell of cigarettes, gin and sweat

acrid smoke from incinerating bodies

salt of blood and sweet perfume turned sour

The sound of a tree branch

creaking from the weight of the body inside the noose

Percussion whistle of a fire hose

spraying down children, families, grandmothers

Terror and dread when you hear those footsteps approaching

Subtle clutch of a handbag against the ribcage

sweep of a glance that renders you a criminal, a freak, a security threat

Wrong place, wrong time, wrong neighborhood, wrong body, wrong country, wrong bathroom, wrong clothes

Missed my stop, my medication, my ride

Even if your loved ones school you on survival strategies

Even if you have a PhD, a sugar daddy, health insurance, a good job, a nose job, a Grammy, a lawyer

Straighten your hair, your tie, your skirt

Shave your beard, shave your legs, take your meds

Change your name, change location, change clothes

I can’t wait for Yizkor

I’ve already started calling out the names

Trayvon Martin

Sakia Gunn

Emmett Till

Matthew Shepard

Gwen Araujo

Lawrence King

Tyler Clementi

Keep going

Tomorrow it might be you, your child, your lover, your teacher, your neighbor, your grandmother

Today we can write,

sing

cry

talk

listen

rage

pray

pay

hug

heal

touch

laugh

vote

feed

read

drum

chant

circle

walk

stand

speak

We don’t have to do this alone

I don’t care if you call it God, Buddha, Allah, Jesus, Yahweh, HaShem, Mystery, Nature, Higher Power, Justice, Truth, Peace

Stand for Love

Start right now

 

March 25, 2012

© Karen L. Erlichman

Posted in Courage, Dealing with Obstacles, Grief and Loss, Healing, Interfaith, Resilience, Social Justice, Truth and Lies

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Seeds of Truth

When your truth forsakes its shyness,
when your fears surrender to your strengths,
you will begin to experience
that all existence
is a teeming sea of infinite life.
 –Hafiz, from the poem “In a Handful of God”

 

I love this poem, especially the line about surrendering your fears to your strengths. It’s always a good reminder that each one of us has strengths, even if they are deeply buried beneath our fears.

What seeds of truth are hidden beneath your shell?  

What shyness can you shake off in order for truth to give way to strength and resilience? 

Posted in Courage

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Learning to Listen From the Heart

I just returned from co-leading a training for a group of almost 70 students, supervisors and program staff for a new Hillel campus leadership program called Ask Big Questions. It was one of the most inspiring weeks of my life. 

Students sharing their stories with one another, learning to listen from the heart, to ask open and honest questions, exploring polarities and paradox, entering the delicate territory of conversations about diversity. And finally, practicing leading conversations with one another.

IMG_2447 They challenged us, welcomed us, tested us and trusted us.  There were many exquisite moments; on the first day, we read from "Letter to a Young Activist" by Clarissa Pinkola Estes, and hearing their voices read those lines brought tears to my eyes. They stood up and showed their souls.  

 Over the three days we were with the ABQ group, grace was in the room with us. Magic was in the room with us. Love was in the room with us. I am forever changed.

"One of the most important steps you can take to help calm the storm is to not allow yourself to be taken in a flurry of overwrought emotion or despair — thereby accidentally contributing to the swale and the swirl.

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… 

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."

–excerpt from "Letter to a Young Activist"


 

 

Posted in Courage, Interfaith

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How to Be Wise and Courageous

One of my favorite Buddhist teachers, Pema Chodron, tweeted this recently:

"If you ask people whom you consider to be wise and courageous about their lives, you may find that they have hurt a lot of people and made a lot of mistakes, but that they used those occasions as opportunities to humble themselves and open their hearts."

Courage is the willingness to open your heart even when you have been hurt, have made mistakes, have hurt others, have hurt yourself. Recently I have been in touch with some old friends from college, which has left me thinking about who I was then and who I am now; how much I have changed, and how the essence of who I am was there even back then. I said to a friend today,

"If I could have a conversation now with the young person I was back then, what would I want her to know?"

'Love is there even when you can't see it or recognize it, perhaps in an unfamiliar or unexpected form; your birthright loveability and goodness is there too, underneath all the hurt and grief and sadness and loneliness. Trust that the universe is conspiring for your well-being. In other words, have faith and keep opening your heart.'


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Posted in Courage, Spirituality

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Gifts for the Soul

 


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I just returned from a gathering of over one hundred facilitators from the Center for Courage and Renewal, and to say that I came home feeling more courageous and renewed would be an understatement.
It was such a pleasure and an honor to be among such inspiring, kind-hearted, creative, brave people. I learned new skills, new resources, and most importantly, I learned new things about myself. I took every opportunity to risk and reflect, to push myself in new directions far beyond my usual comfort zone, and to bask in the love and humor of my colleagues. 

A Gift
 
Just when you seem to yourself
nothing but a flimsy web
of questions, you are given
the questions of others to hold
in the emptiness of your hands,
songbird eggs that can still hatch
if you keep them warm,
butterflies opening and closing themselves
in your cupped palms, trusting you not to injure
their scintillant fur, their dust.
You are given the questions of others
as if they were answers
to all you ask. Yes, perhaps
this gift is your answer.
 
~ Denise Levertov 

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Heading to the beach for closing circle 

 

Posted in Courage

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