Posts Tagged ‘ethics of living’

 

Choices

Posted on: October 11th, 2012 by tobendlight

choicesThis prayer-poem honors the difficult choices that we make as our lives move through the seasons, through joy and sorrow, hope and fear. As a result, I have selected this prayer for day 16 of the Omer, discipline in compassion.

Choices
The choice to heal is brave
To awaken is beauty
To live, courage
To love, heroic

The choice to breathe is hope
To pray is grace
To sit, quiet
To be, tranquility

The choice to listen is joy
To hear is mystery
To journey, strength
To adventure, power

The choice to see is truth
To accept is compassion
To learn, wisdom
To teach, eternity

The choice of today is now
The choice of stillness is peace

G-d of Old,
Guide me in my choices,
Carry me through my days,
Show me through the years,
Lead me back to You
Lead me back to myself.

© 2012 Alden Solovy and tobendlight.com. All rights reserved.

Postscript: Here are more prayers on the theme of choices: “The Path of Righteousness,” “Another Year: An Introspection,” “Egypt Inside,” “My Battle” and “For Grace.”

Please check out my ELItalk “Falling in Love with Prayer” and This Grateful Heart: Psalms and Prayers for a New Day. For reprint permissions and usage guidelines and reprint permissions, see “Share the Prayer!” To receive my latest prayers via email, please subscribe (on the home page). You can also connect on Facebook and Twitter.

Photo Credit: Wednesdays With Wendy

Planting Seeds

Posted on: June 13th, 2012 by tobendlight

This prayer recognizes that everything we do has the potential to heal or to harm. So we ask for G-d’s help to plant seeds of holiness with each word, each act, each deed.

Planting Seeds
Every act is a seed:
Every laugh, every smile.
Every song, every dance.
Every outstretched arm
And every open heart.
A seed of holiness.
A seed of redemption.
A seed of grace.

Every act is a seed:
Every frown, every angry word.
Every dislike, every distain.
Every closed fist,
And every hardened heart.
A seed of loneliness.
A seed of isolation.
A seed of despair.

How many seeds have I planted,
G-d of Old,
Seeds that hurt,
Seeds that heal?
How many seeds have I yet to plant,
Seeds that hurt,
Seeds that heal?

Ancient One,
Grant me the discernment
And the skill
To plant seeds of wonder and awe
In my life and the world.
Let me be a source of wholeness,
Let me be a source of thanksgiving,
So that my life yields
A garden of blessings
In service to Your Holy Name.

© 2012 Alden Solovy and www.tobendlight.com. All rights reserved.

Postscript: Here are several other prayers that use the ‘seeds’ metaphor: “Messengers,” “For New Love” and “I Am a King: A Meditation for Men.” Here are prayers that employ a ‘garden’ metaphor: “Life as a Garden,” “Garden of Blessings,” “For Spring,” “Meditation on a Child’s First Torah Reading” and “For Rain.”

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Ethics

Posted on: April 15th, 2012 by tobendlight

Got ethics ?This quick meditation takes literally the idea of embodying our ethics. It’s written as a meditation for general use. I’ve also selected it for use during week six of Counting the Omer. This piece is part of a collaboration with Lin Batsheva Kahn of the Tikvah Company of Artists and Desiree Miller of the Chicago Civic Orchestra called “Three Prayers,” using my words, original choreography and dance by Lin and original cello music by Desiree. “Three Prayers” premiered in Jerusalem in June 2014 as part of an evening of dance and poetry by Miriam Engel’s Angela Dance Company. To listen to the music to Ethics, written for dance and performed by Desiree, click on the triangle in the bar below. The text follows.

 

Ethics
Strong and sure.
Gentle and soft.
The ethics of my hands.

Awake and bright.
Aware and kind.
The ethics of my eyes.

Brave and true.
Solid and steady.
The ethics of my legs.

Open and willing.
Able and ready.
The ethics of my arms.

Present and engaged.
Receiving. Giving.
The ethics of my mind.

Joy and tears.
Comfort and hope.
The ethics of my heart.

© 2012 Alden Solovy and tobendlight.com. All rights reserved.

Postscript: Here are three yoga meditations that have a similar rhythm to this prayer: “Breath: Yoga Meditation I,” “Strong: Yoga Meditation II” and “Pray and…: Yoga Meditation III.” See also: “For Service” and “On Making a Mistake.”

Please check out my ELItalk video, “Falling in Love with Prayer,” and This Grateful Heart: Psalms and Prayers for a New Day. For reprint permissions and usage guidelines and reprint permissions, see “Share the Prayer!” To receive my latest prayers via email, please subscribe (on the home page). You can also connect on Facebook and Twitter.

Photo Credit: Lindsay Olsen

“Alden has become one of Reform Judaism’s master poet-liturgists…" - Religion News Service, Dec. 23, 2020

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