Shirley Lynn Martin

01/13/2026

Happy Tuesday!

I’ve had conversations with people about what can they do for good in these times. With such intentional acts of destruction and misinformation (and disinformation) that seem to sweeping across our planet, what really can we do? Some people assume we have never been in this situation before. Perhaps some of us haven’t experienced this before in our generation or in our part of the world, but these events have been experienced in other parts of the world and at other times in history. What we can benefit from is asking what wisdom do our ancestors have for these times we face? What can we gain from the experiences they lived? This means digging into the history of our ancestors, our country of birth, our country’s relationship to its own people, to other nations, its light and shadows….. just like we do on our own personal lives. We are bound to repeat what we do not learn.

We can also look to our own communities and notice what grassroots movements or organizations are looking for volunteers to support the work they do. Find one that awakens your passion and heart and move your feet and lend your hands in that direction. Healthy communities are resilient. Communities that care about its members and have ways of connecting and supporting are more able to withstand outside challenges. Staying connected to community is important to feel valued and courageous. As an Anishinaabe teacher once said, “you can only be where your feet are.” The teaching from the 90s is also true here… think globally, act locally. I find that in participating in my community and connecting with its members builds hope in me and keeps me working towards what is truly worthwhile.

I also know that I can continue to create an internal ethos of kindness and respect for life. When that ethos becomes reflexive, I can find small, simple ways of connecting with people who cross my path. I can extend smiles, receive an open hand when someone seeks to help me and show my gratitude for their humanity and kindness.

And we certainly can show up to our spiritual practices and practice what restores inner balance, grounding and centredness. With a world so out of balance, these fundamental practices and states of being provide inner stability amidst the chaos and noise.

Loosing ourselves to despair cannot be an option. We may have moments where despair floods through, but we must find the ways to restore hope and kindness, a joy for life that is a powerful immunity against a chronic state of despair. Creative and courageous responses come from reflection, connecting with Nature, with ourselves and with heart-full community.

Of course, there are other ways to show up to these times. What I have mentioned are largely available to many of us, if we are willing to invest what we want to see happen in our lives.

I would welcome what you are doing to stay hopeful, purposeful and even joyful in these times. Peace.

01/12/2026

Happy Monday! Live life preciously ….

“We are often sad and suffer a lot when things change, but change and impermanence have a positive side. Thanks to impermanence, everything is possible. Life itself is possible. If a grain of corn is not impermanent, it can never be transformed into a stalk of corn. If the stalk were not impermanent, it could never provide us with the ear of corn we eat. If your daughter is not impermanent, she cannot grow up to become a woman. Then your grandchildren would never manifest. So instead of complaining about impermanence, we should say, ‘Warm welcome and long live impermanence.’ We should be happy. When we can see the miracle of impermanence, our sadness and suffering will pass.” Thich Nhat Hanh

When we come to grips with our mortality—and realize that we aren’t going to live forever—the preciousness of everything in life emerges from the depths of our minds and our experience of life changes significantly. If you’re anything like me, you might have moments when you get reminded of your mortality—when you are touched by an emotional scene in a movie, or when you pass by a car accident, or when a loved one gets sick or dies—and after you spend some time feeling sad, upset, or philosophical, you go right back to living without death in mind and unintentionally live taking life for granted. And while I don’t think that we should live with death always on our minds, I think that finding ways that we can remind ourselves of our impermanence on a daily basis can definitely have positive effects on happiness in ourselves and others.

When we carry mortality around in the forefront of our minds, life becomes increasingly precious. We see what we may never see again; smell what we may never smell again; hear what we may never hear again; touch what we may never touch again; and taste what we may never taste again—and we enter a blissful state of deep gratitude and appreciation for what we have in each moment of each day. When we live our lives on autopilot and keep our mortality buried, we take much of life for granted and may end up having regrets.
Matt Hogan.
https://movemequotes.com/quotes-from-no-death-no-fear/

01/11/2026

Happy Sunday!

“TRIPPING OVER JOY

What is the difference
Between your experience of Existence
And that of a saint?

The saint knows
That the spiritual path
Is a sublime chess game with God

And that the Beloved
Has just made such a Fantastic Move

That the saint is now continually
Tripping over Joy
And bursting out in Laughter
And saying, “I Surrender!”

Whereas, my dear,
I am afraid you still think
You have a thousand serious moves.”
― Hafez, I Heard God Laughing: Poems of Hope and Joy

picture: Laurie Minor

01/11/2026

Happy Sunday!

Always we hope
someone else has the answer,
some other place will be better,
some other time,
it will all turn out.
This is it.
No one else has the answer,
no other place will be better,
and it has already turned out.
At the center of your being,
you have the answer:
you know who you are and
you know what you want.
There is no need to run outside
for better seeing,
nor to peer from a window.
Rather abide at the center of your being:
for the more you leave it,
the less you learn.
Search your heart and see
the way to do is to be.
Abide at the center of your being.
~Lao Tzu

01/10/2026

Rest well tonight!

As the day lowers its voice
and the light leans back into the earth,
I pause.

Ekosi.
It is enough for today.

Thank you for the breath that carried me,
for the steps that did not falter,
for the lessons that came gently—
and even for the ones that did not.

I set down what is not mine to carry tonight.
The worries.
The sharp words.
The unfinished thoughts.

Nistam êkwa—
first, and then—
I choose peace.

Creator, help me listen more than I speak.
Help me tend the fire without feeding the flames.
Help me remember that not all work is done with the hands—
some work is done by resting.

Watch over the ones I love.
Watch over the children,
the elders,
the ones who feel alone in the dark.

Kîsikâw pimâtisiwin—
teach me how to live well tomorrow
by resting well tonight.

As the stars return to their places
and the earth breathes me back,
I trust you with what comes next.

Êkwa mâna.
And so it continues.

01/09/2026

Happy Friday!

Choose the trajectory of peace. Just begin by facing that direction.

“Nothing ever comes to rest. Everything keeps moving. Even stationary objects are moving though we do not see it. Change is constant and that means we are not the same from one moment to another either. Our cells are constantly in the process of changing. So if I am moving through a tough situation, there is no point trying to find ‘rest’ so that I can cope. That is impossible. Instead, I can choose trajectory, to move in a direction that will lead me toward peace. THAT is always attainable.”

From "Embers" by Richard Wagamese (p. 124)

01/08/2026

Happy Thursday!

Staying focused and being steadfast in your path creates changes. Success follows.

For years, this 'parable' comes to mind and has served as a guide for me. It's a simple story but the wisdom is profound.

The Æsop Fable for Children: The Hare & the Tortoise

A Hare was making fun of the Tortoise one day for being so slow.

"Do you ever get anywhere?" he asked with a mocking laugh.

"Yes," replied the Tortoise, "and I get there sooner than you think. I'll run you a race and prove it."

The Hare was much amused at the idea of running a race with the Tortoise, but for the fun of the thing he agreed. So the Fox, who had consented to act as judge, marked the distance and started the runners off.

The Hare was soon far out of sight, and to make the Tortoise feel very deeply how ridiculous it was for him to try a race with a Hare, he lay down beside the course to take a nap until the Tortoise should catch up.

The Tortoise meanwhile kept going slowly but steadily, and, after a time, passed the place where the Hare was sleeping. But the Hare slept on very peacefully; and when at last he did wake up, the Tortoise was near the goal. The Hare now ran his swiftest, but he could not overtake the Tortoise in time.

The race is not always to the swift.
http://read.gov/aesop/025.html

01/07/2026

Happy Wednesday! Just for today, turn one degree towards gratitude and joy.

You woke up today and so another day of life has been given! That’s incredible. Find that place of gratitude for this gift to breathe, to sincerely connect with those you love and who love you, to engage with what brings joy and fulfillment.

These times are not easy as we watch old structures fall, old alliances breach long held agreements and algorithms disorient and disorder our systems of communication and common understanding of the nature of knowledge.

I know there are spiritual teachers and practitioners around the world who work daily and with love and diligence to bring, to radiate compassion and wisdom and kindness in our world. We forget the power of subtle vibrations of love and kindness and wisdom that reveal creative and responsive ideas and actions for the troubled times. We need to trust there are others, neighbours in communities and nations and religious traditions who seek peace with us. This mindset helps sustain hope and do what is ours to do knowing we are not alone.

And for this, open your heart to the emerging human spirit awakening to meet the moment with love, courage and clarity and grounding, with a creative force to reclaim a fundamental goodness for all life. Open your mind and heart that these people, these communities exist all around the world. Be deeply grateful our spirits join in this mission of love for humanity and our Mother Earth. It exists. Live in this gratitude and let it move you to do what is kind and is peace.

01/06/2026

Happy Tuesday!

Becoming our true nature is a significant part of the spiritual path. Returning to our essential nature and the spark of light within us. Such a journey involves an ongoing practice of releasing the layers of identity and beliefs that don’t serve us, that fail to liberate our spirit, that hide and diminish our inner light. Many spiritual teachers highlight that as we grow older, the path of all things ego begin to become undone as the soul’s quest and purpose for life awakens and emerges.

The second part of life begins with letting go of who we believe we should be, who others think we should be and who society or institutions tell us we should be. In all of these “shoulds” , assumptions, judgments and fantasies about an ideal life operate unconsciously and incessantly and very often quite harshly. And our inner light, our spirit goes deeper into the forest, hiding from gods of colonialism and corporate greed, if you will.

The harshness of colonialism and corporate culture is certainly destroying our connections of kindness and empathy. The manner of “othering “ that is being exploited is destroying communities and a deep sense of commitment to our common humanity.

In nourishing and reclaiming our spirit we can put our ego second. We can restore the right order where love can flow and grow. In letting go of what isn’t actually our true nature and restoring the radiance of our inner light, joy and soul purpose can become guiding forces in our lives.

My sincere hope is that we believe that our common humanity, our innate desires for genuine happiness , and our beautiful Mother Earth who sustains us are worth working for very real and consistent ways.

I invite you to start with noticing what wants to be released today.

01/04/2026

Happy Sunday! Be this blesssing….

BLESSING FOR PEACE

As the fever of day calms towards twilight
May all that is strained in us come to ease.

We pray for all who suffered violence today,
May an unexpected serenity surprise them.

For those who risk their lives each day for peace,
May their hearts glimpse providence at the heart of history.

That those who make riches from violence and war
Might hear in their dreams the cries of the lost.

That we might see through our fear of each other
A new vision to heal our fatal attraction to aggression.

That those who enjoy the privilege of peace
Might not forget their tormented brothers and sisters.

That the wolf might lie down with the lamb,
That our swords be beaten into ploughshares

And no hurt or harm be done
Anywhere along the holy mountain.

JOHN O'DONOHUE

From the book, Benedictus
Ordering Info: https://johnodonohue.com/store

County Clare, Ireland
Photo: © Ann Cahill

01/03/2026

Happy Saturday! Let’s dream in honesty and truth of a way of vitality that respects our humanity and our more than human relatives in 2026. Let’s be curiously brave together! Its the first full moon if the year!

“Hope is not optimism, which expects things to turn out well, but something rooted in the conviction that there is something worth working for” ( with all our hearts).

Seamus Heaney.

“And the dead shall sing
To the living and the semi-alive
Bells will ring
When you arrive. “

Bruce Cockburn

“There is a song that wantsto sing itself through us. And we’ve just got to be available. Maybe the song that is to be sung through us is a most beautiful requiem for an irreplaceable planet, or maybe it’s a song of joyous rebirth as we create a new culture that doesn’t destroy its world.” Joanna Macey

01/01/2026

Happy New Year! Happy Thursday !

May 2026 guide you toward peace you can feel, joy you can trust and strength you can carry proudly. (My friend gifted me this blessing i share with you all)

Welcome in 2026 and the journey of the sun and our earth's relationship to it. Out of the dark the seed opens. Out of the dark, the light shines and brings us hope, vision and the blessing of love. So let's welcome 2026!

Welcome to what this year brings. Welcome to the doors that will open, while closing others no longer required. Welcome to the new friends, acquaintances and co-workers we will meet. Welcome to new family members whether by birth, or by other relationships that become part of our circle of love. Welcome to new ideas and fresh habits that open the windows of our minds and free our souls. Welcome the creative and diverse energies that bring passion and excitement.

Welcome what is ongoing--the routines, the daily chores and tasks, the familiar environments that help us feel balanced and secure. Welcome the small blessings of sunny skies, fresh falling snow, homemade food, drinkable water, warm beds. Welcome Nature that joins us in this passing of time, of experiences, of life itself.

Welcome the challenges, the commitments, the grit and grace to change one habit, to heal a relationship wound, to restore health from illness. These challenges and disappointments will happen anyway, so we may as well welcome them and face them with the wisdom and faith we gained from 2025 and before.

Welcome the invitation to learn the ways of peace, of truth and reconciliation where conflict exists. Welcome the task of listening and of learning whatever leadership skills are yours to learn (even if you see yourself as a follower) that can lead yourself and those around you towards a new way of peace. We owe it to ourselves and this planet to create and breathe in new and peace-building relations and communications--to do what we haven't been willing to risk before.

And finally, welcome a spiritual focus for this year, through an intention, an inner state of becoming, a question to carry which will serve as your guide, your inspiration, your teacher, your challenge for this year. If you don't know what this word, intentionor inquiry is yet, take this weekend and do some writing and some journaling, some listening to your heart. Let your spirit guide you this week. Let it come from within your wellspring of knowing! Peace.