GENTLE WORDS FROM THE PAST

As a teenager struggling to find myself the words of this poem had a big impact on me. Over the years I have often reread the poem and found wisdom within. May you too discover the truths therein.

Desiderata

Go placidly amid the noise and haste,

and remember what peace there may be in silence.

As far as possible without surrender

be on good terms with all persons.

Speak your truth quietly and clearly;

and listen to others,

even the dull and the ignorant;

they too have their story.

Avoid loud and aggressive persons,

they are vexations to the spirit.

If you compare yourself with others,

you may become vain and bitter;

for always there will be greater and lesser persons than yourself.

Enjoy your achievements as well as your plans.
Keep interested in your own career,

however humble;

it is a real possession in the changing fortunes of time.

Exercise caution in your business affairs;

for the world is full of trickery.

But let this not blind you to what virtue there is;

many persons strive for high ideals;

and everywhere life is full of heroism.

Be yourself.

Especially, do not feign affection.

Neither be cynical about love;

for in the face of all aridity and disenchantment

it is as perennial as the grass.

Take kindly the counsel of the years,

gracefully surrendering the things of youth.

Nurture strength of spirit to shield you in sudden misfortune.

But do not distress yourself with dark imaginings.

Many fears are born of fatigue and loneliness.

Beyond a wholesome discipline,

be gentle with yourself.

You are a child of the universe,

no less than the trees and the stars;

you have a right to be here.

And whether or not it is clear to you,

no doubt the universe is unfolding as it should.
Therefore be at peace with God,

whatever you conceive Him to be,

and whatever your labors and aspirations,

in the noisy confusion of life keep peace with your soul.

With all its sham, drudgery, and broken dreams,

it is still a beautiful world.

Be cheerful.

Strive to be happy.

Max Ehrmann, Desiderata, Copyright 1952.

Love and blessings,

Wawa Quilla

A SIMPLE TALE

This story was told to me by a very dear and special friend. May you find wisdom in its message!

Once upon a time there was a king of a grand and powerful kingdom. In his luxurious court he had many wise men and women who offered him counsel. Although he had great wealth, good health and all that he desired, he wanted to know the meaning of life. He commanded his wise people to tell him the meaning of life, but none could.

One day a humble elderly servant approached the king, saying he knew the meaning of life. The king became very excited and demanded to know. The servant said he would tell the king the meaning of life, but only under certain conditions. The king quickly agreed. The servant then said he would inscribe the words on the inside of a ring, but the king was not to read the inscription unless his life was in danger. The king readily agreed.

It came to pass a few years later, that the kingdom was attacked and the king was forced to flee for his life. As he fled the city on his trusty steed he was pursued by the enemy. The king had a head start on the enemy and road off toward the mountains. As he rode high into the mountains he came to a huge cliff with a gapping precipice and could go no further. As he sat there listening the hooves of the enemy, he remembered the ring. He quickly pulled the ring off his finger and read the inscription. It said, “This will pass.”

The king sat back in his saddle puzzled. Once more his attention was focused on the sound of the pounding hooves. To his surprise the sound seemed to be going away from him. His pursuers had lost his track and were heading of in another direction.

In the end the king’s army won the battle and the kingdom was restored. The king in deep gratitude made the humble servant his personal aide. In a short period of time the kingdom regained all of its former splendour and wealth. To celebrate the king ordered a grand parade with great shows of opulence and fanfare. As the king and his personal aide were riding through the streets of this rich kingdom, the aide turned to the king requesting that amidst this grandeur the king read again the inscription on the ring. The inscription read, “This will pass.”

Love and blessings,
Wawa Quilla

LIFE'S BLESSINGS

She is sitting high on a mountain top on the bare ground connected to Mother Earth. Around her are piles of earth, boards, adobe bricks, and an assortment of building material. It is a barren spot with only a few hardy shrubs. Below her are the bright city lights. Above her is a bright half moon and stars twinkling blue, white and gold.

She sits on the cold ground in complete peace. She feels the connection to the Cosmos, to Mother Earth and to all that is. She feels this total connection to all deep in her heart and in the essence of her being. This feeling began as a tingling sensation in her physical body. It encompasses her whole body and then settles in the heart with an intensity that is almost too much for the physical. This feel in one of a pure intense love. A love that began as a spark then grew into a fire and then rages as a conflagration that radiates from her heart in waves. It grows and grows; expands and expands! There is a slight discomfort to the physical as the inner crystal energy of love flows out.

Once more she receives a quick flash of the 50 years of her life; the struggles, the difficulties, the happiness, the sadness, the joys, the gifts, and the blessings. Then from out of her inner being comes the words, “How can one person be so very blessed? Why has my whole life been so very blessed?” These words and this feeling are not new to her. They come often but always they come as if anew. She feels like she is about to burst with love, gratitude and blessings. She thinks and feels again, “How can one life be so very blessed?”

May you also feel you are blessed in all things.

Love and blessings,
Wawa Quilla

SIMPLICITY OR LESS IS MORE

As I was being given the information for the article “What Does It Mean,” I was taken back to the year 1983. That year for me was incredibly significant, for it was in 1983 that my teenage vision of living and working overseas came true and my life as a wanderer came to be.

Before 1983 I was like other North Americans, I had a college degree, a good job, a secure and comfortable middle class life, and I took many things for granted. Unlike many North Americans, it was not enough for me. So, in the summer of 1983 I found myself in Nigeria as a volunteer. I guess like many others, I had an idealistic view of who I was and what my role would be in this poor country. I must say that those idealist notions did not last long. For when the initial romance and honeymoon period of exploring a new country was replaced with the reality of where I was, how long I would be there, and the conditions in which I would have to live finally hit, it was crash time.

I had been in the country about three months before I arrived at my new home. It just so happened that I was to be alone in my post, which was not standard policy for the organisation I was with, but that is what happened. It was when the Headmistress of the school took me to my house that the reality of everything hit me. I entered this three bedroom bungalow, with its army green dirty walls, dilapidated furniture, missing floor tiles, no water, sometimes electricity, dust, spider webs, and termites and then realised that this was would be my home for the next two years. When the Headmistress left, I sat in the middle of the dust covered living room floor and cried. The thought going through my mind was, “What have I done?” As the crying subsided, a voice spoke to me saying, “This is what you wanted. You have two choices, you can either go back home to your comfortable life or you can stay here and make the most it.” As I sat there I realised that yes, this is what I wanted to do. I got up from the floor looked around and thought, cloth for curtains.

This was the beginning of one the greatest times in my life. In that situation I learned how deal with running water for only one hour a day, electricity some of the time, creating menus around the limited supply of food in the local market, living on pennies a day (for I only received the equivalent of a Nigerian teacher’s salary), fitting into a completely different culture, teaching with extremely limited resources, and being totally alone to face it all. It was a time when my creativity and resourcefulness blossomed. It was also a time when I was happiest and felt the freest.

It was also a time when I learned the value of community and sharing. The village I lived in accepted me as part of them. This was especially evident when at one point the teachers in the state were not paid for three months that included me. As I waited to be paid and counted the dwindling supply of coins the community came to help. After the first month of no pay, I would find a tomato, a small amount of beans or rice, an egg, an onion or other small offerings of food on my door step each morning. One day, I asked the local chief why the people where doing this. For me, a western from an affluent country, this was a bit embarrassing. He told me that the people of the village knew I was alone and without family. The other Nigerian teachers had family to take care of them but I did not, so they were helping me as I was helping them in the school. I cannot tell you how I felt, the intense gratitude to these people who has so little. This great sense of community and sharing! This for me was the greatest gift that I have ever received, but also not the last gift I was to receive from these people who have so little. It is, but one of the many experiences I had during my two years in Nigeria.

When I left Nigeria and in later years when I had more lucrative jobs, I would often think of this time. The message always was that I was happiest when I had the least. This was brought back to me when in 1990, I was left with out a job, money and possessions due to the Invasion of Kuwait, but that is another story. When in 2001 I found myself back in Africa, this time in Ethiopia, the period of time I spent in Nigeria kept coming back. My situation in Ethiopia was totally different. I had a three bedroom house but this time with all the comforts of North America. And although, I loved Ethiopia and had a great job, something was wrong. What was missing was the simplicity of life. The adage of less is more kept coming back. In 2004 I left Ethiopia with only a back pack and now I am back to simplicity and much, much less. I am back to that state of happiness and peace where the material is no longer important. I have what I need at this moment and if for some reason should it all be taken for me, well so be it. It is only a few things nothing more. I know I can survive with little and I know I would be perfect content with that.

With this story of one my experiences, I hope you can see that less is more. We really can live with little and when the things we have accumulated do not clutter up our lives, we are able to focus on what is really important – our connection to the ONENESS in ALL THINGS! It is when we are without the distraction of protecting and holding on to the material that we see how beautiful simplicity really is.

Love and blessings,
Wawa Quilla

WHAT DOES IT MEAN

What do all the hurricanes, floods, earthquakes, droughts, volcanoes and prophecies mean? It means we have run out of time. Time in the linear sense, that we know it in this dimension. Time to stop this madness we call “progress”. Time, to take a good at our lives and see what really counts.

What really counts is the quiet still voice within that cries for attention, cries to be heard and acknowledged. The voice inside that says, “We are all one. We are all connected to ALL. Everything, including all those things that our minds cannot even begin to fathom, is all connected”. It is time to look and go beyond what we think is real, we think is important. It is time to gaze deeply and attentively into the obsidian mirror of our being and seek the truth that lies there.

How much longer do you think you can continue to live the LIE of so called “progress”? This progress that we calculate through expansion and the ‘grow or perish’ syndrome, which keeps us chained to meaningless work and uncontrolled consumerism. We have created a wildfire that is now burning out of control and is about to consume us. But there is still time!

Time to take a good look at your life! How much longer are you going to chase meaningless deadlines? Dead-lines! Look at that word closely, what do you see? Deadlines that only serve to make someone else rich, while keeping you trapped in the blindness of consumerism. How much longer are you going to buy the lie of progress? The lie that keeps you running in circles, chasing seemingly important shadows, buying more and more things that you do not need, and which keeps you from the truth. The lie, which has succeeded in polluting our waters, earth, air and our lives. The lie that keeps you from stopping, going within and reflecting on the meaning of it all. The lie that keeps you from realising the simple truths; less is more, harmony with all things and that joy, happiness and peace can only come from within.

This is what it means. Humanity has bought the lie of so called progress and the in the process we have destroyed our home-Earth. Now Mother Earth, Pachamama, Gaia, our home is saying, “Enough”. It is NOW the moment when we must change. Change our ways, change our thoughts, and change our lives. Mother Earth is only helping us to see that more clearly. Now is the time to stop the lie and to connect with the Creator within. Now is the time to peer deeply into the obsidian mirror of our being. All it takes is one step, but do you have the courage to take that step?

Love and blessings,
Wawa Quilla

MOUNTAIN STANDING

The mountains stand tall and firm,
Reaching towards the heavens
With their based deeply rooted in the earth.
A connection between the Cosmos and the Earth.
Deep within the heart of the mountain
The crystal heart beats and shines.

Now with the shifting, turning, changing times
We too must stand firm,
With our heads reaching towards the Cosmos
And our feet deeply rooted in the Earth.
Our crystal hearts the connection to All
sending out the message – LOVE!

Within each of us is a great transmitter.
A transmitter that for so long has been ignored
And scorned while favouring the mind.
This transmitter is beautiful and multifaceted.
It lies wrapped in the red beating heart
Like the centre of a lotus.
It is the crystal of light that shines with each one.
It is the essence of our being.
When infused with the infinite of love of all
Our crystal heart radiates likes a prism
All the colours of the rainbow
To all who come near.

Stand firm my friends
Be like the mountain.
But most of all connect to the infinite love of the Creator.
Let this infinite love flow through the crystal within
And transmit rainbows of love where ever you go.

Love and blessings,

Wawa Quilla

POSSESSIONS

Possessions.

That tangled mix of attachment, memories and fears.

Things and objects that cloud the vision and enslave the soul.

Things and objects that clutter the cupboards, basements, garages and houses.

Things that some day will be needed.

Things that evoke memories – happy, sad, bittersweet.

Things used once then discarded in a heap.

Things one is so fearful of losing.

Innate objects defended with our lives.

They are but things.

How trapped we have become to these things!

How dependant we have become on these things for our identity!

But what happens when we lose them?

Do we lose our identity?

Do we lose our memories?

No, we have lost only things.

We still have our life, our spirit, our inner self.

What more do we need?

We come into this world without possessions and we leave it without possessions.

So, why do we collect, amass, and hoard so many things?

Why do we live in such great fear of losing those possessions?

When we move to the spirit world, will it matter how many things we had?

Will our material identity matter?

Or will the essence of our spiritual self be what counts?

Our love of all creation, our kindness, our generosity, our honesty and our connection to the Creator is all that will matter then.

Possessions trapping us in this illusion called reality!

Love and blessings,
Wawa Quilla