Nuestra tarea no consiste en arreglar el mundo entero de una vez, sino en poner los medios para que aquel trocito de mundo sobre el que podemos influir, mejore. Por pequeño e imperceptible que sea, cualquier gesto que un alma tenga para ayudar a otra alma, aliviando así algo del sufrimiento de este tan necesitado mundo, será de grandísima utilidad. Nadie nos va a decir cuáles serán los actos, ni quiénes las personas que conformen esa masa crítica que consiga hacer del bien algo sostenido en el tiempo. Para que la transformación sea radical es necesario que sigamos sumando gestos y más gestos, sin tregua. Sabemos que para que la paz y la justicia se instauren en la Tierra no se precisa a toda la humanidad, sino solo a un reducido grupo de personas tenaces que no se rindan al primer golpe de viento, ni al segundo, ni a un centenar de tormentas que azotaran.
Para apaciguar la tormenta de este mundo, una de las acciones más poderosas que puedes poner en marcha es la de alzarte y mostrar tu alma. El alma que en tiempos de oscuridad aparece en cubierta, brilla como el oro. La luz del alma arroja destellos, escupe llamaradas, emite hilos de señales, y prende la llama de los asuntos que así lo requieren. Tan inmensamente valiente como absolutamente necesario es que en tiempos sombríos como este hagamos brillar la linterna del alma, actuando con determinación pero sin dejar de mostrar compasión hacia otras personas. Las almas esforzadas se prenden con la luz que emiten aquellas que brillan con toda su potencia y se dejan ver. Si quieres contribuir a apaciguar la agitación, esta es una de las cosas más poderosas que puedes hacer.
Siempre habrá momentos en que te visite el desaliento. Yo también he sentido desesperación muchas veces en mi vida, pero no le permito que se acomode, ni le doy juego, ni por supuesto la alimento. [...]
Con ese ánimo te invito a que te grabes bien este mensaje: Cuando un magnífico barco permanece amarrado en el puerto, no cabe duda de que está a salvo; sin embargo los mejores barcos no están hechos para eso.
--Clarissa Pinkola Estes
Add Your Reflection
68 Past Reflections
On Jan 1, 2025Selina Sweet wrote :
Yes! And, no! great ships are not built for hanging out in safe harbors....but for navigating the great swells and ebbs within and without us! I so appreciate Dr. Estes celebration of truly living life from the vibrancy of the Wild Woman within. Muchisimas gracias!
I am one person. I move forward always with one first thought. Never set out to harm another person intentionally. I try to do the next right thing. The harder it is usually the better it is for my soul.
Would it surprise you to learn that small actions on your part can significantly alter the course of dire circumstances you would have otherwise thought were out of your control?
Endure Ensure Enable Encourage, Restore, be the truth, live the faith, close to Nature, watch her ways listen for her wisdom, always there, we just need to be in the moment, of being to receive the benediction that night into dawnlight bestows.
My mom passed away this week. I had so many people asking how to honor her, where they could send flowers, etc. Here is my response.
"Many of you have asked about sending flowers or how to honor my mom. Here is what she would like. Give some warm socks to a homeless shelter. Plant a tree in your yard. Plant a tree in your neighbor's yard. Buy someone lunch who couldn't buy it for themselves. Sing. Send something to the food shelf. Or an animal rescue group. Dance. Believe. Have faith. My mom didn't live a perfect life. So in her honor, when you give, do so without thinking about it or judging if someone is worthy. Just give the way your heart prompts you to give. And love deeply, imperfectly, with all the lumps and bumps and bruises that come with being human. Plant a perennial. She used to say, "Why do people keep giving me flowers? Give me a bulb! Give me a root! Give me something I can put in the dirt that will be back next year."
This reminds me of a favorite song to perform and share, Megan McDonough's Wake Up and Dream .... with that line "You can wait a lonely lifetime, for a knock upon the door - ships are safe inside the harbor, but is that what ships are for?" Thank you for this reminder.
This writing has been an inspiration for me for many years. It sits close to my heart and I bring out to read and reread when life throws challenges my way. So appropriate for these times. Thank you.
I am right here with you. I share this with so many and know many friends who are ready. I'm writing a book called Truly Wild and your work is a huge inspiration, thank you. I'd love to meet you sometime. Thank you so much for your vision and your soulful, wild self.
Check me out on Facebook.
Rhythmically and wildly yours,
Patty Aulik
Thank you, beautifully written anda greatsentiment to finish by.
Life is never easy, and sometimes we make big changes that are hard to do. Something inside you stirs, and you realise there is joy simple things,and you move forward. You are lucky when you have great children and friends who support you on your new journey. Yoga gave meaning to my life and soul.
In these difficult times, it has brought out the best in so many people, and hopefully will bring more kindnesswhen the world calms down.
This mirrors my sentiments exactly. Thank you for this lovely post. Also thoroughly enjoyed your book "Women Who Run With the Wolves"...one of those books you can read again and again. Have shared with many people.
Thanks for your words !
I really have a pleasure, telling jou something about myself, why I am touched by your words.
Sorry for my "small" English.
Once, 3 years ago, I was invited for a lunch, for thanking me, helping during a period of dancing with others.(5 rhytms)
We are invited to sit near next to very tiny objects.
I chose immediatly a sailingship, intuitively.
Not understanding why.
Trusting that once I would understand the reason why.
Today, when I read your words, I first understand, how to live my life. How I can change my direction. To be more tuned to my soul: an enthousiastic dancing and moving child.
Not "only" a housekeeper.
But really thankfull for having loving relation-SHIPS (Ha ha): my brave and sick 90 years old mother, my son and daughter, partner,brother and others, who I really love.
There was a time in my life, loving a man, who give me and my children, all his shit. Four years I don 't act, what was needed: to say "stop" to hi... [View Full Comment]Thanks for your words !
I really have a pleasure, telling jou something about myself, why I am touched by your words.
Sorry for my "small" English.
Once, 3 years ago, I was invited for a lunch, for thanking me, helping during a period of dancing with others.(5 rhytms)
We are invited to sit near next to very tiny objects.
I chose immediatly a sailingship, intuitively.
Not understanding why.
Trusting that once I would understand the reason why.
Today, when I read your words, I first understand, how to live my life. How I can change my direction. To be more tuned to my soul: an enthousiastic dancing and moving child.
Not "only" a housekeeper.
But really thankfull for having loving relation-SHIPS (Ha ha): my brave and sick 90 years old mother, my son and daughter, partner,brother and others, who I really love.
There was a time in my life, loving a man, who give me and my children, all his shit. Four years I don 't act, what was needed: to say "stop" to him and leave him. I lost my selfrespect.
Ten years later: I feel safe enough to
leave my harbour, letting go my needs to get safe, only by another(very nice) man.
Now I am safe enough, I'll trust myself, my intuition, my questions for helping me.
Now I can feel the "calling" wind again.
Simple by speaking my truth about the pain, caused by people, who will damage me and others, for speaking judgements and killing words about others. What it means to me in the past, not showing my deepest feelings of being so lonely, stressed, depressed.
I now let go all my fears, of not being good enough, not succesfully enough, not brave enough, to sail away from people, who will press me down, who have no respect for my way of restoring (my) trust in myself and whats really need to be done.
Focussed on the wind, where she is going, what needs my attention.
I say "hello" to my happiness and Light. I welcome you, I embrace your happiness and Light.
I wish the best for you.
Do it your own way, in your time and rhytm. I do it my way !
If you like it, to react: welcome to you.
Thank you, for your inspiring words.
Bye!!
Christine Reeders.(the Netherlands)
This stirred my heart, spoke to my soul. I have shared it with others, spread the word. Thank you. The Quakers tell me to 'live adventurously' and I will shine out as best I can.
Thank you for this, it touched my heart and reminded me how well we are doing as we survive the latest onslaught, and return battered and bruised but ready and willing to continue to contribute where and when we can. We are stronger than we think!
Oh this is like a balm to my saddened heart and soul. With our country burning and the lands of my childhood, NSW South coast now in ashes I have felt deep sadness in connection with these fires and the memories of long ago, as a child with my mother at her mother's property on the Clyde River at Bateman's Bay. Thank you Clarissa for the reminder to be present with ...what is within my reach.
Powerful words from a writer I have great admiration for ever since Women Who Run With The Wolves. In the deepest part of me I know this to be true and will try hard to do my bit.
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.
It is so true, and I am grateful today for the reminder that I ma not built to be kept in a
safe harbor. There are times for it...and truly it is not what I was built for.
It’s important to listen to what people want to be sure your helping not hindering I love to feel useful it’s great doing the little things that to someone else is Massive
amazing writing thanks for sharing
Part of this was read at a prayer circle I belong to this morning. I had not read any of Ms. Estes' work, but I was gobsmacked by the beauty and wisdom here. "Soul on deck" is so powerful! This speaks to all times and places and situations. Thank you.
I stumbled upon this post this morning as I was checking a quote. The full message is a fun find and feels incredibly powerful 9 years later. Thank you for these beautiful words. <3
These famous words. "Ye are Gods. Be ye perfect even as your father in heaven is perfect. These things that I have done, ye too shall do, and even greater things than these shall ye do." Those words were meant for YOU.
Thank you for this reflection. I have been talking with class members in a counseling course I teach, about
kindness. And I will be sharing your reflection with them next week.
Oh, how these words ring true for me these days! Many thanks for sharing them and offering them to us in our public conversation. Gratefully, Lee ireland
it is 3 o'clock in the morning and somehow (though i don't believe in coincidences) my ship was guided to this particular harbor where, yes, i do feel safe and able to moor. i promise you i will not stay here, but will continue on my journey as a 66 year old woman for whom the beloved crone years are the very best. the wild and wise path, whose forest trails have been sketched with such fierce tenderness and love by clarissa pinkola estes, is one that the "hungry boots" of my youth long ago touched down on, as if i never had a choice. i have stumbled much and often tripped on the tree roots beneath my feet, especially when journeying through the woods when dark or moving too fast. it is fellow travellers like ms. estes who illuminate the markers on the trails and call out with wisdom and reassurance when i'm miraculously back on track. she is a compass, a guide, and sometimes - i suspect - that fierce eagle flying above whose soaring and dipping... [View Full Comment]
it is 3 o'clock in the morning and somehow (though i don't believe in coincidences) my ship was guided to this particular harbor where, yes, i do feel safe and able to moor. i promise you i will not stay here, but will continue on my journey as a 66 year old woman for whom the beloved crone years are the very best. the wild and wise path, whose forest trails have been sketched with such fierce tenderness and love by clarissa pinkola estes, is one that the "hungry boots" of my youth long ago touched down on, as if i never had a choice. i have stumbled much and often tripped on the tree roots beneath my feet, especially when journeying through the woods when dark or moving too fast. it is fellow travellers like ms. estes who illuminate the markers on the trails and call out with wisdom and reassurance when i'm miraculously back on track. she is a compass, a guide, and sometimes - i suspect - that fierce eagle flying above whose soaring and dipping show what it looks like to be free.
i suppose that yes, great ships are meant to sail in the vastness of the ocean waters. but without a harbor to rest in and sometimes call "home," they would easily weary and sometimes get lost. in that blessed sense, clarissa tosses me an anchor that i cherish for it is one of the few i have ever known. of course, she soon sends me on my way, but with the loving admonition that i brave the choppy waters and still - in my soul - know that i am safe.
So true. I find great satisfaction in teaching middle school children. The "turmoil" they face is amazing and I feel good being a "calm" center for them to respond to.
A very timely email for me, as a the last week or so I have been feeling overwhelmed by all the things that 'need to be put right' in the world.
I am a little confused at the last paragraph..it is good advice, but seemingly starts a completely new train of thought.
It has been too long that I have been without Estes' readings to ponder what life is truly about. In the age of global everything, we loose a grasp on what is most important...those around us. We forget that we have a powerful, positive influence here and every day by living our true nature and showing it to the world. Blessings for bringing this shining wisdom to me today!