<html><head><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"></head><body style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;" class=""><div class="">Dear Ed and Beloved Community, </div><div class="">Thank you for your poem of inspiration….</div><div class="">Sending a shout out for poetry, rhyme and serious silliness! So many blessings to have and to share……</div><div class="">so grateful for all of you and beyond……wishing you all a beautiful day of gratitude, knowing everyday is indeed</div><div class="">a day to celebrate our blessings……enjoy this sun, your familiy and friends and as we love to remind ourselves…</div><div class="">keep opening wider, empty out the old limitations, give and recieve like never before……</div><div class="">With only love, </div><div class="">T</div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class="">Another Thanksgiving, Still Here</div><div class=""><br class=""></div>well, Indeedy you got that licken stick<div class="">shakin me awake</div><div class="">this hunger is legitimate</div><div class="">the earth is gonna quake</div><div class="">the ground will swell</div><div class="">the clouds will fall </div><div class="">and we, all in all good faith</div><div class="">shall around the table gather</div><div class="">with mirthful lips upon our face.</div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class="">These empty hands, these empty bowls </div><div class="">offered from this empty place</div><div class="">oh fill my heart with hearty soup </div><div class="">stirred with spoons of twirling grace</div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class="">warm my toes</div><div class="">and glisten my eyes</div><div class="">and fill again my soul </div><div class="">my thankful cup runneth over and over</div><div class="">into this community bowl. </div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class=""><div><blockquote type="cite" class=""><div class="">On Nov 22, 2022, at 10:30 PM, Ed Balldinger via Thespiritexpress <<a href="mailto:thespiritexpress@lists.mcn.org" class="">thespiritexpress@lists.mcn.org</a>> wrote:</div><br class="Apple-interchange-newline"><div class=""><div dir="ltr" class=""><div dir="ltr" class="">Great soup kitchen minglings here, good people! <div class=""><br class=""></div><div class="">Thanks for showing me a soul kitchen that I've not identified with for some time. <div class=""><br class=""></div><div class="">Ladle up! These are good eats! </div></div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class="">~ Ed </div></div><br class=""><div class="gmail_quote"><div dir="ltr" class="gmail_attr">On Tue, Nov 22, 2022 at 7:33 PM Riantee Rand <<a href="mailto:riantee@mcn.org" target="_blank" class="">riantee@mcn.org</a>> wrote:<br class=""></div><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0px 0px 0px 0.8ex;border-left:1px solid rgb(204,204,204);padding-left:1ex"><div class="">Oh Ed -<div class="">I am still here <span style="font-size:15px" class="">–– with you!</span></div><div class=""><span style="font-size:15px" class=""><i class="">Very good soup!</i><br class=""></span><div class=""><br class=""><blockquote type="cite" class=""><div class="">On Nov 22, 2022, at 13:43, Ed Balldinger via Thespiritexpress <<a href="mailto:thespiritexpress@lists.mcn.org" target="_blank" class="">thespiritexpress@lists.mcn.org</a>> wrote:</div><br class=""><div class=""><div dir="ltr" class="">I was so happy to have our grandson, Jayden, join us for Shaking Yoga and Meditation this morning before his buddies came and picked him up for some time in the park. He did real good! <div class=""><br class=""></div><div class="">This is a poem that meditation and Pathwork of Self-Transformation class inspired in me today. Always a pleasure studying with you all. </div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class="">Blessings, </div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class="">~ Ed </div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class=""><div style="margin:0in;font-size:12pt;font-family:Arial,sans-serif" class=""><u class=""><span style="font-size:16pt" class="">Still Here</span></u></div><p style="margin:0in;font-size:12pt;font-family:Arial,sans-serif" class=""> </p><p style="margin:0in;font-size:12pt;font-family:Arial,sans-serif" class=""> </p><div style="margin:0in;font-size:12pt;font-family:Arial,sans-serif" class="">I’m still here – scratching on the walls of yesterday. </div><div style="margin:0in;font-size:12pt;font-family:Arial,sans-serif" class="">I’m still here – knocking on the doors of tomorrow. </div><div style="margin:0in;font-size:12pt;font-family:Arial,sans-serif" class="">I’m still here – embracing so many moments now. </div><div style="margin:0in;font-size:12pt;font-family:Arial,sans-serif" class="">I’m still here – like I always thought I was before. </div><p style="margin:0in;font-size:12pt;font-family:Arial,sans-serif" class=""> </p><div style="margin:0in;font-size:12pt;font-family:Arial,sans-serif" class="">This shift in my steady reflection leaves </div><div style="margin:0in;font-size:12pt;font-family:Arial,sans-serif" class="">my acceptance tipped in favor of staying. </div><div style="margin:0in;font-size:12pt;font-family:Arial,sans-serif" class="">Here, hold my soul in your hands and warm </div><div style="margin:0in;font-size:12pt;font-family:Arial,sans-serif" class="">it from within before it freezes in time, help me.</div><p style="margin:0in;font-size:12pt;font-family:Arial,sans-serif" class=""> </p><div style="margin:0in;font-size:12pt;font-family:Arial,sans-serif" class="">This shift in my idealized self is a walk through </div><div style="margin:0in;font-size:12pt;font-family:Arial,sans-serif" class="">the kitchen pantry looking to pull some of my own </div><div style="margin:0in;font-size:12pt;font-family:Arial,sans-serif" class="">imperfection off the shelf of unknowing and whip up </div><div style="margin:0in;font-size:12pt;font-family:Arial,sans-serif" class="">a new batch of humble pie to serve myself freely.</div><p style="margin:0in;font-size:12pt;font-family:Arial,sans-serif" class=""> </p><div style="margin:0in;font-size:12pt;font-family:Arial,sans-serif" class="">Yes, I’m still here – tasting each expectation. </div><div style="margin:0in;font-size:12pt;font-family:Arial,sans-serif" class="">I’m still here – lathering every dirty spot to wash. </div><div style="margin:0in;font-size:12pt;font-family:Arial,sans-serif" class="">I’m still here – in contemplative instigation.</div><div style="margin:0in;font-size:12pt;font-family:Arial,sans-serif" class="">I’m still here – cradling the infancy of my true self. </div><p style="margin:0in;font-size:12pt;font-family:Arial,sans-serif" class=""> </p><div style="margin:0in;font-size:12pt;font-family:Arial,sans-serif" class="">The more I look into this melding mirror, </div><div style="margin:0in;font-size:12pt;font-family:Arial,sans-serif" class="">the more I become one with <i class="">mirror living</i>. </div><div style="margin:0in;font-size:12pt;font-family:Arial,sans-serif" class="">The more I dissolve this image, the more </div><div style="margin:0in;font-size:12pt;font-family:Arial,sans-serif" class="">it becomes its own deflected reflection.</div><p style="margin:0in;font-size:12pt;font-family:Arial,sans-serif" class=""> </p><div style="margin:0in;font-size:12pt;font-family:Arial,sans-serif" class="">When I recognize impossibility in its full dress, </div><div style="margin:0in;font-size:12pt;font-family:Arial,sans-serif" class="">I wanna head back to the kitchen of my soul, </div><div style="margin:0in;font-size:12pt;font-family:Arial,sans-serif" class="">stir the pot on the stove top, tasting implicitly </div><div style="margin:0in;font-size:12pt;font-family:Arial,sans-serif" class="">the spices of truth, space and being here now.</div><p style="margin:0in;font-size:12pt;font-family:Arial,sans-serif" class=""> </p><div style="text-indent:0.5in;margin:0in;font-size:12pt;font-family:Arial,sans-serif" class=""><i class="">Soup’s on!! </i></div><p style="margin:0in;font-size:12pt;font-family:Arial,sans-serif" class=""> </p><p style="margin:0in;font-size:12pt;font-family:Arial,sans-serif" class=""> </p><div style="margin:0in;font-size:12pt;font-family:Arial,sans-serif" class=""><a name="m_-5878848287452327701_m_-2710504329821424631__Hlk37055206" class=""><span style="font-family:"Monotype Corsiva"" class="">Edgar Z. Balldinger </span></a></div><div style="margin:0in;font-size:12pt;font-family:Arial,sans-serif" class=""><span style="font-family:"Monotype Corsiva"" class="">November
22, 2022</span></div><div style="margin:0in;font-size:12pt;font-family:Arial,sans-serif" class=""><i class=""><span style="font-family:"Monotype Corsiva"" class=""> ©
Nublin’s Pub, 202</span></i><i class=""><span style="font-family:"Monotype Corsiva"" class="">2</span></i></div></div><div class=""> </div></div>
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