Heaven at the Colophon Cafe

I had this moment yesterday – sitting in the Colophon Cafe in Bellingham – that was perfect. I felt my whole body just relax, and this big sigh came out of me, and my eyes closed and I listened to the folksy music playing in the background, and the conversations and laughter of the diners around me, and – for just a glimmer of a moment – I was sitting in heaven. I’m trying to find the words to describe it, and I’m trying to find the words to help me get back there, but I don’t think there are the just right words that fit that experience. I think that moment was beyond words. But here are the words that come closest: For a brief moment I felt no time, no hurry, no schedule, no expectations, no past, no future, and nothing crowding in on me. I felt joy, peace, love. I felt space. I felt in the present. I felt safe.

There were three people sitting at the table across from me – maybe my age or a little younger. And I felt this positive energy coming from them. (If I were more educated about this stuff, I might say I felt “positive auras” surrounding them – but I don’t know enough about auras to use that word and really know what I’m talking about.) I think they were having a business meeting of some sort. I’m hard-of-hearing, and couldn’t pick up on all that they were saying (ahem… not that I was trying to eavesdrop or anything), but these snippets reached me:

Woman with curly silver hair in a high pony tail: People tell me they sometimes have to take a break from me because of my energy. (Laughing.) And I understand that, but I tell them if they think it’s hard being AROUND me, can they imagine what it’s like to actually BE me? Sometimes *I* need a break from me!

A little later…

Pony-tailed woman: It seems as we get older we go one of two directions – either we become more crotchety, more crabby, more…

Woman with dark, shoulder-length hair: (Laughing.) We become more of what we already are.

The iron-haired man sitting next to the dark-haired woman – her husband maybe? – winced at this and started laughing, and I found myself laughing with him.

It got me to thinking. What direction am “I” headed? What am I becoming more of?

And how can I bring more of these perfect moments into my life?
-Karen Molenaar Terrell

“Heaven is not a locality, but a divine state of Mind.”
-Mary Baker Eddy

(photo by Karen Molenaar Terrell)

Claim This Moment

Claim this moment.
And the next one.
And the next.
-Karen Molenaar Terrell

(Cellphone photo of Lake Samish sunrise. See the reflection of the moon? Photo by Karen Molenaar Terrell.)

“This Moment I Lived and Breathed and Loved and Was.”

This moment you’re living and breathing,
loving and wondering and being.
Take note of this.
Mark it on your calendar with a grateful kiss.
“This moment I lived and breathed and loved and was.”
Because.
I could.
-Karen Molenaar Terrell

Right Here; Right Now

I had this moment of clarity today –
everything stilled within me
and I realized
I didn’t have to be
anywhere else
or be doing
anything else
or be
anyone else
or wait for
any other time –
I had everything I needed
to be happy
right there,
right then,
in that moment.
Whoah.
-Karen Molenaar Terrell.

But I’m Alive Right Now

But I’m alive right now – in this moment.
And what am I doing with this moment?
I’m going to take this moment to send out love.
There.
Did you feel it?
-Karen Molenaar Terrell

Fed by Thy love divine we live,
for Love alone is life…”
-Mary Baker Eddy

New Again

Every moment we start fresh.
That one. Right there. See?
We’re new again!


(Photo of Mount Baker by Karen Molenaar Terrell.)

Present Magic

Driving to work this morning –
lost in my thoughts
anticipating traffic, trials, and trouble
chewing on my worries and fears
enclosed in my own gray bubble –
when suddenly a cosmic moment –
the music in my CD soared up
and brought me with it
in the exact instant when a flock
of trumpeter swans winged
over me, their wings beating in time
to the music – and the clouds
diffused pink light, bursting through
my ruminations and waking me
from my trance to the present magic
going on all around me, always.
– Karen Molenaar Terrell

“One moment of divine consciousness, or the spiritual understanding of Life and Love, is a foretaste of eternity.”
– Mary Baker Eddy

Bow Sunrise

Sunrise on the way to work. October 2, 2017. Photo by Karen Molenaar Terrell.

Another Moment to Love

Another moment of life –
another moment to love.

another-moment-to-love

A Simple and Unremarkable Perfection

It is a miracle of perfection.
I am warm and fed and I can hear
my loved one tapping the keys on his laptop
and clearing his throat
near me
I have chamomile tea with cream and a chunk of
sourdough bread and the wind is moving
the rain-splattered screen on the window
and making the lights behind it look like they’re dancing
I feel no pain or fear
I know I’m completely safe
and I imagine coming through some terrible danger
and finding myself in this room
and what a miracle that would seem to be
and how much I’d appreciate the simple unremarkable
perfection of it
and I am filled with gratitude

– Karen Molenaar Terrell

Look for it…

Reminder to self: Look for it.

every moment