{"id":1840,"date":"2015-08-03T06:00:20","date_gmt":"2015-08-03T10:00:20","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/thequeenofmyself\/?p=1840"},"modified":"2015-07-17T14:37:25","modified_gmt":"2015-07-17T18:37:25","slug":"how-to-become-a-devotee","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/thequeenofmyself\/2015\/08\/how-to-become-a-devotee.html","title":{"rendered":"How to Become a Devotee"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>by Terry Wolverton<\/p>\n<p>Submit your eyes to the unfolding<br \/>\ntextures of pre-dawn light.<br \/>\nUtter the riotous syllables of leaves.<br \/>\nRelinquish regret; scatter ashes to wind.<br \/>\nRun in green spaces; fall in green grass.<br \/>\nRise up. Run farther.<br \/>\nEnter a continuum of sheer belief.<br \/>\nDo no stray from this spot.<br \/>\nNarrow the aperture through which fear<br \/>\ncan enter.<br \/>\nDeepen the hunger for late afternoon rain.<br \/>\nEavesdrop on the stories stones tell.<br \/>\nRaze the edifice of exceptionalism.<\/p>\n<p>Sanctify each epiphany your fingertips graze.<br \/>\nEmbolden the weather of amber and indigo.<br \/>\nPrepare to remain grateful when complaint<br \/>\nis the collective mantra.<br \/>\nAuthor the face that appears<br \/>\nin the midnight mirror.<br \/>\nReceive the stranger who arrives for tea.<br \/>\nAttune yourself to the message of<br \/>\nlightning strikes.<br \/>\nTithe a percentage of your dreams to the<br \/>\nsleepless who burn on fevered sheets.<br \/>\nExpose your optimism.<br \/>\nName your demons; claim these bastard<br \/>\nchildren and croon them to sleep<br \/>\nwith songs of a shimmering world.<br \/>\nEscape the cocoon of your excuses.<br \/>\nSalve the bruises of the disillusioned.<br \/>\nSeed the trembling earth with your<br \/>\npearled eyeteeth.<\/p>\n<p>* ***<br \/>\nDonna Henes is the author of <a href=\"http:\/\/www.thequeenofmyself.com\"><em>The Queen of My Self: Stepping into Sovereignty in Midlife<\/em>.<\/a> She offers counseling and upbeat, practical and ceremonial guidance for individual women and groups who want to enjoy the fruits of an enriching, influential, purposeful, passionate, and powerful maturity. <a href=\"http:\/\/www.donnahenes.net\/queen\/consult.shtml\">Consult the MIDLIFE MIDWIFE\u2122<\/a><\/p>\n<p>The Queen welcomes questions concerning all issues of interest to women in their mature years. Send your inquiries to <a href=\"mailto:thequeenofmyself@aol.com\">thequeenofmyself@aol.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>by Terry Wolverton Submit your eyes to the unfolding textures of pre-dawn light. Utter the riotous syllables of leaves. Relinquish regret; scatter ashes to wind. Run in green spaces; fall in green grass. Rise up. Run farther. Enter a continuum of sheer belief. Do no stray from this spot. Narrow the aperture through which fear&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":218,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1,2],"tags":[62,13,39,43,68],"class_list":["post-1840","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-empowerment","category-inspiration","tag-courage","tag-holistic-living","tag-power","tag-self-esteem-2","tag-self-love"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v23.9 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>How to Become a Devotee - The Queen of My Self<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/thequeenofmyself\/2015\/08\/how-to-become-a-devotee.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"How to Become a Devotee - The Queen of My Self\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"by Terry Wolverton Submit your eyes to the unfolding textures of pre-dawn light. Utter the riotous syllables of leaves. Relinquish regret; scatter ashes to wind. Run in green spaces; fall in green grass. Rise up. Run farther. Enter a continuum of sheer belief. Do no stray from this spot. Narrow the aperture through which fear&hellip;\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/thequeenofmyself\/2015\/08\/how-to-become-a-devotee.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"The Queen of My Self\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2015-08-03T10:00:20+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2015-07-17T18:37:25+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Donna Henes\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"How to Become a Devotee - The Queen of My Self","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/thequeenofmyself\/2015\/08\/how-to-become-a-devotee.html","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"How to Become a Devotee - The Queen of My Self","og_description":"by Terry Wolverton Submit your eyes to the unfolding textures of pre-dawn light. 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She has published four books, a CD, an acclaimed Ezine and writes for The Huffington Post and UPI Religion and Spirituality Forum. 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