October | 2013 | life: acoustic & amplified

Archive for the month “October, 2013”

31 Oct 2013

everybody’s a true soul wrapped up in illusions

All Hallowed Eve:
before All Saints Day comes,
before we recognize the holy among us,
in the dark before I myself am taken up in glory,
I have permission to dress up in my deepest fear,
my greatest hope, my truest self.
I am a dragon, a dead man, a princess.
But of course beneath the costume I am actually
a king, a zombie, a magician,
an alien, a prostitute,
a child.

This one night, this Hallowed Evening,
we all are evened out:
everybody’s a true soul wrapped up in illusions,
disguised in fears and fantasies—
we’re all beauty queens and monsters—
and for once everybody knows it
and we’re OK with that,
because we know within we’re humans all alike.

This is so we know that on all other days
all who come to us and we as well
can be ourselves
and be accepted at stranger’s doors
and be given delights.

Steve Garnaas-Holmes
Unfolding Light
www.unfoldinglight.net

Posted in awareness, find art at pinterest, Happy Holiday!, inspiration, Letting Go, People, Poetry, Vulnerability, www.pinterest.com | Leave a comment

30 Oct 2013

the unlikely pilgrimage

23 years ago I began, what I have recently begun to understand, is a pilgrimage. I didn’t know it was a pilgrimage – in fact words like pilgrimage and manifesto make me a bit uncomfortable. Radical people with more than a little crazy mixed in seem to be the ones who go around using those words. That’s certainly not me…right? 🙂

I feel like I am the most unlikely ‘pilgrim’ you will happen across (you’ll know me because I will have on cute shoes…no matter what). Yet here I am all these years later recognizing that when I stepped off the edge of all I had ever been taught and then decided (with more than a few ways ‘out’ for myself – it was a very doubtful and conditional experiment) that I would try to live like Jesus taught in Matthew chapters 5-7. Not knowing the consequences of my decision, I decided I would stay as close to those chapters as possible (btw, I knew it would be impossible – the only way to choose any of those counter cultural and unnatural ways to live was with the help of a very Holy Spirit that was ‘other’ than my own natural ego – I was very materialistic and wanted desperately to be popular and beautiful – Truthfully, I had little clue about who God really was, and really believed it would be all about me getting what I wanted.) and so I began to live a secret life – internally. I began to think about my decisions. I began to be purposeful in my choices. I began to build a new house for myself.

I certainly had no idea it would take me through years of devastating loss and pain, poverty and hardship, broken relationships and darkness. Years of paying attention and making choices towards healing. Years of learning to be honest about where I veered off the path and to learn the warning signs that would lead me there. Years of discovering the truth and difference between the shadow of what the world calls love, beauty and intimacy and what God offers so freely to us. I had no idea my house would become a traveling one, and I would dwell in tents and followed the cloud and the fire for 16 years. No idea that there wouldn’t be an instant miracle lightening strike and everything would ‘be fine’ for me. No, I didn’t have a clue that it would take me 21 years to realize that I was on a pilgrimage and to realize that 99.99999% commitment is no commitment at all and, when I did realize it, that I would make that choice to step ALL in and commit 100% to such a path. I had no idea that God wouldn’t just fix everything as I WANTED IT, but if He had, I would never have learned these lessons which are so very valuable.

Maybe I’m a slow learner, but it has taken me all of this time to learn, little by little, to trust and to walk in faith and I am so blessed to know this path and here I am, still following this glorious path where every bush is blazing holy. I realize maybe I am going so slow because every other step I have to take off my very cute shoes and bow in thanks for all that has been done, but then I have come to enjoy this path very much and have no wish to run ahead…

Check out the new issue of the Songs from the Valley Newsletter on faith:
http://songsfromthevalley.com

Posted in action, Adventure, attitude, awareness, Becoming Yourself, beloved, Change, Faith, find art at pinterest, inspiration, Letting Go, Life, mystery, People, perceptions, Songs from the Valley, soul and spirit, www.pinterest.com | Leave a comment

29 Oct 2013

how’s the diet?

if we are what we eat,
then I have eaten slamming doors
and too much sunshine
and not enough rain
with every way to say goodbye
in every language that has ever existed
and I have eaten every
way to ignore love
and every form of leaving.
if we are what we eat,
i have eaten cowards
and regret
and i have eaten the way people
rely and rely and rely and rely
but I have also eaten trust issues in
the form of rotten apples
and peaches without pits.
I have starved myself when the only thing
on my plate has been
to fall into something greater
than I could understand
and something that could make
the wholeness I feel,
not alone.
If we are what we eat,
I must have eaten
my worst enemy.

Amanda Helm
http://amandaspoetry.tumblr.com/post/59253380196/if-we-are-what-we-eat-then-i-have-eaten-slamming

Changing our lives is possible.
One step at a time. We must be brutally honest with ourselves and then break patterns one at a time.
One step, one choice at a time!

Posted in action, Adventure, awareness, Becoming Yourself, beloved, courage, determination, Encouragement, find art at pinterest, Freedom, Letting Go, Life, Love, Poetry, Trust, truth, www.pinterest.com | Leave a comment

28 Oct 2013

find your passion

Don’t bend; don’t water it down; don’t try to make it logical; don’t edit your own soul according to the fashion.
Rather, follow your most intense obsessions mercilessly.
– Franz Kafka

Posted in action, Adventure, awareness, Becoming Yourself, find art at pinterest, Life, music, Passion, www.pinterest.com | Leave a comment

27 Oct 2013

1 Comment

I believe

To be happy, you don’t have to do anything new. You just have to remember how to believe again… Believe everything good is possible. Believe in your dreams. Believe in people. Believe in love. But most of all… Believe in yourself.
– Doe Zantamata

Posted in attitude, awareness, Becoming Yourself, Beliefs, determination, Dreams, find art at pinterest, Happiness, www.pinterest.com

26 Oct 2013

1 Comment

One

Posted in action, Adventure, Alone, attitude, awareness, Beginning, Beliefs, Change, Choice, Faith, find art at pinterest, truth, www.pinterest.com

25 Oct 2013

the life changing truth of open hands

I’m aware that all I really had to do is make that declaration that I wanted more joy and it seems like the Universe is careening around getting me exactly where I need to be. I feel so ridiculously receptive right now, and so scared of the part of me that wants to arrange, fix, find, discover. It seems that going in that direction would dissipate the joy or make it more temporary. Instead I feel like I’m walking around with arms outstretched waiting for what’s meant for me to fall from the sky. This kind of expectancy, which is akin to anticipation, generates its own pleasure and its own particular brand of trust. It requires believing that something is coming and that it’s here already, if only I’d open my hands.
Jen Lemen
via: Wild Precious life
Hopeful World
http://www.hopefulworld.org/landing/

if only I’d open my hands
it’s here already
it’s coming
let go
living with open hands is the only way
to receive
to give
to love
to live
living with open hands changes everything

10/25/13

Posted in action, Adventure, attitude, awareness, determination, Faith, find art at pinterest, Letting Go, Life, Love, Relationships, soul and spirit, www.pinterest.com | Leave a comment

24 Oct 2013

joy is the way to live bravest of all

Thanks therapy is God’s prescription for joy.

This isn’t trite — this is treatment. Breathing oxygen to live, it can seem ridiculously simple too. Jesus always leaves the option open for you to choose: “Do you want to be well?”

Sometimes we hurt so bad, we can’t even think to say yes, we forget how to mouth thanks.

And in all the leaves, all in the mess, it’s right here:

Everything that falls, turned back to thanks, unlikely therapy turning a fallen world.

– Ann Voskamp
www.aholyexperience.com

Posted in attitude, awareness, beauty, Choice, courage, find art at pinterest, Gratitude, Joy, Life, thankfulness, Today, Vulnerability, www.pinterest.com | Leave a comment

23 Oct 2013

today’s spending

Has it ever hit you, like a ton of bricks, that each minute you are spending your life force, giving your energy to the world and people around you? Sometimes, in the middle of something ridiculous, it hits me…this is what I am spending my life on. WAKE UP!!!

Time is measured. It is also mysterious. The only real thing we know is – we have a limited amount of time, of life. There is a time for everything under the sun, we just have to make sure we do not forget about the fact each moment is a gift.

What we say matters, and what we do matters. How we spend our time, and who we spend our time with, is an extremely important piece of our living here. I am not saying there is a right or wrong way to spend it. Each person has their own path, their own reason for being in the world at this moment. I do not believe there are accidental people. I believe each of us were created on purpose.

The important thing is to stay aware of how we are spending our precious moments and make sure they are the way we feel called to spend them. Don’t give them to someone else. Don’t allow someone else to tell you how to live your moments. Don’t give away your freedom, your passion.

Seize the day and live your soul’s calling! Let go of what others want for you! Love, laugh, dance, live, enjoy!!! There is nothing more important than THIS day! This moment is the most important of our lives! Live it your way, intentionally!