action | life: acoustic & amplified

Archive for the category “action”

01 Feb 2016

can we buy what we want?

Thinking that money will somehow make one happy isn’t thinking at all.
Hey, sorry, you know better. But you might not believe how many people think that just because they don’t have much of it now, its lack is at the root of their challenges, which is never the case.
Nev-a,

The Universe

http://www.tut.com

It is hard, these steps. This releasing of the emotional debris that encases our heart. The shedding of the false-identifications that obstruct our path. The farewells to that which doesn’t serve. The fundamentlal shift from survivalism to authenticity as a way of being. It is hard, these steps. Because you are not just clearing your individual debris- you are tapping into and releasing the debris carried by your entire ancestry. You are shedding the armor of millions before. You are saying goodbye to ways of being that have served and imprisoned countless generations. You are making the shift from an animalistic way of being to one that is genuinely human. Do not underestimate your significance, fellow seekers of the heart. We may be the first deep release travelers. We may be the first authenticity-questing collective. We may be the first soulpod to consider the possibility that there is a sacred purpose at the heart of every birth. Our load, heavy. Our courage, essential. Our significance, profound. Our need for one another, irrefutable. We rise in unison, or not at all. We rise in unison, one hard ass step after another…

– Jeff Brown

Do not fall out of flow or confidence simply because a task led to hardship or disappointment. On any worthwhile journey, there will be many dead-ends and storms. Endure. Have faith and resolve. Don’t torment your mind wishing the path were conflict-free. Anticipate difficulty and decide to meet all obstacles as if they were obvious, inevitable, stones meant to sharpen your will and character. Happiness isn’t at the end of the path; it is in knowing that you met life and its inevitable hardships and blessings with a mindful grace, strength, and gratitude. What is in front of you is not terrifying or random or impossible – it is your proving ground, your opportunity to learn to bring peace to the chaos, your podiums to show your family and loved ones real grit and love and perseverance. Your only defeat in life will come from a mindset you choose that bemoans difficulty versus anticipates and rises above it.

– Brendon Burchard

Beauty comes in many forms–and there is no form more beautiful than you. Just exactly as you are, this minute, right now, without changing a thing…you are beautiful. Beautiful enough to take God’s breath away.
– Neale Donald Walsh

photos found at http://www.pinterest.com 

Posted in action, Adventure, attitude, awareness, beauty, Becoming Yourself, beloved, Choice, confidence, connection, courage, find art at pinterest, intimacy, Letting Go, Life, Love, mystery, Poetry | Leave a comment

30 Jan 2016

yes, please, beat again

Grace
Nothing I have ever done or will ever do

can separate me from

or bring me into the heart of the Beloved.
Oh, I can distract myself from the longing

that whispers day and night for that sacred union,

and some days I am too tired to notice

that what I ache for is and always has been here:

. . . . right here in and at my fingertips,

in the way the breeze lifts my hair,

the way the earth pulls me to her,

the way shared laughter makes my sides ache.
Nothing I have done or will ever do

can make me worthy or unworthy

of being touched by the Lover’s hand and heart,

of being the Lover’s hand and heart in the world.
Grace – the way Infinite Love

gives Himself to us in every moment,

the way God unfurls Her tender mercy in our hearts-

is a constant invitation to say with the fullness of our being:

Yes.

❤️

~Oriah Mountain Dreamer

there is terrible beauty in every human heart

tell me a story that will live with me forever

love always shares grace always wins

you can’t miss if you show up

pay attention…

the message is always revealed at the appointed intersection

letting go brings the right miracle

at the right time the song playlist repeats

crazy love flows into mystic waters slowly drips the sweetest tupelo honey

deep calling to deep

honor chooses to say yes to the best invitations

making the call brings me the messages I need to build the new bridge from the friend bench of this manna-filled moment

there is always more than enough to share

gratitude buckets fill and overflow

removing scales from blurry, tearful, kaleidoscope eyes

as perfect peace falls into rightful place

color shards blooming into new masterpieces of never before seen glory

diamonds dance on the water

flaming beauty evolves, drives me to my knees,

shedding shoes, and fear,

as we talk

I lift my face to the sun and free soar

full wing, open soul, with the gulls,

who always fly in trust, never a shadow of doubt, that they are loved to the sky

right here, and in every tick of time,

in, and in between, every click of the second hand,

around the bend of eternity and back again
🌀

AL 1/30/16

in gratitude and honor for connecting with Liz on this beautiful morning of sun, warm and snow drifts

photo above by Fisherman Dan @ Branford, CT

🌃

photos found at http://www.pinterest.com

Posted in action, Adventure, attitude, awareness, beauty, Becoming Yourself, Blessing, connection, courage, create, Encouragement, find art at pinterest, friendship, inspiration, intimacy, Joy, laugh, Letting Go, Life, Love, Miracles, mystery, Patience, Peace, People, Poetry, Reality | Leave a comment

30 Jan 2016

yesterday

yesterday I was born a leaf

a small fragile tender wisp

trembling as I hung on the vine

yesterday I was a gust of air

short lived, but not insignificant

full of bone rattling cold and hat disturbing bravado

yesterday I was a large, slow, snow flake

plopping down like a wet goose feather

making the world a magical place

yesterday I was a world made of glass

lying shattered on the floor

hoping to be recycled into a new and useful object

yesterday I was various people

a student, a host, a friend, a lover

feeling my way into the next moment hoping to find a way home

yesterday I stood tall as a tree

shaking, hurting, yet proud, with stubborn certainly

accepting what winter brings, gently weeping, waiting for spring

❄️

Posted in action, attitude, awareness, Becoming Yourself, beloved, Blessing, connection, create, find art at pinterest, fragile, Grieving, Joy, Letting Go, Life, Love, Miracles, mystery, nature, People, soul and spirit, strength, Trust, Uncategorized, www.pinterest.com | Leave a comment

28 Jan 2016

word of the day

listen
the word thumps its way

around my heart

like tennis shoes in the dryer

listen

stop speaking

suspend thought

judgement

whining

wanting

grief

action

just be still

silent

wait

tune in

go deep

listen

it will all come clear

mud will settle

pain clouds crystalize, dissolve

mirrors, and hearts,

tell their true story

we will know all we need to know,

to heal, to move forward,

if…
AL

Now the word of Yahweh came to me saying, “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, and before you were born I consecrated you; I appointed you a prophet to the nations.” Then I said, “Ah, Yahweh God! Truly I do not know how to speak, for I am only a child.” But Yahweh said to me, “Do not say, ‘I am only a child’; for you shall go to all to whom I send you, and you shall speak whatever I command you, Do not be afraid of them, for I am with you to deliver you, says the Lord.” Then Yahweh reached out and touched my mouth; and said to me, “Now I have put my words in your mouth. See, today I appoint you over nations and over kingdoms, to pluck up and to pull down, to destroy and to overthrow, to build and to plant.”

—Jeremiah 1.4-10

Read it again. Put yourself in there.
Imagine God’s presence in you, God’s power—

not to get your own way, not to sway crowds,

but to convey love, to be truth,

not just to say words but to live life

with power in it.
You do not have to apologize for yourself.

You do not have to be afraid

of those to whom you bring yourself.

You only have to be yourself.
And because it is from God

the truth of you will prevail.
__________________

Steve Garnaas-Holmes

Unfolding Light

http://www.unfoldinglight.net
photos found at http://www.pinterest.com

Posted in action, attitude, awareness, Choice, connection, Faith, Grieving, Letting Go, Life, Love, Prayer, Reality | Leave a comment

22 Jan 2016

everyday hero

Quote of the Day: Virtue
Next to the seven deadly sins, the seven cardinal virtues are apt to look pale and unenterprising, but appearances are notoriously untrustworthy.
Prudence and temperance, taken separately, may not be apt to get you to your feet cheering, but when they go together, as they almost always do, that’s a different matter. The chain smoker or the junkie, for instance, who exemplifies both by managing to kick the habit, can very well have you throwing your hat in the air, especially if it happens to be somebody whom for personal reasons you’d like to have around a few years longer. And the courage involved isn’t likely to leave you cold either. Often it’s the habit kicker’s variety that seems the most courageous.
If you think of justice as sitting blindfolded with a scale in her hand, you may have to stifle a yawn, but if you think of a black judge acquitting a white racist of a false murder charge, it can give you gooseflesh.
The faith of a child taking your hand in the night is as moving as the faith of Mother Teresa among the untouchables, or Bernadette facing the skeptics at Lourdes, or Abraham, age seventy-five, packing up his bags for the Promised Land. And hope is the glimmer on the horizon that keeps faith plugging forward, of course, the wings that keep it more or less in the air.
Maybe it’s only love that turns things around and makes the seven deadly sins be the ones to look pale and unenterprising for a change. Greed, gluttony, lust, envy, and pride are no more than sad efforts to fill the empty place where love belongs, and anger and sloth just two things that may happen when you find that not even all seven of them at their deadliest ever can.

⚜

~ Frederick Bruechner originally published in Whistling in the Dark and later in Beyond Words

photos found at http://www.pinterest.com 

Posted in action, attitude, awareness, Becoming Yourself, beloved, Change, Choice, commitment, connection, determination, Dreams, find art at pinterest, forgiveness, Freedom, Growth, Habits, Happiness, healing, Hope, Imagine, Impossible, inspiration, Joy, Letting Go, Life, Love, Miracles, mystery, Passion, Patience, Peace, power | Leave a comment

20 Jan 2016

break away

We have to continually be jumping off cliffs and developing our wings on the way down.

🕊

-Kurt Vonnegut

how little I understand
about life

how small is my vision

how tiny my wings

my experience negligible

my brain so under developed

my travels so limited

even as I attempt to smash the box of my learning

as I fight to open to all good things

as the mystery,

the dream,

gets bigger

my desire to see,

touch,

taste,

handle,

hear,

experience

burns me to the ground

carries me to the sky

fills me with longing

empties me of myself

allows me to be a part of the whole miracle producing she-bang

calls me to be courageous-

a brilliant dancer, even

in spite of my fear,

my limiting inheritance

my illusion of having two left feet

stop thinking so much

just be

just dance

just fly

🕊

You must understand the whole of life, not just one little part of it. That is why you must read, that is why you must look at the skies, that is why you must sing, and dance, and write poems, and suffer, and understand, for all that is life.

🎪

― Jiddu Krishnamurtio

photos found at http://www.pinterest.com

Posted in action, Adventure, attitude, awareness, Becoming Yourself, beloved, big, Change, Choice, connection, courage, Dancing, find art at pinterest, Letting Go, Life, Love, Miracles, mystery, Reality | Leave a comment

16 Jan 2016

bring us peace

Oh time,
Oh love,

Oh life,

awaken us all

to hear,

to see,

to be aware

shake our comfort zones

let us scream

let us cry

let us shout

let us waste no more of our living

help us to choose wisely

help us to live passionately

help us to love mercy, to establish justice, to inhabit grace

keep us humble

keep us growing

keep us connected

knowing our own valve, as well as the value of every other

Oh God of love

Oh God of life

Oh God of joy

shake us now with heavenly thunder,

crack open our hearts and bring us peace

❤️

photos found at http://www.pinterest.com 

Posted in action, Adventure, attitude, awareness, Dreams, Growth, healing, Letting Go, Life, Love, Passion, Peace, Prayer, Reflection, soul and spirit, strength, truth, Uncategorized, Vulnerability, www.pinterest.com | Leave a comment

15 Jan 2016

You are in truth the soul, of the soul, of the soul.~ Rumi

Oh, souls — let us try not to worry so much, OK? It’s so bad for our minds and our bodies and our spirits, and it’s so bad for everyone around us, too. And when we get all bent-up and broken-up and fragmented from worry, we make it SO DIFFICULT for the universe to help show us our destinies.
The universe is wanting to communicate something with you. It wants to take you somewhere very specific (to your ultimate destiny, which is PEACE and wisdom and wholeness) but your worrying is a kind of crazy emotional static that prevents you from hearing the messages.
Have some faith. Have some faith in yourself, and have faith in fate, as well.
What if you remembered this: Everything you have ever endured so far in life, you have survived.
And sometimes, to your own surprise, you even thrived.
Maybe the worst thing you ever endured was a crucible through which you became YOU.
Maybe you could not have become YOU through any other means except by going through that trial.
Maybe a trial will happen again. Maybe a trial is happening right now. And maybe, once again, you will survive it. (All signs point to YES. After all, you have done it before.) Maybe you will come through these troubles re-formed, re-forged. re-born. Maybe you will insist upon that. Maybe that’s the strange invitation at the bottom of all this anxiety.
You have seen your own strength. You have seen your own beauty. You have seen your own golden wings. Why do you worry?
What if your story is unfolding just as it was always planned?
Be brave, have faith. You can do this.
Onward,

LG (Elizabeth Gilbert/facebook)

The soul lives contented

by listening,

if it wants to change

into the beauty of

terrifying shapes,

it tries to speak.
That’s why

you will not sing,

afraid as you are

of who might join with you.
The voice hesitant,

and her hand trembling

in the dark for yours.
She touches your face

and says your name

in the same instant.
The one you refused to say,

over and over,

the one you refused to say.
…
The Soul Lives Contented by David Whyte

photos found at http://www.pinterest.com

Posted in action, Adventure, attitude, awareness, Trust | Leave a comment

14 Jan 2016

what a glorious mess we are

We can’t find our path without getting messy. Messy comes with the territory. We came in messy. We learn messy. We love messy. We leave messy. I never found my way to clarity without first befriending confusion, in all its chaotic forms. I never found a path that felt like home before falling into quicksand. I never established a new way of being without trying the wrong way of being on for size. I never found the light without stumbling around in the dark. I never tasted God before getting a little dirt in my mouth. In the heart of the chaos is the clay that shapes us home.
Chaotic Magnificence!

🌀

– Jeff Brown an excerpt from the book Love it Forward