Alone | life: acoustic & amplified

Archive for the category “Alone”

02 Feb 2016

together in a hopeful world

Yesterday there was a facebook post from Jen Lemen over at Hopeful World http://hopefulworld.org (she’s one of my most admired people on the planet) telling me that it was a half-way-between-solstice moment and she would be burning a fire in celebration and prayer. If anyone wanted to be part…just say ‘yes’ and she would bring us! I said, ‘Yes, please’ as quickly as I could type it!!!
And so, last night, while I was sleeping…Jen Lemen was doing something so amazing, I get chill bumps every time I think about it!!! She was holding me, and mine, in that space between.

Yes, there was INTENTION, there was fire, there was singing, there was celebrating and grieving, there was prayer for the world, for everyone who requested it…and, Holy Batman, Batman, there was prayer for ME and all I hold within and without me.
What a gift! Beauty and all she is! Powerful and humbling! Encouraging and valuing! I feel it all this morning and I say, Thank you, Jen! Thank you, more than I can say! I am so blessed by you and your work!! 💞

I woke up to these words from Jen this morning:

Writing blessings. Saying prayers. May you be happy and peaceful. May no harm come to you. May no difficulty come to you. May you be deeply blessed. May you take care of anyone and everything smaller and sweeter than you are. May you surrender your power to make space for a forgotten voice. May you notice the earth and how she moves and breathes. May you say yes when you’re called and stay quietly beside until the time is right. May you become love and be love and find love and hope for more love, when others say it doesn’t matter or all hope is gone. #pathofprayerandpleasure #urbanfamily #bliss #mysticlife #blessings #imbolc #brigid #celticspring

🙏🏻

– Jen Lemen @ Hopeful World

http://hopefulworld.org

The poet gives you a little stone to stand on,

a ledge, a moment of the world or your own mind

to notice, to ground yourself in,

and from there to leap
maybe to another stone, a similar noticing,

maybe to another star, the light you are made of,

or a beauty pouring itself into you,

or maybe just leap all the way to God.
When you are praying

the smallest thing

can be what you stand on,

can be your prayer.
Any time, from even a single twig

you can leap

and wherever you land will be God.

The leaping is God.
__________________

Steve Garnaas-Holmes

Unfolding Light

http://www.unfoldinglight.net

Follow and support Jen Lemen @

http://hopefulworld.org

art and photo sources found at http://www.pinterest.com

Posted in action, Adventure, Alone, attitude, awareness, beauty, beloved, big, Blessing, Choice, connection, dark, Encouragement, Faith, find art at pinterest, Glory, grace, Gratitude, Grieving, Happiness, Hope, inspiration, Letting Go, Life, light, Love, mystery, Passion, Prayer, receiving, Reflection, Relationships, soul and spirit, strength, Trust, truth, Vulnerability, www.pinterest.com | Leave a comment

22 Dec 2015

gift

Longest night.

Darkness falls like snow,

falls and falls,

deepening.

Older than the universe,

here before it,

and will be after.

Wraps an arm around us

as if we’re old friends.

We are.

Darkness lives in us,

radiates from us.

We speak it.

Darkness is the velvet cloth

where you cherish the gem

of your presence among us,

darkness the womb,

darkness the manger

that cradles your light,

this holy being

that becomes us,

births us.

In the darkness

you do not come to us,

we come from you.

Because you are with and not apart,

even the darkness

is you.

Because you shine in it

the dark is our dark,

none of it unchanged.

Your being our light,

your hereness our life,

shining in the longest night.

__________________

Steve Garnaas-Holmes

Unfolding Light

http://www.unfoldinglight.net

To go into the darkness with a light
is to know the light.

To know the dark, go dark.

Go without light and find that the dark too, blooms and sings

and is traveled by dark feet and dark wings.

– Wendell Berry

Black. out. black.

Black. on. black.

Dark. on dark. on dark.

I was simply looking for home.

Not knowing the current alley would lead

to where the sidewalk ended

I stepped off the edge

out of the world of light

waking into morning night

a banished sun

no stars

or moon

or streetlights

or fireflies

or lighters

in pitch darkness

I lay, unable to move,

senses adjusting

to what is my new reality

hearing the life

that lives here

wondering if I’ll make friends

while I’m here

learning this new space.

🌌

Gift suggestions:
To your enemy – forgiveness.

To an opponent – tolerance.

To a friend – your heart.

To a customer – service.

To every child – a good example.

To all – love.

💞

– Oren Arnold

Posted in action, Adventure, Alone, attitude, awareness, Becoming Yourself, beloved, Change, Choice, connection, courage, dark, Death, determination, Dreams, find art at pinterest, fragile, Glory, Gospel, grace, Gratitude, healing, home, Letting Go, Love, Miracles, mystery, nature, power, Prayer, quiet, Reflection | Leave a comment

20 Dec 2015

following

On this day of your life I believe God wants you to know…

…that there is a solution. There is. But you must keep

going to find it. You cannot stop, you cannot give up.
This is about more than just patience. This is about

more than just persistence. This is about absolute

knowing that God is on your side.

When you know this, you never give up…and the

sense of struggle goes away. You simply keep moving

forward knowing that, in the end, all will work out.

And that along the way there will be great insights

and wonderful remembering.

🎇

– Neale Donald Walsh

God Path with Robin OK 12/17/15

🌌

I won’t wish this pain away

I’ll just trust You and obey

won’t search for treasure on this ground

Cause in You my wealth is found

I know this is right where I should be

I will wait for Your light to shine in me

I will praise You every day

I am Yours

Beloved for eternity
Whatever will bring You glory

Whatever will magnify Your name

Whatever will bring You glory

Whatever, my life is not the same
Whatever will show you’re holy

Whatever I do is for Your praise

Whatever to tell my story

Whatever, my heart will sing Your grace

🌅

🌋

Written on 11/22/13 at French Park in Cincinnati (first pic) Day before following God’s call to go to Louisville. $40 and no place to stay. I lived in my car for several weeks. ❤️ Miracles and adventures abounded….

Posted in action, Adventure, Alone, attitude, awareness, Becoming Yourself, Beginning, beloved, Choice, commitment, courage, determination, Faith, find art at pinterest, healing, home, Letting Go, Life, Love, soul and spirit, strength, Trust, truth, www.pinterest.com | Leave a comment

10 Dec 2015

smoke screens

“Smoke on the Water” in Cincinnati on 12/6/15 as captured by Wayne Clause
🌀

I stand where I am
lost between worlds

the past is gone

the present space between

a foggy future

not fully workable

full of hard edges

struggling

empty air

lack of conversation

missing soft expression

draining

exhausting

my fingers clasp wispy dream clouds

of you

of love

of home

of music

my tired hopes hang on by threads

longing for what I want

a home for living full of love and happy

building a life

eating food made with love

friendship filled with

silences

conversations

passion

compassion

touch to sooth our sore places

arms to hold and be held

keep me safe

let me breathe a little easier

laugh a little

sing a lot

covering me

surrounding me with love

❤️

APART OR TOGETHER

So much that was

good in her,

so much in me,

cut off now

from the future

in which we

grew together.
Now

through the window

of my new house

that hawthorn’s

crooked faithful

trunk round

an old and broken

growth,

my mouth dumb

and Dante’s voice

instead of mine

from the open book.
‘Brother, our love

has laid our wills to rest.

Making us long

only for what is ours

and by no other thirst

possessed.’
Our life not lived

together

must still

live on apart,

longing only

for what is ours

alone,

each grow round the missed branch

as best we can,

claim what is ours

separately,

though not forget

loved memories,

nor that life

still loved by memory,

nor the hurts

through which we

hesitantly

tried to learn

affection.
Our pilgrim journey

apart or together,

like the thirst

of everything

to find its true form,

the grain of the wood

round the hatched knot

still straightening

toward the light.
…
From

THE HAWTHORN

‘THE SEA IN YOU: Twenty Poems of Requited and Unrequited Love’

Now Available at davidwhyte.com

Posted in Alone, attitude, awareness, Choice, Letting Go, Lonely, Losing, Love, soul and spirit, touch, Trust, truth, Vulnerability, www.pinterest.com | Leave a comment

28 Nov 2015

in a blue sky day

Woke up mid-dream

last night

(last night = wee hour morning)

Awakened by

broken sad mourning
My whole life

this date has been a celebration of life

My dad’s life –

a soul who entered this realm November 24 –

74 years of love ago
Today, this date brings tears

and morning mourning

Followed by blue sky

Up on the red roof

Fully alive

Generating compost

Organic buzzing be garden community possibility
Lost key

Kitchen studio

Boots on ladders

Roast beef sprout ciabatta

Pirates of the Carribbean

Stories of lobsters racing in

crusty rolls of butter
Once, years ago, I found my too soon gone Grandma

Today, in a swing overlooking a river

graced by such beautiful bridges

touching sky whilst grounding feet

step by stepping ever overwater

beneath sky,

I felt my daddy…
I sensed him smiling down upon November

gently holding my heart

and I couldn’t help but feel

the way he gently

firmly let go

of my pink stripe

banana seat bike

as I rode down the hill

of Kosta Drive

all those years ago
That moment I knew he knew

I could do this myself

And gave me the beautiful gift

of setting me

and my bicycle free.

🚲
Robin OK

Muse of Collaborative Completion + Visionary for Creative Collaborative ReTREATS

What is your incomplete creative project? Let me help you breathe it to life!

Phone: 513-659-3356

email: laughndream@gmail.com

website: laughanddream.com

💜

Don’t miss the 5th annual Creative Collaborative ReTREAT, Sep 30-Oct 2, 2016!

Website: creativecollaborativeretreats.com

email: creative.collaborative.us@gmail.com

In a day of goodness

We splashed this city all over outselves

Stopped to smell the lingering roses

Went home happily full from our adventures

Life is bittersweet

full of separation, loss, grief, and hurting hearts

full of friendship, adventure, kindness, beauty and truth

I love you

I miss you

I hurt

I laugh

Life is good

💞

I want my grief

to be brilliant, fast and gone.

Like Mozart. Or Stevie Ray.

Like fireworks. Boom! Flash!

Ooh, ahh. OK, done. Let’s go.
I want my grief to be brave.

Hurts more now, heals faster,

Grandma said, pouring salt

On a skinned knee.
I want to stand up to grief,

Stand it down, like the

Tiny man, big tank

In Tiananmen Square.
Because. Because if I am brave,

Bold, salty, open enough

The tank, the bleeding, the tears

Will stop sooner. I tell myself.
But grief laughs. Humbles me.

I lose keys, break cups, get lost.

Asked at CarMax Why are you

Selling this car? I burst
Into an embarrassment of tears.

A friend says, One doesn’t have grief,

Grief has you.

We wrestle, to the mat. I’m pinned.
But sometimes I break free.

Break patterns instead of dishes.

Start to write myself a new story,

To fling myself toward yes,
Begin to say, Oh. Now this. . . . Observe

What life brings. Reframe. Say,

I’m not wrestling grief,

We’re dancing.
So, I put my right foot in . . .

And turn myself about.

💔

I Want My Grief by Peg Runnels

Posted in Adventure, Alone, attitude, awareness, beauty, Becoming Yourself, beloved, Change, Choice, community, connection, Dreams, find art at pinterest, Freedom, friendship, Grieving, healing, inspiration, laugh, Letting Go, Life, Love, music, mystery, Passion, People, Reflection, Relationships | Leave a comment

20 Nov 2015

largely speaking

Sweet Darkness
When your eyes are tired

the world is tired also.
When your vision has gone

no part of the world can find you.
Time to go into the dark

where the night has eyes

to recognize its own.
There you can be sure

you are not beyond love.
The dark will be your womb

tonight.
The night will give you a horizon

further than you can see.
You must learn one thing.

The world was made to be free in.
Give up all the other worlds

except the one to which you belong.
Sometimes it takes darkness and the sweet

confinement of your aloneness

to learn
anything or anyone

that does not bring you alive
is too small for you.

🔥

– David Whyte

I sense infinity

I open myself to the unlimited

and with that opening

I glimpse unending love

I breathe the cold morning air

Absorb the sunlight dancing on the water

take in the sight of millions of diamonds

on blue velvet

and I struggle,

reaching, to open fully

to take in this message

to understand this beauty

I sit in silence

I listen in wonder

I stay in that moment

for eternity

it is for eternity

as I walk home

I ask my soul’s questions:

How will I allow God to love me?

How will I allow love to touch me?

☀️

photo by Fisherman Dan @ Branford, CT

Posted in action, Adventure, Alone, attitude, awareness, beauty, Becoming Yourself, Choice, color, dark, determination, find art at pinterest, Gratitude, healing, home, Letting Go, Life, Love, Miracles, Relationships | Leave a comment

12 Nov 2015

handle with care

Hanging on by the proverbial thread

heart hungry for more

feeling ready

to break

properly

crash and burn to ashes

Am I the only one

on the edge of sideways

trying to walk a straight line

as that slight right turn

ends up being a hard right circle

where I end up facing myself

in an old west gun-slinger shoot the lights out,

death of my dreams

duel?

Am I the only one?

I hold my heart in my hands tenderly

hoping my repairs hold

that it won’t give way

and slide through my fingers

like sand on a summer day

which can never hold a shape

longer than when the next high tide

washes it away
AL

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

Posted in Adventure, Alone, art, attitude, awareness, Becoming Yourself, courage, Faith, fragile, healing, Letting Go, Life, mystery, Reflection, Relationships, Vulnerability, www.pinterest.com | Leave a comment

04 Nov 2015

rewards

I made it. It was a rough day. Coukd have ended badly. Thankfully, it didn’t. I am grateful.

Now I lay in a deliciously squishy, soft bed, hoping my tired, aching body can unclench and go to sleep. I can’t help thinking, what if I had died today. Would anyone care? Many would say nice things, how much I’ve inspired them, how strong I was, that I made thwm feel good about themselves. But would anyone really care? Really miss me?

Thanks for being with me today. I didn’t feel so alone. 🙂

Good night

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

04 Nov 2015

here in PA where nuthin’ comes easy…

Soooooooo I’ve been in PA for a while, needing a bathroom break from my earlier Starbucks stop. I always dread PA for this reason. I stopped and got gas and used the bathroom in NJ hoping to beat PA down, but no…

I’m also looking for adventure today so I just relaxed into it and looked for exits…Bethlehem seemed like destiny. I got off and followed the detour towards ‘Historic Downtown’ which, I must confess, I never found. The stable seems to have been replaced –

I saw Pennsylvania RR on both sides of the roads (no easy access bathrooms: ie McD’s, gas…)

found my way back to 78W and moved on…Allentown surely has handy bathrooms (no signage on highway besides a hospital sign) sure to be fast food there, right? nope…thankfully I found myself a country road! The wildlife at the sancuary respectfully stayed out of sight #thankGodimacountrygirl

I gratefully head on West when traffic comes to a stop and I happen to be right by an exit. I head off to find the swankiest Arby’s in the world.

Then I make my way outside with my roast beef with x-tra horsey sauce for a picnic with my new friend, Ginger (picture below). She’s gorgeous and we have a great talk.