life: acoustic & amplified

poetry, quotes & thoughts about life

Archive for the category “beauty”

20 Feb 2016

morning blessing

   
photos by Fisherman Dan @ Branford, CT

   I place on the alter of dawn:

 The quiet loyalty of breath,

 The tent of thought where I shelter,

 Waves of desire I am shore to

 And all beauty drawn to the eye. 
May my mind come alive today

 To the invisible geography

 That invites me to new frontiers,

 To break the dead shell of yesterdays,

 To risk being disturbed and changed. 
May I have the courage today

 To live the life that I would love,

 To postpone my dream no longer

 But do at last what I came here for

 And waste my heart on fear no more. 

🌀

  – John O’Donohue
Excerpt from, ‘A Morning Offering’

 TO BLESS THE SPACE BETWEEN US (US) / BENEDICTUS (Europe)

  
In the space between breaths 

It can be gone 

A months worth of words 

Erased with a fingertip 

A 12, 30 even 60 year marriage over 

With 4 words spoken: 

I want a divorce 

A home with all it’s possessions 

Destroyed in a matter of minutes in the fury of nature – 

Fire or storm 

Life 

Love

So fragile 

With no guarantees 

Of longevity 

Or comfort 

Begs to be felt

Now 

To be counted for the sake of goodness 

This is the only moment that counts 

The only thing eternal 

Don’t wait 

Take a deep deep breath 

Of the spirit that is giving it all 

Say thank you 

For the only gift that matters 

The only thing that remains 

All else can be destroyed 

When nothing else remains 

What is this eternal gift,

given new every morning? 

Love 

💖

AL

 

quote photo sources found at http://www.pinterest.com 

Posted in action, Adventure, attitude, awareness, beauty, Becoming Yourself, Beginning, beloved, Blessing, connection, courage, Faith, find art at pinterest, Glory, Gratitude, Happiness, inspiration, Letting Go, Life, light, Love, nature, Patience, Peace | Leave a comment
19 Feb 2016

remember to remember 

  
Everyone forgets that Icarus also flew.

It’s the same when love comes to an end,

or the marriage fails and people say

they knew it was a mistake, that everybody

said it would never work. That she was

old enough to know better. But anything

worth doing is worth doing badly.

Like being there by that summer ocean

on the other side of the island while

love was fading out of her, the stars

burning so extravagantly those nights that

anyone could tell you they would never last.

Every morning she was asleep in my bed

like a visitation, the gentleness in her

like antelope standing in the dawn mist.

Each afternoon I watched her coming back

through the hot stony field after swimming,

the sea light behind her and the huge sky

on the other side of that. Listened to her

while we ate lunch. How can they say

the marriage failed? Like the people who

came back from Provence (when it was Provence)

and said it was pretty but the food was greasy.

I believe Icarus was not failing as he fell,

but just coming to the end of his triumph.  

💓

Failing and Flying by Jack Gilbert

 

 We are often surprised when love falls apart. It makes no sense to us—how can something so beautiful turn so ugly? But we should not be so surprised, because few of us are ready to hold love safe. Few of us are trained in the art of love. The entire world has been organized around masks and defenses. Adaptation and disguise are our specialty. But love is a different world—an unmasked, surrendered landscape that few of us have explored with any great depth. It’s easy for most of us to articulate concepts, but to hearticulate feelings is another planet altogether. We are only at the beginning of an enheartened way. We haven’t
downloaded the ways of the heart. We are learning as we crawl. Best we stop beating ourselves up when it doesn’t work out. There is so much left to learn. 

💓

   – Jeff Brown 

     excerpt from Spiritual Graffiti

 

  
photo sourcs found at http://www.pinterest.com 

Posted in attitude, awareness, beauty, Becoming Yourself, intimacy, Letting Go, Life, Losing, Love | Leave a comment
18 Feb 2016
2 Comments

When we walk on the earth with reverence, beauty will decide to trust us.   – John O’Donohue

  
love warriors walk through this world

love dripping from open hands

falling onto shattered pieces of the broken 

staining bits of the kaleidoscope of hearts

stepping carefully

slowing down

as the ones who have forgotten to know

appear to do battle

not knowing what they have forgotten…

we are all the light

we are each the beloved..

please let me hold you

touch those wounded places

rub love on the sore spots

until you remember

what you already know

stay here with me 

for a long long while

let’s walk together

connecting 

hands

hearts

love

as we go

allowing the drip to become 

a pour

a fountain 

a river

an ocean

as we sail our sea green ship

into this mystic world beyond the stars 

beyond the moon

and once again

find ourselves home in the sun

☀️

AL

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

🌙

At the heart of things is a secret law of balance and when our approach is respectful, sensitive and worthy, gifts of healing, challenge and creativity open to us. A gracious approach is the key that unlocks the treasure of encounter. The way we are present to each other is frequently superficial. We become more interested in ‘connection’ rather than communion. In many areas of our lives the rich potential of friendship and love remains out of our reach because we push towards ‘connection.’ When we deaden our own depths, we cannot strike a resonance in those we meet or in the work we do. A reverence of approach awakens depth and enables us to be truly present where we are. When we approach with reverence great things decide to approach us. Our real life comes to the surface and its light awakens the concealed beauty of things. When we walk on the earth with reverence, beauty will decide to trust us. The rushed heart and the arrogant mind lack the gentleness and patience to enter that embrace. Beauty is mysterious, a slow presence who waits for the ready, expectant heart. 

💖

 John O’Donohue 

 Excerpt from BEAUTY

 

photo by Fisherman Dan @ Branford, CT 

Posted in action, attitude, awareness, beauty, Becoming Yourself, Beginning, beloved, Choice, commitment, compassion, courage, determination, Encouragement, Faith, find art at pinterest, Letting Go, Life, light, Love, Poetry, power, Prayer
16 Feb 2016

on a day like today

 

  

 

Posted in Adventure, attitude, awareness, beauty, Becoming Yourself, beloved, connection, courage, Encouragement, find art at pinterest, grace, healing, Letting Go, Life, Love | Leave a comment
13 Feb 2016

that feeling 

  
Yesterday we obeyed kings and bent our necks before emperors. But today we kneel only to truth, follow only beauty, and obey only love.

❤️

~ Khalil Gibran

 

We often confuse unconditional love with unconditional approval. God loves us without conditions but does not approve of every human behavior. God doesn’t approve of betrayal, violence, hatred, suspicion, and all other expressions of evil, because they all contradict the love God wants to instill in the human heart. Evil is the absence of God’s love. Evil does not belong to God.
God’s unconditional love means that God continues to love us even when we say or think evil things. God continues to wait for us as a loving parent waits for the return of a lost child. It is important for us to hold on to the truth that God never gives up loving us even when God is saddened by what we do. That truth will help us to return to God’s ever-present love.

❤️
– Henri Nouwen

 

   

‘In all the languages in the world, there is the same proverb: “What the eyes don’t see, the heart doesn’t grieve over.” 
Well, I say that there isn’t an ounce of truth in it. The further off they are, the closer to the heart are all those feelings that we try to repress and forget. 

If we’re in exile, we want to store away every tiny memory of our roots.

 If we’re far from the person we love, everyone we pass in the street reminds us of them.
‘The gospels and all the sacred texts of all religions were written in exile, in search of God’s understanding, of the faith that moves whole peoples, of the pilgrimage of souls wandering the face of the Earth. 

Our ancestors did not know, as we do not know, what the Divinity expects from our lives – and it is out of that doubt that books are written, pictures painted, because we don’t want to forget who we are – nor can we.’

______________________________
(in “Eleven Minutes”, by Paulo Coelho)

  
 

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

Posted in action, Adventure, attitude, awareness, balance, beauty, Becoming Yourself, beloved, Change, Choice, commitment, confidence, connection, courage, Encouragement, find art at pinterest, Glory, healing, Judging, Letting Go, Life, Love, Reality | Leave a comment
12 Feb 2016

awareness. appreciate. gratitude. abundance. 

  
   
    
    
 
   
 
   
 
  

Posted in action, art, attitude, awareness, balance, beauty, Becoming Yourself, Blessing, Choice, Encouragement, Faith, find art at pinterest, giving | Leave a comment
11 Feb 2016

no thanks, I’ve got a new partner

  
And then this boring meeting to become a circus,

this flabby body to become a work of art,

this life to become something else.
You can spend your life (oh, how we do)

inside a bubble of judgments and desires,

and never know even a simple stone.
No, stay here. 

Let the stone be a stone,

the traffic be traffic.
Even this broken life,

this troubled soul,

this difficult time.
Otherwise how can a joy be joy,

a wonder a wonder?

Life is this, not something else.
This is the mystery of the fast,

the hungry day that is a hungry day,

free from the dictates of desire.
Nothing needs to be what it isn’t.

There is glory enough in the stone.

And in you, already a child of God. 
You can’t command the transformation,

but only present yourself to God,

who can.
Just smile at Satan and say,

“No thanks. 

I’m good.”
__________________ 

Steve Garnaas-Holmes

Unfolding Light

http://www.unfoldinglight.net

 

  

 

Posted in action, attitude, awareness, beauty, Becoming Yourself, Change, Choice, Circus, Dancing, find art at pinterest, grace, Gratitude, healing, Love, music | Leave a comment
09 Feb 2016

doxology and dreams in the dark   

 

 When I looked for good, then evil came unto me: and when I waited for light, there came darkness. 
– Job 30:26 


Smack dab in the middle of the fight 

While I waited for right 

my day turned to night 
I thought I was fine 

the good I would find 

then early one morning I found I was blind
I lay on the ground 

this dark hell I found 

fluttering wings the only sound 
I drank this dark brew 

no way out but through 

this darkness just grew and grew
Overtaking me, Helpless I turned 

My hope was all burned 

I could not choose what I thought I had earned 
I lay in Your hand 

in Your arc I did land 

trusting the truth I had already found 
Watching life pass 

going ever so fast 

oh how long will this dark, dark night last? 
In spite of the fear 

I am still here 

I give thanks even through tears 
I trust in Your plan 

My life is just sand

I am a follower and not a just fan
and if I should die 

The truth does not lie 

The sun will still be here when I say goodbye

I trust in the way

I open and say

Come open the door today
So light come and hold me 

Love come, grow boldly 

Till every bush, and bud, flames holy 

🌙

AL 

    
 

   

Posted in attitude, awareness, beauty, Becoming Yourself, beloved, Change, Choice, commitment, confidence, connection, create, dark, Death, find art at pinterest, forgiveness, Glory, Gospel, grace, Grieving, Letting Go, Life, Love, Miracles, Poetry, power, Purpose, Reality | Leave a comment
08 Feb 2016

do or do not….there is no try    – Yoda  

 

 I want to be the song, a poem

I don’t want to play the record

Perch behind the lens

Hold the pen.

I want to be the song

Live the photo

Experience the novel.

Enough interpreting my existence.

Enough searching for the symbol, the reflection, the meaning.

I am resonant, alive, pulsing

One.

Treble and bass.

Light and shadows.

Beginnings and endings.

All of it.

I want to be the song.

Beating, polyrhythmic, harmonious.

The lyrics my prayers.

I want to live the photo.

Still, present, vibrant.

The image my essence.

I want to experience the novel.

Aching, poignant, truth.

The plot my story.

I want to be alive.

Color, beauty, heart-break.

Engaged, awake, heart-felt.

In awe.

Longing.

Loving.

💞
Spread the Love

Eloiza Jorge

💞

click on the photo below to go to Eloiza’s blog Deepening Wisdom

https://deepeningwisdom.wordpress.com/2012/07/08/i-want-to-be-alive/img_1833/

 

 There comes a time when nothing is meaningful except surrendering to Love. Do It!
💞

  – Rumi

  
 Your great mistake is to act the drama

as if you were alone. As if life

were a progressive and cunning crime

with no witness to the tiny hidden transgressions. 

To feel abandoned is to deny 

the intimacy of your surroundings. Surely, 

even you, at times, have felt the grand array; 

the swelling presence, and the chorus, crowding 

out your solo voice. You must note

the way the soap dish enables you,

or the window latch grants you freedom. 

Alertness is the hidden discipline of familiarity. 

The stairs are your mentor of things

to come, the doors have always been there

to frighten you and invite you,

and the tiny speaker in the phone

is your dream-ladder to divinity.
Put down the weight of your aloneness and ease  

into the conversation. The kettle is singing

even as it pours you a drink, the cooking pots

have left their arrogant aloofness and

seen the good in you at last. All the birds 

and creatures of the world are unutterably 

themselves. Everything is waiting for you.

Everything is Waiting for You
…

 EVERYTHING IS WAITING FOR YOU by David Whyte

 Excuse me while I kiss the sky. 
Pardon me while I hug the moon. 

Forgive me while I dance with the ocean. 

Give me a minute while I laugh with the stars. 

Hold your horses while I sing to the angels. 

Patience, my old friend, while I make love to the world. 

Get some rest while I fly the skies with the eagles. 

Count some sheep while I paint a masterpiece with Mother Nature. 

Then… 

Come lay down beside me and hold me. 

caress my skin with lovers hands. 

whisper secrets my soul longs to hear. 

sing to me softly. 

kiss me like the butterflies. 

while I love you forever 

and ever,

we fall asleep together 

every night,

and I wake to see the face I love every morning. 

Sweet dreams, my love. 

good night. 

🌙

AL

  
 

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

Posted in action, Adventure, attitude, awareness, be, beauty, Becoming Yourself, beloved, Choice, connection, Dreams, Encouragement, Faith, find art at pinterest, Glory, healing, inspiration, intimacy, Letting Go, Life, Love, Miracles, music, mystery, Passion, People, perceptions, Purpose, Reality | Leave a comment
06 Feb 2016

Oh so good!!! xo

   
releasing all that holds me from 

allowing the flow

stepping into what feels so good

 love opening in every direction from my center 

returning to me from every direction to my center

I fly free  

At home in the blue sky

 đŸ’ž

AL

Posted in action, Adventure, Alone, attitude, awareness, balance, beauty, Becoming Yourself, Beginning, beloved, Blessing, Change, Choice, connection, courage, create | Leave a comment

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