life: acoustic & amplified

poetry, quotes & thoughts about life

Archive for the category “Becoming Yourself”

days of…Β 

  
Days of wine and focus

of hanging on

of staying strong

of keeping faith

of sitting still

of being silent

of thinking in beautiful 

of standing in my own shoes

of letting go 

of loving you through the distance

of letting you lead

of feeling the passion

of attempting not to burn up

of recognizing the spectacular

of allowing the mystery

of hearing the call

of accepting what is

of not crossing borders or boundaries

of opening and opening

of trusting the journey

of seeing the face of God

of surrender into something bigger than I can know

of making the daily commitment

of acknowledging the grace

of thanking for everything

of looking for the miracles

of talking to trees

of taking time to prepare

of expressing my love

of helping in time of need

of following my own path

of obedience rather than selfishness

of love and love and love

of all things love
AL

  

  Photo sources found at www.pinterest.com/al513

  

holy ground

  
There is grace on ground like this…

we can say that every step we take

of every day we live

Wherever we are is sacred ground

every bush we see burning with holy

every rock singing glory 

every bird testament of abundance

every flower testament to extravagant love

every waterfall 

every rainbow

and moonbow

and drop of the summer rain

shimmers with promise

rocks standing firm in the faith

glittering in sunshine

every person you meet has the same value

the same source

we are all made of stars

held together with mud

breathing the breath of the creator

the matter of the universe

life and death our greatest gifts

the space between can be our heaven 

or the darkest shades of hell

we choose our path with every decision

free will is our constant companion

love, and connection, our greatest needs

choices are most important  

wake up and guard them well
AL

 

  

Listen to Amos Lee sing Keep it Loose, Keep it Tight http://youtu.be/9xt8dVLPLFc 
πŸ‘€πŸ‘€πŸ‘€πŸ‘€πŸ‘€πŸ‘€πŸ‘€πŸ‘€πŸ‘€πŸ‘€

photo sources found at www.pinterest.com/al513

what will you choose?

 

 Just like everyone alive
Your days will be full of events – 

threads, as it were,

weaving your life into a tapestry 

There will be days of great joy and ones of overwhelming sorrow

Good days 

Bad days

Medium days

Average days

Snow days

Hazy days

day after day after day

until they end

and you move on

All your days you will have circumstances to accept and embrace

or reject and avoid

to stay or leave

to fly or fear

Some to let go 

some to overcome

some to enjoy

some to live through

Life is not about being fair

Life is about winning with the cards you hold

Winning doesn’t mean being rich, famous

or being born with a pedigree

Winning means living up to your own very unique, personal best 

Winning means experiencing and inhabiting 

love, peace and joy 

You’ll be as happy as you decide to be

You will be as healthy as is possible based on what you decide to do

and the genes you were born with

You’ll choose to accept or reject what is offered

You’ll do what you want to do

Go where you want to go

Keep holding on to what is most important to you 

– no matter if it makes you better –

or if it destroys you –

You’ll love who you love

Be who you are 

You will be worth as much as you decide you are

You will judge others based on your own insecurities,

and your unchallenged beliefs

You will have as much love as you allow inside you

You will have as much of God as you seek to find

You will inhabit your life – 

    or not

All this will have nothing to do with your circumstances 

It won’t matter how much money you have,

your gender,

or the color of your skin

It will all be about your choices

Always,

and only, 

about your choices
AL

 

Listen to Misty Edwards sing Soul Cry http://youtu.be/b-IDAqxCZ7I 
πŸ˜‡πŸ˜ˆπŸ˜‡πŸ˜ˆπŸ˜‡πŸ˜ˆ

Photo sources found at www.pinterest.com/al513

letting go…always letting God

 

 
On this day of your life I believe God wants you to know…  
…that tomorrow is the most important day of your life. 
Your greatest moment, your greatest achievement, your

greatest adventure lies in the future, never in the past.

 

There is a new you waiting to be created tomorrow.

That is the joy and wonder of the dawn. That is the

excitement of it!

 

Forget about yesterday! What is the grandest version

of the greatest vision ever you held about

Who You Are going to be tomorrow?

That is the only question that matters.

πŸ’ž

Neale Donald Walsh

 

 I promised you that I would do it; and I will. However, it will be done in My way and in My timing. My way and My timing are often different than what you expect; but, they are perfect and they are right. My timing is always the best timing, and My way is higher than yours. I have told you that in My word many times.

You know only what you perceive and see, but I know every dimension of everything that is going on in your situation. I know the spiritual forces that are at work against you and what strategies they are taking. I know the things that you cannot anticipate, and they will not catch Me by surprise. My child, I take every one of these factors into consideration when I choose to work on your behalf and to bring My glory to your life.
I want you to know that I am always at work in your circumstances to turn them into My glory. Child, when you are in difficulty, I will make a way for you to escape. It may not be exactly what you expect, but it will be perfect, it will be for your good; and it will be just as I promised in My word.
I am holy. I am loving. I am the truth; and I am also faithful and trustworthy. It’s My desire for you to learn how trustworthy I am, so that you will put the full measure of your trust in Me. Don’t you know how much it blesses Me when you trust completely? So, the answer to your question is yes; I will do it. I will deliver you. However, it will be done in My way and in My time, and it will bring My glory into your life, just as I planned.

  – Chosen One Ministries 

  
Photo sources found at www.pinterest.com/al513

dancing…Β 

 

 Music is playing, 
music with an aim, produced,

music of collusion and desire,

insistent and sexual.

Hard not to move with the music.

Hard not to fall into the rhythm,

seduce and be seduced.

But don’t slip on the blood 

on the floor.
Other music plays,

silent, within.

Different feel, different band.

Music of a beating heart,

melody of tumbling water,

lullaby whispered for a lifetime,

song of hearts set free.

The Beloved cuts in.

β€œMay I have this one?”
No one to impress, only to offend.

No one to dance for, only with.

Dance.

Let joy move you,

even in the face of evil,

let love move you.

Before the guns, 

behind the prison bars,

on the gallows, dance.

Dance on your own grave.

When they threaten you, dance

the other dance that at last

will consume them as well.
Unseen, though you know within,

the Beloved takes you in steady arms.

Dance.
__________________ 

Steve Garnaas-Holmes

Unfolding Light

http://www.unfoldinglight.net

πŸ’ƒπŸ»πŸ’ƒπŸ»πŸ’ƒπŸ»πŸ’ƒπŸ»πŸ’ƒπŸ»πŸ’ƒπŸ»πŸ’ƒπŸ»πŸ’ƒπŸ»πŸ’ƒπŸ»πŸ’ƒπŸ»πŸ’ƒπŸ»πŸ’ƒπŸ»

 

 the story of your name is written in my book, your beginning, the moment where you felt you ended and I begin. That is your beginning, child. 
 

You begin where you end and I begin. 

 

And the story keeps writing, child. After beginning there is adventure. After beginning there is trust and falling and catching and believing and choosing and waiting. There is much waiting and beginning again. 

 

Your story running right off the page with Me.      – Loop Devotional from Gather Ministries 

πŸ’ƒπŸ»πŸ’ƒπŸ»πŸ’ƒπŸ»πŸ’ƒπŸ»πŸ’ƒπŸ»πŸ’ƒπŸ»πŸ’ƒπŸ»πŸ’ƒπŸ»πŸ’ƒπŸ»πŸ’ƒπŸ»πŸ’ƒπŸ»

Listen to Lee Ann Womack sing I Hppe You Dance  http://youtu.be/RV-Z1YwaOiw
πŸ’ƒπŸ»πŸ’ƒπŸ»πŸ’ƒπŸ»πŸ’ƒπŸ»πŸ’ƒπŸ»πŸ’ƒπŸ»

photo sources found at www.pinterest.com/al513

  

soul listening

  
The intellect wants a summary meaning – all well and good for the purposeful nature of the mind. But the soul craves depth of reflection, many layers of meaning, nuances without end, references and allusions and prefigurations. All these enrich the texture of an image or story and please the soul by giving it much food for rumination.                                                           – Thomas Moore

 

 You’ll know you’ve made the right decision when there is peace in your heart. Stop listening to what the world says you should do. Start listening to your own heart. There are only a few people in this world who will stay completely true to you, and YOU should be one of them. Listen to your own voice, your own soul, too many people listen to the noise of the world, instead of themselves. Deep inside, you know what you want, let no one decide that for you. β€” Unknown
 

 Where does that singing start, you know,
that thin soundβ€”almost pure light?

Not the birds at false dawn or their song 

when morning comes, feathered throats

warm with meaning. A different kind of music.
Listen, it is somewhere near you.

In the heart, emptied of fear, 

stubbornly in love 

with itself at last, the old

desires a ruined chorus,

a radiant bloody choir.
Where does the singing start?

Here, where you are, there’s room

between your heartbeats,

as if everything you have ever been

begins, inside, to sing.

❀️❀️❀️❀️❀️❀️❀️❀️❀️❀️

A Summer’s Singing by Lorna Crozier

Listen to D. H. T. sing Listen to Your Heart http://youtu.be/C4HJ0zfZ-EM

❀️❀️❀️❀️❀️❀️❀️❀️❀️❀️❀️❀️

photo sources found at www.pinterest.com/al513

questions that don’t go away…

  

Sometimes

if you move carefully

through the forest
breathing

like the ones

in the old stories
who could cross

a shimmering bed of dry leaves

without a sound,
you come 

to a place

whose only task
is to trouble you

with tiny

but frightening requests
conceived out of nowhere

but in this place

beginning to lead everywhere.
requests to stop what

you are doing right now,

and
to stop what you

are becoming

while you do it,
questions

that can make

or unmake

a life,
questions

that have patiently 

waited for you,
questions that have no right 

to go away.

πŸ‚πŸπŸ‚πŸπŸ‚πŸπŸ‚πŸπŸ‚

  Sometimes by David Whyte

 

Listen to Norah Jones sing Things You Don’t Have to Do http://youtu.be/mdyQCRgtDhM 
πŸ‚πŸƒπŸπŸƒπŸ‚πŸπŸƒπŸ‚πŸπŸƒπŸ‚πŸ

Photo sources found on www.pinterest.com/al513

interesting conversations (grade: C-)

  
HAMLET: To be, or not to be–that is the question:

Whether ’tis nobler in the mind to suffer

The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune

Or to take arms against a sea of troubles

And by opposing end them. To die, to sleep–

No more–and by a sleep to say we end

The heartache, and the thousand natural shocks

That flesh is heir to. ‘Tis a consummation

Devoutly to be wished. To die, to sleep–

To sleep–perchance to dream: ay, there’s the rub,

For in that sleep of death what dreams may come

When we have shuffled off this mortal coil,

Must give us pause. There’s the respect

That makes calamity of so long life.

For who would bear the whips and scorns of time,

Th’ oppressor’s wrong, the proud man’s contumely

The pangs of despised love, the law’s delay,

The insolence of office, and the spurns

That patient merit of th’ unworthy takes,

When he himself might his quietus make

With a bare bodkin? Who would fardels bear,

To grunt and sweat under a weary life,

But that the dread of something after death,

The undiscovered country, from whose bourn

No traveller returns, puzzles the will,

And makes us rather bear those ills we have

Than fly to others that we know not of?

Thus conscience does make cowards of us all,

And thus the native hue of resolution

Is sicklied o’er with the pale cast of thought,

And enterprise of great pitch and moment

With this regard their currents turn awry

And lose the name of action. — Soft you now,

The fair Ophelia! — Nymph, in thy orisons

Be all my sins remembered.

πŸ™€πŸ™€πŸ™€πŸ™€πŸ™€

Read more at http://www.monologuearchive.com/s/shakespeare_001.html#q445B8QYR85jGYt2.99

 

 I think of difficult days
Days I struggle to stay alive

To keep my head above water

To put one foot in front of the other

To stay hydrated in the middle of my water works
I think of days of joy

When everything sparkles

When I say hello to the bright-eyed me in the mirror

When I am so glad I’m alive

So connected to the whole
I think about the moods of nature

The sunny days

The gray days

Days of angry storms

or gentle raindrops

Days of extreme
Just like me

Extreme weather

caused by my energy

the energy around me 

environmental and

relational factors
personal forecast

Todays weather calls for

Sunny outlook

with occasional clouds

a few showers through out the day

wine at sunset

moon full tonight  

with a dream or two of your kisses

 still warm on my lips

floating through

Waking to a great day tomorrow 

until I see you again

  😱😱😱😱😱😱😱

AL

  
Listen to Amos Lee sing Soul Suckers http://youtu.be/zqidM_U9rgU

β˜”οΈβ˜€οΈβ˜”οΈβ˜€οΈβ˜”οΈβ˜€οΈ

photo sources found at www.pinterest.com/al513

   
  

picture thisΒ 

 

 a photograph 

a memory

a poem 

a song

a kiss

a touch

a slap

a smile

a frown

a gift

a breath

a pause

a word – 

of love or hate or truth or lie 

   all vivid pictures 

memorials in a lifetime

of moments never to be forgotten

snapshots of a single frame in time

just a shutter-length

a stutter-length

an eye-lash blink

never to be here again –

yet never to be gone –

always within us

they live forever

we live forward 

becoming the collective 

of all these moments

 as we grow

with each opportunity

we choose to become –

more or less –

we gain courage 

we live with integrity

with truth. 

or we remain hidden 

afraid to let go of what’s gone. 

we make these choices every instant we live – 

every moment ours to decide:

to be,

or not to be? 

yes, Mr. Shakespeare, 

that, is still, the question. 

AL 

  

Listen to Rosemary Clooney sing Sway http://youtu.be/eWI5tyS_sTg πŸ˜˜πŸ˜˜πŸ˜˜πŸ˜˜πŸ˜˜πŸ˜˜πŸ˜˜πŸ˜˜πŸ˜˜πŸ˜˜

Top photo by Fisherman Dan @ Branford CT

bottom photo source @ www.pinterest.com/al513

πŸ’™πŸ’™πŸ’™πŸ’™πŸ’™πŸ’™πŸ’™πŸ’™πŸ’™πŸ’™

There was nothing there when I heard a voice.

Haven’t you had a strangeness like this?

I did not respond right away, ignoring it,

and its restlessness increased.

I chucked it off as imagination.

Haven’t you ignored queasy feelings?

Perhaps it was from the empty fields,

but there was stillness in the grass and air.

This uneasiness followed me into the car

and went with me.

When stillness is so quiet, nothing is heard.

There was nothing in my house.

Nothing in the sky. Nothing in the isolated miles.

The voice persisted.

Ever ignore something that refused to be ignored?

It was telling me to enjoy and love.

The message was everywhere it needed to be.

All I had to do was listenβ€”then it was everywhere.

πŸ’™πŸ’™πŸ’™πŸ’™πŸ’™πŸ’™πŸ’™πŸ’™πŸ’™

When Stillness Is Heard by Martin Willitts, Jr.

nothing is worth more than this day! Β Β 

  
Your life isn’t behind you; your memories are behind you. Your life is ALWAYS ahead of you. Today is a new day. Seize it!       – Steve Maraboli

  
  

Listen to Frank Sinatra sing The Best Is Yet to Come http://youtu.be/TOyeyOEmFtE

πŸ’πŸ“πŸŽπŸ‰πŸŠπŸπŸ‘πŸŒπŸ‡πŸ‹πŸ

Photo sources found at www.pinterest.com/al513

  

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