life: acoustic & amplified

poetry, quotes & thoughts about life

Archive for the category “Becoming Yourself”

much ado about nothing

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Understanding Nothing
from The Power of Nothing
by Barbara Zerfoss

There are fundamental keys to unlocking the door to success. They are so simple that most people never discover the combination. Why is that?

As we grow, we often leave creativity and simplicity behind and start to look for answers in complexity. However, those who are most successful have discovered a foundational principle of success: there is no genius in complexity.

In fact, Abe Lincoln said this,

“I’m sorry I wrote such a long letter. I did not have the time to write a short one.”

History has proven that…the greatest discoveries often come from the simplest of forms. In fact, most breakthroughs come straight out of “nothing,” coming to light while the inventor was simply being present in the world.

In fact, most people naturally have a fear of “nothing” and feel most comfortable and safe holding on to what they already have or what they already know. No matter what the past holds for them—good or bad—it is where they are most at home. Their box is their security, and the walls around them give them plenty of opportunity to admire barriers.

This is why most people find it easier to stay put or simply change or add on to what exists, rather than creating what could be. It’s why people or businesses stay stuck or simply achieve incremental improvements, rather than breakthroughs. It’s what keeps people from discovering their unique purpose, from seeing a vision of the future and creating a life they were truly meant and desire to live. The past is a powerful force filled with stories. It is constantly working to draw us back into the comfort zone.

New experiences or going out on a limb can make us feel uneasy, often causing a type of paralysis within us. Yet, if we can form a new relationship with “nothing”—if we embrace a blank page as a wonderful opportunity to design what we want our future to be—we will have access to unlimited potential.

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tapestry

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We are God’s thread
weaving through the tapestry of life,
our masterpiece is slowly
created.
Potential for beauty, we can’t know,
or even fathom,
unfolding,
becoming,
revealing our glory
so bright
it makes the sun squint
and reach for sunglasses.
Grace producing brilliance
so far beyond what we would claim ourselves.
We step shining into the gray,
as we open to the new.
Virtues, like jewels appearing,
sparkling in the moonlight.
As we step into the needle’s eye,
off the edge of the known,
into spirit worlds unending,
the angels catch their breath,
cheering our sheer audacity,
our blazing garments,
dazzled by the vision
God is revealing through His creation.
As we surrender to the greatest mystery,
the beauty we inhabit
becomes us,
walking in humble clay,
eyes outshining those stars
set in the heavens,
until we totally disappear, and all that’s left
is holiness
so pure
all we can do
is
bow in wonder
at what God can do
with a fragile human.
We give thanks
as the silk thread
becomes liquid
gold and silver
opening us ever
deeper, wider
pure and simple
glory
as we realize our place.
We are the temple of our creator.
The home of God.

ACL 1/ 19/14

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living gratitude

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Gratitude is not a passive response to something given to us, gratitude arises from paying attention, from being awake in the presence of everything that lives within and without us. Gratitude is not necessarily something that is shown after the event, it is the deep, a-priori state of attention that shows we understand and are equal to the gifted nature of life.

… to intuit inner lives beneath surface lives, to inhabit many worlds at once in this world, to be a someone amongst all other someones, and therefore to make a conversation without saying a word, is to deepen our sense of presence and therefore our natural sense of thankfulness that everything happens both with us and without us, that we are participants and witness all at once.

Thankfulness finds its full measure in generosity of presence, both through participation and witness… Thanksgiving happens when our sense of presence meets all other presences.

(©2013 David Whyte – Excerpted from ‘GRATITUDE’ From the upcoming book of essays CONSOLATIONS: The Solace, Nourishment and Underlying Meaning of Everyday Words).

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Happy Thanksgiving! 👄

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Thanks-full for you

Ever meet someone who immediately fits right into your bones? Someone you just want to talk to for 5-10-unlimited days straight, just to see where the conversation could take you? Someone who speaks your language, makes you laugh AND gives you chill bumps in that brief encounter? sigh…I hope you have…cause it’s really good!

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Friendship is like a garden. -Al

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Never put a period where God put a comma… – Al

Let us be grateful to people who make us happy;
they are the charming gardeners who make our souls blossom.
-Marcel Proust

thoughts become us

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No news story suddenly just begins as a headlines — every single one begins as a line of thought running through somebody’s heart.

And better stories begin around our dinner tables and our kitchen sinks. Cultural change doesn’t happen by us throwing stones but by us becoming rock solid in our commitment to personal change.

When a man doesn’t respect a woman, he disrespects what it means to be a man.

read full, so important blog post at
http://www.aholyexperience.com/2014/11/35-things-we-need-to-tell-our-sons-about-harassment-assault-boys-will-be-boys/

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The only way to find your voice is to use it. – Austin Kleon

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I walk in the whipping wind to reach my spot
At times I wonder why???
cause, Oh Baby, it’s cold outside…
Then I step on the beach,
and understanding breaks through,
here I am –
touching the Divine.
It’s crazy.
How could it be that someone like me,
someone simply ordinary,
with so many and varied,
flaws and imperfections,
can see and touch and breathe divinity?
Very God.
I stand,
humbled and grateful,
full of hope for this wonder-filled world.
The cold wind is directly in my face,
waves crash against rocks.
I am small and fragile,
here on the edge of the seagull flock
(I wonder, is that what a bunch of seagulls are called? a flock? a gaggle? a herd?)
I remember being here
almost two years ago now.
Remember how the seagulls taught me great lessons
about God’s care and love.
How different I was then.
The same sun shone,
but back then all was dark and frozen-still inside me.
Today I feel the sunshine in my very soul.
I stand and cry,
very cold, wet tears of overwhelming gratitude
as ‘To Make You Feel My Love’
plays in my pocket.
So much brokenness.
I have not forgotten.
I will never forget.
Yet here I am,
somehow on the other side of the great gulf of grief.
Somehow standing in the center of the light.
Somehow understanding things that I can’t humanly comprehend.
Somehow knowing without knowing.
Somehow beginning with each new morning,
a new joy,
a new journey,
a new birth,
a new song,
a new view,
a new life,
a new story,
a new adventure.
I bow in gratitude.
I know I must sing
because I carry songs which are ready to be sung,
to be birthed in the world.
Just as the birds on the wires above me, I sing
because I cannot NOT sing.
I sing because it is who I was created to be.
I sing because I’m happy.
I sing because I’m free.
His eye is on the sparrow –
and I am worth many sparrows!
I am beloved!
and
SO ARE YOU!

ACL q11/18/14

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If there was just one thing I could tell you about living the life of your dreams, knowing that it would be enough if you understood it, I would ask you to realize that you already are.

In the presence of greatness,
The Universe

find your place

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In the Breach

Wander wonder restless
Amidst the novels
Autobiographies
Travel and Mystery

Search seek anxious
Through aisles of Philosophy
Religion, Science Fiction

Table nooks filled with laptop fingertips typing
Comfy chairs hold readers’ captivated eyes

Where do I belong?
(Do I belong?)

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A solitary empty table, alone, waiting
Waiting for my laptop fingertips and captivated eyes,
Waiting for my restless anxiety
Waiting for dress-up dreams
And therapy themes

The only open space here-
-here with Maya, Rumi, Berry and Bertoldt Brecht, Love Poems.
Poetry, of course,
For (I’ve been told) I am a poet.

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I settle scatter my stuff
(Stuff stuff, soul stuff)
Upon this table
Organically absorb the whimsy, truth, courage
Filling all these crisp closed silent
pages, pages, pages….
in book after book after book….
shelf, shelf, shelf… self

Shhh…they whisper nudge, silent
while, in the breach,
Jackson Browne sings.

~ro, 11/18/14

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The present is the only point where time touches eternity. – C. S. Lewis

Jane Hirshfield has a line of poetry which has been tweeted all over the world which reminds us –
How fragile we are between the few good moments.

I think somehow we have been sold the idea that life should be all thrill. That, if every moment isn’t exciting, we are somehow failing at life. I have learned, over the past 18 years, that the real wonder of life is not in the passing thrilling moments, but in the recognition of the simple and divine in the every day ordinary.

Andy Rooney says it like this –

For most of life, nothing wonderful happens. If you don’t enjoy getting up and working and finishing your work and sitting down to a meal with family or friends, then the chances are you’re not going to be very happy. If someone bases his/her happiness on major events like a great job, huge amounts of money, a flawlessly happy marriage or a trip to Paris, that person isn’t going to be happy much of the time. If, on the other hand, happiness depends on a good breakfast, flowers in the yard, a drink or a nap, then we are more likely to live with quite a bit of happiness.

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The world is full of wonder! Happiness and joy are available to all who open their senses to the beauty of the unexpected sources carried in every breath we take.
Asking, seeking and knocking are all that’s required to begin!

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aging gracefully

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Young souls lean on science.

Mature souls lean on faith.

And old souls prefer long walks and short talks; whistling to hip-hop, country, or rock; and on occasion, tree spotting.

There! On the horizon! Oak!
————————————————
The Universe
http://www.tut.com

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Love unites all, whether created or uncreated. The heart of God, the heart of all creation, and our own hearts become one in love. That’s what all the great mystics have been trying to tell us through the ages. Benedict, Francis, Hildegard of Bingen, Hadewijch of Brabant, Meister Eckhart, Teresa of Avila, John of the Cross, Dag Hammarskjöld, Thomas Merton, and many others, all in their own ways and their own languages, have witnessed to the unifying power of the divine love. All of them, however, spoke with a knowledge that came to them not through intellectual arguments but through contemplative prayer. The Spirit of Jesus allowed them to see the heart of God, the heart of the universe, and their own hearts as one. It is in the heart of God that we can come to the full realisation of the unity of all that is, created and uncreated.
– Henri Nouwen
http://www.henrinouwen.org

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happy day

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