life: acoustic & amplified

poetry, quotes & thoughts about life

Archive for the category “Choice”

04 Jun 2016

soul dancin’ swayin’ to the music…  


When we choose indifference, we betray our world. Yet the world is not decided by action alone. It is decided more by consciousness and spirit; they are the secret sources of all action and behavior. The spirit of a time is an incredibly subtle, yet hugely powerful force. And it is comprised of the mentality and spirit of all individuals together. Therefore, the way you look at things is not simply a private matter. Your outlook actually and concretely affects what goes on. When you give in to helplessness, you collude with despair and add to it. When you take back your power and choose to see the possibilities for healing and transformation, your creativity awakens and flows to become an active force of renewal and encouragement in the world. In this way, even in your own hidden life, you can become a powerful agent of transformation in a broken, darkened world. There is a huge force field that opens when intention focuses and directs itself toward transformation. 
John O’Donohue
Excerpt from 

 TO BLESS THE SPACE BETWEEN US (US)


quote by Wayne Dyer

here’s the thing…
what’s a girl to do with all this happiness?
what sort of containers can hold this amount of wild joy?
will howling at the moon help?
or dancing in a beautiful fountain with you? 
will you take a back road to see me? 
tell me  I’m the most beautiful girl you’ve ever seen?
will you love me?
living well doesn’t depend on it…
but it would be nice…

 to share this happiness with you
do something wild?

spend some beautiful time together 

on this beautiful journey?
Let’s allow joy to flow in big puddles all around us,

do some soul dancing, 
till we swim in the ocean of all this amazing grace!

💞

AL

Anytime I feel lost, I pull out a map and stare. I stare until I have reminded myself that life is a giant adventure, so much to do, to see.

       – Angelina Jolie 

Posted in Adventure, attitude, awareness, beauty, Becoming Yourself, Choice, connection, Dancing, Faith, find art at pinterest, intimacy, Letting Go, Love, People | Leave a comment
03 Jun 2016

view from the doorway 

It feels like the end of something         

but we forget the rest.
It is a door

and something on the other side,
this moment a single petal

of a rose unfolding.
From the doorway looking back

we see you walking along
and ahead we see you

walking along.

__________________ 

Steve Garnaas-Holmes

Unfolding Light

http://www.unfoldinglight.net


miles come
miles go
some stay a while
some roll on beneath our feet
or our wheels 
barely noticed
driving in the fast lane
with the windows rolled up tightly
in God we trust
unfolding on every bill we pull from pocket
but, the world doesn’t work that way…
or does it? 
peace, 
love,
always seal the deal
go ahead,
open the door,
walk away free,
changed 
ready to see some new things
every choice brings us to our new place
right here 
right now
notice it
say thank you

always say 

thank you
🚪

AL



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

Posted in attitude, awareness, Becoming Yourself, Beginning, beloved, Blessing, Choice, connection, find art at pinterest, Freedom, Letting Go | Leave a comment
31 May 2016

what am I missing? 

The speaker points out 

that we don’t really have

much of a grasp of things, 

not only the big things,

the important questions, 

but the small everyday

things. 

“How many steps up to your back yard? 

What is the name of your district representative? 

What did you have for breakfast? 

What is your wife’s shoe size? 

Can you tell me the color of your sweetheart’s eyes? 

Do you remember where you parked the car?” 

The evidence is overwhelming.

Most of us never truly experience life. 

“We drift through life in daydream, 

missing the true richness and joy that life has to offer.” 

When the speaker has finished we gather around to sing a few inspirational songs. 

You and I stand at the back of the group and hum along 

since we have forgotten most of the words.

😜
The Speaker by Louis Jenkins


Mary Oliver reminds me

to let go of any need that might linger in me

to, even try, to impress anyone. 

But to stay alert to the extravagant impressiveness around me, 

puddling at my feet,

drowning my life with goodness. 

To be easily astonished,

easily filled with wonder,

to let life boggle my mind.

To stay a child of joy and nature,

a collector of miracles. 

To stay in awe of sunsets

and dandelions,

coffee shops

and grasshoppers.

To gasp every time I get a view of the ocean,

to be breathless at the view from a mountaintop road at sunset. 

To feel wonder when I see a leaf change color.

To crane my neck, every single time, to catch a glimpse of sunlight on water,

to thrill everytime I touch the curve of a babies cheek. 

To get a chill of macabre delight

at gnarly, old toenails,

and bats hanging upside down

in a dark damp cave,

or flying around a street light as darkness falls slowly through the air. 

Such things keep me alive. 

These are the true riches of our living. 

Extreme miracles everywhere around us. 

We are here to witness, 

here to share descriptions of such beauty, 

even our feeble attempts are so amazing

they boggle the mind. 

Thank you, Mary Oliver, for this reminder, 

with your every beautiful, glorious word. 

We are each here to do our part,

to record our miracles

in our own voices, 

pens,

paints,

dances,

lyrics,

artistry,

we make up this tapestry,

we record the blazing glory,

the divine masterpiece. 

We each add notes to the grand symphony,

allowing the rocks to stay silent – 

at least for those who

don’t care to listen for the exquisite, out-of-this-world music they share – 

we play on through each day 

with such brilliance, light and passion,

savoring delight, 

everywhere we go…

until we are gone, 

and those who come behind us

find it all fresh and new once more,

and begin to tell their part of the story, 

in their own beautiful, unique ways. 

💞

AL 

Posted in art, attitude, awareness, beauty, Becoming Yourself, beloved, Choice, connection, Encouragement, find art at pinterest, giving, Glory, inspiration, intimacy, Letting Go, Life, Love, Miracles, mystery, nature, Passion, People, Poetry, soul and spirit, transformation, Trust, words, Writing, www.pinterest.com | Leave a comment
29 May 2016

#freedom 


Freedom only belongs 

to those who choose to use it, 

but ‘belongs’ is not really the right word,

because freedom will only exist for those who let go completely,

those who allow it to stay free. 

Freedom is one of the most costly things we can ever receive,

many have given their lives, 

their very blood, 

for this great gift. 

Freedom, unused or manipulated,

is no longer freedom. 

Like any gift,

it does nothing 

until it is received,

open handed,

open spirited,

used in daily life,

practical living. 

I’ve sat in prisons

for many years

not realizing the doors were unlocked. 

Granted, many of the doors were difficult to get open,

people I trusted TOLD me they were locked,

some were rusted over,

others had puzzle latches

I had to figure out,

but one by one they all opened,

and I stepped out into 

sunshine. 

Increasingly lighter,

increasingly comprehending of this grace-thing called freedom.

The mystery, the magnitude,

the path, the fire, the gift

called freedom. 

There I go again,

falling in love with free will,

falling in love with free air, surf and sky,

falling in love with me. 



Thank you to all who serve(d)

Posted in attitude, awareness, Becoming Yourself, Choice, Freedom, Happy Holiday!, Letting Go, Life, perceptions | Leave a comment
27 May 2016

corporate memories


I have known the inexorable sadness of pencils,

Neat in their boxes, dolor of pad and paper weight,

All the misery of manilla folders and mucilage,

Desolation in immaculate public places,

Lonely reception room, lavatory, switchboard,

The unalterable pathos of basin and pitcher,

Ritual of multigraph, paper-clip, comma,

Endless duplicaton of lives and objects.

And I have seen dust from the walls of institutions,

Finer than flour, alive, more dangerous than silica,

Sift, almost invisible, through long afternoons of tedium,

Dropping a fine film on nails and delicate eyebrows,

Glazing the pale hair, the duplicate grey standard faces. 
*

Dolor by Theodore Roethke




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

Posted in Becoming Yourself, Career, Change, Choice, Dreams, Encouragement, find art at pinterest, power | Leave a comment
24 May 2016

let the desire for beauty rule your life


Abandon every

program and routine.

There is no sequence

of postures.

Stand valiantly and

gently sway

in the breeze of your

own breath.

Let your body rise and fall,

circling slowly, a vast

starry firmament between

the ligaments of each bone,

muscles washed in

attention, moving

out of their ocean wheels,

galactic cells, Wordless

creations of the infinitesimal…

There are no instructions.

There is no book.

No, more slowly.

Go nowhere,

micro-movements

inventing themselves

from molten stillness.

Now it is your own dance.

_________________

Classless Yoga by Uradiance 

💃🏻

http://yourradiance.blogspot.com/2016/05/classless-yoga.html?m=1


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 ring up a few stars. 

Hold your horses while I sing with 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 beside me and hold me close, 

touch my soul with lovers hands,

whisper the secrets my heart longs to hear, 

sing to me softly, 

kiss me like butterflies, 

while I love you forever

and ever, 

and we fall asleep together 

each night, 

for a thousand years

then a thousand more. 

Sweet dreams, 

my love. 

and good night. 

💤

AL



Posted in Adventure, art, attitude, awareness, beauty, Becoming Yourself, Beginning, beloved, Change, Choice, confidence, connection, determination, Faith, find art at pinterest, Letting Go, Life, Love, soul and spirit, strength, Trust, truth, www.pinterest.com | Leave a comment
24 May 2016

warming trends


        On May 24, 1738 John Wesley recorded in his journal: “In the evening I went very unwillingly to a society in Aldersgate Street, where one was reading Luther’s preface to the Epistle to the Romans. About a quarter before nine, while he was describing the change which God works in the heart through faith in Christ, I felt my heart strangely warmed. I felt I did trust in Christ, Christ alone, for salvation; and an assurance was given me that He had taken away my sins, even mine, and saved me from the law of sin and death.”

God, I thank you for your love, alive in me without my knowing or feeling. Open my heart to trust your grace.  
I pray for those whose hearts have not been warmed, who do not know they are so cherished, forgiven, gifted, blessed and loved. I pray for all who are afraid you don’t love them, for those who live under a “law of sin and death” enforced by abuse or violence in word or flesh, who have been labeled, violated, condemned, judged or rejected. I pray especially for those who have been hurt by life and its hurtful teachings. 
I pray that I may bear your love to all I meet today, that I may be the sign, the word that your grace may warm their heart. For all who may come “very unwillingly” to this life, may I be a gentle, welcoming, saving word. Amen. 
__________________  

Steve Garnaas-Holmes

Unfolding Light

http://www.unfoldinglight.net



Posted in attitude, awareness, Becoming Yourself, Beginning, beloved, Change, Choice, courage, determination, find art at pinterest, Growth, Habits, healing, Letting Go, Life, Love, People, power, Prayer, soul and spirit, strength, transformation, Trust, truth, voice, www.pinterest.com | Leave a comment
23 May 2016

If anything matters then everything matters.       – Wm Paul Young


Love sometimes wants to do us a great favor: hold us upside down and shake all the nonsense out.
Your love

Should never be offered to the mouth of a stranger,

Only to someone who has the valor and daring

To cut pieces of their soul off with a knife

Then weave them into a blanket

To protect you.
Stay close to any sounds that make you glad you are alive.
Ever since happiness heard your name, it has been running through the streets trying to find you.

I wish I could show you when you are lonely or in the darkness, the astonishing light of your own being.
There are different wells within your heart.

Some fill with each good rain,

Others are far too deep for that
Fear is the cheapest room in the house. I would like to see you living in better conditions.
Even after all this time the sun never says to the Earth, “You owe me”
There is no pleasure without a tincture of bitterness.

💙

   – Hafez



I stand in the cold surf

waiting 

for what I am to receive 

I look at,

then past,

glistening rocks,

colored shells,

green sea glass,

none of them right. 

My back to the Sound,

head down,

Waves coming and going,

Sand shifting under my wet feet. 

I scan, 

wait for what I must recognize –

 then I see it. 

this????

a black glob of rocks stuck together 

browns and grey and bits of reds

it’s ugly

it’s heavy

it’s rough

it’s jagged

it’s not what I thought I wanted,

it’s not what I thought was valuable. 

what is it, that the water has just delivered, 

and I feel lead to pick up

to take home with me?

I want it to be romantic. 

Maybe…

I search for romance…

Could it be a meteorite?

a mystery from another planet?  
I walk the mile home,

wondering what lessons I will learn from this ‘gift’

I have just received from the ocean. 

Almost home,

one more curve,

I spot my favorite kinda caterpillar,

the brown and black,

softest, loveliest velvet

crawler in the world. 

I loved the feel of them as a little girl,

let them crawl all over me.

I pass it,

then double back, 

as directed by intuition,

to visit this small friend. 

I am bent down,

as my fuzzy friend moves along,

and recognition comes. 

I carry, 

in my hands….
asphalt,

ASPHALT???!!!
a piece of the road,  

which came to me by way of the ocean. 
I belly laugh 

as I my lesson, 

my gift,

becomes clear. 

I am,

 right now,

every moment,

in the ocean of grace

no matter where I am

the path is in the ocean of love,

of God. 
This road is everywhere!
It rises to meet me,

no matter where I stand!
I comes one small glimpse at a time. 
This is gift –

teaching me what I need,

bringing me diamonds with each step. 

Living,

 breathing,

learning, 

expanding

thanks 

is the best gift. 
We are always loved

The message is waiting in 

every surf,

every leaf,

every tree,

every song,

every heart beat,

every tiny created thing,

every little moment,

breathes and burns. 
Oh, Beloved,

Remove your shoes. 

Dive into the sky! 

sing

holy, holy, holy!

then fly away 

home.

I’ll meet you there! 

xoxo

🏞
AL


Posted in action, Adventure, attitude, awareness, balance, beauty, Becoming Yourself, beloved, Blessing, Change, Choice, connection, courage, Faith, find art at pinterest, forgiveness, friendship, healing, Letting Go, Life, Love, Miracles, mystery, nature, perceptions, soul and spirit, voice, www.pinterest.com | Leave a comment
22 May 2016

gone fishing 


There is sensual pleasure in a small act done well 

My whole being loves how you cast that fishing rod

sight, sound, smell, touch, hearing all involved

observing,

absorbing,

thrilling; 

It sticks with me and loops in my memory – 

this beautiful dance of motion

playing again and again

the quick, sure whip of the rod,

the slow arc of the line against the blue sky before it breaks the water,

the vulture floating high in the blue and white, being themselves, 

sure of their importance,

not questioning their beauty,

or the importance of their purpose,

the graceful, smooth winding of the reel,

the flash of the silver lure dancing below the surface of the green water 

your patience as you teach me, 

a very amature student –

all revealing a new layer of beauty,

I want to learn this rhythm,

my soul responds with deep desire,

I want to be a natural part of this world,

a silver flash,

a big blue sky. 

🎣

AL


Birds know north without looking.

Some fish have a line down their bodies

to sense electrical fields

or changes in water pressure.

Jumping spiders see ultraviolet.

Bees have a little compass of iron

and can read earth’s magnetic field. 

And there’s a little silver thing in you

that listens to the Holy Spirit.

It’s really quiet, so you have to be quiet

to hear it listening, but it hears.

You don’t have to hear God;

just let the little silver thing in you

listen to the Spirit and speak 

to the rest of your body. 
__________________  

Steve Garnaas-Holmes

Unfolding Light

http://www.unfoldinglight.net


* 4 middle Fish photos above were taken by Fisherman Dan @ Branford, CT

Posted in action, Adventure, attitude, awareness, beauty, Becoming Yourself, Change, Choice, commitment, connection, find art at pinterest, Gratitude, Grieving, inspiration, intimacy, Letting Go, Life, Love, Miracles, mystery, nature, Passion, Patience, Peace, Reality | Leave a comment
21 May 2016

your poetry is just ‘eh’


I googled it

what was the history?

the meaning?

my ability to write,

along with me,

had just been put into this container – a paper bag

that I couldn’t write my way out of???

It felt like a throw down challenge.

how difficult is this challenge?

and, by golly,

how did I get into the this giant paper bag?

armed only with pen,

quite obviously

a silly decision.

Why didn’t I think to bring scissors?

or

chocolate?

If I had chocolate

I wouldn’t really mind being in this paper bag

I should have seen this coming

been prepared…

just in case I can’t figure out

how to write myself out.

Of course,

I didn’t really intend to get stuck here

in a paper bag –

it just somehow happened.

I got caught in a cross-fire

of two people

with razor-sharp writing skills.

(are they better than mine –

or do we all just have our own voice?

hmmmm)

maybe I’ll just stay in this bag

and take a nap.

it’s pretty comfy here.

Oh nice, I have an orange in my pocket.

I can write myself out later

I’ve never found myself in a paper bag before –

think I’ll just enjoy the novelty of the adventure

before I go home for dinner.

🎁

AL



Posted in attitude, awareness, beauty, Becoming Yourself, beloved, Choice, courage, determination, Encouragement, Faith, find art at pinterest, inspiration, Letting Go, Life, Love, mystery, Patience, People, perceptions, Poetry, Purpose, Reality | Leave a comment

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