life: acoustic & amplified

poetry, quotes & thoughts about life

Archive for the category “connection”

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
02 Jun 2016

 backbonez kinda people


You are not a coward. You have walked into the countless firestorms of life that would make the knees of a champion shudder at the very sight. You raised a child and held the hand of a dying loved one. You pulled from every inner resource to keep an entire family functioning and fed. You are not a coward. You once hit the bottom of a dark pit only to climb out to greet the next light of transition. You didn’t need nerves of steel or pray for superhuman strength, but relied on a determined heart of love to live your life for something big. 

   ~Susan Frybort, author of ‘Hope is a Traveler’


The Truth
I believe people can change

because of the changes in me
but…

they have to see the need

and want to change themselves
not everyone will change

just because I love them,

or they love me –

just because I want them to –

in fact, most of them won’t
My part in life, is to be myself,

realize my value,

live what I believe

and not allow someone else

to change me into who I am not,

or take away my value
To be in a relationship with someone

is to trust all that you are to another person

and to trust someone enough to allow them into yourself
If that other person has values, 

or behaviors,

that are damaging them, 

they will damage me. 

they will bring harm to who I am. 

What and who I become in the relationship 

will necessarily reflect what and who they are

how we speak to, and treat each other,

will make a major difference in the quality of our lives. 

This is the truth

AL





Posted in action, attitude, awareness, Becoming Yourself, Beliefs, beloved, commitment, connection, determination, find art at pinterest, Gratitude, healing, Letting Go, Life, Love, Reality | 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
31 May 2016

all things new 


God is not doing an old thing. God is not doing the next thing. God is doing a new thing and new things don’t fit in old vessels. As I was praying I believe the Lord is saying that He is making old vessels new again. Shedding off the old and making it new. This may mean old ways of thinking, repetitive ways that don’t work anymore or don’t yield results as they used to. Old bodies that don’t function the way they used to. Feeling any younger yet? Old and achy bodies will be regenerated into young, flexible and new bodies for the new thing to be placed into. New wine doesn’t go into old wine skins. God needs us 50ish people (give or take a few years) to impart into the younger generations and we need to be as active as they are.

🌎

      – David Hoffman


I meet you in the dark 

with my secret information,

my furtive questions.

I bring my grainy picture.

You bring me out into light

and give me yours, so much better,

for you too have been observing 

even more keenly

and loving even more deeply. 

God I come over and over

to give you 

my view of myself

and walk away with yours.

__________________ 

Steve Garnaas-Holmes

Unfolding Light

http://www.unfoldinglight.net


Posted in action, Adventure, attitude, awareness, be, beauty, Becoming Yourself, Beginning, confidence, connection, courage, determination, find art at pinterest, fun, Gratitude, Habits, healing, inspiration, People, perceptions, power, Prayer, Reality | Leave a comment
30 May 2016

pray & remember


I pray today for those who have suffered and sacrificed

in service to their country.

I honor the sacrifice of soldiers and sailors who have died,

and for their loved ones, who still suffer.

I pray for those who are injured,

especially those poorly cared for.

I pray for those whose who are injured in heart or mind or soul.

I pray for those whose spirits died

when they were forced to witness or commit horrible things,

whose souls have been hollowed out,

or whose purpose has been shattered.

I pray for homeless veterans,

for addicts and suicides and vets haunted by PTSD,

for they too are casualties of our way of war.

I pray for those who are sexually abused and harassed,

whose suffering continues after their time of duty.

I pray for those who have served who are lonely,

who are sad, who are guilty or ashamed.

I pray for those who are proud but unappreciated.

I pray for healing for all those who bear the wounds

we choose others to suffer and to inflict. 

And I pray for those of other nations, too.

God bless all who have suffered and sacrificed:

may they know healing, grace, and deep peace. 
Amen.

__________________ 
Steve Garnaas-Holmes

Unfolding Light

http://www.unfoldinglight.net


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

Posted in action, compassion, connection, Gratitude, Happy Holiday!, healing, Peace, Poetry, Prayer | 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
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
19 May 2016

go outside to go inside


The plains ignore us,

but these mountains listen,

an audience of thousands

holding its breath

in each rock. Climbing,

we pick our way

over the skulls of small talk.

On the prairies below us,

the grass leans this way and that

in discussion;

words fly away like corn shucks

over the fields.

Here, lost in a mountain’s

attention, there’s nothing to say.
⛰

Visiting Mountains by Ted Kooser


Posted in action, Adventure, attitude, awareness, Becoming Yourself, connection, find art at pinterest, healing, inspiration, Letting Go, Life, Love, Miracles, mystery, nature, Poetry | Leave a comment

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