courage | life: acoustic & amplified

Archive for the category “courage”

04 Jul 2016

perspective ;)

No! ne’er was mingled such a draught

In palace, hall, or arbor,

As freemen brewed and tyrants quaffed

That night in Boston Harbor

– Oliver Wendall Holmes

fireworks photos by Fisherman Dan @ Branford, CT

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, unused or manipulated,

is no longer freedom.

Like any great gift,

the cost is great,

even so,

freedom does nothing

until it is received,

open handed,

open spirited,

used in 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.

🇺🇸

God of love set us free

https://youtu.be/KOrCJgzrdQg

Posted in Change, Choice, courage, find art at pinterest, Freedom, Letting Go, Life, Love, Trust, truth, www.pinterest.com | Leave a comment

03 Jul 2016

return to me

The time will come

when, with elation

you will greet yourself arriving

at your own door, in your own mirror

and each will smile at the other’s welcome,
and say, sit here. Eat.

You will love again the stranger who was your self.

Give wine. Give bread. Give back your heart

to itself, to the stranger who has loved you
all your life, whom you ignored

for another, who knows you by heart.

Take down the love letters from the bookshelf,
the photographs, the desperate notes,

peel your own image from the mirror.

Sit. Feast on your life.

💞

Love After Love by Derek Walcott

I want to make a poem
that slips into the heart stream
quietly, with no great splash
just a graceful entry,
with minimal ripples
which plunges deeply upon entering
and allows the mud to settle gracefully around it.
I want to make a poem
which allows the heart to trust,
to open,
to flower in it’s own time
knowing, for sure,
it is dependable,
steady,
Words written to last a lifetime,
through the fiercest storms,
though the world burn,
and the mountains crumble.
Words of love
so beautiful
so eternal
they come to life
each time they are read,
or spoken,
and anyone who dares to read the poem I make
cannot help but
find within themselves
clouds of peace
wrapped up in thick blankets of joy
and will forever know for sure
they are
beloved
💞
AL

I smiled at myself

in the mirror this morning

said, ‘good morning’

to the crazy haired girl

looking at me with happy eyes

I make happy coffee

and smile as the heaven-brew

hits morning tastebuds

I have many thoughts this morning

plans and inspiration

floating through

I smile at the fresh pink fuzz

on the backyard tree

at the birds hopping through grass

at the dirty pig statue

looking so perfectly thrilled

To be so dirty

I believe I will live this quote today:

The only thing that ultimately matters is to eat an ice cream

cone, play a slide trombone, plant a small tree, good God, now

you’re free.

– Ray Manzarek

Hmmm wonder where I’ll find that trombone?

💃🏻

Posted in attitude, awareness, beauty, Becoming Yourself, Beginning, beloved, Choice, connection, courage, Encouragement, find art at pinterest, Freedom, friendship, healing, Hope, Letting Go, Life, Love, mystery | Leave a comment

02 Jul 2016

page turner

A hill or edge or precipice,

horizon out and mystery

above, beneath, within.
Departure, limen: driveway,

pier, or gate, or aisle,

a road; and a goodbye.
A parting; sorrow, mostly

masked, and wonder.

Fear of what is next.
Riven wide enough for light,

made empty space enough

for pouring in of this:
a breathing— listen— low,

a hope, a vision, passion,

story told and still unfolding,
woven in your bones and

pouring through your veins,

and every other soul.
In all those faces, rapt

or gaping, still unknowing,

God has set a flame
not yet but soon to burst,

to shine, to speak. That’s why

Christ came, and came again:
to breathe it back into us. All

the love of God is there, now,

in your hands, your wanting hands.
The space awaits. The silence

breathes. The road an arm, a hand.

Begin.

__________________

Steve Garnaas-Holmes

Unfolding Light

http://www.unfoldinglight.net

Strange to realize

on our very worst day of life

someone else is having their very best.

Every death

is countered with birth.

Every grieving tear

with belly laughter.

On the night we see the stars fall

the sun is rising on the other side of the world.

The human spirit cannot be conquered

we rise again with each fall,

else we do not rise at all,

and come to the end,

which is another new beginning.

Tides come in

as tides go out.

With every broken heart

there is an answering new moment of love.

For every first kiss

a final slamming of the door –

figuratively or literally.

For every threshold we cross

we must cross again in a new moment.

We each have moments of glory

moments of defeat.

Worry is the paper tiger

which strips our moments of joy.

Illusions of control hide behind our eyes

always revealed to be a waste of our precious resources.

There is a time for every season.

In all we are to bring the sacrifice of praise.

It is the amazing hat-trick to the healing of our wounds

that in every single circumstance

we stand in the truth of that moment

and we give thanks,

or curse the darkness.

Our choices lead us ever onward

toward the life

we will leave behind,

life happens while we make plans,

all we have slips daily through our hands.

What will we do with your extraordinary, astonishing gift?

🖐🏼

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

Posted in action, Adventure, attitude, awareness, beauty, Becoming Yourself, Change, Choice, connection, courage, Encouragement, Faith, find art at pinterest, inspiration, Letting Go, Life, Love, Miracles, mystery, Passion, Purpose, Reality | Leave a comment

01 Jul 2016

stillpoint

Psalm of the Threshold
Eternal One, I praise you on this threshold;

the door opening is to you.

Under your eye I pack my belongings;

in your arms I move to a new place.
By your Spirit guide my hand

to take only what you give me

and leave the rest;

to bring with me what is truly need

and leave behind what is unneeded.

Give me faith to trust

what cannot be left behind,

and to release what I thought was part of me

but was only the leaves of a season.

Give me grace to say goodbye

even to myself

and turn and welcome the new day,

even in my own soul.
God of time and story,

may I ever dwell on thresholds,

between then and not yet,

in the present, moving.

By your grace open doors;

by your grace lead me through them.

For every door is your eye

and every path is the palm of your hand.

__________________

Steve Garnaas-Holmes

Unfolding Light

http://www.unfoldinglight.net

so I stand at the threshold

of everything new

looking for the key

to the open front door

I stand at the edge

of all that I am

wanting what could be

instead of what is

afraid of not knowing

yet knowing I know

cause I’ll never walk alone

The best is yet to come

🚪

I will not die an unlived life.

I will not live in fear of falling or catching fire.

I choose to inhabit my days,

to allow my living to open me,

to make me less afraid,

more accessible,

to loosen my heart until it becomes a wing,

a torch,

a promise.

I choose to risk my significance;

to live

so that which came to me as a seed

goes to the next as a blossom

and that which came to me as a blossom,

goes on as fruit.

🍇🍎🍏🍊🌽🍒🍓🍋🍉🍑

Dawna Markova

Posted in action, Adventure, attitude, awareness, Becoming Yourself, Beginning, Change, Choice, connection, courage, Faith, find art at pinterest, Letting Go, Life, Miracles, mystery, soul and spirit, strength, Trust, Vulnerability, www.pinterest.com | Leave a comment

30 Jun 2016

we are forces of nature

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

“Even there your hand shall lead me, and your right hand shall hold me” (Psalm 139:10).

You look for Me. But you don’t need to look far.
Oh, trust Me. Trust Me: when I say I am with you, nothing can separate you from my love. This is true.
Come deeper.
Drink of these roots that do more than sustain. Yes, they hold you up. Yes, they let you reach high, to a new place, with Me. Yes, they give you courage, knowing you are held, knowing you will not topple. The stream that nourishes you will never run dry.
You do not do the planting in the best soil. That is for Me to do. You do not decide the weather—whether the sun will shine or rain will fall. You do not know when storms will bend your branches, the wind whipping off your leaves. You do not know when a branch will need to be cut, a root adjusted, fertilizer poured in and mixed with rich soil.
I am the one who cares for you, my love. I am the one who bends low, my hand upon you, my breath the sweet aroma of your soul.
Come, child. I take your concerns. I’ve got you.
I’ve got you.
I see you and care for you. You are growing.
You are becoming more and more yourself.
Oh, how I love to tend to you and be with you! You are the one for whom I bend low and you see Me.
I am so close.

💞

Loop

http://www.gatherministries.com/loop

photos found on Facebook/jeff brown

Posted in attitude, awareness, Becoming Yourself, Choice, connection, courage, determination, Faith, find art at pinterest, focus, force, Glory, Life, Love, Miracles, mystery, Passion, power | Leave a comment

29 Jun 2016

nothing is more powerful than beauty in a wicked world… – Amos Lee

I asked the earth, I asked the sea and the deeps, among the living animals, and things that creep. I asked the winds that blow, I asked the heavens, the sun, the moon, the stars, and to all things that stand at the doors of my flesh…My question was the gaze I turned to them. Their answer was their beauty.

– St Augustine

Lovers find secret places inside this violent world
Where they make transactions with beauty. – Rumi

Close your eyes.
Fall in love.
Stay there.
– Rumi

We live, shields up,
prepared for battle,
expecting war.
We harden ourselves,
with the best of intentions.
Our best defense is protective prevarication.
Our best offense is distracting laughter.
Violence becomes a way of life.
Tenderness becomes a thing we try to remove from our children
as early as possible.
We think we know this –
if we can control the carnage,
if we don’t allow our weaknesses to drag behind us
like toilet paper stuck to our shoe,
No vulnerabilities allowed to peak out like saggy undergarments.
No imperfections leaking out of our ears or fingertips,
we’ll win.
We got this.
We set life up without possibility of change,
without allowing any new circumstances to come to us…

then love comes
with it’s un-understandable mystery
and finds us not ready.
Who could ever be ready for this?
then we seek places,
benches, beaches, back seats…
places to share with the other.
unexpected moments of joy and connection
find us at newly found secret spots
where shields are lowered,
vulnerability given,
tenderness ruthlessly
invades the moment
and beauty is transacted.
soul’s mingle,
hands touch.
Life gets messy and wet.
Car windows steam up on drizzly mornings
as love comes peeking through
working to melt stony hearts,
to return us to joyful living
these are the moments life was made for,
two souls torn from the same clay,
loving each other for a million years and more,
suddenly find each other within the same moment,
and it takes our breath away.

we build an igloo

and refuse the gift.

It’s always our choice.

❤️💔

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

Posted in Adventure, attitude, awareness, beauty, Becoming Yourself, beloved, Change, Choice, connection, courage, Dancing, find art at pinterest, fragile, intimacy, Letting Go, Life, Love, Miracles, Passion, People, Reality | Leave a comment

27 Jun 2016

all roads

it’s not a dead end if it takes you someplace you needed to go

– unconditional

There are beautiful wild forces within us.

Let them turn the mills inside

and fill

sacks

that feed even heaven.

💞

– St. Frances of Assisi

Posted in attitude, awareness, beauty, beloved, Choice, connection, courage, find art at pinterest, intimacy, Letting Go, Life, Love, mystery, Passion | Leave a comment

26 Jun 2016

check in

thank you, dear heart,

for being so brave,

for the courage to stay open,

for giving, and receiving, love,

for taking me into battles

and winning wars with your ferocious strength

for valiantly defending your fragile tenderness

for loving your own terrible beauty

for revealing your deepest darkness to the light of discovery

and laying open your wounds to the healing air

for being willing to walk into heartbreak again and again,

knowing what you do.

For, even when you are shaking afraid,

you always shout,

‘YAY!’

‘Yes’

‘Let’s dance’

and

‘I gotta have more cowbell…’

Thank you for your life giving work

your refusal to quit

your belief in the way I live

I adore you

I honor you

I cherish and bless

your amazing work

in my chest,

in my world,

in my relationships,

and in my wanderings.

I give you the gift of the best me,

in every moment we have together,

the brightest shining light,

I can be

we do good work, girl,

you got the beat,

Oh, skip it, Let’s roll!
Yours forever true,

❤️

Posted in attitude, awareness, beauty, Becoming Yourself, Change, Choice, commitment, compassion, connection, courage, Encouragement, find art at pinterest, grace, Gratitude, Letting Go, Life, Love, mystery, soul and spirit, transformation, Trust, www.pinterest.com | Leave a comment

25 Jun 2016

Where you belong should always be worthy of your dignity. – John O’Donohue

everything here 

seems to need us 

-Rainer Maria Rilke

😶🙃🙂

I can hardly imagine it

as I walk to the lighthouse,

feeling the ancient

prayer of my arms swinging

in counterpoint to my feet.

Here I am, suspended

between the sidewalk and twilight,

the sky dimming so fast it seems alive.

What if you felt the invisible

tug between you and everything?

A boy on a bicycle rides by,

his white shirt open, flaring

behind him like wings.

It’s a hard time to be human.

We know too much

and too little.

Does the breeze need us?

The cliffs?

The gulls?

If you’ve managed to do one good thing,

the ocean doesn’t care.

But when Newton’s apple fell toward the earth,

the earth, ever so slightly, fell

toward the apple.

🍎

The World Has Need of You by Ellen Bass

4:08 pm Seattle

june 24, 2016

the beauty of comversations

so amazing

such glory in these connections

from all over the world –

we all have need of each other.

Front porches can be found anywhere.

We share lunch tables

and stories, oh so exciting.

The four friends head to the gate,

the two locals call a friendly greeting as they return to leave for home,

they remember my name –

it rings out in the busy airport!

Wave and smiling – I live here!

I sit and rejoice.

Write it. 🙂

I am enriched

by this going

by this obedience

by this calling

I have received such confirmation of my work.

So energized,

so blessed,

so excited,

so ready.

I am smiling as the guy above my table says,

So we must be in the allergy section….

(we talk throat clearing and

the fact that I have eaten gluten,

for a few)

Hi, I’m Gary…I’m Amy….

my next divine appointment

has just arrived…

we cross paths 2 or3 times,

then just sit

talk,

share,

connect,

sleep

(well, sorta…in a plane seat??????….winging to Phily)

we leave each other with a warm hug,

after an all night flight…

I am doing my work…

and it is good

✈️

Today I wish you grand adventures, shared laughter and please, for goodness sakes, park with WILD ABANDON!! ❤️ xo

Posted in attitude, awareness, beauty, Becoming Yourself, beloved, Blog, Burnign Bridges, Change, Choice, connection, courage, determination, find art at pinterest, Happiness, healing, inspiration, Letting Go, light, Love, Passion, Reality | Leave a comment

24 Jun 2016

she talks to trees

each tree grows in two directions at once, into the darkness and out to the light with as many branches and roots as it needs to embody its wild desires.

🌳

– John O’Donohue

Sky, embrace storm.

Let there be a stillness

around your whirlwind.
Breathe in chaos, breathe out

impossible turquoise blossoms

of transparency.
Ignite the cinders of yesterday

and burn them completely

under the andirons

of your sternum.
With a gentle sigh release

your eternal spark,

an infinitesimal diamond

dense as the wisdom congealed
on a corpse’s brow.

Intelligence without words.

Understanding without thoughts.
Today’s forecast:

sunny with rain,

and no distinction

between sorrow and joy.
Now rest in a darker silence

where opposites dance

like long-estranged lovers
renewing their marriage vows

against the advice of all

their relatives.

____
Fred LaMotte

Sometimes I just lean
against the nearest tree trunk
lay my hands on the rough bark
stand heart to heart with the ones who give me clean air
in return for the exhaled breath they need from me
I rejoice in how we keep each other alive
I brush my cheek against its rough chest
and we dance for a while to the music
of the wind through the leaves
🌳
AL

Posted in Adventure, awareness, Becoming Yourself, Choice, connection, courage, find art at pinterest, People, perceptions, Reality | Leave a comment

life: acoustic & amplified

poetry, quotes & thoughts about life

Archive for the category “courage”

perspective ;)

return to me

page turner

stillpoint

we are forces of nature

nothing is more powerful than beauty in a wicked world… – Amos Lee

all roads

check in

Where you belong should always be worthy of your dignity. – John O’Donohue

she talks to trees

Recent Posts

Archives

Categories

Meta

poetry, quotes & thoughts about life

Archive for the category “courage”

Post Navigation

Recent Posts

Archives

Categories

Meta