I’m not asking for permission
tho I thank you for your good intentions in the giving
I surrender to
life
voice
purpose
passion
healing
love
music
breath
spirit
joy
peace
you do what you want
with, or without, permission,
I won’t mind
just remember:
I won’t go down without a fight
da da da dada
da da da dada
da da da dada da da da da…
just play your funky music
and keep on dancing
💞
AL
(with a little inspiration from my friends)
Listen to Serenity Fisher sing Rose Red
how can you call it a sacrifice when you do it willingly because you believe in it? – Aung San Suu Kyi
I am this morning meadow
into which you pour yourself.
I am the still air
in which you rise, a mountain, huge.
I am this city street
which you walk, a crowd
with your stories, your nations.
I am this bird
and you are flight, and song.
I am the ocean
and you are my water.
I am the desert
and you are my stillness.
I am this heart
and you are my beating.
You are this day
into which you pour me,
breath by breath.
Together,
we are this life.
__________________
Steve Garnaas-Holmes
Unfolding Light
there is no cage
love must be stepped into
freely.
there is no withholding
love gives it all away.
there is no have to’s
love must be given and received willingly.
there is no selfish motive
love always wants the highest and best for the other person.
there are no ‘no’s’
love always says yes.
love takes commitment.
it is not an easy job,
both parties –
equal and
100 percent in it.
you must choose what you want,
along with the consequences of those choices.
Just know, for sure,
love will always set you free
there is no fear in love
AL
Again I resume the long
lesson: how small a thing
can be pleasing, how little
in this hard world it takes
to satisfy the mind
and bring it to its rest.
With the ongoing havoc
the woods this morning is
almost unnaturally still.
Through stalled air, unshadowed
light, a few leaves fall
of their own weight.
The sky
is gray. It begins in mist
almost at the ground
and rises forever. The trees
rise in silence almost
natural, but not quite,
almost eternal, but
not quite.
What more did I
think I wanted? Here is
what has always been.
Here is what will always
be. Even in me,
the Maker of all this
returns in rest, even
to the slightest of His works,
a yellow leaf slowly
falling, and is pleased.
💜
Sabbaths 1999, VII by Wendell Berry
The sky in my rearview
is a huge bowl of rainbow sherbet
the beautiful kind
with raspberry, orange-n-lime
swatches of lemon, indigo and periwinkle
float like barges –
in, out
&
around.
Framing.
Dancing.
Living.
At one point tangerine fills the top of the hilly crest
and head light stars
blaze brilliant against the backdrop
indigo stretched above framing the masterpiece.
At times I find it hard to keep moving forward
into the matte gray of the sky just ahead.
so much loveliness is going on
right behind me
how can I keep heading away from it?
How can I not be a part of this splendor?
Eventually midnight blue seizes its moment of glory,
then night falls over all
and I am left
aching with the beauty,
the majesty,
the extravagant display,
of this wonderful world.
I go to wondering
if this longing for your kiss
will ever be answered?
if my whole life I will wait
for a moment which has already passed,
never to be again under this piece of sky.
always a whisper.
The magic of love,
a thing with wings
hovering over my heart
for years
echoing on into eternity.
💞
AL
‘I am looking for someone to share in an adventure that I am arranging, and it’s very difficult to find anyone.’
‘I should think so — in these parts! We are plain quiet folk and have no use for adventures. Nasty disturbing uncomfortable things! Make you late for dinner!’
― J.R.R. Tolkien, The Hobbit
this morning began at 4! I’ve been on my adventure for a couple hours now. This post is at my first Starbucks stop (chestnut praline latte, how I love thee) more posts and poetry as I go today… ❤️
Life is an epic journey
A pilgrimage
Not for the faint of heart
Without the challenging parts of the path
We grow weak
Without those things that can kill us
We grow bored
We need life to be interesting
challenging
changing
to feel alive
Yes, life is a crazy sort of journey
Welcome to the great adventure
💃🏻
AL
Wild Mercy
The eyes of the future are looking back at us and they are praying for us to see beyond our own time. They are kneeling with hands clasped that we might act with restraint, that we might leave room for the life that is destined to come. To protect what is wild is to protect what is gentle. Perhaps the wildness we fear is the pause between our own heartbeats, the silent space that says we live only by grace. Wilderness lives by this same grace. Wild mercy is in our hands.
– Terry Tempest Williams
Red: Passion and Patience in the Desert Dwellers
Listen to Ain’t No Mountain High Enough
So, I’ve been thinking about discipline- you know, the thing we think we need to find if we are going to do the things we know are good for us (like eating well, exercise, daily meditation etc.) I can clamp down with my will and pick up those aspirations daily- but at times it just feels like endless work, and sooner or later I run out of steam.
So lately, I’ve been trying something different. Instead of berating myself and insisting that today (or tomorrow) I will dig deep and find the necessary discipline, I’ve been thinking about giving myself gifts.
As in- today, I’m giving myself the gift of taking a walk in the autumn leaves, of taking my time in prayer and meditation, of making a wonderful stew for dinner. If I can keep my attitude in the range of doing something kind for myself (as opposed to doing something I think I “should” do) not only is it easier to create good self-care, it becomes about receiving that care with gratitude.
And that’s just a more enjoyable way to receive the gift of this day.
~Oriah
Halloween was confusing. All my life my parents said, ‘Never take candy from strangers.’ And then they dressed me up and said, ‘Go beg for it.’ I didn’t know what to do! I’d knock on people’s doors and go, ‘Trick or treat.’ ‘No thank you.’
– Rita Rudner
Death is not the biggest fear we have; our biggest fear is taking the risk to be alive and express what we really are.
– Miguel Angel Ruiz
Being present lets us experience each moment in our lives in a way that cannot be fully lived through memory or fantasy.
It can be easy for us to walk through the world and our lives without really being present. While dwelling on the past and living for the future are common pastimes, it is physically impossible to live anywhere but the present moment. We cannot step out our front door and take a left turn to May of last year, any more than we can take a right turn to December 2010. Nevertheless, we can easily miss the future we are waiting for as it becomes the now we are too busy to pay attention to. We then spend the rest of our time playing “catch up” to the moment that we just let pass by. During moments like these, it is important to remember that there is only Now.
In order to feel more at home in the present moment, it is important to try to stay aware, open, and receptive. Being in the present moment requires our full attention so that we are fully awake to experience it. When we are fully present, our minds do not wander. We are focused on what is going on right now, rather than thinking about what just happened or worrying about what is going to happen next. Being present lets us experience each moment in our lives in a way that cannot be fully lived through memory or fantasy.
When we begin to corral our attention into the present moment, it can be almost overwhelming to be here. There is a state of stillness that has to happen that can take some getting used to, and the mind chatter that so often gets us into our heads and out of the present moment doesn’t have as much to do. We may feel a lack of control because we aren’t busy planning our next move, assessing our current situation, or anticipating the future. Instead, being present requires that we be flexible, creative, attentive, and spontaneous. Each present moment is completely new, and nothing like it has happened or will ever happen again. As you move through your day, remember to stay present in each moment. In doing so, you will live your life without having to wait for the future or yearn for the past. Life happens to us when we happen to life in the Now.
🔹
Daily Om
There is Only Now
Fresh and Unfixed
by Madisyn Taylor
THE SAFE PATH IS NOT ACTUALLY SAFE. Because what you might lose on the safe path is quite simply: everything. Everything that matters. Your individual essence, your treasure, your vitality, your purpose, your SELF. And that’s the most dangerous thing that can happen to you.
🔹
From Elizabeth Gilbert
🔹
photos found on facebook
Do not hesitate to love and to love deeply. You might be afraid of the pain that deep love can cause. When those you love deeply reject you, leave you, or die, your heart will be broken. But that should not hold you back from loving deeply. The pain that comes from deep love makes your love even more fruitful. It is like a plow that breaks the ground to allow the seed to take root and grow into a strong plant.
#HenriNouwen THE INNER VOICE OF LOVE
http://wp.henrinouwen.org/rgroup_blog/
HEARTBREAK is unpreventable; the natural outcome of caring for people and things over which we have no control, of holding in our affections those who inevitably move beyond our line of sight. Heartbreak begins the moment we are asked to let go but cannot, in other words, it colors and inhabits and magnifies each and every day; heartbreak is not a visitation, but a path that human beings follow through even the most average life. Heartbreak is our indication of sincerity: in a love relationship, in a work, in trying to learn a musical instrument, in the attempt to shape a better more generous self. Heartbreak is the beautifully helpless side of love and affection and is just as much an essence and emblem of care as the spiritual athlete’s quick but abstract ability to let go. Heartbreak has its own way of inhabiting time and its own beautiful and trying patience in coming and going.
Heartbreak is inescapable; yet we use the word as if it only occurs when things have gone wrong: an unrequited love, a shattered dream, a child lost before their time. Heartbreak, we hope, is something we hope we can avoid; something to guard against, a chasm to be carefully looked for and then walked around; the hope is to find a way to place our feet where the elemental forces of life will keep us in the manner to which we want to be accustomed and which will also keep us from the losses that all other human beings have experienced without exception since the beginning of conscious time. But heartbreak may be the very essence of being human, of being on the journey from here to there, and of coming to care deeply for what we find along the way…
David Whyte
Live today. Remove all blame from your vocabulary. Catch yourself when you find yourself using your past history as a reason for your failure to act today, and instead say, “I am free now to detach myself from what used to be”. – Dr Wayne Dyer
what is being responsible, truly?
what horrors do we shackle ourselves to in the name of responsibility?
how do we break the chains of control
of manipulation
of tradition
of condition
of religion?
and follow the the truth of our hearts
of being in control
of only our own lives
of our own destinies
of our souls true callings?
this is not about shirking our responsibility
or being selfish
or leaving people in the lurch
this is about coming from a place within
of being
of awareness
of beloved
of freedom
of disciplined action
seeing below the lying distractions so ready to keep us deluded
then allowing all things to flow from us
to the ones we love
it’s the only way to truly live responsibly
in fact, it’s the only way to truly live
🔹
AL
photos found on facebook
life: acoustic & amplified 