fragile | life: acoustic & amplified

Archive for the category “fragile”

06 Sep 2016

your prison is walking through this world all alone – Deperado (lyric).

You must leave a lot behind

for your life to become whole.
What the Beloved lets go of

to have you!
If there were a hell

God would always be there

carrying people out.
There is a flock that is not well

without you.
When you think you’ve run away,

proud of your independence,

you’re really just lost.

You need each other.
All of life is God’s party

at having found you.

Or maybe, today, another.
Don’t be ashamed to be brought in

on the shepherd’s shoulders:

you got lost in the best possible way,

looking for God.

Remember each of the other ninety-nine

came the same way.

__________________

Steve Garnaas-Holmes

Unfolding Light

http://www.unfoldinglight.net

listen to Love is My Religion

and before it can be begun

the wind whips the wisps of promise

out of our reaching hands

the hard ground dries the wettest seeds

the thorny earth strangles

the fragile thin ice easily breaking

plunges us under the dark icy water of yesterday’s pain

the sensitive places choke us

we allow old wounds to be reopened

by new innocents

replay

rewind

again and again

life is not always kind

love is not always given a chance to bloom

buds crushed early

unicorns are tricky

yeti never let themselves be fully seen

or photographed

quickly disappearing into the foggy forest

yes, truth is written by those in the know:

“it is ours to win or lose”

so, what will we choose?

to step in or duck out?

some people love to talk loud about the desire to win

then secretly, swiftly throw the game

and silently walk away

thinking they are playing life safe

fear is a brutal master

comfort-zones will kill us all

though we’ll keep

breathing for many years

trust is a deep quarry hidden within

the high walls of the castle

each kingdom must be won

the beast slain by our courageous spirit

removing the massive heads of the monsters

with the found sword of our personal truths

Envision holding those fearful grotesque trophies aloft!

Stepping into your full name!

Champion

Conquerer

Love always wins!

You must choose it!

You can do it,

were born that way!

Amy Lloyd (AL)

All my life, I thought of love as some kind of voluntary enslavement. Well, that’s a lie: freedom only exists when love is present. The person who gives him or herself wholly, the person who feels freest, is the person who loves most wholeheartedly.
― Paulo Coelho

Read that again:

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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

29 Mar 2016

strength

LIGHT AND DARKNESS
When we are touched by the presence of sacred wonder, we do not suddenly run away from the darkness and pretend that it does not exist. Nor do we try to explain away the darkness or become lost in angst over questioning how such darkness can possibly exist. Rather, seeing the greater divine light even a little, we start to see how our delusions only cause ourselves and others such suffering. This growing realization can then begin to slowly open our hearts to compassion and love, both for ourselves and for all other beings who toil in the darkness, caught in cycles of pain, fear, and ignorance. From this love also comes a growing commitment to fight the delusions and the darkness and to serve the light however we can. Indeed, each one of us can fight the darkness in our own ways and in our own time.
First, we can begin to fight our own delusions and grow spiritually as best we can. We can work toward our own awakening and strive to gain our own growing clarity of vision that allows us to see more and more the delusions for what they are and to see, beyond the delusions, the boundless preciousness of all life, including our own. We cannot truly begin to help others and the world until we begin to clear the clouds from our own eyes. And to do this, we need to start cultivating an open heart of loving-kindness for all life. The true end of suffering comes with the dawning of a deep wisdom that sees the transient, impermanent veneer, but also sees the very present and real luminous spiritual reality that flows through all of us. This requires a commitment to fight first our own intolerance, cruelty, arrogance, anger, and hatred. Change must start in our own hearts and minds and must start with exercising kindness towards ourselves and to those around us in our daily lives.
Second, we can work to not add to the darkness in our own corner of the world and work instead to shed whatever light we can, even if it is only in the small interactions with others in our daily lives. Our everyday interactions, no matter how humble, can call forth the divine light into our own lives and those around us, when we act with a kind and loving intention. It is certainly wonderful when good people affect positive change on a community wide or larger basis in society. Such efforts need to be supported and commended. But not all of us are always in a position to affect larger societal change. This does not stop us,however, from working quietly in our small corner of the world, bringing light to our own lives and bringing some light to those around us. Such efforts are not to be put down, but have infinite significance. Even a few lights in a darkened city shed beauty and wonder.

Indeed, the light of love, no matter how small, makes a difference, and the world will be healed only when all of the small corners are filled with light and love. And that will happen only when each of us makes that effort where we stand in the moment in our daily lives.

⚡️

Steven Jay

m.facebook.com at simpleinnertruths

on the edge of flying.

the verge of breaking through

standing in the pouring rain

hoping to find you,

somewhere in the darkness

of this dark and stormy night,

questions with no answers

colliding with the light.

bloody battles all around,

I’m caught within my pain.

holding on to faith in something

in the middle of this fight.

at the end of living

not knowing what to do,

tears, they match the weather

flooding from my soul.

I shake my head for clearing,

prepare my heart to fight,

struggle to my aching feet

step into the ring of light.

death lies all around me,

as I pray this simple prayer,

release me for a moment,

there’s work for me to do.

⚡️

For the dulness that encloses me I pray
your grace burn off the morning fog.

That the dream of doubt I wear like clothes

I pray may in your light dissolve, and fall away.

For healing of the wound that is a world that is a wall

between me and your delight, and mine, I pray.

From the coma of my fears awaken me

with your warming, seeing sun.

For my eyes, sleep-sealed and glazed, I pray

to see the nub and fullness of what is.

From the soft bed of my grave

raise me into this day amazed and new.

__________________

Steve Garnaas-Holmes

Unfolding Light

http://www.unfoldinglight.net

Posted in Adventure, attitude, awareness, confidence, connection, courage, dark, Death, Faith, find art at pinterest, fragile, Freedom, Letting Go, Life, light, Love, soul and spirit, strength, Trust, truth, www.pinterest.com | Leave a comment

30 Jan 2016

yesterday

yesterday I was born a leaf

a small fragile tender wisp

trembling as I hung on the vine

yesterday I was a gust of air

short lived, but not insignificant

full of bone rattling cold and hat disturbing bravado

yesterday I was a large, slow, snow flake

plopping down like a wet goose feather

making the world a magical place

yesterday I was a world made of glass

lying shattered on the floor

hoping to be recycled into a new and useful object

yesterday I was various people

a student, a host, a friend, a lover

feeling my way into the next moment hoping to find a way home

yesterday I stood tall as a tree

shaking, hurting, yet proud, with stubborn certainly

accepting what winter brings, gently weeping, waiting for spring

❄️

Posted in action, attitude, awareness, Becoming Yourself, beloved, Blessing, connection, create, find art at pinterest, fragile, Grieving, Joy, Letting Go, Life, Love, Miracles, mystery, nature, People, soul and spirit, strength, Trust, Uncategorized, www.pinterest.com | Leave a comment

22 Dec 2015

gift

Longest night.

Darkness falls like snow,

falls and falls,

deepening.

Older than the universe,

here before it,

and will be after.

Wraps an arm around us

as if we’re old friends.

We are.

Darkness lives in us,

radiates from us.

We speak it.

Darkness is the velvet cloth

where you cherish the gem

of your presence among us,

darkness the womb,

darkness the manger

that cradles your light,

this holy being

that becomes us,

births us.

In the darkness

you do not come to us,

we come from you.

Because you are with and not apart,

even the darkness

is you.

Because you shine in it

the dark is our dark,

none of it unchanged.

Your being our light,

your hereness our life,

shining in the longest night.

__________________

Steve Garnaas-Holmes

Unfolding Light

http://www.unfoldinglight.net

To go into the darkness with a light
is to know the light.

To know the dark, go dark.

Go without light and find that the dark too, blooms and sings

and is traveled by dark feet and dark wings.

– Wendell Berry

Black. out. black.

Black. on. black.

Dark. on dark. on dark.

I was simply looking for home.

Not knowing the current alley would lead

to where the sidewalk ended

I stepped off the edge

out of the world of light

waking into morning night

a banished sun

no stars

or moon

or streetlights

or fireflies

or lighters

in pitch darkness

I lay, unable to move,

senses adjusting

to what is my new reality

hearing the life

that lives here

wondering if I’ll make friends

while I’m here

learning this new space.

🌌

Gift suggestions:
To your enemy – forgiveness.

To an opponent – tolerance.

To a friend – your heart.

To a customer – service.

To every child – a good example.

To all – love.

💞

– Oren Arnold

Posted in action, Adventure, Alone, attitude, awareness, Becoming Yourself, beloved, Change, Choice, connection, courage, dark, Death, determination, Dreams, find art at pinterest, fragile, Glory, Gospel, grace, Gratitude, healing, home, Letting Go, Love, Miracles, mystery, nature, power, Prayer, quiet, Reflection | Leave a comment

02 Dec 2015

get quiet

You see it. Everywhere you look people are staring at their flat things. We’re terrified of being bored. No one drifts or wonders. If Robert Frost had lived today he would have written, “Whose woods are these? I think I’ll Google it.”