life: acoustic & amplified

poetry, quotes & thoughts about life

Archive for the category “friendship”

beauty in all she is

It’s true, what all our heroes say. There is a way

in this world for beauty,

for good. It may

be a crooked path

in a tanglewood, but

stay the course and,

when the way grows rocky,

walk your horse,
and who knows, you may yet

come upon the wild rose,

as I have done, and,

paying close attention,

keep from crushing her into

the grime, and then,

with any luck, in time

remember how you found her

and how to find her again

when the way gets wilder.

🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹

To a Wild Rose by Todd Boss

  
In the Celtic tradition, there is a beautiful understanding of love and friendship. One of the fascinating ideas here is the idea of soul-love; the old Gaelic term for this is anam ċara. Anam is the Gaelic word for soul and ċara is the word for friend. … In the early Celtic church, a person who acted as a teacher, companion, or spiritual guide was called an anam Ċara. It originally referred to someone to whom you confessed revealing the hidden intimacies of your life. With the anam ċara you could share your innermost self, your mind, and your heart. This friendship was an act of recognition and belonging. … In everyone’s life there is great need for an anam ċara, a soul friend, in this love you are understood as you are without mask or pretension. Where you are understood, you are at home.

     – John O’Donohue

  
Listen to Christina Perri sing A Thousand Years http://youtu.be/q9ayN39xmsI

Photo sources at www.pinterest.com/al513

communication  

  the bright, glowing world opens my heart in beauty –

 there’s this summer song

of cool wind on my skin, 

playing sweet, soft percussion through the tall, lush marsh grass

gentle water laps at the sand

invisible birds singing in surround sound

visible ones splash and dive for breakfast

patient, yet very aware

my heart resonates with the language we have spoken

the songs we have sung

the rich vibrations of our connection

over the past months…

over the past two days…

today’s fresh sun warms my back

my shadow sits large

writing poems

this morning

this day

this moment

in silence birthing 

my gratitude

my pleasure

 my gift

my life

thank you 

for being you,

for reaching out,

for holding my hand 

and my heart 💞

AL

 

  
Listen to John Legend sing All of Me http://youtu.be/Mk7-GRWq7wA 
💞

find photo sources @ www.pinterest.com/al513

settling in to happiness

  What happens when your soul

Begins to awaken
Your eyes
And your heart
And the cells of your body
To the great Journey of Love?  

First there is wonderful laughter
And probably precious tears

And a hundred sweet promises
And those heroic vows
No one can ever keep. 

But still God is delighted and amused
You once tried to be a saint. 

What happens when your soul
Begins to awake in this world

To our deep need to love
And serve the Friend?

O the Beloved
Will send you
One of His wonderful, wild companions—

Like Hafiz.
💑💑💑💑💑💑💑💑💑
What Happens by Hafiz
 
 Today I want to greet joy

Without a trace of protection 
I want to open my eyes to the light
Without a blink of dread
I want to look at my past
Without a whisper of shame
I want to look at my future 
Without a hint of fear 
Today I want to dance
Without pausing to think
I want to belly laugh
Without caring who hears
I want to open my arms
and twirl in the sun
Until I fall breathless
free to be myself
full of the joy
that I open to allow
completely letting go
Without even a smudge of suspicion 
or an instant of hesitation

ACL 3/4/13

 
Listen to Stevie Wonder sing For Once In My Life http://youtu.be/3oZClso_yUQ
Photo sources found at www.pinterest.com/al513 

Colour has not yet been named. – Derrida

 

Rose is a rose is a rose is a rose.               –  Gertrude Stein

🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹

The world is full of magic things/patiently waiting for our senses to grow sharper.        – Yeats

Listen to Bette Midler sing The Rose http://youtu.be/zxSTzSEiZ2c

love letters

 As I gaze into the world, I realise

that nothing falters in its
ability to reflect what
I’ve come here to see.

 

My challenge remains
to admit
to what it is
that I’ve seen.
👓👓👓👓👓👓👓👓👓👓👓
The Reflection by Nic Askew

 It is time to write.

To blog.

To truthtell.

To confess, expose, reveal…

be real and raw and silly-serious moment by moment me.

Here. Now.      -vs-.       Someday. When.

Someday when I know what I’m doing?

Have it figured out?

Plotted, schemed, planned, blueprinted, outlined?

READY.

Ptttthhhhh! You know THAT day, right?

I am a beautiful messy mess heap of chaos and presence

Wanna know something?

My insides are scribbling.

I am scared. Scared of being scared. Scared of being scared of being scared.

Yesterday I shared with friends that I do not comprehend why I get

So. damn. frozen. stuck. stymied. in my lack of tracks

when.ever. I. contemplate coming here                                                                                                 (yes, here, to a wordpress screen, fingers on keys)                                                                               and writing any.thing.at. all.

(as clearly evidenced by the chronic non-posts pervading this site, right?)

And I think I must find out what is “wrong” and-or “why oh why”                                                             in order to overcome and be                                                                                                                 the golden-hued, prolific, profound, insightful, inspirational blogging goddess                                       that we all know is in here                                                                                                       somewhere.

(Ohhhhhhhh…. could that be why?!)

They told me to just write. Write me. For me.

Not for you. Or them. Or any grand scheme purpose.

Simply to write. Express. Allow words to come. Flow.                                                                     Have their inexplicable way with me.

So here I am.

Shaking. Criticizing. Condemning. Regretting.                                                                          ALLOWING. Receiving.                                                                                                                     Sharing.                                                                                                                                             (Insert loud screechy horror movie scream here)

Writing words from voices whispering, hollering, quivering and shimmering

Fastwriting over, under, beside and through the scribbley scary insides

Less pretend pretense.

More real raw-been Robin.

I am a writer, after all.

I am also a Leader of Laughter and Guider of Dreams and Creativity Coach.                                       And that scribble and scrape-slops my insides, too.

I just want to hide. Run away. Hibernate. Meditate. Extrapolate.

You have no idea (wait, but maybe you do?)                                                                                         just how much energy I spend resisting

what I’m meant to do.

Fighting, warring, tugging, slugging, ugamugging.

It is ongoing, this internal bickering with all the voices

vying to be heeded and heard,

whining, cajoling, singing, snorting

All these damn voices, yearning.

I am hushing you (shhhhhh now, it’s ok)

setting you free

be unleashed upon a page, a stage,

keep me real, release release

have your way with me.

It is time to write. 

💌💌💌💌💌💌💌

      – Robin OK @ http://laughndream.com/2015/03/truthscribbles/

 

photos and sources found at www.pinterest.com/al513 

preaching to myself today…

 From the place where we are right/flowers will never grow/in the spring./The place where we are right/is hard and trampled/like a yard./But doubts and loves/dig up the world/like a mole, a plough./And a whisper will be heard in the place/where the ruined/house once stood. 

 Israeli poet Yehuda Amichai



On this day of your life  
 I believe God wants you to know…    

…that the best argument you can make 
is no argument
at all.


Do not argue with life, or with anyone in life. Life
presents itself perfectly in every moment, and every
person believes his or her point of view to be valid
and ‘right.’
 
Arguing with any of this is pointless, and a terrific
waste of energy. Simply create what you choose next.

Love,  Your Friend …



Commentary on Community:

Conversations

Every time we gather becomes a model of the future we want to create.

Authentic conversations create a future distinct from the past.

Conversations create possibility.

Show up. Be present.

The more words you use, the less likely you are to be authentic. 

Inversions

These two matter to me at the moment:

The future creates the present. 

The listener creates the speaker.

Taking (emotional) risks creates safety

Changing the Future

The past is only a lesson about the future to be used in the present.

Be the change you want to see in the world.

Restorative Justice

This thought is taking from “Community” and “Sitting in the Fire.”

Restorative justice is communal justice (as opposed to individual retribution)

Restorative justice adds a measure of balance to the community.

 

Based on the community conversation practices of Peter Block

http://www.asmallgroup.net

Captured by Eric Hansen – Hansen Resource Development


To be truly alive

is to be fully, freely, lovingly present

in this moment,
drinking in the grace of God
and pouring myself out in love
for God and for all beings.


What do I gain

by abandoning this
to be right,
to get my way,
to be comfortable,
to manage how people think of me?


When I win the argument,

protect my beliefs, defend myself,
when I judge another 
and put them in their place,
when I separate myself from those
who suffer pain or injustice,
when I buy another trinket 
for my heart’s little room
and close the door,
what have I lost?


I am not a body or a reputation

but a soul.
God of love,
open my door.
Let life spill in
and spill out. 
Let me suffer and love,

__________________  
Steve Garnaas-Holmes
Unfolding Light
www.unfoldinglight.net

Change is the end result of all true learning.

    – Leo Buscaglia 

photo source tracks found at





clearly I will see you

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Become That Which You Aspire To Be
Life is not a race-but indeed a journey. Be honest. Work hard. Be choosy. Say “thank you”. “I love you”, and “great job” to someone each day. Take time for prayer. Be thankful. Love your life and what you’ve been given, it is not accidental. Search for your purpose and do it as best you can. Dreaming does matter. It allows you to become that which you aspire to be. Laugh often. Appreciate the little things in life and enjoy them. Some of the best things really are free. Do not worry. Forgive, it frees the soul. Take time for yourself. Plan for longevity. Recognize the special people you’ve been blessed to know. Live for today, enjoy the moment. — Bonnie Mohr

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let’s be friends

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If I could see you
and you see me too
look straight into my eyes
cause I’m dying inside
If we could wait for a moment
pause in the crowd
smile at another
say good morning out loud
Well, what would that matter
at the end of the day?

There’d be one less stranger in the world
tonight
one less stranger looking for light
If we would just shine
as we walk through our day
there’d be one less stranger in the world

If you would just speak right from the heart
and let me do that right at the start
If you could allow me my point of view
I’d try to do the same thing for you
If we both ask questions
of answers we seek
Then sit in silence allow each one to speak
Well, what kind of world would these words create?

There’d be one less stranger in the world
tonight
one less stranger looking for light
If we would just shine
as we walk through our day
there’d be one less stranger in the world

see beyond the fear
see both far and near
shine your little light
shine with all your might

ACL 1/25/15

When an iceberg gets flipped over…

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Projects


http://www.liftbump.com/2015/01/36523-iceberg-flips-breathtaking-beauty-hidden-underneath-revealed/

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Thanks-full for you

Ever meet someone who immediately fits right into your bones? Someone you just want to talk to for 5-10-unlimited days straight, just to see where the conversation could take you? Someone who speaks your language, makes you laugh AND gives you chill bumps in that brief encounter? sigh…I hope you have…cause it’s really good!

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Friendship is like a garden. -Al

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Never put a period where God put a comma… – Al

Let us be grateful to people who make us happy;
they are the charming gardeners who make our souls blossom.
-Marcel Proust

sharing

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For a Time of Sorrow
by Howard Thurman

I share with you the agony of your grief,
The anguish of your heart finds echo in my own.
I know I cannot enter all you feel
Nor bear with you the burden of your pain;
I can but offer what my love does give:
The strength of caring,
The warmth of one who seeks to understand
The silent storm-swept barrenness of so great a loss.
This I do in quiet ways,
That on your lonely path
You may not walk alone.

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