life: acoustic & amplified
poetry, quotes & thoughts about life
Archive for the category “Gratitude”
I am…and so are you!
God is love. The One at the heart of all being is love—a desire for blessing, well-being and oneness, a delight in our being woven together. We are children of such love: love creates us, and in our very being we bear love into the world. The purpose of life is to be transparent to this love, to live in the present moment in full awareness of the love of God that is our life and being. We do not fret about how we will be judged or what will become of us, because we know that we belong to this love. The more clearly we see the God of love, the more purely we shine with that very love. God’s compassion, self-giving and delight becomes our whole life. The struggle in life is to shed the things that impede the perfect love that is inherent in us, to become the pure love that is our nature. A saint is not necessarily someone who is extraordinarily “good,” or made holy in some unique way, but someone who is translucent with love. It is not a stretch to become such a person; you were born so. You only have to reclaim it. May it be your prayer always to return to the present moment, to return to the Loving One, to return to the love that is you.
__________________
Steve Garnaas-Holmes
Used With Permission
Unfolding Light
www.unfoldinglight.net
Down to Earth
Took that leap of faith,
thought I’d learn how to fly.
Lookin’ for rainbows
and dreams passing by.
Searchin’ for answers
to a whole bunch of lies.
Thought that no one
could love the real me.
As I crashed to the ground
Here’s truth that I found:
Learned I must bend,
so I won’t break.
How to get real,
not ever be fake.
It is the best way,
to smile through my pain.
Each moments a choice –
it’s never too late!
These things were so grand,
life was more than I planned!
Now I’m flying so high,
while I’m walking around,
cause the sky doesn’t end
till it reaches the ground.
Living each day now,
each step by faith.
It’s so good to be
right here in this place.
Don’t need all the answers.
It’s time to be free.
I will never be perfect,
I don’t want to be.
Who I am is enough,
yes, it’s great to be me!
I just want to give love –
Cause love’s what we need
Now I’m walking on sunshine
Hooked on the feeling
On top of the world
Yes, I’m one happy girl
Cause I’ve…
Learned to find rainbows –
right in the rain.
Found out I had more,
the more that I gave.
Chose to be happy,
not to complain.
Live life with passion –
I know what it’s worth,
cause life doesn’t start
Till you get down to earth!
Amy Lloyd 8/08
Reflecting on the Miracle of Life
The world is an amazing place. I am in awe of all the miracles every day. On a special day like today, it’s important to just take a moment and reflect on all the amazing things that have happened in your life so far.
To give you a starting point, just think about this:
T
he exact person you are, born to your parents, on the date and time you were born, with the DNA structure you have has about a 1:400,000,000,000 (that’s one in 400 trillion!) chance of existing.
If you don’t call that miraculous, then I don’t know what is!
One of my favorite quotes is from Albert Einstein, and I find it interesting that a genius with such a scientific mind would be talking about life in this way:
“There are two ways to live: You can live as if nothing is a miracle; you can live as if everything is a miracle.”
Life…unfolding
There is so much that can unfold in your life. You are exactly where you need to be right now and all the things that you’ve experienced have led you to this place. But the future is a blank canvas, waiting for you to choose the outcome you desire. Once you understand how you truly are a creator in your life, and take responsibility for all that you have experienced, you become liberated to dream your biggest dreams. You become empowered to know that the world is ever-expanding and your dreams can come true.
Taking responsibility for your actions in your life means understanding that you have created a lot of your experiences by default. When your worst fears become your reality, it’s because you’ve spend so much time focusing with fear, worry, anger, hurt, shame or any other emotion that is rooted in fear. Most of us do create our lives by default…until we learn that it can be another way.
The emotions based in love include:
- Contentment
- Optimism
- Excitement
- Passion
- Joy
- Love (of course)
When we are feeling those positive emotions, we are in a vibrational level or frequency to attract our dreams and goals.
I have a tool that I’ve developed called the Joyometer, which is a simple scale to check in on your emotions. (You can download one at ) It’s what I call a mood management system. When you fall into that downward spiral of negative emotions—those based in fear—you are taking a back seat and allowing your life to happen on a reactive basis. When you are in a positive frame of mind—in the emotions coming from love—you are the master of your universe. You make a conscious choice on how to react to situations. You are proactive and aware of your canvas and what you are putting there.
Life…unfolded
Just as a boat without a rudder will be tossed and turned in the ocean by the waves, living in fear has the same effect. But when you put that rudder down into the water, you can suddenly steer the boat and choose what direction you want to sail. Love is that rudder.
One of the definitions of a rudder is “something that guides or directs”. When you choose to live your life coming from a place of love, miracles can become common in your life. It’s time to understand just how powerful we are as individuals and harness that power to create our dream lives.
Just remember: You are a walking miracle.
Take some time today to reflect and be truly grateful for this wonderful life you have.
Karin Volo is an expert in career and personal development, she’s known as a Tough Transition Specialist and a Dream Life Mentor. Karin is the transformational author of the Bringing Joy series and one of the best selling authors of Turning Points. Her passion is enhancing peoples lives by inspiring and teaching strategies to thrive through tough times, live joyfully, and create their dream lives.
life is sweet!
Joy
Julie Cadwallader-Staub
Who could need more proof than honey –
How the bees with such skill and purpose
enter flower after flower
sing their way home
to create and cap the new honey
just to get through the flowerless winter
And how the bear with intention and cunning
raids the hive
shovels pawful after pawful into his happy mouth
bats away indignant bees
stumbles off in a stupor of satiation and stickiness
And how we humans can’t resist its viscosity
its taste of clover and wind
its metaphorical power:
We yearn for a land of milk and honey
we call our loved ones “honey”
all because bees just do, over and over
again, what they were made to do
Oh, who could need more proof than honey
to know that our world
was meant to be
and
was meant to be
sweet?
Joy by Julie Cadwallader-Staub (www.juliecspoetry.com) used by permission, all rights reserved.
Practice Letting Go
Fear makes us cling rather than letting go. But clinging
only binds us to our fear. It does not set us free. Practice letting go.
Fear inhibits our willingness to be fully, lovingly
present each moment. Afraid of the responsibility and uncertainty of investing
ourselves in the present moment, we withhold ourselves. Afraid of what might be
demanded of us, we do not engage in what is before us. Wishing things were
otherwise, we bury ourselves elsewhere. But life is this, not something else.
Practice being present.
All that you are and all that you have is God’s. You have
nothing to lose. Practice giving yourself away.
__________________
Steve Garnaas-Holmes
Used with Permission
Unfolding Light
www.unfoldinglight.net
It’s A Wonderful World! part 2
The Sun Walks by Steve Garnaas-Holmes
The sun walk
s through the autumn woods
slowly on her long yellow legs,
notices things, points them out,
reaches down between the grasses
and draws out their color,
touches leaves here and there
and makes them brilliant,
plucks a leaf and drops it,
plucks a leaf and drops it.
All through the woods her light
flutters down, swings down, dances down.
It is not winter that takes these leaves,
not frost that steals them in the night.
She gives them. It’s how she finds her way
down into the black soil,
how she gives her light
to the darkness working beneath.
It is not death
that takes us from this world,
but life that gives us, ripe and golden,
into the next.
______________________
Steve Garnaas-Holmes
Used with Permission
Unfolding Light
www.unfoldinglight.net
It’s A Wonderful World! part 1
790 by Emily Dickinson
Nature — the Gentlest Mother is,
Impatient of no Child —
The feeblest — or the waywardest —
Her Admonition mild —
In Forest — and the Hill —
By Traveller — be heard —
Restraining Rampant Squirrel —
Or too impetuous Bird —
How fair Her Conversation —
A Summer Afternoon —
Her Household — Her Assembly —
And when the Sun go down —
Her Voice among the Aisles
Incite the timid prayer
Of the minutest Cricket —
The most unworthy Flower —
When all the Children sleep —
She turns as long away
As will suffice to light Her lamps —
Then bending from the Sky —
With infinite Affection —
And infiniter Care —
Her Golden finger on Her lip —
Wills Silence — Everywhere —
“790” by Emily Dickinson. Public domain
life: acoustic & amplified 