The plains ignore us,
but these mountains listen,
an audience of thousands
holding its breath
in each rock. Climbing,
we pick our way
over the skulls of small talk.
On the prairies below us,
the grass leans this way and that
in discussion;
words fly away like corn shucks
over the fields.
Here, lost in a mountain’s
attention, there’s nothing to say.
⛰
Visiting Mountains by Ted Kooser
You have burned your bridges.
You have passed through the gate
marked “no return”
And for you there is no going back
No going back to the security of
the known, familiar house,
To the well-worn dispensations
and the threadbare coverings.
Now you are out there in uncharted
territory
heavy with threat and shadows not
yet entered.
The risks are high, and yet you
strike out boldly,
Guided only by unwavering conviction
And the longing for the true centre
of the land.
This is what it means to do a new
thing.
So, you travel lightly.
You are abandoned, given up in all
things
To the task that lies ahead.
Therefore, you may be exactly who
you are.
You have inhabited yourself,
You are at home,
And home is where you are,
Even if it is the desert.
No one can dispossess you of your own in-dwelling.
This is what it means to be free.
We stand, one foot upon the bridge,
Wondering if we too have the courage to go over
And strike the match behind us.
🔥
The Dream of Learning our True Name by Kathy Galloway
Trees not yet leafed out,
the woods aren’t green,
just tiny flakes of green
in their childish little hands,
soft and small.
Something larger than them
from deep down stirs,
exceeds itself in them.
Among those who dare
a new thing
God grant me
such ancient courage.
__________________
Steve Garnaas-Holmes
Unfolding Light
photo sources found at http://www.pinterest.com
19 years ago today
I stood at the edge
of a great abyss
in life
a part of me,
not known until that time,
had awakened
now I had a choice to make,
to accept –
or deny –
this part of myself,
which was revealed
in such a wild,
drastic,
unexpected
and overwhelming manner
I knew this would be
what, ultimately,
saved,
or
destroyed,
my life.
as I stood,
still in innocence,
not really knowing –
yet, somehow,
knowing in every way –
the costs,
the benefits,
the responsibility,
the awareness.
the long dark road ahead,
the excruciating valley years to come,
the sharp, rugged climb up the mountain.
19 years ago,
on this day,
I struggled
with all of this.
I made certain vows
concerning the choices
I would make through
my time of learning:
I would only follow love.
No matter how I failed, I would remember it is not about how good I am. I would try to live the words of Jesus in The Sermon on the Mount.
I would never make a choice
simply to benefit myself
or to get money.
I would learn to be truthful and fair and be the person I wanted to be.
I would be honest with myself – always – especially when I was wrong, or made a mistake.
I would stay aware and learn – so I would not make the same mistake twice.
I would make the best choice I could any given moment, and then move forward the best I could with no regret.
I would do my best and give my best.
I would look for good things every day.
That day I said ‘yes!’ to life
I jumped off the cliff
and began…
for good…
for bad…
to make my choices
from a new place of radical trust.
the rest is my history…
🍎
AL
All of my life I searched for truth and wanted to be beautiful
All my life I kept on moving looking for my home
All my life I played the part that someone else said was beautiful
All my life I lived afraid I couldn’t play that part
now I knock upon your door hear what my heart’s been longing for
welcome home
you belong
you are here
where I love you,
I want you
welcome home
won’t you stay
in my arms
I will hold you,
I need you
I won’t ever leave you
you are home
you are never alone
welcome home
I will sing you a song
I will build you an alter
I will shout to the hills
I will rise to the sky
I will bake you some bread
I will drink to your honor
I will dance in the rain
I will celebrate always
🏡
AL
Character. Strength. Intelligence. Style. That makes beauty.
💞
— Diane Von Furstenberg
A man looked for meaning.
For his very place in life.
He searched high and low.
He’d often hear a whisper, calling
his name from the other side
of what seemed like a door.
A door that remained hidden
from his ability to see.
Frustrated, he’d knock on
everything that resembled
a door. Turning here,
and there. Turning
just about anywhere.
Then one day,
unannounced,
it opened.
And he realised that he’d been
knocking from the inside.
And that the whisper
had been an echo.
The echo of his own soul
reminding him that
he was already home.
💞
The Whisper and the Echo by Nic Askew
There are times when I need to rest,
a sabbath of dullness,
because the rest of the time
I am walking around behind God,
even the stirred dust sparkling,
even the shadows gleaming,
God every instant saying
“Let there be light.
Let there be stone. This stone,
and this light laying on the stone.
Let there be this tree, this branch,
and each of these birds singing in it.
Let there be this bee, let there be its labor,
and the wonder of its coming and going.
Let there be this river, and its waters,
its springs and tributaries, and their flowing.
Let there be this person.
Let there be this hope unfolding in this heart.
Let there be this moment.
Yes! And now this one!”
It never stops.
It never stops.
__________________
Steve Garnaas-Holmes
Unfolding Light
I don’t think that anything happens by coincidence. No one is here by accident. Everyone who crosses our path has a message for us. Otherwise they would have taken another path, or left earlier or later. The fact that these people are here means that they are here for some reason.
💞
― James Redfield
I make a distinction between relationship challenges that are sourced in trauma and those sourced in developmental stages. Quite often, they are inextricably linked, but not always. Sometimes what is blocking someone’s emotional availability and fueling dysfunctional behavior is primarily related to unhealed traumas. But sometimes the deeper issue is that they are at a different emotional stage. In the latter case, it is not simply a question of holding the space for their healing. It’s a question of waiting, often for years, in the hope that they reach the stage you are at. An impossible scenario, both because you will have to stop growing yourself if they are to catch up, and because you really don’t know who they will be at the next stages of their developmental journey. They may grow into someone perfectly compatible with you, or they may move in another direction altogether. Perhaps the most important questions we can ask about a partner relates to their emotional age: How emotionally mature are they? What areas have they developed and integrated? What aspects are still under-developed? And how will their stage of development intersect with ours? Don’t be fooled by chronological age. Stage—not age—is what matters most.
💞
(~Jeff Brown an excerpt from ‘Spiritual Graffiti’)
I am no teacher
To teach you how to love,
For the fish need no teacher
To teach them to swim
And birds need no teacher
To teach them flight.
Swim on your own.
Fly on your own.
Love comes with no textbooks
And the greatest lovers in history were illiterate.
💞
~Nizar Qabbani
We must not give up. It takes so much time to heal because we are not just healing our own wounds- we are healing the world’s wounds, too. We think we are alone with our ‘stuff’, but we aren’t. With every clearing of our emotional debris, with every foray into a healthier way of being, with every excavation and release of old material, we heal the collective heart. So many of our familial and karmic ancestors had little opportunity to heal their pains. When we heal, their spirits breathe a sigh of relief. We heal them, too.
💞
– Jeff Brown
Lissette Hesmadt
Lover’s Leap Bridge
January 2016
simple
yet so very complex
the layers of this human experience
energy
emotional
baggage
layers
fears
behavior
we struggle with virtues
our humanity
our ego
our need to be accepted
with family dynamics
childhood evils
haunt us
like fairytales
we create stories
we sabotage our own living
trying to heal
to find acceptance
to be loved
to figure out our path
to untangle our pain
our bad choices
the choices of others
our destructive relationships
suddenly after an eternity
a lightening bolt hits
clarity comes
we see why
we let go
we forgive
as fall into a deep pool
of peace
where we begin again
from this place
to build new stories
and make new dreams
this will be our new platform of learning
until it happens again
and again
and so our story unfolds
always leading us towards our best selves
if we will just be open
and do the hard work
of surrender
of resilience
of continuing
of allowing ourselves
of becoming ourselves
knowing we are
strong
and we are each
beloved
❤️
AL
our happiness
was when the
lights were
out
the whole city
in darkness
& we drove north
to our friend’s
yellow apt.
where she had
power & we
could work
later we stayed
in the darkened apt.
you sick
in bed & me
writing ambitiously
by candle light
in thin blue books
your neighbor had
a generator &
after a while
we had a little
bit of light
I walked the
dog & you
were still
a little bit sick
we sat on a stoop
one day
in the late afternoon
we had very little money.
enough for
a strong cappuccino
which we shared
sitting there
& suddenly
the
city was lit.
🌃
our happiness by Eileen Myles
Start close in,
don’t take the second step
or the third,
start with the first
thing
close in,
the step
you don’t want to take.
Start with
the ground
you know,
the pale ground
beneath your feet,
your own
way to begin
the conversation.
Start with your own
question,
give up on other
people’s questions,
don’t let them
smother something
simple.
To hear
another’s voice,
follow
your own voice,
wait until
that voice
becomes an
intimate
private ear
that can
then
really listen
to another.
Start right now
take a small step
you can call your own
don’t follow
someone else’s
heroics, be humble
and focused,
start close in,
don’t mistake
that other
for your own.
Start close in,
don’t take
the second step
or the third,
start with the first
thing
close in,
the step
you don’t want to take.
…
START CLOSE IN by David Whyte
Days of wine and focus
of hanging on
of staying strong
of keeping faith
of sitting still
of being silent
of standing in my own shoes
of letting go
of allowing the mystery
of hearing the call
of accepting what is
of not crossing borders or boundaries
of opening and opening
of trusting the journey
of seeing the face of God
of surrender into something bigger than I can know
of making the daily commitment
of acknowledging the grace
of thanking for everything
of looking for the miracles
of talking to trees
of taking time to prepare
of expressing my thanks
of helping in time of need
of following my own path
of obedience rather than sacrifice
of love and love and love
of all things love
💞
AL
Sometimes the wind that strips everything
is the strong breathing of a yes.
The river of life wears away your little island
and bears you somewhere fertile.
Receive the gift only departing can bestow,
the holy not in what is anointed
but in what is next,
the beginning beyond the silence beyond the end.
In thickest darkness is a door felt, not seen.
It gives.
Beside you in confidence
God is uncompleting the journey for you.
Lay your hand on the dark door. A voice
says, “Come, join my becoming.”
__________________
Steve Garnaas-Holmes
Unfolding Light
There was a definite cracking sound
It came from that place inside
Secret Deep
Like the milky way
Or the center of the earth
Or heaven
More possibly hell
– At least half way to one or all of those places
Like winter ice in the springtime thaw
The sound was unmistakeable
Now i feel it moving outward from that secret place
Like an inchworm
Made of glass
Or razor blades
I wonder if half of me will
suddenly
Melt down onto the floor
Like a bizarre murder in an action movie
Where the camera stays still
watching
to catch
The guy who just got slashed through
From the sword of justice
Looking normal
for suspended moments
Then
Slowly
The smile still on his lips
One piece slides to the floor
While the other stays upright
To the delight
of the eager
bloodthirsty
cheering
audience
All of whom I know
🗡
AL
a poem can write itself in a moment –
a snapshot written in the soul –
a worded,
or wordless,
recognition of beauty,
the endless evolution
and creation,
which surrounds our steps
and walks with us
as we dance through our lives.
A few examples:
the way a weeping cherry tree delicately drapes pink branches
against the blue sky.
the way a jagged cut tree stump
covers itself with luxurious moss
and pours out green English ivy all over the ground around it.
the way the tires of a bulldozer
make such interesting patterns in the sand
on the way to the salt water.
the way dandelions keep on
cheerfully spreading wishes
and polka dot sunshine
no matter how many times they get labeled weeds.
the way the smell of an orange
colors your hands,
long after the fruit is consumed.
the way a great conversation,
of kith and kin,
on any ol’ friends bench,
can take you miles and miles
around the moon
and back again
changing the course of your day,
sometimes,
even your life.
yes, poems are born
in the senses.
no need for pen or paper,
poems are created
while paying attention,
in the heart of
our ordinary,
extraordinary,
living of life.
🍊
AL
We don’t read and write poetry because it’s cute. We read and write poetry because we are members of the human race. And the human race is filled with passion. And medicine, law, business, engineering, these are noble pursuits and necessary to sustain life. But poetry, beauty, romance, love, these are what we stay alive for. To quote from Whitman, “O me! O life!… of the questions of these recurring; of the endless trains of the faithless… of cities filled with the foolish; what good amid these, O me, O life?” Answer. That you are here – that life exists, and identity; that the powerful play goes on and you may contribute a verse. That the powerful play goes on and you may contribute a verse. What will your verse be?
📖
– Robin Williams in Dead Poets Society
This world doesn’t improve by demanding perfection. It improves when we reach through our armor and touch another with tenderness. It improves when we bust through the walls of our conditioning, and try a new way of being on for size. It improves when we work through our unresolved shadow and share what little light we can find. It is the small, positive steps that we take when we are at war with ourselves that change the world.
– Jeff Brown
awe…
examination…
it keeps appearing
again…
I delete…
and again…
I delete…
and again
haven’t I already written this poem?
haven’t I already done that before?
What is left…
that I don’t know…
that I haven’t taken out…
haven’t examined properly?
There are always more layers
An onion…revealing more onion
layers…
upon layers…
illusions,
shadows,
truth left to excavate,
healing to be won,
motivations to uncover,
mystery to be discovered,
always more.
God keeps getting bigger
as I examine,
I reduce,
I open.
help me to stay in this mode of learning…
growth…
humble me…
soften me…
my best self emerges within this process
send it again…
remind me again…
💞
AL
life: acoustic & amplified 