life: acoustic & amplified

poetry, quotes & thoughts about life

Archive for the category “intimacy”

12 Mar 2016

I want… 

  
But I don’t want comfort.

I want poetry.

I want danger.

I want goodness.

I want freedom.

🔥

   – Aldous Huxley

  
adventures don’t always lead to a good nights sleep,

I’ve found comfy beds are somewhat a rarity 

on the road less traveled. 

there’s an occasional soft, fluffy, sweet sinking into soft sheets,

hot water. 

and though they appreciate those amenities when they come,

pilgrims don’t get used to those things. 

the gifts of adventure are many and varied –

the very best of these gifts is

folks sharing themselves,

their food and drink,

their spare beds or sofas,

their conversation and hospitality,

their inmost parts vulnerable and open,

revealed completely

in the intimacy of how they live,

as, mostly unaware, they entertain angels. 

no matter how humble,

or uncomfortable, 

or even frightening and shocking at times,

we will find people living uniquely,

creating their own version of what works for them. 

every lifestyle carries learning and vast wisdom. 

receiving these amazing gifts of hospitality are one of life’s grandest joys and lessons. 

I have found it true,

there are many things more important than physical comfort. 

some of my most cherished memories,

the most generous gifts I have ever received,

include 

smelly,

stinky,

lumpy,

hard,

sleep-depriving 

surfaces 

on which sleep is just a whimsical wish. 

The blessing of adventure opens all the avenues of grace,

if we are willing to 

open our minds and hearts in new ways,

then continue to explore past our need to be comfortable. 

🔥

AL

  

Posted in action, Adventure, attitude, awareness, Change, Choice, Freedom, friendship, intimacy, Letting Go, Life, Love, nature | Leave a comment
24 Feb 2016

What is our relationship to that which is larger than us?    – Mark Nepo 

  
Picasso, when asked if painter’s ideas come to him “by chance or by design answer: “I don’t have a clue. Ideas are simply starting points. I can rarely set them down as they come to my mind. As soon as I start to work, others well up in my pen. To know what you’re going to draw, you have to begin drawing… When I find myself facing a blank page, that’s always going through my head. What I capture in spite of myself interests me more than my own ideas”.

 

   
  

  
Thank you, in advance. It’s what I desire. 💞

Posted in action, Adventure, art, attitude, awareness, balance, beauty, Becoming Yourself, inspiration, intimacy, Letting Go, Life, Love, music, mystery, Reality, Uncategorized | Leave a comment
19 Feb 2016

remember to remember 

  
Everyone forgets that Icarus also flew.

It’s the same when love comes to an end,

or the marriage fails and people say

they knew it was a mistake, that everybody

said it would never work. That she was

old enough to know better. But anything

worth doing is worth doing badly.

Like being there by that summer ocean

on the other side of the island while

love was fading out of her, the stars

burning so extravagantly those nights that

anyone could tell you they would never last.

Every morning she was asleep in my bed

like a visitation, the gentleness in her

like antelope standing in the dawn mist.

Each afternoon I watched her coming back

through the hot stony field after swimming,

the sea light behind her and the huge sky

on the other side of that. Listened to her

while we ate lunch. How can they say

the marriage failed? Like the people who

came back from Provence (when it was Provence)

and said it was pretty but the food was greasy.

I believe Icarus was not failing as he fell,

but just coming to the end of his triumph.  

💓

Failing and Flying by Jack Gilbert

 

 We are often surprised when love falls apart. It makes no sense to us—how can something so beautiful turn so ugly? But we should not be so surprised, because few of us are ready to hold love safe. Few of us are trained in the art of love. The entire world has been organized around masks and defenses. Adaptation and disguise are our specialty. But love is a different world—an unmasked, surrendered landscape that few of us have explored with any great depth. It’s easy for most of us to articulate concepts, but to hearticulate feelings is another planet altogether. We are only at the beginning of an enheartened way. We haven’t
downloaded the ways of the heart. We are learning as we crawl. Best we stop beating ourselves up when it doesn’t work out. There is so much left to learn. 

💓

   – Jeff Brown 

     excerpt from Spiritual Graffiti

 

  
photo sourcs found at http://www.pinterest.com 

Posted in attitude, awareness, beauty, Becoming Yourself, intimacy, Letting Go, Life, Losing, Love | Leave a comment
17 Feb 2016

am i?

 

 Quiet friend who has come so far, 
feel how your breathing makes more space around you. 

Let this darkness be a bell tower 

and you the bell. As you ring, 
what batters you becomes your strength. 

Move back and forth into the change. 

What is it like, such intensity of pain? 

If the drink is bitter, turn yourself to wine. 
In this uncontainable night, 

be the mystery at the crossroads of your senses, 

the meaning discovered there. 
And if the world has ceased to hear you, 

say to the silent earth: I flow. 

To the rushing water, speak: I am

🛤

qII, 29 [Let This Darkness Be a Bell Tower] by Rainer Maria Rilke

   

 Crossroads and choices, now is the time to decide which path will lead to the garden and more healthy life choices. One just doesn’t wait until Midsummer and think about growing fresh produce for a salad.

   – Old Moss Woman’s Secret Garden/facebook

  
When an open heart meets an open hand, the result is more feast and more love, enough for a small village to be nurtured from this drawer alone. I see this and recognize him instantly: a soul brother, a lover of life, a father, a friend, a ringleader, a listener, a creative co-conspirator, a holder…of space, of hearts, of possibilities. A man with much to give and more to say, to a yearning, hopeful world.

   – Jen Lemen

   
 photo sources found at http://www.pinterest.com

Posted in action, Adventure, attitude, awareness, Becoming Yourself, Beginning, Beliefs, beloved, big, Blessing, Choice, commitment, connection, courage, determination, do, Faith, find art at pinterest, Happiness, healing, inspiration, intimacy, Letting Go, Life, Love, Miracles, Passion, Patience | Leave a comment
08 Feb 2016

do or do not….there is no try    – Yoda  

 

 I want to be the song, a poem

I don’t want to play the record

Perch behind the lens

Hold the pen.

I want to be the song

Live the photo

Experience the novel.

Enough interpreting my existence.

Enough searching for the symbol, the reflection, the meaning.

I am resonant, alive, pulsing

One.

Treble and bass.

Light and shadows.

Beginnings and endings.

All of it.

I want to be the song.

Beating, polyrhythmic, harmonious.

The lyrics my prayers.

I want to live the photo.

Still, present, vibrant.

The image my essence.

I want to experience the novel.

Aching, poignant, truth.

The plot my story.

I want to be alive.

Color, beauty, heart-break.

Engaged, awake, heart-felt.

In awe.

Longing.

Loving.

💞
Spread the Love

Eloiza Jorge

💞

click on the photo below to go to Eloiza’s blog Deepening Wisdom

https://deepeningwisdom.wordpress.com/2012/07/08/i-want-to-be-alive/img_1833/

 

 There comes a time when nothing is meaningful except surrendering to Love. Do It!
💞

  – Rumi

  
 Your great mistake is to act the drama

as if you were alone. As if life

were a progressive and cunning crime

with no witness to the tiny hidden transgressions. 

To feel abandoned is to deny 

the intimacy of your surroundings. Surely, 

even you, at times, have felt the grand array; 

the swelling presence, and the chorus, crowding 

out your solo voice. You must note

the way the soap dish enables you,

or the window latch grants you freedom. 

Alertness is the hidden discipline of familiarity. 

The stairs are your mentor of things

to come, the doors have always been there

to frighten you and invite you,

and the tiny speaker in the phone

is your dream-ladder to divinity.
Put down the weight of your aloneness and ease  

into the conversation. The kettle is singing

even as it pours you a drink, the cooking pots

have left their arrogant aloofness and

seen the good in you at last. All the birds 

and creatures of the world are unutterably 

themselves. Everything is waiting for you.

Everything is Waiting for You
…

 EVERYTHING IS WAITING FOR YOU by David Whyte

 Excuse me while I kiss the sky. 
Pardon me while I hug the moon. 

Forgive me while I dance with the ocean. 

Give me a minute while I laugh with the stars. 

Hold your horses while I sing to the angels. 

Patience, my old friend, while I make love to the world. 

Get some rest while I fly the skies with the eagles. 

Count some sheep while I paint a masterpiece with Mother Nature. 

Then… 

Come lay down beside me and hold me. 

caress my skin with lovers hands. 

whisper secrets my soul longs to hear. 

sing to me softly. 

kiss me like the butterflies. 

while I love you forever 

and ever,

we fall asleep together 

every night,

and I wake to see the face I love every morning. 

Sweet dreams, my love. 

good night. 

🌙

AL

  
 

photos found at http://www.pinterest.com 

Posted in action, Adventure, attitude, awareness, be, beauty, Becoming Yourself, beloved, Choice, connection, Dreams, Encouragement, Faith, find art at pinterest, Glory, healing, inspiration, intimacy, Letting Go, Life, Love, Miracles, music, mystery, Passion, People, perceptions, Purpose, Reality | Leave a comment
05 Feb 2016

Meet Me on Honeyspot Road

 

notice the world
whose whole reason is poetry

its heart beat music

of rhythm 

of blues

teaching us to

touch 

taste

smell

feel

move

always dancing 

soul and spirit flying

life comes with sticky hands

people are always worthy

again and again 

I fall for life as expressed in beautiful reality

the cold air numbs my hand

I come alive as I touch living water 

the morning will come when

I will be coming home to you

💞

AL

   
   
 When I am with you, the only place I want to be is closer. 

     –  unknown

  

Posted in action, Adventure, attitude, awareness, beauty, Becoming Yourself, beloved, find art at pinterest, Happiness, intimacy, Letting Go, Life, Love, Peace, People | Leave a comment
03 Feb 2016

now open

  
You must give birth to your images.

They are the future waiting to be born.

Fear not the strangeness you feel.

The future must enter you, long before it happens.

Just wait for the birth,

for the hour of new clarity.

🌀
– Rainer Maria Rilke

 

Today is my friend, writer, fellow spirit seeker, Donna Knutson’s birthday!! Wishing her happy today and every day! 

Sharing and loving her beautiful thoughts and words describing the lovely world event of her time here:
When 58 is Almost Gone and 59 Flowers Are Coming on Strong 

Purple Iris …I let things die, and filled in holes…watered children and sappy songs.

Ranted about the radiance of Angels and cardboard boxes filled with 36 years of married love…

I chopped up word search puzzles because there is passion and paradox in loving words that heal, instead of hate…then tied them on a string, like prayer flags blowing through the bedroom in a February wind.  

I wrote Voice with purple pen on a hundred sheets of silk like paper, folded them in drawers and placed them near the windows, so the morning sun could warm their chords and prepare the world for what sound would come that day.

I angled photos and trinkets from baskets, memorizing short periods of my day where love was the only witness to my growing , to fading a bit more like Autumn, then into a bright summers sunset spoken softly now, rose colored, like winter…

Family and friendships took in artists and dreamers…wedding vows that added deeper love to our days…heart shaped rocks in tiny boxes on tables to say we belong to one another…and children that grow into wonderful stories of every lasting love…

It was August before I blew kisses to the toddlers playing in a nearby gym, their jumping and fantasies whirling with my inner child, shaking fingers and toes, while hopping through a hundred thresholds, finding keys to a million doors…

I taught class while learning the heart of acceptance, forgiveness, fables and follies…how one can know absolutely nothing, and everything one needs to know…to be a water-bearer flowing…to kneel while pouring…to bend at just the right moment, to wash a glass, dimly lit…

I fought a concrete city with a magical jungle holding religions and relationships…forgave myself for not knowing how long I had been loved and known…how one gift could change it all…found sacred ground under a community with feet. Dancers who know how to move to a rhythm and a beat…

God speaking Yes, porous and free …a mystical thread sewn into the bone of the body, 

A year like no other…just beginning to gather purple Iris for another…

Beauty,

Donna 

   
    
 
photo sources found at http://www.pinterest.com

Posted in action, attitude, awareness, beauty, Becoming Yourself, Beginning, Choice, confidence, connection, courage, find art at pinterest, grace, Growth, inspiration, intimacy, Letting Go, Life, Love | Leave a comment
01 Feb 2016

pay attention to the daily messages 

  
miles come

miles go

some stay a while

some roll on beneath our feet

or our wheels 

barely noticed

driving in the fast lane

with the windows rolled up tightly

in God we trust

unfolding on every bill we pull from pocket

but, the world doesn’t work that way…

or does it? 

peace, 

love,

always seal the deal

walk away free,

changed 

ready to see some new things

every choice brings us to our new place

right here 

right now

notice it

say thank you

❤️

AL

   
    
   

Posted in action, Adventure, attitude, awareness, beloved, Blessing, Choice, connection, courage, determination, find art at pinterest, healing, home, Hope, intimacy, Letting Go, Life, Love, perceptions, Reflection, Relationships, soul and spirit, Trust, truth, Vulnerability, www.pinterest.com | Leave a comment
01 Feb 2016

can we buy what we want?

 

Thinking that money will somehow make one happy isn’t thinking at all. 
Hey, sorry, you know better. But you might not believe how many people think that just because they don’t have much of it now, its lack is at the root of their challenges, which is never the case. 
Nev-a, 

    The Universe

      http://www.tut.com

 

It is hard, these steps. This releasing of the emotional debris that encases our heart. The shedding of the false-identifications that obstruct our path. The farewells to that which doesn’t serve. The fundamentlal shift from survivalism to authenticity as a way of being. It is hard, these steps. Because you are not just clearing your individual debris- you are tapping into and releasing the debris carried by your entire ancestry. You are shedding the armor of millions before. You are saying goodbye to ways of being that have served and imprisoned countless generations. You are making the shift from an animalistic way of being to one that is genuinely human. Do not underestimate your significance, fellow seekers of the heart. We may be the first deep release travelers. We may be the first authenticity-questing collective. We may be the first soulpod to consider the possibility that there is a sacred purpose at the heart of every birth. Our load, heavy. Our courage, essential. Our significance, profound. Our need for one another, irrefutable. We rise in unison, or not at all. We rise in unison, one hard ass step after another…

    – Jeff Brown 

  
Do not fall out of flow or confidence simply because a task led to hardship or disappointment. On any worthwhile journey, there will be many dead-ends and storms. Endure. Have faith and resolve. Don’t torment your mind wishing the path were conflict-free. Anticipate difficulty and decide to meet all obstacles as if they were obvious, inevitable, stones meant to sharpen your will and character. Happiness isn’t at the end of the path; it is in knowing that you met life and its inevitable hardships and blessings with a mindful grace, strength, and gratitude. What is in front of you is not terrifying or random or impossible – it is your proving ground, your opportunity to learn to bring peace to the chaos, your podiums to show your family and loved ones real grit and love and perseverance. Your only defeat in life will come from a mindset you choose that bemoans difficulty versus anticipates and rises above it.

   – Brendon Burchard

 

 Beauty comes in many forms–and there is no form more beautiful than you. Just exactly as you are, this minute, right now, without changing a thing…you are beautiful. Beautiful enough to take God’s breath away.
   – Neale Donald Walsh

 

  

photos found at http://www.pinterest.com 

Posted in action, Adventure, attitude, awareness, beauty, Becoming Yourself, beloved, Choice, confidence, connection, courage, find art at pinterest, intimacy, Letting Go, Life, Love, mystery, Poetry | Leave a comment
30 Jan 2016

yes, please, beat again 

  
Grace
Nothing I have ever done or will ever do 

can separate me from 

or bring me into the heart of the Beloved.
Oh, I can distract myself from the longing 

that whispers day and night for that sacred union,

and some days I am too tired to notice 

that what I ache for is and always has been here:

. . . . right here in and at my fingertips,

in the way the breeze lifts my hair, 

the way the earth pulls me to her,

the way shared laughter makes my sides ache.
Nothing I have done or will ever do 

can make me worthy or unworthy

of being touched by the Lover’s hand and heart,

of being the Lover’s hand and heart in the world. 
Grace – the way Infinite Love 

gives Himself to us in every moment,

the way God unfurls Her tender mercy in our hearts-

is a constant invitation to say with the fullness of our being:

Yes.

Yes.

Yes. 

❤️

~Oriah Mountain Dreamer 

  
there is terrible beauty in every human heart 

tell me a story that will live with me forever

love always shares grace always wins

you can’t miss if you show up

pay attention…

the message is always revealed at the appointed intersection 

letting go brings the right miracle

at the right time the song playlist repeats 

crazy love flows into mystic waters slowly drips the sweetest tupelo honey

deep calling to deep

honor chooses to say yes to the best invitations

making the call brings me the messages I need to build the new bridge from the friend bench of this manna-filled moment

there is always more than enough to share

gratitude buckets fill and overflow

removing scales from blurry, tearful, kaleidoscope eyes 

as perfect peace falls into rightful place

color shards blooming into new masterpieces of never before seen glory

diamonds dance on the water

flaming beauty evolves, drives me to my knees,

shedding shoes, and fear, 

as we talk 

I lift my face to the sun and free soar 

full wing, open soul, with the gulls,

who always fly in trust, never a shadow of doubt, that they are loved to the sky 

right here, and in every tick of time,

in, and in between, every click of the second hand,

around the bend of eternity and back again
🌀

AL 1/30/16

in gratitude and honor for connecting with Liz on this beautiful morning of sun, warm and snow drifts

  
  

   

 photo above by Fisherman Dan @ Branford, CT

  



🌃

photos found at http://www.pinterest.com

Posted in action, Adventure, attitude, awareness, beauty, Becoming Yourself, Blessing, connection, courage, create, Encouragement, find art at pinterest, friendship, inspiration, intimacy, Joy, laugh, Letting Go, Life, Love, Miracles, mystery, Patience, Peace, People, Poetry, Reality | Leave a comment

Post Navigation

← Older Entries
Newer Entries →