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Archive for the category “Life”

14 Dec 2015

addictions of poetry

Slowly coming to acknowledge out loud that poetry is everything to me. I cannot live without it the way that others need love or religion or purpose or cause. Nothing, except the softness of the body, ignites me more. Nothing fills, feeds or illuminates me like this. To find a new poet is like being returned to an old love. To discover a lover of poetry is like being returned to someone from my original tribe. Completely thrilled this morning to be lying in my bed silently reading Nariyyah Waheed. Thrilled. Here are a few sweet lines. https://www.goodreads.com/author/quotes/7145613.Nayyirah_Waheed
– Jen Lemen

I read poetry

And it’s so familiar

I like this way of words.

I slip into the passion,

the broken hearts,

so like my own.

The depth of loving,

it is my own.

The beauty,

these words caught inside

someplace within myself,

suddenly breaking free from this other angle.

Broken love,

twisting in the wind of unequal relationships.

The parables,

the simple narrative,

the stark condensed truth,

the healing,

the beauty of nature, home, love, life, laughter…

Anything can become a poem.

Words strung,

so like my own way,

yet not,

new,

fresh,

sometimes not quite understandable, yet.

I am in love with poems.

I learn from their awareness

I may get tired of my own heart wringing words,

I may get bored with my own platitudes,

but, everyday,

I find the words in poems of another

to inspire me,

to allow me to see,

to teach me,

to make me laugh,

to get me through my day.

Everyday I realize how much poetry means to me

I am so blessed to be a small part of this magic.

I love poems.

I need poems.

I am a poet.

That settles in a good spot within me,

as I settle in,

with the perfect shade of coffee,

to read my morning dose.

🤗

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

Posted in attitude, awareness, beauty, Becoming Yourself, Gratitude, Life, Love, Miracles, mystery, Poetry, Reflection | Leave a comment

13 Dec 2015

Wo)Men with courage do not always slay dragons, sometimes they ride them…

Furthermore, we have not even to risk the adventure alone; for the heroes of all time have gone before us; the labyrinth is thoroughly known; we have only to follow the thread of the hero-path. And where we would had thought to find an abomination, we shall find a god; where we had thought to slay another, we shall slay ourselves; where we had thought to travel outward, we shall come to the center of our own existence; where we had thought to be alone, we shall be with all the world.
– Joseph Campbell

Security is a funny thing. We long for it, but it is all too often an illusion, one that covers over our authentic path, one we pay the ultimate price for. Security is a sick-cure for what ails us on the deepest levels. What we really long for is a life that is infused with purpose and connection. I know many people who promised themselves that they would live their ‘real-life’ after retiring from the quest for security. When they arrived ‘there’, they were either entirely exhausted from decades of falsity, or they had forgotten the ‘real-life’ that called them. This is what happens when we bury our precious life below mountains of obligation and distraction. We can’t get out from under them. We are only here for the blink of an eye. Better to substitute the illusion of sick-cure-ity for something authentic and alive. Better to find safety in the heart of a life deeply lived. Better to live true.
– Jeff Brown

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

…that safety is not the thing you should look for in the

future. Joy is what you should look for.
Security and joy may not come in the same package.

They can…but they also cannot.

There is no guarantee.

If your primary concern is a guarantee of security,

you may never experience the truest joys of life.

This is not a suggestion that you become reckless,

but it is an invitation to at least become daring.

– Neale Donald Walsh

TRUST THE PROMISE
Then the delight, when your courage kindled,

And out you stepped onto new ground,

Your eyes young again with energy and dream,

A path of plenitude opening before you.
Though your destination is not yet clear

You can trust the promise of this opening;

Unfurl yourself into the grace of beginning

That is at one with your life’s desire.
Awaken your spirit to adventure;

Hold nothing back, learn to find ease in risk;

Soon you will be home in a new rhythm,

For your soul senses the world that awaits you.

– John O’Donohue

Posted in action, Adventure, awareness, Becoming Yourself, Choice, commitment, courage, determination, find art at pinterest, inspiration, Letting Go, Life, Love, Miracles, Passion, soul and spirit, strength, www.pinterest.com | Leave a comment

12 Dec 2015

slowly

walking by faith
expecting miracles

we rely on things to come

we hope in what is not seen

we stand on invisible ground

fly without evidence of our wings

we fight battle with foes from another dimension

we teach without seeing the whole vision

we trust what we cannot see with our eyes

we walk on

knowing,

for sure,

we are going the right way

directed by the silence

in bright, beautiful pathways of grace

and dark, eerie forests of fog

somedays we are surrounded

others we seem to walk alone

no matter

we walk on

slowly, surely

enjoying the view

or we sit and wait

relying on radical trust

we learn the virtues by living

because we have learned

what we could never learn

by our own understanding

faith is the victory

everything is grace

🌳

photos by Fisherman Dan @ Branford, CT

🌳

Hope is with you when you believe

The earth is not a dream but living flesh,

That sight, touch, and hearing do not lie,

That all things you have ever seen here

Are like a garden looked at from a gate.
You cannot enter. But you’re sure it’s there.

Could we but look more clearly and wisely

We might discover somewhere in the garden

A strange new flower and an unnamed star.
Some people say we should not trust our eyes,

That there is nothing, just a seeming,

These are the ones who have no hope.

They think that the moment we turn away,

The world, behind our backs, ceases to exist,

As if snatched up by the hands of thieves.

🌳

Hope by Czeslaw Milosz

Posted in Adventure, attitude, awareness, Becoming Yourself, beloved, commitment, determination, Faith, home, Letting Go, Life | Leave a comment

10 Dec 2015

because love

There is an incalculable, faultless, eternal God who loves the frail beings He made with a crazy kind of love. – Francis Chan

What light?

look yonder.

Is that a candle in the window of a stranger?

or could it be the glow of love

from the heart of a friend?

a fellow pilgrim with shining eyes.

a brother or sister,

who may not look like me,

may not talk like me,

but with whom I share the same royal bloodline –

the light of hope

which lives within all

created by God

for goodness sake

let me come near to you

let me share your pathway

let’s walk in this light together for a while

so I can learn your songs

and you can learn mine

🕯

Posted in attitude, awareness, beloved, Choice, confidence, Faith, Life, Love, soul and spirit, Trust, truth, www.pinterest.com | Leave a comment

09 Dec 2015

the hardest thing

this birth of awaiting changes
this for that

tit for tat

tuxedo memories

pinstripe debonair

glamour hangs

like confetti in the air

life goes

round and round

flinging dreams

synthetic roads

leading nowhere

screams and laugher

hardest when not fair

up one side now

down the other there

we hang on

we stomp our feet

and swear

this ain’t right

this we cannot bear

life goes forward

ever on and on

wanting only

to change our point of view

we are loved

no matter what we lose

love will win

love’s always life’s sweet muse

sight or blind

the vision ours to choose

❤️

expectancy. awe

Anticipation of

coming back to life

moving through the grey

into new

love

joy

peace

light

There is no guarantee of anything in this lifetime

however there are amazing things hidden

which bring forth their fruit

in their season

Sometimes it feels like it just won’t happen,

then…

flash, boom, bang

and you got okra up to the second floor windows!

Go ahead, live with the hope

Plan with the expectancy

of all good things

come in their time

💞

It rains on the just and the unjust.

💞

On this day of your life I believe God wants you to know…
…that yearning for a new way will not produce it.

Only ending the old way can do that.
You cannot hold onto the old all the while

declaring that you want something new.

The old will defy the new;

the old will deny the new;

the old will decry the new.

There is only one way to bring in the new.
You must make room for it.

💞

– Neale Donald Walsh

Posted in attitude, awareness, Becoming Yourself, Change, Choice, Encouragement, find art at pinterest, healing, Letting Go, Life, Love | Leave a comment

05 Dec 2015

when will it get better?

The expense of spirit in a waste of shame
Is lust in action: and till action, lust

Is perjured, murderous, bloody, full of blame,

Savage, extreme, rude, cruel, not to trust;

Enjoyed no sooner but despised straight;

Past reason hunted; and no sooner had,

Past reason hated, as a swallowed bait,

On purpose laid to make the taker mad.

Mad in pursuit and in possession so;

Had, having, and in quest to have extreme;

A bliss in proof, and proved, a very woe;

Before, a joy proposed; behind a dream.

All this the world well knows; yet none knows well

To shun the heaven that leads men to this hell.

🔥

– Sonnet CXXIX, William Shakespeare

I believe it is no ones intention to live as a perpetual victim.
No one ever said they wanted that as a career,

wanted to spend their valuable life having no personal power –

yet how many are there

trapped by the belief that life,

God,

some ‘other’

has taken something from them

which they should have?

they deserve(d) it

they didn’t want to lose what’s gone

(I understand that)

but now it’s gone

and they’ve been wronged

they spin in the agony of not controlling

someone,

deity,

something, anything

else.
They can’t see what they’re doing,

they can’t hear what they’re saying,

they can’t see how they’re living,

because they are sure

sure they are right,

sure they deserve to be this grand victim,

sure the very best of life,

their very happiest,

is behind them now.

They may say ‘they are not special’,

but in reality they believe they are SO special

life should only, always, give them what they want…

no matter what.
I used to try to convince them otherwise,

spend massive energy,

years invested in living with people determined not to see,

not to let go,

not to find happiness and peace.

People refusing to do the work to gain truth and freedom.

now I take it case by case,

I trust God enough to allow them to come,

allow them to go.

I do my own hard work

of letting go

of letting go…

of loving with no expectations of return…

of finding out new insights about my own heart…

of standing in my own healing,

sight,

strength,

without being distracted by the manipulation

of people living as victims.

I remind myself (over and over) everyone has a right to live as they choose,

truth is never an argument to be won.

Then I give thanks that I chose something new for myself.

I pray for each person in the world to live with peace and joy…

I grieve my own, very personal losses,

and, eventually,

life goes on…

🌀

Amidst ten thousand losses and swirling joys.

At this very instant on the sacred Earth I wait.

Come to us Beauty, Wisdom, Goodness, Peace, Solace, Grace, Counsel, Love.

See the open archway this cold night

Air, rich as gold flows.

Fine snow, glistens our faces. Each flake,

every exquisite crystal blossom is the covenant of your love

told a thousand, thousand times.

– Patricia Van Ness

Listen to Serenity Fisher sing So Far From Oh Well

Posted in action, anger, attitude, awareness, beauty, Becoming Yourself, beloved, Change, Choice, courage, find art at pinterest, Freedom, friendship, healing, Letting Go, Life, Losing, Love, Patience, Peace, People, perceptions, soul and spirit, touch, Trust, truth, www.pinterest.com | Leave a comment

03 Dec 2015

Nothing separates us, my dear, nothing except what you want to keep separate. We are united because I have made it so. – Loop

I want to make a poem
that slips into the heart stream

quietly, tenderly,

with no great splash

just a graceful entry,

with minimal ripples

which plunges deeply upon entering

and allows the mud to settle gracefully around it.

I want to make a poem

which allows the heart to trust,

to open,

to flower in it’s own time

knowing, for sure,

it is dependable,

steady,

written to last

through the fiercest storms

though the world burn

and the mountains crumble

words of love

so beautiful

so eternal

they come to life

each time they are read,

or spoken

and anyone who dares to read the poem I make

cannot help but

find within themselves

clouds of peace

wrapped up in thick blankets of joy

and will forever know for sure

they are

beloved

❤️

Everything real comes through the heart. When it is truly opened, everything secondary falls away- egoic glory, fame and fortune, substitute gratifications. The heart doesn’t care about such things. It doesn’t hold it against you if you don’t own your own home, achieve your goals, have a perfect body. The heart doesn’t care what you have earned or accumulated. No matter our seeming differences, we are all the same when the heart gate opens. Deep feeling levels the playing field.

Love is the great equalizer.

– Jeff Brown

Posted in attitude, awareness, beloved, find art at pinterest, grace, Letting Go, Life, Love, nature, Peace, Uncategorized, voice, Vulnerability, www.pinterest.com | Leave a comment

03 Dec 2015

timing be everything…just wait and see

walking while waiting…not holding onto the breath…finding the shallow end of the pool, gliding full body under the water…raising expectations while others wonder , slightly wandering , forgetting to remember is not an option while the day is so bright…finding fashion foolishly delightful, while taking ones shoes off …holy hours become …earth and flesh blown open , .birthing beyond time and space, then settling into the sunroom for hot peach tea and a tiny croissant…such a simple remedy while walking and waiting…
Beauty,

Donna Knutson

Posted in attitude, awareness, beloved, Blessing, Change, Choice, commitment, connection, courage, determination, Encouragement, Faith, find art at pinterest, Growth, Habits, Happiness, healing, Letting Go, Life, Love, mystery, nature, Patience, soul and spirit, strength, touch, Trust, truth, www.pinterest.com | 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.”