with a little love
Listen to Eric Clapton sing Let it Grow http://youtu.be/KXDf9UwHGF4
Photos: top by Fisherman Dan @ Branford, CT; bottom two found at www.pinterest.com
life: acoustic & amplified
poetry, quotes & thoughts about life
Archive for the category “Life”
God’s honest truth
HONESTY
is reached through the doorway of grief and loss. Where we cannot go in our mind, our memory, or our body is where we cannot be straight with another, with the world, or with our self. The fear of loss, in one form or another, is the motivator behind all conscious and unconscious dishonesties: all of us are afraid of loss, in all its forms, all of us, at times, are haunted or overwhelmed by the possibility of a disappearance, and all of us therefore, are one short step away from dishonesty. Every human being dwells intimately close to a door of revelation they are afraid to pass through. Honesty lies in understanding our close and necessary relationship with not wanting to hear the truth.
The ability to speak the truth is as much the ability to describe what it is like to stand in trepidation at this door, as it is to actually go through it and become that beautifully honest spiritual warrior, equal to all circumstances, we would like to become. Honesty is not the revealing of some foundational truth that gives us power over life or another or even the self, but a robust incarnation into the unknown unfolding vulnerability of existence, where we acknowledge how powerless we feel, how little we actually know, how afraid we are of not knowing and how astonished we are by the generous measure of loss that is conferred upon even the most average life.
Honesty is grounded in humility and indeed in humiliation, and in admitting exactly where we are powerless. Honesty is not found in revealing the truth, but in understanding how deeply afraid of it we are. To become honest is in effect to become fully and robustly incarnated into powerlessness. Honesty allows us to live with not knowing. We do not know the full story, we do not know where we are in the story; we do not know who is at fault or who will carry the blame in the end. Honesty is not a weapon to keep loss and heartbreak at bay, honesty is the outer diagnostic of our ability to come to ground in reality, the hardest attainable ground of all, the place where we actually dwell, the living, breathing frontier where there is no realistic choice between gain or loss.
– David Whyte
photo sources: top 2 photos by Fisherman Dan @ Branford, CT
other photos @ http://www.pinterest.com
every day life offers…
This is what life does. It lets you walk up to
the store to buy breakfast and the paper, on a
stiff knee. It lets you choose the way you have
your eggs, your coffee. Then it sits a fisherman
down beside you at the counter who says, Last night,
the channel was full of starfish. And you wonder,
is this a message, finally, or just another day?
Life lets you take the dog for a walk down to the
pond, where whole generations of biological
processes are boiling beneath the mud. Reeds
speak to you of the natural world: they whisper,
they sing. And herons pass by. Are you old
enough to appreciate the moment? Too old?
There is movement beneath the water, but it
may be nothing. There may be nothing going on.
And then life suggests that you remember the
years you ran around, the years you developed
a shocking lifestyle, advocated careless abandon,
owned a chilly heart. Upon reflection, you are
genuinely surprised to find how quiet you have
become. And then life lets you go home to think
about all this. Which you do, for quite a long time.
Later, you wake up beside your old love, the one
who never had any conditions, the one who waited
you out. This is life’s way of letting you know that
you are lucky. (It won’t give you smart or brave,
so you’ll have to settle for lucky.) Because you
were born at a good time. Because you were able
to listen when people spoke to you. Because you
stopped when you should have and started again.
So life lets you have a sandwich, and pie for your
late night dessert. (Pie for the dog, as well.) And
then life sends you back to bed, to dreamland,
while outside, the starfish drift through the channel,
with smiles on their starry faces as they head
out to deep water, to the far and boundless sea.
☀️☀️☀️☀️☀️☀️☀️
Starfish by Eleanor Lerman
Listen to The Eagles sing Peaceful Easy Feeling http://youtu.be/n00g71TySS4
the possibilities are endless
Turn a fool into gold
Turn a broken heart into a warrior of love
Turn a weak voice into an instrument of peace
Turn my messy life into a picture of grace
Turn my eyes to see only beauty
Turn my mourning into laughing
and my weary heart to be a trusting home
Turn my sorrow into pure joy
keep my feet from stumbling on the path
That is my prayer, oh Lord,
Turn my fear into courage
And turn my self will into a puddle of loving goodness to pour out on the ones I love
Let me walk hand in hand,
and sleep in peace each night,
in fields of gold with the one who loves me like no other could ever love me
Thank you. Thank you,
always and forever
So be it
xo
💞
AL
Listen to Jason Isbell sing Cover Me Up http://youtu.be/WdwnGG29Upw
💞
photo found on facebook/rumi
One new perception, one fresh thought, one act of surrender, one change of heart, one leap of faith, can change your life forever. — Robert Holden
You see, people have some really crazy ideas about love, friends and relationships. They have the absurd belief that their friends, children, family, lovers and companions can make them happy. Love is by, for and about you, and it never had anything to do with another person. The love you bring to the table, is a way of living that you have been practicing in your life — and that love can be needy, controlling, selfish, conditional and desperate, or it can be confident, open, giving, unconditional, and secure. Your love capability is something you cultivate within yourself. Loving is like any other art-craft where the masters have carefully practiced and where the novices have languished in their carelessness. This is why some relationships look so beautiful, and some look so tragic — beauty belongs to the thoughtful; tragedy to the neglectful.
– Bryant McGill
photo sources at www.pinterest.com
say yes to things
A day so happy.
Fog lifted early, I worked in the garden.
Hummingbirds were stopping over honeysuckle flowers.
There was no thing on earth I wanted to possess.
I knew no one worth my envying him.
Whatever evil I had suffered, I forgot.
To think that once I was the same man did not embarrass me.
In my body I felt no pain.
When straightening up, I saw the blue sea and sails.
⛵️⛵️⛵️⛵️⛵️⛵️⛵️
Gift by Czeslaw Milosz
Gratitude always proceeds the miracle. – Ann Voskamp
🐛🐛🐛🐛🐛🐛🐛
Talk about breakthrough…
that says it all.
Thank you
Thank you
Thank you
Ahhhh
Yes,
There it is –
Love always wins! ❤️
AL
Listen to Sarah McLaughlin sing Ordinary Miracle http://youtu.be/OD2kz_U5NQM
⛵️⛵️⛵️⛵️⛵️⛵️⛵️⛵️⛵️
photo sources found at www.pinterest.com
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
The snake which cannot cast its skin has to die.— Friedrich Nietzsche
There are things that get blocked
by other things
and then the flow of things
from the source of things
seems to stop
and one thing non-flowing
effects other things downstream
Meanwhile life goes on
and many things remain flowing
But you always know somethings blocked
because there are the things
that you want to do…
that you think you need to do…
and you just can’t seem to do them…
and so it goes
until you find the source of the blockage
and remove it
and, once again,
things flow easy
with the rest of things…
I just heard Karate masters
don’t focus on the cinderblock –
to break through,
they focus on the space beyond the block…
AL
photo sources found at www.pinterest.com/al513
life: acoustic & amplified 