life: acoustic & amplified

poetry, quotes & thoughts about life

Archive for the category “Quotes”

Today I will do what others won’t, so tomorrow I can accomplish what others can’t. ~ Jerry Rice

For the past 5 years I have published a newsletter called Songs from the Valley. I really had no idea how to do it, or what the result would be, I just enjoyed creating the first issue so much I committed to creating it for one year.

The first year was a time of figuring out what this publication would become. In March, of 2008, I featured my first artist, in April, I decided to publish two issues a month. By May, it began to take shape around a subject, rather than putting in random hodge-podge inspiration and in December, I decided that I would continue to create and publish it – that it truly was one of the best things I had ever done in my life. In 2010 I started a website and on March 18, 2011, I started this daily, poetry and quotes blog, to go along with the 2 issues a month.

I have been asked many times how I do it, how I find time. As I look back over the past five years, I see the actions that are reflected in the quote above. I made it happen by living my life in a way that others haven’t. It’s not about me being right or wrong, it’s just about what you want. I want to be all I can be and not aim low. When I started the newsletter, I wanted to create something good that my children, grandchildren and even great-grandchildren, could find one day, and know who I am, what I loved, how I live my life, what I stood for and what I learned about life. As I look back over the body of work, I am so blessed by how I have spent my time, the hours were well worth the effort! I am extremely grateful for what I have accomplished.

As this year of 2012 comes quickly to a close, I feel the time for something new is happening. It is time for things to shift and I am not sure the newsletter will continue to be the same. There are new things being born, and I feel the end of this particular publication may be ending, to make way for something new and exciting. I am not sure exactly what it will be, as of yet, but I feel things stirring around in my heart, in my imagination. Inspiration is bubbling and brewing and my music is coming to the forefront of this next phase of life upcoming. It is exciting and feels important. I ask for your prayers as I figure these things out and begin to incorporate new areas of discipline into my going, and begin to accomplish my highest calling from a heart of love.

www.songsfromthevalley.com for current issue on Place featuring artist  Beverly Erschell http://www.beverlyerschell.com/

living in abundance

There is always enough to share!

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celebrate today!

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Man needs reckless courage to descend into the abyss of himself. -Yeats

There is a strange paradox in the soul: if you try to avoid or remove the awkward quality; it will pursue you. In fact, the only way to still its unease is to transform it, to let it become something creative and positive that contributes to who you are.

In actual fact, these demons do not account for all the subconscious. The primal energy of our soul holds a wonderful warmth and welcome for us. One of the reasons we were sent onto the earth was to make this connection with ourselves, this inner friendship. The demons will haunt us, if we remain afraid. Each inner demon holds a precious blessing that will heal and free you. To receive this gift, you have to lay aside your fear and take the risk of loss and change that every inner encounter offers (edited)                                                           – John O’Donohue in Anam Cara

 

 

 

New newsletter – thoughts on Good and Evil at www.songsfromthevalley.com

be soft. do not let the world make you hard – Kurt Vonnegut

photo by Nici Tietjen Derosie
http://artshapedworld.com/
http://artshapedworld.blogspot.com/

Just a few timeless life lessons we all learn on the road of life…

1. Beauty comes from within. – You will never be beautiful like me.  You can only be beautiful like you.  One does not become beautiful by trying to be beautiful.  One becomes beautiful by finding beauty in what’s already within.

2. Pain has a purpose. – Pain doesn’t just show up in your life for no reason.  It’s a sign that something in your life needs to change.  This change takes strength.  But remember, it’s not that those who are strong never get weak in the knees, or that they never gasp for a breath.  It’s that while their knees are shaking, they force themselves to breathe and to take another step.  Read The Road Less Traveled.

3. There are right people, and wrong people, for you. – There are fake people, and those who are true friends.  There are people who take the heart out of you, and those who put it back.  You have a choice of who to spend time with.  True friends have an honest heart, and will go out of their way to help you when you need it most.  Stick with the people who never let you down and keep their promises.  You can’t fake that.

4. What you focus on grows. – Do not let the negativity wear off on you.  Do not let the bitterness steal your sweetness.  Promote what you love instead of discrediting what you dislike.  When you choose to focus on the things you love, you end up finding more joy and more love in life.

5. What you don’t start today, won’t be finished by tomorrow. – There are seven days in the week and someday isn’t one of them.  Ask yourself if what you’re doing today is getting you closer to where you want to be tomorrow.  Read Getting Things Done.

6. Sometimes taking your own advice is hard. – You know what to do, but you can’t seem to accept your own good judgment.  You’ve said the same exact words to others, but listening to your own words is a struggle.  That’s why friends are priceless.  Because sometimes you just need to hear it from someone other than yourself.

7. You can’t live your life solely for other people. – When writing the story of your life, don’t let someone else hold the pen.  You’ve got to do what’s right for you, even if the people you love disagree with your dreams.  Live your life so that when it’s time to ask where the time went, you can answer: “It went to joyful moments of self-discovery, to my search for passion, to doing work that felt like play, to standing up for what I believe in, and to exploring this beautiful world with an open heart.  My time went to living MY life!”

8. Forgiveness is the first step to recovery. – Sometimes we don’t forgive people because they deserve it; we forgive them because they need it, because we need it, and because we cannot move forward without it.  So cry, forgive, learn, and move on.  Let your tears water the seeds of your future growth and happiness.

9. Your beliefs become your reality. – What you believe has more power than what you dream or wish or hope for.  You become what you believe.  Even though you cannot control everything that happens, you can control your attitude toward what happens.  And in that, you will be mastering change rather than allowing it to master you.  Read Awaken the Giant Within.

10. Success is rarely easy, but always worth it. – Those who have achieved their dreams know that life is about willpower and persistence.  It’s about hanging on to hope when your heart has had enough, and giving even more when your mind and body want to give up.  Yes, each step may get harder, but the view from the top is priceless, and well worth enduring the journey to get there.

http://www.marcandangel.com/2012/10/11/10-timeless-lessons/#more-473

Every moment of your life is infinitely creative and the universe is endlessly bountiful. Just put forth a clear enough request, and everything your heart desires must come to you. – Gandhi

If you have a talent, use it in every way possible.

Don’t hoard it.

Don’t dole it out like a miser.

Spend it lavishly like a millionaire intent on going broke.”

                                – Brendan Francis

Get on with your own creative life. Ideas are free. They don’t cost you a thing. You can live in the world of thought all the days of your life and never go broke.

You will also die unfulfilled, because an idea that never incarnates, that never becomes physical and grounded in this world, will eventually feel like the most painful burden you ever had to carry – one that you can never put down.

People who have had near death experiences report that there is indeed a life review that happens upon our death, and that a part of that life review is to make note of what could have been in our lives had we chose otherwise.

Falling into that category are all the creative opportunities the universe provided for us that we let fall by the wayside because our fears carried more authority within us than our faith.

Trust in the life support system that is inherent in your creative spirit. You will draw to yourself all that you need as you need it, but you must first be willing to risk it all.          – Caroline Myss

When you welcome your emotions as teachers, every emotion brings good news, even the ones that are painful. – Gary Zukav

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WE CAN CHOOSE HOW WE MOVE THROUGH EACH STEP IN OUR STORY!

The path we take makes all the difference!

Vulnerability is the path to intimacy and peace in every area of life.

It’s hard. It takes awareness and then making the choices – every time! Keep showing up. Don’t numb it, don’t apologize for it, don’t fight it. Just feel it all fully and allow it to be. It is what it is. And now make the choice to honor it. And to allow it to make you stronger, better, more fully yourself and more fully aware of how this connects us all together. We are one. When one suffers – we all suffer. That’s human, animal, the planet. If we want to end suffering, we must not want anyone to suffer. We must heal ourselves of these things so that we can truly heal others. Let it flow. Choose to look for and find any beauty right where you are. Choose to embrace the glory in the gray. Choose to speak words of life.

http://songsfromthevalley.com/October-09-2.19-Tears.pdf

http://www.aholyexperience.com/2012/10/best-tip-for-effective-time-management/

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intimacy – into me see – Ward Mallaird

Through black ckouds the black sheep runs, and through black clouds the shepherd follows him. – Garry Willis

He bore our sorrows and by His grace we are healed.
Love so amazing, so divine
demands my soul,
my life,
my all.

dreams come true

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Creativity is… seeing something that doesn’t exist already. You need to find out how you can bring it into being and that way be a playmate with God.
– Michele Shea

A rock pile ceases to be a rock pile the moment a single man contemplates it, bearing within him the image of a cathedral.
– Antoine de Saint-Exupéry

and so we start fresh today

Because of the Lord’s great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.

– Lamentations 3:22-23 (NIV)

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