life: acoustic & amplified

poetry, quotes & thoughts about life

Archive for the category “Thoughts”

you’re welcome

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A Simple Pineapple

The pineapple is a member of the bromeliad family.
It is extremely rare that bromeliads produce edible fruit.
The pineapple is the only available edible bromeliad today.

It is a multiple fruit. One pineapple is actually made up of dozens of individual floweret’s that grow together to form the entire fruit. Each scale on a pineapple is evidence of a separate flower.

Pineapples stop ripening the minute they are picked.
No special way of storing them will help ripen them further.
Color is relatively unimportant in determining ripeness.
Choose your pineapple by smell. If it smells fresh, tropical and sweet, it will be a good fruit.

The more scales on the pineapple, the sweeter and juicier the taste.

After you cut off the top, you can plant it.
It should grow much like a sweet potato will.

This delicious fruit is not only sweet and tropical; it also offers many benefits to our health.
Pineapple is a remarkable fruit.

We find it enjoyable because of its lush, sweet and exotic flavor, but it may also be one of the most healthful foods available today. If we take a more detailed look at it, we will find that pineapple is valuable for easing indigestion, arthritis or sinusitis.

The juice has an anthelmintic effect; it helps get rid of intestinal worms.

Let’s look at how pineapple affects other conditions.

Pineapple is high in manganese, a mineral that is critical to development of strong bones and connective tissue. A cup of fresh pineapple will give you nearly 75% of the recommended daily amount.

It is particularly helpful to older adults, whose bones tend to become brittle with age.

Bromelain, a proteolytic enzyme, is the key to pineapple’s value.
Proteolytic means “breaks down protein”, which is why pineapple is known to be a digestive aid.
It helps the body digest proteins more efficiently.
Bromelain is also considered an effective anti-inflammatory.

Regular ingestion of at least one half cup of fresh pineapple daily is purported to relieve painful joints common to osteoarthritis. It also produces mild pain relief.

In Germany , bromelain is approved as a post-injury medication because it is thought to reduce inflammation and swelling.

Orange juice is a popular liquid for those suffering from a cold because it is high in Vitamin C.
Fresh pineapple is not only high in this vitamin, but because of the Bromelain, it has the ability to reduce mucous in the throat. If you have a cold with a productive cough, add pineapple to your diet. It is commonly used in Europe as a post-operative measure to cut mucous after certain sinus and throat operations.

Those individuals who eat fresh pineapple daily report fewer sinus problems related to allergies.
In and of itself, pineapple has a very low risk for allergies.

Pineapple is also known to discourage blood clot development. This makes it a valuable dietary addition for frequent fliers and others who may be at risk for blood clots.

An old folk remedy for morning sickness is fresh pineapple juice. It really works!
Fresh juice and some nuts first thing in the morning often make a difference.

It’s also good for a healthier mouth. The fresh juice discourages plaque growth.

choices

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I look around for a poem today.
I search for words
to flow in a pattern.
Hoping they will fall out –
knowing it’s not that kinda day.
I feel off,
disjointed.
I will have to dig for words today.
Will what I uncover be pretty or painful?
Raw or honeyed?
I’m just not sure.
There is both bitter and sweet
right below my surface,
floating inside my mind,
waiting to be wrangled,
to be captured by my waiting pen.
My hand will clench it,
in customary fashion,
to mark them into being.
Pure white paper
will be scarred to receive them.
What will I choose to leave behind me today
for others to find?
Like the trails of the fallen,
the broken,
the explorers,
the saints.
Will I choose words of wisdom
simple sweet,
or words of sharpened justice
like the stinging of the bee?

AL 8/13/13

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there will be miracles

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I don’t want another Raven!
(even tho I’m so grateful for all of them, don’t get me wrong)
I don’t want more manna,
or water out of rocks –
spoken to
or struck in desperation –
I don’t want another temp job
regardless of pay
or qualification.
I want my life’s work.
My soul sustaining work.
My love song to the world work.
I don’t want to look back with sad eyes to the
‘What if’s’,
trying not to turn into a pillar of salt,
or Rip Van Winkle,
dreaming of the ocean,
springtime in Connecticut,
apple trees
and dandelion wishes.
I’ve cleared the past,
scoured the memories,
returned the hooks,
and the books.
Burned the bridges,
learned the lessons well,
made room for the new,
the view,
the unlimited possibility
of today.
I don’t want a fan,
someone to control me,
abuse me,
or a man to take care of me.
I want a life partner.
A co-builder of eternal structures.
A co-architect of a life full of goodness,
truth,
kindness
and sharing.
I don’t want to sit still any longer.
I don’t want to let another important day go by.
my patience has been monumental,
my obedience marathon,
My testing long and brutal.
I’m ready,
I’m so very ready.
and so I ask –
for no more stop gaps,
no more ravens,
no more small or large miracles in this particular arena of wilderness.
God, take me forward
into new battles,
new playing grounds,
new levels of faith.
allow me to step forward
today,
this very moment if it pleases You,
into my work,
into Your will and work.
As in all things,
Your will be done
here in me on earth
as it is in heaven.
today
and everyday
may it be so

Amy Lloyd
7/22/14

there is enough loveliness, enough beauty, enough peace, enough love in this world — enough food in this world – if we would just share?
– Ann Voskamp

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how does your garden grow?

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Pull up some radishes for dinner,
my mother said.
They grow next to the house under your bedroom window.

Afraid I’d pull up something other than a radish
I gathered a sister, a brother
and we knelt in the dirt
under the screened window

looking

at what we thought
to be a radish.

Its leaves so new so green
our hands so hesitant so unsure

we reached and pulled

earth clung
to our fingers
to the fleshy roots
quivering in the sun

we pulled up radish after radish
handing them
a bouquet
to our mother.

She no longer cares for radishes.
My sister, brother and I tend our own gardens.
But I wish everyday
to kneel again
under that window

to feel new and green
hesitant and unsure.

“Radishes” by Susan B. Auld

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art by watercolor artist, Mary Lou Peters
http://www.maryloupeters.com

the words you speak become the house you live in. – Hafiz

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The Music of Language
Words Are Energy
by Madisyn Taylor

Each word we speak has a life of its own, a vibratory signature that creates waves into the expanse of the universe.

When we speak or write, we use the vehicles of words to carry meaning, as well as energy, from ourselves to another person or group of people. We may be speaking to our baby, our boss, or to an audience of 500 people. We may be writing a love letter, a work-related memo, or an entry in our own diary. Whatever the case, each word we speak or write has a life of its own, a vibratory signature that creates waves in the same way that a note of music creates waves. And like musical notes, our words live in communities of other words and change in relation to the words that surround them. When we are conscious of the energy behind our words, we become capable of making beautiful music in the world. If we are unconscious of the power of words, we run the risk of creating a noisy disturbance.

Some of us know this instinctively, while others come to this understanding slowly. Most of us, though, speak without thinking at least some of the time, blurting out our feelings and thoughts without much regard for the words we choose to express them. When we remind ourselves that our words have an impact on the world at the level of energy, we may find within ourselves the desire to be more aware of our use of language.

A fun way to increase our sensitivity to the power of words is to simply make a list of our favorite words and notice the energy they contain. We can write them down and post them where we can see them, or we can speak them aloud, feeling them reverberate in our bodies and in the air around us. This is like learning to consciously play an instrument that we have been playing unconsciously for most of our lives, and the effect can be startling and delightful. As we grow more comfortable and confident playing the instrument of language, we will begin to compose beautiful messages, creating positive energy every time we write or speak.

DailyOM
http://www.dailyom.com

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responding to good treatment

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The need comes on me now
to speak across the years
to those who finally will live here
after the present ruin, in the absence
of most of my kind who by now
are dead, or have given their minds
to machines and become strange,
“over-qualified” for the hard
handwork that must be done
to remake, so far as humans
can remake, all that humans
have unmade. To you, whoever
you may be, I say: Come,
meaning to stay. Come,
willing to learn what this place,
like no other, will ask of you
and your children, if you mean
to stay. “This land responds
to good treatment,” I heard
my father say time and again
in his passion to renew, to make
whole, what ill use had broken.
And so to you, whose lives
taken from the life of this place
I cannot foretell, I say:
Come, and treat it well.

“XI” by Wendell Berry

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Send them love.

Wish them peace.

See them happy.

Everyone, always, forever.

And prepare to be astounded,
The Universe

http://www.tut.com/

Abba (breathe in) I belong to you (breathe out) – Brennan Manning

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Empowered to Receive Love

The Spirit reveals to us not only that God is “Abba, Father” but also that we belong to God as his beloved children. The Spirit thus restores in us the relationship from which all other relationships derive their meaning.

Abba is a very intimate word. The best translation for it is: “Daddy.” The word Abba expresses trust, safety, confidence, belonging, and most of all intimacy. It does not have the connotation of authority, power, and control, that the word Father often evokes. On the contrary, Abba implies an embracing and nurturing love. This love includes and infinitely transcends all the love that comes to us from our fathers, mothers, brothers, sisters, spouses, and lovers. It is the gift of the Spirit.
– Henri Nouwen
http://www.henrinouwen.org

Trinity meditation

Holy One,
Mysterious Love,
“I Am,”

I wonder; I surrender.

Gentle Christ,
Self-Pouring
Companion,

I thank you; I love you.

Holy Spirit,
Divine Breathing,
Emerging love,

I bear you; I follow you.
______________________
Steve Garnaas-Holmes
Unfolding Light
http://www.unfoldinglight.net

true good

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In a moment it becomes clear –
all the deals you made
the attempts to suffer enough
to make up for what you had to do
the need you had to suffer
the thought that it would be rewarded
that you would ‘make it’ someday to the promised land
flowing with milk and honey
and when it doesn’t come
you wonder what else you could have done?
What deal you forgot to make?
but God…
is not our magic genie
granting wishes for good behavior
giving cookies for deeds completed
sniper shooting us as we step from the bus at our desired location.
There are no deals to be made.
There are no favors we must earn.
There are no hoops we must jump through.
God is God.
God’s ways are not our ways.
God is always good.
We are always the beloved.
Grace is always ours.
Love is what we have.
Forever and always.
There is always enough.

AL 5/14/14

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listening

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The sheep follow
because they know the shepherd’s voice.
—John 10.4

There are voices in the streets within:
the sales pitches and the rants,
the thrilled anxiety of lurking disaster,
the voice of the displeased father,
the unhappy mother,
the fearful voices that remind you
how you should fit in and don’t,
what you have to do and can’t,
who you ought to be and won’t.

Don’t listen to that rush of that traffic,
the chanting of those crowds.

Listen beneath the clamor
to the quiet, gentle voice
of One who knows you,
who walks with you,
who accepts your pains
and cherishes your wondering
and bears your deepest longing,
who does not need for you to know
or believe or prove,
but honors who you are
and believes in who you are becoming.

Listen for the voice of One
who gives voice to you when you cannot,
who loves you for your sake alone,
yet gathers you into a blessed flock,
the quiet voice that rises from deep within,
as naturally as grass in springtime,
the sun in the morning,
the voice of love, not fear.

Listen for the voice of the Beloved
and follow that one alone
into this day,
into the gift of your life.

__________________
Steve Garnaas-Holmes
Unfolding Light
http://www.unfoldinglight.net

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i am a little church

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i am a little church (no great cathedral)
far from the splendor and squalor
of hurrying cities—i do not worry if briefer days grow briefest,
i am not sorry when sun and rain make april

my life is the life of the reaper and the sower;
my prayers are the prayers of earth’s own clumsily striving
(finding and losing and laughing and crying) children
whose any sadness or joy is my grief or my gladness

around me surges a miracle of unceasing
birth and glory and death and resurrection:
over my sleeping self float flaming symbols
of hope, and i wake to a perfect patience of mountains

I am a little church (far from the frantic
world with its rapture and anguish) at peace with nature
—i do not worry if longer nights grow longest;
i am not sorry when silence becomes singing

winter by spring, I life my diminutive spire to
merciful Him Whose only now is forever:
standing erect in the deathless truth of His presence
(welcoming humbly His light and proudly His darkness)

“i am a little church” by e. e. cummings, from E. E. Cummings: Complete Poems 1904-1962, edited by George James Firmage

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