life: acoustic & amplified

poetry, quotes & thoughts about life

Archive for the category “truth”

covers off

 
You cant wake someone 

pretending to be asleep

You cant talk to someone

pretending to listen

You can’t touch someone

pretending to be interested 

You can’t connect with someone 

pretending to be your friend 

You can’t teach someone anything 

pretending to know everything 

You can’t satisfy someone 

pretending to be perfect

You can’t give enough to someone 

pretending to be grateful 

You can’t change the world 

pretending to be kind

You can’t heal your heart 

pretending it’s not hurting 

You can’t solve a problem 

pretending you haven’t got one

You cant be loved by someone 

pretending to be ready for love

You can’t find the truth 

pretending it’s a lie

It is what it is

Pretending never really works…

but don’t even bother telling that to the pretenders

AL

   
Listen to The Platters sing Smoke Gets in Your Eyes http://youtu.be/BeC9Z1YQjXs

photo sources found at www.pinterest.com/al513 

transformations

 

 There is a teaching that says that behind all hardening and tightening and rigidity of the heart, there’s always fear. But if you touch fear, behind fear there is a soft spot. And if you touch that soft spot, you find the vast blue sky. You find that which is ineffable, ungraspable, and unbiased, that which can support and awaken us at any time. 
  – Pema Chodron

  
  
 

   

  

  

 
  

Listen to JJ Heller sing What Love Really Means http://youtu.be/PgGUKWiw7Wk

❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️

photo sources found at www.pinterest.com/al513

mediocrity…never…the battle is on!   

 

 Feeling empty and unstrung
I wake from my dream 

warnings of being unwilling to change

of being stuck in one place

unwilling to do things different

I sit at my desk 

afraid 

because this dream was not about you

it was about me

and it scares the hell outta me

that it is what I will allow. 
I know 

the tractor beam of mediocrity is on –

will my shields hold?

Will I stay out of the pig pen, 

or just give up and wallow in the stinky mud?

The comfortable parking space calls me..
All this,

and the glaring monotony,

the forced prison,

of my day 

stares at me. 

how will I break this day open?

how will I know I have 

reached beyond my need for security?

how will I battle my own resistance?

how will I stay focused on my own need,

and not distract myself with yours?

I open poems by Mary Oliver

The Moths is all it takes!

I feel the door of freedom swing open wide. 

I write

I post

I say ‘thank you’

for these, and all the other words. 

Within the hour I get a comment from Oriah, whose poem,

 The Invitation, 

was a life changer

and I know life

has answered my need to know

that I am connected to the whole

I feast 

on bacon 

with a side of strawberries n cream & passion fruit Godiva truffles

knowing there is always 

more goodness

than I could ever eat up

my cup is overfull and sticky 

from all that honey 

from all those 

beauti-ous bees. 

🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝

AL (Oct 2013)

   
  

Listen to Willie Nelson sing This Face http://youtu.be/_79LW9_OIUA 
😍😍😍😍😍😍😍😍😍😍

Find photo sources at www.pinterest.com/al513

The mind must

set itself up

wherever it goes

and it would be

most convenient

to impose its

old rooms—just

tack them up

like an interior

tent. Oh but

the new holes 

aren’t where 

the windows

went. 

🏡🏠🏠🏡🏠🏡🏠🏡

New Rooms by Kay Ryan

days of… 

  
Days of wine and focus

of hanging on

of staying strong

of keeping faith

of sitting still

of being silent

of thinking in beautiful 

of standing in my own shoes

of letting go 

of loving you through the distance

of letting you lead

of feeling the passion

of attempting not to burn up

of recognizing the spectacular

of allowing the mystery

of hearing the call

of accepting what is

of not crossing borders or boundaries

of opening and opening

of trusting the journey

of seeing the face of God

of surrender into something bigger than I can know

of making the daily commitment

of acknowledging the grace

of thanking for everything

of looking for the miracles

of talking to trees

of taking time to prepare

of expressing my love

of helping in time of need

of following my own path

of obedience rather than selfishness

of love and love and love

of all things love
AL

  

  Photo sources found at www.pinterest.com/al513

  

just a thought

 

 Strange to realize 
on our very worst day of life

someone else is having their very best day 

Every death 

is countered with birth, 

Every grieving tear 

with belly laughter

On the night we see the stars fall

the sun is rising on the other side of the world. 

The human spirit cannot be conquered

we rise again,

and again, each time we fall 

Tides come in

tides go out, over and over

With every broken heart

there is an answering new moment of love

For every first kiss 

a final slamming of the door – 

figuratively and/or literally

For every threshold we cross

we must cross another in a new moment

there are always new crossings

We each have moments of glory 

moments of defeat

Worry is always a paper tiger 

stripping our moments of joy

Illusions of control hide behind our eyes

always revealed to be a waste of our precious resources

our time here is too valuable to waste on such things

There is a time for every season

In all, we are to bring praise,

as sacrifice – as gift –

this simple act

the amazing hat-trick to the healing of our wounds 

when, in every single circumstance, 

we stand in the, 

sometimes difficult, 

sometimes brilliant,

beauty, kindness and truth of that very moment

and give thanks. 
AL

 

   

  Listen to George Harrison sing Give Me Love http://youtu.be/s-KAvPbO8JY
🌎🌎🌎🌎🌎🌎🌏

photo sources found at www.pinterest.com/al513

holy ground

  
There is grace on ground like this…

we can say that every step we take

of every day we live

Wherever we are is sacred ground

every bush we see burning with holy

every rock singing glory 

every bird testament of abundance

every flower testament to extravagant love

every waterfall 

every rainbow

and moonbow

and drop of the summer rain

shimmers with promise

rocks standing firm in the faith

glittering in sunshine

every person you meet has the same value

the same source

we are all made of stars

held together with mud

breathing the breath of the creator

the matter of the universe

life and death our greatest gifts

the space between can be our heaven 

or the darkest shades of hell

we choose our path with every decision

free will is our constant companion

love, and connection, our greatest needs

choices are most important  

wake up and guard them well
AL

 

  

Listen to Amos Lee sing Keep it Loose, Keep it Tight http://youtu.be/9xt8dVLPLFc 
👤👤👤👤👤👤👤👤👤👤

photo sources found at www.pinterest.com/al513

what will you choose?

 

 Just like everyone alive
Your days will be full of events – 

threads, as it were,

weaving your life into a tapestry 

There will be days of great joy and ones of overwhelming sorrow

Good days 

Bad days

Medium days

Average days

Snow days

Hazy days

day after day after day

until they end

and you move on

All your days you will have circumstances to accept and embrace

or reject and avoid

to stay or leave

to fly or fear

Some to let go 

some to overcome

some to enjoy

some to live through

Life is not about being fair

Life is about winning with the cards you hold

Winning doesn’t mean being rich, famous

or being born with a pedigree

Winning means living up to your own very unique, personal best 

Winning means experiencing and inhabiting 

love, peace and joy 

You’ll be as happy as you decide to be

You will be as healthy as is possible based on what you decide to do

and the genes you were born with

You’ll choose to accept or reject what is offered

You’ll do what you want to do

Go where you want to go

Keep holding on to what is most important to you 

– no matter if it makes you better –

or if it destroys you –

You’ll love who you love

Be who you are 

You will be worth as much as you decide you are

You will judge others based on your own insecurities,

and your unchallenged beliefs

You will have as much love as you allow inside you

You will have as much of God as you seek to find

You will inhabit your life – 

    or not

All this will have nothing to do with your circumstances 

It won’t matter how much money you have,

your gender,

or the color of your skin

It will all be about your choices

Always,

and only, 

about your choices
AL

 

Listen to Misty Edwards sing Soul Cry http://youtu.be/b-IDAqxCZ7I 
😇😈😇😈😇😈

Photo sources found at www.pinterest.com/al513

letting go…always letting God

 

 
On this day of your life I believe God wants you to know…  
…that tomorrow is the most important day of your life. 
Your greatest moment, your greatest achievement, your

greatest adventure lies in the future, never in the past.

 

There is a new you waiting to be created tomorrow.

That is the joy and wonder of the dawn. That is the

excitement of it!

 

Forget about yesterday! What is the grandest version

of the greatest vision ever you held about

Who You Are going to be tomorrow?

That is the only question that matters.

💞

Neale Donald Walsh

 

 I promised you that I would do it; and I will. However, it will be done in My way and in My timing. My way and My timing are often different than what you expect; but, they are perfect and they are right. My timing is always the best timing, and My way is higher than yours. I have told you that in My word many times.

You know only what you perceive and see, but I know every dimension of everything that is going on in your situation. I know the spiritual forces that are at work against you and what strategies they are taking. I know the things that you cannot anticipate, and they will not catch Me by surprise. My child, I take every one of these factors into consideration when I choose to work on your behalf and to bring My glory to your life.
I want you to know that I am always at work in your circumstances to turn them into My glory. Child, when you are in difficulty, I will make a way for you to escape. It may not be exactly what you expect, but it will be perfect, it will be for your good; and it will be just as I promised in My word.
I am holy. I am loving. I am the truth; and I am also faithful and trustworthy. It’s My desire for you to learn how trustworthy I am, so that you will put the full measure of your trust in Me. Don’t you know how much it blesses Me when you trust completely? So, the answer to your question is yes; I will do it. I will deliver you. However, it will be done in My way and in My time, and it will bring My glory into your life, just as I planned.

  – Chosen One Ministries 

  
Photo sources found at www.pinterest.com/al513

questions that don’t go away…

  

Sometimes

if you move carefully

through the forest
breathing

like the ones

in the old stories
who could cross

a shimmering bed of dry leaves

without a sound,
you come 

to a place

whose only task
is to trouble you

with tiny

but frightening requests
conceived out of nowhere

but in this place

beginning to lead everywhere.
requests to stop what

you are doing right now,

and
to stop what you

are becoming

while you do it,
questions

that can make

or unmake

a life,
questions

that have patiently 

waited for you,
questions that have no right 

to go away.

🍂🍁🍂🍁🍂🍁🍂🍁🍂

  Sometimes by David Whyte

 

Listen to Norah Jones sing Things You Don’t Have to Do http://youtu.be/mdyQCRgtDhM 
🍂🍃🍁🍃🍂🍁🍃🍂🍁🍃🍂🍁

Photo sources found on www.pinterest.com/al513

picture this 

 

 a photograph 

a memory

a poem 

a song

a kiss

a touch

a slap

a smile

a frown

a gift

a breath

a pause

a word – 

of love or hate or truth or lie 

   all vivid pictures 

memorials in a lifetime

of moments never to be forgotten

snapshots of a single frame in time

just a shutter-length

a stutter-length

an eye-lash blink

never to be here again –

yet never to be gone –

always within us

they live forever

we live forward 

becoming the collective 

of all these moments

 as we grow

with each opportunity

we choose to become –

more or less –

we gain courage 

we live with integrity

with truth. 

or we remain hidden 

afraid to let go of what’s gone. 

we make these choices every instant we live – 

every moment ours to decide:

to be,

or not to be? 

yes, Mr. Shakespeare, 

that, is still, the question. 

AL 

  

Listen to Rosemary Clooney sing Sway http://youtu.be/eWI5tyS_sTg 😘😘😘😘😘😘😘😘😘😘

Top photo by Fisherman Dan @ Branford CT

bottom photo source @ www.pinterest.com/al513

💙💙💙💙💙💙💙💙💙💙

There was nothing there when I heard a voice.

Haven’t you had a strangeness like this?

I did not respond right away, ignoring it,

and its restlessness increased.

I chucked it off as imagination.

Haven’t you ignored queasy feelings?

Perhaps it was from the empty fields,

but there was stillness in the grass and air.

This uneasiness followed me into the car

and went with me.

When stillness is so quiet, nothing is heard.

There was nothing in my house.

Nothing in the sky. Nothing in the isolated miles.

The voice persisted.

Ever ignore something that refused to be ignored?

It was telling me to enjoy and love.

The message was everywhere it needed to be.

All I had to do was listen—then it was everywhere.

💙💙💙💙💙💙💙💙💙

When Stillness Is Heard by Martin Willitts, Jr.

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