some years ask questions
some shake the foundations of our worlds
in a year of answers
be as quiet as possible
practice solitude
acquaintance yourself with silence
open your inner ears
listen for voices from other dimensions
care for your soul
allow deep mystery to bloom
sit in nature
find spots of beauty to fill you up
take time
go slow
so you can hear everything
waiting to be revealed
for such a time as this
🌪
AL
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
within the spaces between silences
there grows a green vine
with beautiful fruit
hanging
luscious
calling
healing
bountiful
filling
loving
living
deep
juicy
running down our chins and elbows
until we fill with joy
and laugh with delight
until we face our sorrow
and allow our salt to run and heal our wounds
until we feel what we need to feel
and let these emotions have their way with us
until we embrace this mystery
and open our arms to life
this,
my friends,
is how I define my life’s most important word:
music
🎼
AL
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
🕯
AL
“Smoke on the Water” in Cincinnati on 12/6/15 as captured by Wayne Clause
🌀
I stand where I am
lost between worlds
the past is gone
the present space between
a foggy future
not fully workable
full of hard edges
struggling
empty air
lack of conversation
missing soft expression
draining
exhausting
my fingers clasp wispy dream clouds
of you
of love
of home
of music
my tired hopes hang on by threads
longing for what I want
a home for living full of love and happy
building a life
eating food made with love
friendship filled with
silences
conversations
passion
compassion
touch to sooth our sore places
arms to hold and be held
keep me safe
let me breathe a little easier
laugh a little
sing a lot
covering me
surrounding me with love
❤️
AL
APART OR TOGETHER
So much that was
good in her,
so much in me,
cut off now
from the future
in which we
grew together.
Now
through the window
of my new house
that hawthorn’s
crooked faithful
trunk round
an old and broken
growth,
my mouth dumb
and Dante’s voice
instead of mine
from the open book.
‘Brother, our love
has laid our wills to rest.
Making us long
only for what is ours
and by no other thirst
possessed.’
Our life not lived
together
must still
live on apart,
longing only
for what is ours
alone,
each grow round the missed branch
as best we can,
claim what is ours
separately,
though not forget
loved memories,
nor that life
still loved by memory,
nor the hurts
through which we
hesitantly
tried to learn
affection.
Our pilgrim journey
apart or together,
like the thirst
of everything
to find its true form,
the grain of the wood
round the hatched knot
still straightening
toward the light.
…
From
THE HAWTHORN
in
‘THE SEA IN YOU: Twenty Poems of Requited and Unrequited Love’
© David Whyte and Many Rivers Press
Now Available at davidwhyte.com
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 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…
🌀
AL
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
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
❤️
AL
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
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
photos by Fisherman Dan @ Branford, CT
We develop grace as we learn with the guiding hand of the universe, life will unfold exactly the way it should.
The idea of trusting the universe is a popular one these days, but many of us don’t know what this really means and we often have a hard time doing it. This is partly because the story of humankind is most often presented as a story about struggle, control, and survival, instead of one of trust and collaboration with the universe. Yet, in truth, we need to adhere to both ideas in this life.
On the one hand, there is much to be said about exerting control over our environment. We created shelter to protect ourselves from the elements. We hunted for animals and invented agriculture to feed ourselves. We built social infrastructures to protect ourselves and create community. This is how we survive and grow as a civilization. However, it is also clear that there are plenty of things that we cannot control, no matter how hard we try, and we often receive support from an unseen force – a universe that provides us with what we cannot provide for ourselves.
It is a good idea to take responsibility for the things in life that we can control or create. We work so we can feed, clothe, and shelter our loved ones and ourselves. We manifest our dreams and visions in physical form with hard work and forethought. But at a certain point, when have done all that we can, we must let go and allow the universe to take over. This requires trust. It requires a trust that runs deeper than just expecting things to turn out the way we want them to. Sometimes they will, and sometimes they won’t. We develop equanimity and grace as we learn to trust that, with the guiding hand of the universe, life will unfold exactly the way it should. We are engaged in an ongoing relationship with a universe that responds to our thoughts and actions.
🌀
dailyom.com
by Madisyn Taylor
Not known, because not looked for
But heard, half heard, in the stillness
Between two waves of the sea.
Quick now, here, now, always –
A condition of complete simplicity
(Costing not less than everything)…
– T. S. Eliot
🌀
‘What if it were so much
simpler than that’
said the wiseman.
‘But …’ said the fool
🌀
But Said the Fool by Nic Askew
But for my hand, as unattempted yet,
Like a poor beggar, raileth on the rich.
Well, whiles I am a beggar, I will rail
And say there is no sin but to be rich;
And being rich, my virtue then shall be
To say there is no vice but beggary.
Since kings break faith upon commodity,
Gain, be my lord, for I will worship thee.
– Philip the Bastard from “King John” (2.1.592)
People don’t like love, they like that flittery flirty feeling. They don’t love love – love is sacrificial, love is ferocious, it’s not emotive. Our culture doesn’t love love, it loves the idea of love. It wants the emotion without paying anything for it.
– Matt Chandler
time wears down
as life takes its anguished toll
of strained shoulders and weary back
from the unyielding pressure of anger’s mighty weight
lash of black eyed look,
the demon,
lying in wait,
blame unleashed
words stripping tender heart skin
of the vulnerable
innocence unprepared for attack
leaving hope in shreds,
shame cocks its hat sideways
flames of passion freeze in place
ice, brittle, cutting
fills veins,
painful,
slicing to ribbons
destroying all goodness in its path
wounds with nothing to hide
nowhere to hide
Only you can change this –
you CAN change this!
I know for sure…
you can…
if you choose to…
God only knows
if you will
🔹
AL
3 spectacular wishes on this day…for every day
love
home
music
AL 5/13/15
Real riches are the riches possessed inside.
– B. C. Forbes
life: acoustic & amplified 