2019 aspirations

Optimism: hopefulness and confidence about the future or the successful outcome of something.

Forever Young....

Balance.....

Do Be Do Be Do Be Do Be

Way of Be-ing...

Authentic Confidence

Be like the bird who, pausing in her flight awhile on boughs too slight, feels them give way beneath her, and yet sings, knowing she hath wings. - Victor Hugo


🌊 From a like-hearted connection, Experience:

There's a Place:

"Full Circle"

Hold it up
Fill your cup
Look out to sea
Feel what I see

Hold it up
Fill your cup
Look out to sea
Respect what I see

And I reason with you now,
Trying to find my way out
As she's singing all these songs
Oh, she's singing to heal my soul.
Find my place, find my reason
Oh, I been here so long
Oh, she's singing with the trees
Oh, she's singing to heal me

✨ espírito afim _/|\_

Only emptiness can give you more.

Any other kind of "more" becomes less,

intensifying your dissatisfaction

and cluttering your beingness.

- Mooji

life is a garden

not a road

we enter and exit

through the same

gate

wandering

where we go

matters less

than what we

notice

-bokonon

 

...give ourselves a breather

get out of our own way

matters of the heart

we are startust

....He told me he had journeyed all over the world

trying to find himself,

and that wasn't enough to feed his restless heart.

So he journeyed into outer space,

still seeking something he couldn't quite pinpoint. 

...no outer journey will ever fulfill you.

It took going into outer space for him to realize that

we must all

make this inner space journey

back to Oneness.

~ Lissa Rankin sharing about a conversation she had with Edgar Mitchell

kintsuji

like a bird

on the wire...

sidewalks

♥

There is no way to peace.
Peace is the way.
A.J. Muste

Gentleness is a complex and powerful tool, and learning to work with this tool can be a slippery slope. To many of us, it's counter-intuitive to be gentle with ourselves, and gentleness is often wielded only as a soothing balm, when
its full potential is so much more.

Learning to use gentleness
in a skillful way is important work.

Gentleness when it comes to change is vital. This little story precisely describes the process, may it inspire some gentleness toward yourself and empower you to move through to your next chapter...

Autobiography in Five Short Chapters
Portia Nelson from There's a Hole in My Sidewalk

Chapter 1

I walk down the street.
There is a deep hole in the sidewalk.
I fall in.
I am lost ... I am helpless.
It isn't my fault.
It takes forever to find a way out.

Chapter 2

I walk down the same street.
There is a deep hole in the sidewalk.
I pretend I don't see it.
I fall in again.
I can't believe I am in the same place.
But it isn't my fault.
It still takes a long time to get out.

Chapter 3

I walk down the same street.
There is a deep hole in the sidewalk.
I see it is there.
I still fall in ... it's a habit.
My eyes are open.
I know where I am.
It is my fault.
I get out immediately.

Chapter 4

I walk down the same street.
There is a deep hole in the sidewalk.
I walk around it.

Chapter 5

I walk down another street.

"Solvitur en modo, Firmitur en rey"

Gentle in what you do,

Firm in how you do it

~    ~    ~
Disciplined Meditation is a How...
~    ~    ~

“Meditation is about seeing clearly the body that we have, the mind that we have, the domestic situation that we have, the job that we have, and the people who are in our lives. It’s about seeing how we react to all these things. It’s seeing our emotions and thoughts just as they are right now, in this very moment, in this very room, on this very seat. It’s about not trying to make them go away, not trying to become better than we are, but just seeing clearly with precision and gentleness.”

— Pema Chodron

my mama's garden
♥

new day dawning

the natural source of radiance and brilliance in this world

...there has to be...

good smile at the end, tom.

☀

“Hope and optimism are different.

Optimism tends to be based on the notion

that there's enough evidence out there to

believe things are gonna be better,

much more rational, deeply secular,

whereas hope looks at the evidence and says,

'It doesn't look good at all. Doesn't look good at all. Gonna go beyond the evidence to create new possibilities based on visions that become contagious to allow people to engage in heroic actions always against the odds,

no guarantee whatsoever.'

That's hope.

I'm a prisoner of hope, though.

Gonna die a prisoner of hope.”
― Cornel West 

one of the richest sharings of gratitude, humanity,
and wisdom in this interview, imo.
it's funny too, they have a good rapport.

some gems from Brother West, who considers himself 'blessed to have been invited to the banquet of life'

(much more enjoyable to listen to him,

he has a great laugh and spirit):

Blessed assurance, making a leap of faith,

stepping out on nothing

and landing on something...

He who has never despaired has never lived.

I make despair and catastrophe constant companions,

but I just don't allow despair to have the last word...

Ancestral appreciation,

feeling the love at your back...

 Persevering is the best we do,

just gonna love my way through the darkness...

Ritual has a role to play,

it's nice to stop everyday life

and have moments of deep meaning...

great reminders about cash,

an instrument for some greater cause, not an end...

and the legacy of Martin Luther King,

who also spoke of a religion based on being

maladjusted to greed, concerned about fairness,

maladjusted to indifference,
concerned about compassion,

and maladjusted to fear.
Instead it's courageous and tries to be hopeful...

☀

ours is in the trying, the rest is not our business.

-T.S. Eliot

(b)is-ness

I am grateful
for the *spark*
to revisit the inspiration
for this blog,
the dream for us all to
live in possibility
oh, how poetically,
swiftly,
a person
who made himself available
is guided
to the wellspring of wonder
tapping into his own potential
through playing his instrument
riding the wave of

one-buttock playing (!)

his music became the instrument
that touched souls,
lifted spirits,
and connected us to one another.
becoming fascinated
along the way
by mis-takes
in the garden of
discovery,

the ultimate glory

of these gifts

goes to the

higher source of power

which is so much

grander and vast

than our own concept of

their potential.

hallelujah.

passing through

In this place of tremendous insecurity

I raise my arms in the air and say

'how fascinating!'

for this blessed awakening

shines a light in the direction of the only security there actually is in my view,

groundlessness.
change.

living in a space beyond hope

and beyond fear,

in the present moment.

this insecurity keeps

my heart open.

practicing

seeing

with a fresh view,

my spirit has been moved

higher,

lower,

and wider.

who knew that it was possible to

lift lower!

for me this idea of lifting lower translates

within the rich duality of ones'

evolving comprehension of darkness

and spiritual mysteries,

intertwining the nature of those two notions

creates a

space between

where the

softness of loving and acceptance

and pure clarity

resides.

a space that simply

is.

a space that is the ground

made fertile by

cultivating into it

our manure of experience,

individually and collectively...

haven't yet arrived

but not just starting...

♥

'garden splendor'

Milan ~ a completely self-taught artist

born in Angeles City, Phillipines

"What lifts you into a higher perspective of your overall life, current situations and conditions aside,

and is there any imagery you connect with that

grounds you at the same time?"

in the spirit of living the questions,

for me what lifts and grounds me is

whatever touches

the loving as well as the suffering

in my heart,

awakening,

exciting,

lifting,

and soothing

spirit and soul,

connecting me to my higher power
and all other be-ings.

yoga!

poetry.

art.

humour.

nature,

being among it as well as

imagery like the piece above.

~   ~   ~

Perhaps all the dragons in our lives are only princesses waiting for us to act, just once, with beauty and courage. Perhaps everything that frightens us is, in its deepest essence something that wants our love.

~ Rainer Maria Rilke

 

...and to all a good night

Finnish nisua with fresh ground cardamom
and Cape Breton pork pies...

If you work to make it true, It's a Wonderful Life
George may not have much money, but he's the richest man in town

I offer this beautiful version of Lucinda Williams' 'Blue' for anyone whom it is not, or anyone wishing to acknowledge that for many among us this is not,
the 'most wonderful time of the year'.

...that's how the light gets in

One year ago today, my love and I got to see Leonard Cohen at the Confederation Center in Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island, Canada. A great story in and of itself how he managed to get us tickets... I don't go to a lot of concerts anymore because I've gotten very selective, but this experience blew my mind.....

It's also been about one year of some intense participation in the 'healing game' for me. For many years now I have been on a path of becoming friends (or at least friendly) with my body, which has led me to some fascinating places. But it all started with a curiosity about whether my relationship with my body was creating some sort of disconnect in my approach to my life overall. I've placed much importance on understanding the connection and inter-connectedness of body, spirit, and creativity, and have understood on an intellectual level how they all have an effect on each other, but my awareness has been increased when I began considering all of this along with the idea that...

Energy Follows Thought

And it's not always conscious thought, in fact, I believe it's often unconscious thought, or what we learn as children (whether intentionally taught or unintentionally learned, this is not a parent-bashing session). Bringing one's thoughts to consciousness can be a difficult process, because let's face it, our thoughts, wherever they come from, are not all of sunshine and roses. But then I started recognizing that I am not those thoughts, unless I choose to identify with them. I am speaking of the types of thoughts based in self-doubt and self-judgment, anything blocking my creative expression of who I am. So why go through it?? I have asked myself that many times, and at one point I realized it was simply to be able to be present with joy. By following and identifying with thoughts of authenticity rather than the other stuff.

You are not responsible for your disease

but you are responsible to the disease

When a progressive chiropractor/nutritionist/intuitive healing-type person I consult with said this to me, it brought me out of the darkness I was in at the time, trying to figure out what I had done 'wrong' to create this dis-ease in my second chakra (dwelling place of the self). Then on the journey of handling it, I encountered this statement...

What is not life threatening... is life OFFERING

And,

Look back only long enough to see how far you've come

We all have power statements, touchstones, things that we connect to that help us make sense of what life brings and to find some inner peace. What are yours?


Indeed, there is a crack in everything...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cgYlqKxV54Q&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OIFDXHw0eaY&feature=related

Benedictions

I always loved hearing 'let's close for the Benediction'. Whether I was happy because it signaled the end of the sermon, or because I found the words comforting, the idea of a 'short invocation for divine help, blessing, and guidance' is a mighty fine one...

The traditional Benediction is lovely (May the Lord bless you and keep you. May the Lord make his face shineth upon you and be gracious unto you. May the Lord lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace), but when I heard this Benediction as part of Amy Goodman's interview with Doug Peacock about the Montana grizzly bears and his special connection with Ed Abbey, I found it comforting in a more real way... a joie de vivre! way... watch it here... the whole interview is moving and fabulous, but Ed reads his Benediction around minute 45...

Benediction, by Edward Abbey

May your trails be crooked, winding, lonesome, dangerous, leading to the most amazing view

may your mountains rise into and above the clouds

may your rivers flow without end, meandering through pastoral valleys tinkling with bells

past temples and castles and poets towers into a dark, primeval forest where tigers belch and monkeys howl

through miasmal, mysterious swamps infested with crocodiles; and down from there into a desert of red rock,

blue mesas, domes, and pinnacles, and grotles of endless stone

and down, down again, into a deep, vast, ancient, unknown chasm

where bars of sunlight glaze on profiled cliffs

where deer walk across the white sand beaches,

where storms come and go as lightning clangs up above the high craigs

where something strange and more beautiful and more full of wonder

than your deepest dreams waits for you

beyond the next turning at the canyon walls.

.......