Monthly Archives: February 2012

the drudgery of the human condition…& yet, it’s a new day….

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alone....big world...

being alone….the powerful antidote to ‘self’ or ‘ego’….a parodoxical & lifelong challenge…

When Sleeping Beauty wakes up she is almost fifty years old…..Maxine Kumin

awakening the witness….

powerless over your patterns…yes…

powerless over how you deal with them….no…

By keeping quiet, repressing nothing, remaining attentive, & by accepting reality…taking things as they are, & not as I wanted them to be…by doing all this, unusual knowledge has come to me, & unusual powers as well, such as I could never have imagined before. I always thought that when we accepted things, they overpowered us in some way. This turns out not to be true at all, & it is only by accepting them that one can assume an attitude towards them. So now I intend to play the game of life, being receptive to whatever comes to me, good & bad, sun & shadow, forever alternating, & in this way, also accepting my own nature with its positive & negative & sometimes extreme sides. Thus everything becomes more alive to me. What a fool I was! I tried to force everything to go according to the way I thought it ought to……..a patient of Carl Jung

ok, so this is seemingly quite trite & too ‘feel good’ but it does suggest a certain amount of freedom just by simply ‘stepping back’ a bit from our day to day concerns…

we do this again & again & again though don’t we?…

just remembering to love is hard enough…

There are only two or three human stories & they go on repeating themselves as fiercely as if they had never happened…..Willa Cather

beauty exploding…a pulsing reality…

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cacophony of color

color is wild & freeing…blissful & mesmerizing….longingly & poetically alive…

expressing the inexpressible…the joy of seeing beauty…

the paradox of resting the mind…..curious to ordinary experience…

color is one of the brilliant & most natural aspects of life which bring us back to soul…

Often in our life we are distracted, we forget what really counts. We lose ourseles, our soul. We feel impoverished & estranged. It is like saying: ‘Where is my soul? What is essential, what is so precious, so vital, that if I lose it I become a living corpse & the world around me a ghost town? Where is my soul?’ That is our life search, our continuing effort to solve our maddening puzzle. Beauty has a lot to do with our plight & may be a potent aid that leads us to discovery. To lose beauty means to become ill. To meet it again means to find again the part of ourselves we should never forget. It means to be healed…..Piero Ferrucci

color & living & experiencing bring brilliant madness…

It was the sweetest, most mysterious-looking place anyone could imagine…Climbing roses had run all over the trees & swung down long tendrils which made light swaying curtains, & here & there they had caught at each other…’How still it is!’ she whispered. ‘How still!’ She was inside the wonderful garden, & she could come through the door under the ivy any time, & she felt as if she had found a world all her own….Frances Hodgson Burnett

the narrow tunnel, cave & viewpoint…may we blossom open…

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temptations to narrow

The breeze at dawn has secrets to tell you

The market only wants to buy & sell you

Fight to stay awake

Choose the path you take

Even if you don’t know where it’s going

Trust your own unknowing

…don’t go back to sleep…

Jan Garrett

we have so much more to give, so much more energy when we envision from a wider lens….a deeper perspective…we tire less easily….we are more tolerant…we don’t react so quickly…

the funny thing is…this does not mean to fall into complacency…does not mean to come from a ‘safe’ vantage..it means Opening…deeply & with strength to withstand all that comes in….

Wow….

as the quote so aptly says…don’t be asleep…& trust your unknowing…

if it comes from the heart, not ego, may it be so….

this is not trite & easy work…this is a lifetime’s commitment…this is being with life…not shutting down…knowing it’s ok to not understand it all…..

ya got to hold on….‘bless my heart

& bless yours too’…

 

The tragic sense of life is ironically not tragic at all, at least in the Big Picture. Living in such deep time, connected to past & future, prepares us for necesssary suffering, keeps us from despair about our own failure & loss, & ironically offers us a way through it all. We are merely joining the great parade of humanity that has walked ahead of us & will follow us. The tragic sense of life is not unbelief, pessimism, fatalism, or cynicism. It is just ‘ultimate & humiliating realism,’ which for some reason demands a lot of forgiveness of almost everything. This is perhaps our major stumbling stone, the price we must pay to keep the human heart from closing down & to keep the soul open for something more……Richard Rohr

Tag Games

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More expressive ways to connect….

thank you Freedom to a Full Life….a very inspiring, fun & full of surprises blog….I appreciate being included in the fun  & for inviting me to join in ‘tag you’re it’….please visit her blog for a ‘blog experience’….

being ‘tagged’ means to bring others in to the world of q&a and connecting blogs….

answer 11 questions….

nominate 11 bloggers…

& send out 11 new questions…

don’t forget to thank your nominater & to link back to all nominees…

My Answers

1. How does blogging add to your life?  connects & integrates

2. What makes life worth living for you?  giving back

3. What is in your bucket list?   volunteer vacation

4. What is your favorite comfort food?  chicken noodle soup

5. What is your favorite drink?  green tea

6. Do you like your birthday?  love it…warm summertime…..love to celebrate life…

7. When you were in school were you a bully, nerd, preppy, or something else?  bookworm

8. What is your favorite music?  all kinds, needs to have ‘soul’

9. What is your hobby (other than blogging)?  making art, working on my master’s, yoga, volunteering

10. What is your secret fear?  losing hope

11. What melts your heart?   the very old with a twinkle in their eyes, holding hands

nocturnefirefay

10eveningflowers

Searching for the Light

GYA Today

bahrainisufi

Serene One

barbaraelka

yogacarechallenge

Impressions of My World

Noisy Pilgrims

J. Ruth Kelly

Ok, 11 Nominees…..My 11 Questions if You Choose to Play….

1) beach or mountains?

2) milkshake or sundae?

3) cat or dog?

4) spirituality or religion?

5) hatchback or sedan?

6) city or country?

7) books or kindle?

8) health food or junk food?

9) exercise or couch?

10) flowers or chocolate?

11) setting goals or day by day?

aliveness in the dream world of solitude

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subterfuge of the heart

…aliveness…

In my empty rooms are time & space.

I return to be myself

Unfretted & unfettered

In this self-like place.

T’ao Ch’ien

I am most keenly aware of a deep need for solitude when it is difficult to find…I just need to burrow….to go down deep in the heart…in knowing….to allow all social elements to settle….like a calm pond…I can hear the fish swim….

In solitude, artists confront life with all the integrity, passion & intensity they can muster. These existential encounters are the very essence of authentic living. The time spent in solitude is the time when they feel most alive & real…..with the most intense experiences…..Eric Maisel

loosening your grip on your own identity is quite empowering….dropping the shroud of ego just for a little while….the dreams held so fragile light up, become real & strong….

this is wild mind…fluid, capable & suddenly destined….

like beautiful music that catches your breath…

whispers it, & transforms it to soul…

I know that nothing has ever been real

without my beholding it

All becoming has needed me.

My looking ripens things

& they come toward me, to meet & be met.

….Rilke

Sunshine Award

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With Gratitude to Mira Jay at Divine Rhythm for nominating me for The Sunshine Award….a sweet little award designed to connect us a little more here in blog land… Mira’s blog is lovely…..sensitive, intuitive & beautifully written…..please take a moment to visit her world….

…..follow up with a thanks & a link to the one who nominated you

….answer a few fun & silly questions

….& nominate 10 others who really captivate your attention with links to their blogs

My Special Nominees with Unique & Inspiring Blogs (no particular order):

Caddo Veil

Pigeon Heart

Evoking the Deep

Glimpses

Odd But Important

Beautifully Sewn

Pieces of Me

Lightning Droplets

Olive Twist

AuthentiCity

 Q&A

Favorite colors:   copper & teal                       

Favorite animal:    manatee                             

Favorite number:    7                         

Favorite non-alcoholic drink:    green tea

Prefer Facebook or Twitter?   neither    

My passion:    living well                                 

Prefer getting or giving presents:   giving                                                       

Favorite pattern:    wave                     

Favorite day of the week:   Sunday

Favorite flower:    passion flower

wild abandonment & the titillating woo of artistic inspiration

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a place to nest in the wild of the heart

‘it’ really is all about passion…our love of our life, the possibilities of renewal, & our physical aliveness within our five senses….this is passion & sensuality….big life….taking it all in…eating the world alive with voracious appetite….

the source of our inspiration… a fire which flames up from the deep vulnerability of letting go…a trance beyond will or imagination…

the question is…can we harness this power? can we channel it into art? do we dare reach for these limits of the human self?

Jung’s unconcsious….

Lorca’s dark & creative force…duende….

‘the constant baptism of newly created things’…the highest high which can drop to the lowest low…if not honored….so rare & so fine….this is soul work of the most daring kind…

A highly traditional work deepens immeasurably when one feels the primal murkiness threatening to swell up underneath the geometric clarity, the verbal concision, & the ironic wit. The ancient demons are never far from shore. The rational art is especially haunting when one feels the struggle in the thought, or even underneath the thought; when one senses something dark welling up from below, from the primordial mud; when one recognizes the powerful internal pressure of a mind defending itself against self…….Edward Hirsch

there’s more than a little soul in the textures of exquisite inspiration…

red & wild….

(this is a huge topic…..more later…..)

truth-seeking is a scam….the question is always, ‘who’s truth?’

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tenderness

don't keep searching for the truth, just let go of your opinion...Seng-ts'an

The Holy Longing

Tell a wise person, or else keep silent,

because the massman will mock it right away.

I praise what is truly alive,

what longs to be burned to death.

In the calm water of the love-nights,

where you were begotten, where you have begotten,

a strange feeling comes over you

when you see the silent candle burning.

Now you are no longer caught

in the obsession with darkness,

and a desire for higher love-making

sweeps you upward.

Distance does not make you falter,

now, arriving in magic, flying,

and finally, insane for the light,

you are the butterfly and you are gone.

And so long as you haven’t experienced

this: to die and so to grow,

you are only a troubled guest

on the dark earth.

…Goethe…

nothing flushes out the soul-light like complacency & self-deceipt….

& when you think you’re humble, you catch yourself feeling proud about feeling humble…you begin again….

nothing makes the world so alive & smitten as embarrassing sentimentality or remission…

& when the tiptoeing around death brings light instead of struggle…there is renewal…

there will always be derision from the angels & devils…

listen to them….

Compassion requires the ability to recognize & appreciate the conflict of authenticity & defense within each person we encounter. This poignant counterpoint of reality & defense is the condition of human life…..Judith Blackstone

filling the well & leaks & doubt

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a vessel for emptiness

Back to square one is the starting point of any genuine expression. Genuine square one is when you realize the desolateness, the spaciousness for that which is completely devoid of any feedback. You have finally confronted your good old self. This type of square one is primordial, the genuine one. There is no reference point…..Chogyan Trungpa

this reminds me of our own innate knowing & the responsibility to not deplete its arsenal of awareness….those leaky places which empty our loving places, cause us to surrender our authority & limit our longings….

Things Considered when Filling the Well….

holding the moon tight

finding that perfect corner to watch the world in silence

gathering flowers

sometimes it’s Rilke…sometimes it’s Nietzsche…..

sometimes it’s Charlie Brown…

remembering you have a couch & using it to rest

regarding all as a dream

cookies & milk

sand & wave & shells

starting over, beginning again, & forgetting why…

glossing over naked reality for awhile…

yoga, yoga, yoga…

sitting with true purpose

writing lists

checking out holy places in everyone you know

looking for the bottomless wild

remembering that floating comes before growing

Most of us never received a wise & mature introduction to the immense challenges, privileges, & possibilities of the life we entered into. Developing discernment helps us learn life’s lessons more clearly & quickly, turn challenges into opportunities & avoid unnecessary obstacles. We can then say, I have lived a good life, that I have touched &

I have been touched by……life.

Mariana Caplan

iconic discernment & our conflicts with meaning

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icons & meaning

In all ten directions of the universe,

there is only one truth.

When we see clearly, the great teachings are the same.

What can ever be lost? What can be attained?

If we attain something, it was there from the beginning of time.

If we lose something, it is hiding somewhere near us….

…..Ryokan

what does it mean to be disconnected from the soul? how can it be a question which clearly connects to all spiritual faiths?

truth is not afraid of questions…

I see the iconic image as paradoxical….consolidating cultures..yet also an archetype of courage which then can leave us hanging, because we do not have the tools to transcend the pitfalls of self-development, spiritual growth, & fledgling faith….

it seems our sacred task is to integrate an alchemy of growth on many levels…….our individual selves…our traditons…our stories…

to draw out our wisdom…

deeper clarity as principle or passion?

it is undeniable…the authenticity of an iconic image….

veiled, bowed, ritualistic & stuporous in prayer….

regardless of the profound emotions created….

spiritual transformation or mythologizing?

 If you bring forth what is within you, what you bring forth will save you. If you do not bring forth what is within you, what you do not bring forth will destroy you.

….Jesus Christ, The Gospel of Thomas…