A World Spun Upside Down

A chill stirs among the blackened trees
As their colors change when night appears
But the spirits warmth is glowing from within
I can feel her energy coarsing through my skin
How the wind whips around me as my head's held up high
Nothing can make me fear if I have faith to touch the sky
A distortion of elements fills the darkned air
Fragments of memories dancing everywhere
Forgotten lullabies sung by the starlights
Blanket their children with a twinkle by midnight
I soon hear the voices that echo with no sound
It's easier to accept when the world's spun upside down
It's raining clouds and catastrophy; the pictures are all wet
We run away and try to hide, please tell me where you went
Dazzled by strangers in a room set like a show
They try to pick at my brain, what they want I do not know
Questions left unanswered, such a subconscious design
Trusting shadows that I fear for they too are One Divine

The Roles of Illusion

We all play our little roles
As individuals, as a whole
We all attempt to be the best
But we're not different from the rest
With our arms closed, we cannot give
And without that love, we cannot live
Approach the winds with fists wide open
Only then will the Spirit have spoken
We are victims as much as we are thieves
In this web of illusion we weave
See the angels in your enemy
And face the demons in your tragedy
Broaden your mind to accept the night
Only knowing darkness will show you light
We all play our little parts
It's been this way right from the start
Learn your lessons through life's cruel eyes
And you'll see her beauty is nothing to despise
God's your teacher, He does not hate
Look in the mirror and you'll see His fate
Humble hearts will see through flesh
And feast their souls on the true Spirit
It binds us together with unity
But these roles we play refuse to see
So rise above your circumstance
And for once give love and peace a chance

Poem: It Is

It's in an itch that you've forgotten how to scratch
It's in the dark only when you can't seem to find a match
It's in the rich that live in poverty
Sometimes the price you pay is the act of being wealthy
It's in the hearts of all our shadowed thoughts
It's not in our schools because it can never be taught
It's in the place of evil where the spirit sings a song
So eerie and enchanting you'll start to sing along
It's in the juiciest bite of an invigorating pear
When it comes from Mother Nature, you're breathing in her air
It's in the attics of our lives where secrets fall asleep in dust
It's whispering your name through the wind with all its gust
It's in your mosques, churches, sanghas, chakras, temples
Doesn't matter where you are, the message is rather simple
It's in all living creatures, the spirits and the dead
We're different individuals sewn together with golden thread
It's there in the calm nights on the salty seas
And in the tornadoes, hurricanes and all of travesty
It's a slap across a youthful creamy face
It's a homesick lonely soldier's welcome home embrace
It's in the texture of colors that you have never seen
It's in the prickly nests of hallowed out oak trees
It's dead, long gone, forgotten and deceased
But it's come alive, it lives inside, lives in you, lives in me

The Spirit through Music and Lyrics

Alanis is a spiritual goddess. Her lyrics are so powerful. This is a part from her song "Citizen of the Planet"
The whole song is simply spectacular though
***
I am a citizen of the planet
My laws are all of attraction
My punishments are consequences
Separating from Source the original sin
I am a citizen of the planet
Democracy's kids are sovereign
Where the teachers are the sages
And pedestals filled with every parent
***

Phish's intro called Scents and Subtle Sounds off of their Undermind album. All about living in the moment, the One moment.
***
If you would only stop to live one moment a time
You would I think, be startled by the things that you would find
Like scents you've never noticed and many subtle sounds
Like colors in the landscape and textures of the town
Then the winds would lift you up into the sky above
And you'd be treated to a view of everything you loved
And if the moment passes, you should try it once again
For if you do it right you'll find the moment never ends
***

Of course, The Beatles, sending out the ultimate message, All You Need is Love
***
There's nothing you can do that can't be done
Nothing you can sing that can't be sung
Nothing you can say but you can learn how to play the game
It's easy

Nothing you can make that can't be made
No one you can save that can't be saved
Nothing you can do but you can learn how to be you in time
It's easy

Nothing you can know that isn't known
Nothing you can see that isn't shown
Nowhere you can be that isn't where you're meant to be
It's easy

All you need is love
***

Happiness

Seize the moments of happiness, love and be loved! That is the only reality in the world, all else is folly.

LEO TOLSTOY, War and Peace

We can smile, breathe, walk, and eat our meals in a way that allows us to be in touch with the abundance of happiness that is available. We are very good at preparing to live, but not very good at living. We know how to sacrifice ten years for a diploma and we are willing to work very hard to get a job, a car, a house, and so on. But we have difficulty remembering that we are alive in the present moment, the only moment there is for us to be alive.

THICH NHAT HANH, Peace is Every Step

Those who possess that treasure which no thief can take away,
Which, though on suppliants freely spent, increaseth day by day,
The source of inward happiness which shall outlast the earth--
To them e'en kings should yield the palm, and own their higher worth.

BHARTRHARI, "The Praise of the Wise Man"

The Forever Incomplete :)

Sometimes Alanis just does it for me, and I don't have to come up with my own words. This song is simple, but what a beautiful message. Enjoy the acoustic along with the lyrics :)







"Incomplete"

One day I'll find relief
I'll be arrived
And I'll be friend to my friends who know how to be friends
One day I'll be at peace
I'll be enlightened and I'll be married with children and maybe adopt
One day I will be healed
I will gather my wounds forge the end of tragic comedy

I have been running so sweaty my whole life
Urgent for a finish line
And I have been missing the rapture this whole time of being forever incomplete

One day my mind will retreat
And I'll know God
And I'll be constantly one with her night dusk and day
One day I'll be secure
Like the women I see on their thirtieth anniversaries

I have been running so sweaty my whole life
Urgent for a finish line
And I have been missing the rapture this whole time of being forever incomplete

Ever unfolding
Ever expanding
Ever adventurous
And torturous
And never done

One day I will speak freely
I'll be less afraid
And measured outside of my poems and lyrics and art
One day I will be faith-filled
I'll be trusting and spacious authentic and grounded and home

I have been running so sweaty my whole life
Urgent for a finish line
And I have been missing the rapture this whole time of being forever incomplete

POEM: Whole Again

A silent ecstasy
Blows effortlessly through the breeze
My feet crinkle upon dry leaves
Until I reach the salt less seas

A witness to admire
Stillness surrounds like wildfire
The shoreline's bubbling never tired
Clay stones offer a spot that's dryer

A sprinkling in the air
The raindrops tumble without a care
With nothing left but skin to bare
Running my fingers through wet hair

A dancing silhouette of me
Overlooking the salt less sea
Could I ever be that free
Just one chance to let it be

No words left unspoken
My feet let go and I start to grin
And when the waters pierce my skin
That's when I'll be whole again

Good Quotes for the Week

 

The basic difference between an ordinary man and a warrior is that the warrior takes everything as a challenge while an ordinary man takes everything as a blessing or a curse. - Don Juan

 Failure is not always a mistake, it may simply be the best one can do under the circumstances. The real mistake is to stop trying. - B F. Skinner

 

God made everything out of nothing. But the nothingness shows through -Paul Valery

Did you ever notice how difficult it is to argue with someone who is not obsessed with being right? - Wayne W. Dyer 

 

It is simple. We are where we should be, doing what we should be doing. Otherwise we would be somewhere else, doing something else.

“The world doesn't owe you anything. It was here first.” ~ Mark Twain 

The moment one gives close attention to anything, even a blade of grass, it becomes a mysterious, awesome, indescribably magnificent world in itself -Henry Miller 

 

Being nice, patient, responsible people does not make us door mats. Choosing to be the best people possible, regardless how others choose to behave, means we are in control of ourselves rather than simply being the puppet of our irresponsible ego. Ego is NOT capable of choosing our 'best' behavior. So being in control of our ego to create life with positive purpose actually makes us the powerful ones.

Even after all this time,
The sun never says to the earth,
"You owe me."
Look what happens with
A love like that.
It lights the whole sky.
((((( Hafiz )))))
 

The Most Important Things I've Learned on my Spiritual Path

~ I don't have to be right. It doesn't matter who's right, it matters what's right.
~ My thoughts are not me. They encompass me, but they are not who I am. My mind is a perfect servant, but a lousy master. Although I live this life through my thoughts, I am so much more than that.
~ Judging is almost too easy, but sweet freedom really lies in just letting everything go.
~ We're never truly alone. If you're feeling lonely, go sit with the flowers or watch the trees waving their branches at you. They see you, they feel you, they smell you, they hear you. Don't forget The Spirit lives inside all of us and will comfort you anytime you experience loneliness.

Words to Live By

Every blade of grass has its ANGEL that bends over it and whispers, 'GROW, GROW.'  --The Talmud

"Worry never robs tomorrow of it's sorrow; it only saps today of it's strength" -- A.J. Cronin

"Never be bullied into silence. Never allow yourself to be made a victim. Accept no one's definition of your life; define yourself." -- Harvey Fierstein

"If we don't believe in freedom of expression for people we despise, we don't believe in it at all." -- Noam Chomsky

"Rest is not idleness, and to lie sometimes on the grass on a summer day listening to the murmur of water, or watching the clouds float across the sky, is hardly a waste of time." --Sir John Lubbock

"I've been rather awed by the magic that Spirit choreographs... when I do more listening than talking...
more feeling than thinking...
more being than doing...
and more allowing than controlling...
i.e. SURRENDERING!"
--Carl Landsness

Spiritual Growth

Today is About Growth

Today is about growth. Personal, spiritual, growth. I need to focus on myself, seeing every moment as a moment to grow consciously with love, wisdom, and light. It is okay to be me. It is okay to feel the things I feel, to do the things I do, to be who I am at this very moment. It's okay. I am a human, I am a spirit. I am not perfect, I am not static. I change from moment to moment, and my only hope is that with each change that comes, I grow and learn more about myself, and I learn to love myself and every part of the universe.

We are all more connected than we realize. From the clerk at the grocery store, to the homeless man on the street, from Obama to Osama, from Mother Teresa to Hitler, we are all connected. From horsefly to elephant, from mineral to planet, we are all connected. I'm going to quote Pocahontas today, from the Disney movie, hehe. She makes some good points though. Let's learn to love and grow and connect, with every single moment we can. 

Come run the hidden pine trails of the forest
Come taste the sunsweet berries of the Earth
Come roll in all the riches all around you
And for once, never wonder what they're worth

The rainstorm and the river are my brothers
The heron and the otter are my friends
And we are all connected to each other
In a circle, in a hoop that never ends