On the Prairie

 

I remember your voice

 Melodies in the wind

Vast.  Wild.

Whipping across the prairie

Snatching my breath away

As you rushed past

I remember you

Joy.  Life.  Energy.  

Lifting me

Carrying my laughter to the skies

I remember you

Solid.  Still.

Immense quiet

Within which I'd rest

Snuggling into the earth

Beneath tall stalks of wheat

Golden against blue sky

Abstract Sky/Ciel Abstrait by David Dubois

Oregon USA Stalks of Wheat by Craig Tuttle

It Is What It Is

When I argue with reality, I lose - but only 100 percent of the time. 

 How do I know that the wind should blow? It's blowing! 
I am a lover of what is, 
not because I'm a spiritual person, 
but because it hurts when I argue with reality. 

 We can know that reality is good just as it is, 
because when we argue with it, we experience tension and frustration. 
We don't feel natural or balanced. 
When we stop opposing reality, action becomes simple, fluid, kind, and fearless.
Byron Katie *


How do I find peace?
When 'what is' can feel so dark 
When the story seems set
When hopes held dear
Fade
Disappear 

Byron Katie stresses that acceptance, and actually LOVE of what is,
does not preclude taking action to bring about change.  
Simply, that it is pointless to argue with the reality that presently exists.
Since, it, in fact, IS.

She also believes that the essence of the Universe is good.  

If we trust that God is Love
That the creational direction of this universe is that of love and goodness
We can know that all is ultimately well

The 'is' that is, is much more than we see.  
Larger, grander
Deep, intense, wild

Wonderful. Beautiful. 

It is the caterpillar in the cocoon, the chick in the egg . . .

 The is that is, holds the promise, the potential, 

the energy of creation which flows beneath the surface always. 

'What is' can feel dark, sterile, motionless, a finished work . . . 

but it is not.

'What is' can appear to lead only to decay and loss.
but, it does not.
That which carries death, 
atrophies and passes.
True life lives on
Shines through
Prevails

We are carried.  
We are Jonah in the dark belly of a fish. 

Moving, though we see not where. 

We are the chick, crushed within the suffocating darkness of the egg.

The caterpillar dissolving, disintegrating

Losing all form, to be reformed into

A beautiful, winged creature

(oh, how I fight this feeling of formlesslness - painful, liquid, unknowing)

I may feel that my life is static. 

That I've taken too many 'wrong' turns.

I smell the stench of death . . . 

Fight the darkness that threatens to consume . . . 

yet

Life is an organic thing

Only artificial things never spoil

As I ask all that is not love to die and be gone from me

Can I accept and love

the byproducts of death?

Can I embrace the pressure and pain . . .

the darkness and the discomfort . . .

as the gifts they are?
(Or, evidence of the gift.)

LOVE looks on, and smiles.
Sees beauty shining through the darkness. 
Renewal emerging from dissolution.
Sees the end of the story.

And loves what is.

*http://www.gratefulness.org/readings/bk_noticing.htm

Check out Byron Katie's Work.  Life changing stuff.
http://www.thework.com/index.php

Portions inspired by Dark Nights of the Soul, by Thomas Moore
http://careofthesoul.net/books/

Loving the Other

A life without love is a waste. “Should I look for spiritual love, or material, or physical love?”, don’t ask yourself this question. Discrimination leads to discrimination. Love doesn’t need any name, category or definition. Love is a world itself. Either you are in, at the center…either you are out, yearning.

~ Shams Tabrizi

Judgment is a symptom of perceived disconnect.

People want to bash the one who had the abortion until its their cherished sister

Or rally against the gay until its their beloved brother

Or demonize the Republican until it's their kind neighbor.

Or marginalize the homeless addict until its their treasured grown child.

It's tempting for all of us to judge and we all do.

Our freedom isn't in never judging...

It's in noticing that we do and recognizing that it comes from the illusion of separation from each other.

We are all connected.
Created.
Designed.
And threaded together by this common strand of the human and divine experience.

Created by Love
For Love

To receive and give love. Mother Theresa's words call to me often,   "We have no peace because we have forgotten that we belong to each other."

We belong
To each other.

♥

Stacey Robbins

• http://www.bloombeautiful.co
• http://www.staceyrobbins.com

Such love has no fear, because perfect love expels all fear. 

If we are afraid, it is for fear of punishment, 

and this shows that we have not fully experienced 
his perfect love.

1 John 4:18

Fear divides

Love unites

Across all divisions

All differences

What do I fear

When I believe I cannot accept you

(and extend kindness and compassion)

If your beliefs or actions

don't match what I believe to be true and right?  

Am I a "conservative" condemning the "liberal" . . . 

Or, the "liberal" condemning the "conservative"?
(insert whatever boxes or divisions are important to you)
Do I hate people because they are hateful?  
(does this not, by definition, make me a hater?)

Do I draw lines of inclusion and exclusion,
or does my love and acceptance include all people - 
the "greatest" and the "least"? 

Love never fails
Everything else
Will 

 

I Am

The words "I am"
Are powerful.
Creational

When God said, 
"I am what I am"*
He declared his transcendence 
Of human definition
Any other word placed after "I am"
Would simply describe one aspect
Of who and what God is

Our attempts to comprehend, 
Define or  categorize 
The infinite and unknowable
Inevitably create a smaller god.

The more we're able to live in the mystery
The closer we are to the heart of what is

Personal, foundational beliefs
Create space and structure 
Within which our souls
Can safely learn and grow

Addiction to the constructs created
Can blind us to new, deeper understandings
Of Love . . . Spirit . . . Source

The more loosely held 
These manmade paradigms,
The more clearly 
Love's voice is heard 

The words "I am"

Are powerful.

Creational

When I say
"I am sad"
"I am afraid"
I create an image of self
Transforming illusion
Into my reality

I am infinite and unknowable
Aspects of who I am
Can be observed, sensed and "understood"
All labels and descriptions
Ultimately diminish
Understanding of the 
Eternal being that I am

I am not sad
I am feeling sad
I am not anxious
I am experiencing anxiety
These feelings do not define me;
Cannot limit me,
Unless I choose to climb into the box
Where feelings = truth

Living within the reality of 
Fear and self-loathing
Traps me in delusion
Negates the truth that 
I am a beautiful, eternal being

A dear friend once said,
"Jesus can't heal what you won't feel."
I find truth in this
I cannot be healed of what I don't see;
Of what I won't acknowledge or feel . . .
Own . . . confess

"Negative" feelings reveal aspects of self
Which need healing; forgiveness.

No need to judge or label

Feelings or thoughts as 

"Good" or "Bad"

Pain, fear, anger, etc.
Are gifts.
Indicators
of lies believed
Love's promises forgotten

I needn't be anxious about feeling anxious
Needn't despair that I feel despair
No need to create a false identity
Based on emotion

I am

Love is my Source
The seed of me
All else is a dream
Attempts by my fearful, temporal self
To contain and control

Smile
Trust
Watch and know
You are . . . 
You are precious and perfect**
You might not know it yet

You will . . . 

Breathe

*Exodus 3:14

**http://theeternaldance.blogspot.com/2011/05/perfection_11.html

http://www.funpeak.com/funnypics/fractals-photo.jpg
home.comcast.net/~fractalsbykeith1/fracimages/frac250.jpg
https://fbcdn-sphotos-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-ash4/406625_298809333498335_203126026400000_814268_1430187519_n.jpg

Shift Happens

Step with me

Into magic

I speak from a far away land 

Which exists

Right here

Right now

Where I've always been

In this place

All is well

In this place

I know 

Peace

Joy
*

deep

deep
*

Love

Tears of delight

Hover

Ready to flow

At the sight of yet

Another miracle

Another evidence

Of Love's touch

*
*
*

I see the miracle of our sons

Such precious and beautiful souls

Their words and thoughts are music

They speak love and kindness

Treasures  
Precious gems, they are

Love's grace has carried and nurtured them

"In spite of " our many failings as parents

Glory, glory
*
Shift Happened 
*
In them
and in us
*
*
*
I live in the miracle
Of a marriage which regularly felt
 like a taste of hell
Two people lost inside themselves
Hopeless and resentful

Transformed into hopes realized
Lost dreams awakened
Knowing we are just beginning
Love's adventure together
*
Three years ago
I knew it was all over
I knew our together life was dead
*
Shift Happened
*
*
*

How many years have I spent

"needing" to be thin?

At the first sign of weight gain

Or loss of muscle

Self loathing has been my companion

I have starved myself
Or punished myself
By overeating

I've taken pride in the ability

To starve my Self

Disease comes in many forms

I was a beautiful, pitiful picture

Of suffering

Loved ones expressed concern

Tried to save me from wasting away

Yes, yes

Notice and suffer with this tragic figure
'tis me

But, now!

Now!

I look in the mirror

I see me!

Aspects that I would have considered ugly before;

Shameful and needing to be hidden

Are simply

Me

It's not my mind that is different

It is my very essence

There's no judgment

No standard of "perfection"

Against which to measure

Do you understand the miracle of this?

Since puberty

My body has represented

A major component - indicator

Of value

(I wonder if there are many women in our culture who cannot relate)

*

Shift Happened

*

I don't feel like I'm even in the same universe anymore
*
I know something now
My soul understands something now
Truth that resided in the intellect
Has become life
Seeds planted
Have become fragrant blossoms
*
I could not hurry the rose
Could not force the process

This is much more than a lesson regarding body image
It cuts deep to the core of who I've been
Dependent on external factors
Looking outside myself
For life and love

Intellectual understanding has been translated
Into the wordless language
Of the soul

From where does this magic come?
I spoke words to Love
I prayed to know that "God is enough"
Love is enough
*
I ask to be purified of all 
That is not love

These are the seeds
They are choices to receive
Whatever is needed
To bring about these realities

Alone, I am powerless
To accomplish any of this
When my spirit agrees with Spirit
Transformation is welcomed
Suffering embraced
As the pathway to my desires

This is what seems true to me
True transformation does not happen 
In my conscious mind
I give words to my desires
And know that Love hears:
Know that miracles are happening
In a place beyond words
*
*
*
I listened to Mad World, by Gary Jules, today
Tears of deep gratitude and bliss
Flow as I listen
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UMHTjkCJews *

I lived in this place
For many years
(and expect I'll regularly revisit, in the years to come)
Here is the darkness
Which reveals the light
Here is the suffering
That pierces and cracks the soul **

Oh, precious friend
Read the words
Listen to the songs

"There is a crack in everything
That's how the light gets in
Forget your perfect offering
Every heart, every heart
To love will come"
(Leonard Cohen - Anthem**)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9vTSU1lIeJU

Bliss is here
Joy so sweet
It hurts

Plant your seeds
Speak your dreams
Remember that life starts in darkness 
The protective darkness of the womb
The hidden seed within rich soil
Pressure and pain
Give birth to life

Smile 
Smile
Hope, trust, know
Your darkness is not wasted
You do not see what happens in the dark
It happens, just the same
Your fractured heart
Your pierced soul
Are birth pangs
Opening the way
For life and love
To shine
Illuminate
And transform

Shift Happens!

* Mad World - Gary Jules

All around me are familiar faces
Worn out places, worn out faces
Bright and early for their daily races
Going nowhere, going nowhere
Their tears are filling up their glasses
No expression, no expression
Hide my head I want to drown my sorrow
No tomorrow, no tomorrow

And I find it kinda funny, I find it kinda sad
The dreams in which I'm dying are the best I've ever had
I find it hard to tell you, I find it hard to take
When people run in circles it's a very very
mad world mad world

Children waiting for the day they feel good
Happy birthday, happy birthday
Made to feel the way that every child should
Sit and listen, sit and listen
Went to school and I was very nervous
No one knew me, no one knew me
Hello teacher tell me what's my lesson
Look right through me, look right through me

And I find it kinda funny, I find it kinda sad
The dreams in which I'm dying are the best I've ever had
I find it hard to tell you, I find it hard to take
When people run in circles it's a very very
Mad world, world
Enlarge your world
Mad world

**Anthem
The birds they sang
At the break of day
Start again
I heard them say
Don't dwell on what
Has passed away
Or what is yet to be.
Ah the wars they will
Be fought again
The holy dove
She will be caught again
Bought and sold
And bought again
The dove is never free.

Ring the bells that still can ring
Forget your perfect offering
There is a crack in everything
That's how the light gets in.

We asked for signs
The signs were sent
The birth betrayed
The marriage spent
Yeah the widowhood
Of every government
Signs for all to see.

I can't run no more
With that lawless crowd
While the killers in high places
Say their prayers out loud.
But they've summoned, they've summoned up
A thundercloud
And they're going to hear from me.

Ring the bells that still can ring

You can add up the parts
But you won't have the sum
You can strike up the march,
There is no drum
Every heart, every heart
To love will come
But like a refugee.

Ring the bells that still can ring
Forget your perfect offering
There is a crack, a crack in everything
That's how the light gets in.

Ring the bells that still can ring
Forget your perfect offering
There is a crack, a crack in everything
That's how the light gets in.
That's how the light gets in.
That's how the light gets in.
---
"Anthem" as written by Leonard Cohen
Lyrics © Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC

http://home.comcast.net/~fractalsbykeith/fracimages/frac200.jpghttp://www.jezz.us/fractal2/A041023-3e.jpg

Love's Song

I've always felt comfortable 

Singing 

Not always comfortable

Speaking

A Cameroonian dancer once spoke these words 

(accompanied by a wide grin)

as we danced in a drum circle:

"You have music in your veins!"

Yes, yes!

(and my son said, "Mom you belong in Africa!")

Yes, and yes!

Life is rhythm

Rhythm is life

A constant flow

That I feel

I've had the thought

"if I ever lost my voice:

if I could no longer sing,

I could not live"

I'm still breathing

and fairly coherent

so I am, indeed,

Still living

I've experienced difficulties

with my voice over the years

I wrote of them in a post last year*

I carry a great deal of fear

around my throat and voice

Yesterday, I was reading

Dylan Morrison's, Prodigal Prophet**

This author has also had voice issues

He found a book which speaks of

possible underlying reasons for physical symptoms.

As I read the following words in Dylan Morrison's book

They had a profound effect on me

Cutting straight to the heart

"Chronic laryngitis was described as a form of self-repression experienced by those with a vital message to tell, who sadly suffered from low self-esteem.  Now I understood:  God had called me to speak His words to the hurting and lonely but I’d shied away from the task due to my false sense of humility.  My health had suffered as a result.  

Clearly I was to speak out all that I sensed and felt."

"I now realized why I had to tell my story, 

this book being the fruit of that simple revelation."

(Prodigal Prophet, p.209)

After reading the above, I searched the internet 

and found this on a website regarding 

psychological causes for physiological maladies:

"Loss of voice is a message from the body

 that you fear communicating vocally."

"The throat is the energy center relating to creativity and it must be kept open for creativity to flow through every area of your life."***

Quite honestly, I don't know exactly what this means for me.

I do know that I have been experiencing deep transformations

in recent years, and especially in recent weeks.

I continue on my journey to be ever more sensitive to Love within me

To draw ever nearer to my Source

I am being led to deeper stillness within

To walk more slowly (even when I run!)

To notice 

To find pleasure in Now

Always

(so easy to envision and accomplish, when I'm not sad or in pain!)

I am learning to smile, always

From within

In the midst of darkness

(mustn't deny what is . . . not judge it)

I feel the call to sing my song

Whatever that may be

(and I fear, still, that my physical voice will not be up to the task)

We each have a song . . . a dance . . . a poem

Which is only ours****

This is our life journey, is it not?

To recognize . . . 

The dance steps that are ours,

Our life song's melody, 

Our poetic pentameter?!

The source for all of these 

Is our Source

Which is Love

I listen for my song.

One only I can recognize

and only my voice can express

I am singing what I know

Will sing more as it is received
Recognized

I might not always understand

Surely, I will not

I pray that Love will be received

I trust my fears will not prevent

Love's song from flowing

I walk . . . I dance . . . I smile

Within

Joyful expectations

Fill me

Oh, throat of mine;

Be free!

Adventure awaits!

http://www.enchgallery.com

*http://theeternaldance.blogspot.com/2011/01/my-voice.html

**https://www.facebook.com/AuthorDylanMorrison

***http://www.ecoutetoncorps.com/ressources_en_ligne/definition_20_maladies_e.php

****http://theeternaldance.blogspot.com/2011/01/be-bird.html