THE JOY OF WAITING Jeff Foster (www.lifewithoutacentre.com)

When you were young, you loved to dream and let go of dreams. Either way, you dwelled in the Now. When you got older, you started to take your dreams and goals way too seriously, and your happiness became bound up with the future, and the destination became more important than the journey.
Dream about what you want, of course. Have a vision for the future. But learn to let your dreams go, too, let them float off into the river of life, and bring your attention back to the present moment. Don't use a dream as an excuse to disconnect from where you are. Where you are is way too precious...
Learn to love the in-between moments. Learn to love this delicious sense of waiting, yearning, anticipating. Learn to dance and breathe in the space between the wanting and the getting, the dreaming and the resolution of dreams. Learn to love not having what you want right now. The tremendous sense of potential there, the fullness if it, the peace. Realise that 'lack' is only space, resisted. And even an 'incomplete' feeling is so complete, a welcome visitor in the heart. Breathe into the belly, the chest, the head. Infuse the body with light, saturate it with awareness, drench it with love. Feel the fullness of the body. Lacking nothing. Wanting nothing.
Even when you don't have what you want, you are invited to want to be exactly where you are; to fall in love with the place where you stand, to contact the fertile ground as you wait, or forget the waiting and simply savour the moments.
And open your arms in gratitude, ready to receive whatever comes.
Sometimes, even the 'not getting' can be so very beautiful.
Behold, your abundant life.

To my sweet wild woman~ Kate Rose

I know why it hasn’t worked out with anyone else.....
you don’t need a man, but a goddamn warrior.
You are the strength of Turkish coffee at sunrise darlin’ and don’t try to pretend that you’re not.
You are one of the wild ones, and no matter how you tried to hide that fact, you can’t be anything other than what you are,......and that’s okay.
You are just as you are supposed to be, magnificently wild in all of your chaotic beauty.
I know you’ve had your heart broken and I know that you don’t understand why it always seems to never work out, but I’ve finally figured it out:
You don’t need a man, you need a goddamn warrior.
It doesn’t matter if this warrior drives a Jeep or a shiny sports car, and it won’t matter if he wears silk or cotton it will not even matter if he works in a high-rise, or on the night shift.
What is going to matter is that when it comes to taking bets on your heart, he is going to be high stakes all the way.
This warrior of yours will crave your strength, and your intensity.
He’s going to look at you and not see something to tame, but something to just fuckin’ admire.
This warrior of yours won’t be someone that you can manipulate or play with as you have in the past, so honey, don’t even try, and trust me, you’re going to love him even more because of it.
Because you aren’t just a woman, you’re a goddamn goddess.
Your fierceness is going to bring him to his knees every single time he looks into your gorgeous eyes, but the difference is, unlike the others, he isn’t going to be scared off.
No, this time, you will have finally met your match because a simple man for you just won’t do.
You need someone to match the fire in your eyes with his own.
Not only that, my little wild thing, but this warrior of yours is going to want to encourage the flames instead of trying to douse them with his own insecurities.
Because for you, a warrior is the only man who will ever live in the wild with you.
He may not have to slay any dragons to earn your love, but he would still walk through fire if it meant seeing that amazing smile that you hold in reserve for only him.
This is the thing, free spirit, this warrior you seek….he’s seeking you too.
For he’s had failed relationships that have left him wondering if maybe he was meant to be alone for the rest of his journey and you’re going to change all of that for him.
You both have been traveling along on your separate journeys and have been doing an okay job at it, but that about to change too.
Because baby, when you and this warrior of yours meet and collide, it’s going to be a love set on fire.
Don’t try to run this time
I know your heart has been broken before, and that you’re not used to things working out, but this time it’s different.
Give yourself time to see that.
This warrior of yours needs to see that it’s possible for someone to see all of his wild, and still be there when he craves his freedom and ventures off into this world for a bit.
You won’t always need to follow him, just as he won’t always follow you.
Let yourself stay wild, even when all you want to do is curl up in that spot along his side and forget the rest of the world exists.
Let yourself still wander naked under the full moon, and drink moonshine with the stars.
Let yourself feel the pull of the wind on your heart, and the sun toward a new journey.
Because this warrior is going to love you because of your wild and he’ll want you to keep it.
You’ll be in this together now,
this amazing, crazy, chaotic, wonderfully heartbreaking life, because it takes a warrior to love a goddess.
And it takes a goddess to show a warrior what real love is.
So pack up your insecurities and your ideas about picket fences, because that was never you anyway. You were born knowing that you were destined for more, and now is the time for you to see what all those dreams look like.
There is no stopping a love like this, so promise me you’ll hold out just a little bit longer.
Have a little bit of hope, and always give love just one more try, because I promise you my sweet wild woman......
the love that you seek is seeking you as well.

The sanctuary of love

There’s a deep meaning in the romantic consciousness. ~
A deep love says: I’m able to see the beauty in you even when you have made a mistake today. I’m able to see what you’re capable of and focus on what I know your dreams to be and to share those dreams with you and to support you, even on the days when you fall flat on your face and they don’t want you for the job and they’re not going to give you the promotion. I want to be the person today who still believes in your strength even though you spent the entire day around people who concentrated on your inadequacies. THAT to me is love.

That is a spiritual, mental, emotional, personal strength that I’ve developed in myself to REFUSE to see you as other people might have chosen to see you today. That’s commitment to me. That’s what the commitment is. Otherwise, what am I doing? I’m waiting to see whether you strike me as good enough today. And what? I’m going to take my cues from how other people have perceived you today? Heck no.

To me, that’s the sanctuary of love. That’s the sanctuary of intimacy. That in THIS place, you’re seen in your glory. In this place, you’re seen in your potential at all times even when you haven’t actualized it on any given day.

Someone...

Someone to wake up to. To share the weather with, then the coffee.

Someone to dream with—to plan and scheme and then celebrate with.
Someone to win with, and someone to lose with.
Someone to care for and protect—and to let go of and watch fly.
Someone to stare at in wonder, and to think, “That heart loves mine.”
Someone to talk long with under stars on frosty nights. To giggle through scarves and gloves and hats with, and to kiss under mistletoe.
Someone to hold. Someone to be held by. To be treasured by a treasure.
Someone to notice birds with. To catch flashes of blue and green and purple and brown—and to feel the excitement of soaring little wonders. To see life as it is, not as it seems.
Someone to sit with and watch children, perhaps our own, and to laugh in their innocence and swell at our luck.
Someone to forget with.
Someone to cook with. To sweep mud off the floor. Someone to make magic out of mundane with and smile because it’s with each other.
Someone to cry with. To share rivers of grief indistinguishable from the other. To hold and to hug, and to help and to heal.
Someone to hold hands with. To glance at, fingers intertwined beneath coffee tables, and hearts blurring between eyes.
Someone to lay with with, nothing in between. To be everything holy and exist in a dream. To be naked to our souls and give everything unseen.
Someone to trust. To tell darkest secrets to and reveal hungry fears. Someone to know all of themselves and to want to see more. Someone whose eyes reflect what’s in ours.
Someone to walk with. To travel with. To find pockets of magic in grey city dullness. To drive miles and miles just for that “mile” that’s ours.
Someone to smile with. A deep knowing grin that says, “I see you” and “I’m staying.”
Someone to miss, even for a minute—until they return, and it feels like home again.
Someone to stare at for moments unending.
Someone to love.

"I love you without knowing how, or when, or from where. I love you simply, without problems or pride: I love you in this way because I do not know any other way of loving but this, in which there is no I or you, so intimate that your hand upon my chest is my hand, so intimate that when I fall asleep your eyes close." ~ Pablo Neruda

The Deep Joy of Being of Service

At first, spirituality is all about the individual waking up to the deeper layers of their consciousness, and integrating these truths--both the transcendental truths as well as the hidden, suppressed personal beliefs--until one comes into unison within ones self. But then, spirituality becomes all about being of service to the other-selves which are all portions of the over-arching being that you/I/we are.
When most of the personal doubts and separations have been resolved, there is no greater honor for the individual than to be so fully of service that he sees nothing but the One Infinite Creator interacting with itself in infinite ways through endless individuations. This state cannot be explained nor understood until experienced first-hand, but there is no greater satisfaction than to be of service to the All.
In fact, after one has gone through most of one's own spiritual growth, the only way to evolve even further is to direct that spiritual awareness unto the rest of ones Self (aka other-selves) and commit to that so fully that one becomes even more self-transcendent in their consciousness.
There is no way to describe this state of being as it is truly transpersonal. The balance of love, wisdom, confidence, tact and humility that one gets to learn in these rapturous as well as heart-breaking scenarios that the soul then attracts to its personality-extensions is so subtle no teaching except the living of it can touch upon this reality.
Make no mistake, this is the state I prepare you all for in my Trinfinity Academy and through my teachings. I might talk about attracting your dream life, and you will be able to manifest that too using these tools, but it will also naturally evolve you into a shepherding consciousness to which I cannot speak in words except barely. But when that stage has fully arrived for you, we will be able to look each other in the eyes when we meet and share instant tears of gratitude and ungraspable recognition of each other's beingness, fearless heart and journey. We will see the oneness of our vision and purpose.
There is no greater joy, no deeper honor, than to be of service to others in the most intangible of ways.
May you know your utter union with the Creator through all experience and catalyst that you attract to yourself as a human today. We will meet as brothers and sister of light when the time comes for you to have passed successfully through the challenge of loneliness and misunderstanding.
The ultimate reward lies on the other side of your unconditional willingness to give ever more of yourself to those who ask for your soul to be present here on earth.

THE PARADOX OF EFFORTLESS CHANGE (Jeff Foster)

We can only truly change when we fully accept ourselves as we are right now; flaws, imperfections, doubts and all.
A true painter uses the canvas they are given; they will not wait for the perfect canvas to begin.
The art must happen now.
You want the perfect partner? The perfect mother or father? The perfect boss? The perfect body? The perfect feelings? The perfect enlightenment? The perfect life?
How about deeply accepting what is here, right now? How about deeply accepting others, as they actually are? How about bowing to the energies that are alive, dignifying the place where you stand?
A strange place to start, admittedly. Sounds a little, er, back-to-front. Like giving up. Like settling for less than you deserve. Like weakness. A self-indulgent pity party. Getting lost in the mud.
But wait.
Is acceptance of 'what is' the same as giving up on the possibility of change? Actually, no.
Does acceptance mean tolerating or "putting up with" difficult feelings? Does it mean blindly following violent impulses? Not at all.
Does acceptance mean becoming detached and passive, turning a blind eye to the violence in the world, letting others walk all over us and our loved ones? No.
Does acceptance mean playing a false role, the role of the "very spiritually evolved, deeply accepting, utterly peaceful person"? No. Acceptance is not a role, and it's not personal.
Deep acceptance means aligning with the way things actually are. It means staring life in the face, right now. It means turning towards what is here, what has been given, the actual canvas. It means letting go of false hopes and dreams and awakening to what is really true. It means ending the war, seeing through the illusion of a 'self' separate from this mysterious movement of life. It means saying yes to the present scene of the movie, even if it isn't the scene you'd planned or hoped for.
It is the supreme paradox, that out of a deep and uncompromising acceptance of this seemingly 'imperfect' moment, truly creative and intelligent and surprisingly effortless change can happen. Because you're no longer at war, and you're open to possibility, and you're fully alive.
You've nourished and fertilised the ground with loving attention and slowness, and now something new and beautiful can emerge.
The mind was never in charge of change, anyway.
And the ground was always trustable.

LEAN JUST BEYOND YOUR EDGE (the eternal free fall of home... in love with this phrase)

Once you are honest with yourself about your real edge, it is best to lean just beyond it. Very few  have the guts for this practice. Most either settle for the easy path or self-aggrandize themselves by taking the extreme hard path. Your insecurity may cause you to doubt yourself, and so you take the easy way, not even approaching your real edge or your real gift. Alternatively, your insecurity may lead you to push, push, push, seeking to become victorious over your own sense of lack.

Both approaches avoid your actual condition in the moment, which is often fear. If you are stressfully avoiding your fear, you cannot relax into the fearless.

Your fear is the sharpest definition of your self. You should know it. You should feel it virtually constantly. Fear needs to become your friend, so that you are no longer uncomfortable with it. Rather, primary fear shows you that you are at your edge. Staying with the fear, staying at your edge, allows real transformation to occur. Neither lazy nor aggressive, playing your edge allows you to perceive the moment with the least amount of distortion. You are willing to be with what is, rather than trying to escape it by pulling back from it, or trying to escape it by pushing beyond it into some future goal.

Fear of fear may lead you to hang back, living a lesser life than you are capable. Fear of fear may lead you to push ahead, living a false life, off-center, tense and missing the moment. But the capacity to feel this moment, including your fear, without trying to escape it, creates a state of alive and humble spontaneity. You are ready for the unknown as it unfolds, since you are not pulled back or pushed forward from the horizon of the moment. You are hanging right over the edge.

By leaning just beyond your fear, you challenge your limits compassionately, without trying to escape the feeling of fear itself. You step beyond the solid ground of security with an open heart. You stand in the space of unknowingness, raw and awake. Here, the gravity of deep being will attend you to the only place where fear is obsolete: the eternal free fall of home. Where you always are.
Own your fear, and lean just beyond it. In every aspect of your life. Starting now.

A lovely read! May everyone feel this love and connection and so it is!

Dear Soulmate, I have always loved you.

Many may find this strange.
But those who have experienced it will understand completely.
You see, I’ve always loved you.
Always.
Way before I knew you, before you even thought of me and before I even thought of you, I already knew you.
And when I saw you for the very first time, I recognized you instantly.
I puzzled for a while, questioning where I’d saw your face and slowly it came to me.
You were with me all along.
Every small footstep, each long and winding road, every mountain I struggled to climb, was synchronized with each path you were taking.
Though at the time my mind was not alert and I did not pay attention, as I was concentrating on surviving each day—I can see now that nothing was ever in vain.
I will never forget the first words you spoke to me and how your voice resonated deeply inside my chest.
I thought my heart would break through to get to you, but we’d only just met—have patience, sweet organ, I know you’ve been waiting a life time, but, please, beat slowly and keep me calm.
I knew in an instant that I loved you.
I didn’t know whether you drank tea with no sugar, whether you liked honey on your toast or whether you talked sometimes in your sleep.
Neither did I know if this connection would last a moment nor a lifetime, but I did not care, I submerged in how it felt to be in your company, familiar, yet with so much to learn and unravel.
My imagination is wild, but I never dared to believe in someone such as you.
Our electricity connected and you turned me on.
I saw myself for the first time when I looked into your eyes. And you saw us.
You had strengths where I had weaknesses and your weaknesses built up my assets.
You knew me better than I knew myself. You never faltered, you had faith allowed me beyond your surface.
You cracked your heart wide open and you allowed me to freely step in.
We are one and the same, although, so entirely different.
When our fingers met we made our first love right there, without a care for the world, that continued around us.
You touched me in places I never knew existed, I surrendered to your love and I allowed myself to fall.
I gave you everything and you gave me myself in return.
You held out a mirror and I was no longer afraid to look, I could not see me without knowing you first.
Our fragmented pieces smoothly slid firm into place.
You fearlessly drove and you never once doubted our love.
You ran through each bone in my body and then printed your name on my heart.
My veins pulsed wildly when you tenderly showed me your love.
You gave me it all.
And I loved you more.
I had no choice.
There is no reason nor no explanation for love.
You were always the one and I have always loved you.
I waited and you waited and we finally arrived together.

original article here

Gift by Rabindranath Tagore (A favourite poem)

O my love, what gift of mine
Shall I give you this dawn?
A morning song?
But morning does not last long—
The heat of the sun
Wilts like a flower
And songs that tire
Are done.

O friend, when you come to my gate.
At dusk
What is it you ask?
What shall I bring you?
A light?

A lamp from a secret corner of my silent house?
But will you want to take it with you
Down the crowded street?
Alas,
The wind will blow it out.

Whatever gifts are in my power to give you,
Be they flowers,
Be they gems for your neck
How can they please you
If in time they must surely wither,
Crack,
Lose lustre?
All that my hands can place in yours
Will slip through your fingers
And fall forgotten to the dust
To turn into dust.

Rather,
When you have leisure,
Wander idly through my garden in spring
And let an unknown, hidden flower’s scent startle you
Into sudden wondering—
Let that displaced moment
Be my gift.
Or if, as you peer your way down a shady avenue,
Suddenly, spilled
From the thick gathered tresses of evening
A single shivering fleck of sunset-light stops you,
Turns your daydreams to gold,
Let that light be an innocent
Gift.

Truest treasure is fleeting;
It sparkles for a moment, then goes.
It does not tell its name; its tune
Stops us in our tracks, its dance disappears
At the toss of an anklet
I know no way to it—
No hand, nor word can reach it.
Friend, whatever you take of it,
On your own,
Without asking, without knowing, let that
Be yours.
Anything I can give you is trifling—
Be it a flower, or a song.

I want you!

You need only yourself. Learn to love yourself as much as you can. Be complete. Let the yearning you feel for love be fed by your own S-ELF. And then...


Try and weed out the "I needs" in your life and replace them with "I wants".

Don't say I cannot live without you. 

Say I can live without you, I can be anywhere in the world, but I choose to be here, with you. 

What a beautiful way to tell someone you love them! Want people, choose them, let it be light, let it be joy, let it be a laugh, a smile, a warm touch, a making love that is fun.

Do you see the difference? It's subtle, yet huge. It is a whole paradigm shift. It is the difference between feeling null or feeling full.

Reflect.

Moments and milestones…

I am not original in what I feel
Many have said it before
But it is the truth
So, I say it once more…

Happiness is in moments, fleeting.
You have to be aware and steal it
Or life will pull a fast one
And you will be left with nothing
But regret and repenting.

So, dear friend
Look for the moments in life,
Waiting, while you rush after milestones
Those are visible from afar…
The minor ones are there
Wanting you to come and share
The beauty that is in them
Stop for a while… walk off the road
Don’t worry it will always be there
Bury your feet in the grass
Let the breeze mess your hair
Smile at the sunshine making
Golden patterns here and there