A person's definition of "success" depends on their level of consciousness. As people become more conscious, their perspective and goals will radically change to become more expansive and inclusive.

This can be a scary and uncomfortable transition in a world that pressures people to perform in the old paradigm to survive, especially when they have children to provide for. But as you change your lifestyle and mentality to move from:

"Monkey-mind Success" = increase of material possessions, social status, power to control others, ego-worship, externally-oriented values.

...to a more conscious concept to success...

"Soul Success" = Being healthy, gaining awareness, healing, living sustainably with nature, empowering others, seeing beauty in everything, boundary dissolusion, internally-oriented values

...life will meet you to provide the support you need when you overcome your fear and let go of the old paradigm.

As unhealthy friends fall away, healthier ones will come in to your life with the key to help you unlock the next level of your development. New books will come in to your life at the right moment for you to read. A new job or home will come along to provide the support you need to keep going in your self-development.

Life rewards those who have the courage to become more conscious by giving them what is needed (not necessarily what they want) to become better people and help others to uplift the world on a fundamental level. And THAT is the ultimate "success".~

My beautiful stranger... I love you!

I hide you in every letter.
In every word, In every poem.
In every smile, in every breath...
Hoping someday, you will find your reflection there.

And...suddenly You feel it.

You become so present, so activated, and so alive... that you can hear everyone breathe around you.

You feel like the whole Universe is inside you, right there where your Heart is supposed to be.

You know you are safe, you are loved and protected!
You can do and be anything you wish!
You can jump from one reality to another, if that is what You choose.

You suddenly know there is more to You than could ever be humanly comprehended.
You begin to believe in what is "You." You see everything so clear.
It is all about You!
You are the center of the Universe, you are the vortex, you are the mystery... you are IT!
You are a cosmic being, pure and eternal... dancing human for a while.
You can dress your humanness - vibration, thoughts and words - any way you wish.
You have the power. You are the one in charge.

You feel timeless, unlimited and FREE.
You are a Spirit.
Your very presence here is a gift!

You feel this powerful release.
You begin to trust that everything is just the way it should be, and it is unfolding just for you.
You realize that you know nothing and feel everything.
You see clearly - You are responsible only for the vibrational value of You.

You feel connected to all the others.
You see the Universe in every one of us.
You feel the souls smiling at you from everywhere... everyone is on their own paths.
You see humanity awaken.
You see hearts open and minds - free.
You hear the sweet promise of another era, you feel - it is gently hugging the Earth.

You hear the new music playing, and kids laughing, you see flowers blooming and butterflies dancing, you see us all living in Harmony and Love.
... and suddenly you feel so fortunate, so privileged, so grateful to be alive. 

First become alone. First start enjoying yourself. First love yourself. First become so authentically happy that if nobody comes it doesn't matter; you are full, overflowing. If nobody knocks at your door it is perfectly okay -- you are not missing. You are not waiting for somebody to come and knock at the door. You are at home. If somebody comes, good, beautiful. If nobody comes, that too is beautiful and good.
THEN move into relationship. Now you move like a master, not like a beggar. Now you move like an emperor, not like a beggar. And the person who has lived in his aloneness will always be attracted to another person who is also living his aloneness beautifully, because the same attracts the same. When two masters meet -- masters of their being, of their aloneness -- happiness is not just added, it is multiplied. It becomes a tremendous phenomenon of celebration. And they don't exploit, they share. They don't use each other. Rather, on the contrary, they both become one and enjoy the existence that surrounds them.

Signs that you are becoming more aligned with the Divine:

• Ambition, vital desires (based on wounds/conditioning), vanity, the need for attention - to be “liked” or “desired”, the notion and pressure to “become” something/someone, any comparison/competition with others, or even “dislike” of others all fall slowly away, as do any triggers and reactive behaviors.

• A deep and embodied sense of peace and trust, of faith and “being taken care of” (as in trusting the flow of life), knowing that any challenge that will come up serves as a deeper lesson for the purpose of a true awakening.

• It is the end of fear and blame, the death of ego-identification, and re-birth of the real “I AM” – embodied spirit (soul individualization) – expressing itself uniquely through “you”, connected to all that is.

• Will-full doing dissipates, to be replaced by an embodied responding to what is – and what life brings – that is uniquely tuned to your soul lessons and talents; it guides you from an embodied inner place without expectations and attachment to outcome.

• Goal setting and ambition are replaced by a quiet aspiration with intentions but without expectations or need to control.

• Making choices and decisions don’t stem from a thought process anymore or any head-centric analysis of “should” or “shouldn’t”, but emerge from a gut-level of nonverbal intuitive knowing, deeply tuned in with your soul and the Divine.

• Life becomes like a dance in the river of life as we don’t fight the current anymore, being in the “zone”, locked into the rhythm of life (Tao), aligned with Divine Will.

Contrary to popular beliefs, this awakened state is not a constant feeling of “bliss” or ecstasy (even though there can be peak experiences like that), nor is it a “feeling” of love or happiness. It really transcends anything we usually experience in ordinary consciousness states that are related to emotions and feelings. Ultimately, it transcends the duality of pain and pleasure, happiness and suffering. There is a deeper, silent contentment, a grounded calmness and sense of peace, not depending on any external circumstances… a sense of slowing down and simplifying.

It’s a place of true freedom. Thoughts may still come and try to attach themselves, but it becomes easier to detach from them – to release from believing in them or identifying with them. This sense of deteachmment is, however, not an intellectual form of dissociating, but an embodied recognition of one’s true nature in contrast to the illusion of thought (and who we “think” we are).

One recognizes that the mind is just a tool, a servant, but not be looked upon as the master/guide. It’s not about demonizing the intellect either, for it needs to go through its own transmutation to become an instrument for the Divine, accessing higher knowledge (Gnosis) beyond the five senses. We can also still “use” it in practical ways to live out our daily routines, since we didn’t just “check out” of our existence here on Earth; on the contrary, we are more involved with reality – more embodied and fully-embracing of life – and whatever this dance may bring in full conscious participation with the rhythms of life, we will participate in…without attachment and will-full doing. 

My beautiful stranger ... I LOVE YOU!

I pulled a thorn from the fence of 

His garden, 

and it has not stopped working 

its way into my heart.

One morning a little of His wine 

turned my heart into a lion hunter.

It’s right that this separation He 

helped me feel 

lurks like a monster within my heart. 

Yet heaven’s wild and unbroken colt 

was trained by the hand of His love. 

Though reason is learned and 

has its honors, 

it pawned its cap and robes for a 

cup of love.

Many hearts have sought refuge 

from this love, 

but it drags and pulls them to its own refuge.

~ Rumi 

(THE PULL OF LOVE )

From The Pocket Rumi, 

Translated by Kabir Helminski. 

(Shambhala, 2001)

One thing that is a very common misconception, is that when you have been freed of the character there is a belief that the character no longer goes into contraction. That there is no longer distress that is happening from that point of reference. But this is not the case. It is just that you are freed from the illusion that you have anything to do with that. Thus there is a living in unbroken joy. Even at the times when the appearance of the character appears to be in misery - it's just that you are no longer in misery because the erosion of opening and closing has eroded enough that eventually there is just nothing left.

You know when rock is eroded into sand, every granual of sand it looks the same. It loses it's uniquness.

Rocks are all unique. But the sand is not unique at all. You do not notice a grain of sand you notice the beach. The thing about a beach is that everybody is drawn to the beach. When you step your foot in the sand it yields to your footprint. It yields to your weight. To lie on it feels so beautiful because all such individual expression has been worn into nothing.

What can injure nothing? What do every-changing states - what relationship does that have with nothing? Something known as you struggles to be nothing and it is a holy struggle - but eventually it wears itself out. And you, like the sand, yield to everything. And everything comes to lay upon you. The thing about the erosion process - is that it is inevitable. If there is small rock and it is on the beach on the shoreline - the erosion process is inevitable. In the play of time the rock is eroded - in the perfect time.

Devotion is devotion to everything. It is not devotion to waking up. It is devotion to the Beloved. And the Beloved is the expression of every single thing. Everything. The thing about it is the individual is not capable. But it is the wisdom that wears the experience of something into nothing. And then what is discovered is that the nature of the Self is in complete surrender and yielding, to Itself. Love is in complete yielding and surrender to Itself. True Power is in complete surrender and yielding, to Itself.

MASTER PLAN

Sometimes you don’t need 
to have a Master Plan.
You can trust in your Not Knowing instead.

Sometimes you just need
to take the next step.
A small step.
Into safety.
Or into the wilderness.

Trust. Breathe.
The great Master Plan unfolds
with each tiny step you take.

LOVE!

Who can deny
the miracle of finding each other
in this maze of 7.6 billion humans?

Who can understand 
just how amazing
this is?

Kismet. Destiny.
A field of possibilities.

I see the Beloved
in your eyes,

I watch the Beloved
in your embrace,

I feel the Beloved
in your touch,

You and I
and the Beloved,
One.

VINCENT by Ashe Vernon

" When they talk about the tortured genius,
somebody always brings up Van Gogh—
how he swallowed yellow paint because
he wanted to put the sunshine inside himself.
How his psychosis was probably
the result of lead poisoning.
They call him a miracle, but what I see is a man
who was so sad, he found a beautiful way
to kill himself.

They say, “it’s awful isn’t it?” They say,
“It’s always the talented ones who go before their time.”
And me, a nine year old kid
who’s always been told they were so
talented
wonders when I am going to die.

We study them in school, the tortured artists.
Look at all the poets who killed themselves
what would their work have been without their depression?
It’s it beautiful, isn’t it sad?
As if depression is a parlor trick—
pull it out at parties, impress all your friends.
As if depression isn’t seeing how long
you can go between showers
before somebody notices or
pizza rolls for dinner three nights in a row
and then nothing the night after,
because going to the store is an impossibility
that you have not yet gathered the courage to conquer.

It is the least beautiful thing I’ve ever seen
and we call it the mark of an artist
to stand in the center of an ocean
and see nothing but desert.
To be seated at a feast, but still
swallowing sand.

Depression is the yellow paint, the yellow paint,
The yellow paint, the yellow paint—

Art is a coping mechanism.
Van Gogh is good because when he had nothing,
he had paint. When he was empty, he had paint.
When the world was awful, he had paint.
When he hated himself, he didn’t hate the paint.
He whitewashed over his own masterpieces,
because it was never about being famous,
it was about doing the one thing
that made sense when everything else didn’t.

And they say, “without his illness, we
never would have gotten all—this.”
because they value his art more than his sanity
because god forbid you lead a happy life
and leave nothing to remember you by."

Unbounded

It is such an impossible task to describe the recognition of the Self, the Beloved, in everything. The recognition of that to which the devotion is so wildly alive and the realization that it is infusing and animating absolutely everything. Meaning that the appearance of the individual is no longer an experience of the individual, but the experience is relationship with the Beloved. Not a concept - a realization of what is. And then the flavor of all relationship is the flavor of pure devotion. And it just builds upon itself.

The appearance of everything that seemed separate - this is dispelled. And the beauty of the Union is what is felt. And it is all immersed in this infinite ocean of Pure Love. Just to feel the boundless nature of the heart. The nature is so simple, it is so joyous, it’s so beautiful.

And then there is this reverence - for absolutely everything. You can no longer find yourself and yet you are in complete devotion and surrender to that which cannot be spoken. Sense of doership falls away - and yet at the same time - you are in complete submission to the Wisdom out of which the whole dream arises from. And the heart is so unencumbered and alive. And it is all just Love meeting Itself. Love receiving Itself, Love yielding to Itself, Guiding Itself. Taking care of Itself.

The habit of living out of a point of reference just melts away as the relaxation into the omnipresent nature of the heart is fallen into more and more. It is the nature of your purity. Pure humility - it is the nature of your purity. Unending reverence is the by-product and the flavor is the love that is eternally everywhere.

Her dark hair Fell over her face Hiding her Apart from Emotional eyes She reached out Slowly Touching him Placing the palm of her hand Upon his heart Beneath was the beat Of him And Beneath her She stood upon the realisation This was love...

Sexuality is at the core of everyone’s essence. The only thing that sets us apart is that some people suppress it and some people express it. It is at the core of everyone’s essence because oneness is at the core of everyone’s essence. Inherently, we all possess the same desire to find unity, not only in and of ourselves, but also in and of each other. It is evidence of our inherent goodness. It is evidence of the purity of our desire for harmony and for love.

We cannot condemn sexuality without condemning ourselves at our deepest, most intangible levels. We cannot condemn sex without waging war with ourselves and with each other. We cannot condemn sex and ever hope for sex to become a healthy, healing part of our society. If we condemn sex, we are condemning our most sacred spiritual act to the dark and often sadistic world that exists behind the curtain of the “18 and older” signs we post on the wall. All we will know is the temporary adrenaline high of mutual masturbation. Our souls will forget how to touch one another through the unification of our bodies.

Every person on earth deserves to know the rapture of sex that is fuelled by love. Every person on earth deserves for love to open him or her to a world where no boundaries exist; to the act of sex in its most exalted form. It is possible to find enlightenment through sex, because the very nature of sex dissolves the ego. The ego cannot exist in its light. You cannot tell the difference between yourself and your lover. Death means nothing to the man or woman who lives in a state of love and love’s various natural expressions.

Love is the universal language. All beings in existence understand it. And sex, is the body’s response to that understanding. We are compelled to combine ourselves with one another. We are compelled to touch eternity through one another through sex. And what a sweet taste it is, when in every inch of your lover’s body and in every glance that passes between you, genesis is spun. How sweet it is to allow yourself to open up to the degree that you can feel the earth rotate beneath you, when the whole of existence has stopped and the present moment is the only moment. Their skin in a pervasive slide over yours, learning the notes to a melody of flesh, hunting the nectar that is lying beneath the surface of your ability to control; your bodies arcing into one another, desiring to conceive of the feeling of union, writhing to the pulse of two unified heartbeats. You are not even two people anymore. You are one.

My beautiful stranger!

"I’m waiting for you, trusting that you will find me without losing your way. 
I don’t know your name. 
I don’t know your face. 
All I know is that someday our paths will cross; 
you will stumble into my life or I into yours, 
and life will seem just a little bit brighter.
I wish I knew who to look for.
What if I let you pass without saying a word?
No, I don’t think I will.
Somehow I will know."

And I know now... how happy I am that
you exist! not in my thoughts 
but for real... living in this world...

My beautiful  stranger!

My life is one of Ease and Grace
no one is bestowing that upon me
it is so because
I choose it to be.

The angst of the past
has always been because
I was analyzing, resisting,
or attempting to change it.

For me,
the fight is over
with nothing to fight against
nothing to fight for.

I AM the one creating this life
no longer resisting things
simply flowing with life
as it presents itself.

Any inclination to interfere
is based on the past, not the present,
I know everything and every person
is evolving in this moment.

I can look at others
and bless them,
truly bless them on their journey
without the need to interfere.

Thus,
Life flows with ease and grace
I attract the sweetness of life
because
this is the life I choose to live.
*
~Sharon Lyn Shepard~
"message from my inner wisdom"
www.sharonlynshepard.com 

My Beautiful Stranger...

You are revealed.

Breathe in me the way to love You,
That I may learn to faultlessly love You.
Pour me the wisdom-wine
By which I become intoxicated with You.
Whisper in my ears of silence
The way to be with You always.
Speak to my wandering senses
And lead them back to Your sanctuary within.
Call the marauding mind and counsel it
How to retrace its steps to Your Home.
With Your silent eyes, just look at me,
And I will know where to find You.

You may hide behind the ocean,
You may hide behind delusion,
You may hide behind life,
You may hide behind dualities,
You may hide behind theological conundrums,
You may hide behind unanswered prayers,
But You cannot hide behind my love,
For in the mirroring light of my love
You are revealed.

~Paramahansa Yogananda

A NEW DAWN: THE END OF CO-DEPENDENCY

You cannot save anyone.

You can be present with them, offer your groundedness, your sanity, your peace. You can even share your path with them, offer your perspective. But you cannot take away their pain. You cannot walk their path for them. You cannot give answers that are right for them, or even answers they can digest right now. They will have to find their own answers, ask their own questions or lose their own questions, make friends with their own uncertainty. They will need to make their own mistakes, feel their own sorrows, learn their own lessons. If they truly want to be at peace, they will have to trust the path of healing that reveals itself step by step.

But you cannot heal them. You cannot diffuse their fear, their anger, their feelings of powerlessness. You cannot save them, or make things right for them. If you push too hard, they may lose their own unique way. Your way may not be their way.

You did not create their pain. You may have done or not done some things, said or not said some things, triggering pain that was already inside them. But you did not create it, and you are not guilty, even if they say you are. You can take responsibility for your words and deeds, yes, you can grieve over a past, but you cannot erase or change what happened, and you cannot control the future. You can only meet them in the here and now, your only place of power. You are not responsible for their happiness, and they are not responsible for yours.

Your happiness cannot come from outside of you. If it does, it is a dependent happiness, a fragile happiness that will turn to sorrow so quickly. And then you will get caught up in a web of blame and guilt, regret and persecution. Your happiness is directly related to your presence, your connection with your breath, your body, the earth. Your happiness is not small, and cannot be removed by fear, or anger, or the most intense shame. Your happiness is not a state, or a passing experience, or even a feeling that others can give to you. Your happiness is vast, ever-present, the boundless space of the heart, in which joy and sorrow, bliss and boredom, certainty and doubt, loneliness and connection, even fear and longing, can move like the weather, like the rain and the sunshine, all held in the hugeness of the sky.

You cannot save anyone, and you cannot be saved if you are looking to be saved. There is no self to save, no self to lose, no self to defend, no self to make perfect or perfectly happy. Let go of every impossible ideal. You are beautiful in your imperfection, outrageously perfect in your doubts, loveable even in your feelings of unloveability. All these parts have been given, all are parts of the whole, and you were never less than whole.

You are breathing. You know you are alive. You have a right to exist, feel what you feel, think what you think. You have a right to your joy and a right to your sorrows. You have a right to doubt too. You have a right to walk your path. You have a right to be right and a right to be wrong, a right to this giant happiness that you knew when you were young. You are breathing, and you are inseparable from the life force that animates all things, knows itself as all beings, discovers itself in every moment of this impossibly wondrous existence.

Your self-worth is not tied to what others think of you. It is tied to the moon, to the infinite expanse of the cosmos, to comets blazing towards unknown destinations, to the forgetting of time and the love of solitude and this unspeakable gratitude for each new dawn, unexpected, given.

- Jeff Foster

She is love.

She always wanted to love

To be love

And to be loved.

From the depths of her Being.

Not with force.

Not with manipulation.

Not with control.

Not having to compete for it.

Nor having to beg for it.

Not having to bargain for it.

Nor having to lower herself

Nor to make more of herself

But to just be loved

For who and what she is.

So often people would tell her how beautiful she is

But then she did not want to be loved

For her outer beauty but for her INNER beauty,

For her SOUL.

She so prayed for the partner who would finally love her

Not just for sex

Not just for show

Not for any other reason

But that he wished to be with her-

Not to overshadow her

Not to use her for his own agendas

Not for anything else

But because with her

He found a nesting place

A true homecoming

For his heart and soul.

In this lifetime she was wiser

She had hopefully overcome so much

Of what tripped her up in other lifetimes

When she so often, without her consent,

Became a pawn in the games men played,

Where they did not honor the soul in her….

In so many lifetimes when she stood up for what she knew was truth

She paid the highest price for doing so

Yet, she could not have done any other.

In this lifetime that call for the highest truth

Is greater than the sum total of all of her.

She cannot live a lie

Nor can she lie to herself.

She is love.

She knows that she cannot hurt nor harm another

Without harming and hurting herself.

She is wise.

That wisdom has come over many lifetimes,

Even to those where she withdrew

And where she vowed not to return

Until such time as humankind would finally be ready

To have the balance restored

Between the Masculine and Feminine.

Yet she knows that first this has to be deep within herself,

For if she not balanced

She cannot project this balance and radiate it forth.

She is love

And loving does the inner work on herself,

Cleansing and clearing,

Releasing what no longer serves her highest soul growth and good.

She is love.

For she cannot be other than love.

And lovingly,

Wholeheartedly

She serves.

Even if this means walking her path alone.

For in truth she is never lonely

But surrounded by angels, archangels, Ascended Masters

And whole cosmic hierarchy.

She is love.

She is nothing else but love.

And forever Love

Is true to itself.

And if her Beloved

Finally finds the way home to her

He will find the waters of love

Washing over and within him.

For the Power of Love

Is greater than any other force

Yet needs to be steeped in Wisdom

For if one is wise

One will be given the keys and codes

To all of life

Loving and living.

She is love.

~Judith Kusel

Have you forgotten how beautiful you are? How powerful, how magnificent, how strong.

I had.

This morning, despite the vigorous strides I took as I climbed the hill to the lookout point at the lighthouse, I was feeling deflated. I was feeling less than beautiful, less than powerful, less than magnificent, less than strong.

And then I saw it. The crystal clear turquoise expanse of the ocean.

I sighed in awe. I felt aroused by its wildness. I laughed as its foam encased a graceful surfer. I was starstruck by its power.

I engaged with it for a very long while.

I love the water. I love how the water makes me feel.

And then I smiled. I remembered.

I am water. I am made up of exactly what I am looking at in amazement right now.

If I see awe, wildness, beauty and power in the ocean, am I not that too?

As I walked back down the hill I was lighter, less burdened and more serene.

It’s not the first time I’ve discovered my true reflection in nature. And it’s not the last time I’ll lose it in the noise of the world.

But it was a timely reminder of where to go when I’m a little lost. Where I’ve always gone when I’m feeling stranded, judgemental or less than in any way.

My beauty was not returned to me in a jar or in a treatment or even in a compliment by another.

My beauty was returned to me in a mirror that I didn’t need to see my face in.

My beauty was all around me.

If you want to find your softness, bite into the juicy flesh of a new season fig.

If you want to find your lushness, lie in the thick green grass of a summer field.

If you want to find your magic, fall asleep under the sparkling stars in the sky.

If you want to find your voice, listen to the roar of the ocean.

If you want to find your mystique, bathe in the luminosity of a full moon.

If you want to find your creative source, make love with complete surrender.

If you want to find your openness, watch the delicate petals of a rose unfold.

If you want to reignite your fire, watch the morning sunrise.

If you want to be blown away by your magnificence, watch the evening sunset.

If you want to connect with your heart, open it to all that is around you and breathe.

This morning I breathed in the water, the air, the fire and the earth around me. In that breath I merged with all that is me already.

If I am bewitched by all of this, I am bewitched by me too.

Have you forgotten how beautiful you are?

~ Sharon Sztar

https://sharonsztar.com/have-you-forgotten-how-beautiful-y…/

The super moon...

So I read a lot about the moon and the eclipse today, being charged with new energy, and how what we focus on will manifest.

All my wishes are summed up in three words : my beautiful stranger !

I wished for a happy future for you, full of laughter and life.
I wished for your bright smiles and peaceful moments...

I wished for myself too... that somehow you'd share some of your pictures
so I could save them and look at your lovely face. (giggle)

In short, I wished for and focused on LOVE!

Talking to my beautiful stranger

I can feel this love dancing around me.
And I wonder if you can see it?
Sometimes it feels like you know how I feel about you.
This makes me laugh and feel a little shy.

I just hope that if you do know...
That I love you so...
it makes you smile
it makes you laugh
it makes feel good about yourself
it makes you shine like the sun.

it should just be your strength
it should be your refuge
it should be your peace.

I love you!

There's a path from me to you
I'm constantly looking for,
so I try to keep clear and still
as water does with the moon.

Longing is the core of mystery.
Longing itself brings the cure.
The only rule is: Suffer the pain.

Each moment you call me to you
and ask how I am, even though you know.
The love I answer you with
stirs like wind through cypress.

Your presence is a river
that refreshes everyone,
a rose-garden fragrance.

Don't worry about making doorways
between individual lovers when
this flow is so all around.

Some souls flow like clear water.
They pour into our veins and feel like wine.
I give in to that. I fall flat.
We can sail this boat lying down!

Humble living does not diminish. It fills.
Going back to a simple self gives wisdom.
When a man makes up a story for his child,
he becomes a father and a child
together, listening.

You don't win here with loud publicity.
Union comes of not being.
These birds do not learn to fly,
until they lose all their feathers.

~ Rumi
from Say I Am You,
the John Moyne, Coleman Barks translation.

Happy New Year to my beautiful stranger!

"And some souls will awaken you to things
you didn't even know were sleeping deep within...
When he first saw her, he knew she was the one.
When she first kissed him, she knew she was in love.
When he first touched her, his entire life changed.
And when she laid her head on his chest,
and he looked into her eyes,
they both knew...
they would love for an eternity."

May you always smile
and always be the love that you are!

Wishing you many moments
of quiet smiles, tight hugs,
presence of loved ones
and the ability to perceive beauty
in every day!
You rest in my heart!

LISTEN FROM SILENCE

Be present. Be here.
Feel your feet on the ground,
your belly rising and falling.
Be open and receptive
to the life all around you.
The sounds, smells, tastes.
Feelings rising unexpectedly.
A tingling in the belly.
A contraction in the throat.
Heaviness in the head.
An old sadness coming to visit.
Stay curious as the moment dances.

Listen. Listen with your entire body.
Hear yourself. Hear the other person.
Hear the silence in between the sentences.
Let the silence linger a little while longer.
There's no rush. There's no 'better' moment to get to.
Silence doesn't always need to be filled.
Be a little more naked. A little slower.
Know a little less what you're about to say.
Be a little less prepared, a little messier,
a little more willing to expose your vulnerable heart.
Be surprised at your own responses.
Don't numb yourself with the same old stories.
Stumble if you need to. It's okay. You are held.
Let your words emerge from silence and return to them.

Notice if you're talking just to avoid the silence.
Notice if you're regurgitating a story you've told before.
Notice if you're trying to impress, or win love.
Or avoid being seen for who you really are.

Friend, in silence we truly meet.
Genuine understanding is beyond mind.
Love is wordless; needs no more words.
Listen to the silence; it is volcanic.

My Beautiful Stranger !

I saw you looking,
and I know that
you stared for a while.
When I caught you
a second time,
it made us both smile.
I remember thinking, too,
about that naughty smile
and stunning eyes.
You made me curious,
and I wanted you closer
as the minutes went by.
You are very familiar.
I know you;
I can feel your vibe.
You don't just see me,
you feel my thoughts.
You're part of my tribe.
So take my hand.
Let's begin
what's meant to be.
We both know
that I am here for you
and you for me.

My beautiful stranger ...

I would like to go to sleep each night by thanking you for being with me,
And wake each morning pleasantly surprised to find you are in my life,
I would like to feel admiration for the littlest things you do, and how,
and how you look others in the eyes, openly, with affection, sparkling but strong.

I do hope you know that I LOVE you, with all my heart & soul. I wish nothing more than
to see you flourish, be vibrant, be happy, be so full of life & love that flowers
bloom beneath your feet. I would come alive each time you smile
and dance when you laugh... my earnest prayer is for you to be as radiant
as the sun, as soothing as the moon...

I LOVE YOU!

When we tenderhearted women step into our power, we bow in acknowledgment to the recognition that we can no longer live a lie.

When the thought of feeling anything at all is too painful, we live the lies of addiction and of numbing ourselves out. In doing so, we distract ourselves from the vulnerability of exposing our real selves.

As we walk into our truth (sometimes for the first time in this lifetime), if we’re shifting, we can’t help but shift those around us.

When you step into your power, something becomes different about the way your light shines, dear heart — it’s sparked alive again.

By power, I don’t mean the power that brings energies of destruction to the world and leaves you clamoring to leave your mark in a manner of naivety and ego.

By power, I mean your power. I mean the power of your soul, the power of your consciousness that you were brought into this world to share. Stop hiding it — your gifts matter.

You could call it your gifts and talents, or your deepest secrets. But in a masculine-dominated world that doesn’t like to ruffle feathers and disrupt the natural hierarchy that our society has evolved into, you’ve grown up taking your superpowers out of safekeeping only when it feels safe (and that might be never).

When we women step into our power, we let go of who we were and we let go of the people who we walked with who simply don’t fit into the schema of our new identity. We let go of the shame of sharing the gifts and talents of our soul. We cut our tethers to the relationships that clipped our wings instead of strengthening our roots.

There’s great sorrow in shedding an old layer of ourselves that doesn’t fit anymore. You have every right to grieve your old identity, but grieve it, let it go, and then set it free. You’re going to be okay. Step into your power with grace and confidence, for this act of shifting yourself matters — and you matter too.

When you step into your power, you tell the story of who you are with your whole heart, for you can no longer tell a lie.

Stepping into our power as women doesn’t mean acting tough and pretending we’re okay. It means a deep acceptance of the fact that it’s okay to fall apart; it means recognizing the power of saying, “I will try again tomorrow, stronger and more powerful, and pick myself up, walking forward in my integrity.”

Stepping into your power is not a badge of courage or a sword you yield. It’s unlearning the shame and guilt of being human when you didn’t feel or act how the world told you you should to be a good human.

Our power is that deep self-acceptance of living for ourselves. Quit living for someone else, in search of their praise. You’re doing it right — you’re going to be just fine.

I simply won’t stand for living with my light off any longer. We women are too full of truth to lie and small ourselves away in the service of someone else’s truth.

“It’s not a woman’s job to get smaller and smaller until she disappears so the world can be more comfortable.” ~ Glennon Doyle Melton

Because if we are going to expect anything at all, then it should be that the one we love always feels free....

Love can either become a cage or the gift of having wings.

It can bog us down in responsibility or can uplift us with possibility.

Yet, regardless of how hard we try to hold on—the more we expect from the person we love, the more we will be let down. Truly loving another person doesn’t have to do with what they can give us, but what we can give them.

To love someone without expectations isn’t to deny our own wants or needs, but it is about giving them the space to be who they truly are and not wanting to change or rush their journey for them.

Expectations are the rules that our egos want us to play by. We develop a relationship with someone, and begin to expect certain things from them, because it’s what we want them to do.

We expect them to be around whenever we need someone to talk to, we expect them to be able to make room in their lives for us, and we expect them to be our first good morning and our last good night.

But is that really love? Or is it using someone else to fulfill our needs because we haven’t yet done that for ourselves?

The union and bond between two people is the catalyst for how we choose to live our lives. If we constantly expect or need someone to act in a certain way, so that we feel happy and satisfied, then we will always find ourselves unfulfilled and wanting more.

Because regardless of the connection between two people, neither one can bring happiness or love, if each person hasn’t individually found it for themselves.

We can only truly love another without expectations when we have first learned to love ourselves in the same way—because we are only capable of extending the type of love towards another that we have first given ourselves.

Until we can fill our own cup and accept ourselves for who we truly we are, we will continue to look for others to do it—and in that same capacity, we won’t only be loving others through the lens of attachment or expectation, but loving ourselves in that way as well.

Loving another without expectation first begins with accepting and loving ourselves.

We need unattachment in love, but we also need to lose our expectations as well. The minute we start expecting something from a lover, whether it’s a call, text or even a visit then we are beginning to box them in according to a pattern of behavior that we have become accustomed to. We are now beginning to set expectations of behavior, based on previous behavior, without giving the freedom to our lover to simply be who they are in that moment. If we begin to impose our own wants and needs on another, then we are also saying that those desires come before their own.

This isn’t about becoming a doormat, or even a victim—but it is about realizing that the only way to truly love someone—and have it last—is to also not expect that just because they did something yesterday means that are able to do it today.

“Let there be space in your togetherness, and let the winds of the heavens dance between you. Love one another, but make not a bond of love. Let it be a moving sea between the shores of your souls. Fill each other’s cup but drink not from one cup. Give one another of your bread but eat not from the same loaf. Sing and dance together and be joyous but let each one of you be alone. Even as the strings of a lute are alone though they quiver with the same music. Give your hearts, but not into each other’s keeping. And stand together yet not too near together. For the pillars of the temple stand apart, and the oak tree and cypress grow not in each other’s shadow.” ~ Kahlil Gibran

In order for love to truly last, and to encourage growth between ourselves and our lover, we also have to remain separate. We have to allow space between where they end and where we begin. The only love that truly does last is the one where each person knows that they are free to roam and grow individually.

Loving someone doesn’t mean I only care for you as long as you are playing by my rules—what it really means is that I love you whether you fall asleep next to me each night, or not, and whether I’m triggered by your actions, or not. Because regardless of how far you may travel, I will always be your home.

To love someone without expectation isn’t to say that we don’t want them to love us, or that we don’t want them to make us happy—but it is saying that the love we feel isn’t contingent upon only those factors.

It’s giving someone the gift of our love and then encouraging them to fly away. Not because we want to lose them, but to show them that despite where they might travel to, what they may experience, or even how they might grow—our love will be there regardless.

A love without expectation is the root of a long-term love affair with another person, with the self and with the evolution of life.

Because if we are going to expect anything at all, then it should be that the one we love always feels free.

We hide from love. We hide in old relationships, old lives and old beliefs. In our perceived unworthiness of real love, we shield ourselves with what no longer fits. We wish on every falling star for love while silently doubting it exists at all. We write about it, sing songs about it and dedicate our waking lives thinking about it, all the while doubting our own deserving of that which we dream of. We ache for it and then hide under the blankets closing our eyes tightly.
What are we so afraid of?
Vulnerability. Surrender. Letting go of control. Believing. Change. Being unworthy. Being real. Trusting. Being seen. Releasing old beliefs. Hope. Rejection. All the components we fight against while desiring to open up completely and let someone in.
We are so afraid of rejection, we swallow our words. We are so blind to our worthiness and deserving, we swallow our truth. We are so deaf to the call of our heart, we swallow our deepest feelings, needs and desires.
Oh weary warrior, lay down the heavy armor that covers your heart. The time to fight against the tides of love is over.

THE EYE OF HAPPINESS

You cannot attain happiness,
for happiness is the absence
of the seeker of it.
Terrible news for the false self.
Wonderful news for you.
Happiness is rest.
Happiness is presence.
Happiness is a divine Nothing.
It is a seeing, not a doing.
No future required.
No path required.
No time required at all.
No special techniques, practices, mantras will get you there.
Because you cannot get there.
Because there is no 'there'.
Because there is here.
Right HERE.
All you require is a willingness
to turn your attention towards
the only thing there ever is:
NOW.
And let the conceptual world fall away.
And let the old dreams fall away.
And let yourself tumble into a sacred aloneness.
And begin again.
Like a child...
Like the first awe-struck being...
Like a Universe witnessing itself...
You cannot attain happiness,
for happiness is never an attainment.
It is a world seen
through grateful, innocent eyes.
And it has nothing to do with your concept of 'happiness'.
And it lasts only a moment, and an eternity.
Nothing can make you happy
except Nothing.
And that's the best news of all.

Two poems for my beautiful stranger ...

"Think of me when you're lonely,
because with my thoughts and my soul,
I will keep you company.
Think of me, when you need love,
because I have so much to give you.
Think of me when you need a kiss,
because with my lips I would give you so many...
Think of me at least a second in the day.
because I'll never stop thinking of you."

*********************************************************

The seed was sown
And now the love has grown
I could not have taken
Another day or night alone
I was the definition of lonely
Nobody took the time to know me
But now I can feel it growing
Inside of me
Like springs flower
With every waking hour
I can feel it's power
Washing over me
And I give myself over blissfully
To it's sweet ecstasy
Love has got a grip on me
It started with a kiss
Who would have known
It would come to this
Cupid must have been listening
Because he fired his arrow
Straight at me
And granted me my wish...

The moon came to me last night
With a sweet question.

She said,
"The sun has been my faithful lover
For millions of years.
Whenever I offer my body to him
Brilliant light pours from his heart.
Thousands then notice my happiness
And delight in pointing
Toward my beauty.
Hafiz,
Is it true that our destiny
Is to turn into Light
Itself?"
And I replied,
Dear moon,
Now that your love is maturing,
We need to sit together
Close like this more often
So I might instruct you
How to become
Who you
Are!
~ Hafiz

THE BEAUTIFUL SILENCE BETWEEN US...

Sometimes we speak not because we have anything important or authentic or heartfelt to say, not because we even want to talk, but because we feel uncomfortable, nervous, anxious about not talking. We speak in order to avoid the void, distract from the extraordinary absence at the heart of life. Many people in the modern world find even a few moments of silence in a conversation awkward, uncomfortable, even embarrassing.
It doesn’t have to be this way. In some Native American cultures, it's usual to wait up to several minutes before responding to a question, or taking one’s turn in a conversation. Replying too soon is considered rude. You obviously haven't truly listened to what the other person is saying.
So...
Slow down, friend. Get out of your head and into your body. Take a few moments to just feel your feelings in a conversation. Let yourself feel awkward in the silence if you must! So what? It’s just a sensation, it won't hurt you, and the silence will hold it anyway.
Take the risk that the other person will pick up on your feelings of awkwardness or think that you're boring or weird. Hey, at least you are real. At least you aren’t hiding behind a wall of words. At least you are trying to connect in a deeper way. At least you have the courage to feel and not distract yourself.
Bring some space into your conversations today. Listen. Wait. Respond from presence. Let the conversation breathe.
Remember, our deepest connections are always made in silence. Witness a mother rocking her baby to sleep, two old friends or lovers, a simple walk in nature. Words are not actually necessary at all for us to feel each other, know each other, understand each other very deeply.

When talking about awareness, most of us identify with our awareness through the ego, through the mind and senses. But the true self is in the middle of our chest, in our spiritual heart. So, to get from ego to the true self I said “I am loving awareness.” Loving awareness is the soul. I am loving awareness. I am aware of everything, I’m aware of my body and my senses and my mind, I’m aware of all of it, but I notice that I’m loving all of it. I’m loving all of the world. The self that I identify with emanates from the ocean of love. The self that is the ego is the ocean of fear. When I am loving awareness I’m aware of everything outside, but pulling into the heart, the spiritual heart, brings me to loving awareness. I’m aware of my thoughts, but loving awareness is simply witnessing them. And loving awareness is in the moment. I have thoughts about the past and future, and those are not helpful, so I dive deep into the present and the presence and in this present moment we will find loving awareness. Only this moment is real, this moment of loving awareness. The past and the future are all just thoughts.
In this spiritual heart there is peace, there is contentment, and there is compassion. There is also joy and wisdom, all inside of your spiritual heart and mine. So when you say “I want a peaceful world” you don’t look outside, you go inside where peace exists. In Hinduism the spiritual heart is called the “atman,” and it’s the God within.
In Hinduism there is a story about a horse drawn carriage. The horseman who is on top of the carriage represents the ego, and the spiritual heart or the soul is in the carriage. The horses represent your motivation, and anytime the soul decides that the horse is going the wrong way, the soul takes his stick and taps on the window and tells the horseman to go in a different direction. So most of us identify with the horseman, because you are an incarnation that includes the ego. The soul has come from many previous incarnations, it’s been through many births and deaths and it has no fear. The ego is afraid that when this incarnation is ended, it’s all going to end. The soul knows that he or she goes through incarnation after incarnation. Your incarnation includes your parents, your body, your friends, your culture. I am in this body – this body, my personality, are all in time and space, but I am not in time or space. I am infinite. I am loving awareness.

“Hands cling to hands and eyes linger on eyes: thus begins the record of our hearts. It is the moonlit night of March; the sweet smell of henna is in the air; my flute lies on the earth neglected and your garland of flowers in unfinished. This love between you and me is simple as a song. Your veil of the saffron colour makes my eyes drunk. The jasmine wreath that you wove me thrills to my heart like praise. It is a game of giving and withholding, revealing and screening again; some smiles and some little shyness, and some sweet useless struggles. This love between you and me is simple as a song. No mystery beyond the present; no striving for the impossible; no shadow behind the charm; no groping in the depth of the dark. This love between you and me is simple as a song. We do not stray out of all words into the ever silent; we do not raise our hands to the void for things beyond hope. It is enough what we give and we get. We have not crushed the joy to the utmost to wring from it the wine of pain. This love between you and me is simple as a song.”
― Rabindranath Tagore, The Gardener

My beautiful stranger... I love you!

"Love just happens
When you are not looking for it
Not paying attention
Unaware
You could miss it the first few times
Then somehow this invisible magnetic energy
Pulls you and the person together
And you feel this beautiful magic
That was not there before
And their name becomes the most hypnotic name
And you die to see their eyes
When you open yours
Every time.
Love just happens.
When you least expect it
At any location
At any time
It never announces its arrival
And when it does find you
Its warmth is so strong
It may frighten you
You could close your eyes and feel it
And feel them
No matter where you are
Or they are
Every time.
Love just happens
And it happens to everybody
But some people have their sensors off.
Or hide from it.
Don't look for it.
Don't think about it.
Open your heart and it will find you.
It always does.
Whenever you think it forgot about you.
It just hits you.
Just like that.
Every time.
Love just happens."

True love requires vulnerability. True vulnerability means to feel and allow everything within yourself as much as possible, especially where it feels so uncomfortable or painful that you might come undone. This means revealing ALL the hidden thoughts, feelings, and secret agendas you keep hidden from others. Secrecy is often the hallmark of shame, and can block humility, which blocks vulnerability, and therefore true love.
The longer secrets are kept, the longer they haunt you. Over time, they build up layers of shame, regret, judgment, self loathing, fear, and anger that corrode away at one's soul and relationships. It create barriers on many levels due to scheming and playing out strategies to hide oneself in fear of being exposed.
The more you hide yourself, and neglect to accept what is within you, and set it free, the more you are suppressing your soul and destroying its capacity to truly love and be loved.
The more you reveal and express yourself, being with who you truly are- rather than what you would like to be OR what others would like to see you as- the closer you come to true love in a practical, tangible way. By doing this, everything in your life transforms for the better in ways you could not have imagined, because you are no longer blocking the flow of life through you.
We have the capacity to change everything through love, if only we allow ourselves to first accept things as they are, be vulnerable with what is, and live truthfully.

In the magical quiet of the night
I'll let your soul descend upon me
to the point where surrender is inevitable and
I am made malleable by the warm touch of your love...

A PRAYER FOR THE LIVING
Life,
Break in me whatever needs to be broken.
Fix my hope of ever being fixed.
Use me. Draw every ounce of creativity out of me. Help me live a radically unique life, forever forging a never-before-trodden path in the forest.
Show me how to love more deeply than I ever thought possible.
Whatever I am still turning away from, keep shoving in my face.
Whatever I am still at war with, help me soften towards, relax into, fully embrace.
Where my heart is still closed, show me a way to open it without violence.
Where I am still holding on, help me let go.
Give me challenges and struggles and seemingly insurmountable obstacles, if that will bring an even deeper humility and trust in the intelligence of life.
Help me laugh at my own seriousness.
Allow me to find the humour in the dark places.
Show me a profound sense of rest in the midst of the storm.
Don't spare me from the truth. Ever.
Let gratitude be my guide.
Let forgiveness be my mantra.
Let this moment be a constant companion.
Let me see your face in every face.
Let me feel your warm presence in my own presence.
Hold me when I stumble.
Breathe me when I cannot breathe.
Let me die living, not live dying.

CROSS YOUR OWN BOUNDARIES

Every time you are unhappy or miserable,
you are just coming in touch with
your own boundaries.
It is limitation and boundary that is
the real cause of your disturbance.
You are peaceful and happy until
come in contact with your boundaries.
The moment you come in contact with it,
then the mind goes on a trip and
you move out of your centre.
At that moment what can you do?
You can just be grateful and pray for peace.
That very moment,
you will start smiling and however
hopeless the situation is,
you will walk through it.
The creation wants you to be happy.
God wants to see you full of
enthusiasm, joy, compassion and being happy.
But what do you do?
You keep a long face,
worry about this or that. What’s the fun?
Life is not meant for this.
God is trying his level best;
He has created so many things
for you to be happy.
God only helps those who help themselves.
So everyday make a resolution. “Today,
I am just going to be happy come what may.
I will not let anything disturb my happiness.
I am going to be contended, happy.”

For my beautiful stranger... you are a miracle! My miracle :)

"The more I get to know him, the more I can feel my heart opening without my control. I always wanted a man to look at me as if I were a miracle, but I didn't realize I would one day see a man just as grande."
~ Nikki Rowe