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