The Way

The way is winding

it’s direction uncertain

I am on a path meant only for me

and the trick is to know

the way.

Every step is a moment that passes by

the moments that make up my life.

There are triumphant ones in the sun

There are humble and joyous moments

and others which lie in the dark, cold and unforgiving.

They belong solely to myself

I cannot go back

We are made up of what we do

and this is what makes us who we are.

Some of us wear down paths consisting of varying degrees of unease

watching and waiting for that something that never happens…

This way is littered with occasions to lend my heart out

they fall to the forest floor like leaves in the autumn

and sound crunchy under my boots.

 I feel for something I think I’ve lost.

And I think I’ve left something unsaid.

I cannot seem quite to remember

Time flows ahead…I can’t go back

no matter, no matter

I tell myself

The way is winding

and we may find ourselves

at one end only to begin again.

Coming in and out like the tides.

A new river to step into.

A new stream to cross.

Urging me on to the next and the next and the next.

 

~NLM

 

 

Life is an opportunity, benefit from it. Life is beauty, admire it. Life is a dream, realize it. Life is a challenge, meet it. Life is a duty, complete it. Life is a game, play it. Life is a promise, fulfill it. Life is sorrow, overcome it. Life is a song, sing it. Life is a struggle, accept it. Life is a tragedy, confront it. Life is an adventure, dare it. Life is luck, make it. Life is too precious, do not destroy it. Life is life, fight for it.

~Mother Teresa

***

Led Zeppelin – That’s The Way

Mt. Ranier. Washington State, USA.

 

Fresh Quotes: LOVE Hafiz

 The words of Hafiz:  How they enchant. They move, they writhe and wiggle up and down from right to left; dancing like crazy….inspiring me like crazy… Hafiz is another one of my favorite poets. Never mind he wrote these words in the 1300’s. They are timeless, ideas even more so.  Translation adds a twist to these quotes. Daniel Ladinsky does a superb job. It’s hard to tell how much of himself he adds to the text. I concentrate more on the pleasure of reading and the places my thoughts travel to, invoked by the ideas, the whimsy and the thoughtfulness.

LOVE is always inspiring. Poetry lends the power of words and ideas and Hafiz adds the magic. Enjoy!

The following quotes are by Hafiz

 

Your heart and my heart
are very, very old friends

Arces Natural Park Utah, USA

I wish I could show you when you are lonely or in darkness the astonishing light of your own being.

 

 You carry all the ingredients

To turn your existence into joy

“I caught the happy virus last night
When I was out singing beneath the stars.
It is remarkably contagious –
So kiss me.”

Love sometimes wants to do us a great favor: hold us upside down and shake all the nonsense out.

 

Gustav Klimt’s The KISS

 ♥

Your love
Should never be offered to the mouth of a
Stranger,
Only to someone
Who has the valor and daring
To cut pieces of their soul off with a knife
Then weave them into a blanket
To protect you.

The tide of my love
Has risen so high let me flood
over

You. 

How did the rose
Ever open its heart
And give to this world
All its beauty?
It felt the encouragement of light
Against its being,
Otherwise,
We all remain
Too frightened.

Let us be like

Two falling stars in the day sky. 

Let no one know of our sublime beauty

As we hold hands with God

And burn 

Into a sacred existence that defies –

That surpasses 

Every description of ecstasy

And love.

♥

Hafiz (also spelled Hafez), whose given name was Shams-ud-din Muhammad, was one of the greatest of Persia’s mystical and lyrical Sufi poets. He was born in Shiraz in southeast Persia (modern Iran) c. 1320 and died c. 1389. He is affectionately known as “The Tongue of the Invisible”. His poems were artfully translated and interpreted by American poet Daniel Ladinsky.

References and Related Articles and Recommended Reading 

Hafiz Bio (hafizonlove.com)
FRESH QUOTES: RABINDRANATH TAGORE 
Fresh Quotes: LOVE RUMI

"The Gift" Poems by Hafiz, The Great Sufi Master * Daniel Ladinsky
"A Year With Hafiz" Daily Contemplations * Daniel Ladinsky 

We are Art

We are art.

Uniquely us and uniquely beautiful.

Living, growing, changing.

Becoming and unbecoming..

The way we do this says more about ourselves than anything.

It’s the way we live our lives and how we impact others–this is our testimony. 

What we share with the world becomes our art.

We can inspire and enlighten. We can encourage, empathize and understand.

We can shine a light for others and become all the more beautiful.

It is the soul. The heart. The essence.

This is the best art. The loveliest. the most divine. The closest to heaven.

 ~NLM

 

“Your brokenness is the universe’s way of realizing that perfection is not complete.
Your wounds and flaws, however inconsolable and unforgivable, are a conspiracy of a finer consideration, the triumph of an inexpressible art form, the urge of the cosmos to love herself more intimately. More profoundly.”

~Adebayo C. Akomolafe

Related Articles and interesting tidbits

LIFE is ART   (strawberryindigo.wordpress.com)

♦

Stéphane Grappelli – Stardust (youtube)

♦

Artie Shaw- Stardust (youtube) 

♦

Vincent Van Gogh Gallery (www.vangoghgallery)

Moments

 

 

 One moment bleeds into the next
Moment
Bringing with it nothing
Leaving behind nothing
Only existing inside this one fragment in time
Try to hold it in your grasp and its gone
With a whisper

 

 

Life is made of moments, each one slipping into the next in an endless cascade that ripples like a wide sea. Currents toss us this way and that, we are passengers on a great journey, a journey through time and space; through the moments that make up our existence.

Our lives are framed by these fragments of time. We are shaped but what occurs in each frame in succession, each effecting the next and so on unto infinity or…?  What we do today creates our tomorrow. So much can happen in the span of a scant moment; each one leads us to the next and before you know it, time has passed. There have been instances in my life when one moment mattered so much. It’s funny; seldom do you have the luxury of knowing which of these moments will be that one until it is right on top of you.

We’ve all had those pivotal moments in our lives. In my experience they seem to occur in slow motion, every action elongated, every nuance multiplied. There is no time to think in these moments, seemingly so.  I suppose instinct comes into play here, our body has an intelligence all its own and can react before we can….our heart knows…

I  think for the most part at least part of us knows the answer on how to react or not react to life’s little surprises. There is a trust involved and sometimes we don’t trust ourselves when we should.  At least that is what I do. For all my advice and proselytizing regarding listening to one’s inner voice, I have myself at times ignored it and carried on like my conscience was silent… as if my psyche wasn’t speaking to me; whispering glorious and not so glorious truths in those quiet moments of reflection.

There have been times I have buried revelations behind a thick wall of willing indecision, trying to put off the inevitable…there have been plenty of moments lost to fear of misstep, misfortune or just plain falling flat on my face.

And so I hide from these important moments which require the important decisions. Maybe that means I hide from life too. Perhaps I pick the safest moments; the ones that require the least risk.

 

I know what I would say about that…

These are moments I will never get back. I only have so many.  It may be time to take my advice and not just listen but act.

Points to ponder as the moments pass…

Have an excellent day!

♥

Nancy

 

 

“When we least expect it, life sets us a challenge to test our courage and willingness to change; at such a moment, there is no point in pretending that nothing has happened or in saying that we are not yet ready. The challenge will not wait. Life does not look back.” 
― Paulo Coelho 

 

 

 

Like a wanton criminal seize the moment. Take it. Make it yours to the fullest. Don’t look back. Yesterday is over and tomorrow has not yet begun, there is no guarantee there will be a tomorrow–neither exist.  There is only now.

 

*

 

Related You Tube

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Van Halen – Right Now 

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Eminem: Lose Yourself   

Fresh Quotes: LOVE RUMI

His words were simple and earthy. Words that came straight to the point, jutting out at odd angles, all the while meandering along the sandy bank, flowing along with the gentle stream.  Words that  reflected a quiet beauty; a oneness with nature conveyed in tiny jagged pieces that formed an exquisite mosaic of thought and feeling.

He wrote of love in such a simple and honest way and his words have inspired countless romantics on their quest to find their other half.

The general theme of Rumi’s thought, like that of other mystic and Sufi poets of Persian literature, is essentially that of the concept of tawhid — union with his beloved (the primal root) from which/whom he has been cut off and become aloof — and his longing and desire to restore it.

All the quotes that follow are his…

Daylight, full of small dancing particles. Can you see them when I whisper in your ear? 

“There is a candle in your heart, ready to be kindled.
There is a void in your soul, ready to be filled.
You feel it, don’t you?” 

 

Out beyond ideas of wrongdoing and rightdoing there is a field.

I’ll meet you there

When the soul lies down in that grass

The world is too full to talk about

“The minute I heard my first love story,
I started looking for you, not knowing
how blind that was.
Lovers don’t finally meet somewhere.
They’re in each other all along.”

“The most alive moment comes when those who love each other meet each other’s eyes and in what flows between them.”

“In your light I learn how to love. In your beauty, how to make poems. You dance inside my chest where no-one sees you, but sometimes I do, and that sight becomes this art.”

 

Lovers find secret places inside this violent world where they make transactions with beauty.

Reason says nonsense.

I have walked and measured the walls here, there are no places like that.

Love says, there are.

“Wherever you are, and whatever you do, be in love.”

Here’s to green fields and sunshine, blue skies ,timeless poetry and infinite LOVE ♥

Happy February

May this romantic month bring you your heart’s desire.

♥

Strawberryindigo

Jalāl ad-Dīn Muhammad Balkhī , also known as Jalāl ad-Dīn Muhammad Rūmī  and more popularly in the English-speaking world simply as Rumi (September 30, 1207 – December 17 1273) was a 13th-century Persian poet, jurist, theologian, and Sufi mystic.  Rumi’s importance is considered to transcend national and ethnic borders. His poems have been widely translated into many of the world’s languages and transposed into various formats. In 2007, he was described as the “most popular poet in America.

*

  RUMI ( wikipedia.org)

♥

Related YOU TUBE

. 

My heart – Rumi

I Knew I Loved You ~ Savage Garden

ADELE – ‘Make You Feel My Love’

 

PEACE is Possible

“When I say it’s you I like, I’m talking about that part of you that knows that life is far more than anything you can ever see or hear or touch. That deep part of you that allows you to stand for those things without which humankind cannot survive. Love that conquers hate, peace that rises triumphant over war, and justice that proves more powerful than greed.”
~Fred Rogers

The Peace Rose

 P E A C E    I S    P O S S I B L E

It may be idealistic

Perhaps a bit simplistic

To hope for what may seem

Impossible

improbable

And just plain unrealistic

But I can see

 The need is intrinsic

We are born altruistic

Because the world at peace

Is logical

And possible

If we can cease being pessimistic

And believe Peace can be a Reality

That is the first step…

And this is my first post in Bloggers for Peace. Kozo at Everyday Guru’s has started this wonderful online movement for everyone that wants to join and blog for peace.

The details are here.  I believe this is a truly worthy cause and very doable. Please use your blogging talents and influence and spread the word!

Thank you,

Strawberryindigo.

Related BLOGGERS FOR PEACE articles

This is the place to go for information on how to join (bloggers4peace.wordpress.com)

Bloggers for Peace (spiritualworldtravelerblog.com)

We can make a difference right here right now (everydaygurus.com)

Bloggers For Peace: WE Can Make A Difference (theobamacrat.com)

An Artist For Peace (spiritualmysticism.wordpress.com)

Peace is Not a Season (heartflow2013.wordpress.com)

‘Salud mi familia’ (autumninbruges.wordpress.com)

Monthly Peace Challenge: Acts of Kindness (everydaygurus.com)

We Can Make a Difference–Right Here, Right Now (sarahneeve.wordpress.com)