Second Chance Dance: January 2012

Tuesday, January 31, 2012

Journey Dream No. 5: Larger Voices Calling….

"The sea is the same as it has been since before men ever went on it in boats."
- Ernest Hemingway

The cure for everything is salt water. Sweat, tears and the sea.”

- Isak Dinesen.

The priest informed the small gathering in the chapel that

“We have returned to ordinary time.”

The questions came fast a furious….

“What is ordinary about this time or any other?”

“What kind of time was it that I just experienced?”

The priest just said

“Just be happy you are here.”

The sailor pilgrim reflected on how passage over the unknown sea seems to always be some type of adventure, whether alone or with a family of friends. Some days it is an easy sail and sometimes the storms come fast and furious. Yet, the anticipated never-ending ferocious twenty – five foot swells are eventually are transformed by Poseidon into a sea of serenity.

“Its all a matter of time” his internal voice said.

One old salt ex-therapist-guru-shaman-yoda voice once advised that the best way to manage the journey is to let go and just savor the moment.

“But I have chartered a course “ the pilgrim sailor would protest…

“If you are meant to get to where you want to go you will be there but remember wherever you go there you are” the teacher consoled.

The chorus from the famous undiscovered trio of “Rumi, Tolstoy and Ignatius” could be heard in the ringing of the chimes responding to the breath of the divine.

“Love is everywhere. Everywhere is love. ”

As if from nowhere a voice of the experienced solo circumnavigator arrived from a distant place and time. He shared his odyssean trials stressing the importance of “grabbing the dream.” He spoke of his “charmed life” and how he always played music, sailed, wrote and found a way to put bread on the table. The storms had been rough at times leaving him with almost nothing but he did not lose his hope. His voice was clear when as he added…

“When our journeys get knocked off course and our ships get knocked down it is our choice as to what to do next...the hardest part is leaving the dock, throwing the lines ashore , turning your back on the dock and heading out again onto the open ocean. Its all about how you weather the storms."

The pilgrim sailor was now nourished as he lay anchored in the safe harbor self-debating whether or not or how to re-launch into the sea. Mystically two more messages arrive from voices of two other former companions reminding him the journey is not finished…. there are words to be written, songs to be sung, people to be served and seas to be sailed….

A great unseen hand turns the page to the words of poet laureate ….

“…Though much is taken, much abides; and though

We are not now that strength which in old days

Moved earth and heaven; that which we are, we are;

One equal temper of heroic hearts,

Made weak by time and fate, but strong in will .."

How many more voices did he need to hear? Aware that he has never been alone he knows exactly what to do. Looking up he said…

“All time is extraordinary and is to be savored.”

And prayed singing…

“….Just a dream and the wind to carry me
And soon I will be free…”

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(Thank you to all my sailing and journey mentors and companions!)

amdg
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

“Well it's not far back to sanity, at least it's not for me
And if the wind is right you can sail away and find serenity
Oh, the canvas can do miracles, just you wait and see.
Believe me.”

- Sailing, Christopher Cross

"Grabbing the Dream" - Brian Hancock

“…I have my ship and all her flags are a flying.
She is all that I have left and music is her name.

Think about how many times I have fallen. Spirits are using me, larger voices calling.
What heaven brought you and me cannot be forgotten….

Spirits are using me, larger voices calling…” _ Southern Cross, Crosby, Stills and Nash

The Volvo Ocean Race

amdg

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New Blog - Rain and Rivers Revisited: A Journey of a Lost Weekend

Well you may recall I have been working on a piece of fiction for a while now. It is still a work in progress. However, I decided

to release drafts of the first few episodes ( chapters.) Much of the work is completed but I am always cutting and editing.

http://rainandriversrevisited.blogspot.com/

It is difficult to release just pieces at a time as they are created as independent episodes they are also all parts of a larger piece (and picture .) I could share more but I am curious to read or hear your feedback.

I want to thank those friends and supporters who have already provided feedback ...and of course all the folks who have been following my Second Chance Dance Blog ( by the way that will continue.)

The material in the Blog is all copyrighted and cannot be reproduced in any form. Though, I welcome you to share the link and this blog with others .So please when you have a few minutes take a read and let me know what you think. I expect to be posting a series of subsequent episodes shortly.

Thanks....

News of Death

(This is for Coach)

Last night they came with news of death
not knowing what I would say.
I wanted to say,"The green wind is running through the fields making the grass lie flat."
I wanted to say,"The apple blossom flakes like ash covering the orchard wall."
I wanted to say,"the fish float belly up in the slow stream,stepping stones to the dead."

They asked if I would sleep that night,
I said I did not know.
For this loss I could not speak,the tongue lay idle in a great darkness,the heart was strangely open,the moon had gone,and it was then when I said, "He is no longer here"
that the night put its arms around me
and all the white stars turned bitter with grief.
- David Whyte

What Work is

We stand in the rain in a long line

waiting at Ford Highland Park. For work.

You know what work is--if you're

old enough to read this you know what

work is, although you may not do it.

Forget you. This is about waiting,

shifting from one foot to another.

Feeling the light rain falling like mist

into your hair, blurring your vision

until you think you see your own brother

ahead of you, maybe ten places.

You rub your glasses with your fingers,

and of course it's someone else's brother,

narrower across the shoulders than

yours but with the same sad slouch, the grin

that does not hide the stubbornness,

the sad refusal to give in to

rain, to the hours wasted waiting,

to the knowledge that somewhere ahead

a man is waiting who will say, "No,

we're not hiring today," for any

reason he wants. You love your brother,

now suddenly you can hardly stand

the love flooding you for your brother,

who's not beside you or behind or

ahead because he's home trying to

sleep off a miserable night shift

at Cadillac so he can get up

before noon to study his German.

Works eight hours a night so he can sing

Wagner, the opera you hate most,

the worst music ever invented.

How long has it been since you told him

you loved him, held his wide shoulders,

opened your eyes wide and said those words,

and maybe kissed his cheek? You've never

done something so simple, so obvious,

not because you're too young or too dumb,

not because you're jealous or even mean

or incapable of crying in

the presence of another man, no,

just because you don't know what work is.

Philip Levine

On Marriage - Kahil Gibran

You were born together, and together you shall be forevermore.You shall be together when the white wings of death scatter your days.Ay, you shall be together even in the silent memory of God.

But let there be spaces 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 rather 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 loafSing 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.For only the hand of Life can contain your hearts.And stand together yet not too near together:For the pillars of the temple stand apart,And the oak tree and the cypress grow not in each other's shadow.

A favorite "Journey" poem from a favorite poet

The Journey

One day you finally knew
what you had to do, and began,
though the voices around you
kept shouting
their bad advice--
though the whole house
began to tremble
and you felt the old tug
at your ankles.
"Mend my life!"
each voice cried.
But you didn't stop.
You knew what you had to do,
though the wind pried
with its stiff fingers
at the very foundations,
though their melancholy
was terrible.
It was already late
enough, and a wild night,
and the road full of fallen
branches and stones.
But little by little,
as you left their voices behind,
the stars began to burn
through the sheets of clouds,
and there was a new voice
which you slowly
recognized as your own,
that kept you company
as you strode deeper and deeper
into the world,
determined to do
the only thing you could do--
determined to save
the only life you could save.
-- Mary Oliver

Send or post one of your favorites! They can be lyrics to a song!

Playing For Change

Please see the current music video from "Playing for Change" at the bottom of this page. It is a movement. Enjoy!

"Playing for Change" is a multimedia movement created to inspire, connect, and bring peace to the world through music. The idea for this project arose from a common belief that music has the power to break down boundaries and overcome distances between people. No matter whether people come from different geographic, political, economic, spiritual or ideological backgrounds, music has the universal power to transcend and unite us as one human race. And with this truth firmly fixed in our minds, we set out to share it with the world

Fall in Love

“Nothing is more practical than finding God, that is, than falling in a love in a quite absolute, final way. What you are in love with, what seizes your imagination will affect everything. It will decide what will get you out of bed in the mornings, what you will do with your evenings, how you spend your weekends, what you read, who you know, what breaks your heart, and what amazes you with joy and gratitude. Fall in love, stay in love, and it will decide everything.” --- Pedro Arrupe SJ