Second Chance Dance: being

Showing posts with label being. Show all posts

Monday, October 1, 2018

Trying and Being

" For us there is only the trying.The rest is not our business."
- T.S. Eliot

" vanity of vanities! All thing are vanity!
Vanity of human toil.
What profit it have we from all the toil
which we toil under the sun?"
- Eccl 1:2-4

"What do you want? " St. Augustine said that all our desires are really a longing for God in disguise; where there is real desire , there is prayer. So, be at peace in your desire, you are already praying."
- Sacred Space , Novena Day 2

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Trying and Being

Sometimes it takes a spark to light the fire.

Sometimes the lighting is sourced from the love fueled

by an encouraging voice who has more faith

in you than you have in yourself.

The battle between vanity, ego, pride and humility

rages on ever since the spirit was illuminated

by the difference. Fantasies of grandiosity attempt

to drown any considerations of raw reality or neurotic insecurity.

Coaches shout “Shoot the god dammed ball!

You don’t score points if you don’t shoot and we don’t

win the game if we don’t get any points!”

Your inner voice asks “Is all this about playing and winning a game

by accumulating points?

What if one just wanted to play - you know no points, no rewards -

just being ?”

Sometimes simplicity of letting go completely…

is the success…

the authenticity of truth, just trying and trust.

- JF Sobecki

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Slow Turning - J. Hiatt

https://youtu.be/2L22C5IJTfE

Roll with it Baby - S. Winwood

https://youtu.be/u_vkKozA8OI

Its all up to what you value - G. Harrison

https://youtu.be/JtzPtDxy1ic

“A tree gives glory to God
by being a tree. For in
being what God means it
to be it is obeying [God].
It “consents,” so to speak,
to [God’s] creative love.
It is expressing an idea
which is in God and
which is not distinct from
the essence of God,
and therefore a tree imitates
God by being a tree.”

–Thomas Merton

My Lord God,

I have no idea where I am going.

I do not see the road ahead of me.

I cannot know for certain where it will end.

nor do I really know myself,

and the fact that I think I am following your will

does not mean that I am actually doing so.

But I believe that the desire to please you

does in fact please you.

And I hope I have that desire in all that I am doing.

I hope that I will never do anything apart from that desire.

And I know that if I do this you will lead me by the right road,

though I may know nothing about it.

Therefore will I trust you always though

I may seem to be lost and in the shadow of death.

I will not fear, for you are ever with me,

and you will never leave me to face my perils alone.
- T. Merton

amdg

“One day I will find the right words and they will be simple”

- Jack Kerouac

“The only truth is music”

- Jack Kerouac

Saturday, July 1, 2017

A Nirvana Dream

If you don’t know where you’re going
Any Road will get you there.
- Any Road, G. Harrison

I listen to the wind come how l, telling me to hurry
I listen to the robin’s song saying not to worry.
- On the Way to Find out, Cat Stevens

While on the long ride home
The state of the art satellited technology system
Filled the blank space with a landscape
Seemingly from some yet undiscovered planet.
Unfamiliar mountains and landmarks line the passageway.
A river with no-name flows to the unknown sea .
Even incidents and allegations along the way
Were not reflected nor anticipated in that wise navigation tool.

The silent conversation began:
“ We’re not in Kansas anymore” the first one communicated the second.
The second one’s eyes ask if they are headed in the right direction.
“It all depends if it will take us to where we want to go,”
the first replied without words.
“Does it matter?” the second’s hand asked.

For the first time in the time and space they shared together
It was agreed that maps and directions were not needed,
as they decided to slow down to just
go with the flow and enjoy the ride.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Day Three and then departure..

The sun is ever present
in safe harbor Cape May ...
She burns brightly through the haze
Spirits warmed, rested and consoled
Waves of that great ocean of mercy
Rolling in serene and soft
Kiss the beach , sanctifying grateful pilgrims
As they prepare for the next phase
Of their passage.

New hobby - "Ocean Gazing"

Tide comes in
Tide goes out
Fog comes in
Fog lifts
Tide comes in again
Sun squeezing herself slightly
Through the clouds
Tide goes out again
Footprints in the sand
Washed away
Anointed by the sacred salt air
The sun retreats slowly
It's 112 pm on our anniversary
She's sleeping
Music fills the space between...
Tide comes in...

+++++++++++++++++++++

Be Here Now - G. Harrison

https://youtu.be/He2yrzwgTtI

Roll with it - S. Winwood

https://youtu.be/BSrosM7JuHI

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