Awakening Awareness

~*~

2011-12-27T03:33:00.000-08:00

“Human love, human trust, are always perilous, because they break down.

The greater the love, the greater the trust, and the greater the peril, the greater the disaster.

Because to place absolute trust on another human being is in itself a disaster,

both ways, since each human being is a ship that must sail its own course,

even if it go in company with another ship....

And yet, love is the greatest thing between human beings.”

~D.H. Lawrence~

notable quotable

2011-12-26T09:23:00.000-08:00

“On the day when it will be possible for woman to love,

not in her weakness but in her strength,

not to escape herself but to find herself,

not to abase herself but to assert herself--

on that day love will become for her,

as for man,

a source of life and not of mortal danger.”

~Simone de Beauvoir

22 - Tao Te Ching

2011-12-23T14:50:00.000-08:00

22

Accept and you become whole,

Bend and you straighten,
Empty and you fill,
Decay and you renew,
Want and you acquire,
Fulfill and you become confused.

The sage accepts the world
As the world accepts the Way;
He does not display himself, so is clearly seen,
Does not justify himself, so is recognized,
Does not boast, so is credited,
Does not pride himself, so endures,
Does not contend, so none contend against him.

The ancients said, "Accept and you become whole",
Once whole, the world is as your home.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
If you want to become whole,
let yourself be partial.
If you want to become straight,
let yourself be crooked.
If you want to become full,
let yourself be empty.
If you want to be reborn,
let yourself die.
If you want to be given everything,
give everything up.

The Master, by residing in the Tao,
sets an example for all beings.
Because he doesn't display himself,
people can see his light.
Because he has nothing to prove,
people can trust his words.
Because he doesn't know who he is,
people recognize themselves in him.
Because he has no goad in mind,
everything he does succeeds.

When the ancient Masters said,
"If you want to be given everything,
give everything up,"
they weren't using empty phrases.
Only in being lived by the Tao can you be truly yourself.

21 - Tao Te Ching

2011-11-30T14:48:00.000-08:00

21

The Master keeps her mind
always at one with the Tao;
that is what gives her her radiance.

The Tao is ungraspable.
How can her mind be at one with it?
Because she doesn't cling to ideas.

The Tao is dark and unfathomable.
How can it make her radiant?
Because she lets it.

Since before time and space were,
the Tao is.
It is beyond is and is not.
How do I know this is true?
I look inside myself and see.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Harmony is only in following the Way.

The Way is without form or quality,
But expresses all forms and qualities;
The Way is hidden and implicate,
But expresses all of nature;
The Way is unchanging,
But expresses all motion.

Beneath sensation and memory
The Way is the source of all the world.
How can I understand the source of the world?
By accepting.

The Journey - Mary Oliver

2011-11-30T09:54:00.001-08:00

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.

~ written by Mary Oliver ~

20 - Tao Te Ching

2011-11-25T14:46:00.000-08:00

20

Stop thinking, and end your problems.
What difference between yes and no?
What difference between success and failure?
Must you value what others value,
avoid what others avoid?
How ridiculous!

Other people are excited,
as though they were at a parade.
I alone don't care,
I alone am expressionless,
like an infant before it can smile.

Other people have what they need;
I alone possess nothing.
I alone drift about,
like someone without a home.
I am like an idiot, my mind is so empty.

Other people are bright;
I alone am dark.
Other people are sharper;
I alone am dull.
Other people have a purpose;
I alone don't know.
I drift like a wave on the ocean,
I blow as aimless as the wind.

I am different from ordinary people.
I drink from the Great Mother's breasts.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

quotes to note

2011-11-23T05:30:00.000-08:00

People create their own questions,

because they are afraid to look straight.

All you have to do is look straight and see the road,

and when you see it,

don't sit looking at it,

- walk.

~ Ayn Rand ~

quotes to note

2011-11-22T23:10:00.000-08:00

"The individual has always had to struggle

to keep from being overwhelmed by the tribe.

To be your own man, or woman, is a hard business.

If you try it, you’ll be lonely often, and sometimes frightened.

But no price is too high to pay for the privilege of owning yourself."

- Arthur Gordon

insomnia by barbara kinsey sable

2011-11-18T20:13:00.001-08:00

We fight sleep

We, the insomniacs

Who use the dark to create

The fragile tendrils of daydreams.

That weave screens to seclude

Those worlds sacred to ourselves.

We lift our long fingers of thought

Into the deep blanket of night

That covers our singularities,

And we are alone.

Away from troubles, from demands,

And become what we wish to be;

Ourselves.

~Barbara Kinsey Sable~

quote - anais nin

2011-11-15T07:30:00.001-08:00

with a deeper instinct,

choose a man who compels my strength,

who makes enormous demands on me,

who does not doubt my courage or my toughness,

who does not believe me naive or innocent,

who has the courage to treat me like a woman.

~Anais Nin~

beautiful un'expectations

2011-11-11T09:55:00.000-08:00

unexpected sweetness

spirits true perfume

behind hidden doors

loves abandoned room

unexpected lightness

stillness beyond death

sacred stolen memory

awaken beauty's breath

~ karmyn ayn ~

19 - Tao Te Ching

2011-11-10T14:45:00.000-08:00

19 - Tao Te Ching

Throw away holiness and wisdom,
and people will be a hundred times happier.
Throw away morality and justice,
and people will do the right thing.
Throw away industry and profit,
and there won't be any thieves.

If these three aren't enough,
just stay at the center of the circle
and let all things take their course.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

If we could discard knowledge and wisdom
Then people would profit a hundredfold;
If we could discard duty and justice
Then harmonious relationships would form;
If we could discard artifice and profit
Then waste and theft would disappear.

Yet such remedies treat only symptoms
And so they are inadequate.
People need personal remedies:
Reveal your naked self and embrace your original nature;
Bind your self-interest and control your ambition;
Forget your habits and simplify your affairs.

2011-11-07T14:42:00.000-08:00

"Understanding of the self only arises in relationship,

in watching yourself in relationship to people, ideas, and things;

to trees, the earth, and the world around you and within you.

Relationship is the mirror in which the self is revealed.

Without self-knowledge there is no basis for right thought and action.

Begin where you are.

Read every word, every phrase, every paragraph of the mind,

as it operates through thought.”

- Jiddu Krishnamurti

quote - OSHO

2011-10-28T15:50:00.000-07:00

Always look at life with new eyes.
Look at people with new eyes.
Look at things with new eyes.
Never bring in the old.
Never look through the memory.
Never look through experience.
They are all clouds which surround you,
and through which you lose the freshness of life.
Always make way and look direct,
immediate, and you will see that everything is so new.
-OSHO

quote

2011-08-12T19:26:00.000-07:00

”If you have never been called a defiant,
incorrigible, impossible woman…
have faith… there is yet time.”
~Clarissa Pinkola Estes

quote

2011-03-08T18:29:00.000-08:00

"We don't set out to save the world;
we set out to wonder how other people are doing
and to reflect on how our actions affect other people's hearts."

"Rather than letting our negativity get the better of us,
we could acknowledge that right now we feel like a piece of shit
and not be squeamish... about taking a good look."

~Pema Chodron

quote

2011-03-07T18:25:00.000-08:00

“The one thing you can’t take away from me
is the way I choose to respond to what you do to me.
the last of one’s freedoms is to choose ones attitude in any given circumstance.”
~Viktor Frankl

quote

2011-03-04T18:23:00.000-08:00

"I tore myself away from the safe comfort of certainties
through my love for truth - and truth rewarded me."
~Simone de Beauvoir

I confess... from Dangerous Beauty

2011-02-14T08:22:00.000-08:00

I CONFESS clip - from Dangerous Beauty

...I will confess, Your Grace.
I confess that as a young girl,
I loved a man who would not marry me for want of a dowery.
I confess I had a mother who taught me a different way of life,
one I resisted at first, but learned to embrace.
I confess I became a courtesan.
Traded yearning for power, welcomed many rather than be owned by one.
I confess I embraced a whore's freedom over a wife's obedience…
Your Grace, what am I to do?
I need to confess my evil as the church instructs, these are my sins...
I confess I find more ecstasy in passion than in prayer.
Such passion IS prayer.
I confess…
I confess I pray still to feel the touch of my lover's lips,
his hands upon me, his arms enfolding me.
Such surrender has been mine.
I confess I hunger still to be filled and enflamed,
to melt into the dream of us, beyond this troubled place,
to where we are not even ourselves,
to know that always, always this is mine.
If this had not been mine, if I had lived another way,
a child to a husband's whim, my soul hardened from lack of touch and lack of love,
I confess such endless days and nights would be punishment,
far greater than any you could mete out.
You, all of you, you who hunger so for what I give,
but cannot bear to see such power in a woman.
You call God’s greatest gift- ourselves, our yearning, our need for love-
you call it filth, and sin, and heresy.
I repent there was no other way open to me.
I do not repent my life.

"defy gravity" - Caroline Myss Video

2011-02-11T17:29:00.000-08:00

Defy Gravity Video 1 of 27

quote - rumi

2011-02-11T08:18:00.000-08:00

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.
-Rumi

quote - C.S. Lewis

2011-02-06T23:27:00.000-08:00

"there's going to be a time...
when there is even less room for indecision and choices are even more mementous.
Good is always getting better and bad is always getitng worse:
the possibilities of even apparent neutrality are always diminishing."

C. S. Lewis, in That Hideous Strength

Jill Bolte Taylor's stroke of insight | Video on TED.com

2011-02-06T10:06:00.000-08:00

Jill Bolte Taylor's stroke of insight | Video on TED.com

Annie Lennox

2011-02-06T07:35:00.000-08:00

Into the West/Journey's End - Annie Lennox

Sweet Tunes by Eva Cassidy

2011-02-04T19:31:00.001-08:00

Songbird by Eva Cassidy

Time after Time - Eva Cassidy

Getting Unstuck - Pema Chodron Video

2011-02-04T19:25:00.000-08:00

Excerpts from the book Getting Unstuck. Stop Scratching.
Breaking Your Habitual Patterns & Encountering Naked Reality. Pema Chodron.

2011-02-02T11:12:00.000-08:00

~*~
life is a precious mystery,
live it in wonder
~*~

If No One Ever Marries Me - Laurence Alma-Tadema

2011-01-31T10:27:00.000-08:00

If no-one ever marries me--
And I don't see why they should,
For nurse says I am not pretty
And I'm seldom very good--

If no one ever marries me
I shan't mind very much;
I shall buy a squirrel in a cage,
And a little rabbit-hutch;

I shall have a cottage near a wood,
And a pony all my own,
And a little lamb, quite clean and tame,
That I can take to town;

And when I'm getting really old,
At twenty-eight or nine--
I shall buy a little orphan girl
And bring her up as mine.

~*~ Laurence Alma-Tadema, 1897 ~*~
the daughter of the artist Sir Lawrence Alma-Tadema

silent myst - karmyn ayn

2011-01-31T01:11:00.000-08:00

quietly
i hear thee
between moonbeams and stardust

whispering wordless echoes
over oceans
thru the misty haze

silently
i answer thee
across dawns aurora glow

humming divine melodies...
under heaven
thru hidden pathways

gently
i enfold thee
within imagination and fantasy

weaving magical webs
around paradise
thru mystical maze

secretly
i entrust thee
without question or doubt

revealing sacred places
beyond bliss
thru passions gaze

~karmyn ayn

deliverance - karmyn ayn

2011-01-30T13:54:00.000-08:00

when you bring to yourself
what you've been waiting to receive
there is a truth within
that cannot decieve

you will know in your heart
you will feel in your being
that what you sought
you were already seeing

~karmyn ayn
4/09

Wild Geese - Mary Oliver

2011-01-30T11:26:00.000-08:00

Wild Geese

You do not have to be good.
You do not have to walk on your knees
for a hundred miles through the desert repenting.
You only have to let the soft animal of your body love what it loves.
Tell me about despair, yours, and I will tell you mine.
Meanwhile the world goes on.
Meanwhile the sun and the clear pebbles of the rain are moving across the landscapes,
over the prairies and the deep trees,
the mountains and the rivers.
Meanwhile the wild geese, high in the clean blue air,
are heading home again.
Whoever you are, no matter how lonely,
the world offers itself to your imagination,
calls to you like the wild geese, harsh and exciting —
over and over announcing your place
in the family of things.

Vampire Archetype - Caroline Myss

2011-01-22T07:37:00.000-08:00

Vampire Archetype
- audio from Language of the Archetypes by Caroline Myss

Awakened at Midnight -karmyn ayn

2011-01-11T11:11:00.000-08:00

Last night I had the strangest dream
yet I was not asleep
A vision caught in stillness
that revealed the truth so deep.

At once I was perfection

all I shall ever be
Questions became answers
Time stood still so I would see.

There was no past or future
and the present froze in place
Living stopped mid-breath
And being took its place.
~karmyn ayn~

...reposting prose written by me in '08...

On a Poet's Lips I Slept - Percy Bysshe Shelley (1792-1822)

2011-01-11T08:00:00.000-08:00

On a poet's lips I slept
Dreaming like a love-adept
In the sound his breathing kept;
Nor seeks nor finds he mortal blisses,
But feeds on the aerial kisses
Of shapes that haunt thought's wildernesses.
He will watch from dawn to gloom
The lake-reflected sun illume
The yellow bees in the ivy-bloom,
Nor heed nor see what things they be;
But from these create he can
Forms more real than living man,
Nurslings of immortality!
One of these awakened me,
And I sped to succour thee.

~ Percy Bysshe Shelley (1792-1822)

quote - rumi

2010-12-31T05:55:00.000-08:00

“Move from within.

Don’t move the way that fear wants you to.

Begin a foolish project.

Noah did.”
~Rumi

Love - Elizabeth Barrett Browning

2010-12-29T20:03:00.000-08:00

Love

We cannot live, except thus mutually
We alternate, aware or unaware,
The reflex act of life: and when we bear
Our virtue onward most impulsively,
Most full of invocation, and to be
Most instantly compellant, certes, there
We live most life, whoever breathes most air
And counts his dying years by sun and sea.
But when a soul, by choice and conscience, doth
Throw out her full force on another soul,
The conscience and the concentration both make
mere life, Love. For Life in perfect whole
And aim consummated, is Love in sooth,
As nature’s magnet-heat rounds pole with pole.

-Elizabeth Barrett Browning

quote - me

2010-12-27T12:15:00.000-08:00

i tried being normal once,
it gave me hives...

~karmyn ayn~

Bright Blessings to You

2010-12-24T00:00:00.000-08:00

:)

2010-12-23T07:24:00.000-08:00

2010-12-22T07:18:00.000-08:00

Hildegard von Bingen - Movie

2010-12-18T13:27:00.000-08:00

Wikipedia

Vision - From the Life of Hildegard von Bingen - Movie Trailer

quote - karmyn

2010-12-18T03:30:00.000-08:00

beyond the ordinary
is the extra-ordinary
which in itself ...
is still quite ordinary
~*karmyn ayn*~

create u

2010-12-16T18:00:00.000-08:00

quote - charlotte bronte

2010-12-16T12:15:00.000-08:00

"If all the world hated you,
and believed you wicked,
while your own conscience approved you,
and absolved you from guilt,
you would not be without friends."
~ Charlotte Bronte, Jane Eyre

2010-12-13T12:29:00.001-08:00

~*~ lose a flower and you can easily find another;
lose integrity and you'll wander for some time until you find it again ~*~

18 - Tao Te Ching - Lao Tzu

2010-12-12T10:00:00.000-08:00

When the great Tao is forgotten,
Kindness and morality arise.
When wisdom and intelligence are born,
The great pretence begins.

When there is no peace within the family,
Filial piety and devotion arise.
When the country is confused and in chaos,
Loyal ministers appear.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
When the Great Tao (Way or Method) ceased to be observed,
benevolence and righteousness came into vogue. (Then) appeared wisdom
and shrewdness, and there ensued great hypocrisy.

When harmony no longer prevailed throughout the six kinships,
filial sons found their manifestation; when the states and clans fell
into disorder, loyal ministers appeared.

quote - karmyn

2010-12-10T11:12:00.000-08:00

~*~
I was afraid,
and I believed what I had been told ...
until I was aware,
that what I had been told,
I did not have to believe
~*~
Karmyn Ayn

quote - anais nin

2010-12-08T11:15:00.000-08:00

2010-12-07T21:01:00.000-08:00

quote - e.e. cummings

2010-12-05T08:14:00.000-08:00

quote

2010-12-03T19:03:00.000-08:00

I must not fear.
Fear is the mind killer.
Fear is the little-death
which brings total obliteration.
I will face my fear.
I will permit it to pass
over me and through me.
And when it has gone past
I will turn the inner eye
to see its path.
Where the fear has gone
there will be nothing.
Only I will remain.

- Bene Gesserit

quote - einstein

2010-12-02T08:11:00.000-08:00

untitled path - karmyn ayn

2010-11-29T08:15:00.000-08:00

sometimes
the
road
that
leads
you
home...

is
a
street
of
broken
dreams

~~ karmyn ayn~~

?lamron

2010-11-28T09:21:00.000-08:00

luv u

2010-11-26T18:05:00.000-08:00

Awakening - F. Kafka

2010-11-26T06:54:00.000-08:00

You do not need
to leave your room.
Remain sitting at your table
and listen.
Do not even listen,
simply wait.
Do not even wait,
be quite still and ordinary.
The world will freely offer itself
to you to be unmasked.
It has no choice.
It will roll in ecstasy
at your feet.
~Franz Kafka

17 - Tao Te Ching - Lao Tzu

2010-11-25T13:11:00.000-08:00

The very highest is barely known by men.
Then comes that which they know and love,
Then that which is feared,
Then that which is despised.

He who does not trust enough will not be trusted.

When actions are performed
Without unnecessary speech,
People say, "We did it!"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
In the highest antiquity, (the people) did not know that there
were (their rulers). In the next age they loved them and praised
them. In the next they feared them; in the next they despised them.
Thus it was that when faith (in the Tao) was deficient (in the rulers)
a want of faith in them ensued (in the people).

How irresolute did those (earliest rulers) appear, showing (by
their reticence) the importance which they set upon their words!
Their work was done and their undertakings were successful, while the
people all said, 'We are as we are, of ourselves!'

quotable quotes

2010-11-23T13:30:00.000-08:00

Kudo's K'art - Nathalie Girard

2010-11-18T13:04:00.000-08:00

Unique, hand-crafted art by Nathalie Girard
Metalsmith, Artisan Jewelry Designer, Multi-Media Artist
Canadian Rockies Art / NG Originals
Calgary, Alberta, Canada

http://www.Canadianrockiesart.Artfire.com

http://www.NGOriginals.com

*Note - Free Shipping for Calgary residents:
use FREE SHIPPING as the code during the checkout process.

quote - mark twain

2010-11-18T10:47:00.000-08:00

After all these years,
I see that I was mistaken about Eve in the beginning;
it is better to live outside the Garden with her than inside it without her.
~ Mark Twain ~

what if - Samuel Taylor Coleridge

2010-11-16T05:34:00.000-08:00

What if you slept?

And what if,
In your sleep
You dreamed?

And what if,
In your dream,
You went to heaven
And there plucked
A strange and
Beautiful flower?

And what if,
When you awoke,
You had the flower
In your hand?

... Ah, what then?

Samuel Taylor Coleridge
1772-1834

Quote - Rumi

2010-11-15T08:18:00.002-08:00

“Journeys bring love and adventure back into you.
If you can’t go Somewhere, journey in the passageways of your mind.”
~ Rumi ~

16 - Tao Te Ching - Lao Tzu

2010-11-03T09:58:00.000-07:00

Empty yourself of everything.
Let the mind rest at peace.
The ten thousand things rise and fall while the Self watches their return.
They grow and flourish and then return to the source.
Returning to the source is stillness, which is the way of nature.
The way of nature is unchanging.
Knowing constancy is insight.
Not knowing constancy leads to disaster.
Knowing constancy, the mind is open.
With an open mind, you will be openhearted.
Being openhearted, you will act royally.
Being royal, you will attain the divine.
Being divine, you will be at one with the Tao.
Being at one with the Tao is eternal.
And though the body dies, the Tao will never pass away.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The (state of) vacancy should be brought to the utmost degree,
and that of stillness guarded with unwearying vigour. All things
alike go through their processes of activity, and (then) we see them
return (to their original state). When things (in the vegetable
world) have displayed their luxuriant growth, we see each of them
return to its root. This returning to their root is what we call the
state of stillness; and that stillness may be called a reporting that
they have fulfilled their appointed end.

The report of that fulfilment is the regular, unchanging rule. To
know that unchanging rule is to be intelligent; not to know it leads
to wild movements and evil issues. The knowledge of that unchanging
rule produces a (grand) capacity and forbearance, and that capacity
and forbearance lead to a community (of feeling with all things).
From this community of feeling comes a kingliness of character; and he
who is king-like goes on to be heaven-like. In that likeness to
heaven he possesses the Tao. Possessed of the Tao, he endures long;
and to the end of his bodily life, is exempt from all danger of decay.

Quote - K. Gibran

2010-10-25T09:11:00.000-07:00

Said a philosopher to a street sweeper, “I pity you. Yours is a hard and dirty task.”

And the street sweeper said, “Thank you, sir. But tell me, what is your task?”

And the philosopher answered saying, “I study man's mind, his deeds and his desires.”

Then the street sweeper went on with his sweeping and said with a smile, “I pity you too.”
- Khalil Gibran

2010-09-21T10:16:00.000-07:00

In the Q - Q3

2010-08-13T21:10:00.000-07:00

If you choose...

Have paper & pen handy....
or a place open to note with your computer.

Take a few centering breaths...
and bring your attention within...
within yourself.

Read the question...
reflect...give yourself to hear/see/feel...
then write, draw, doodle your responses.

And the question is...

Which area of my life most needs to change?

In the Q - Q2

2010-08-11T21:10:00.000-07:00

2010-08-10T18:29:00.000-07:00

A rock pile ceases to be a rock pile,
the moment a single man contemplates it,
bearing within him the image of a cathedral.
~Antoine de Saint-Exupery~

In the Q - Q1

2010-08-09T21:10:00.000-07:00

If you choose...

Have paper & pen handy....
or a place open to note with your computer.

Take a few centering breaths...
and bring your attention within...
within yourself.

Read the question...
reflect...
allow yourself to hear/see/feel...
then write, draw, doodle your responses.

And the question is...

In what ways, or when was I conscious of my personal energy today?

Quote - Anais Nin

2010-08-09T20:23:00.000-07:00

Truth is something,
which can't be told in a few words.
Those who simplify the universe,
only reduce the expansion of its meaning.
~ Anais Nin ~

The Empty Boat - chuang tzu

2010-08-05T20:47:00.000-07:00

Who can free himself of achievement and fame
Then descend and be lost
Amidst the masses of men?
He will flow like Tao, unseen…
He will go about like life itself,
With no name and no home.
Simple is he, without.
To all appearances he is a fool.
His steps leave no trace.
He has no power.
He achieves nothing.
He has no reputation.
Since he judges no one,
No one judges him.
Such is the perfect man.
His boat is empty.

- chuang tzu -

15 - Tao Te Ching - Lao Tzu

2010-07-30T09:57:00.000-07:00

The ancient masters were subtle, mysterious, profound, responsive.
The depth of their knowledge is unfathomable.
Because it is unfathomable,
All we can do is describe their appearance.
Watchful, like men crossing a winter stream.
Alert, like men aware of danger.
Courteous, like visiting guests.
Yielding, like ice about to melt.
Simple, like uncarved blocks of wood.
Hollow, like caves.
Opaque, like muddy pools.

Who can wait quietly while the mud settles?
Who can remain still until the moment of action?
Observers of the Tao do not seek fulfilment.
Not seeking fulfillment, they are not swayed by desire for change.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The skilful masters (of the Tao) in old times, with a subtle
and exquisite penetration, comprehended its mysteries, and were deep
(also) so as to elude men's knowledge. As they were thus beyond men's
knowledge, I will make an effort to describe of what sort they
appeared to be.

Shrinking looked they like those who wade through a stream in
winter; irresolute like those who are afraid of all around them; grave
like a guest (in awe of his host); evanescent like ice that is melting
away; unpretentious like wood that has not been fashioned into
anything; vacant like a valley, and dull like muddy water.

Who can (make) the muddy water (clear)? Let it be still, and it
will gradually become clear. Who can secure the condition of rest?
Let movement go on, and the condition of rest will gradually arise.

They who preserve this method of the Tao do not wish to be full (of
themselves). It is through their not being full of themselves that
they can afford to seem worn and not appear new and complete.

2010-07-30T08:00:00.000-07:00

Today...
see if you can stretch your heart
and expand your love
so that it touches
not only those to whom you can give it easily,
but also to those who need it so much.

2010-07-30T07:55:00.000-07:00

We'd never know how high we are
till we are called to rise;
and then, if we are true to plan,
our statures touch the sky.
~Emily Dickinson~

my friend - khalil gibran

2010-07-28T06:20:00.000-07:00

My friend, I am not what I seem. Seeming is but a garment I wear--a care-woven garment that protects me from thy questionings and thee from my negligence.

The "I" in me, my friend, dwells in the house of silence, and therein it shall remain for ever more, unperceived, unapproachable.

I would not have thee believe in what I say nor trust in what I do--for my words are naught but thy own thoughts in sound and my deeds thy own hopes in action.

When thou sayest, "The wind bloweth eastward," I say, "Aye it doth blow eastward"; for I would not have thee know that my mind doth not dwell upon the wind but upon the sea.

Thou canst not understand my seafaring thoughts, nor would I have thee understand. I would be at sea alone.

When it is day with thee, my friend, it is night with me; yet even then I speak of the noontide that dances upon the hills and of the purple shadow that steals its way across the valley; for thou canst not hear the songs of my darkness nor see my wings beating against the stars--and I fain would not have thee hear or see. I would be with night alone.

When thou ascendest to thy Heaven I descend to my Hell--even then thou callest to me across the unbridgeable gulf, "My companion, my comrade," and I call back to thee, "My comrade, my companion"--for I would not have thee see my Hell. The flame would burn thy eyesight and the smoke would crowd thy nostrils. And I love my Hell too well to have thee visit it. I would be in Hell alone.

Thou lovest Truth and Beauty and Righteousness; and I for thy sake say it is well and seemly to love these things. But in my heart I laught at thy love. Yet I would not have thee see my laughter. I would laugh alone.

My friend, thou art good and cautious and wise; nay, thou art perfect--and I, too, speak with thee wisely and cautiously. And yet I am mad. But I mask my madness. I would be mad alone.

My friend, thou art not my friend, but how shall I make thee understand? My path is not thy path, yet together we walk, hand in hand.

~khalil gibran

MEANING by Anthony de Mello

2010-07-20T11:11:00.000-07:00

Said a traveler to one of the disciples,
"I have traveled a great distance
to listen to the Master,
but I find his words quite ordinary."

"Don't listen to his words.
Listen to his message."

"How does one do that?"

"Take hold of a sentence that he says.
Shake it well
till all the words drop off.
What is left will set
your heart on fire."

get me thru this day - tunes by Tina Dico

2010-07-20T05:13:00.000-07:00

Count to Ten

He Doesn't Know

etc etc etc

quote - Ayn Rand

2010-07-19T20:25:00.000-07:00

The purpose of morality is to teach you,
not to suffer and die,
but to enjoy yourself and live.
~Ayn Rand~

i was dead - rumi

2010-07-18T09:53:00.000-07:00

i was dead
i came alive
i was tears
i became laughter

all because of love
when it arrived
my temporal life
from then on
changed to eternal

love said to me
you are not
crazy enough
you don't
fit this house

i went and
became crazy
crazy enough
to be in chains

love said
you are not
intoxicated enough
you don't
fit the group

i went and
got drunk
drunk enough
to overflow
with light-headedness

love said
you are still
too clever
filled with
imagination and skepticism

i went and
became gullible
and in fright
pulled away
from it all

love said
you are a candle
attracting everyone
gathering every one
around you

i am no more
a candle spreading light
i gather no more crowds
and like smoke
i am all scattered now

love said
you are a teacher
you are a head
and for everyone
you are a leader

i am no more
not a teacher
not a leader
just a servant
to your wishes

love said
you already have
your own wings
i will not give you
more feathers

and then my heart
pulled itself apart
and filled to the brim
with a new light
overflowed with fresh life

now even the heavens
are thankful that
because of love
i have become
the giver of light

~Rumi~

Discovering Creativity - Julia Cameron

2010-07-17T18:26:00.000-07:00

Fundamental spiritual principles for the discovery (or healing) of our creativity - Julia Cameron

1. Creativity is the natural order of life. Life is energy: pure creative energy.

2. There is an underlying, in-dwelling creative force infusing all of life – including ourselves.

3. When we open ourselves to our creativity, we open ourselves to the Creator’s creativity within us and our lives.

4. We are, ourselves, creations. And we, in turn, are meant to continue creativity by being creative ourselves.

5. Creativity is the Goddess’ gift to us. Using our creativity is our gift back to the Goddess.

6. The refusal to be creative is self-will and is counter to our true nature.

7. When we open ourselves to exploring our creativity, we open ourselves to God: Good Orderly Direction.

8. As we open our creative channel to the Creator, many gentle but powerful changes are to be expected.

9. It is safe to open ourselves up to greater and greater creativity.

10. Our creative dreams and yearnings come from a divine source. As we move toward our dreams, we move toward our divinity.

All the True Vows

2010-07-17T04:17:00.000-07:00

All the true vows
are secret vows
the ones we speak out loud
are the ones we break.

There is only one life
you can call your own
and a thousand others
you can call by any name you want.

Hold to the truth you make
every day with your own body,
don’t turn your face away.

Hold to your own truth
at the center of the image
you were born with.

Those who do not understand
their destiny, will never understand
the friends they have made
nor the work they have chosen
nor the one life that waits
beyond all the others.

By the lake in the wood
in the shadows
you can
whisper that truth
to the quiet reflection
you see in the water.

Whatever you hear from
the water, remember,
it wants you to carry
the sound of its truth on your lips.

Remember,
in this place
no one can hear you
and out of the silence
you can make a promise
it will kill you to break,
that way you’ll find
what is real and what is not.

I know what I am saying.
Time almost forsook me
and I looked again.

Seeing my reflection
I broke a promise
and spoke
for the first time
after all these years
in my own voice,
before it was too late
to turn my face again.

by David Whyte

2010-07-16T10:35:00.000-07:00

The minute you settle for less than you deserve,
you get even less than you settled for.
~Maureen Dowd~

quote - Ayn Rand

2010-06-20T11:35:00.000-07:00

Men have been taught that it is a virtue to agree with others.
But the creator is the man who disagrees.

Men have been taught that it is a virtue to swim with the current.
But the creator is the man who goes against the current.

Men have been taught that it is a virtue to stand together.
But the creator is the man who stands alone.

Men have been taught that the ego is the synonym of evil,
and selflessness the ideal of virtue.
But the creator is the egoist in the absolute sense,
and the selfless man is the one who does not think, feel, judge or act.

These are functions of the self.

Ayn Rand
“The Soul of an Individualist,” For the New Individual

2010-06-09T11:05:00.000-07:00

Truth is something which can't be told in a few words.
Those who simplify the universe only reduce the expansion of its meaning.
~Anais Nin~

14 - Tao Te Ching - Lao Tzu

2010-06-08T05:56:00.000-07:00

Look, it cannot be seen - it is beyond form.
Listen, it cannot be heard - it is beyond sound.
Grasp, it cannot be held - it is intangible.
These three are indefinable;
Therefore they are joined in one.

From above it is not bright;
From below it is not dark:
An unbroken thread beyond description.
It returns to nothingness.
The form of the formless,
The image of the imageless,
It is called indefinable and beyond imagination.

Stand before it and there is no beginning.
Follow it and there is no end.
Stay with the ancient Tao,
Move with the present.

Knowing the ancient beginning is the essence of Tao.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

We look at it, and we do not see it, and we name it 'the
Equable.' We listen to it, and we do not hear it, and we name it 'the
Inaudible.' We try to grasp it, and do not get hold of it, and we
name it 'the Subtle.' With these three qualities, it cannot be made
the subject of description; and hence we blend them together and
obtain The One.

Its upper part is not bright, and its lower part is not obscure.
Ceaseless in its action, it yet cannot be named, and then it again
returns and becomes nothing. This is called the Form of the Formless,
and the Semblance of the Invisible; this is called the Fleeting and
Indeterminable.

We meet it and do not see its Front; we follow it, and do not see
its Back. When we can lay hold of the Tao of old to direct the things
of the present day, and are able to know it as it was of old in the
beginning, this is called (unwinding) the clue of Tao.

THE OLD STOIC - Emily Bronte

2010-06-07T13:36:00.000-07:00

THE OLD STOIC

Riches I hold in light esteem,
And Love I laugh to scorn;
And lust of fame was but a dream,
That vanished with the morn:

And if I pray, the only prayer
That moves my lips for me
Is, "Leave the heart that now I bear,
And give me liberty!"

Yes, as my swift days near their goal:
'Tis all that I implore;
In life and death a chainless soul,
With courage to endure.

~Emily Bronte~

dedicating....tina dico

2010-06-06T23:52:00.000-07:00

Ear Candy:

Room with a View

spring thing

2010-05-23T13:00:00.000-07:00

quote - kahlil gibran

2010-05-22T07:00:00.000-07:00

Knowledge of the self is the mother of all knowledge.
So it is incumbent on me to know my self,
to know it completely, to know its minutiae,
its characteristics, its subtleties, and its very atoms.
~Kahlil Gibran~

2010-05-21T07:37:00.000-07:00

It is not the end of the physical body that should worry us.
Rather, our concern must be to live while we're alive -
to release our inner selves from the spiritual death
that comes with living behind a facade
designed to conform to external definitions of who and what we are.
Elisabeth Kubler-Ross

quote - Ayn Rand

2010-05-19T20:28:00.000-07:00

The question isn't who is going to let me;
it's who is going to stop me.
~Ayn Rand~

poem for a new beginning - john o donohue

2010-05-17T20:18:00.000-07:00

In out of the way places of the heart

Where your thoughts never think to wander
This beginning has been quietly forming
Waiting until you were ready to emerge.

For a long time it has watched your desire
Feeling the emptiness grow inside you
Noticing how you willed yourself on
Still unable to leave what you had outgrown.

It watched you play with the seduction of safety
And the grey promises that sameness whispered
Heard the waves of turmoil rise and relent
Wondered would you always live like this.

Then the delight, when your courage kindled,
And out you stepped onto new ground,
Your eyes young again with energy and dream
A path of plenitude opening before you.

Though your destination is not clear
You can trust the promise of this opening;
Unfurl yourself into the grace of beginning
That is one with your life’s desire.

Awaken your spirit to adventure
Hold nothing back, learn to find ease in risk
Soon you will be home in a new rhythm
For your soul senses the world that awaits you.

~john o donohue~

About John O'Donohue

13 - Tao Te Ching - Lao Tzu

2010-05-17T09:54:00.000-07:00

Accept disgrace willingly.
Accept misfortune as the human condition.

What do you mean by "Accept disgrace willingly"?
Accept being unimportant.
Do not be concerned with loss and gain.
This is called "accepting disgrace willingly."

What do you mean by "Accept misfortune as the human condition"?
Misfortune comes from having a body.
Without a body, how could there be misfortune?

Surrender yourself humbly; then you can be trusted to care for all things.
Love the world as your own self; then you can truly care for all things.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Favour and disgrace would seem equally to be feared; honour and
great calamity, to be regarded as personal conditions (of the same
kind).

What is meant by speaking thus of favour and disgrace? Disgrace is
being in a low position (after the enjoyment of favour). The getting
that (favour) leads to the apprehension (of losing it), and the losing
it leads to the fear of (still greater calamity):--this is what is
meant by saying that favour and disgrace would seem equally to be
feared.

And what is meant by saying that honour and great calamity are to be
(similarly) regarded as personal conditions? What makes me liable to
great calamity is my having the body (which I call myself); if I had
not the body, what great calamity could come to me?

Therefore he who would administer the kingdom, honouring it as he
honours his own person, may be employed to govern it, and he who would
administer it with the love which he bears to his own person may be
entrusted with it.

12 - Tao Te Ching - Lao Tzu

2010-05-15T10:00:00.000-07:00

The five colours blind the eye.
The five tones deafen the ear.
The five flavours dull the taste.
Racing and hunting madden the mind.
Precious things lead one astray.

Therefore the sage is guided by what he feels and not by what he sees.
He lets go of that and chooses this.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Colour's five hues from th' eyes their sight will take;
Music's five notes the ears as deaf can make;
The flavours five deprive the mouth of taste;
The chariot course, and the wild hunting waste
Make mad the mind; and objects rare and strange,
Sought for, men's conduct will to evil change.

Therefore the sage seeks to satisfy (the craving of) the belly, and
not the (insatiable longing of the) eyes.
He puts from him the latter, and prefers to seek the former.

Wise Site - Frances Moore Lappe

2010-05-15T08:14:00.000-07:00

Frances Moore Lappe & The Small Planet Institute

Frances Moore Lappé - Liberation Ecology - VIDEO

Democracy advocate and world food and hunger expert, Frances Moore Lappé, provides the keynote address for the annual Provender Alliance Conference in Hood River, Oregon. The title of her talk is "Liberation Ecology: Toward an Empowering Frame to Move from Crisis to Transformation."

tiny tao - karmyn ayn

2010-05-13T14:30:00.000-07:00

plant seeds
pull weeds

~karmyn ayn~

a true "canadian idol"

2010-05-09T09:48:00.000-07:00

"Hurricane" Hazel, the mayor of Missisauga - she's amazing.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bslIZJaMYoY

quote - Ayn Rand

2010-05-06T23:00:00.000-07:00

People create their own questions because they are afraid to look straight.
All you have to do is look straight and see the road,
and when you see it, don't sit looking at it - walk.
~Ayn Rand~

2010-04-29T20:31:00.000-07:00

In oneself lies the whole world and if you know how to look and learn,
the door is there and the key is in your hand.
Nobody on earth can give you either the key or the door to open, except yourself.
~Jiddu Krishnamurti~

quote - vernon howard

2010-04-26T06:00:00.000-07:00

Never mind how weak and ineffective your early efforts may be.
Never mind how little you understand.
Plunge straight into the center of all your thoughts,
while being watchful of all that happens.
This is doing what is right and best for you,
even though you may not see it as yet.
Just remember that your part of the process of self-change
is to become aware of all that is going on.
If you water the root, the petal will unfold of itself.
-Vernon Howard

Awakening Awareness

~*~

notable quotable

22 - Tao Te Ching

22

21 - Tao Te Ching

21

The Journey - Mary Oliver

20 - Tao Te Ching

20

quotes to note

quotes to note

insomnia by barbara kinsey sable

quote - anais nin

beautiful un'expectations

19 - Tao Te Ching

19 - Tao Te Ching

quote - OSHO

quote

quote

quote

“The one thing you can’t take away from meis the way I choose to respond to what you do to me.the last of one’s freedoms is to choose ones attitude in any given circumstance.”~Viktor Frankl

quote

"I tore myself away from the safe comfort of certaintiesthrough my love for truth - and truth rewarded me."~Simone de Beauvoir

I confess... from Dangerous Beauty

"defy gravity" - Caroline Myss Video

quote - rumi

quote - C.S. Lewis

"there's going to be a time...when there is even less room for indecision and choices are even more mementous.Good is always getting better and bad is always getitng worse:the possibilities of even apparent neutrality are always diminishing."

C. S. Lewis, in That Hideous Strength

Jill Bolte Taylor's stroke of insight | Video on TED.com

Annie Lennox

Sweet Tunes by Eva Cassidy

Getting Unstuck - Pema Chodron Video

~*~life is a precious mystery,live it in wonder~*~

If No One Ever Marries Me - Laurence Alma-Tadema

silent myst - karmyn ayn

deliverance - karmyn ayn

Wild Geese - Mary Oliver

Vampire Archetype - Caroline Myss

Awakened at Midnight -karmyn ayn

On a Poet's Lips I Slept - Percy Bysshe Shelley (1792-1822)

quote - rumi

Love - Elizabeth Barrett Browning

quote - me

Bright Blessings to You

:)

Hildegard von Bingen - Movie

quote - karmyn

create u

quote - charlotte bronte

18 - Tao Te Ching - Lao Tzu

quote - karmyn

quote - anais nin

quote - e.e. cummings

quote

quote - einstein

untitled path - karmyn ayn

~*~ karmyn ayn~*~

?lamron

luv u

Awakening - F. Kafka

17 - Tao Te Ching - Lao Tzu

quotable quotes

Kudo's K'art - Nathalie Girard

quote - mark twain

what if - Samuel Taylor Coleridge

Quote - Rumi

16 - Tao Te Ching - Lao Tzu

Quote - K. Gibran

In the Q - Q3

In the Q - Q2

In the Q - Q1

Quote - Anais Nin

The Empty Boat - chuang tzu

15 - Tao Te Ching - Lao Tzu

my friend - khalil gibran

MEANING by Anthony de Mello

get me thru this day - tunes by Tina Dico

quote - Ayn Rand

“The one thing you can’t take away from me
is the way I choose to respond to what you do to me.
the last of one’s freedoms is to choose ones attitude in any given circumstance.”
~Viktor Frankl

"I tore myself away from the safe comfort of certainties
through my love for truth - and truth rewarded me."
~Simone de Beauvoir

"there's going to be a time...
when there is even less room for indecision and choices are even more mementous.
Good is always getting better and bad is always getitng worse:
the possibilities of even apparent neutrality are always diminishing."

~~
life is a precious mystery,
live it in wonder
~~

~~ karmyn ayn~~