dear time
dear time,
as epic as you are
you tick your way
through my ways of being
… yet not
i have a secret though
preferring the mist, the unknown
(that remains still
that remains silent)
i always find a way
to ignore you
© r.e.l. 5/13/12
image by simeon schatz
Posted on Poetry Picnic 5/20-5/27/12
practice
i like the way
you float in my mind
don’t move
while i practice my whisper
© r.e.l. 8/7/11
image by simsha
Posted to Poetry Potluck 8/7-8/13/11 on Jingle Poetry
Featured in Feminine Intent on redbubble
purple heart
floating
drops
unknown
still
as
wind
flowing
through
motion
into
hearts
@ r.e.l. 7/24/11
image heartdrops by simeon schatz
Posted on Poetry Potluck 7/24-7/30/11-Nature and Life on Jingle Poetry
a fine ordinary moment
dear fine moment… my first few sips of coffee,
you change my life. you hold a memory of all other days, alive with transitions from dreamy to present.
as the fog clears, starry-eyed i begin to plan my day in a fine moment.
you witness me as my dreams come to mind, as i walk in the shadows of time becoming conscious.
and in the peace of my home before the storm, children sleeping, cats purring, sun rising, even though you don’t last long, you help me realize
that fine moments in life exist…
© r.e.l. 2/25/11
even if you aren’t sure
alone.
at peace.
to hear the silence of the ripples before the storm
and to know that you are always
the best part of you
…even if you aren’t sure
© r.e.l. 1/25/11
image ‘Night fisherman’ by Lorenzo Castello
featured in Feminine Intent on redbubble
posted for Poetry Potluck week 20: Peace, Relaxation, Spirituality on Jingle Poetry
your internal dialogs: learning by talking to yourself
Do you often speak internally to another person as if you have direct access to each other’s thoughts? Are you fueled by the language that speaks to you inside your mind? Is this dialog a way for you to make things right simply within your mind with certain people?
It is easy to speak the secrets of your soul when you speak to yourself. First, your heart needs to be open so that you are able to feel the truth of what you really feel.
You have a story to tell. You can read it, listen to it, and live in it as you would your favorite book.
You have many channels to your heart. The trick is to find yours–the ones that undeniably open every time.
Find the universal presence, spirit or love that resonates most with you and feel it hold you like a warm blanket. Then speak to it. Let it tell you, as a mirror, what you have to say.
You might hear questions such as “Why are you mad at me?” , “What did I do wrong?” and “Why do you love me?”
If you visit your child self, you might find a version of you looking back as if she/he has known you all your life (it’s true), asking you if you ever pay attention to her/him? She/He might whisper a secret to you that you have never heard.
You are not crazy. You have a lot to say. Just listen with open ears. Be still and silent… and the messages are more clear.
Listen to what your internal dialogs tell you. You could discover the unknown you’ve been search for all your life inside you. It could change your life…
© r.e.l. 12/17/10
different forms, as treasures
you ask me to be still
and so i do..
you lie hidden within, unfelt
with a shield strong as stone
pushing you away.
in all directions.
don’t you hear the answers now?
as they quietly become one with the search
for what is touching you?
you are beautiful
everything is alive
in different forms
as treasures.
watch time stand still with me. ok?
help me to let go and to become one with the mystery.
please.
© r.e.l. 11/26/10
**This post is for Thursday Poets Rally Week 34 (12/2-12/8/10) on Promising Poets. Received the Perfect Poet Award…. Thanks so much, I accept [For week 35 I nominate Jargnar]
the magic of my histories
I move. I feel. My blood carries my life.
I am still. I look inside the calm waters… and here I find the truth of who I am.
Jeff Klein says it well in his article ‘Moving Again’: The quality of our life depends on how we move, and on how we embrace the stillness as an essential element in the cycle of movement..
When overwhelming energies arise, can’t I see that the water is only clear when I allow myself to move what reaches out, running evermore inside..? Whether difficulty or pure joy, I can push it away as if to be scared when it is too overpowering…
When whatever it is has moved through me to its end though, with an ‘ahhh‘ the sun comes out and shines on the tranquility, piercing it with clarity.
I imagine being immersed in a calm and clear patch of ocean, seeing clearly in all directions. Yet, looking above, I occasionally see waves above moving past. When I accept it, I can watch the intense moments transform to a gem that whispers the answer, just as the ocean wave becomes the calm ocean.
Even if I seem to be searching without knowing exactly what I am looking for, I can see that it is still there if I invite the intensity. It is trying to touch me with the truth….
We have known since Einstein that everything is energy — just alive in different forms. It is in the magic of my history that I can find the treasures, carved out of my bones, my heart, my dreams, my teardrops. To look at this beauty is to watch time stand still, to let go, and to become one with the mystery.
When the Japanese mend broken objects, they fill the cracks with gold. They believe that when something’s suffered damage and has a history it becomes more beautiful. ~Barbara Bloom
© r.e.l. 11/24/10
chill
chill.
the beauty of solitude.
magic.
finding your soul.
the answers are coming.
just lie here.
you will know what to do.. soon.
ommm
© r.e.l. 10/24/10
photo by Ricky Tran
coming into wholeness
Coming into wholeness. What does that mean? To feel yourself at peace, in love and at one with your path in life.
It is possible to find this peace from within yourself — not relying on another person or object. Allow yourself to let go of all the impediments that make your mind over-think, fear and worry. Without all of the excess, you are free!
You can access this freedom any time, in fact! The truest side of who you are, undisturbed, coexists with the emotional mind…
A metaphor… Imagine 3 buckets of water.
- one is muddy
- one is stirred up
- one is still and clear
The sun is shining in all 3, and they each enjoy the sun equally.
Reflection in the first bucket is dim and dull, in the second is agitated, and in the third is peaceful.
Where the sun is the Self, the water is the mind, and the reflection is the Ego (mis-identification), we can make some conclusions.
My true self is a constant that is independent of how my mind is acting. If I appear to reflect “muddy water” I see dullness and depression. If I appear to reflect agitation, I will feel like I’m breaking apart in pieces. If I appear to reflect stillness and clarity, however, I will feel a profound peacefulness with my Self and feel at one.
So, if I am seeing muddy water, or water that is stirred up, how do I calm it? The answer is to calm the rajas (activity, motion and irritation in the mind) and the tamas (inert and dullness in the mind), so that you can feel the sattva (the purity of the mind). Rajas and tamas create imbalance. Yoga, meditation or other physical activity / mental-calming activities will do the trick.
For more on dream interpretation and meditative imagery interpretation, read here.
Independent of what is reflected by the mind, the sun is always shining and I am always whole. I just have to know it, feel it and identify with it.
© r.e.l. 9/22/10
Inspired by the teachings of Advaita Vedanta, Sankhya Yoga and the Upanishads…
the art of savasana
The final pose of any decent yoga practice is savasana. It is the place where you reflect upon your entire practice as if it comes before your eyes on a distant cloud.
Some yoga teachers and practitioners believe savasana is the most important pose in yoga, reflecting true peace as the culmination of your practice.
This final resting pose, otherwise known as Corpse Pose, truly is a pose in which to wrap the fruits of your labors or your joys of movement and love for your body.
After moving the precious prana within your body through movements that flow through you, twists that wring out toxins, and peaceful moments in between that take your breath away, savasana is a time to celebrate and smile within in stillness.
It’s a time to celebrate your life force that moves through you, that you may have a tendency to ignore as you move along in your busy day.
To the mind that is still, the whole universe surrenders. ~ Lao-Tzu ~
Savasana does not act alone. It is the end result of that which came before it. It is your consciousness in its pure state, which you can see most easily after clearing out impediments in the body, mind and heart, especially with a seasoned teacher who can lead you eloquently through it, in the right vibe.
In this way the meditative state created in the space becomes like a cloud that you can trust and call your own. As you wind down your practice in a true state of peace, your ending rest has the power to bring you to samadhi, the 8th limb of the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali.
Samadhi is a non-dualistic state of consciousness in which you become one with all that surrounds you, and all of your thoughts connected outside of yourself, in which the mind becomes still, concentrated on one point though the person remains conscious.
If you are lucky you will feel bathed in a purple light. The true art of savasana is to become as if a body floating in the ocean, weightless and free.
Namaste.
© r.e.l. 7/13/10
underneath
Picking up where I left off in my article on an inquiry into your nature…
The idea of participatory spirituality has some more juice in me at the moment. First, I’ve been on a tangent speaking of shyness and opening up about my true expression. As if in a bit of a conundrum, I go back and forth in my life between befriending stillness and befriending the gems inside me that I can only get to by stirring up the darkness to see what’s lurking beneath that surface.
From the words of a song, “I swear that I can feel you creeping underneath my skin. It feels like heaven to me sometimes.” The feeling is all-encompassing. There is a quality of light within the dark — a yin/yang. The love is what I feel.
I can feel a side of me inside reaching out for expression, asking gently to not vaporize the energy of the expression into an emptiness, thereby bypassing it all together. It is telling me that there is much to be learned in feeling this darkness that I hide within the armor I’ve built like a child building a sand castle.
Sand is a good metaphor for this armor. It is made of rock, symbolizing strength. After many years of weather it can harden to an impenetrable substance, but if air continually moves through the tiny spaces (e.g., breath) between each grain, the wall can easily be knocked down in its softness. A simple symbolic hand can do the trick with one violent strike. Alternatively, I could douse it with my watery essence in a waterfall, or a slow drip to eat away at it slowly.
A soothing Italian proverb leads the way in my life now: “Chi va piano va sano va lontano. Chi va forte va alla morte.” Who goes slowly, goes healthy and far. Who goes fast, goes faster to death.
Taking time with the precious gems is most important. They have been in the dark so long, so once they see the light do I expect them to acclimate immediately? Give them time to adjust and evolve to become one with me again in their new form, with light shone upon them.
If I do they will become like a dream that I’ve always imagined but could never reach. Not until now at least.
© r.e.l. 6/23/10
the stone of you
i fell asleep
with you
holding you tight
eyes closing
with a smile
your mystical roots
fears no more.
in the morning
you were still there
my hands in stillness
enclosing you
you whispered a secret…
you slept with
my magic
© r.e.l. 4/27/10
inspired by some magical gemstones
Featured in Touched By Fire on redbubble and Touched By Fire the blog
Posted on Poetry Potluck 7/24-7/30/11-Nature and Life on Jingle Poetry
