Sometimes your heart needs to be broken
So you can see what's underneath,
To the flicker and flame of your soul
That you've always been destined to meet.

Sometimes your spirit shines brighter
Through the glimmering light of your tears,
And when you arrive at the end of it all
Love will outshine the darkest of years

Faith. Hope. Love.
I don't have answers. I don't really know much.
But I know that those things ignite something in your heart, casting away the darkness of fear and regret.

When the cobwebs in the basement are cleared, you find all your old dreams hidden in corners you forgot about.

And when you pound your fist in the dirt, and say enough is enough... I'm not here to survive, I'm here to LIVE... to laugh and play and realize my deepest passions... to find the ocean of joy and invite everyone I know to swim in it with me. To love myself daringly; to dance with the darkness of my fears and invite their lessons in.

Something doesn't have to change. Everything has to change.
I'm not interested in being right anymore.
I'm interested in being ALIVE.

When you commit these things to yourself, and fight for love, for hope, for the adventure of really living all the way... something happens.

Something flips inside you, and heaven begins pounding at your door.

Life has always waited patiently on you to stop waiting patiently.

Adventure isn't around the corner. It's hiding underneath your heart.

Right here. Right now.

A father looks deeply
  into the eyes of his son,
He speaks soft and sweetly:
  "Child, my days are done."

"I've loved every moment
  From the day that we met.
The day of your birth,
  And I'll never forget,
You told me you loved me
  Without using words,
I gave you my heart
  And you gave me the earth.

"And though my life's ending,
   I want you to know,
This is the beginning,
  Of life on your own.
So hear me right now,
   With these final breaths,
And I'll tell you how,
   Your life shall be blessed:

Sing with the water,
  Dance with the bees;
Travel the world,
  And sail on the seas.
Learn to enjoy
  The moments you have;
For now is eternal,
  Yet time moves so fast.

"Learn to love,
  And love to learn;
Light your passion,
  And let it burn.
Reach someone,
  Touch longing lives;
We are all one,
  Together we fight.

"Let go of hurt,
  Learn to forgive,
Understand others,
  We're all new at this.
One day you'll see,
  You'll blink and wake up;
And then you will teach
  Your son to grow up.

The walls of your soul that you
  Toil away building;
The windows are dark and the
  Bricks are unyielding...

( Hate, with a hammer, cracks the wall;
   But Love, with a whisper, makes it fall. )

How many times have I told you, Believe?
And then will you learn how to truly Receive.
  For giving is getting -- these two are the same;
  And living is learning to dance in the rain.

Smiles, pretty hair; glances, little stares,
You're not here, but you're everywhere.

In the moonlight I find you,
    as it lights up my night,
In the raindrops I feel you,
    as they bring me to life.
In your absense I see you,
    as the faces go by;
In the silence I hear you,
    as our song fills the sky.

You are everywhere and yet you are nowhere;
    You are the heart that I left behind somewhere.
You are my dream, my answered prayer;
    You are the pain that reminds me to care.

How is it that you find me every single night?
    When day is gone and visions clouds the light.
The silence overtakes me, forcing me to feel;
    The demons of memory provoke me to fight.
        The soul and it's descent,
                      your smiling little muse,
        The moment never fails
                      to bring me back to you.

I asked, of a sage, to give me the way;
He gave me the answer... the right words to say...

"Treat the present moment as holy,
  and holy will be the moment's present.
Treat the ones you will meet as yourself,
  then you will learn that they're heaven sent.

Treat yourself with love and respect,
  and you will soon realize that you are true Love;
Treat your heart as the door to the soul,
  and you will soon learn that You Are from Above.

Nothing in life is an accident,
There is no chance or coincidence.

All that IS has always been,
Everything is from within.

Change the way you look at things
  to change the things you look at;
Change the way you see the light
  to change yourself into that.

You Are everything You want.
  You Are everything You need.
You Are nothing that you aren't.
  You Are everything you seek.

Choose to believe,
Choose to receive,
Choose to accept
That you are what you see.

This then, will teach you,
That You have it all;
Just let your Self reach you,
And down blessings fall.

Love yourself.
  Love one another.
Love the Now.
  And look no further."

What can I confess? I love her and that will never change.
I've tried. Nothing works. There is no way to push it out.
It will not be defeated. It is an unbeatable love. An immovable force.
It will not be controlled, it cannot be told where to go.
It simply is, and will never cease to be.

Rest cannot be obtained by mere sleep.
Refuge is a distant memory.
Your steps become nothing more than the distance between you and her.
Everything is her. Nothing is not about her.
Laughter is only a reminder of the type of innocent happiness you feel
When she's standing next to you.
Smiling faces are always a prelude to the glowing memory of hers.
No thought is had that isn't in some way connected to her.

The sun seems dim in comparison to the fire this love embodies.
It is otherworldly. It is unfathomable.
It is that brightness which cannot be perceived with the eyes or
Conceived in the body, but merely felt with the soul.
You see it more clearly through the amplification of tears,
Behind the cracks of the heart.

You work. You play. You sleep. You eat.
And nothing fulfills. Nothing satisfies the soul.

Your future is behind you.
And she stands there, grinning, waiting on you to remember her, reminding  you to forget.

But I will not give up on her. It is not in me to let go of this love.

Our destiny is written in the stars. Our happy ending imprinted in my heart.

You are perfect
Just the way you are.
There is no better version of yourself.
You are an eternally burning star.

You have absolute worth.
You are wonderfully created.
Your value was established as a constant
When you were created.
It never changes. You are never any less valuable.

No matter what you've done.
No matter what you haven't done.
No matter how guilty you feel.
No matter what your parents told you.
No matter what your friends told you.
No matter how you feel right now.

You Are Perfect.
You are beautiful. You are infinite.

You deserve every good thing that has
ever happened to you.
You deserve every good thing that
will happen to you.
You deserve a perfect reality.

Smile at reality,
and reality will smile back at you.

Lose yourself in the rapture
  of living completely in this moment.

You are loved and you are Love.

Some say it is a naive notion to believe
that love can change the world.

Maybe you think love can't change everything,
  but it can change this moment.
And at the moment... that is everything.

One thing is sure, there is no doubt,
  this is your life, and life's about
The love you give, the lives you change,
  the world around you re-arranged;
And you'll do well to not forget --
  life changes not, but you change it.
So open wide your eyes to see
  it's all for you! Now just believe.

Oh, evil clock
  you are my truest enemy;
    your twisted hands
      taunting me
      consistently.

Why do you hate me?
If only I could forget you!
  Let you go for just
    one second...
  Yet then, alas,
    oh clever foe,
  You have me again.

From your evil clutches
  there is no escape.
For even in a moment's reprieve,
  I reminiss, and
    then, suddenly,
  the moment measured,
    I lose again.

You stand proud upon the wall,
  Oh evil clock,
    And I can only pray...
The day shall come
When I have won,
  By counting, instead,
    My beating heart,
Above the sound
  Oh evil clock
    of your two slaves...
  Tic + Toc.

Pay attention.

Pay attention to this moment;
To the sounds, to the lights,
To the colors in the the sky.

Pay attention to your thoughts;
To the world inside you,
And the way it guides you.

Pay attention to your feelings;
To the joy and the tears,
To the hopes and the fears.

Pay attention to your heart;
To the way that it beats,
To the rhythm it keeps.

Pay attention to your life...

The future already happened,
You're just learning the story.

Accept it. Let it run through you.

Let Love overfill your heart,
Let Light overglow your soul,
Let Hope overrule your fear,
Let New overtake the old.

This is your life;
You're doing your best.
Decide that today
Will outshine the rest.

I do not know you.
But I love you.
And if you really pay attention,
You'll feel it, too.

Nothing you see in this world does exist --
The things that you have and the pain you resist...

It's all an illusion that seems ever real;
A plan your soul made, just part of the deal.

Do not allow this existence to slow you,
Rather, just let it continue to show you...

That you are a light and your spirit, it shines,
Flying and free and never confined.

This world cannot keep you from burning so bright,
The ground cannot hold you when your spirit flies.

So love who you are and forget what is fake,
It's only the LOVE that you later will take.

Nothing else matters, although you do feel,
Like this world, it matters, and surely is real.

I promise you this, and keep it within,
The love is what's real, the rest, it will end.

[ A beautiful poem from my Dad. Love is encouraging the ones you Love. :) ]

One Glorious Spring Day,
An Angel was sent;
Sorrow was turned to Joy
The moment our eyes met.

Never knew Love until that day,
Heaven nor earth could take that away.
A bond that will last eternity away.

One Glorious Spring Day,
Heaven at last;
Just a smile or one look in her eyes,
JESUS I see in an innocent child.

One Glorious Spring Day
In Heaven we will sing...
Glory and Praise to the One Living King

Yes, the King of kings JESUS CHRIST,
Who gave his Life for all
That we may live forever and ever

Clever you say...Not so...

HIS redeeming Blood...
         ...The only way.

I am not my glory;
I am not my false reality.
I am not my story;
I am not my personality.
I am not my past;
I am not my hurt;
I am not the last;
And I am not the first.

I AM, and that is enough.

I accept what is.
I understand this moment.
I love this moment.
And for this I am ever grateful.

My life is incredible.
The journey, so sweet;
My adventure, inevitable,
The path, unique.

The time is right now.
I can find my success.
I still don't know how;
But that's part of the test...

To believe in beauty,
Even when I fail to see it;
For in this act,
I become the Love I needed.

I have learned, that with truest vision,
You see not the person, but God within Them.

On this morning
3 years ago,
I lived in hell.

Things were all so
terrible then,
But I couldn't tell.

On this morning
One year ago,
I woke up in heaven.

Miracles became real,
Thoughts became things;
I chose what to feel --
That changed everything.

On this morning,
5 minutes ago,
I woke up smiling.

Because somewhere between
The pain that I felt
And the joy that I found...

There was one decision
  That altered my path;
A spirit incision,
  Soul science, Mind math...

I made up my mind --
  So simple, you see --
To open my heart...
  I chose to Believe.

In love, in laughter,
  In giving and sharing;
In helping someone
  And actually caring.
In breaking the mold,
  In trying things new;
In paving the road,
  And choosing my view.

My Life is a piece of art,
  So beautiful, so pure,
That tells of my story
  And the path I've endured
The colors are vibrant,
  The picture is clear.
The moral is evident...
  There's happiness here.

Listen to life,
Right now is your chance
To turn it around,
To find life's romance.

This is your call,
Listen to your soul;
Let yourself fall
Into what you know.

This is your time,
Wherever you are,
Whatever you've done,
Let this in your heart...

Let go of worry.
Let go of your pain.
Learn to have fun,
And dance in the rain.

Love every problem,
And just look underneath...
For hiding within
Is the answer you seek.

Your suffering ends
When you choose to live;
To let life begin,
And love All That Is.


Your future thanks you...
     You just came to life.

I look, and I see,
  the Joy that I Know;
I find, in this moment,
  the Bliss of the Soul.

I hear, when I listen,
  the Heaven I forgot;
I look, and I feel,
  the Love that I sought.

I feel, and I Know,
  I don't have to change This;
I Know, in my Soul,
  that I am Changeless.

  My journey begins,
  And searching ends.
I Am That, I AM,
  My soul transcends.
This is perfection,
  The Now is my friend;
This is completion.
  The start and the end.

You are my goal,
  the One reading this;
You are my soul,
  the One feeling bliss.

Let this sink in,
  down past your ears;
Into your heart,
  beneath what you hear.

You are the One,
  It is All Right;
You are Perfection,
  You Are the Light.

You are the One,
  You Are unique;
Find in Your Self
  the Answers you seek.

Shivering in the cold, begging for escape;
My death has been arranged, and life has slipped away.

The hope that I once felt is hiding in the dark;
The prayers that I once held are frozen in my heart.

How can you ask me to sing a happy song?
You know not the pain I've endured for so long.

How can you ask me to look on the bright side?
My soul is lost in darkness, a starless night sky.
  In here there's no care
    for what's wrong and what's right
  My spirit laid bare,
    in here there's no light.

So I dance with the demons as they sing me to sleep,
And I wait for the angels to come rescue me.
  Yet over and over, they fail to arrive,
  And again I'm left wondering, Why even try?

But the pain is so great, the seclusion so final...
Wouldn't you hope for someone to rely on?

             *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *

Suddenly, I witness, at my soul's door
Something I never once noticed before.

A glimmer of light, so weak and so frail,
Finding it's way through a crack in this hell.

How can this be? I'd given up hope!
I'd just finished tying the noose in my rope!

But surely, I see it, a light drawing near,
Chasing away all the darkness I fear.

The cup of my spirit was emptied before,
But now it is filled with the light at the door.

How did this happen? What brought this on?
Where is the darkness now stolen by dawn?

My soul ascends, as the moon, it lifts
Above the clouds in the dark abyss;
  The light descends upon my frame
  And dances with my mind untamed.
My life becomes a granted wish;
This night is one I'll not forget.

GOD,

Return my heart and mind
  To perfect love and truth.
I seek what is divine,
  The innocence of youth.
Remind me who I am,
  And teach me how to stand;
Teach me how to live,
  And show me that I can.

Love is a well,
  So full and so deep.
The water is pure,
  The taste of it sweet.
Love is a story
  That never gets old;
A legend of peace,
  The best ever told.
Love is a bird
  That sings at first light;
Sailing in the wind,
  Lost in its flight.
Love is forgiveness,
  And letting it go;
Moving ahead,
  And taking it slow.
Love is a kiss
  That enters the soul;
A beautiful melody,
  That pierces the cold.

Love is you,
  And love is me.
Love is all,
  And love is WE.

[ Why do you keep walking in fear?
    If you'd just listen...
Cut out all the thinking and hear
    What you're missing... ]

Here is my suggestion,
    Try it on your heart...
Lose your mind's connection,
    Life's ready to start...

Invest the next few minutes
    Looking for your being...
Notice the next sentence:
    This is all a dream...

Stop your thoughts from running;
    Take the time to see...
The fiction you're becoming
    Is not reality...

You are the one that sees,
    You are the one that notices,
You are the one that is aware
You are the ONE.
You are ONE.

I am you and you are me.
I am us and you are we.
You are. I am.
I am.
I.

You are the one that is aware of the fact that your brain is
translating these words into electrical signals called thoughts.

You are the one that is watching yourself read.
You are the one that knows you are reading.

You are the one that knows.

You are NOT the one that is wondering why this stopped being a poem
and became something entirely different.

You are the one that KNOWS why.
You are the one that sees through these words into their deepest meaning.

Stop thinking. Open your heart and ponder these words slowly, over and over,
until you feel your soul burst in the joy that it is.

The joy that YOU ARE.

Again.

YOU ARE.
LOVE. LOVE is. You are/is/was/will be.

Peace. Be still and know.

I AM THAT I AM.

Confused? No you're not. Your mind is. Your soul is smiling in recognition.

Life is about recognizing that recognition.
Life is about LOVE.
Life is about YOU.

Whoever you think you are... I WROTE THIS FOR YOU.

Not your body. Not your mind. Not your personality. Not your story...

YOU.

:)

( My daughter sleeps,
  And my heart sings her a song... )

There will never be another you.

I may meet a girl
  And make her my wife,
But no matter what
  You're the love of my life.
  
No matter where you go,
  You'll never be alone,
'Cause long as I live
  My heart is your home.

You are my happiness,
  Your laugh ignites me,
If my soul forgets,
  Your smile reminds me.

And no matter what you do,
I'll always be proud of you.

The song of my spirit,
The story in my heart,
Your birth was my beginning,
Your love was the start.

I will never leave you.
I will never let you go.

And when I am gone,
My heart will beat on
Inside of your soul,
Where love sings its song.

You are the sunshine that wakes you,
  And the moonlight that sings you to sleep.
You are everything that is here.
  You are laughter; you are tears.
You are passion, longing,
        Reaching, finding...

You are the stars in the sky, eternally bright.
  You are the adventure you seek; the battles you fight.

Let go of fear, there's beauty here,
Just open up your ears and hear!

You are Love.
You are the Question and the Answer.
You are real, you are here, and you are now.

And you are so Beautiful.

Time is a blade that sharpens us all,
Teaching us ways to learn when we fall;
  And whether you choose to listen or not,
There is no escape from destiny's call.

So listen to life and the answers she'll give
To anyone seeking the true way to live;
  For those who would ask to wake up and to feel
  The wind on their back and the grass on their heel;
Just let go of fear and learn to forgive,
  And see through the darkness  --  the Love is what's real.

I fall into these twilight hours,
  Body drifting, mind awoken;
Captured by these moonlit powers;
  Spirit lifting, life has spoken.
Trails of thoughts that lead to peace,
  Ego resting, soul at ease;
How can one explain the pull?
  The simple joy of living full?

Realized fantasy, dreaming awake,
  Finding a reason to do what it takes...

To live your own life
  And not someone else's;
To follow the wind
  And know who the self is.
To learn who you are,
  And learn how to think;
To listen to life,
  And laugh when she winks. ;)

The secret is there is no secret;
    You already know, you just don't see it.

To change your life, all you have to do is realize
    The day is coming soon when you will die.

Do the things that you always wanted to do the worst.
    Either find the time or time will find you first.

Never feel sorry for being yourself,
    And always avoid being someone else.

God is in disaster, and God is in the rain;
    God is in the laughter, and God is in the pain.

Look at your brothers and sisters, love them from the start;
    Remember their faces, their words and their heart.

For I have learned, that with truest vision,
    You see not the person, but God within them.

I found a place inside
Where All That Is resides.

I found a space within
Where pain and heartache ends.

I looked and finally saw
The breath that made us all.

I heard a rushing sound
Of all the Love around.

I saw a pulsing light
That made everything right.

I lost the fear I had,
And saw growth in the bad.

I felt it in my hands,
The life of what I Am.

I felt it in my words,
The love they moved towards.

I felt it in my head,
The thoughts surging ahead.

And all I thought I was
Became the one I Love.

Where is the silence, O my Soul?
    I cannot find it here nor there.
I hear of violence, war untold,
    But stillness hides beneath my stare.

Love is in the quiet hour,
    Lessons learned from deep within;
Hope is in the blooming flower,
    Answers told to asking men.

Clouds will never cease to shower
    Rain upon the begging grass;
Stars will never lose their power,
    Guiding us back home at last.

Where is the silence, O my Soul?
    I finally see it in the air!
Beneath the violence, I now know,
    There rests a peace found anywhere.

When you realize that you lack nothing,
    Then you will have everything.
                                           :)

The ramblings of my mind,
  the faintest hint of time;
The smell of your perfume,
  while touching you inside.

I cannot fathom how,
  the way it knocked me down;
This love and all it's wonder,
  your voice the sweetest sound.

I cannot use my words
  to tell you how I feel;
They fail me every time
  I can't believe it's real

I finally met my love,
  the one I dreamed about;
The girl I waited for,
  but time gave way to doubt.

But fate gave me a gift,
  the lover of my life;
The dreams became so real,
  I finally met my wife.

I love you dearly, Sarah,
  you overtook my mind;
I can't believe it's fair that
  I finally met my wife.

I wrote this down tonight,
  to let you know, my love;
That I am yours completely,
  I'll never get enough.

The way you smile at me,
  the way you stuck around
When darkness tried to enter,
  and things kept falling down.

But what else can I ask for?
  The love that stole my soul;
The beautiful enchantment,
  You've made my heart unfold.

Sarah, Sarah, Sarah,
  the sweetest sound to me.
And when you say my name,
  I feel it in my knees.

I tremble at the the thought
  of falling in one day;
Not because I'm fearful,
  but nervous in some way.

But that's the way it happened,
  I loved you at first sight.
The image sears my thoughts,
  And gives my soul a light.