Easily Amazed

i’ve altered some of these people’s words just a wee bit, so that we can have that conversational flow… i hope you all don’t mind.

i have been a silent observer of your lovely blog and not commented before, possibly because i wonder if i measure up to all the love you put out!



We have to, in our strivings to express only the greatest good, learn to love our own icky parts and bring them out of the closet.



i feel inspired to express myself in many different ways. i feel encouraged and empowered to confront ways of communicating in which i feel shakey (they feel foreign) and bringing them out in their full beauty.



sadly, i feel that much of our society has lost the concept of pure and unconditional love, and we are so lucky to have reminders that it DOES EXIST. i think many are taken aback by the amazing amount of love that you – and others who have commented so beautifully here in the past, hold out to others – because it’s just not seen very often in our daily lives. i just returned from d.c., where many are angry and disheartened for what seems like endless reasons…the election, the homeless, the cold, the lines, the jobs, the cost…you name it.

I pray that we learn to recognize the individual humanness in each and every one of us, regardless of our religions or convictions.

i guess what i’m really saying is that yes, your pure love does shock and overpower others (including me). but that, my dear, is a wonderful thing! all you lovers out there don’t give up…because you are inspiring others to join your ranks.



It is so important that you continue to express who you are, otherwise, how would we ever know? How would we ever be able to know there is a another out there who worries about the same things I do, who hopes for growth in the same way, who longs to express the same sort of goodness? It can be so LONELY on this path, in certain areas, even if you have many friends/family/acquaintances. Just knowing someone can touch you with gentle recognition in that very place where you feel most vulnerable is so important.



I am learning that in matters of the heart and soul and spirit, it is ESSENTIAL to let it shine. People cannot love the real you if you never show them who you are. And likewise, you cannot love the real them.

letting it shine, showing our soul, being ourselves in the most unhindering ways, and allowing effort to release to effortlessness is a potent part of transcending the loneliness many of us confront on this path. finding others who are willing to recognize us and reflect our wholeness is, i think, the most precious gift that we can offer to and recieve from one another in this world. in such ways we nourish unconditional love with no end… that sticks!

~puala sharing a comment

~jacqui from integral naked

~r.k. from integral naked

~cleolove from a great post about yasser arafat

~chris weaver he just says this!

cracking up in my morning rounds, brandy grants me a new perspective:

I feel very cozy here at work, if it’s possible to feel cozy in black, nearly knee-high boots with four inch platform heels. (I swear, I must be like, six feet tall today–from this perspective, I’ve become totally fascinated with the parts in people’s hair.)

as she acknowledges these wise words from davidD in a rich discussion on expanding the limits of love

How to move from controlling and being impulsive, to being spontaneous? …It’s about trusting. But I believe that you can’t really trust others FULLY unless you can trust yourself first. I’ve got to accept myself, every one of my many faults, not trying to change them, not indulging them, just accepting them, and trusting that I’m on a journey and its OK to be however I am right now. That’s what it is to love myself unconditionally. Unless I can do that, how can I love YOU unconditionally?

and these from shawn

To know how to hold on is easy. If you want to you will. When your grip is slipping, and [others] are stomping on your fingers, do you feel the pain? Good. Does it matter? No. If you are being what you want to be, without holding anything back then BE. You will hold on if you want to or if you must let go you will. Release the mind and follow what your heart tells you. It will show you what you need to be shown. Trust that what happens is not just you but [for others] too.

geez, is this crew hot or what… i would so enjoy summarizing the many highlights from that amazing conversation… but if you peek over there, you can see that it’s gobbling up my computer time. so if you’re interested, let your eyes roam!

how are you feeling now that the citizens of the united states have elected a president? depressed? relieved? worried? concerned? excited? indifferent? motivated? numb? uncertain? hopeless? hopeful?

i am inspired by the momentum that was created in this election. john kerry and george bush were directly responsible for getting people rowled up, tuned in, and focusing attention on a common theme: electing a leader. folks were intoxicated (and aggravated!) by the rich political debates that sprung up everywhere. the possibility for a brighter future encouraged public involvement, communicating with strangers, meeting one’s neighbors, inviting dialogue, and exploring dreams and desires. regardless of opposing views, people were united around this common theme and turned out in record breaking numbers to make sure that their voice was heard. for this, i thank those two men. and i invite each of us to keep letting our voice be heard. speak loud and clear about that which motivates your heart and propels you forward towards your dreams and desires.

Alan Wolfelt defines hope as “an expectation of a good that is yet to be.” prior to the election, an electric wave of hope ran through kerry supporters who saw in kerry a promising shift to the good that is yet to be. i am grateful for anyone who can inspire hope in others. now, however, it is our responsibility to claim that hope as our own, to take it back into our own hands — returning it to its rightful owner, our hearts. if john kerry gave you hope for the future– claim that hope as your own and hold onto it…. please, we need you.

i’ve noticed in the past few days a deep sense of grief and depression squirming its way through kerry supporters as that expectation of a good that is yet to be dwindles. it’s almost as if that balloon of hope was popped by the state of ohio and it pains me to feel the air streaming out. my technique for containing that air is to honor the grief. let’s grieve together.

The grief journey requires contemplation and turning inward. In other words, it requires depression, anxiety, and loss of control. It requires going to the wilderness. Quietness and emptiness invite the heart to observe signs of sacredness, to regain purpose, to rediscover love, to renew life!

~ Alan Wolfelt

honor your depression, anxiety, and sense of loss of control. allow yourself to experience the journey of contemplation, quietness, and emptiness as you make your way back to the sacredness, regaining your purpose, rediscovering love, and renewing life.

now that we’re awake… let’s keep playing together!

oh walk me to a boulder

half-way up the mountain, covered with lichen

and damp with fog, where i can lean my back

and weep. oh my grandfathers, who walked

away from your farms and sailed west

from dark shores to save your sons from the finely-

gloved hands that would strip us of our rakes, our saws

and ploughs, that would lock swords into hands meant

to catch newborn foals and light peat fires in autumn.

oh grandfathers who made your way to these hills,

will you sit with me a moment and add your grief

to mine? i will take it. i will feel it burst from my heart

and flow into this great rock at my back, and sink

down and down into the all-remembering earth.

i was twenty one before the sight of blind injustice

knocked me to my knees and i came back to these mountains

to know my people. in the basement of the church i sat next to

my mother’s father cecil at the love feast. we ate canned fruit

in paper bowls, the women on one side and the men on the other,

and then we passed a metal basin of warm water, and one

at a time, on the bench, we washed one another’s feet – my father

galen washed mine, and the i washed cecil’s, held in my hands

the heavy feet that had walked the peach orchards on the top

of tinker mountain for decades before slipping awkwardly into

leather shoes for the treasurer’s office at the little college

in the valley. and as it was meant to be, from this gathering,

stubborn and shy like a herd of cattle that moves over the ridge

away from the road, the knowledge entered my heart that jesus

did walk this earth, and his hands knew how to touch.

and jesus went to the wilderness, and jesus rested his back

against a boulder and he wept, and jesus rose with fire

in his eyes and sent his shout into the center of the whirlwind,

and jesus felt love and compassion trickle into secret pools

and rivers under the crusted blind face of the world of men,

and jesus walked back down into the streets of the city

with his touching hands and his blazing eyes and his

grieving heart, and his shout came back around as torrents

of sweet rain, and each raindrop said, HERE I AM.

~chris weaver

i can do like jesus did,

pour love and compassion

into the deep wells of the world

so it can go deep down and water the roots of everything

and find its way up through the stalks

to the flowers opening out into the world,

and when lots of people do the same

we will again remember that

we are all part of creation

and need to take care of what we have

~eiwor

“open space in place”

long old roots

inching deep into the dark mineral body,

with each one’s shallow feeder roots

intricately tangled with everyone else’s,

all surging into the above-ground life,

the leafy top exchanging breath

with the clouds and the winged ones

~christy

Mayke Wagner posted this on the Open Space listserv:

As a German citizen I cannot vote – at the same time I feel deeply affected by the politics of the U.S.. A friend of mine asked me today, how I handle this powerlessness and my answer was the following:
I try not to be discouraged by the things happening far away from me. I try to make a difference for the people around me, “to stand up and show my soul”, to listen and serve.

i offer these words of inspiration to each of us, not to be infected by the virus of powerlessness but, instead, to stand up and show our souls, making a difference for the people around us, listening and serving whole-heartedly, with our eyes wide open, being guided by a love for life.

here’s a couple of excerpts from the book Chamalu: The Shamanic way of the Heart

Western man lives in luxurious prisons built by himself: prisons of rules, prohibitions, dogmas, and his own thoughts, over which he has no control. In this sad circumstance, spontaneity, purity, love, and innocence are sacrificed. He prefers to run in desperation rather than enjoy the walk. Caresses have been forgotten in personal relationships, because tenderness, having no value, has been suppressed. The contact we will eventually have is a call to spontaneity, to purity, a remembering of the beauty of life and the importance of falling in love with it.

There is no better protection than tenderness. There is no better fuel than love. Living with out love is like a car without gasoline. Those who love become powerful, and miracles happen to them daily.

At the heart of each person lives a being that is immensely loving. When this being is free, love flows spontaneously, filling us with light.

sounds a lot like standing up and showing our soul.

by Deborah Koff-Chapin