anything can be poetry if you're brave enough.
there is only one answer:
surrender.
do not try to outrun it—
you only waste your breath.
do not cover it up—
you only compound it.
there is only one answer:
feel it.
feel it in all its senselessness,
in all its depth and fury.
once you have surrendered
to your one and only master
you are slave to nothing else.
sometimes we are lost in questions
which is to be lost in things unlived.
ghosts of the past, no longer alive
or ghosts of the future, not yet in form.
but we may make use of lifeless thoughts.
we may recognize the fear in them
and where there is fear
there is the chance to face it.
there will always be the question of giving in.
of loss
death
or any number of misfortunes.
but the choice to face fear anyway
is the end of lifelessness
and listlessness.
each breath you take may be a question:
do I have the strength?
the answer:
as long as you’re breathing
you do.
your pain is alive
it has a pulse
a heartbeat
and it needs to be acknowledged
as a living being.
ask what it needs
thank it for being the messenger
you don’t want but know
deep down you need.
nurture it with questions
with listening
and with silence
with not demanding answers
and with patience
and someday it will whisper
the words it has waited
all this time to say.
it is okay if other people become who I wanted to be.
it is okay if they master my half-developed talents
or realize my half-begun dreams.
it is okay if they live the life I wanted to live.
I will visit them daily
at the altar of forgiveness.
it is okay if others outshine me.
it is okay if words spoken in bitterness become true
so long as I come to love the truth.
maybe I won’t try to be who I am anymore
because I don’t know who I am.
perhaps I will not mind if others misunderstand
because I do not understand either.
maybe losing is letting go
and letting go is becoming.
Pain to power Doesn’t mean replacing With pleasure Or numbness It doesn't mean Getting rid of It means being alive in it Breathing through it Listening to it Allowing it So you may also Allow the light to come through That’s what heals you That’s what makes you powerful. *** Thanks to my friend Dr. Andrea Dinardo for the phrase "pain to power." I highly recommend you check out her blog, Thriving Under Pressure.
Are any of these true for you?
-Notifications from social media sites make you nervous
-When you get text messages, even from people you care about, you feel the urge to avoid answering them
-Even though you want to share your thoughts with others, it’s like pulling teeth to write a blog post
If none of these apply to you, it may seem strange to you that anyone would feel this way.
But maybe one or all of these do apply to you.
Maybe you’ve experienced the Catch-22 of social anxiety:
you want very much to connect with others,
yet the very act of connecting with others makes you feel nervous and avoidant!
I’ve known for a while now that I deal with social anxiety.
But only recently have I made the connection that it affects my electronic social life as well!
Now that I’ve realized I have social (media) anxiety, I can challenge it the way I do my “real life” social anxiety.
Do you experience social (media) anxiety?
If you do (or even if you don’t), I’m curious to hear what you think.
Yours thoughtfully,
Jenna
Sometimes peace hurts.
Sometimes peace means feeling all the painful things all over again.
Except with peace, your spirit doesn’t hurt.
Because your heart is open.
You have let go.
What will happen? It’s never certain.
This you have accepted.
Whatever may come, you will be there.
You have committed to steadiness within yourself no matter what happens.
No matter how much it hurts.
No matter how much you miss what you’ve lost.
No matter how many pieces your heart has broken into.
This is why we can’t predict who will find peace.
Because peace does not depend on circumstance.
It does not require complex theories or figuring out.
Peace is proceeding.
One breath at a time.
Because you exist, and for no other reason.
Remember, above all, that peace is your friend.
You need not be lonely anymore.
what would it mean
to take it in turns
to take it all
in stride
not waiting for
the perfect vacation
beach breeze, palm trees
to relax
but to pause
here and now
amidst the chaos
stand still
watch it whirl
watch it all come and go
if you can’t help but want
the pleasant things
if you can’t help but prefer
pleasure to pain
you’re not alone
but i invite you to imagine
just for a moment
what it would mean
to let go of preference
if it made no difference
whether the next moment
brought pleasure or pain
if you believed you stood to gain
and stood to lose
equally from both
can you let go of needing
to feel a certain way?
i know it’s a lot to ask
and i am no master
these are just things
i’ve decided to consider
i’ve decided to ask
what if.
where is the grief
inside you living?
what waits within
like song inside a bird
what seizes your heart
in spasms of fear and glory
waiting, waiting
to be heard?
tell me, tell anyone, tell someone
even if only
in the faintest of whispers
until you touch the place inside
where grief melts into music.
child
no matter how deeply
you have been wounded
remember:
one day a seed
will come along
take root exactly
where it hurts the most
slumber
in darkness until
you open up
and allow enough light
to reach it;
once you do that
nothing will stop
its furious
motion
its transformation
of dark matter
into something altogether
unexpected.
face to face with the sky 