Everybody gets sad sometimes,
But the lovers soul keeps a tender smile.

-Rumi

Let's Be Beautiful

“Let’s Be Beautiful” 

by Melissa Rice

 

Let’s Be Beautiful

Let’s be beautiful
Outrageous and voluptuous and funny
Let’s toss our hair around
With no intention
Except for that it feels good and we’re lost in our thoughts
and in each other

Let’s laugh loudly
Not at the right time but whenever we feel like it
Not at someone or about
But at ourselves
And at life

Let’s be wonderful
Not pretty and poised and proper and pointed
Pink with dots but look up at the stars and embrace the
Rainbow
Overhear children giggling
Savor scents of anything newborn

Let’s forget to shave our legs for a whole week
Because we are so busy thinking about
The entire world’s children
And not just our own
Or not even

Let’s eat right and sleep right and strengthen our core muscles
Not because the Department of Longevity says so
But because we love living
And want to stick around a little bit longer
Than we’d originally planned because we’re not as afraid as we used to be

Let’s triumph
Over concealer and concealing
Injections and architectural French pedis
Over death of children by insults and
No true love

Let’s celebrate
Not what should have been and would have been and could still be
Not removal of Section 8 housing from our neighborhood
But now

Let’s collaborate
Not because we’re supposed to but because it’s more succulent.
Have sex on Tuesday mornings because it’s atypical and not predictable Unpretentious and glorious and very, very quiet

Let’s drink it all in
The sickening, the riveting, the passionate, the wise and the unwise
Let’s be decadent and luscious and full of justice
Care about a little instead of
I could care less

Let’s dance incorrectly and step on each other’s toes
Fall over each other and into each other
And realize we are at our best
When we do

Let’s be careful, but not too careful
Let’s touch our souls with our hands
Let’s hold each other gently and spontaneously
With no purpose and with every purpose

Let’s Be Beautiful. 

Little Girl....

Little girl, don't you go letting life harden your heart. 

 

 

The In-Between State

We are told about the pain of chasing after pleasure and the futility of running from pain. We hear also about the joy of awakening, of realizing our interconnectedness, of trusting the openness of our hearts and minds. But we aren't told all that much about this state of being in-between, no longer able to get our old comfort from the outside but not yet dwelling in a continual sense of equanimity and warmth.

Anxiety, heartbreak, and tenderness mark the in-between state. It's the kind of place we usually want to avoid. The challenge is to stay in the middle rather than buy into struggle and complaint. The challenge is to let it soften us rather than make us more rigid and afraid. Becoming intimate with the queasy feeling of being in the middle of nowhere only makes our hearts more tender. When we are brave enough to stay in the middle, compassion arises spontaneously. By not knowing, not hoping to know, and not acting like we know what's happening, we begin to access our inner strength.

Yet, it seems reasonable to want some kind of relief. If we can make the situation right or wrong, if we can pin it down in any way, then we are on familiar ground. But something has shaken up our habitual patterns and frequently they no longer work. Staying with volatile energy gradually becomes more comfortable than acting out or repressing it. This open-ended tender place is called bodhichitta. Staying with it is what heals. It allows us to let go of our self-importance. It's how the warrior learns to love.

-Pema Chodron, The Places That Scare You

Welcome to Today....

On Communication...

We habitually erect a barrier called blame that keeps us from communicating genuinely with others, and we fortify it with our concepts of who's right and who's wrong. We do that with the people who are closest to us and we do it with political systems, with all kinds of things that we don't like about our associates or our society. It is a very common, ancient, well-perfected device for trying to feel better. Blame others. Blaming is a way to protect your heart, trying to protect what is soft and open and tender in yourself. Rather than own that pain, we scramble to find some comfortable ground.

Pema Chodron

Goodnight my lovelies

It's Good to Feel You Are Close to Me

-Pablo Neruda

It's good to feel you are close to me in the night, love,
invisible in your sleep, intently nocturnal,
while I untangle my worries
as if they were twisted nets.

Withdrawn, your heart sails through dream,
but your body, relinquished so, breathes
seeking me without seeing me perfecting my dream
like a plant that seeds itself in the dark.

Rising, you will be that other, alive in the dawn,
but from the frontiers lost in the night,
from the presence and the absence where we meet ourselves,

something remains, drawing us into the light of life
as if the sign of the shadows had sealed
its secret creatures with flame.

There is still time to become a LEGEND

Hope vs. Hopelessness

What happens with you when  you begin to feel unsettled, uneasy? 

Notice the panic, notice when you instantly grab for something.

That grabbing is based on hope. 

Not grabbing is hopelessness. 

If hope and fear are two sides of one coin, so are hopelessness and confidence. 

If we are willing to give up hope that pain and insecurity can be exterminated, 

then we can have the courage to relax with the groundlessness of our situation. 

(Pema Chodron)

You are PRECIOUS

When something is precious,

Instead of holding it tightly,

Focus on opening your hands and sharing it with the world.

 

 

Go Against the Grain

via Pema Chödrön....

Go against the grain of wanting things on our own terms. 

Wanting it to work out for ourselves no matter what happens to the others. 

Dissolve the walls you've built around your hearts.

Dissolve the layers of self-protection you've worked so hard to create. 

Dissolve the fixation and clinging of ego.

in a nutshell....

The truth is....

new beginnings

Back with a vengence

Hello my lovelies, I apologize for my absence. 

Have you ever had one of those moments in life where you felt as though everything had completely turned upside down? Like someone pulled the rug out from under your feet only to reveal that there was nothing beneath that? I have. More than once in my life, in fact. But the good news is that I always manage to pull myself together, find my bearings, and most importantly, continue to move forward. 

Change seems to be the word of 2011 thus far. And whether you'd like to admit it or not, change is a scary concept. Liberating and intriguing as well, but mostly very frightening and uncomfortable. 

I came close to leaving this California life behind and traveling to another destination. I even considered traveling back to my hometown. After countless sleepless nights, lots of wine, and way too many lists of pros and cons, I decided to risk it all and stay in LA. Granted, I moved to another neighborhood and am probably paying more rent then I'd ever like to admit to my parents, but I am in constant awe of the beauty of my neighborhood. I'm in the mountains, and can see the San Gabriel mountains, downtown LA, and even the Griffith Observatory....all from my very house. I even have a fireplace that I have no idea what to do with! 

This move has inspired me to take charge of my life....through trial and error I believe that I have finally figured out what I want in my life to be happy. This has been by far my greatest accomplishment. So....my new found outlook on life will allow me to get back into blogging. I'll soon be opening an Etsy store as well, so stay tuned! 

I hope you'll come back and visit me here....my goal is to help everyone find the inspiration they need to find happiness. Everyone deserves to be happy.

Good night, sleep tight.