Masking and UNmasking

Isn't it interesting how the masking and unmasking we do at costume parties mirrors what is going on in the world around us? The green leaves that sprouted in spring and came to fullness in summer now turn colors and fall to the ground, leaving only the skeletons of the trees contrasted against the sky. 

During the year people see us in different ways. One mask might be our professional status, the face which others see as we present ourselves as skilled individuals. Another face is our personal self where we engage in our relationships, hobbies, activities and other pursuits. Then we have our spiritual persona where we follow our spiritual path or our religious rituals. 

Yet, at the heart of it all, there is simply the person who embodies all of this. Where others may see only one of these aspects of us, few see all of them. 

Standing in our sacred space, reflecting on our place in the world, we choose which aspect of our persona we choose to present next. Consciously choosing what is next we may emphasize a different aspect of our professional practice, relationships, avocations and spiritual practices. 

So the metaphor of masks at parties reveals truth. The characters we choose to inhabit for an evening at a party is a playful way of trying on some other character or characteristics that we wish to experience. 

The masks we wear may be revealing the truth of the direction we desire. Yes, I know that one thought may be that this is only an evening's entertainment.

Now look again, for there is a root of truth that appeals to us when we choose to read the same kinds of books, the same kinds of movies and are fascinated by the same kinds of stories over and over again. There are common threads that appeal to our sense of who we are and what kind of world we want what kind of life we want, how we would like to see ourselves as a person. 

Masking is a way of looking at the world through different eyes for a while and letting others see us differently for a while. As we all have experienced, this can be very enlivening and enlightening. And that is why we look forward to doing it. 

Knowing this about ourselves is revealing of inner truths as we enjoy our revelry. Knowing this about Halloween is like appreciating the difference between soul cakes and trick or treat.

You see in the old days, at Halloween, visitors would come to visit and sing songs, say prayers or tell stories about those who had died this year and the hosts would offer them soul cakes and drinks in appreciation. The Celts called this day Samhain and it marked the beginning of winter. They would also set a place at the table for the person who had died, and this was called the dumb supper.

Ironically, in a far a way country which we now call Mexico, on that very same day of the year, the Celebration was called La Dia de Los Muertos, or the Day of the Dead. And on this day too, the dead were honored with their favorite food and people told stories to remember them and wish them well on their journey into the next world, and like the Celts, they also bake special breads just for this holiday.

In both cases, the honoring of the dead was also a celebration of life. The Day of the Dead prominently features skeletons dancing, affirming that life goes on on another level. 

So the sweetness of life and the recognition of the various levels of self that we consider on this holiday offers a great insight into what life means to us, how we see ourselves and the impact we have on others. Masks and treats of this holiday are other aspects of self hidden in plain sight. And the pleasure is that all of this can be enjoyed with a great deal of fun, illumination and imagination. It is delicious, isn't it? 

Gaining Control by losing control. How does this make sense?

We have all heard of that expression "one day at a time." I am getting an exercise in that right now as I continue to live where I live without a lease and without knowing what will happen until someone buys the property and announces their intentions. So each day I get up and give thanks for the opportunity to live here and for having another day of life. Whether I get to stay or have to move will be a decision that is out of my hands at this time. I appreciate each day for what it is and I do what I need to do every day.

It takes a lot of courage to trust that things will work out without knowing the answers to all our questions. It also takes a lot of courage to be open to possible developments that we had not anticipated. Actually, doing some research now is revealing some patterns that I had only been vaguely aware of before. At this moment I am keeping those discoveries to myself until I see how they all add up and how they may influence future choices. Suffice it to say that I am making discoveries because these factors are causing me to research and reconsider what I know and what I prefer.

Face it, it can be unnerving when we have a plan and it unfolds in a different manner than we expected because it took a different turn.

We all like it when things go according to our plans. But sometimes, it just happens that someone else makes a decision or takes an action that sets in motion a chain of events and next thing you know, your schedule has changed and your plans have changed.

Be patient. The changes work out just fine. Just like that old saying about when one door closes and another opens.

Sometimes we gain control when we lose control. Here is a simple example of a fun way to experience this. I used to lead drumming circles and still use the drums with people who want a different kind of meditation experience. By just listening and following what we hear, we feel the music and our minds are just following that track. Malidoma Some, an African drummer and shaman whom I had the pleasure of encountering says that "a person who has trouble with drumming has trouble with listening."

Consider that for a moment. When we become more aware and pay attention to the signs we pick up from all around us, we find new paths. We learn melodies that we did not know. Fresh thoughts come to us. And we learn to work with others more beautifully, more harmoniously. We play together, listening to each other, we find a groove and that frees our mind to travel. And we would never have discovered those paths had we not opened our ears to listen.

So you are not drumming, you say? All drumming comes back to the first drum, our heartbeat, our breath. As we are more observant and aware of our surroundings, we perceive in ways that were once not visible to us. Hidden in plain sight is also revealed by listening to things that we have not been tuning into before.

It's also interesting how sometimes pieces of information come to us that help us make decisions that we were not even searching for. Guess all you can say is that the guiding influences in our life must have intended for us to have those, whether we call those guiding influences God, Goddess, spirit guides, ancestors, angels or something else. So here we are. Once again making a decision that veers off our original course. Is that bad? No. Making changes often leads to finding a better way to do things.

If we allow things to come to us, they will. Sometimes not being certain will get us where we want to be, except that the process of discovery reveals that we are in a place that we did not know we wanted to be but it is working out well although it was unexpected.

And we can gain control by losing control.



* A note about the photos. The image on top is the 4 of Wands from Ciro Marchetti's Tarot of Dreams which is one of the decks I read with all the time. The bottom photo is Layne Redmond, one of my teachers in the world of drumming.

Lighting the Way

 

 

One of the beautiful aspects of this time of year are all the lights that decorate both public places and our residences. The lights work a sort of magic with us, inspiring us to simply enjoy moments of visual beauty and also trigger moments of reflection.

Reflection then lights our way forward, just as lanterns along a path do. Thoughts prompted by the winter evenings and lights find us making ourselves cozy at home in the evenings, and as we relax with a warm beverage, a fire or candles, we may suddenly find our minds recalling a person we have not seen in a long time, or things that we did long ago.

At these moments, remember what the best aspects of that person are (or were) and how that helped you on your path. When recalling something we have done that we are proud of, and things that brought us great joy, notice how our hearts fill with love and the warmth we feel is directly related to those memories.

Now as we contemplate what we are about now and what we are going to do and wanting more of in our life, keep that same warm feeling of joy, pride, satisfaction and peace permeating those thoughts about what we really want now. This is the fire in the belly that fuels our engine and propels us forward.

So in this way, the outer lights lead to our inner light and propels us forward. Bear in mind that when we light the way for ourselves, we also light the way for others. When they see us enthusiastic and enjoying life, they may get inspired to pursue their dreams too, in addition to picking up attitudes from us, like our habit of being grateful and happy every day.

The magnificent holidays that come at this time of year are invested with many fond memories and good thoughts and so we literally and figuratively bring light and joy into our lives during the deepest, darkest, coldest time of winter.

We bring the light inside to remind ourselves that this darkness is seasonal, and that as it passes, we shed burdens and redirect energy as we reconnect with people and create new events. As we dance, sing, tell stories and jokes and the atmosphere is filled with lightened spirits and humor, we light up wherever we are.

In our fires, we can burn off those things we are done with, whether they are things, attitudes, or ideas. And then we can light our way with fresh energy, warmth and light, letting go of what no longer serves us while welcoming in that which will expand our sphere of influence for the better.

There are not just little bits of light reflecting off decorations, windows, ice and snow but off of us as well. When we light up, we invite more people to share in our energy and we see more smiles all around us as we light the way for ourselves and others.

Summer Magic and Spiritual Refreshment

It is summer and the time when many of us break from our routines to enjoy entertainments that refresh our spirits. Summer vacations and activities are meant to lighten us up and let the joy of the season bring a lighthearted break from work. 

One of the most popular plays of all time is Shakespeare's Midsummer Night's Dream, which is about the characters slipping in and out of different versions of reality, traveling in alternate universes to the delight and amusement of audiences.  

 Do you think that is worth a few moments of consideration?

For example, we often ask ourselves questions about our life's purpose and why we have taken on some of the patterns we have in our work and our love life. Many of us have changed our religious and spiritual practices. Some of us have also included new activities in our lives, especially creative activities that we had put off and now decided to finally use to express ourselves and give ourselves a creative outlet. New joy and energy come into us when we finally decide to quit thinking about something and do it. When we dance, make music, art, start writing or just go for more walks, we suddenly feel the flow of joy and healing.

What are these other dimensions? They could be parallel worlds where things seem to operate differently.

Consider the distance or closeness you have in various aspects of your life. Do you feel sometimes that you are an observer here? That your point of view is fluid? This often happens when we are in a major transition, and has everything to do with our progress in adjusting, changing or verifying the path that we are on.

We are spirits having a human experience rather than humans having a spiritual experience. Have you given any thought to the ramifications of this concept? How do you view your life? 

If you would like to talk about this, give me a call. 

Dreams do come true and the experience of fluidly moving between dimensions can be as magical for us as it is for Shakespeare's characters.  

The Power of Enthusiasm

It has been said that to enjoy swing dance, all that is required is joyful enthusiasm and a ready partner. Much of the pleasure and adventure in life only requires these same two ingredients.

How many times have you wanted to try something new but hesitated because you didn't want to go by yourself?

But sometimes, that beginning of the new journey is all about you deciding to get up and go, and in so doing, finding others who enjoy the same things as you do.

Part of the adventure is simply being willing to get started and trust that you will meet others who share your enthusiasm.

How many of the things in life that give you pleasure and satisfaction are things that you simply had to learn by doing? Yes, most of them. Of course, at times we need teachers to show us the way to do things and give us knowledge about subjects we want to learn more about. But in the end, it is still all about getting up and putting one foot in front of the other.

How many things can you do that only require joyful enthusiasm and a ready partner?

If we remove all the other considerations from the picture and just get going, how much more joy would there be in our life?

Mysteries of Energies

Monday evening kirtan was a great way to get in touch with the spirit within that loves to sing. After a few hours of singing, there is a very mellow vibe that is upbeat and enlivening at the same time. Voices blended in the traditional Hindu style of chanting is a delicious experience. The call and response rhythms is similar to the blues, except with a different intention. Chanting the sacred chants which are embedded with bits of wisdom and lots of love invokes a sacred presence and a presence of mind into those who participate.

Tonight, I went to hear Stan Romanek speak about his experiences with UFOs and alien abductions. Quite fascinating to see the photos and hear voice recordings of other beings in his life. One photo in particular sticks in my mind, that of a girl attending one of his talks who is a hybrid human/ET. She had human features and those distinctly large almond shaped eyes that are common to depictions of ETs.

And there were also quite a number of photos and film clips where the ETs were in and around his house. Then who would not be impressed with his story about how he fell off a ladder and tore his ACL (muscles around the knee). The doctors were prepared to operate, but then one night he got another visit from his ET buddies who fixed his knee for him. His doctor didn't believe it when he called in and said that he no longer needed surgery. The photos showed a line of little scars, sort of round, like puncture marks.

Listening to Stan speak, I get the same impression I got when I heard Whitley Strieber speak, which is that these are normal people who have been exposed to highly unusual adventures, rather than just people who made stuff up to get attention. Clearly, when you read their stories, you can tell that they did not want all this attention from their visitors.

I find a lot of this stuff interesting. I have no idea what it all really means. No idea how it all happens. When I look at presentations like this, or photos of crop circles, or the photos released by the British government of their sightings, it just all seems so amazing. I think it all has something to do with our evolution. I love a good story, and these stories are full of mysterious things and mysterious doings. There is plenty of food for thought in all this. By now, who hasn't seen photos of UFOs?

But that hybrid girl photo is absolutely stunning. That one image is the counterweight to the goofy end of the spectrum. Remember those two old geezers who got on TV several years ago and claimed that they made the crop circles by dragging pieces of wood around fields on ropes? I suspect they had a few snorts of whiskey before coming up with that one, and it would probably would be fun to have a drink with those old guys. That's part of what I like about this stuff. It contains the full spectrum from the silly to the spectacular and sublime.

On Friday, I go back for another joyous jolt of energy contra dancing. The fiddle music, the foot stomping, the whirling and swinging bring the energies back to earth so that we can ground and take off again. Dancing leaves me the same way as singing after a few hours, energized and euphoric and somewhat spent from the effort.

Every bit of it is worth it. There are all kinds of ways to tap into energies, and all kinds of ways to experience them. These are some of the ones that work for me. If you are looking for ways to perk up your energies, there are lots of other ways out there as well.

Earlier in my life, if you would have asked me, I would have told you that all this stuff is too far out for me. Years ago if you would have told me that I would be devoting my attention to doing readings for people, I would have thought you were mistaking me for someone else.

Then again, it is a strange and wonderful world we live in isn't it?

Blue Healing

The blues has a way of lifting your spirits by taking you down to the bottom and letting you bounce up. I love the blues. Something about the urgency of the music, the gut level feel of it has the power to energize and move. It's also kind of sexy, seductive and playful.

Wonder where you get that feeling when you are hearing the blues? Considering that blues inspired some creative soul to draw eerie, edgy sounds of out a guitar using a beer bottle neck, the earthy vocals fit nicely alongside it. That primal feel is what grabs your attention when the singer not only sings sweetly but mixes it with a range of sounds, growls, shots, and sensuous moans mixed in. And if at some point you don't find yourself laughing or smiling over some of the lyrics, you haven't been listening.

And some nights, that's exactly what I want to hear. The visceral feel, going straight for the emotions, and kicking it into gear with those rhythms that just call you up to dance. Dance, and let it stoke the fire of seduction. Let it bounce in those playful ways you like to do. I see that sparkle that comes with that smile. Funny that works, isn't it?

On those days and nights when you feel like you need some medicine to lift your spirits, bathe yourself in some blues. You might be having a drink while feeling funky about the way things have been going. But after you soak in that music for a little while and feel it moving you to dance, you will be feeling better.

Blues can heal. What sweet medicine.

What Makes Us So Mysterious?

What makes us so mysterious? Why do we sometimes not know why we chose what we did? All of us have had some experience in life where we find ourselves thinking that if we had a chance to do something over, we would choose differently.

Our lives are full of moments like this. Yet, every choice we have made has altered the course of our lives. For better or for worse? Those are judgements we make. When one door closes, another opens, and we are the ones opening and closing doors. Sometimes we just want to see what is behind one of those doors. Other times we get help when someone else opens a door for us.

We are complex. All kinds of factors go into our decision making process. Why we choose what we choose is often not even known to us. We do what we like. We do what we want. We do what makes us feel good. We get feelings and we act on them. We get thoughts and we act on them. Sometimes we choose wisely. Sometimes we choose impulsively. Sometimes strange choices can turn out magnificently. We are mysterious.

We change so frequently in the course of our lives that careers, relationships and choices we are making now, we didn't even imagine years ago. We are living experiments, evolving, always evolving.

Our dreams often foretell of things to come in our lives. We also have experiences of how powerful we are when we have a strong desire and focus on something and our actions, even the little subconscious ones, lead us in that direction. Then, poof! One day we find ourselves exactly where we thought we would be.

We weave in and out of levels of consciousness, sometimes recognizing the correlation between our thoughts, desires, actions and where we find ourselves, and sometimes wondering how we got where we are.

We are mysterious because we weave in and out of these levels of consciousness and that makes life look mysterious, as well as making ourselves look mysterious to others. That is exactly what makes each one of us a work of art, a work in progress.

We all love mysteries, and that is why we are fascinated by each other.

A Moment at Sunset

This evening I was sitting by the window facing west, having a drink and watching the sunset. I am feeling quite happy with the progress of events right now. No, no sure things, but delicious opportunities.

I have opportunities again to do more of the work I love most. I am relaxing, knowing that tomorrow will be a long drive to the next gig. That's fine. I am ready.

For now, things are moving forward. New friends. New work. More dancing. More music.

It is always a good thing to toast the setting sun, and feel gratitude for what is going well.

For now, I offer you this one simple thought. Nothing more complicated.

Just toast the setting sun and feel gratitude.

Validation

In some of the old ways of doing things, it was harder to get validation for what we were creating. You had to find an agent to represent you and then they would try and find a publisher or gallery or music label that might be interested in making your creations more visible to audiences, customers, readers.

Today, we can write what we want and post it and then try and draw people's attention to it. We can post photos of our art and videos of our music.

Then it is just a matter of getting other people to take a look at it. With all the billons of websites out there, finding things can be real hit or miss.

But at least it is possible to get validation of our work sooner rather than later. That vote of confidence might be all it takes for someone to be encouraged to continue on with their work.

Of course, that is not to say that a person would not like to see their books published and sold, their art sold or reproduced or their music being bought and listened to by appreciative audiences. Who wouldn't like greater success?

At least the chaos of the Internet is a place to start. We no longer have to wait for a middleman for at least some people to consider our creations. For that, I am grateful. Aren't you?

Out of Context

The story of Augustin Hadelich, who I wrote about yesterday, touches on the story of another great young violinist, Joshua Bell. Some experts see the two as comparable talents.

In 2007, Joshua Bell was put on a baseball cap and ordinary clothes and stood playing Bach on a Stradivarius in a Washington subway station. The thousand or so people who passed by while he was playing obviously thought he was just a street musician playing for tips.

He was in Washington to play at the Library of Congress and he regularly sells out symphony halls, commanding $100 a ticket. Yet, that morning in the subway, no one recognized him.

The Washington Post put him up to the idea to see what would happen.

How often do we fail to recognize talent when it is out of context?

Is a musician only good if they are booked into a concert hall? Is an artists only good if a gallery or museum features their work? Is a writer only good if a major publishing house publishes their books? Can we recognize true beauty when it pops up in unexpected places? Do we have trouble recognizing true beauty and true talent when it pops up in unexpected people?

Fire Outside, Fire Inside

This past weekend, I went to the Colorado Symphony, and the featured soloist was a young violinist named Augustin Hadelich. Prior to this, I was not familiar with his work. He was stunning. Just my impression? Consider this. Someone else thinks so much of his playing that they let him use their Stradivarius.

The audience was so appreciative of his performance that he also did something quite uncommon. He returned to the stage and performed an encore, solo.

But there is more to this story than just the fact that a superb musician can create phenomenal sounds using a rare and valuable instrument.

When he came on stage, my first impression was that his makeup was very strange. As he cradled the violin, I could see scar tissue on his neck. Suddenly it came to me that he must have been burned in a fire.

So I looked him up on the web when I got home. He has been playing since he was 5. His family is German, and he lived on a farm in Tuscany with his parents. When he was 15, some diesel fuel caught fire and burned his face, his body and his bow arm. Doctors thought that he might never be able to play again. He had 20 operations and spent 2 years healing. Now, he performs with great orchestras all over the world. Perhaps there is a touch of irony to his selection of works by Beethoven and Paganini that evening, reflecting the roots of the German family living in Italy. I choose to think that there are no coincidences in this story.

And all this has happened just in his first 27 years.

It is stunning, isn't it? What humans can do, even in the face of great adversity exceeds stories that the imagination could conjure up.

How strong must a person's will be to come back and make world class music after surviving such intense damage and pain?

Of course, the doctors must have performed their roles exceptionally as well. Yet, even though they restored his body, his spirit had to be restored in order to be able to perform at this level. Was it the power of music that helped him recover? Or was it something else? Maybe this will remain a mystery.

Or perhaps the fire inside was even more powerful than the fire outside.

How Else Can Tarot Heal?

In the same way that looking at beautiful art calms and soothes while at the same time getting the mind working, tarot can be used as a pocket sized gallery.

How is that healing? Just take it out and look at it for a little while every day. Maybe pull one card a day, or a few. Whatever you feel like. Looking at a picture intensely, meditating on the image and what it might mean, and next thing you know you have an uplifted spirit, or at least an inquiring mind. Either way, you are now entered into a heightened state of awareness.

How can it be healing to meditate on profound thoughts? How can it be healing to gaze on pictures of beauty and clever composition? Can shuffling through a deck and looking at the cards help put the world back in order? Does that calm the nerves and help lower the blood pressure?

When you have a busy schedule and you are feeling like you need to catch up, taking a deck out and looking at it can be like taking a mini-vacation to a great art museum or gallery. Nothing like fantastic art to help create a higher awareness of our present state, is there?

Asking

In the process of making our transitions and achieving our goals, we can get help from other people simply for the asking. It is good to be reminded of this in a simple elemental way. It feels really good when our task just got made easier because someone helped us.

People like to help other people. That is why when disasters hit, people suddenly and spontaneously to see what they can do to help. It is as much human nature to be compassionate as it is to be concerned about survival.

Sometimes what another person might need to achieve their goal is something that we can easily provide. However, if we don't ask, we will never know.

Of course, nobody really likes someone who is always asking for something and not giving anything in return. Gratitude is an important aspect of giving and receiving. But returns do not have to be in terms like money.

For example, there is an old Celtic tradition that if a stranger is given food and shelter for the night, the stranger repays the kindness with a gift of song, poetry or storytelling.

Once again we see the traditional emphasis on the exchange of energy.

So on your way to creating your new life, your new career, your healing, your art, your whatever, remember that it is fine to ask. Then also remember that it is appropriate to offer something in return.

Sometimes the giver will not ask for anything for themselves, so the payback comes in more general terms of showing a kindness to someone else.

You know the old saying. What goes around, comes around.

Paying Attention

Paying attention is key to enjoying life. Of course, enjoying life includes getting what we want.

Examples. If a person is not paying attention to the music, all of a sudden a beautiful dance turns into a chaotic mess.

If a person is driving a car and not paying attention, accidents happen.

If a small business owner does not pay attention to excellent performance or making use of every opportunity that comes their way, they fall short of their goals, or worse, lose it all.

If a person does not pay attention to their physical well being, they can create consequences that make their own physical comfort decrease.

What makes one person a better lover than another? Paying attention.

What makes one person more creative than another? Paying attention.

Malidoma Some, an African shaman, says that "A person who has a problem learning to drum is a person who has a problem with listening."

Carry that thought out to those things which are important to us. We can never become excellent at anyting without paying attention.

If we pay attention to the things we say are important to us, success has got to come to us, in larger or smaller amounts.

Paying attention is the true cost of success.

Leaving Marks

We never know who we will dance with when we are open and enjoying the dance. Our partner could be someone we set our sights on and went for, and she can also be someone who we just happened to meet who suddenly clicks with us.

When the music is playing so beautifully and we are moving together with the music, it is effortless and we blend with the sound until our bodies move through space as dreamers who get from here to there without seeming to exert and muscles, simply flowing with joy together. Music, people, all one.

The music is always part of the background except that we are not always conscious of it. We get so used to white noise that we don't hear the dance of life that is going on all around us.

After the dance, we leave the public space and we come home. There were times when we left marks on each other's bodies, times when we were so hot for each other that we did not notice anything except the feelings that were penetrating our souls, consuming our entire consciousness as we consumed each other.

At times like these we were holding each other so tightly that we didn't even know how hard we were touching. We just wanted all the touching we could get. Our nails and our teeth were reaching to touch the part beyond the physical. If we left marks or drew blood, it was not because we were seeking pain, it was because we were seeking pleasure and we were holding tight so that there was nothing between us.

It is always about closeness and it is always about the heart. Long after the skin has healed and the marks disappear, the only marks left are the ones on our hearts.

Going Within

The quiet is rich with promise as we meet at the border, hesitating before going within. There is nothing sweeter once that line has been crossed.

Even the gentlest touch can lead to uncovering that place where the treasures are buried when we go within. There is sweetness and light even in the darkest of places, tenderness moves fear out of the way. Passion and vision accelerate the flow and light up the night. There is only darkness where we do not move and stiffness sets in.

Going within we warm ourselves by the fire that only we can see. Our fire is invisible to those who are not part of it, but the glow illuminates our path and the warmth signals to all who are within range of our senses and announces our triumph in the realm of the senses.

Spirits rise with the embers of the fire we built going within, but the bed of orange coals is ready to expand on the wings of our breath. Breathe into the place where these embers glow and our creativity reaches for ways to build bridges to wherever we want to go. Breathe deep into your belly and feel the flames consume all doubt and propel us to the water's edge, and we sail forth on our second wind, relishing the waters that show our feelings while the juicy orange glow illuminates our horizons and the pulsing drives fire and water to make steam.

Past Lives Are Our Whales

Have you ever gone on a whale watching trip? You rarely see the whole whale come above the surface because their mass is just below the surface, so when they dive, you see just a little bit of the top of their back and their tail. Of course it is there, you just can't see it all, unless you want to snorkel or scuba.

Past lives are our whales. Long ago connections tweak our consciousness and surface offering just glimpses, but the glimpses break the surface and hint at what is below.

When do we need to know more? When do we want to know more? Is this fragment of memory adding to our connection, to our pleasure?

What is it that is signaling to us, breaking through the surface of our awareness, calling to us to look?

If there is this elusive bit that is tantalizing us with bits of memory that are just out of reach, we can not grab it. We have to swim around with it. We have to snorkel or scuba and dive beneath the surface to see the big picture.

Dreaming, Breathing, Quickly, Deeply

What is it that you want now more than anything? What would you do if you if this moment could be exactly as you wish?

Would you turn to see the face that goes with the voice you have been hearing? Would the touch you desire be soft? Would the comfort of the touch open to a whispered sound only audible between the two of us?

Do you know what I was dreaming? I had a feeling that your dream overlapped with mine. That is why when we talk, there is a similarity in our visions, and the things you want to say I say, and the things I want to say, you say.

When we dream and then it comes true, it is precognitive, and these dreams can become stunning in their intensity as we breathe deep and digest the idea that we are here now and we swim toward each other in this liquid atmosphere that surrounds us when we are engulfed in a feeling we savor. It totally surrounds us, this feeling, and we swim in it, and we breathe without effort, quickly, quickly as we look all around to see if we are really swimming, then deeply as we know we are here, and the waters part and we walk through them together, feeling the lifting of water, the lifting away of whatever we were thinking of a moment before we were here.

For You

What we have always desired flows close to the surface in this Valentine tide of energy cascading through the atmosphere.

When we hug, I can feel your desire. In your eyes, I can see the fire. In all the torrents of feelings pulsing through the space between us, there is a sweetness on the air and an earthy sound coming from your throat.

There is nothing so much as as the silvery moon, reflected on beads of sweat. There are outlines of excitement making themselves visible as well as audible on your breath.

What are those things you say without saying, you know without knowing, you feel even now, in memory, in spirit. Your hair is electric, picking up signals from the small sounds of evening, where the singing of all the creatures forms the words I want to say. They give voice to our feelings. Your hair brushes my skin as you lean over me, and you feel me tremble when those wisps stirs the edges of my spirit and the landscape of my body.

I feel your desire in your embrace. The scent of your true desire has escaped from under your perfume and made itself known just as our eyes met again.

The moonlight on your calf ascends your thigh and traces a silken path invisible to the touch, but everywhere to the eye.

I ask you again your name just to feel the way you pronounce it with your tongue.