Giving Thanks

In tribute to the Thanksgiving holiday I am making a list of all the things I am grateful for.
Enjoy!

I am thankful for:

• my life
  
• my mother's amazing laugh
• my father's hugs
  
• Lauren's yucky dance
• the way Vanessa always makes me feel like a lady.
• my voice
  
• the inside jokes I share with Justin, and the way we can just be ourselves.
• dancing until dawn
  
• the talks I share with John about life that always inspire me to greatness.
• Celeste's crazy stories and amazing costumes
• Hawaii
  
• my Grandmother's constant support and encouragement
  
• the fact that Alexis and I will always be best friends, no matter where we find ourselves in the world
• the time I spent in Europe, learning how to love myself
  
• the way my cousin Kent says, "Cuzzzz"
• Barry and his sweet passion for his cause
• the ocean
  
• my friends Lisa and Jade and the example they set for me on how to live life freely
• belly laughing
  
• Jamo. How I love Jamo. ((Be safe over there!))
• Hafiz and Rumi poetry
  
• My amazing friend Joe...even though he has passed on he continues to be one of the greatest influences in my life
• brownies
  
• Nathans love
• my cousins Kimmy's sense of style
• the time I spent with Sion
• Uncle Robs tattoos ((but dont get any more!))
• the memory of running and laughing through the street of Paris in the rain
  
• Weenie!
  
• the connection I share with Roy
• my friends Scott and Teri and their awesome adventures
  
• my faith and positive attitude
• Roger and his boat
• Stijn - one day we WILL do a festival!
• Marie's haircut - rock it girl
• the ring Bella gave me
• sunsets
• sunrises
• my relationship with the wind
• the goose bumps I still get when I hear, "Somewhere Over the Rainbow"
• Eva Cassidy
• the opportunity to share my music with the world
• Barbara Martin and Dimitri - you have changed my life
• my roomie Jason ((I love our home!))
• soccer
• home cooked meals
• rice milk
• painting
• my family - I seriously have the best family in the world
• hiking
• swings
• the opportunity to record with Joel and the amazing friendship that is blooming
• sitting side by side with Bonnie
• my shenanigans with Jonathan Kaplan
• Kelly's friendship
  
• story time with Lou
• meditation
• the time I spent wit Robert - RIP
• learning from Amanollah
• yoga
• the change of the seasons
• essential oils
• my health
• Geoffrey. Geoffrey. Geoffrey.
  
• the chance to experience and give unconditional love
  
• for every soul I have ever encountered - I am who I am today because of you

These are just a few of the things I am thankful for.
Go ahead, make your own list.
It's a beautiful gift to give yourself.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Discover Rabia

An excerpt from the book, Love Poems from God by Daniel Ladinsky.

Rabia

"Rabia of Basra (c. 717-801) is without doubt the most popular and influential of female Islamic saints and a central figure in the Sufi tradition. She was born nearly five hundred years before Rumi, and although it is rarely said, she, perhaps more then any other poet, influenced his writings.

The sensuousness of Rabia's poetry may be a bit shocking to some, though it was probably more so in its original. Even conservative scholarly translations cannot get around its, at times, graphic eroticism. Many myths surround her life and poems, but one has been recently confirmed - while Rabia was quite young she became separated from her parents and while wandering homeless, she was stolen and sold into prostitution. She was forced to work as one might in a brothel for many years.
She wrote, "What a place for trials and transformation did my Lover put me, but never once did He look upon me as if I were impure. Dear sisters, all we do in the world, whatever happens, is bringing us closer to God."

Rabia may be a timely spiritual voice for women of this century, especially for any woman (or man) who has had to suffer the emotionally crippling degradation of unwanted touch. She was both physically and sexually abused from an early age, yet still became on of the greatest women saints-and poets-known to history."

If you have not yet experienced the extasy of Rabia's poetry, it is my profound honor to expose you to it now. If you are familiar with Rabia, I hope you fall in love with her all over again.

The Perfect Stillness

Love is
the perfect stillness
and the greatest excitement, and most profound act,
and the word almost as complete
as His name.

Dedicated to I and I

Cover via Amazon

Someone very dear to me recently gifted me with a book that is changing my life. It is impacting me in such a profound way that I wish to share it with all of you in the hopes that it too will touch your hearts and help encourage you to bloom.

The title of the book is,
Love Poems from God,
Twelve Sacred Voices from the East and West
by Daniel Ladinsky.


The back cover reads:
In both eastern and western spiritual traditions, it is believed that certain mystics and saints receive a gift from God that make them poetic conduits of the divine, bearers of "love poems from God."
Twelve of these timeless spiritual poets, six from the East and six from the West, are beautifully presented in this inspiration volume. Daniel Ladinsky, best known for his gifted translations of the great Sufi poet Hafiz, brings his art to this rich and luminous collection. These fresh, innovative, and playful versions provide a meaningful way to celebrate ourselves and our world.

I will go poem by poem.
And together we will be seduced by the Love Poems from God.

Rabia

When God said, "my hands are yours,"
I saw that I could heal any creature in this world;

I saw that the divine beauty in each heart
is the root of all time
and space.

Ahhhhh!

This transition period is HUGE.
It seems collectively we have decided on a soul level to face our darkness. Whether we want to our not our world is forcing us to stop and take accountability. For me personally, I feel like all my issues are staring me in the face demanding my attention. NOW. As in RIGHT NOW.

I'm overwhelmed. I'm stressed. I'm anxious. I'll admit it - I'm fearful.
Simultaneously I'm excited and hopeful.
There is an urgency that I did not feel before.
The call to action has been sounded in my mind, my emotions, my body!

No matter how I try to distract myself, I'm unable to silence the sound of my truth. It reverberates in every pore of my body, pushing and bursting to be let out. Anything I do that is not in accordance with my higher self or my soul purpose is beginning to cause actual, physical discomfort. For example, this week at work I had to call people on the phone to try to get them to register for an upcoming event. Every single time a person picked up the phone I would loose my voice and begin to cough! The second I would hang up, I would be fine. FINE. The moment I would pick up the phone again - BOOM! Coughing, chocking, and actual pain in my esophagus.

My intention for this weekend was to sit down and map out a plan to get me out of my current situation. Have you heard the expression, "When we make plans, God laughs"? Well, God must be having one heck of a rip-roaring time watching me and my escapades. All of my well planned plans have gone to crap. Thankfully God blessed me with her sense of humor and I'm just exasperated enough to be laughing right along beside her.

I've come no closer to mapping out an escape route. I have no idea what I'm going to do. I know what I want to do, I just don't know how to MAKE it happen.
So I'm going to stop pushing. I'm going to stop letting my rational mind drive me insane with its need to control, to fix, to plan...

I just had an "Ah-ha!" moment. I know exactly what I'm going to do:

Every day I am going to take a step forward, in faith, and put myself out there. I'm going to open to receive and SHOW the universe I'm ready. I cant control what others do, but I can choose to take peaceful action. What is peaceful action? Taking action that is inspired by love and happiness.

I'm going to email all the wonderful people who have given me their cards because they loved my music, and say "thank you!".
I'm going to get together with my producer to just talk and laugh and PLAY with music.
I'm going to contact different venues and OFFER myself in the spirit of SERVICE.
AND I'm going to volunteer to play my music at either a hospital, or a recovery center.
....

wow.
...

I feel great! Seriously, I feel a million times better. I feel, dare I say it, empowered!
Funny, the second I let go and let God, everything becomes more clear.
How's that for a non-plan!

This is love...

This is love:
to fly toward a secret sky,
to let go and just live.

To take a step without thought of feet.

~Rumi

Lotus

Image via Wikipedia

I dig meditation. I dig chant. Having been raised Catholic I have an affinity for incense and robes...
So naturally I'm a fan of Buddhism. However, its only since moving to Los Angeles that I've heard of Nichiren Buddhism.

Tonight I attended a Nichiren Buddhist meeting as the guest of the SGI-USA's Young Women's Divison leader, Vinessa. Having learned my forte was sound, Vinessa has been eager to expose me to her spiritual practice. We gathered at a members home and chanted Nam-Myoho-Renge-Kyo, the chant Nichiren Buddhists practice and repeat day and night in order to achieve enlightenment, or Buddhahood.

The meaning of Nam-Myoho-Renge-Kyo is broken down as such:

• Nam – derived from the Sanskrit word “Namas” which means “to devote oneself.”
• Myoho – “mystic law”
  
• Renge – literally translates into “lotus flower" referring to the Lotus Sutra Nichiren Buddhism is founded upon.
  
• Kyo – “teaching” and secondly, “sound.”
  

As I am learning, this chant is the backbone of the Nichiren practice, as is the principle of cause and effect.

Tonight's topic of discussion was Karma. Having just finished my metaphysics class on karma earlier this afternoon, I found the "coincidence" humorous and totally fitting.

It was fascinating to sit and listen to the Buddhist's view of Karma. In Nichiren Buddhism, the members believe they can eradicate their karma completely by chanting Nam-Myoho-Renge-Kyo. By doing so they feel they are directly taping into the universal life force that connects all things, and with this connection they are able to directly influence the past, present, and future.

For me, it was great fun. Sitting in a room of chanting souls is POWERFUL.
AND there was really yummy food.

Am I going to sign up? No.
But then again, if Catholicism cant pin me down, what can?

What I am going to do is incorporate the chant into my own unique tapestry of spirituality and see what happens.

After all, I could use a little more lotus in my life.

Magic Flute

One Regret

"One regret, dear world,
That I am determined not to have
When I am lying on my deathbed
Is that I did not kiss you enough."

— Hafiz

Laughing At the Word Two

Laughing At the Word Two

Only

That Illumined

One

Who keeps

Seducing the formless into form

Had the charm to win my

Heart.

Only a Perfect One

Who is always

Laughing at the word

Two

Can make you know

Of

Love.

~Hafiz

From: 'The Gift'

Translated by Daniel Ladinsky

Joshua Tree

Image by Rennett Stowe via Flickr

I've found myself in Joshua Tree
Captivated by a wee Bodhi
just beginning the journey of life.

This one is no stranger to the path.

Timelessness surrounds and radiates
seducing the heart instantly,
and I am forever in love.

Yes, I've journeyed to Joshua Tree
to discover that which was calling me
deep in the the depths of my core.

Here, I've found the tree in need of watering.
And I have just the nectar.

By Jaqueline Marie

The Swing

Image by ""Alia"" (busy) via Flickr

My feet, once firmly on the ground, hover weightless.

Slowly, the world begins to move.

Back and forth. Back and forth. Back and forth.

My body pumps in time.

Strong. Beautiful. Free.

The sky reaches down to touch me, delighted in my pursuit of its glory.

The playful wind rushes up to help me.

Yes, in the wind I have always found a friend.

Back and forth. Up and down.

Up and down. Back and forth.

The pull and push of flight.

I've found my rhythm.

~Jaqueline Marie