Reflections on Life, Love and the Universe

How many of us have danced in the moonlight with stars glistening as we circled around the dance floor, whether it was a grassy field, along the Seine or on the terrazzo tiles of an open plaza, or possibly in our dreams. In a more spiritual sense, Eckert Tolle once wrote, "We are the dance, Life is the dancer." Life dances within us as we make our journey. I like the imagery it conveys. Stars give us light, beacons of hope. We dance to the music we hear in our lives and sometimes the dance is slow and rhythmic and sometimes it is long and fast, or short and intricate. So many dances, so much life.

For this hub, I share with you some of my journal entries and reflections about our dance through life, love and the universe. Some entries are observations, some are quotes, some are stories or poetic. I've left out dates, locations and time because life in the truest sense is always only in the present, now is all we ever have.

How lovely and simple can be a blank book ready to fill with memories, thoughts, dreams, ideas.

I woke up this Saturday morning to the glorious sound of a chorus of birds singing-- the symphony of the trees.

Mist from a soft rain still hung from the heavens.

Reading from a book: "You are a miniature world. Your essence contains the world and everything in it."

We sat at a beautiful town park with a waterfall and ducks standing right at the edge. It was rather poetic watching them and how they did not lose their footing. It was very calm and serene watching all the life that enjoyed this Charles River.

There's a tenderness in life which we can't lose, it's a part of the human thread, it's part of who we are and how we must see our world-- with soft eyes.

While driving home on my street, I saw the neighborhood boy that nobody seems to like. He has no friends, his mom lets him wander. Maybe he is 9 or 10? When I saw him holding a fishing pole, I felt sorry for him. What will be his future if his present is so empty?

I was listening to an old Simon and Garfunkel song the other day and the last line was, "and the island doesn't cry." As soon as I heard it, I thought, "ah, but it does". An island cries to reach out and connect with something, anything. It can only have so much isolation without shrinking into a barren stretch of lonely sand, footprints no longer etched into its history.

I don't imagine it should amaze me any longer what can happen in the space of a couple weeks. Events take place in our lives-- sometimes changing us a little, or a lot. Why do we allow ourselves to become burdened with the unknown, the future? When it arrives, it will be known and it will be present.

Sometimes I am so enthralled with moments of quiet and peace that I don't know which pleasure to pursue in those moments. I have found that simply lying on my bed, looking out the window at the quickly moving sky, or pondering the dance of the leaves is more pleasure than I could imagine.

Stardust
Stardust turned into tiny fragments of nothing.
Every dream was lost.
Once upon a star it all vanished
like a dusty trail on the desert mirage.
Every time we got closer
it disappeared,
never real-
only reflections
of dreams wished upon
a silvery, glittery star.

I read a wonderful line in a book about Artemesia, the female painter from 16th century Italy, whose emotion was clearly seen and felt in her art. The line is from her friend, Sister Graziela, who spoke these words to her as she was to marry and leave Rome. "The real principles of living are not all in the Scriptures. They are in blood ties, histories, sayings, innuendos, surreptitious looks, clandestine agreements, and hot clasped hands." How incredibly beautiful are these words!

Our reflection is exactly what it is, a reflection. Our true self is so much more, so much deeper. Live from within, give from within. Let us adorn ourselves with a beautiful soul.

Without love, love where you feel it, life is just going through motions.

It's all about capturing the moment and letting it be.

"Your work is to discover your work and then with all your heart to give yourself to it." Buddha

It is then that we will be living an authentic way of life, giving truly of ourselves, whatever it may be at that given time. If I have love and truth and passion, then why hold back and keep it within- there is no reason to hold it inside- it is learning the art of expressing ourselves in every way possible.

But if it is true that love can change everything, then I am ready for wonderful changes in my life.

When I think of the children's lives that have touched me this year, I am blessed beyond many to have been given their gifts of sweet love, tender innocence, hunger for knowledge, discovery, allowing me entry into their world.

What a year it has been. No one prepares for the passing of their mother. It has been a soul searching, amazing spiritual journey, hard to put in words. I do know she passed peacefully, lovingly, tenderly, in the early morning hours. I wonder what she was thinking. I am sure she felt our love. Even in her passing, I saw that life is about survival, love and hope.

Beauty, love, creativity, joy, inner peace arise from beyond the mind.

the turquoise waters
liquid silk
dancing gently
reflecting quietly~
I see you
I am so in love with you.

She found her most beautiful dress of soft yellow. It stopped at her ankles with tiny blue flowers all around the bottom. She looked as radiant as the emergent sun that was rising in the eastern sky. "I will dance among the flowers, I'll sing gently to my man, he will watch near the rose pergolas, then he will take me by my hand."

Be patient toward all that is unsolved in your heart and try to love the questions themselves. Do not now seek the answers which cannot be given you because you would not be able to live them, and the point is to live everything. Ranier Maria Rilke

I imagine there to be
ten thousand angels and more
which ride the gentle winds
that now carry sweet love to him.

Undiluted and so pure,
only angels breath
could whisper love
so perfectly appointed.

Love so meant to be
it lives beyond eternity,
not even forever can
extinguish the flame.

copyright. rebekahELLE

Yesterday we drove to Concord and toured the Longfellow Inn, walked around Walden Pond. When we were inside the gift shop for Walden Pond, where they had many Henry David Thoreau books, etc., the sales man asked me where I was from and at first I couldn't remember! I guess walking through this inspiring part of the world put me into a transcendental moment.

Outside for a long time listening to mother earth. There is an urgency I heard in the wind- like she is crying out, "take care of me". I felt restless, I saw it in the way the leaves were swaying in the wind- the way consciousness moved through the clouds across the blue expanse.

When we observe nature, we can notice the space between. It allows for the flow and connection to be made. How could a tree grow unless there is space between the branches? How could a bird fly without space beneath its wings? How can a man and woman love without the proper space between them, but not innate as within nature. Man and woman must determine what space allows for harmony.

We must stretch our minds to discover, explore, listen to our world, both within and around us.

I cannot imagine living anywhere without one living tree to cover me, to help me breathe, to whisper life into my ears.

Her feet were as clouds
as she moved with the light
the chain on her neck
would guide her by night.

"No pessimist ever discovered the secrets of the stars, or sailed to an uncharted land, or opened a new heaven to the human spirit." Helen Keller

Underneath the clouds, the beautiful blue is still there reminding us of a peaceful canopy of light that covers us with its ever present acquiescence.

The days blend together, one moving into the next, no concept of there being a line of demarcation between one day and the next- like this invisible row of nows lined up moment by perfect moment.

There is this moment swaying, dancing, dissolving. The breath of life is now.