Your Fire

Show up with all the fire you can muster. Don’t let it die out. Allow the fire to shine through in everything you do.

When people see you they should see light in your eyes, joy in your smile, and a groundedness that lets love radiate.

This fire will show up in different ways. Sometimes it’ll be a gentle glow. Other times it’ll burn bright like the sun, with a steadfast confidence. No one can extinguish your fire.

The heat that your fire emits is love, passion, and gratitude. There should be so much swirling heat that the ice of fear should melt under every step.

Your fire is the picture of your unique grace and the beauty of you! Enjoy it! Embrace it! Be grateful for it. Allow it to breathe. Relish in it! Bask in it! Learn from it. Be humbled by it. The book of Psalms tells us, “Great peace have they which love thy law: and nothing shall offend them.” So show up with all the fire you can muster!

Our Deepest Fear by Marianne Williamson

This is a quote from Marianne’s book titled “A Return To Love: Reflections on the Principles of A Course in Miracles“.

“Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won’t feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine, as children do. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It’s not just in some of us; it’s in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.”

This quote is often miss credited to Nelson Mandela, who used this in his Inauguration Speech in 1994.

Still I Rise by Maya Angelou

You may write me down in history
With your bitter, twisted lies,
You may trod me in the very dirt
But still, like dust, I’ll rise.

Does my sassiness upset you? 
Why are you beset with gloom? 
‘Cause I walk like I’ve got oil wells
Pumping in my living room.

Just like moons and like suns,
With the certainty of tides,
Just like hopes springing high,
Still I’ll rise.

Did you want to see me broken? 
Bowed head and lowered eyes? 
Shoulders falling down like teardrops.
Weakened by my soulful cries.

Does my haughtiness offend you? 
Don’t you take it awful hard
‘Cause I laugh like I’ve got gold mines
Diggin’ in my own back yard.

You may shoot me with your words,
You may cut me with your eyes,
You may kill me with your hatefulness,
But still, like air, I’ll rise.

Does my sexiness upset you? 
Does it come as a surprise
That I dance like I’ve got diamonds
At the meeting of my thighs? 

Out of the huts of history’s shame
I rise.
Up from a past that’s rooted in pain
I rise.
I’m a black ocean, leaping and wide,
Welling and swelling I bear in the tide.
Leaving behind nights of terror and fear
I rise.
Into a daybreak that’s wondrously clear
I rise.
Bringing the gifts that my ancestors gave,
I am the dream and the hope of the slave.
I rise.
I rise.
I rise.

Chug Goes the City

The sun rises to a glowing high. The tree tops let their leaves spread out like a cat that loves to sunbathe. One by one cars begin to glide down the street. Off to work they go! A symphony of feet slosh down the sidewalk. Street lights beam their colors like children playing and the city begins to roar.

This is the crawl. This is the morning hustle and the beginning of the nightly slog. Heat fills the air and an intense cold fills our hearts. Chug, chug, push, go, now, fast, move, and chug, chug, chug, until we falter.

It’s mission in life to be collected so to falter is not an option. Heaven forbid we falter. So on we chug and the city continues to roar, and our hearts get colder as we run ourselves into oblivion. The heat in the air gets more intense, but we’re okay because that’s life.

The seasons ease into one another like a breath of air. The sun sets sweetly and shows off the color of the world. But we can’t see the picture of beauty before us because we’re too busy chugging and pushing and running into the ground. We’ve been living to die and so we do.

After all, what else is there in this mortal existence but to die? The city is alive! Mother nature is alive! So why must our dear Earth host zombies and skeletons? Where did balance go? Where did passion run off to? Don’t you miss breathing?

Oh, breathing! In and out. Easy, calm, and natural. Oh, the sensation of a breath and with that comes the healing power of being steady on our feet. Grounded. Then a peace of mind follows this gorgeous grounding, but how will it happen? When will balance return and a need for air be more important than our ego, or our paycheck? The roaring city would like a break! How about you?

I See Love

I don’t know what you see when you look in my eyes. I don’t know what you think when you see me move through life. I don’t know what you feel when you touch me, with a gesture, but I know what I feel, and what kind of gesture you mean. I know what I think when I see you move through life and I love what I see when I look in your eyes.

I see life. I see heart. I see joy, peace, freedom, and love. Love above all else, but the world is cold and people think about things. So sometimes your eyes aren’t so bright. Sometimes I see anger, that heat in the eyes that turns passion into something dark, but through that dark fire there’s still love. Sometimes the world can be cold when we feel vulnerable. Sometimes that can create a swirl of sorrow in your eyes. All you can see is blue, but there’s still love in your eyes.

After all, love is at the very core of every living being on this planet. So there’s no way we can run away from it. No emotion or thought can be strong enough to cover love forever. Love always comes back. Love always shows up. It’s a bright ray of light. It adapts to the situation and takes many forms, but in the end its glow is unable to be smothered. I’ll always see love in you. From your eyes, to your heart, and the way you move through the world!