Shining Thru

It’s strange how a place becomes a home…how sometimes you simply know that a place is where you belong and you have found your home….other times it sneaks up on you…you’re simply staying in a place…not really considering it home and then all of the sudden you realize that you are a part of the community, that you like where you live, that your apartment or house is now your home….all sorts of things begin to change…maybe one by one maybe all at once….simple things to important things.  Your team allegiances to your spot in society to your standing in a community.  It’s nice when you finally realize that you have found a home, somewhere to feel at peace, somewhere to belong. 

There’s a lot to be said for the peace and calm that you have when you feel like you belong somewhere.  When you can look at the bad things people have told you about where you are and honestly say that it’s not that bad…and I honestly like it here anyway.  When you can feel comfortable with the people around you and know that you are accepted and able to be yourself. 

It’s kind of strange how you can live some place for weeks, months, or even years without considering it home and then just one day it changes…..

Fairy wings flutter by your head

You gasp at the beauty of the flowers all around

Green and peaceful

The bubbling of the stream flows by

Sanctuary…

The perfumes fill the nostrils

Colorful petals hidden in the vines

Green and alive, hidden away

Safe and Secure.

Feeling safe and at peace

Calmness fills the air as you escape

Hiding for a time from reality.

Like the waves gentle pulse along the shore

Acceptance comes in calm gentle waves

Acceptance,  as the calm and the peace come with it

Knowing that what will be, will be, knowing that I’m not in control

Knowing that love will last

Love and hope, admiration and trust

Knowing that the caring love is still in the two hearts

Peace and Joy are the hope, it’s what brings on the waves of acceptance

Love and trust will bring on the sparkles of the water

As the sun sets on another day I hear the waves’ gentleness

As I lay down I can feel my heart beat soften and relax

Acceptance throughout my body, as I think of you

The joy and peace found in your love

Knowing that the calm voice of peace is close at hand

Knowing that although the heart strains, Love holds it together.

The green of the trees shine on the cool water

The small peaceful noises of the lake surround you

Enjoying nature as you look out on the view

The sun is setting in the distance behind the trees

The mountains are outlined by the sun’s brilliant rainbow

The cool breeze calms your soul, almost like magic

Walking by the water hands clasped

The paired reflections clear on the water

Wondering how you managed this

The beauty of the place matched with the feeling of your heart

Your soul reflecting the calm of the water, as you know all is finally right.

Laying down attempting to sleep

IN the surrounding darkness

Your mind starts to race

Like a crumbling avalanche

The thoughts tumble through your brain

Spilling in a constant overflow

Racing in every direction

You will them to stop

But your eyes stay open

Insisting on consciousness

Instead of the calming rest,

the escape found in sleep eludes.

You lay awake as the hours tick by

Not just minutes of waiting but hours

Waiting for sleep not knowing if relief will come

Relief from the day is so tempting

And yet it does not come….so you wait.

Staring in the darkness, you wait.

The American Dream….so many raced to get to the “New World” to get a new fresh start for themselves for their family.  People have come from all over the world to be American…and yet we seem to easily forget that fact.  Our country is still very negative and degrading towards “outsiders”…but how can there be outsiders when the only people who were here, Native Americans, when the immigrants came, the immigrants killed most of the population?  If Americans are made up of generations that came from other countries, how is it that as a society we are still very unwelcoming to new immigrants…we still fear those that we do not understand.  People like to say things like, “why can’t they be more American?” and “they’re in our country now and need to act like it” or “they need to go back to their country if they don’t like our traditions.”  All too often these types of phrases are spoken, have people really forgotten, or never realized that the American society is a hodgepodge of cultures, traditions, and languages from all over the world.  The perception is that Americans speak English, but many Americans don’t, and many more throughout the time of the United States did not speak English when they first arrived here.  I am willing to be that many of these people who like to speak out against the immigrants now coming to America, are the grandchildren, or great grandchildren of someone who did not speak English here in America.  Besides that, we do not speak a pure form of English, our language has many words and phrases that have been adopted throughout the generations from countries all over the world.  And yet, people have an issue if they want to keep some of the cultural traditions that their ancestors have practiced for as long as anyone can remember.

Some people are quick to say that people should adopted American cultural traditions when they move here, but what most of those people don’t realize is that a lot of the American heroes and traditions are based on lies.  Because America wanted to declare its independence from England, and it was such a new country, they simply made things up, or stretched the truth enough to give people something to celebrate and create a sense of community and nationalism.  What is wrong with people wanting to live in America, be American, while still hanging on to their heritage?  Nothing, besides the ignorance of those people who can’t see that their own traditions are also based on a heritage, they just happen to be in the majority of people with that same heritage and those same customs and traditions. 

Many people don’t realize that like the immigrants that they are speaking out against, or criticizing because they want to celebrate their heritage as they come to a new country, are probably very similar to what their relatives went through when they first arrived in this country.  I think that we need to realize that there isn’t anything to fear in differences of heritage or culture, instead we should embrace and respect each other’s differences and realize that our diversity is what makes us American.  When we are able to live in peace, with acceptance of our diversity, then and only then will I think that we have accomplished “the American Dream”.

I think that everyone has a right to get their emotional release, a break from stress and life.  I also don’t think that we should judge people for the way that they get that release as long as it’s nothing that will hurt anyone else.  If they are just keeping to themselves and need to do something like binge or are a part of a fetish of some kind…that is their business.  I think that we have to spend too much time living up to society’s idea of “normal” (if there is even such a thing). 

Everyone deserves that chance of a moment of peace in their busy lives.  Some people go shopping, some people watch a movie, some people have a drink, some people have sex, some people eat, some dance; I say as long as it doesn’t hurt someone else they should be allowed to blow off society for a few minutes and get their moments of feeling at peace and de-stressed.

Silence is a very interesting thing that happens for many different reasons.  Sometimes it is hard to determine why there is silence around you. 

Silence, what does it mean?

The loneliness, The awkwardness, The shock, The joy, The calm, The peacefulness, The sadness, The love……

There are many emotions associated with silence, in a room, in the woods, in the car….there is always a time and place for silence.  Maybe you’re just simply enjoying being with the love of your life….maybe you’re scared to the point that there isn’t anything left to say…maybe you just feel at peace with yourself and the world around you and are enjoying the calm that has come over you….

Sometimes I love just sitting in the silence, sometimes in the dark…sometimes I can’t stand the silence and have to have some kind of noise…the radio, tv, talking on the phone…something to fill the void of silence. 

Silence is like a smile, there is something hidden in them both; they are both hard to distinguish; they can lie without saying a word, they can bring comfort and love, they can mean any slew of things…it’s all on how you take them….

Things feel right when we’re together

Worries and concerns pause in thought

Everything drifts away into the background where it can’t be heard

I smile, knowing we’re together for the moment

Knowing I have your love and that I couldn’t love anyone more than you

This feeling of peace comes when we’re together

The world feels right, like we will make it through

I never want to let that feeling go…..

Is beauty really in the eye of the beholder?  I once had a teacher that posed the question, What is beauty?  The discussion eventually led to the question, Does beauty exist?  His argument was that  if beauty is really in the eye of the beholder, then it doesn’t have a definition and without a definition, it could not exist….there will be no surprise here to find out that not only was he a Literature teacher but also had a genius IQ.  Although I think he only played devil’s advocate in our many round table discussions in class, it does pose an interesting question.

What is beauty?  Just because something or someone is beautiful to me, doesn’t mean it will be to the person standing right next to me at the same moment.  I personally love scenes in nature.  For me finding beauty in nature brings a type of inner peace.  I also have a lot of friends that would rather never go where there isn’t a paved path, for them there are other things that bring that same inner peace. 

I think that true beauty lies on the inside, even when you see something beautiful it brings a certain feeling of awe and wonder that leaves you knowing that it is beautiful.  Of course a lot of people claim to believe that the beauty of people lies on the inside, but until recently there wasn’t anything in pop culture that preached this concept to the younger generation.  I am thankful that there is now a TV show out called “True Beauty.”  This is a show with hidden challenges to measure the good qualities or inner beauty of the contestants on the show.  The only thing that I don’t like about the show is that they do also consider outer beauty…how would the results be changed if they were only looking at the hidden cameras to see how people act towards one another and how they act in the situations they are put in?  They have already decided that the people there have outer beauty qualities, so why continue to judge that?  I think it would be interesting for them to only judge the inner beauty qualities; but again, what is true beauty?

There are qualities of beauty that I think most people can agree on, but I do not believe that beauty can ever have a true definition.  If beauty was scientific, it would lose the emotions and feelings attached to it, it would instead rely on logic and reason.  To me the loss of the emotion I feel when I see something truly beautiful would be a tragedy.  If it’s a person, a waterfall, a painting, or a music composition, I am glad that my heart is open to the emotion of beauty these things hold.  All of these things have stirred that feeling of awe and wonder of beauty inside of me at one time or another; that feeling that makes you wonder how it’s even possible that something like that could exist.  I hope that everyone is blessed with this feeling of beauty in their life.