love's fool

love
what is love?
what is love
love is a fading memory
love is piercingly present
love is ful of charm
love is hideously in the way
explosion of love makes you feel ecstatic
explosion of love makes you feel suicidal
love brings goodliness and godliness
love brings celestial vision
Love creates the unity of heaven and earth.
Love tears apart heaven and earth.
Is love sympathy.
Is love gentleness.
Is love possessiveness.
Is love sexuality.
Is love friendship.
Who knows?


July 8, 1975. From Timely Rain, pages 112 to 113.






copyright 2009 Alisa Barry

morning dance

wake up. today is all about beauty and elegance.







copyright 2009 Alisa Barry

everything is perfect

all your past except its beauty is gone, and nothing is left but a blessing.

- a course in miracles


leave the past behind and celebrate your life, celebrate you, as you, right now.
everything is perfect.






copyright 2009 Alisa Barry

smiles from inside out

sometimes a simple smile can change our day. and for others.
we have a choice of how we want to be in the world.
gentleness. compassion. kindness.
a true warrior is gentle of heart and fierce with kindness and compassion.
we would do well to smile more often.
not the kind of polite smile that makes nice, but a sincere smile that radiates from the inside out.
sometimes we see it in ones eyes. sometimes, we merely feel it from the heart.
all the time, it is an offering of gentleness, kindness and compassion.













copyright 2009 Alisa Barry

everyday a gift

last night I had dinner with a friend who told me a story about how he had almost died.
it's a good story....it's about miracles and meaning. coming back to life with a greater sense of appreciation.
everyday matters, every person counts.

what are we waiting for?

let everyday be the gift. it just might be.



copyright 2009 Alisa Barry

night

moon caressing the night sky,

still shy as dawn turns to night,

hiding behind the clouds that cover the blue blanket sky.











copyright 2009 Alisa Barry

fighting our way to find middle ground

bastions and battalions
grating on our souls

when can we let these demons lie?

they eat away at an already tired heart,
hard work just to sustain the
everyday

and so, where is the place where heart and soul
meet as friends?
where the everyday is guided by wisdom
where slumber comes easy from satisfied exhaustion
at having lived the day fully, roundly, beautifully.



copyright 2009 Alisa Barry

early morning musing

silence blankets the morning like a mother covering her young, still yet asleep but turning gently, sensing comfort is around. dark night dawns and day awakens us like words forming themselves on papyrus, creating a script for our day.
what song will you sing?



copyright 2009 Alisa Barry

give me a break

break away. break out. break through.

i am ready. am I?

letting go can sometimes be our only hang up. hanging on. hang it up.

JUMP! sometimes it is the only way.



copyright 2009 Alisa Barry

the measure of love

“I have always wanted to know if I was able to love like you do,” said the disciple of a Hindu master.

“There is nothing beyond love,” answered the master. “It’s love that keeps the world going round and the stars hanging in the sky.”

“I know all that. But how can I know if my love is great enough?”

“Try to find out if you abandon yourself to love or if you flee from your emotions. But don’t ask questions like that because love is neither great nor small. You can’t measure a feeling like you measure a road: if you act like that you will see only your reflection, like the moon in a lake, but you won’t be following your path.”

- warrior of the light by Paul Coehlo






copyright 2009 Alisa Barry

emptiness equals freedom

be still my heart
and then everything went away
emptiness equals freedom
space for something, anything, everything, nothing




copyright 2009 Alisa Barry

a writing life

i am well suited to this life you call writing
solely, alone, but not lonely
left with only words gushing from my heart onto the page
like a dam that has suddenly broken after a torrential storm





copyright 2009 Alisa Barry

life is just around the corner

.......and she tells herself, it will be ok.

happiness is just around the corner.

just a life away.

- october project



copyright 2009 Alisa Barry

breaking open the heart

i thought i was chiseling at your shell and after a while the mirror revealed that it was my own armor that needed to be torn apart, layer by layer, piece by piece. step out into the cold, bask in the warmth, feel it all, fear or not. Fear not.

breaking open the heart, tender and raw, exhilarating and terrifying, insecure and comforted, all at once.

i can never go back again.






copyright 2009 Alisa Barry

the calling

i think “call” is not about something weird or hearing voices, although there are people who say they have heard them. i think it’s more about a long, slow recovery of whispers and glimpses, early desires, a discovery of the place, as Frederick Buechner said, where your deep gladness meets the world’s deep need. it’s a growing attentiveness to things of a different order that I think are always present, but not always heard.

- nora gallagher



copyright 2009 Alisa Barry

our gift in the world

"the intuitive mind is a sacred gift and the rational mind is a faithful servant. we have created a society that honors the servant and has forgotten the gift."

- albert einstein



copyright 2009 Alisa Barry

fountainhead

welling up from somewhere deep and secret and ancient and gifted
it pours forth when we acknowledge its presence and honor it as a rare and sparkling jewel that adorns us solely, uniquely, in this world. No two hearts wear the same stone, no two stones shine with a brilliance quite the same. ours will either fade behind the veil of our own distrust or shine brightly to share with all.

- Ayn Rand from The Fountainhead

let your gifts pour forth and let this be your joy.




copyright 2009 Alisa Barry

dream

red baby bird batting its sweet little wings . it flies to my lips as if to kiss me, over and over. i laugh, as it is almost smiling at me, nudging me to play, to dance, to see the joy and mystery in life.

time to play.




copyright 2009 Alisa Barry

authenticity

be real.

seems so easy. not.



copyright 2009 Alisa Barry

true nature

the essence of who we are.





copyright 2009 Alisa Barry

the go{o}d of all things

everything is GO{o}D.

Tennessee Williams writes, "sometimes there is God so quickly."

how often do we overlook the everyday miracles that surround us, embrace us and nurture us to health and happiness? if we are looking, we may see a glimpse pass before our eyes, then it disappears as quickly as it came.

whether you call it “God”, or by any other name, it is the divine source that lifts us up, fills us up and guides us gently along the way.

it’s presence is around us everywhere. sometimes, we have our breath taken away in awe when we see a beautiful sunset, a clear sky igniting a full moon and a party of stars, a small child looking at you with curious eyes.

sometimes it lingers and sometimes it passes before our eyes as quickly as we can blink.

these are the times we recognize that everything is GO{o}D.
may you find the simple blessings that inform your everyday the divine.

copyright 2009 Alisa Barry

unfold your own myth

{unfold your own myth,
without complicated explanation,
so everyone will understand the passage…
your legs will get heavy
 and tired. then comes a moment 
of feeling the wings you’ve grown, 
lifting}

- rumi


time to fly.........





copyright 2009 Alisa Barry

the soul is here for its own joy

today's lovesong from rumi.












copyright 2009 Alisa Barry

taking our seat in the sacred world

life is fast. time to slow down. quiet. and yet, still go about the day and take care of necessities.
how to maintain the quiet and still get it done?

it's all about how we take our seat in the sacred world.
meaning: mediation is not only on the cushion. It is in how we move, how we eat, how we speak, all the time, in every moment.
a hard thing to remember once we get out of bed and into the flow of our day, which tends mostly to be rushy, mindless and all about ourselves. "what about me?" is my unconscious mantra.



what if our day was meditation in motion? a sacred song that either grooves with gorgeousness or is a slow dance with the sacred? moments undulating with whatever is called for, whatever we need to call upon.

life is a dance and we are here to learn the steps. let go and join in on the fun. it's pretty wonderful once you get the hang of it.






copyright 2009 Alisa Barry

time for quiet

{.............................................}


can I resist?














copyright 2009 Alisa Barry

on a best day

on most days, i go about life and do the things that need to be done.
on a good day, i orchestrate my life to do the things that I want to do.
on a best day, i live my life joyfully and i do the things that need to be done and also do the things that i love to do.









copyright 2009 Alisa Barry

everyday enlightenment

contrary to popular belief, I have come to believe that enlightenment can happen.
i am not talking about guru level life changing transformation in an instant. it's possible, but for the rest of us ordinary folk, it leaves us feeling helpless and hopeless.
and, there is another way......

enlightenment....been writing about it my whole life, somehow. just seeking it instead of seeing it. and, now i do.

mini moments. swift glimpses. subtle glances. brilliant flash of light.
small doses of ordinary enlightenment. nothing earth shattering, but something suddenly shatters...our heart. open.

i have been "writing down the bones" for years, as natalie goldberg says.
getting itchy to put my words out in the world.
ready to recast the story so it stirs the soul and soothes the spirit.
more chapters unfolding.......as we speak. as i live. everyday...enlightenment.

need a push and a prayer. simply open your eyes and let your heart unfold.

of copyright 2009 Alisa Barry