And so it is:

Above All:

Alyson — Mon, 29 Aug 2011 22:40:39 +0000

“And above all, watch with glittering eyes the whole world around you because the greatest secrets are always hidden in the most unlikely places. Those who don’t believe in magic will never find it.”

Roald Dahl

You must do three things:

Alyson — Wed, 13 Jul 2011 18:07:27 +0000

“to live in this world

you must be able
to do three things
to love what is mortal;
to hold it

against your bones knowing
your own life depends on it;
and, when the time comes to let it go,
to let it go.”

- Mary Oliver

In time:

Alyson — Mon, 04 Apr 2011 01:21:46 +0000

in time of daffodils(who know
the goal of living is to grow)
forgetting why,remember how

in time of lilacs who proclaim
the aim of waking is to dream,
remember so(forgetting seem)

in times of roses(who amaze
our now and here with paradise)
forgetting if,remember yes

in time of all sweet things beyond
whatever mind may comprehend,
remember seek(forgetting find)

and in a mystery to be
(when time from time shall set us free)
forgetting me,remember me

- e.e. cummings

10 Most Healing Albums to Date:

Alyson — Sat, 12 Feb 2011 21:30:19 +0000

Music heals / I am a believer. These are the albums that have carried me through the last decade.

Iron & Wine – Our Endless Number Days
Joni Mitchell – Clouds
Bright Eyes – I’m Wide Awake, It’s Morning
David Gray – Life in Slow Motion
Eva Cassidy – Songbird
Alexi Murdoch – Time without Consequence
Bonobo – Black Sands
Bon Iver – For Emma, Forever Ago
James Yorkston – The Year of the Leopard
Brett Dennen – So Much More

Is it true?

Alyson — Sun, 30 Jan 2011 20:47:45 +0000

For one human being to love another; that is perhaps the most difficult of all our tasks, the ultimate, the last test and proof, the work for which all other work is but preparation.

Rainer Maria Rilke

Remember to Revisit this One Day

2011 Advice:

Alyson — Sun, 16 Jan 2011 04:27:54 +0000

close your calendars of regret. smash clocks and barriers with your better knowing. throw soft light on the doom clingers. let your pure faith burn the way.

[danielle laporte]

Self-fulfilling paradox:

Alyson — Mon, 20 Dec 2010 05:34:31 +0000

To truly know the world look deeply within your own being; to truly know yourself, take real interest in the world.

Rudolf Steiner

Only One Duty:

Alyson — Fri, 03 Dec 2010 01:29:12 +0000

“If someone told me to write a book on morality, it would have a hundred pages and ninety-nine of them would be blank. On the last page I would write, ‘I recognize only one duty and that is to love.’ And as far as everything else is concerned, I say no.”

Albert Camus

It’s Sunday Morning in Early November:

Alyson — Sun, 14 Nov 2010 21:48:27 +0000

and there are a lot of leaves already.
I could rake and get a head start.
The boy’s summer toys need to be put
in the basement. I could clean it out
or fix the broken storm window.
When Eli gets home from Sunday school,
I could take him fishing. I don’t fish
but I could learn to. I could show him
how much fun it is. We don’t do as much
as we used to do. And my wife, there’s
so much I haven’t told her lately,
about how quickly my soul is aging,
how it feels like a basement I keep filling
with everything I’m tired of surviving.
I could take a walk with my wife and try
to explain the ghosts I can’t stop speaking to.
Or I could read all those books piling up
about the beginning of the end of understanding…
Meanwhile, it’s such a beautiful morning,
the changing colors, the hypnotic light.
I could sit by the window watching the leaves,
which seem to know exactly how to fall
from one moment to the next. Or I could lose
everything and have to begin over again.

Philip Shultz

Off Main St.

Alyson — Fri, 29 Oct 2010 01:24:30 +0000

“Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.”

Margaret Mead