One day you finally knew
what you had to do, and began,
though the voices around you
kept shouting
their bad advice–
though the whole house
began to tremble
and you felt the old tug
at your ankles.
“Mend my life!”
each voice cried.
But you didn’t stop.
You knew what you had to do,
though the wind pried
with its stiff fingers
at the very foundations–
though their melancholy
was terrible.
It was already late
enough, and a wild night,
and the road full of fallen
branches and stones.
But little by little,
as you left their voices behind,
the stars began to burn
through the sheets of clouds,
and there was a new voice,
which you slowly
recognized as your own,
that kept you company
as you strode deeper and deeper
into the world,
determined to do
the only thing you could do–
determined to save
the only life you could save.

Love and Blessings,
Antonia

The following poem was written by Shiloh McCloud. The picture above is one of her Amazing paintings. I have been Blessed to work with this gifted Artist, and am Grateful for her kindness and generosity in allowing me to share her Beautiful Art with you, Dear Reader. EnJoy!

The Wisdom Blessing

May you choose outrageous actions that challenge who you are
and encourage who you are becoming.

May you take one step, however small, towards that which
you have always longed for. Now is the right time!

May you recognize the unique and powerful conrtibution
that you bring to the people whose lives you touch.

May you be as grand and wonderful as you really are,
and do things because you want to, not just because you should.

May you celebrate your creativity and find peace
and purpose and passion amidst the chaos and suffering.

May you reach towards the spirit with a longing that keeps you
present to the miracles available all around you, all the time.

May your faith move any mountains that stand in your way
and may your heart awaken and open.

May wisdom be your guide and
may love be at the center of all your choices.

by Reverend Shiloh Sophia McCloud
To share in more of her Art work please visit http://ourladyoftheredthread.com/

Love and Blessings,
Antonia

The following poem, “What If” was written by Ganga White at the Rainforest Benefit, NYC April 1998, and he was kind enough to grant me permission to post it here. Please share what it evokes for you, Dear Reader.

What If?

What if religion was each other?
If our practice was our life?
If prayer was our words?
What if the Temple was the Earth?
If forests were our church?
If holy water—the rivers, lakes and oceans?
What if meditation was our relationships?
If the Teacher was life?
If wisdom was self-knowledge?
If love was the center of our being
What if God was oneself, and all?

By Ganga White, from Yoga Beyond Belief
(c) 2007 www.whitelotus.org

Love and Blessings,
~Antonia

About her poem Oriah Mountain Dreamer wrote, ” “The Invitation” is about finding what we need-the inspiration, the intimacy, the courage and the commitment to live fully, every day.” I am Grateful that she generously granted me permission to share her Beautiful piece. Many thanks, and Blessings.

The Invitation

It doesn’t interest me what you do for a living
I want to know what you ache for
and if you dare to dream of meeting your heart’s longing.

It doesn’t interest me how old you are
I want to know if you will risk looking like a fool
for love
for your dreams
for the adventure of being alive.

It doesn’t interest me what planets are squaring your moon…
I want to know if you have touched the center of your own sorrow
if you have been opened by life’s betrayals
or have become shrivelled and closed
from fear of further pain.

I want to know if you can sit with pain
mine or your own
without moving to hide it
or fade it
or fix it.

I want to know if you can be with joy
mine or your own
if you can dance with wildness
and let the ecstasy fill you to the tips of your
fingers and toes
without cautioning us to
be careful
be realistic
to remember the limitations of being human.

It doesn’t interest me if the story you are telling me
is true.
I want to know if you can
disappoint another
to be true to yourself.

If you can bear the accusation of betrayal
and not betray your own soul.
If you can be faithless
and therefore trustworthy.

I want to know if you can see Beauty
even when it is not pretty
every day.
And if you can source your own life
from its presence.

I want to know if you can live with failure
yours and mine
and still stand on the edge of the lake
and shout to the silver of the full moon,
“Yes.”

It doesn’t interest me
to know where you live or how much money you have.
I want to know if you can get up
after a night of grief and despair
weary and bruised to the bone
and do what needs to be done
to feed the children.

It doesn’t interest me who you know
or how you came to be here.
I want to know if you will stand
in the center of the fire
with me
and not shrink back.

It doesn’t interest me where or what or with whom
you have studied.
I want to know what sustains you
from the inside
when all else falls away.

I want to know if you can be alone
with yourself
and if you truly like the company you keep
in the empty moments.

by Oriah from her book THE INVITATION (c) 1999. Published by HarperONE,
San Francisco. All rights reserved. Presented with permission of the
author. www.oriah.org

With Love & Gratitude,
Antonia

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;

Then took the other, as just as fair
And having perhaps the better claim,
Because it was grassy and wanted wear;
Though as for that, the passing there
Had worn them really about the same,

And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way,
I doubted if I should ever come back.

I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
two roads diverged in a wood, and I –
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.

Love and Blessings,
Antonia

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’s 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’re liberated from our own fear,
Our presence automatically liberates others.

Note: This inspirational poem is taken from Marianne Williamson’s book A Return to Love. Though often quoted as part of Nelson Mandela’s moving inaugural speech, “Our Deepest Fear” it does not appear in the speech.

Love and Blessings,
Antonia

Love After Love

The time will come
when, with elation
you will greet yourself arriving
at your own door, in your own mirror
and each will smile at the others welcome,

and say, sit here. Eat.
You will love again the stranger who was your self.
Give wine. Give bread. Give back your heart
to itself, to the stranger who has loved you

all your life, whom you ignored
for another, who knows you by heart.
Take down the love letters from the bookshelf,

the photographs, the desperate notes,
peel your own image from the mirror.
Sit. Feast on your life.

~Derek Walcott~

Love and Blessings,
Antonia