Tunes for Your heart.

Music Video of the Band I will be listening to on March 28th. Band - Sunrise and Good people.  Rock for Tibet Event. Im excited!

While visiting the little town of McLeod Ganj, where Tibetan refugees now live, a small museum, next to the Buddhist temple of His Holiness the Dalaï Lama caught the attention of members of the Montreal, Canada-based band Sunrise and Good People.

The museum tour started with a huge picture and text relating the atrocities perpetrated by the Chinese Army in the 1950's within the homeland of the Tibetans. Sorrow and disbelief take hold of the band's members.

A few moments later, a Tibetan monk named Ven. Bagdro reaches out and starts talking about his life. With a deep and penetrating look, he explains how he managed to survive a four-year sentence before fleeing to exile to India, where he continues his long and difficult mission to educate people about the situation in Tibet today.

Then, the members of the band shared their idea of making a music video with one of their songs: I won't fall down (Album: Rise Up).

Spirituality, freedom and liberty are the song's main theme. The story is about a soul being confronted to many obstacles and difficulties and still manages to keep faith, to pursue his goal: to free oneself.

The next day, he gave the band the opportunity to shoot some images while he meditated, prayed and chanted. On the same visit, Sunrise and Good People asked other Tibetans living in McLeod Ganj to join in the music video.

The truth stands, freedom is vital and for an individual or a nation.

The music video is a tribute to the courage and compassion of the Tibetan people.

I am awake...

.....And so the next chapter starts for my life. Actually, I would really like to think its a whole new book. Lets just throw the old book on the shelf and pick up a new one. What does the cover look like you may ask? It looks like a rising sun in a vivid blue sky.... warm.... bright.... caressing...comforting and calm. And when you look down at the bottom of the book... you can see the ocean... but it's no longer that dark blue green that i had grown accustomed to, that murky colour that you just cant see through but now it was crystal clear blue, the kind of water you see only in a tropical setting. The first chapter of the book reads like this.... simply.... I am now awake..... 

I treat every day now like a new discovery. What can i learn today? What will i experience? How can i bring myself to a higher plane of completeness? Basically, how can i be a better me? It seems strange that only a short amount of time ago I was living in the dark. I could not see past my nose. Now the lights are turned on and everything seems focused and sharp. Though i must give credit where credit is due. My spiritual crush on the Dalai Lama made a great impact of course. I devoured the wisdom like someone who had been starving for so long and now had a table full of food in front of them. I began reading everything i could get my eyes, ears and hands on that might somehow quench my everlasting need to feel whole again.  Questioning my own mind. Hours i spent laying on my bed, contemplating my life and the path i was stumbling over. But what path was it really... at the time i was on no real path... Only a path to my own unhappiness.....End of Chapter and old book.

I have been working now on my new path... This path has many things going on......For instance... Tonight I went to a poetry reading. Joined by a couple of fellow poetry lovers we sat down to hear poetry read by its own creators. Always a treat! For me, its delicious pleasure to have the words spoken by its artist. That way you can really grasp the understanding of the poem because it is read out loud in the most authentic way. After, I purchased one of the books that was read from. The Poets name is E.D. Blodgett aka Ted. His style of poetry was for me the best fit. The Title of the book is called Sleep , You , a Tree. Here is one of the poems written in this beautiful book.... and hopefully it will make you FEEL....

Smile

You raised your hand in sudden recognition toward the stillness of

the sky and not a sound escaped your lips,the mere ghost of a smile

taking shape upon them. No one saw what you were able to see--

someone you had known when you were young who passed in such a light

so familiar the way it glided was enough to know it, or

the ending of a sentence that had risen in your mind before

the weight of sentences had fallen over you, a sentence so

full of the light of its beginning it had lifted off into

another evening to reside among the stars, an aura that

precedes their coming, not forgotten but unable to call back,

and so it comes of its accord, yet not as you had murmured it

but as a light unburdened, its sense unclear, falling on your face

as rain that falls that is not felt as rain, only its falling known,

the meaning of it beyond sense--the only way to greet it is

with the ghost of a smile that knows the coming of the stars and dark.

Be our own hope.

Sometimes we face challenges in our lives that we do not always want to face. I guess though it is through these challenges that life can really define us. One thing that can keep us going is the concept of HOPE. Hope can really be a blind thing. We can never truly know if things will work out in our best interests or If one day we wake up and suddenly things are perfect. But if we wait around to see if something will go in a better direction, we might be waiting a long time. Time is never a good thing to waste.  

Two important things i have been learning the last month is that one, I am in charge of my life. I am also the cause of much of my suffering. Yes things do just happen but its how i deal with them that is the most important part. So far in my life i would say i have been living blindly. I think sometimes you have to come to a "Breaking Point" to wake yourself up. It is human to want to put all your suffering on other things and people so that you do not have to take responsibility. 

I am learning now to take responsibility. If i want to have a good life it is up to me. Not to say that the whole world does not support you in some way, shape or form. Food supports your body. Oxygen Supports your breathing. The chair supports your ass as you read this. But you alone support your own happiness. You are the one in control of your feelings and behavior. This is a big lesson. Sometimes while you are caught up in life and in the midst of your own suffering you do not see this. It is now time to question things.

The other thing i have learned is that it is actually important to have that blind hope. Hope is a positive feeling that in our darkest moments can shed light onto those shadows and feel us with a warmth that we all need.  It speaks to our hearts and pushes us on. Hope is believing in the good of the world and also believing in ourselves. But we can not let Hope stand alone, be the only thing that propels us to our own happiness. We need to step up and be our own hope.  

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O2DJp-rM09g

Music of the soul

Great song!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yq-LZT9Alp4&feature=related

Feel Music

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JfvIN4HiM9s&feature=related

Is it better to have loved then never loved at all?

     Love... such a small word for something so big don't you think? Its a topic i could probably talk about every day for the rest of my life and would probably never run out of things to say. I have never found it hard to love others, though often i find it hard to love myself. Love can either make you or break you. But Isn't there always a risk in most everything we do in life? This includes the concept of loving. I remember a quote i must have read many times through out my life. " love like you've never been hurt." --Satchel Paige. There is always going to be a chance when you put your heart out there that you will get hurt. So is it better to have loved then never loved at all? Well for one, I do believe that we need to experience Love - the greatest gift life offers us - even if the end result isn't what we were wanting. We might end up being lied to or betrayed, cheated on or wronged in some way. Or we may end up loving someone who does not love us back. But bad experiences not only define us but make us learn and grow. They teach us about ourselves and about what we really want and need in life. The only way we learn this is to take the risk and throw ourselves at it.

      Yes, Sometimes it ends badly and we feel crushed under that hurt. We think we will never feel whole again. Maybe we will say, "I cant take anymore! I cant love anyone else. My heart is too broken." End up avoiding Love just to protect ourselves. But we forget in this moment of hurt something really important. The biggest gift that love offers us is the feeling of being in love. There is nothing quite like it. Its inspirational, electrifying, warm, intoxicating, motivating, and so much more. In those moments, nothing can touch us. Is that worth the risk? Well i believe so. Though after a few heart breaks, I can understand why its easy to feel a little hopeless of a possible happy ending. But we will never know if it will end badly or not. We aren't psychic. We don't know if this one is our "soul mate" till we give it a test run. So why when life puts love in our path do we fight against it? I think being in love and loving is worth the risk. And besides, If we choose to fight it and avoid love. You will have to live with something else that i think is much worse. The concept of regret. The maybe's or what ifs of life. 

     My love life has not been successful yet to this date. Though I do not forget what it was like in the beginning of each relationship i have ever had and the good feelings i experienced. I have had my own roller coaster rides. I can say though, I do know what i am looking for now. I know that when it finds me again, I wont take it for granted. Ill cherish all the special moments and take in all of the glory that is falling and being in love. And if i do get hurt......Ill just get back up, dust myself off and face it again till i do find my happy ending. Because Love is the greatest gift of Life and i love presents. :)

     Honesty is something I have always cherished. It leaves nothing hidden. All is out in the open basking in the light of truth. I think the worst thing to do is to be dishonest with yourself and with others. With yourself, to be not honest just keeps you in a mental cage. The person who is not honest with themselves can never feel free. Accept everything, I mean everything about yourself. I know this is a hard task for some but its the only way. You are who you are and that is the truth. No apologies, No regrets. Our lives only improve when we take chances, and the most difficult risk we can take is to be honest with ourselves.

     Honesty with others is another matter. Some people think its good to withhold the truth. That you can protect peoples feelings this way. I suppose a little white lie here and there is not so bad but i guess it all depends on the subject. But what happens if the person you are being dishonest with finds out? If someone finds out the truth after all mistakes have been made, it really just hurts even more.  I find it much more easy to forgive a mistake then to forgive someone who keeps the truth from me. It isn't just the mistake that stings you but also the lack of honesty. So when you thought you were doing a good thing by protecting the person from hurt, you really were making it worse. For me dishonesty is much worse then most things. To much dishonesty over time can tarnish ones trusts, even in ones self.

    But I am going to get honest with myself. This happens everywhere and can involve anyone. The only thing you can control is yourself and your actions. There is no simple way to deal with the feelings that take over you when this happens. I have no secrets to reveal to help in this case other then saying it takes time. So be honest with yourself and with others. Just keep it real.

“The Light is more than some abstract, unknowable energy force. Light is Truth. If Light is truth, then darkness must be lies. Each and every lie we tell to ourselves and others casts the shadow of separation upon us. Every time even the most minor deception is revealed and the truth is made known we are re-united with the Light. So, Let there be Light. Those are the words by which you can create your own magnificent world.” - Renee Bledsoe, Addiction Alchemy

     http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N_atFMCUJ1o