heartsteps

The gifts you have been given in this life do not belong to you alone. They belong to everyone. Do not be selfish and withhold them. Do not be selfish and imprison yourself in a lifestyle that holds your spirit hostage and provides no spontaneity or grace in your life.

Risk being yourself fully.

Let go of the expectations others have for you. Let go of all the “shoulds” and “have tos” and consider what thoughts and actions bring you the greatest joy. Live from the inside out, not from the outside in.

To move toward your joy is not selfish. It is in fact the most kind action you can perform toward others. That is because your gift is needed. The spirit of others cannot be lifted up unless you trust your gift and give it unconditionally to the world.

Paul Ferrini

Start seeing everything as God,
But keep it a secret.

Become like a man who is Awestruck
And Nourished

Listening to a Golden Nightingale
Sing in a beautiful foreign language
While God invisibly nests
Upon its tongue.

Hafiz,
Who can you tell in this world
That when a dog runs up to you
Wagging its ecstatic tail,
You lean down and whisper in its ear,

“Beloved,
I am so glad You are happy to see me.

Beloved,
I am so glad,
So very glad You have come.”

Hafiz

[youtube width="360" height="291"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NB3NPNM4xgo[/youtube]

"Waterfall" by Kahlil Gibran

Then a woman said, “Speak to us of Joy and Sorrow.”

And he answered: “Your joy is your sorrow unmasked.

And the selfsame well from which your laughter rises was oftentimes filled with your tears.

And how else can it be?

The deeper that sorrow carves into your being, the more joy you can contain.

Is not the cup that holds your wine the very cup that was burned in the potter’s oven?

And is not the lute that soothes your spirit, the very wood that was hollowed with knives?

When you are joyous, look deep into your heart and you shall find it is only that which has given you sorrow that is giving you joy.

When you are sorrowful look again into your heart, and you shall see that in truth you are weeping for that which has been your delight.

Some of you will say, ‘Joy is greater than sorrow,’ and others will say, ‘Nay, sorrow is the greater.’

But I say unto you, they are inseparable.

Together they come, and when one sits alone with you at your board, remember that the other is asleep upon your bed.

Verily you are suspended like scales between your sorrow and your joy.

Only when you are empty are you at standstill and balanced.

When the treasure-keeper lifts you to weigh his gold and his silver, needs must your joy or your sorrow rise or fall.”

Kahlil Gibran

"Dance of Joy" by Mary McEwan

What is the difference
Between your experience of Existence
And that of a saint?

The saint knows
That the spiritual path
Is a sublime chess game with God

And that the Beloved
Has just made such a Fantastic Move

That the saint is now continually
Tripping over Joy
And bursting out in Laughter
And saying, “I Surrender!”

Whereas, my dear,
I’m afraid you still think

You have a thousand serious moves.

Hafiz