A Heart-felt Path: Love’s A to Z

Love is ambidextrous - learn to use your head and heart, it is hands on training, trial and error learning

Love is boisterous - be loud, be funny

Love is creative - dream together, play together, and laugh

Love is daring - take chances, speak from your heart, be yourself

Love is energetic - take a walk, go for a swim, engage each other in endless conversations

Love is fragile - speak wisely, words can hurt or heal, you both are fragile

Love is giddy - lose yourself in each other's embrace, laugh at yourself

Love is humble - you make mistakes, admit it, and forgive yourself and your mate

Love is ingenious - surprise yourselves at what you can accomplish with teamwork

Love is joyful - celebrate being alive, continue to discover the beauty of each other

Love is kind - you are kindred spirits on this life journey, shower each other with kindness

Love is light hearted - life is difficult, let love lighten the journey

Love is momentous - it is made of moments of connection, reconnection, disconnection, keep coming back to love and conversations

Love is nebulous - you both define it and redefine it each day, make love real - show each other you love one another in small ways - a smile, a twinkle in your eyes, a touch

Love is open-hearted and open-minded - you are on a journey of self-discovery, come to know and value yourself, you will better understand and appreciate each other

Love is prudent - think before you speak, especially in times of conflict, be conservative at times when the emotion is raw

Love is quiet - enjoy silence together, gazing at a sunset, holding one another

Love is robust - find new ways to enjoy each other, to play, and when needed, to be deeply honest and thoughtful and engage in discussion

Love is sensuous - savor the moments of passion, candlelight dinners, and gentle breezes

Love is talkative - you can always learn something new about each other, talk - not to give advice or opinions, talk because you are curious about each other

Love is understanding - listen to understand, give empathy to each other, and feel compassion towards yourself and your partner

Love is voluntary - each day you renew your commitment to be with each, avoid taking each other for granted, give your best - not to be perfect, just human

Love is witty - laugh together, laugh at yourself, life exists in contradictions - to  love, you need to let go

Love is xcitable - what a joy to share your lives together, companions on this journey of love and life

Love is yoga-like - be flexible, stretch your capacity to love, and love from your core, your essence

Love is zestful - renew yourselves each day, take care of yourselves, nurture yourselves, you then have something to give

All rights reserved. John Fulan

A Gentle Breeze

 A blissful breeze stirs the pages of life's book

Reclining I reflect on time's burning glow

The heart beats a breath of stillness

Pages unmoved

The mind glances a look.

The body pulses with sensations of silk - pleasure and pain

Pages of life becoming a wheel of time

Eighty years finding a path

Mysteries I probe as I grow more sane.

The path of independence I venture to say

Moves into bold connections I pray will stay.

A twirling breeze tingles the jewelry

As I mingle among life's pages

Stillness in the midst of movement

My heart stirs my path one beat closer.

Crowds thin around me

As thoughts vanish  in equipoise.

My path deepens as life's pages breathe.

All rights reserved. John Fulan

Lotus of Love

Mud

Sticky, slimy

My roots grow here.

My love finds its way down

Fearing loss

Bracing for disappointment

Trembling with insecurity

Gripped with self-doubt.

Honor the darkness.

Who said

Love is safe

Convenient?

Lost and overwhelmed

My roots reach deep

My lotus plant anchors itself

Knowing the upward path.

My love strengthens

Seeking the light

Faith as my stem

Somehow

Knowing.

My love stretches me

Beyond my safe boundaries

Turning me

Inside out

Exposed...Raw...Naked.

Surrender….

In spite of it all

Nourished by its roots

A lotus bud forms

Submerged under water

Biding its time.

Love knows

Its sacred rhythm.

Trusting.

My love reassures me

Love finds its way.

A lotus emerges

Poking thru the water's edge

Petals unfolding in the golden rays.

Love's aroma released

Greets the light.

My love matures

A vastness to behold

Sky and sun reflected in the pond.

Love's journey

Rattles my bones

Grips my hands

Settles my heart

Caresses my soul

Cracks open my self

Plunges me deep into the

Unknown.

Raises me to new heights.

All rights reserved. John Fulan

Coming Home

The sweet whispers of my heart

Wisp gently thru my thoughts

Stirring a memory

A longing

For my real self.

The calmness of my heart

Mirrors with clarity

A reflection in my eyes

A longing

For my real self.

The kindness of my heart

Gently caresses my skin

A soothing glow warms my flesh

A touching

Of my real self.

The wisdom of my heart

Sings a melody

Bringing music to my ears

A stirring

Of my real self.

The love of my heart

Embraces me

Tantalizing sweetness

A savoring of my real self.

What is this love?

Glowing brightly

Nestled in my chest.

May I quench my thirst in

The ocean of my heart.

May I settle my gaze

Upon its faceless presence.

May I listen to the stillness

Of its inner voice.

May I be enveloped

In its cloak of grace.

May I trust

Its rhythm.

May I plant my faith into

Its depths.

May I surrender to

Its ageless wisdom.

May I breathe in

Its boundless love ....

All rights reserved. John Fulan

A Holy River

The sun pierces the veil of secrecy

Buried deep in the current of my waters.

Burning funeral pyres paint the air with an incense of

Whispering souls transported between the veil of

Here and hereafter.

Rainbows of saris drip with holiness

The skin of the faithful pilgrims caressed by the Holy Mother

Dwelling deep in my waters.

Sacredness haunts my river.

A morning glow illuminates a path upon my face

Piercing thru the morning mist

Your words echo....

Where am I? Who am I?

Surrender your memories, this life, this body

My river calls to you

Come and bathe in my waters

Flowing from the Himalayas.

Release your dreams

My river whispers to your soul

Step into eternity

Past and future

Reach beyond your grasp.

Emerge into your holiness

Strip away your layers of separation

Come home to me

Come home....

All rights reserved. John Fulan

Turning Within

What treasures lie within

Our fleshy vessel

Bumping and winding

Thru waves of past, present, and future times.

Our precious lifespan—a fragile boundary

Dawning and setting each day

Where are we going?

Moving thru space

Sometimes barely standing on this blue jewel spinning in time.

Move inward

Past our senses.

Delicate borders shaping our view

Venture inside, beyond these tiny sense windows.

Rest in a midst of the flurry of coming and going

Can we hear a stillness

Whispering in the gaze of others?

Discover ourselves, still and luminous

A presence sweet and mysterious

Calling forth, awaiting our inner vision.

Inner and Outer

Inner and outer

Woven together

Depending on each other

Giving birth to our lives

As bubbles arise and give up their air

Bursting with life.

We wander thru

Our minds as if it were us

Solid and firm

Casting our thoughts

As a spider spins its web.

We are caught in our coming and going

Losing ourselves in the continuous spinning of thoughts

As if they were all true.

May we awaken to ourselves

Inner and outer

As strands coursing thru our limbs.

Can we settle into a moment

Where inner and outer meet?

Breath

Life sweeps in a freshness

Riding on our breath.

Releasing a stillness

Resting on our breath.

We are rocked back and forth

Preciously caressed by a breath of life.

Discovering a breeze whispering

Thru the trees of our thougths.

Let the leaves of our awareness sway with the wind

Holding on to nothing.

Settle into our bodies.

All rights reserved. John Fulan

Awaken

Awaken to our own face

Fresh and priceless.

With eyes

Seeing the universe unfolding.

With ears

Hearing a silent roar.

With words

Drifting among the stars.

With fragrances

Of blossoms being born.

Sensations

Dwelling in the tides of time.

All rights reserved. John Fulan

Viewing Life

Thrusted into our world

Skin as pure as a virgin snowfall

As life unfolds.

Two Paths we behold

Intricately interwoven

A journey for each eye

View keenly the arising and passing of each moment

Mystery flows in and out of the ordinary.

In one way a path of living

Sprinkled with exclamation points of joy,

Commas of frustration

Periods ripe with endings and beginnings.

In another way a path of becoming

Immerse ourselves

As we unfold into a radiance, seeing life with wisdom,

Touching hearts with our compassion.

Let our eyes

Come into focus

Glance at what lies just beyond our sight.

Clarity of vision---a tender transformation

Somehow we still stir with a discontent

All is not well

Until we surrender headlong into

A spellbinding reality

Of Life’s deepest truths.

Discover our innate awareness

Never born

Pure and profound.

Gently guide ourselves to a beacon of inner knowing

Stop settling for life’s rewards

Quickly they vanish

Uncover our inheritance

A treasure of our essential selves.

Find the space

Rest in a virgin awareness

Behold!

Two paths joined in perfect symmetry.

All rights reserved. John Fulan

Living With Intention

Living With Intention

Oh Life!

You bring us pleasures and sorrows

What lays beneath your bumpy surface?

Joys and sufferings interwoven

From birth to death.

May we discover a path that

Freely holds our moments

Gently cradled in our palms

Let’s release life’s experiences

With insight

View the dust that settles into a reflection of passing time.

Renounce all hope that

Life will satisfy our deepest longings

Find a happiness not wrapped up

In life’s passing pleasures.

Enjoy breaths of freedom

Transform life’s fleeting dramas

Watch how they enter and exit beyond our control.

Spread wide our fingers

As we shape our minds

Precious thought by thought

Porous with our intentions

We infuse each moment.

Hold a view of truth not bordered by life’s ups and downs.

We are the doers

Our lives our displays.

Walk through today spreading a loving friendliness towards all beings

Cherish an inner smile of delight.

Cast a heartfelt wish

Ease one another’s suffering.

Tap into a wellspring of abiding happiness.

Abide in an intimacy fresh with our daily intentions.

  All rights reserved. John Fulan