When My Mind Is Still

When My Mind is Still

When my mind is still and alone with the beating of my heart,
I remember things too easily forgotten:
The purity of early love,
The maturity of unselfish love that asks --
desires -- nothing but another's good,
The idealism that has persisted through all the tempest of life.

When my mind is still and alone with the beating of my heart,
I can find a quiet assurance, an inner peace, in the core of my being.
It can face the doubt, the loneliness, the anxiety,
Can accept these harsh realities and can even grow
Because of these challenges to my essential being.

When my mind is still and alone with the beating of my heart,
I can sense my basic humanity,
And then I know that all men and women are my brothers and sisters.
Nothing but my own fear and distrust can separate me from the love of friends.
If I can trust others, accept them, enjoy them,
Then my life shall surely be richer and more full.
If I can accept others, this will help them to be more truly themselves,
And they will be more able to accept me.

When my mind is still and alone with the beating of my heart,
I know how much life has given me:
The history of the race, friends and family,
The opportunity to work, the chance to build myself.
Then wells within me the urge to live more abundantly,
With greater trust and joy,
With more profound seriousness and earnest service,
And yet more calmly at the heart of life.

- Paul Beattie was a Unitarian Universalist minister, serving in congregations including in Kansas City, Missouri, and last at the First Unitarian Church of Pittsburgh, PA. He was also president of the Fellowship of Religious Humanists, among his many involvements.

Where do you put your love?

I don't know where to put things, you know?... I really do have love to give! I just don't know where to put it! – Quiz Kid Donnie Smith, Magnolia

Love to give

nothing matters when we're dancing (or laughing)

And we should consider every day lost on which we have not danced at least once. And we should call every truth false which was not accompanied by at least one laugh. – Friedrich Nietzsche

"Your eyes like two full moons" - Nothing Matters When We're Dancing -Magnetic Fields

Tough part of walking down the street

And what most people don't see... is just how hard it is to do the right thing. People think if I make a judgment call... that's a judgment on them, but that is not what I do. And that's not what should be done. I have to take everything... and play it as it lays. Sometimes people need a little help. Sometimes people need to be forgiven. And sometimes they need to go to jail. And that is a very tricky thing on my part... making that call. I mean, the law is the law. And heck if I'm gonna break it. You can forgive someone. Well, that's the tough part. What can we forgive? Tough part of the job. Tough part of walking down the street. – Jim Kurring, Magnolia

Jim and Quiz Kid Donnie Smith - Magnolia

Unconditional

Love me when I least deserve it, because that's when I really need it. – Swedish proverb

(I's and me can also be replaced with you)

I really do have love to give. I just don't know where to put it.

Dare to have feelings.

Love comes when manipulation stops; when you think more about the other person than about his or her reactions to you. When you dare to reveal yourself fully. When you dare to be vulnerable. – Dr. Joyce Brothers

You've been acting awful tough lately
Smoking a lot of cigarettes lately
But inside, you're just a little baby
It's okay to say you've got a weak spot
You don't always have to be on top
Better to be hated than love, love, loved for what you're not

You're vulnerable, you're vulnerable
You are not a robot
You're loveable, so loveable
But you're just troubled

Guess what? I am not a robot, a robot
Guess what? I am not a robot, a robot

You've been hanging with the unloved kids
Who you never really liked and you never trusted
But you are so magnetic, you pick up all the pins
Never committing to anything
You don't pick up the phone when it ring, ring, rings
Don't be so pathetic, just open up and sing

I am vulnerable, I am vulnerable
I am not a robot
You're loveable, so loveable
But you're just troubled

Guess what? I am not a robot, a robot
Guess what? I am not a robot, a robot

Can you teach me how to feel real?
Can you turn my power on?
Well, let the drum beat drop

Guess what? I am not a robot
Guess what? I am not a robot

Guess what? I am not a robot, a robot
Guess what? I am not a robot, a robot
Guess what? I am not a robot, a robot
Guess what? I am not a robot, a robot 

Forgive and Move On

By forgiving and choosing to move on, one takes the power back to morph it into positive energy. – Eugenia Tripputi

Harmony = many

You don't get harmony when everybody sings the same note. - Doug Floyd

one life 

but we're not the same

we get to 

carry each other

carry each other

Your life; your choice

Destiny is no matter of chance. It is a matter of choice: It is not a thing to be waited for, it is a thing to be achieved. - William Jennings Bryan

Do a good deed today... for yourself

He who does a good deed is instantly ennobled. He who does a mean deed is by the action itself contracted. He who puts off impurity thereby puts on purity. If a man is at heart just, then in so far is he God. – Ralph Waldo Emerson

Tuva Farewell
by Paul Pena
Pena: vocals, guitar, dijeridu;
Ondar : vocals, Tuvan banjo

Written upon Paul's return to America from Tuva in 1995.

Here I am on my way now, on my way back home,
On this winged horse I've mounted, on my way alone.
I've been listening to the music of nature
I've been tuned to the wonder of the earth,
I've been listening and I've been relating
Now I feel the reason for our birth.
Everything here sings like a bird on the wing!
Now I get back home and find out they think it's all for show;
Now I get back home and find out they don't know!

Here I am in Tuva, listening to the sound,
Here I sit at the center of Asia, with my ear to the ground.
Lord, its been a long time, since I've felt so free!
Through the hardships and heartaches,
Through the tiredness of body and mind I see
That every heart needs to sing like a bird on the wing!
There's so many things you've got to know how to do
To get along; All I know to do is sing.
My friends they sing with me in some way,
That's the way it seems!

Yrlar sen, Kongar-ol! (Sing it, Kongar-ol!)

Got me a brother in prison, I know nothing about.
All I know is when he sings it's beauty;
His heart and soul come out.
They can't tell me nothing about him,
Don't know [if he's] dead or alive,
But I will sing to my Ezhim (friend) Oidupaa
If I can help him to survive, I don't know.
If I don't, Lord, his memory will remain!
Me and my friends we've heard his voice,
And now we know his name;
Me and my friends, we're gonna play his music to the world
And listen with no shame!

[So] here I am on my way now, on my way back home,
On this winged horse I've mounted, riding on alone.
I will listen to the music of nature
I will listen to the wonder of the earth.
I will listen and keep relating
You would do well to do some work on that, my friend;
If we don't, I know nothing will remain! What a shame!
Me and my friends we will remember all the love we've known.
We will tell everybody: In Tuva we've found another home!

Here I am at the center of Asia.

Tunap bodap borarymga-yo,
Tuva chonum bergenein-e.

Repeat

Every time I think of my people;
I am honored by the Tuvan people.

Eshterim tyvanyng chonum-nu
Eshterim tyvanyng ynak men!

Repeat

My friends, the Tuvan people,
My Tuvan friends, I love you!

Mr. Gorbachev... (you know the overplayed rest)

Sometimes you put walls up not to keep people out, but to see who cares enough to break them down. – Anonymous

 

I Wish You Well

I wish you good friends that always treat you fair

Wanna wish you ribbons to tie around your hair

I wish you, truckloads of cheer

and many happy years

– I Wish You Well, Bill Withers

Listen

The greatest gift you can give another is the purity of your attention. – Richard Moss

Wookin' Pa Nub

I don't wish to be everything to everyone, but I would like to be something to someone. – Javan quote

99.9% Pure Nonself, Ivory Pure Nonself.

Why are you unhappy? Because 99.9% of everything you think, and of everything you do, is for yourself, And there isn't one. - Wei Wu Wei

Love. Life. Meaning.

If I can stop one heart from breaking,
I shall not live in vain.
If I can ease one life the aching,
Or cool one pain,
Or help one fainting robin
Unto his nest again,
I shall not live in vain. – Emily Dickinson

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That wouldn't be a good way to go

Those evil-natured robots

they're programmed to destroy us

she's gotta be strong to fight them

so she's taking lots of vitamins

Oh Yoshimi, they don't believe me

but you won't let those robots defeat me

Yoshimi, they don't believe me

but you won't let those robots eat me 

– Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots, Flaming Lips

Before it's too late

Life goes by rapidly. Don't delay. Don't put it off. Don't wait until you have some spare time. Don't wait until the time's "right". - Ken Keyes

I had a dream last night
I dreamt that I was swimming
And the stars up above
Directionless and drifting
Somewhere in the dark
Were the sirens and the thunder
And around me as I swam
The drifters who'd gone under

Time love
Time love
Time love
It's only a change of time

I had a dream last night
And rusting far below me
Battered hulls and broken hardships
Leviathan and Lonely
I was thirsty so I drank
And though it was salt water
There was something 'bout the way
It tasted so familiar

The black clouds I'm hanging
This anchor I'm dragging
The sails of memory rip open in silence
We cut through the lowlands
All hands through the saltlands
The white caps of memory
Confusing and violent

I had a dream last night
And when I opened my eyes
Your shoulder blade your spine
Were shorelines in the moon light
New worlds for the weary
New lands for the living
I could make it if I tried
I closed my eyes I kept on swimming

(rough seas they carry me wherever I go)

Be Good Just Because

Live a good life. If there are gods and they are just, then they will not care how devout you have been, but will welcome you based on the virtues you have lived by. If there are gods, but unjust, then you should not want to worship them. If there are no gods, then you will be gone, but will have lived a noble life that will live on in the memories of your loved ones. I am not afraid. – Marcus Aurelius

The best of Lester, the worst of Lester...

You are the best. You are the worst. You are average. Your love is a part of you. You try to give it away because you cannot bear its radiance, but you cannot separate it from yourself. To understand your fellow humans, you must understand why you give them your love. You must realize that hate is but a crime-ridden subdivision of love. You must reclaim what you never lost. You must take leave of your sanity, and yet be fully responsible for your actions. - Gnarls Barkley, in a letter to the legendary rock critic Lester Bangs