Amy Jo's Blog » Truth http://www.followyourownway.com/blog Yoga | Inspiration | Love Fri, 10 Feb 2012 07:37:50 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.0.1 my orchestra http://www.followyourownway.com/blog/2012/02/03/my-orchestra/ http://www.followyourownway.com/blog/2012/02/03/my-orchestra/#comments Fri, 03 Feb 2012 19:44:54 +0000 amyjo http://www.followyourownway.com/blog/?p=7997 “i am always tuning my orchestra. somewhere deep inside there is a sound that is mine and mine alone, and i struggle daily to hear it and tune my life to it. sometimes there are people and situations that help me hear my note more clearly; other times, people and situations make it harder for me to hear. a lot depends on my commitment to listening and my intention to stay coherent with this note. it is only when my life is tuned to my note that i can play life’s mysterious and holy music without tainting it with my own discordance, my own bitterness, resentment, agenda’s and fears.”

-naomi remen

]]> http://www.followyourownway.com/blog/2012/02/03/my-orchestra/feed/ 0 you need only claim the events of your life to make yourself yours. when you truly possess all you have been and done, which may take some time, you are fierce with reality. http://www.followyourownway.com/blog/2012/01/06/you-need-only-claim-the-events-of-your-life-to-make-yourself-yours-when-you-truly-possess-all-you-have-been-and-done-which-may-take-some-time-you-are-fierce-with-reality/ http://www.followyourownway.com/blog/2012/01/06/you-need-only-claim-the-events-of-your-life-to-make-yourself-yours-when-you-truly-possess-all-you-have-been-and-done-which-may-take-some-time-you-are-fierce-with-reality/#comments Sat, 07 Jan 2012 03:49:13 +0000 amyjo http://www.followyourownway.com/blog/?p=7980 - florida scott-maxwell

]]> http://www.followyourownway.com/blog/2012/01/06/you-need-only-claim-the-events-of-your-life-to-make-yourself-yours-when-you-truly-possess-all-you-have-been-and-done-which-may-take-some-time-you-are-fierce-with-reality/feed/ 0 your voice http://www.followyourownway.com/blog/2011/12/30/your-voice/ http://www.followyourownway.com/blog/2011/12/30/your-voice/#comments Fri, 30 Dec 2011 07:03:00 +0000 amyjo http://www.followyourownway.com/blog/?p=7972

found via imgfave

]]> http://www.followyourownway.com/blog/2011/12/30/your-voice/feed/ 0 self-portrait http://www.followyourownway.com/blog/2011/12/14/self-portrait/ http://www.followyourownway.com/blog/2011/12/14/self-portrait/#comments Thu, 15 Dec 2011 01:00:09 +0000 amyjo http://www.followyourownway.com/blog/?p=7946 It doesn’t interest me if there is one God
or many gods. I want to know if you belong or feel
abandoned. If you know despair or can see it in others.
I want to know
if you are prepared to live in the world
with its harsh need to change you.
If you can look back with firm eyes
saying this is where I stand. I want to know
if you know how to melt into that fierce heat of living
falling toward the center of your longing.
I want to know if you are willing
to live, day by day, with the consequence of love
and the bitter unwanted passion of your sure defeat.

I have heard, in that fierce embrace, even
the gods speak of God.

by David Whyte


]]> http://www.followyourownway.com/blog/2011/12/14/self-portrait/feed/ 1 speaking the truth http://www.followyourownway.com/blog/2011/11/10/speaking-the-truth/ http://www.followyourownway.com/blog/2011/11/10/speaking-the-truth/#comments Thu, 10 Nov 2011 07:17:45 +0000 amyjo http://www.followyourownway.com/blog/?p=7822

many people, especially ignorant people, want to punish you for

speaking the truth. for being correct. for being you.

never apologize for being correct,

or for being years ahead of your time.

if you’re right and you know it, speak your mind.

even if you are a minority of one, the truth is still the truth.

-gandhi

]]> http://www.followyourownway.com/blog/2011/11/10/speaking-the-truth/feed/ 1 the difference between http://www.followyourownway.com/blog/2011/10/03/the-difference-between/ http://www.followyourownway.com/blog/2011/10/03/the-difference-between/#comments Tue, 04 Oct 2011 02:12:14 +0000 amyjo http://www.followyourownway.com/blog/?p=7817

]]> http://www.followyourownway.com/blog/2011/10/03/the-difference-between/feed/ 4 all the understanding you can muster http://www.followyourownway.com/blog/2011/08/22/all-the-understanding-you-can-muster/ http://www.followyourownway.com/blog/2011/08/22/all-the-understanding-you-can-muster/#comments Mon, 22 Aug 2011 07:36:32 +0000 amyjo http://www.followyourownway.com/blog/?p=7616 Beginning today, treat everyone you meet as if they were going to be dead by midnight. Extend to them all the care, kindness and understanding you can muster, and do it with no thought of any reward. Your life will never be the same. -Og Mandino

“That is some proposal,” I thought, when it came into clear view at five o’clock in the morning, a couple of weeks back. A request like this one, upon waking, brings a person to their senses in no time. I immediately recalled recent moments when I have regarded those closest to me contradictory to this statement, not to mention the strangers on the street I have barely acknowledged.

To live with such intensity requires an awareness not easily diverted by flippant thoughts of self-indulgence and petty fears. This guileless dare evoked a composed response, while I sat munching on my breakfast of strawberries and peaches. How do I begin? It sounds simple but must be tougher than it looks, or else everyone would be doing it.

I started with the people I consider nearest and dearest to me. To look someone I love in the eyes and understand where he or she is coming from, without contemplating my own wishes, puts my unspoken tactics to the test. Not an easy undertaking, but definitely a skill worth polishing.

A few days ago, life permitted me an opportunity to take on this challenge with flying colors. I didn’t do so well. Instead, fear hindered my empathy and provoked a defense mechanism, which disabled my capacity to love wholeheartedly. Love is not always the easiest option, but I know when I choose it over all other responses, even the most unexpected results are easier to swallow.

Hindsight is 20/20. Circumstances can change in an instant. And if we are lucky, we eventually learn to love those closest to us as if they are going to be dead by midnight. It may take a bit longer than I would like, but I’ll keep practicing until it becomes second nature.

]]> http://www.followyourownway.com/blog/2011/08/22/all-the-understanding-you-can-muster/feed/ 2 even before coffee http://www.followyourownway.com/blog/2011/08/04/we-are-going-to-the-moon-that-is-not-very-far-man-has-so-much-farther-to-go-within-himself/ http://www.followyourownway.com/blog/2011/08/04/we-are-going-to-the-moon-that-is-not-very-far-man-has-so-much-farther-to-go-within-himself/#comments Thu, 04 Aug 2011 08:59:19 +0000 amyjo http://www.followyourownway.com/blog/?p=7400

you were loved because god loves, period. god loved you, and everyone, not because you believed in certain things, but because you were a mess, and lonely, and his or her child. god loved you no matter how crazy you felt on the inside, no matter what a fake you were; always, even in your current condition, even before coffee. god loves you crazily, like I love you…like a slightly overweight auntie, who sees only your marvelousness and need.

by anne lamott

]]> http://www.followyourownway.com/blog/2011/08/04/we-are-going-to-the-moon-that-is-not-very-far-man-has-so-much-farther-to-go-within-himself/feed/ 3 venturing into the unknown http://www.followyourownway.com/blog/2011/07/29/venturing-into-the-unknown/ http://www.followyourownway.com/blog/2011/07/29/venturing-into-the-unknown/#comments Fri, 29 Jul 2011 07:46:55 +0000 amyjo http://www.followyourownway.com/blog/?p=3584 6a011168fab4e8970c0120a8b7a4e4970b

photo unknown

]]> http://www.followyourownway.com/blog/2011/07/29/venturing-into-the-unknown/feed/ 4 a person’s worth is contingent upon who he is, not upon what he does, or how much he has. the worth of a person, or a thing, or an idea, is in being, not in doing, not in having. http://www.followyourownway.com/blog/2011/07/06/what-matters/ http://www.followyourownway.com/blog/2011/07/06/what-matters/#comments Wed, 06 Jul 2011 07:28:33 +0000 amyjo http://www.followyourownway.com/blog/?p=7046

-words by alice mary hilton

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