Giving Too Much Again, Are Ya?

The word give, think about it for a minute.....what does this word mean to you?

 (insert thinking time here!)

Is this a command or a request, or perhaps an obligation? Do you feel like it is your duty to give, and give and give? Do you feel like maybe you will be loved more if you just give a little more. Are there conditions around your giving?
Problem is, if you keep pulling from a well that has run dry, there is nothing left to give! There's no water for anyone, including yourself.

Consider this......GIVE goes hand in hand with RECEIVE. If you give and diminish your resources, you need to receive something back in order to be strong enough to give again.

I ask you this......for just half of a work day, just 4 hours, try observing instead of giving, and if you can do that, try receiving for one hour.

If balance was EVER required in our lives, it is in this situation. In order to give properly and fully, you must also receive properly and fully.

I hope you can allow yourself to hear this message! <3

Plain Truth

Today I am encouraged to just send a message central to Dan's art.

We are all here to live OUR truth, not someone else's, not our falseness.....our TRUTH.

This is at  the core of all of Dan's work, this is what I have gleaned from studying his lyrics for almost a year now.

So, if you know not your truth......you'd better change before the sun goes down!
Don't let the sun go down on another day lived falsely........NOW, begin NOW, seek your truth, it lies just below the lies!

Don't look down......there's a reason......

Sing that old song....

This song........it hits me right where my soul and my heart share a space.... smack dab in the middle of the apex of the sacred union they both connect within.

Today, as it came up, I had visions of singing with my DanFam.....in Sharon's car belting out  "As The Raven Flies". Singing in the stairwell with Amy and Doris........singing this song at the Gardens before we went to lunch. Singing "Gambler" at the concert Saturday night....flashlights waving.

Singing with friends.....voices blended and harmonizing........delivering a prayer of thanks to Dan. A thank you so large and complete, that we can not quantify it or fully express what we truly feel.

Dan, we sing these old songs we know so well that they have become  the very fiber of our being; our DNA;  back to you now........we say that once you used to know us, our souls and our inner most thoughts.....because we all connect deeply when we present our gifts to the world.

Because we can never fully express our gratitude and love to you in mere spoken word, we reflect your wisdom back to you as we sing your truth to YOU....... always. It has come Full Circle.

Celebration!!!!!

It occurred to me while in Peoria this year, that we were experiencing a "Phoenix moment". The year before, we were all there grieving and feeling the pain of loss amongst the collection of souls who had gathered. There were times of joy and sorrow blended beautifully into the soil that was to become the growth place for our friendships.

Over the year that followed, many of us became merged via FaceBook and when we met in the flesh this time around, we were CELEBRATING new life......Dan's 60th Birthday, the blossoming of freinds meeting, laughing, crying and becoming closer still.

We all rose from the flames of loss and became a new creation........How fucking awesome is that???

Dan, today, I thank you for giving even after your death......we gather because of you and we continue to grow because you shared your gift with the world......

Your gift gave us a whole new world!

We continue to share your art with the world!

We shall ALWAYS honor your place in our lives!

Healing Through Change?

Change.....embrace it
             for it is as constant
                                          As anything we know

The beauty of the mystery 
                     it possesses
       Is the key to activating its magic

In the not knowing
                                       There is much power
and.................................. peace

Can you allow
                      Change
                                To heal you?

A Glimpse is Ours....

I am still real raw from the planning, the journey, the meeting, the bonding, the loving and the leaving. It has been almost a week since I have written......I just needed time to honor the whole experience. And I know this cycle will continue until the flow returns and the pace quickens around my blog again. I welcome the time to process and heal and mostly show my gratitude for this amazing connective gift!

Something shifted for me while sitting at the concert on Saturday night. I saw Dan's eyes and felt his wisdom beaming out from that gorgeous poster that welcomed us all that night......thank you, Deb! And I heard a personal message for myself that I am also assimilating into my life.

Today, as I sit outside in the still Sunday morning, warmed by the fire reestablished from last evening, I feel a true connection to the messages sent in these last two Danspirations. Both of these songs are about family, and struggle.

We have been given the most sacred of gifts..... a  beautiful glimpse of the man we adore for so many reasons. And I strongly KNOW that he is sending the message that while we have bonded and have become a family of connection, he needs us to know that our family is not HIS family of origin. We must honor the separation as well as the connection.....we MUST honor the need for privacy that Dan craved and still does,  even to this day....... always. He wants us to know he is humbled, and even a bit confused about our deep commitment to him and his art. He honors that we need this in our lives, so he asks that we continue to honor that which is his alone. His life, his privacy, his peace and serenity as well as that of ALL his forefathers, ancestors and those still here walking the planet on a physical plane.

A glimpse of the soul connection is the truth we honor, the only place he allows us to tread and we MUST do this with respect and some loving detachment.

As I continue to heal and reflect, I know you do as well.......take the time you need and know................... one day we'll all understand! ;)

The Faces We Present....

Often during the weekend, while in Peoria, I wondered which song Dan would send for the Danspiration when the time we shared had passed. On Sunday, organically, a group formed for lunch to say our goodbyes and be in the company of our tribe. I gave some of the group a ride back to the hotel so they could catch a shuttle to the airport. Immediately after pulling away from the curb and on my way back to the tribe's table , I changed the Satellite Radio station and, you guessed it!!!!......Dan sent the song at that magic moment.  
"Faces of America" greeted my ears and my humble heart over the waves of vibration that he sent!

So....here we go....let's see what message needs to be vibrated to all of us.....

Glances that say all without a word

Voices lifting to our Mountain Bird

Circles meeting, hearts connected

Open channels to the energy projected

From there and here, to show us how

To mix the past and  the present...to create the NOW

Of which he spoke so eloquently

To be true, you just gotta be the best ME

That you can find within yourself

Some times shown boldly, other times with stealth

Sharing your all with those who reflect 

The inner truth and connected respect

Of the faces that join to honor the string

Of bonded connection found anew each Spring

The seasons we all experience in blended phases

Are best shared with true, not false faces

So, please consider any messages that you received

While in this place of connectivity

False faces have no right to sit among the souvenirs...

 the memories we all now hold so dear

Release any fears and allow connected humanity

And, you will find your true self within the 
"Dan Family"

We Are ONE

Listen......can you hear it?

Ah, can you.....feel it?

Yes, you know it.......we are the same, connected, we are ONE

No name defines us

No space can hold all that we are

For we are everything, nothing and all that is in between

The sacred life shore we stroll is one

We have stood on before.....together

Perhaps at different times, but together none the less

As the tributaries that are our souls

Melt into one single, massive, mingled river

Our currents combine and freely flow, again...and we know 

We Are ONE

Melded Emotions Manifested

Yesterday I had a day of deep funk and depression, deeper than I have experienced for a very, very long time.

Once I realized the funk was upon me, I knew I needed as much peace and stillness as I could find in the day, and it was gifted to me.

I tried to find a reason for the lack of connection I felt, or was I feeling connected to too many things, or people, or the past......I don't know. I only knew I felt nothing and everything all at the same time. It was a gray day. These emotions melded manifested madly into a deep well where I allowed myself to hide.

This song is a melding of many emotions, and Dan so expertly shows them all to us in a matter of minutes. Today I honor the talent he had for expressing himself so profoundly in subtle and direct ways. I marvel at the gift he gave us all, and I will continue to marvel over and over and over again as it is revealed to me.

Merry Me? For the wise John Davis

After a deep conversation just now with John about marriage and connection and truth, love and possessiveness, this song showed up! I had to laugh a bit because this beautiful song seems be the pinnacle of romantic love. "I have loved you before I even knew I loved you" and I truly believe this kind of connection CAN and often DOES exist between humans on levels we do not even understand.
If we would just allow that to be OK....that we do not HAVE TO understand how it happened or why it happened, but instead ACCEPT it, nurture it and grow it, we as a collective group would do much better in the relationship arena.

How many times have you been given some kind of connective compliment or experienced an out of body vibe with another person and then questioned the living shit out of it until you have reduced this amazing, unexplainable encounter into something you did not really experience and don't deserve anyway?
Or, you felt so guilty about it that you beat yourself up for years about it?
After all,  it was JUST an experience!

Why is it that we strive for the fantasy and then push anything that seems like a fantasy away? We want the fairy tale till it knocks on the door!

Knock it off, people.....get real, get connected and GET FREE !!!! Then, maybe you can love yourself deeper, longer and truer enough so you can actually give that gift of deep love to another person!

That is all!

A decision.......

LOVE is a decision, not an emotion. Emotions change with the direction of the wind.....a decision to love someone is a sacred contract and deserves to be treated as such. As you know, at times, the other person does not chose to love in return, they may not sign the contract alongside you.  
SO be it.
Perhaps this person has never been loved fully and knows not how to love himself, let alone another human.

My point here, is that if you place conditions and the need for reciprocation on your LOVE, then this is not love either. You choose to love from deep inside you. Once there, you have other decisions to make, often daily or hourly decisions. Questions such as these can assist you in these secondary decisions : "Is this love healthy for me?" "Am I loved back?" "Am I honored by loving this person?" "Does my love honor them?"

I love many whom I have never met simply because I have decided to. And, as complex as that may seem.....it is just the truth that I made my mind up to love, the rest is up to them.

Do you decide to love or do you allow your emotions to dictate your life.....taking you on a never ending roller coaster ride?

A little something to ponder today..........

Balanced........For Julie Ann today

A fresh lease on life...a gift so precious, she worries...."Will it slip through my fingers?"
And then she allows herself to know, she deserves this
For all she has given, she deserves some back to fill the empty space.... from where her love flows freely

She is allowing the receiving and in this process learning...that she needs to be fed as well
Her emotional needs are important, too
Take what you can and give what you can, within this lesson is the balance....we all seek

Be the one to receive, dear friend....and know
that when you are called upon to give once more
Your giving will come from a well filled of love given by others

Remodeled! For Beverly Angel

A soul lonely, yet strong

Is a healer of those dwindling

I hope she knows it won't be long

Before she realizes love is rekindling

And growing in her heart

Is a connection to many

In Peoria it did start

And it is unlike any

Other love she has seen before

In love with souls connected

By a gifted man opening doors

Of hearts that had felt rejected  

We became remodeled and reopened

When we became a family

And found the love for which we were hopin

When it broke down walls and set us free

So, open the windows once boarded

And release the pride within

For the love we had courted

Is here and sheds light on the din!