CT / Queens / the world as a whole..

@audreyleopard on Instagram

I posted this on my Facebook yesterday:

i am so disturbed and heartbroken by recent events including today’s shooting in CT.. the energies are changing and will only continue to do so. it is so, so IMPERATIVE that we RISE with the change. give of yourselves. discern with your heart. be BRAVE enough to BELIEVE that there is no sovereign over you. it starts with US. i am praying with all my being that aching hearts are comforted, embraced in the divine energy of that which we all are. this ego, madness, senseless violence, hatred – this is not us. this is the time, brothers and sisters. become who you are meant to be.

Sending prayers and so much love.. There are no words.

Just.. Be love. And write more love letters (thank you Catherine).

Here is a Henry Miller quote from an article another friend of mine posted today:

“The art of living is based on rhythm – on give and take, ebb and flow, light and dark, life and death. By acceptance of all aspects of life, good and bad, right and wrong, yours and mine, the static, defensive life, which is what most people are cursed with, is converted into a dance, ‘the dance of life,’ metamorphosis. One can dance to sorrow or to joy; one can even dance abstractly. … But the point is that, by the mere act of dancing, the elements which compose it are transformed; the dance is an end in itself, just like life. The acceptance of the situation, any situation, brings about a flow, a rhythmic impulse towards self-expression. To relax is, of course, the first thing a dancer has to learn. It is also the first thing a patient has to learn when he confronts the analyst. It is the first thing any one has to learn in order to live. It is extremely difficult, because it means surrender, full surrender. […] Life, as we all know, is conflict, and man, being part of life, is himself an expression of conflict. If he recognizes the fact and accepts it, he is apt, despite the conflict, to know peace and to enjoy it. But to arrive at this end, which is only a beginning (for we haven’t begun to live yet!), a man has got to learn the doctrine of acceptance, that is, of unconditional surrender, which is love.”

Perfect.

@audreyleopard on Instagram

My children
I listen
I listen
To your 138 tongues speak
And call me your home
– Bob McNeil (excerpt), in Newtown Literary

Just now I finished my article for a local magazine on the literary community in Queens. I feel so happy to have been a part of Newtown Literary Journal‘s launch party last night – Waltz-Astoria was packed and every person I interviewed for the article ended up in the same place. Something is happening if we give ourselves a chance, stay connected, support each other, and most importantly – SUBMIT! WRITE! READ! and COME OUT! to the series in the borough right now. I am happy to know all of you and excited to read (and help to write) the next chapter in our story.

Speaking of the next chapter, I am also so happy to have been recognized for my work by Queens Council on the Arts, and I will be participating in the Spring 2013 Peer Leadership Circle for Queens literary artists.

Gratitude and more gratitude.

I’ll leave you with my mom’s favorite prayer:

Lead me from the unreal to the real,
From darkness to light,
From mortality to immortality.
Om. Shanti Shanti Shanti.