Let Beauty Remain
art source: Shiloh Sophia McCloud
There is often a tendency to fog the mind
Worse yet, feigning clarity the entire time
The moment comes when the fog it lifts
And lost time evaporates like Avalon mist.
The beauty in that, is when the insight hits you
Your cares diminish and you wear what fits you
No longer worried about what has been done
The focus becomes the Earth you stand upon.
Preference, proclivities, interests and love
Become actualities, not dreams stored above
Your skin holds you present, you understand fate
Can knock on your door on any given day.
With time less available possibilities seem clear
Not hindered by delays, or a doubter’s glare
The wrinkles diminish, the fabric’s laid out
Your mural is woven with life-affirming vows.
The threads, some are thicker and others don’t hold
Those with resilience are the ones to behold
The friends, fertility, the sustenance, the rations
Those textures you’ve offered in a life you’ve imagined.
Whether here for the duration or just one more day
The fog can be lifted in a myriad of ways
I’m guessing that most involve love in some fashion
And probably uncovering some long hidden passion.
Time is the question, creativity the solution
What inspires bliss and sidesteps retribution?
I shift my perspective as my time here wanes
And hope when breath fades that beauty remains.
From the archives, Tricia Schwaba, 2014
Vitality
keep yourself connected to earth
while at once lifting to the heavens
sink into humanity
rise to the expansive mind
nurture the pathway they traverse
love travels this route
make it your your own
it is vitality
Tricia Schwaba, May 9 2020
On the News
Alicia Keys Quote, Yoga Closing 5/6/20
“Nothing but uncertainty is certain. Circumstances come together only to fall apart moments or months later. And then in a flash we rise up and regain our footing. In the rear view mirror I now see clearly what escaped me then. It’s not that the ground underneath me was suddenly shifting, it’s that it’s never still. That’s part of the work of my journey — getting comfortable with life’s groundlessness.” Alicia Keys
From O to 59 In No Time
Isn’t it interesting that when we talk about aging it’s really all about what happens to the physical body after 50? Guess what, we start aging the moment we are born. And a lot of it is really good stuff, what with the talking and the walking and the discovery and the joy. Inevitably mixed in are the pesky disappointment, heartbreak, adolescence and fucked up relationships, but hey there’s a lot more positives than we give credit for. I understand we all have it differently and I grew up in the luxury of privilege with the skin color that would pretty much keep me safe throughout my life (with the exception of that night when I was 17 but that’s a different essay).
My point is — collectively the aging process is based on what goes wrong with us, not with what goes right. Hell, if we are going to focus on what goes right, what would all the advertising executives do? How would those poor guys make a buck? How on Earth would they convince us all that we are actually sub-par and in need of the latest cream (It only costs $125 per ounce!) or worse yet, in need of an injection or a face fix via the knife (where the end result might make us look good, but just so we know may make us look freakish, or possibly like a swollen post-surgery patient for the rest of our days, but thank God it’s available because that is so much better than a few hard earned lines).
59 is the day for me today. So I have survived 59 years of aging. As you can see in the pictures above, my face has changed quite a bit. In all honesty I could have posted an “I woke up this morning, have no makeup on and have placed the camera in the worst possible light to capture all my lines and flaws” shot, but I’m not quite that mature yet. You get the idea. This was my face, and is my face and as it goes I’m okay with both. It seems one of the main things you can take from these photos is that my hairline has filled in and I no longer dress like a Mormon.
So as I venture out into my day, one that is blessedly filled with sunshine and warm temperatures, I am grateful for all 21,535 days I have opened my eyes, stretched my arms and legs and wondered “What the hell is going to happen today?”
Tricia Schwaba May 2, 2020
Quick Class, Chaos Into Calm
Facets and Hues
The sun is shining through strongly this evening. It comes from behind our house and shines onto the bay in front highlighting the trees on the opposite side of the lake making them appear nearly fluorescent. The easy wind picks up occasionally and the glass-like water gives way to a cluster of ripples, a choreography of facets and hues. Then glass again. “Our” deer family, all females, have returned looking now, not for the corn we bestowed upon them in the depths of the icy winter, but for the natural resources beginning to sprout from our front yard, a yard of soft mosses and still undetermined shoots, life sustaining to these graceful, skittish, creatures. They are hyper aware, like me, searching for predators, hearing the softest sounds, with pairs of tall ears twitching, quick independent directional movements each on their own wavelength. They see my slight movement from behind the picture window some 20 yards away. The alpha stops, staring me down looking right through me, then relaxing her jaw shifts right and left breaking down the good fortune of the nourishment she has found. Empathically I still myself. I too am sensitive to predators on the move in this particular humanity. I watch in wonder, sending out the gratitude I feel every time they visit. She goes back to foraging. I breathe deeply. Her long legs are thin, belying her power, one that can catapult her over an obstacle 4 feet high with graceful confidence. I hear a loud noise from the south. All 4 deer heads rise in unison from the ground they were inspecting, and turn towards the sound. I stretch to see if I can see anything and my movement causes the 8 huge doe eyes to take one last look my way, then bolt in a line, towards the western woods, 4 white tails waving goodbye.
This is my ongoing project, watching the ice melt, the creatures forage and anticipate the coming of spring, that in some years past, I was certain would never return. And yet here it is, a lifeline. This beautiful, sunny warmth I can feel in my heart is much appreciated and ignites my hope that humanity can indeed heal.
Tricia Schwaba April 26, 2020
Quick Class, In The Moment On the Mat
Tricia’s Quick Classes are designed to give you bite size pieces of information that you can digest easily and put into effect in your life immediately.
Yoga Closing April 24, 2020 Carolyn McHugh
Willing To Be There
Source: saatchiart.com
I’m trying not to anticipate, taking each moment as it comes
Stretching, reaching for equity in hopes I can become
A human who lives it right, a human that truly dares
A human that as the paradigm shifts is willing to be there
To take the leap of faith required to assist and heed the call
Not keep myself concealed from the tenderness of it all
Tricia Schwaba April 2020
Essential Oils For Balancing Chakras
The Winds of Change So Bold
Artwork source: Saatchiart.com
They say that time moves on, ultimately it tells it all
I guess that’s true and may explain the depth of this great fall
It seems that we, and our world won’t ever be the same.
Perhaps that’s the blessing in this tragic human game
We’ve created such a mess, we let the greedy lead the way
With sacred rituals shredded down, all thin, and bare and frayed
This planet that we share is throwing off all that’s not needed
We should have heard the call, but blazing signs were never heeded.
We shrugged and we side-stepped and we shit on holy ground
And now we find ourselves inside this vortex heading down
We are not in control, and in fact have never been
Do we regret the poor decisions that were made way back when?
When the winds of possibility gently pushed us towards the light
But instead all wanted more of the power and the might
The males took the wheel driving far into the darkness
Led by many troubled souls, with no contour only starkness
Money and the jewel of flashy houses, guns and cars
Pushed for most to cheat and steal while up the hill they charged
The summit was scattered garbage and the remnants of their choices
No air to breathe, no trees to nourish, no truth from velvet voices.
So what do we do now, can we dodge the great unknown?
Or be the winds of change so bold, stir the many seeds we’ve sewn.
Tricia Schwaba April 8, 2020
We Will Get Through This
Art source: Anon
You are important to the collective healing process.
When the stress gets overwhelming
Breathe the deep breath.
Nourish yourself with
Good thoughts, good food, good intentions.
We will get through this.
We will transcend.
We will gather again.
And won’t that feel spectacular?
Channeling The High Priestess*
Art Source: ShaktiArt.com
A Challenge For This Time
I challenge you to sit quietly in the eye of the storm,
To not let chaos steal the moment.
I challenge you to breathe deeply
Even when fear dives to your depths.
I challenge you to smile at the temptation of panic,
Allowing it to float by, a cloud in the bright blue
A cosmic clue to the puzzle of your struggle.
I challenge you to declare your self-love out loud
A peaceful, powerful proclamation that you are indeed, worthy.
*The High Priestess is an entity that uses Tricia as a conduit for divine guidance. She’s lovely.
Tricia Schwaba 2020
Infinite Silence Sweet Divine Guidance, Audio Poetry
A Fresh Healing Balm, Audio Poetry
Pandemic by Rev. Lynn Ungar
What if you thought of it as the Jews consider
the Sabbath- the most sacred of times?
Cease from Travel.
Cease from buying and selling.
Give up, just for now, on trying
to make the world different than it is.
Sing. Pray, Touch only those
to whom you commit your life.
Center down, and when your body becomes still,
reach out with your heart.
Know that we are connected
in ways terrifying and beautiful.
(You could hardly deny it now.)
Know that our lives are in one another’s hands.
(Surely that has come clear.)
Do not reach out your hands.
Reach out your heart.
Reach out your words.
Reach out your tendrils of compassion
that move, invisibly, where we cannot touch.
Promise your world your love-
for better or worse,
in sickness and in health,
so long as we shall live.
Reverend Lynn Ungar
Calling All Prophets
Art source: Fine Art America
Buddha, Shakti, Shiva, Jesus
Prana, Allah & Blessed High Priestess
Please answer my calls if you hover above
Reminding the haters, it’s all about love.
The misled are leading, with egos and boasts
The garbage rises, too much to compost.
If a second coming can ever occur
Could you make it soon and please don’t deter ?
We need guidance now, a revelation to seize
If you think it will help I can fall to my knees
I’ll offer my prayer for peace to reign
Or please guide me towards a more enlightened plane.
Tricia Schwaba, Original 2017
