Exploring The Possible … Through the Power of Story

Posted on June 21, 2014 by AlianaAlani

I recently created a Group Page on Facebook called – Exploring the Possible … Through the Power of Story. It has been created to provide a place for people to share their stories and visions of a world of harmony & love, with the idea that in doing so, we and our world can blossom. The article that explains it all is below. You do have to ask to be a member but otherwise it’s an open site, so when you have time, go to the Group Page, take a look and see if it’s for you.

THIS GROUP IS FOR ANYONE TRULY INTERESTED IN ENVISIONING & LIVING IN A WORLD OF HARMONY & LOVE – HERE & NOW

…The group has been started by ALIANA ALANI

THROUGH THE POWER OF STORY…

EVERYTHING IN LIFE IS A STORY. The stories we tell ourselves. The ones we tell each other. The ones we tell our world. Story is how we define the inner and outer of our lives, and it is how we choose to change – from an old story that no longer serves us into a new story of who we want to become.

COLLECTIVELY THESE STORIES become our histories, myths and legends. They waft through the annals of time to a later date where you or I read about them, ponder, and are often enlightened. They are the jewels in the treasure chest of life. They can also be those pesky chains that bind us to the past.

STORY COMES IN MANY FORMS – through the power of imagination and intent, it can take shape via word, sound, and visual – think book, blog, film, video, YouTube, theatre, photography, painting, illustration, speaking, singing, rapping, slam poetry, and of course music.

This is where you and I come in.

THE STORY OF A WORLD OF HARMONY & LOVE:

FOR CENTURIES PEOPLE have spoken of a land of milk and honey; a place resplendent with harmony, love, and abundance. Whether envisioned through the eyes of a poet or storyteller, philosopher, mystic or messiah, it is ever etched within the fabric of the collective mind and heart of we, the people of planet earth.

THIS LAND OF POSSIBILITY has over time been gifted many names. Some call it Shangri-La or Shamballa, some The Land of The Blessed, some Paradise, and many, The Garden of Eden. And though the dynamics within may vary, the essence of all these stories remains the same. In it, we are in tune with our inner spirit, at one with our hearts, in balance with mind and body, and at peace with all in the world which we inhabit. In it, we effortlessly flourish in a magnificent manifestation of the celebration of life. I call this place, The Garden. And in my heart, I know it already exists.

So here’s the opportunity – and I’m hoping you’ll want to come onboard.

WHAT IF WE EACH TAKE THE TIME to envision what The Garden looks like to us? How we feel in it and how we act in it? What if we tell a story about that in whatever form feels right? What if we share that story – here, now?

BY DOING IT, we shine a light on it in our hearts. By sharing it, we shine a light on it in our world.

IMAGINE – your story calling out a song to someone else’s – maybe you’re in North America, maybe they are in India, maybe Bali or Hawaii, Australia or New Zealand, Europe or Asia, Africa or the Middle East – maybe the story sounds similar, maybe even the same. IMAGINE – the power of love in that.

SO WHETHER YOU WRITE a poem, a short story, a song; whether you put something on YouTube and link it here; whether you do a painting or a series of photographs; whether you do an improv session at your school or local theatre and film it for us to see; whether you do it as a group or by yourself – whatever wonderful form you choose to take – take the time to tell us your story, your vision, your dream of a world of harmony and balance, love and prosperity – here and now.

HELP THE VISION GROW. The crazy thing is, if you tell it often enough, you’ll end up living it. Think where we’ll all be then.

JOIN THE VISION – CREATE THE MAGIC – SHINE A LIGHT

…and remember, this is a place for sharing positive loving stories … nothing less will do

ALOHA … and thank you, ALIANA

Posted on June 15, 2014 by AlianaAlani

Every garden, whether it’s the garden of your heart, your life, or your world requires nourishment to grow. For it to flourish and to truly blossom, it requires love.

Love the best of you and your garden into being now.

You deserve the very best and so does your world.

We are connected

Posted on June 6, 2014 by AlianaAlani

In the distance a friend cries, mourning the passing of another

A senseless passing

In the distance, as though on cue a bird listens, then shutters

Wings flap, a caw is heard, and an honouring begins

In the distance

Here, a wind blows and swirls. There, a wave builds within the deep

Reaching the shores of another’s heart on the opposite side of distance

Who turns in wonder, for nothing happens without knowing

We are all connected

We move like butterflies fluttering to the tune of another’s song

Angels gracefully flying the skies of each other’s spirit

Dancing along moments of joy and sorrow, yours and mine

We are connected

In that distance, a man’s heart opens, daring to love again, further

Feeling it we turn his way, and remember – the magic and wonder

That is possible, here in our beautiful sometimes fragile Garden

Where we are all connected

…for Naren & his family

Sometimes…

Posted on May 3, 2014 by AlianaAlani

Sometimes there are moments

When I wander through the galaxies at night

Or feel fear on the tips of a child’s hand

Sometimes…

Sometimes the cry is too great

The anguish, the longing too large

Sometimes the cacophony overwhelms

And I long to rest

Sometimes…

Then somewhere the sun rises in a woman’s smile

A world turns and finally knows its own name

Joy surfaces in atoms and particles for no apparent reason

Sometimes…

Sometimes thoughts circle like tumbleweed

Along the vast landscape of the Eternal

Bumping into each other

Cascading or colliding

But sometimes they dance

In harmony, in union

Sometimes they love

And when they do, when they do

I breathe a sigh and relax

Sometimes…

There is a bridge …

Posted on April 25, 2014 by AlianaAlani

There is a bridge that exists between two worlds – fragile, translucent, almost ethereal.

It hovers, beckoning. Its glow, shimmering.

But do we see?

It is temporary, this bridge, and will not last.

Do we know? Do we care?

It travels between the world of love & plenty, and the world that soon will know no air.

When it vanishes, we will be but in one world or the other.

Does this matter?

If you find yourself on its path, do not hesitate, do not linger.

Dash over to the world of your heart’s desire.

And always remember,

At any moment the bridge could disappear, like magic, into the eternal air.

©Aliana Alani 2014

Starlight

Posted on March 20, 2014 by AlianaAlani

We are starlight, for a brief second,

and then are no more.

Back to the centre

to home

to the formless again.

We are starlight, for a brief second.

Why then this strife?

Why such discord?

What for?

We are starlight.

Why not Love?

Friends…

Posted on January 12, 2014 by AlianaAlani

Some waft through your life like bits of sky cloud – here one moment, gone the next. Their impact is pleasant, perhaps important, maybe even dazzling.

Others linger over tea and a few biscuits of time, even a life experience or two. You toast a year together, perhaps another, and they are gone; their names etched delicately in the treasure chest of your heart.

But there are some whose presence mingles like starlight and something magical is brewed within the tempest teapot we call life. The halls of memory ring with laughter and poignant moments, kindness and bursts of wisdom, and of course, because how could good friends be without this, love. These are the ones who never quite leave, though time or distance might test the threads. Their well of caring is deep and whether you speak a thousand times a day or only an email now and then, they are with you (as you are with them) through the celebrations and the challenges. They are the jewels that linger.

I have been blessed with meeting many people in my life. I have also been blessed with friends. Like most, I suppose, there are but a few who become the lingering legends. They are what I lovingly call the elite circle in my life, and they are small in number.

One of them recently left to ride the skies and dance with the angels.

His name is Bill Murphy. And this is my oh-so-tiny way of honouring his presence and now his memory.

Bill is/was from the land of sun and sand, heat and light, an Australian. Like many Aussies I’ve known, he went tracing his roots back to Ireland, and like some, never quite left. We met in The Green. Bonded by a love of sun, wrapped in a mist of Ireland, sometimes wondering what the hell we were doing there, often marveling at its depth of magic, longing to feel the heat again, we became friends.

Bill had a twinkle in his eyes that made you wonder, as though he knew something delicious you might want to know. He was funny. He was wise. He had been gifted with the ability of insight, which he used gently. He was my introduction to Australia, a land I came to love, and I will always be grateful for that.

Bill was a generous man with a huge heart, and like many whose hearts are big, it was often fragile. Life challenged it like it challenges us all. As a friend, to me one of the greatest blessings in his life is that he finally found the love he had been searching for and the family he had always longed to have. Jacqueline is a jewel and they are beautiful together.

Bill travelled the slippery slopes of lymphoma for a couple of years or more. It wasn’t his first illness but it proved the toughest. There were moments when it looked like he’d come out of it (I confess I never quite ‘saw’ him leaving). He made it home for Christmas – my last email from him was of a triumphant man having been able to eat a Christmas dinner with his family!

Bill left us on January 3, 2014.

In Australia, they call a friend – a mate. Bill Murphy was my good mate and I shall miss him.

G’day to you Bill – enjoy that light, and buckets of thanks for the moments and the memories. Love ya!

Posted on December 29, 2013 by AlianaAlani

This is one of the most beautiful planets in the universe.

And you are one of its most beautiful stars.

Find a way to be the best you can be.

And above all – LOVE.

HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE!

To dream …

Posted on December 26, 2013 by AlianaAlani

As we begin to crest the wave of the holiday season and move closer to the end of a year, many of us start, once again, to ponder dreams and desires, both new and old. Forget the resolutions. This is more about the questions that help us sculpt a new world for ourselves. Questions like: what is a our heart’s desire, what do we truly love to do and are we doing it, how would we like to spend each day of the next year of our lives, and for some, with whom? Are we daring to love? And then there’s the larger question – what do we want for our world?

Dreams (and desires) are like stories waiting to be told. Sometimes we dare to look in their direction, feel a flutter in our hearts, and act. Sometimes they filter through the night space rather than the day, hovering.

As I ponder the power such dreams can hold and what waits in those proverbial wings, a wonderful Irish poet comes to mind. Someone whose work I have a fondness for – William Butler Yeats.

Below is a poem in which resides a segment many have come to know. I offer it to you as food for thought. I sense that Yeats would have liked that.