Howard McQueen's Blog (436)

© 2012 Howard McQueen

In this string of moments I’ve known you,

I’ve been absorbing the all of you.

Even through the seeming distractions,

your humanity penetrates to the essence of me,

reawakening in me

the great desire to love

through my fear

and doubt.

I release myself from all hesitancy,

willing to be lost in love,

blinded, in order to see clearly

all that…

© 2012 Howard McQueen

Make your way

back into your own gateway,

your center,

where all potential is present,

where heaven and hell are recognized

as arising from interpretation 

shaped by perspective

and expressed through intention.

This trinity: interpretation, perspective and intention,

when opened

and navigated with patience and reflection

provide the journeyer

with the necessary…

© 2012 Howard McQueen 

 

How can we continue to believe

that there is security

in what is stale,

in what we’ve already harvested,

in what we’ve already celebrated?

 

Many times in this life,

we hear the not so faint calling

to build our new nest,

and we turn away from the calling,

planting our heals

and our hearts

in the…

© 2012 Howard McQueen 

I am appreciating this gift of life.

I have not always felt this way about life,

or about my life.

For the longest time, it seemed to me

that there were injustices done to me

that were patently unfair.

Then, over the course of time,

I sowed those injustices upon others,

becoming initiated and intimately aware

of the suffering already loose in this…

© 2012 Howard McQueen

It starts out innocent enough,

 a casual conversation begun.

Goodwill is opened, friendship warmed,

 all this seemingly under the auspices of genuine inquiry.

As the questions continue however,

 there is the sense of a rigid and analytical agenda firming up.

Information about me is highlighted and then inflated,

 supposedly on my behalf.

The conversation is herded along so that a…

© 2012 Howard McQueen

 

All too often

 we wait to celebrate being together - till we are leaving.

 

Everyday we have the opportunity

 to be radical daredevils

 and let escape our words,

 profusely professing

 our love for each other.

 

Why are we still…

Words by Howard McQueen; Inspiration by Fred Lansford

I am slip-sliding, ever-shifting perspective and awareness,

 collapsing and expanding

 entirely outside of my control.

I am sometimes a tiny sliver,

 weak, frail, sometimes feeling desperately incomplete

 and sometimes connected to such a wholeness

 and profundity as to see

 mother earth as a pearl in the great Ocean.

I seek sometimes the reunion…

© 2012 Howard McQueen

We seem to always be offered the same two choices when we encounter conflict:

            To enter into judgment

            <or>

            To enter into inquiry

One choice leads us on the journey towards a peaceful understanding.

The other choice continues to blind and bind us to our ignorance. 

© 2012 Howard McQueen

If something is not quite right with this moment;

Perhaps,

 you have yet to bring your full self into the moment.

Perhaps,

 You are remembering that its not all about what you think

 AND it is all about how you choose to interpret and respond.

© 2012 Howard McQueen

Version 1.1

To practice your artistry, your mission, your […],

i.e. your own unique vision for a richer, connected humanity.

Encourage yourself to be more and more fearlessly

 comfortable and alive within your own skin.

 And then, 

 go forth and occupy the richness of this imperfect,

 often conflicted, external world.

A nod of appreciation for the contributions of William…

© 2012 Howard McQueen

Our mind,

when faced with not knowing,

wants to fill in [ … ] for us.

What it tends to fill in, depends,

to a great extent,

upon what it chooses to fetch

dust off

and then make up.

If the mind expects a fearful future,

it may manufacture caution, avoidance

or [ ... ]

If the mind expects a pleasurable future,

it may throw…

© 2012 Howard McQueen

We are always full,

however, not always full of life-sustaining beliefs.

What we are filled with   

determines whether life bounces off  us

or penetrates deeply,

infusing us,  

radically altering us.

It may be a mid-life crisis,

or a broken partnership,

or a loss of income,

or the ending of a career,

or the untimely death of someone snatched away from…

HI All,  I am hoping this reaches Leah Song, either directly, or if someone can send me her email address or forward my email to her  howard@mcq.com.

Thank you very much.

Howard

© 2011 Howard McQueen

REPEATING PATTERNS

© 2011 Howard McQueen

My behavior is disrespectful to myself when I:

- contribute to and sustain a relationship where mutual respect

  is out-of-balance, and is not recognized consciously by all parties, as the

  most important thing to strive for.

- believe that I can nuture a loving relationship with anything less than

  honesty.

-…

Draft Version 1.1 | December 22, 2011

© 2011 Howard McQueen

I’ve struggled with three bouts of anxiety this past week, after having a relatively anxiety free three months.

When I speak of bouts-of-anxiety, I mean that I feel dramatically depressed. 

I withdraw.

I want to go hide.

I don’t want to be bothered.

I don’t feel like I have any confidence to face the world.

I am learning that the prelude to anxiety,…

(c) 2011 Howard McQueen

May you be blessed with the ability to breathe it all in:

(c) 2011 Howard McQueen

Version 2.0

(c) 2011 Howard McQueen

We carry the burdens of experiences

where we had expectations for unconditional love.

Instead, and to our surprise,

what we received and internalized

were infectious conditions,

the self-inflictions of others mixed in with their attempts to love.

As beings conceived to thrive on unconditional love,

these infections, conveyed to another open to…

Dear Friend,

 © 2011 Howard McQueen

These are clarifying times.

These are times to "step up" or "step out".

These are times for many of us to step off the fence

of confusion and uncertainty and respond to our deeper callings.

This is especially true for those of us stepping up to a leadership

calling within our communities.

Let this time of contraction not become hijacked

by the overwhelming fears of…