Author: Jeff Shapiro

We go the way of our fears…
They are like a ghost in our midst…
This is not an unusual condition…
That is why you need lots and lots of courage.

Fear makes you think that God is unfair…
The natural laws unkind…
Makes you see only what you would like to see…
Missing out on so many more important things.

Fear makes your clock tell a different time…
Your legs freeze, your second hand stand still…
So sudden and panicky…
As if a hurricane is passing through your mind.

But there is another side to this…

What if you have everything you need to conquer this world…
And all the universe is there to help you…
That there is no such thing as a hurricane season…
And the jungle of your mind had no predators.

What if you are…
Greater than everyone of your fears…
The story of stories…
The one who decides what is the shiniest…
The author, the painter, the poet, the minstrel.

You are so much more than your fears!

I love you,

Annie

I am afraid of being blown away…
So, I stay close to the ground…
Being low makes me untouchable…
Like how humility makes me strong.

Every morning, I need to summon the courage to turn into the wind…
Like glass, it continues to flow…
The wind explains the way the world is…
Being more of a painting than a photograph.

It is like the pounding of steel…
Changing me into various shapes and sizes…
Showing me what I am and what I am not…
Let the hammer ring!

Aren’t we all like dolls in different outfits…
Nobody inconsequential…
Everyone standing on holy ground…
Everyone a spiritual celebrity.

Sometimes I think I know everything…
Sometimes not anything at all…
I am not familiar with all the customs of the spiritual world…
But I know I must go low to find them.

I love you,

Annie

Oh no, that creeping weight again…
You know, the one where your thoughts become suspended…
Melting into meaningless streaks…
Happiness floating away in a small black puff.

We all share the same story…
Those days when we feel damp and bedraggled…
All the way from head to tail and back again…
Where, even a biscuit tastes bitter.

Yet, everyday there is a knock on the door…
Saying, look up at the sky, feel the grass beneath your toes…
Take this breast plate of gold…
And dance in the glorious warmth of life swirling around you.

Time to fluff up your fur!
Stop thinking, that you are dangling from a rope…
Widen one eye and narrow the other…
And proceed with a soft growl.

Life is not all that complex…
But its not always ringing with pleasant music…
Yet there is always a rhythm that urges you to take the next step forward…
There is, there is.

I love you,

Annie

She whispers and I follow…
The universe always willing to help…
She allows me to look with Her eyes…
Often, only, at the softness of sound.

She always makes me push my boundaries…
Shows me that all life is on the other side of fear…
Fear, being simply a shadow to walk through…
Through a slit into the present.

She is the integration of every faith…
Like life in a painting…
It doesn’t take much to see Her…
She is in the center of those in most need.

It has taken me a long time to understand this…
Now, I’m full to bursting…
She can never be found in an angry stream of words…
Or with those fancy-pants pups.

She only gives me what I already have…
Places the gold medal around my neck…
To so many others, you are Her…
And to me, She is you.

I love you,

Annie

Please sit next to me…
Tell me what you are feeling…
Take a break from the dashing and ambling about…
It is okay if it takes a while.

I will show you that you are not a statue…
And help you understand if you are falling or dancing…
Open up your heart to me…
And let the darkness fall like autumn leaves from a tree.

Did you know that we are all just old kings and queens?
That there is magic everywhere…
However, there is no magic in money…
Isn’t that the ultimate irony?

You should take pride in your craftsmanship…
Oh, you didn’t know that you are a craftsman…
After all you can make anything you want…
There are stories of your magic everywhere.

By now you realize that this is but a temporary place…
Your aim, in the end, is to simply fly away…
It may seem always out of reach…
But it is closer than you can imagine.

I love you,

Annie

What if there is only one thing that makes you happy?
A single path created to follow…
Your life being like a folded map…
And all you need do is unfold it and follow.

What if your prison only had 3 walls?
Wouldn’t you want to walk through the opening?
Perhaps out there the air is fresh with the sacred…
So why do you keep staring at it like an uncertain child?

What if there was not a lengthy list of contents to life?
And you do not have to be everything to everyone?
That there is a never a good reason to be in a bad mood…
And that every name, is a good name.

As a pup, I have discovered this a long time ago…
From looking at the faces of so many people…
There is something extraordinary within each of you…
Yet, you always search for a garden where flowers can’t grow.

Let’s try something different…
First you take your foot off the brake…
Meditate on the one thing that makes you happy…
Meditate on love.

I love you,

Annie

Each memory has its own melody…
Some being asleep for countless years…
The common theme of each memory is, “Come home…”
Because “Home” is the song written on our hearts.

When you hear it, you will say, “I know that song…”
Those fluid, dance-like notes…
It is so, undeniably close…
My body recognizes that feeling.

Memories are shadowy pictures…
So much more than a series of snapshots…
They contain breath, smells and recognition…
Both painful and healing.

They move with freedom like the wind…
Searching for the answers of why, how, and what-if…
Often forgetting to recognize the lessons of experience…
Memories are the only thing that duct-tape can’t fix.

I sit still and listen to the melodies…
Realizing it is only myself that is between me and my treasure…
Knowing where my true happiness lies…
It is in the call to “Come home.”

I love you,

Annie

People never forget kindness…
It is a taste that is recalled countless times…
And when experienced again…
It tastes even better than they remembered.

Kindness has the face of a mother…
The earthy aroma of a dark brew of coffee…
It makes another feel like this whole life is but a stroll…
And want to take the longest route possible.

Kind people are warriors of light…
With all their possessions either unbreakable or broken…
Never ashamed of their lives…
Only concerned with the lives of others.

Kindness understands the depths of idiocy…
It doesn’t confront, just steps out of the way…
It doesn’t have any ethnic or social barriers…
Desires nothing in return.

Kindness is always directly before our eyes…
Like light in a frame of shadows…
Inexhaustible, whenever we use it…
It will take you back to who you really are, over and over again.

I love you,

Annie

I dream of being a garbage man (pup…)
What a perfect job for a pup…
For me, living would be perfect moving from can to can…
Endless scrumptiousness.

I would examine each piece before dumping it in the truck…
Like a minor examining stones for a ruby…
Often, I would jump right in the middle of it all…
And chow a natural mixer.

It would be like working in a mad scientist’s lab…
Always trying to solve, “What is this mystery meat?”
Or that nasty hamburger bun…
Mixed with dill and vinegar.

Yum, here is the baker’s house…
There’s always a baker’s can in every-town…
I would get to know the best garbage from every person…
Always scanning the streets for the raven-haired pup (I think I’m in love.)

What do you dream of being?
It may be a long time since you dreamed of a different path…
However, you can do whatever you dream of…
Aren’t we all just actors in an unfinished play?

I love you,

Annie

When you are happy, you feed the world…
It is like spilling a bucket of joy…
Circling, bounding over hedge and hill…
Making others think, “There’s something about that person (or pup…)”
The flow stops suddenly when your happiness ends.

If you stop to think about it…
Happiness is a better world…
Curious and light…
Now clear, then clearer, then blindingly bright.

This is one of the truths about this planet…
Circling around the main…
The main truth is in the center of you is happiness, peace, and strength…
A place where you will always receive what you believe in the most.

Inside you is your personal story…
But it will not be in the places you keep looking…
It is time for you to change your understanding of the word “Impossible…”
And knock on every half-opened door.

As a pup I practice these things…
That is why everyone lights up when I go by…
They look into my dreamy eyes and smile…
And say, “There is something about that pup.”

I love you,

Annie