misc quotes

The dancing heart is forever young, Alive, wild, untamed, & compelling. Dance, my heart. Dance always. ~ Daphne Yvonne Bradshaw

We cannot heal what we cannot name, too. Feeling can be a way into the healing process IF we can feel. Some of us have been numbed because of traumas - PTSD, complex PTSD, various disassociative conditions, apparently some personality disorders... cannot feel or begin to name what has happened - sometimes only for part of a lifetime, sometimes for all of a lifetime. Some trauma survivors, such as complex PTSD sufferers, cannot understand or have words for what is being experienced & need help naming the feelings that arise & begin to be noticed & described. This is the way a very small child learns, & yes, someone who has been devastated & destroyed inside out from a young age will be learning just as a small child learns even if that person is an octogenarian. ~ Daphne Yvonne Bradshaw

Bukowski. How often I'd prefer to ignore & forget you, but you keep coming back to my mind & touching me again. You old faker, you could never die. You dance forever with your boozy, cackled, dangerous, maniacal, crazy, lovable, hard-lived wisdoms. So, I will dance too in my own self-defense. ~ Daphne Yvonne Bradshaw

Lying at the bottom of the mountains of possible healing work yet to do in/for me, I tell myself that it is even more difficult than it looks from here & in some places it will be near to impossible. Some places might even be impossible. But, that will not stop me & has not stopped me so far in this lifetime from beginning the work & from continuing to do whatever I know to do as I know to do it. It is a matter of taking each piece of the way as it comes & taking as many naps as needed along the way. So what if this life of mine ends while I'm still in process? I will have laughed, sung, danced, & loved the best I knew how all the way. Now watch me fly! ~ Daphne Yvonne Bradshaw

Love, erotic attraction, sex, all human needs are not just for the thin & society's accepted beauties. Women & men of all sizes, shapes, even health statuses (yes, including near death statuses,) can have & do enjoy love, sex, cuddling, touch, erotica, etc. Imagine a world where we all get to love the body we live in now... not some "perfected future possible body" but our real body now. Imagine then being loved in our bodies now. Wow. It is possible. In fact, it happens all the time. ~ Daphne Yvonne Bradshaw

Stories, all sacred, weaving in, dancing out, a song, a memory,  a bridge. Stories, all sacred, in the telling live, bigger, wider, expanding ever onward, outward, inward, around around around. Stories, all sacred, listen! Stories, all sacred, we live them, we breathe them. Stories, all sacred, I am. ~ Daphne Yvonne Bradshaw

Deep wisdom from not just mere empathy but from shared experience plus fierce compassionate kindness with empathy planted firmly in the soil of life & heart dancing knows, offers itself, & goes where only the very few even dare look. ~ Daphne Yvonne Bradshaw

Our species learns the "joys" of being cruel, terrorizing those we hate, bullying, and even hunting humans for sport all so easily. This is totally unacceptable to me. Our security state approves torture, assassinating our own citizens, drones on us too, and the equipping of ordinary cops with weapons of mass destruction. And, we accept, applaud even, & support the bloodlust machine. The monster is in us all & will surely eat us all as well. I cry out for mercy! ~ Daphne Yvonne Bradshaw

A spy of some sort, no doubt, peeking thru the neighbor's basement windows at about midnight; dogs barking frantically there & ours here, a signal danger. A flashlight thru the window, thankfully from inside as the prowler walked away, spied the black fur coat. But, it was still almost a sweltering heat! Morning light revealed the paw prints: bear had visited us. ~ Daphne Yvonne Bradshaw

But I am not very intelligent, not smart, just dull. My mind is often foggy, vacated, a pall. Except when it is super-processing which it does every hour every day, but does that really count if I cannot know what you say? I live in the same place, same time, use the same language, & still have not a clue about what is going on without my massive coping skill. And, so I stay mostly alone. ~ Daphne Yvonne Bradshaw

Thinking & remembering, processing then revising repeatedly as new insights & info comes, I think poems should be easier somehow to write than prose. Silly me. ~ Daphne Yvonne Bradshaw

As I said earlier, the best way I know to honor anyone is to work for peace, real peace for all. As Mother Jones put it (my paraphrase) - I'll pray for the dead, but I'll work like a fiery demon from hell for the living. Until such time as we can learn to cherish life in its myriad forms, even the forms we do not know are life yet, even the forms of those we've learned to fear, distrust, & hate, & even the forms we hate to admit we love, we will not know real peace. Indeed as the ancients urged, let mercy & justice roll down like a mighty river thru us, in us, all around us, to all around us, and may we finally have & know real peace. ~ Daphne Yvonne Bradshaw

Loved ones, far & near, are always in our hearts. Sometimes the distance between us becomes an eternal one. That is when we are grateful for heart connections & memories that are also eternal. ~ Daphne Yvonne Bradshaw

We share Breath with all Life. All life has feelings. Yes, even plants have feelings. Differences are here to enjoy, to celebrate, & to help us. It also is a mirror to us so we can begin to understand ourselves. ~ Daphne Yvonne Bradshaw

Long ago I decided to look for what in belief systems worked for the most disabled as one measure of what in reality worked or not for everyone else at the basic levels at least. If it did not work for the paralyzed, did it really work for the able bodied? At the same time, I decided to forgo parroting words just to signal to others to accept me into a particular belief group. I must express myself my way, in my own language - verbal or non-verbal, & in my own timing; otherwise, it was a falseness, a prison. Further, I decided sacred stories, a keen sense of humor, an acceptance of the silliness as well as the more serious, & the willingness to explore no matter where it led or what had to be dropped, changed, or adopted/adapted were essential to authenticity to me. And, here I am still on my journey of excitement that often means being misunderstood or even worse. Although that stings when I become aware of it, I'd not miss this journey for anything. ~ Daphne Yvonne Bradshaw

I was told not to tell my story or parts of it. I was told to let the past be past. Move on, they said. Don't write until you have something worthwhile to tell. They said a lot of things. One day I might even pay more attention to those many words of advice... one day... when my life finally becomes boring. Somehow I never have yet experienced boring... not even sure I have a working definition of it. ~ Daphne Yvonne Bradshaw

Often I can so clearly hear someone else's heartsong even from half a world or even centuries away. What joy! But other times I strain to hear even a faint whisper of someone else's heartsong who is here within feet of me. My greatest joy, though, is singing & dancing with my own heartsong in harmony with others whom I love & admire... no matter where they are. ~ Daphne Yvonne Bradshaw

I will have magic. I will have song. I will dance all about because I do belong here will I breathe & laugh & I'll play. I'll explore all portals & go where I may find a new creature, another loving heart & fly on my moonbeams & be called a tart. Just please make mine fresh fruit. ~ Daphne Yvonne Bradshaw

Someone once scolded me very harshly about my choices of reading material, friends, and other things left unmentioned/unspecified here. Many have had similar problems with my choices. Usually it is because I am seen as a source of fear for the person who wishes to control me (not going to happen I suspect as many more powerful have tried even with extreme force.) All I can say is that if the most evil being in existence said something, I'd defend that being's right to say it, & if what was said were worthwhile, I would accept it... & go on learning where I may. Yes, of course, part of learning to think is the skill of weighting the sources, verification, & research - research - research. Getting the big picture means seeing & hearing as much of the picture as is possible with accuracy as much as possible. And, the learning continues. ~ Daphne Yvonne Bradshaw

The phrase "one day your looks will be gone" means what exactly? That one day I'll die & return to ashes? True. But, that doesn't mean my looks are gone. It means they've merely changed to ashy. ~ Daphne Yvonne Bradshaw

More people seeking asylum from the USA has to be a major warning to us all even if time is pretty much up for most of us. As for me, while I'd prefer boring times for the peace of mind, I must admit to liking living now as every little bit can be something very important in a dramatic way. It's a grand time to encourage & love people because it is so very needed AND the system does not know how to handle true kindness, compassion, love, and goodness. ~ Daphne Yvonne Bradshaw

But I don't want to be easy, breezy, chit-chatty, small talky, or bubbly... unless that is my feeling at the moment. I assure you it will be temporary with a long recovery period needed. Meanwhile, I'll dance, sing, laugh, read, play... on moon beams, rainbows, & other portals more suited to my nature. ~ Daphne Yvonne Bradshaw

Dance to your heartsong. Dance to the music all around us. Dance. ~ Daphne Yvonne Bradshaw

Come & dance with me on the arch of the rainbows. Glide down to the golden shower of loving smiles & giggles of friendship in playfulness. ~ Daphne Yvonne Bradshaw

What doesn't kill you makes you into a better investigator, I say. ~ Daphne Yvonne Bradshaw

My mother told me never to fight because young ladies don't fight. So, I learned the sweet art of tripping my bullies & sitting on them. Who knew it'd work so well? So, now I am not young or a lady, my strategy has changed: now I just fall on my bullies & can't get up. This way works even better! ~ Daphne Yvonne Bradshaw

I want to leave my mark of beauty, hope, love, life so that someone/some life/some place was better in quality because I was here. ~ Daphne Yvonne Bradshaw

My heart heard long ago but kept the doors closed. The window was still cracked as the wind blew the sheers I hid behind, watching, listening, wondering, hoping but still cautiously waiting. When did my heart surrender? Does it matter? ~ Daphne Yvonne Bradshaw

If ever I've told you I love you, I meant it then & love today. A world may be between, night & day, partings do not destroy love if it is love. It matters not how manifested, love is love is love forever. Partings may be safety or change, but love is strange... remains. ~ Daphne Yvonne Bradshaw