Blog

My Blog

Blog

The Crown

Posted on 4 December, 2020 at 14:35

comments (0)

The best-laid plans of mice and men,

Behemothly crumble into the abyss again.

Our whole life story withers and dies,

dissolving into thin air, right before our very eyes!

And inevitably the tide of fear rolls in,

as we desperately try, again and again

to control an unstoppable wave,

that we imagine we might fend off with a flimsy stave.

But suppose instead we breathe and accept, for that is where the secret is kept.

Our bodies and minds become a little clearer,

bringing solutions, ever nearer,

Through wave after wave, we realize that fighting rarely works,

and we often ends up hurting ourselves, and those we love, with our hidden quirks.

But once we really know that there's nowhere to go,

We may choose to move from our rigid stance, to a sacred dance.

1, 2, 3....simple steps to use,

Aware, Accept, then Freely Choose

First alone, then by connection,

We begin again our resurrection.

For as we consciously connect to trees, and stars, and sunshine, and friends,

We understand in our hearts that this journey has no end.

- David Dybdal

For a New Beginning

Posted on 2 February, 2020 at 11:40

comments (17)

In out-of-the-way places of the heart,

Where your thoughts never think to wander,

This beginning has been quietly forming,

Waiting until you were ready to emerge.

For a long time it has watched your desire,

Feeling the emptiness growing inside you,

Noticing how you willed yourself on,

Still unable to leave what you had outgrown.

It watched you play with the seduction of safety

And the gray promises that sameness whispered,

Heard the waves of turmoil rise and relent,

Wondered would you always live like this.

Then the delight, when your courage kindled,

And out you stepped onto new ground,

Your eyes young again with energy and dream,

A path of plenitude opening before you.

Though your destination is not yet clear

You can trust the promise of this opening;

Unfurl yourself into the grace of beginning

That is at one with your life’s desire.

Awaken your spirit to adventure;

Hold nothing back, learn to find ease in risk;

Soon you will be home in a new rhythm,

For your soul senses the world that awaits you.

-John O’Donohue

Give and Take

Posted on 31 January, 2020 at 21:00

comments (11)

So difficult and overwhelming often seems my life,

With all its waves of pain, struggle, and strife.

The vague sense that "something's missing," steadily takes its toll.
And now, I'm sure that something from you can make me whole!

With all this pain I feel, I am in so much need.
And yet my urgent words you barely seem to heed.

But sometimes, over time, I come to see that you feel the same way too,
That we're in a bind and stuck, not knowing what to do.

When I think of me as separate from all,
I inevitably fall into a deep dark hole.
Staying angry at those who won't give is no way to live.

Yet when I come to see that you are me and I am you, We become One instead of two.

And opening up, there's room to give a little of what I think I need, to plant a tiny seed, that becomes a magnificent tree for Us to see.

For in the end, the gift that I receive, is what to you I freely give, which, as far as I'm concerned, is a fantastic way to live.

- David Dybdal

Heisenberg's Uncertainty

Posted on 16 October, 2019 at 11:30

comments (14)

The very act of seeing changes what is seen,

Yet many live in fear, and think this thought obscene...

If nothing's fixed or certain,
then what's the point of all that's gained from so much work and pain?
then all the struggle and strife amounts to nothing but a wasted life.

Still...when heart sees heart,
And mind sees mind,
Clarity brings truth that changes all the time.

And just when we think our fate is sealed,
We may come to see there's no fixed real.

We learn to navigate, create with intuition,
As more skill and knowing come to fruition.

Then over time we make a real,
That along with pain, brings zest and zeal.

And though there's bound to be some struggle and fight,

the darkness always seems to yield to light.

So we learn to hone this art,
With thoughtful feeling, persistence, and heart,
to make a life of joy with pain,
that sees the sun above the rain.

And soon the Love starts seeping through,

and crumbling down comes the old you,

yet again,

to become something new.

- David Dybdal

What is a Shaman ?

Posted on 8 October, 2019 at 16:00

comments (34)

A shaman dances with the infinite and gives birth to a story, an image, an interaction that has the potential to playfully change everything with striking efficiency. They reinfuse a sense of mystery, of magic and creativity; exploring new worlds of possibility, a journey, an adventure that is more real, and certainly more exciting than the reality we think we know.

Evolution

Posted on 8 October, 2019 at 15:55

comments (14)

Often, we choose roles and patterns for ourselves which help us to cope with the fearful world around us; over time, as we grow, we begin to notice that these roles and patterns don't work so well. We begin to see and feel the discomfort of what's inside and around us. Naturally, we try to push away the discomfort, to escape the pain. If we are able to pay attention, we see that this strategy works only temporarily at best, and ultimately prevents us from learning how to deal with our problems. In the long term, this strategy only makes it worse. If we are lucky enough to find a way to accept what is, including the patterns of fear, pain and sadness in ourselves and in others, we then can start to see/feel through those patterns to something deeper and more substantial...

FEAR

Posted on 7 October, 2019 at 22:07

comments (74)

Fear is simply an uncomfortable or painful feeling about the possibility of some future uncomfortable or painful feeling.

Nothing Day

Posted on 30 August, 2019 at 11:25

comments (17)

It feels like a nothing day,

Nothing new, nothing to do,
The same actors, the same movies and the same stupid shows...

The same reality that everyone knows,
The same 3 notes, in the same 3 songs,
The same 5 stories about who's right and who's wrong...

Icebergs enmasse crash into the sea,
While a homeless man holds a sign with an earnest plea.....

Maybe i'm just a little bit sad,
To see people on the road get mad,
To see kids fighting to be next on a swing,
One teen, bossy, controlling, and cruel, like an evil king...

Suit and tie running to catch a train,
Frantic and pushing, they're late, and missing their plane.

Can someone please tell me who is to blame?

Is it all of this striving for fortune and fame?

Is it the fear of being insignificant the thing that's held dear?

Ughh.

Don't feel like creating a new story today. But I know that i'll be ok....

After all, tomorrow's another day. No matter what i do or say..

Oh God!

Posted on 30 August, 2019 at 11:22

comments (8)

Please, don't ask me why,
Sometimes I know a white bearded man in the sky,

Maybe one, maybe two
One for me, One for you,

Sometimes I know a Divine Great Spirit,
Even if there are those who choose not to hear it (and a few poor souls who actively fear It).

Sometimes I know that it's really all Me,
That there's nowhere to go and nothing to see.

Sometimes I wish I had been born a tree,
In fact, it's quite possible that that was what happened to me.

The Play

Posted on 12 May, 2019 at 12:30

comments (27)

Write me a script for a play that describes all that is.
Then you will play the main character.
You must use method acting, become that character....so if you die or bad things happen to you in the play, you actually believe that that is what is happenning to you...

Smoke in Trees

Posted on 16 April, 2019 at 13:48

comments (29)

SMOKE IN TREES

Roots entwined

To make one mind.

Once an old wise soul,

Now a dark and gaping hole.

Relentless flame, so hot and bright,

Burning through both day and night.

Now gasp and choke,

With ash and smoke.

Her roots reach deeply whisper "Why?"

While branches stretch with love to sky.

Gently, softly, touch her skin,

Shocking, sadness flowing in.

Still, does she softly say "Let go?"

Can it be? I don't know, I don' t know.

I've always sought relief in trees,

Perhaps now this they need from me.

Let go! Let go! Surrender to the Majesty and Know Eternal Flow.

This I know, This I Know, it Has, and Is, and Always will be so.

Photography and Poem by David Dybdal

Heart full of lonely and greedy demands

Posted on 16 April, 2019 at 13:36

comments (8)

I am a man with a heart that offends with its lonely and greedy demands. In a manner of speaking, I'm already dead.

-Sufjan Stevens

Humans on Earth?

Posted on 18 March, 2019 at 22:18

comments (19)

I think we may have moved past a critical point in regards to the sustainability of human life on Earth beyond the next 100 years. I hope that this is not true. In any case, I live my life today, accepting the possibility that it might be true, and letting the associated feelings come and pass through. Then, I go on living, and if I happen to find an opportunity to be kind or gentle to myself, to others, to nature, or to the earth itself, I try to take advantage of it…

MAGIC

Posted on 18 March, 2019 at 22:12

comments (10)

Walking along in the forest, I felt a cool breeze on my face and arms, as beams of sunlight pierced through tree branches and reached down to gently touch the pine needle covered path below. As I walked on, slowly, I became aware of a faint, low humming sound that seemed to eminate from the shadows of trees and shrubs off to the side of the trail. Quietly, I stopped to listen and the sound stopped. Slowly, I started walking again, and the sound soon resumed.

I walked around along the path as it turned around a corner, and I continued hearing the sound, yet still there was nothing that I could see, and the low frequency of the sound made it difficult to pinpoint location.

What was making this ominous sound? Was it following me? I stopped walking to look into the trees again and once again it stopped, as if it knew that I was looking for it.

"Relax, stop trying to reach out to it, let it come to me," I said to myself. Then I remember that I had earlier found an old beer bottle on the shore of the lake. I had been sitting, watching the late afternoon sun shimmering in the waves along the water, and spotted it on the shoreline. I had decided to pick it up the bottle, and carry it out of the forest, my little part to clean up our lovely planet and this beautiful lake...

Suddenly I realized...the sound was emanating from the bottle as I moved it through the air while walking. All the time I was trying to find out what the sound was and what mystery or meaning it might hold for me, and it turned out that I was the one making the sound, and further trying to create the meaning that it had for me. As I thought about it more...I wondered, "Isn't that always the truth?"

Wabi-Sabi

Posted on 18 March, 2019 at 22:11

comments (25)

Wabi-Sabi (Japanese)
a way of seeing the beauty in
imperfection, of knowing that everything (even you) is perfectly imperfect,
of feeling a sense of acceptance
and appreciation of everything, just as it is.