A Poets Journey 

Hello Everyone!I send you love from Tennessee! For those of you who know me and for those who have yet to meet me, I thought you might be interested in how I found my life’s path. For 25 years I thought the shoe business was it, but 12 years ago my thoughts started to change. I always was interested in people and had a strong desire to make money, because of my thoughts of lack.The shoe business was the perfect vehicle to do both.Traveling nationwide and working in Asia, Europe and Brazil for years, taught me so many valuable life lessons.I have been blessed with wonderful friends all over the globe. I have been able to create inerasable memories and lasting bonds, thanks to all of my friends.  Yes, my life was externally comfortable but I still wondered what I was doing. I could not see the point of this me, by what I had been taught, experienced or remembered. The thought of how I appeared to others was more important than self worth. I was plagued with the same situations we all face in one form or another; addiction to or from something, an inner fear of not being good enough and guilty for not understanding why. Of course the Death word was the ultimate fear for me and for everyone around me.  I knew all of this was manifesting in various physical forms, weight gain or loss, injuries, health issues and off course not having enough of anythingWhatever the item desired. In 1996 my mother died. My world changed. She devoted her life to her family and her religion. Being raised in a devout Irish Catholic home she learned she could love and trust her God as long as she followed the teachings of the church. She believed. I struggled with rules and authority so her path and mine on religion were different. Mom loved her God and prayed that when she died, she would be reconnected with him as well as, all those who had gone before her. I had no idea what to say to God.  I now know her prayers were answered and more but at the time of her death, I felt alone for the first time in my life. It was all about me. She was gone. Who or what but Mother would do what she did for me?  Now feeling separated from her, I was looking for answers I wanted her back. I turned to philosophy beginning with Plato, Aristotle, Heraclitus, Plotinus, Lao-Tzu, Nagarjuna, Buddha, Confucius, and Augustine. I started studying psychology and noticed anytime the author wanted to project a thought they would use poetry. I never had an interest in poetry; I didn’t own a book of poetry.    One poet continued to be quoted in the books I studied. His name is Jalaluddin Rumi, better known as Rumi, who lived in Turkey in the mid-1200’s. His father was a scholar and theologian and Rumi was his student. His words seem to call me, so I bought my first poetry book. His writings completely took over my thoughts. While reading his work, I realized my life would never be the same again. It was in reading Rumi’s words and his unending search for Shams of Tabriz, that I felt Mothers closeness and connection. 

Then I Discovered Rilke, Blake, Goethe, Dante, Dickinson Takahashi, John Paul II and other Eastern and Western poets.

In all of these friends, I found the same message regardless of the time portal: That love of self, reconnecting with your spirit, brings love to all. In order to love and to give the gift, I first had to be the vessel that held love for all things. With love there is no death, only eternal life. Our loved ones live and always will.Our inner voices connected in one. There is no separation after physical death.This is the kind of message I’ve heard all my life, but it was Moms complete connection with God that opened a door for me thru poetry. I looked and all I needed to do was enter. I had to forgive myself so I could forgive others. I was looking to others for help, before I helped myself. The answers were within me.I create the world I live in, either with spirit or without.Without is no longer an option.Well-Being is our gift to us thru our spirits.I am never alone living in spirit. No one is.  You can contact me by email:hal@shortsleeves.netorwww.shortsleeves.net orhttp://halmanogue.blogspot.com/