Only love
Holds the keys
To each door
In the labyrinth
Of life.
© Salem Islas-Madlo 2017
breath
Unearthing Bones
Unearthing bones
That were buried
In silence
By the ignorance
Of cold, distant minds
Through darkness
The wind rattles
Between gaps
Of light
Where the heart
Begins to beat
Flesh to life
The sacred dance
Of true love.
© Salem Islas-Madlo 2016
Summer Reflections
From the surface
Down into the depths
A friend to myself
Smiling, I make the universe
Even more beautiful.
© Salem Islas-Madlo 2016
“Summertime. It was a song. It was a season. I wondered if that season would ever live inside of me.” ~ Benjamin Alire Sáenz
“Rest is not idleness, and to lie sometimes on the grass under trees on a summer’s day, listening to the murmur of the water, or watching the clouds float across the sky, is by no means a waste of time.” ~ John Lubbock
“The island is ours. Here, in some way, we are young forever.”
~ E. Lockhart
It Is Nothing
Enlighten your desires.
Meditate on who you are.
Quit imagining.
What you want is profoundly expensive,
and difficult to find,
yet close by.
Don’t search for it. It is nothing,
and a nothing within nothing.
~Lalla, Naked Song
It’s About Perspective
The light, soft and warm
Coos of newness in essence
Continuation
© Salem Islas-Madlo 2016
“Authenticity is the daily practice of letting go of who we think we’re supposed to be and embracing who we are. “
~Brené Brown
An Open Heart
What happens if I open my heart? Will the sky come falling down?
Darkness grows dense enfolding me deeper into its bosom. Pulling me towards the bowels of the earth. If I can just be brave enough to keep exploring it with an open heart…
“Only when we are brave enough to explore the darkness will we discover the infinite power of our light.” ― Brené Brown
I allow the wind of my emotions to blow through my soul…through every hidden cavern and crevice of my being. I allow all the gusts, gales and squalls to come. I allow myself to experience them fully and completely. That I might know and recognize each emotion that rises to the surface.
By allowing the storm to come, I allow myself the power to detach. To return to the harbor of my soul. I arrive home…with each breath I take…I find my grounding, and I become anchored for awhile before I have to set sail again.
“What it means to be authentic:
– to be more concerned with truth than opinions
– to be sincere and not pretend
– to be free from hypocrisy: “walk your talk”
– to know who you are and to be that person
– to not fear others seeing your vulnerabilities
– being confident to walk away from situations where you can’t be yourself
– being awake to your own feelings
– being free from others’ opinions of you
– accepting and loving yourself”
― Sue Fitzmaurice
Alignment
Above and below
Spanning
Four directions
Earth and Sky
I AM
Here, now
Home
Where I belong
My ancestors
Greet me
From the stars
Communing
With nature
I open
To the depths
Of inner knowing
With each
Breath.
© Salem Islas-Madlo 2016
“…mastery requires we stay the course, stay embodied and show up to do the work.”
~Mysticmama, Mastery
Release
“By letting it go it all gets done.
The world is won by those who let it go.
But when you try and try.
The world is beyond the winning.”
– Lao Tzu
“Forgiveness is not always easy.
At times, it feels more painful
than the wound we suffered,
to forgive the one that inflicted it.
And yet, there is no peace without forgiveness.”
– Marianne Williamson
“We have to let go of all blame, all attacking, all judging,
to free our inner selves to attract what we say we want.”
– Joe Vitale
“Honor your being,
Release each and every struggle,
Gather strength from life’s storms,
Relax into the arms of spirit.”
– Jonathan Lockwood Huie
All I know is that I know nothing. I have to learn to open my heart every morning when I open my eyes. I have to learn to love everyday all over again. I have to learn to let go and forgive over and over. I have to learn to heal and breathe with each new day. I have to learn like this is the first day of my life. I have to learn how to use my wings so I can fly. I have to learn to trust my intuition. I have to learn self-compassion. I have to learn the strength of vulnerability. I have to learn the unbearable lightness of being. The truth is that each day feels like a butterfly crawling out of it’s cocoon.
A butterfly
Tenderly folded
It’s airy wings
A book of bones
Unbearable
Lightness of being?
© Salem Islas-Madlo 2016
A Moment of Reckoning
In a moment of reckoning.
My soul is awakened
Rising up gently
On the breath
Of life.
© Salem Islas-Madlo 2016
It can be the easiest thing in the world to follow the aspect of our personality that is logical and rational. It is easy because it is the side that is protective and guarded. The rational mind means well, but often times it prevents us from the abundance our spirit yearns to experience. This emperor like energy can prevent us from taking advantage of the opportunities that life brings our way. It is that overbearing voice criticising every last hope and ambition that rises up with each swelling of the heart. Eliminating every last shred of intuition. The one reason for that is doubt.
Tame the mind and start believing in yourself. If conformity is no longer serving your life; let it go. Find out what your blind spots are and make more room in your life for imagination. You might just surprise yourself. It takes a lot to step out in faith, trusting the goodness in yourself. Keeping an open heart. You just might discover that your heart isn’t inside of you, but that you’re inside your heart. Deng Ming-Dao says, “Imagination is a tool through which we can make our lives better, different, and creative. By cooperating with it, we can acheive things that ‘we never dreamed possible’.” Imagination can build bridges. Connect your life with love.
Heart Breathing
Illustration by Cinzia Bardelli
Heart flutterings
Of butterfly girl
Old soul eyes
As big as
The moon
A spirit
Dancing tenderly
With the Earth
To music
Born
From silence
An inner laughter
Of firefly stars
Breathing
In rivers
and
Breathing
Out oceans
She lives
In the
Gift of
Presence.
© Salem Islas-Madlo 2016
*more art of Cinzia Bardelli can be found at:
Deep Souldiving 
