Video Killed the Radio Star

above is a picture of Lou Reed....You know that song sweet Jane?
I love that song. click below to hear it.
http://youtube.com/watch?v=Uc26EFI1_nw

Below is a poem written by my friend Jim Kelly. I met Jim Kelly at Ohio State when I was 18years old. Mark and he came to visit. It ended up being a coincidence that he lived next door to my friend Michelle from highschool. He lived in this party house with his friend Vince. Jim was our bestman in our wedding. For Mark's bachlor party, he hired a stripper....Mark got to take the garter off with his teeth.....that was just before the stripper took off his shirt and he had a hairy chest and Mark found out it was really a guy.
There are a million words to describe Jim and all of them would be true.
I guess if I had to pick only four words to describe him, they would be as follows:
MYSTERIOUS, ADVENTUROUS, VERY GIVING, and HIDDEN ARTIST (sorry that is really six words.....)
anyway read the poem below.
Love,
Michele

Video Killed the Radio Star.........

FM

With our little Westinghouse transistor radios
That we got for Christmas
Under our pillows at night
We entered a new world
FM
We were loyal subjects
And we rewarded our kings and queens
By seeing their shows
And buying their records
We really knew the music scene
But didn’t know we knew it
The radio just played the songs
And didn’t tell us why we should listen to it
So we did
And on hot summer nights
In our postered bedrooms
Lou Reed
Rocked us gently to sleep

- James Kelly from Black Light Gin Circus (a collection of poems)

Love is Love is Love

There are not kinds of love, love is love; there are only degrees of love. Love is trusting, accepting and believing, without guarantee. Love is patient and waits, but it's an active waiting, not a passive one. For it is continually offering itself in a mutual revealing, a mutual sharing, Love is spontaneous and craves expression through joy, through beauty, through truth, even through tears. Love lives in the moment; it's neither lost in yesterday nor does it crave for tomorrow. Love is Now!
-Leo Buscaglia

this illusion of some safety to be found

And when the sun rises we are afraid
it might not remain
when the sun sets we are afraid
it might not rise in the morning
when our stomachs are full we are afraid
of indigestion
when our stomachs are empty we are afraid
we may never eat again
when we are loved we are afraid
love will vanish
when we are alone we are afraid
love will never return
and when we speak we are afraid
our words will not be heard
nor welcomed
but when we are silent
we are still afraid

So it is better to speak
remembering
we were never meant to survive

Audre Lorde

Life of Virtue

Strangers stopped strangers just to shake their hands!

"Once in a while
you get shown the light
in the strangest of places
if you look at it right" ("Scarlet Begonias")

one of my favorite songs by the Grateful Dead!!!! and click below to hear it!!!
http://tinyurl.com/26y4vx

Trust

We're never so vulnerable as when we trust someone -- but paradoxically, if we cannot trust, neither can we find love or joy. --Walter Anderson
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gFP1URMMO7Y

free natural prozac!!!

Some interesting comments from Dr. Wayne Dyer :

On the subject of the effects of “thoughts of kindness”, he referred to a study where ‘serotonin’ (an important “feel-good” hormone that creates a feeling of well-being in us) levels increase and the immune system is strengthened when the RECEPIENT receives an “act of kindness”. Also the PROVIDER of the RAK (random act of kindness) receives the same benefit! In addition an OBSERVER of an RAK effects them too!! He said a RAK is just like getting a dose of serotonin.


An interesting physical phenomenon occurs when you are kind to someone, Dyer says. Both you and the person you are kind to end up with a good feeling, a real increased level of serotonin, the calming, feeling-good hormone. Even better, the witnesses to this act of kindness also feel good, and their serotonin levels increase as well.

"You know how good you feel when you see an act of kindness. You know how bad you feel when you listen to the news. The answer is to really change around your energy," he says.

"The solution to all of that for each and every one of us is to say 'I want to feel good and I want to teach every one around me to feel good', and if enough of us learn to feel good, and that is the same thing as saying I want to feel God" “… Instead you start practicing acts of kindness and acts of love and eventually, inch by inch, the world is a better place," Dyer says.

"A universal source that creates everything in this universe comes from a perspective of kindness," Dyer says.


Now that is sooooo cool!!!! Don't you think????- Michele

Cool!!!

My friend Sonja sent me this.
How cool is this????.....Just another reason that I would like to go visit Singapore one day when I grow up.
Have a great day!
love,
Michele
The World's First All-glass Undersea Restaurant Opens


The Maldives | 15 April marks the day that the first ever all-glass undersea restaurant in the world opens its doors for business at the Hilton Maldives Resort & Spa. Ithaa* will sit five meters below the waves of the Indian Ocean, surrounded by a vibrant coral reef and encased in clear acrylic offering diners 270-degrees of panoramic underwater views.

"We have used aquarium technology to put diners face-to-face with the stunning underwater environment of the Maldives", says Carsten Schieck, General Manager of Hilton Maldives Resort & Spa. "Our guests always comment on being blown away by the colour, clarity, and beauty of the underwater world in the Maldives, so it seemed the perfect idea to build a restaurant where diners can experience fine cuisine and take time to enjoy the views - without ever getting their feet wet."

Created by MJ Murphy Ltd, a design consultancy based in New Zealand, Ithaa's distinctive feature is the use of curved transparent acrylic walls and roof, similar to those used in aquarium attractions. "The fact that the entire restaurant except for the floor is made of clear acrylic makes this unique in the world," continues Schieck, "We are currently planting a coral garden on the reef to add to the spectacular views of the rays, sharks and many colourful fish that live around the reef near the restaurant."


The five-metre by nine-metre transparent arch, which spans the entire room, seats 14 people and provides a feeling of being completely at one with the underwater world while submerged beneath the surface of the ocean. Set with the resort's renowned house reef one side, and a clear lagoon on the other, diners enjoy their meal within Ithaa's translucent shell as the underwater drama unfolds on all sides.

Naturally the food will be as spectacular as the underwater setting, explains Schieck, "In such a unique restaurant we wanted to create a distinctive cuisine, which is why we've decided to offer 'contemporary Maldivian cuisine' as a theme. We take local spices and traditional flavours and give them a western twist to create a fusion cuisine that you could find in the best restaurants in London or New York. Nobody else has done this before and we're very excited about it."

While the cuisine is dedicated to the fine balance of western food items with a Maldivian flavour, the wine concept is equally exciting; offering diners the perfect opportunity to discover the wines of the prestigious Champagne house Louis Roederer.


Ithaa is reached by a wooden walkway from the nearby over-water Sunset Grill Restaurant. Diners begin their meal with drinks on a specially constructed deck over the ocean and then descend to the restaurant via a spiral staircase where the à la carte menu is served. Seating only 14 people, Ithaa offers one of the most intimate and exclusive dining experiences in the world.

This innovative restaurant is the first of its kind in the world, and is part of a US $25 million re-build of Rangalifinolhu Island, one of the twin islands that make up Hilton Maldives Resort & Spa. This re-build includes the construction of 79 of the most luxurious Beach Villas in the country as well as the Spa Village, a self-contained, over-water 'resort-within-a-resort' consisting of a spa, restaurant and 21 villas.

How do I choose to see it?

is this a young girl or an old lady?

If you don't enjoy getting up and working
and finishing your work
and sitting down to a meal with family or friends,
then the chances
are you're not going to be happy.
If someone bases his or her happiness or unhappiness
on major events like a great new job,
huge amounts of money,
a flawlessly happy marriage
or a trip to Paris,
that person isn't going to be happy much of the time.
If, on the other hand,
happiness depends on a good breakfast,
flowers in the yard,
a drink or a nap,
then we are more likely
to live with quite a bit of happiness.
-Andy Rooney

You are life!

Many expressions that are in common usage, and sometimes the structure of language itself, reveal the fact that people don't know who they are. You say: "He lost his life" or "my life," as if life were something that you can possess or lose. The truth is: you don't have a life, you are life. The One Life, the one consciousness that pervades the entire universe and takes temporary form to experience itself as a stone or blade of grass, as an animal, a person, a star or a galaxy.

Can you sense deep within that you already know that? Can you sense that you already are That?
-Eckhart Tolle

Repect

"If we can teach hate, we can also teach respect. We can help each other learn to notice the common ground between us. We can create a welcoming community in our homes, our neighborhoods, and our cities."
-unknown

Love, Love, Love

Neither a lofty degree of intelligence nor imagination nor both together go to the making of genius. Love, love, love, that is the soul of genius. --Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

Don Campbell that says: “The power of listening should not be underestimated. To listen is to vibrate together with another human being. "

I have a dream 2007

This is what Rob Brezsney sent out today.
I love this man.....his mind is way out there and he is very colorful....but those are the kind of problem solvers and dreamers we need to incarnate here at this time.
have a great day!!!
Love,
Michele

Now here’s my “I Have a Dream” 2007 speech.

 By Rob Brezsny

I have a dream.

I have a dream that in the New World, there will be a new Bill of Rights. The first amendment will be, “Your daily wage is directly tied to how much beauty and truth and love you provide.”

I have a dream that in the New World, childbirth will be broadcast in prime time on a major TV network every night.

I have a dream that the New World will have rapturists, and they’ll vastly outnumber the terrorists. The rapturists will be performance artists with a conscience ... charismatic improvisers who love to spring fun surprises. They’ll commit unexpected interventions and unscheduled spectacles that delight hordes of strangers.

I have a dream that in the New World, we will add an eleventh commandment to the standard ten: Thou shalt not bore God.

I have a dream of a week-long annual holiday called the Bacchanalia. Work and business will be suspended so that all adults can explore their ripe mojo with frothy erotic experiments. Tenderly orgiastic marathons will rage unabated. Reverential ecstasy and grateful generosity will rule.

I have a dream that when anchormen report tragedies on their nightly TV shows, they’ll break down and cry and let their emotions show. No more poker faces.

*

In the New World, you’ll be a fascinating enigma worthy of a best-selling unauthorized biography and I’ll be an inscrutable genius whose every move is packed with symbolic meaning—and vice versa. That will be the law in the New World—far different from the Old World, where schadenfreude is epidemic and your distinctive flair is supposed to make me feel worshipful or diminished.

*

I have a dream that in the New World, the word “asshole” will be a term of endearment rather than abuse. Plutocracy will be a felony. April Fool’s Day will come once a month. There’ll be scientific horoscopes and mystical logic. Every one of us will have at least one imaginary friend. Compassion will be an aphrodisiac.

In the New World, we’ll launch an affirmative action program that ultimately makes most of us celebrities. Buddhist real estate developers will build a chain of sacred shopping centers in the heartland. The CEOs of the Fortune 500 companies will be required by law to enjoy once-a-week sessions with Jungian psychotherapists. Pioneers in artificial intelligence research will develop computers that can talk to God.



*

In the New World, our children will study singing and dancing and meditation and dream work with as much diligence as they now devote to math and science. They’ll learn to see with their own eyes and think with their own minds and feel with their own hearts, studying those subjects as intently as they do spelling and grammar and social studies. Beginning in seventh grade, they’ll get lessons in the art of creating successful intimate relationships. And we’ll teach them why it’s only fair that for the next 3,000 years we use “her” for the generic singular pronoun instead of “him.”

*




I have a dream that in the New World, Oprah Winfrey will buy up all the Pizza Huts on the planet and convert them into a global network of menstrual huts, where for a few days each month, every one of us, men and women alike, can resign from the crazy-making 9–5—drop out and slow down, break trance and dive down into eternal time.

We will sleep eight and a half hours every night and practice our lucid dreams ... sing love songs from the future while soaking in long, hot baths ... feast on chocolate as we converse with the little voices in our heads ... research the difference between stupid suffering and wise suffering until we finally get it right . . . wear magic underwear made from eagle feathers, spider webs, and 100-year-old moss . . . and conjure up bigger, better, more original sins and wilder, wetter, more interesting problems.

*

In the New World, you’ll kick your own ass and I’ll wash my own brain. I’ll be my own parents and you’ll be your own wife. And vice versa. That’ll be normal in the New World—different from the Old World, where everyone except me is to blame for my ignorance and you call on everyone except yourself to give you what you need.

I’ll push my own buttons and right my own wrongs. You’ll wake yourself up and sing your own songs. (wake up to find out that y ou are the eyes of the world.....!!!!)

*

I’m the president now . . . and so are you. I am the Supreme Commander of the United Snakes of the Blooming HaHa . . . and so are you. And what we proclaim is that in the New World, we will love our neighbors as ourselves, even if our neighbors are jerks. We will never divide the world into us against them. We will search for the divine spark even in the people we most despise, and we will never dehumanize anyone, even those who dehumanize us.

I have a dream that sooner or later every one of us will become a well-rounded, highly skilled, incredibly rich master of rowdy bliss—with lots of leisure time and an orgiastic feminist conscience.

*

To buy PRONOIA Is the Antidote for Paranoia, the book from which "I Have a Dream" is excerpted, go to Amazon or Barnes & Noble.

eyes of the world

"Sometimes we live no particular way but our own,
And sometimes we visit your country and live in your home,
Sometimes we ride on your horses, sometimes we walk alone,
Sometimes the songs that we hear are just songs of our own."
from " Eyes of the World" by the Grateful Dead

Being Alive

Mark likes stacking rocks....we have these all over the yard..this is one in our front yard....very zen.
Have a nice day!!! Love, Michele

You are me, and I am you.

Isn't it obvious that we "inter-are"?

You cultivate the flower in yourself,

so that I will be beautiful.

I transform the garbage in myself,

so that you will not have to suffer.

-Thich Nhat Hanh

It is not death that a man should fear, but he should fear never beginning to live.

-Marcus Aurelius

love of trees

This is our friend Alyssa......she and Macy love to play outside. She is a beautiful soul and has such a connection with Macy.
have a great day!!!
Michele



The true meaning of life is to plant trees, under whose shade you do not expect to sit.
~Nelson Henderson

It is all in the perception that you choose I guess!

I love this!!!- Michele

The Cookie Thief
by Valerie Cox

A woman was waiting at an airport one night,
With several long hours before her flight.
She hunted for a book in the airport shops.
Bought a bag of cookies and found a place to drop.

She was engrossed in her book but happened to see,
That the man sitting beside her, as bold as could be.
Grabbed a cookie or two from the bag in between,
Which she tried to ignore to avoid a scene.

So she munched the cookies and watched the clock,
As the gutsy cookie thief diminished her stock.
She was getting more irritated as the minutes ticked by,
Thinking, "If I wasn't so nice, I would blacken his eye."

With each cookie she took, he took one too,
When only one was left, she wondered what he would do.
With a smile on his face, and a nervous laugh,
He took the last cookie and broke it in half.

He offered her half, as he ate the other,
She snatched it from him and thought... oooh, brother.
This guy has some nerve and he's also rude,
Why he didn't even show any gratitude!

She had never known when she had been so galled,
And sighed with relief when her flight was called.
She gathered her belongings and headed to the gate,
Refusing to look back at the thieving ingrate.

She boarded the plane, and sank in her seat,
Then she sought her book, which was almost complete.
As she reached in her baggage, she gasped with surprise,
There was her bag of cookies, in front of her eyes.

If mine are here, she moaned in despair,
The others were his, and he tried to share.
Too late to apologize, she realized with grief,
That she was the rude one, the ingrate, the thief.

How many times in our lives,
have we absolutely known
that something was a certain way,
only to discover later that
what we believed to be true ... was not?

wow...I think of so many times I was the cookie thief in someone else's eyes....judged wrong.....or I saw a cookie thief because that is what I wanted to see.

but they weren't really a cookie thief. I don't think anyone really wants to be viewed as a cookie thief......you know?-have a great day. -Michele

Llewellyn Vaughan-Lee:

"Most people prefer to be children, to blame somebody else. But it is never anybody else's fault. Once you take full responsibility for your life, it is your Destiny. It is your life. Nobody else can live it for you. Nobody else can ring that particular note. You see, every human being has their own unique note to play in the symphony of life. and when it is played, it makes the most beautiful contribution that nobody else can make, because each human being is unique, each human being is a unique creation of the divine."



I guess there would be no harmony if we all played the same note......and if I don't play MY note or you don't play YOUR note...it just doesn't get played and it goes unheard.
Love, Michele
YYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY

Love like that

Even after all this time,
the sun never says to the earth,
‘You owe me.’
Look what happens with a love like that.
It lights the whole sky.”

Hafiz, 1320-1389

Humanity is under great pressure to evolve because it is our only chance of survival as a race. This will affect every aspect of your life and close relationships in particular. Never before have relationships been as problematic and conflict ridden as they are now. As you may continue to pursue the goal of salvation through a relationship, you will be disillusioned again and again. But if you accept that the relationship is here to make you conscious instead of happy, then the relationship will offer you salvation, and you will be aligning yourself with the higher consciousness that wants to be born into this world. For those who hold to the old patterns, there will be increasing pain, violence, confusion, and madness.

-Eckhart Tolle

Plugging In

For me, I find the moments of "All Is One" in music and dance. When I see a dancer let go and let the Divine in, the radiance fills the entire space and that is where I love to resonate.
That is why I love to watch my girls dance. That is why I love to go to concerts like the Grateful Dead....where people connect with and actually feel the music. I cannot be anywhere else but in that moment celebrating that connection. I occasionally get there with my own harp music and when I am done playing the world has slowed down for me. Music is the connection with me. I can be watching dance, walking in the park with my ipod , playing my harp or dancing at a concert and get to that place of trancendence where I am fully connected.
I know that place is within all of us and we just have to plug in.
Plugging in is the hard part for me sometimes with all the distractions on this earth and stuff that is suppose to be important ( like all that ego stuff ...."I am sepparate from everyone else , I am what I do or what I have or how others react to me" ), but when you are in that spot, you know you are THERE.
For me, It is what the word "Namaste" is all about.
May you feel peace and may you feel love today!!!
.............and may you feel connected or PLUGGED IN and know in your heart that ALL IS ONE.
Peace and love, Michele

Being you

Today you are You, that is truer than true.

There is no one alive who is Youer than You.

-Dr. Seuss

Inspiration

http://tinyurl.com/2y8wan
check out the above trailer or read about it below.....very inspiring!!
love, Michele

In The Simple Truths of Service Ken Blanchard and Barbara Glanz tell the story of Johnny the Bagger. Barbara gave a seminar on the power of words to bless other people. A month later she got a call from a 19-year old grocery store bagger named Johnny who had Downs Syndrome. He told her, "I liked what you talked about, but I didn't think I could do anything special for our customers, after all, I'm just a bagger." Then he proceeded to tell her about an idea that came to him.

Johnny explained that every night he would find a good thought that he could share with others. Then he and his dad sat down at the computer and entered the saying six times on a page. Then Johnny printed off 50 pages, cut off the 300 copies, and signed his name to every note. The next morning when Johnny went to work he put the stack of notes next to him while he bagged people's groceries. For each customer he put one note on the top of the last bag he filled and then he looked the person in the eye and said: "I put a great saying in your bag. I hope it helps you have a good day. Thanks for coming in."

The grocery store manager couldn't believe what happened in his store. The line at Johnny's checkout was three times longer than anybody else's! He tried to get people to move to a shorter line so they could get on their way, but they all said: "That's okay, we'll wait. We want to be in Johnny's line. We want to get his thought for the day!"

And Johnny's influence didn't stop there! Over the next couple of months others at the store started to follow Johnny's example. When the Floral Department had a broken flower or an unused corsage instead of throwing it away they found an elderly woman or a little girl and pinned it on her. The guys who worked on the shopping carts made sure that all the wheels on the carts really worked. Employees greeted customers with a smile and friendly words. The whole culture of the store became cheerful, considerate, and kind - like Johnny the Bagger.

Do you know who the most important person was in that grocery store? Johnny the Bagger. He's not the owner or the store manager. He isn't even a supervisor. He sure isn't making much money and he doesn't have a very high IQ. But he's the most important person in the whole store.

An Open Letter from God

Paul Harvey, American radio's premier commentator, read this on his Noon News, Saturday, May 16, 1998. The response was overwhelming. Harvey's Chicago office was inundated by phone calls, mail and faxes. Here's the text:

An Open Letter from God:

My dear children, and believe Me, that is all of you, I consider Myself a pretty patient guy. I mean, look at the Grand Canyon. It took millions of years to get it right. And about evolution? Boy, nothing is slower than designing that whole Darwinian thing to take place cell by cell and gene by gene.

And I have been patient through your fashions, your civilizations, wars and schemes, and the countless ways that you take Me for granted until you get yourselves into big trouble again and again.

I want to let you know about some of the things that started ticking Me off. First of all, your religious rivalries are driving Me up a wall. Enough already!

Let's get one thing straight. These are your religions, not Mine. I'm the whole enchilada. I'm beyond 'em all.

Every one of your religions claims that there's only one of Me, which, by the way, is absolutely true, but in the very next breath each religion claims that it's My favorite one. And each claims its bible was written personally by Me, and that all of the other bibles are man-made. Oh, Me. How do I ever begin to put a stop to such complicated nonsense?

All right, listen up now. I am your Father and Mother, and I don't play favorites among My children.

Also, I hate to break it to you, but I don't write. My longhand is awful, and I've always been more of a doer anyway. So ALL of your books, including those bibles, were written by men and women. They were inspired men and women, they were remarkable people, but they also made mistakes here and there. And I made sure of that, so that you would never trust a written word rather than your own living heart.

You see, one human being to Me -- even a bum on the street -- is worth more than all of the holy books in the world. That's just the kind of a guy I am.

My spirit is not an historical thing. It's alive right now, right now, as fresh as your next breath. Holy books and religious rites are sacred and powerful, but they are not more so than the least of you. They were only meant to steer you in the right direction, not to keep you arguing with each other, and certainly not to keep you from trusting your own personal connection with Me.

Which brings Me to My next point about your nonsense. You act like I need you and your religions to stick up for Me or win souls for My sake. Please, don't do Me any favors. I can stand quite well on My own, thank you. I don't need you to defend Me, I don't need constant credit. I just want you to be good to each other.

And another thing. I don't get all worked up over money or politics, so stop dragging My name into your dramas. For example, I swear to Me that I never threatened Oral Roberts. I never rode in any of Rajneesh's Rolls Royces and I never told Pat Robertson to run for president, and I have never had a conversation with Jim Bakker, Jerry Falwell or Jimmy Swaggart.

Of course, one day, I certainly intend to.

Now the thing is, I want you to stop thinking of religion as some sort of a loyalty pledge to Me. The true purpose of religion is so that YOU can become more aware of ME, not the other way around. Believe Me, I know you already. I know what's in each of your hearts, and I love you anyway with no strings attached. So, lighten up and enjoy Me. That's what religion's best for.

What you seem to forget is how mysterious I am. You look at the petty differences in your scriptures and you say, "Well, if this is the truth, then that can't be." But instead of trying to figure out My paradoxes and unfathomable nature -- which, by the way, you never will -- why not opener hearts to the simple, common threads of every religion? You know what I'm talking about. Play nice with each other. Love and respect everyone. Be kind. Even when life is scary or confusing, take courage and be of good cheer, for I'm always with you.

And learn how to be quiet, so that you can hear My still, small voice. I don't like to shout. Leave the world a better place by living your life with dignity and gracefulness, for you are My own child. Hold back nothing from life, for the parts of you that can die surely will, and the parts that can't, won't. So don't worry, be happy. (I stole that last line from Bobby McFerrin, but Who gave it to him in the first place?)

Simple stuff now. Why do you keep making it so complicated? It's like you're always looking for an excuse to be upset. And I am very tired of being your main excuse. Do you think whether you call Me God, or Yahweh, or Jehovah, Allah, Wakatonka, Brahma, Father, Mother, even the Void of Nirvana? Do you think I care which of My Special Children you feel closest to -- Jesus, Mary, Buddha, Krishna, Mohammed or any of the others? You can call Me and My Special Ones any names you choose, if only you will go about My business of loving one another as I love you. How can you keep neglecting something so simple?

No, I am not telling you to abandon your religions. Enjoy your religions, honor them, learn from them, just as you should enjoy, honor, and learn from your parents. But do you walk around telling everyone that your parents are better than theirs? Your religion, like your parents, may always have the most special place in your heart. I don't mind that at all. And I don't want you to combine all of the great traditions into One big mess. Each religion is unique for a reason. Each has a unique style so that people can find the best path for themselves. But My Special Children -- the ones that your religions revolve around -- all live in the same place in My heart, and they get along perfectly, I assure you.

The clergy must stop creating a myth of sibling rivalry where there is none. My blessed children of Earth, the world has grown too small for your pervasive religious bigotries and confusion. The whole planet is now connected by air travel, satellite dishes, telephones, fax machines, rock concerts, diseases and mutual needs and concerns. Get with the program!

If you really want to help me celebrate the birthday of My Son Jesus, then commit yourselves to figuring out how to feed your hungry and clothe your naked, and protect your abused and shelter your poor. And just as important, make your own everyday life a shining example of kindness and good humor. I've given you all the resources you need, if only you abandon your fear of each other and begin living, and loving and laughing together.

Now, I am not really ticked off. Not really. I just wanted to grab your attention because I hate to see you suffer. But I gave you free will, so what can I do now other than try to influence you through reason, persuasion, and a little old-fashioned guilt and manipulation?

After all, you know I am the original Jewish Mother. I just want you to be happy, and I'll sit in the dark. I really am with you always.

Always.

Trust in Me.

Your One and Only,

God

Unconditional Love Defined

Above is a picture of the swan on my parents lake. He really needs to find a mate.
This is mating season and he wakes my parents up at 7am by pecking at his reflection in the window of the sliding glass door. They always think someone is Knocking at their door...but it is just a lonley swan looking for someone to love. Speaking of love, I hope you enjoy the note before....one of my favorites.
Have a great day. Love, Michele

A Definition of Unconditional Love

I love you as you are, as you seek to find your own special way to relate to the world, or the way you feel that is right for you. It is important that you are the person you want to be and not someone that I or others think you should be. I realize that I cannot know what is best for you although perhaps sometimes I think I do. I've not been where you have been, viewing life from that angle you have, I do not know what you have chosen to learn, how you have chosen to learn it, with whom or in what time period. I have not walked life looking through your eyes so how can I know what you need.

I allow you to be in the world without a thought or word of judgment from me about the deeds you undertake. I see no error in the things you say and do, in this place where I am. I see that there are many ways to perceive and experience the different facets of our world. I allow without reservation the choices you make in each moment.

I make no judgment of this for if I were to deny your right to evolution than I would deny that right to myself and all others. To those who would choose a way I cannot walk, whilst I may not choose to add my power and my energy to this way, I will never deny you the gift of love that God has bestowed within me for all creation, as I love you so I shall be loved, as I sow, so I shall reap.

I allow you the universal right of free will to walk your own path, creating steps or to sit a while if that is what is right for you. I will make no judgment of these steps, whether they are large or small, nor light or heavy or that they lead up or down, for this is just my viewpoint. I see you do nothing and judge it to be unworthy and yet it may be that you bring great healing as you stand blessed by the light of God.

I cannot always see the higher picture of divine order. For it is the inalienable right of all life to choose their own evolution and with great love I acknowledge your right to determine your future. In humility I bow to the realization that the way I see is best for me does not have to mean that it is also right for you. I know that you are led as I am following the inner excitement to know your own path.

I know that the many races, religions, customs, nationalities and beliefs within our world bring us great richness and allow us the benefit of teachings of such diverseness. I know we each learn in our own unique way in order to bring that love and wisdom back to the whole. I know that if there were only one way to do something, there would need to be only one person. I will not only love you if you behave in a way I think you should, or believe in those things I believe in, I understand you are truly my brother and sister though you may have been born in a different place and believe in another God than I.

The love I feel is for all of God's world. I know that every living thing is part of God and I feel a love deep with every person, and all tree, and flower, every bird, river, ocean and for all the creatures in all the world. I live my life in loving service being the best me I can becoming wiser in the perfection of divine truth, becoming happier in the joy of unconditional love.

Copyright © 2007 Ajna Spirituality

Dance…even if you have nowhere to do it but in your own living room.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=ZY_GyyvsHbM
click above to see a
Very Short film based on the hit song by Baz Luhrmann.

I just love this one, but I cry every time that I watch it.
The begining reminds me of Mira and Marko.
The following statement makes me cry too because I can't imagine my parents not being there for me: Get to know your parents,
you never know when they’ll be gone for
good.
Hope you enjoy the film as much as I do.
Below are the Lyrics. and don't forget the sunscreen!!
-Peace and Love,
Michele


Ladies and Gentlemen of the class of ’99
If I could offer you only one tip for the future, sunscreen would be
it. The long term benefits of sunscreen have been proved by
scientists whereas the rest of my advice has no basis more reliable
than my own meandering
experience…I will dispense this advice now.
Enjoy the power and beauty of your youth;
oh nevermind; you will not
understand the power and beauty of your youth
until they have faded.
But trust me, in 20 years
you’ll look back at photos of yourself and
recall in a way you can’t grasp
now how much possibility lay before
you and how fabulous you really looked….
You’re not as fat as you
imagine. Don’t worry about the future; or worry,
but know that worrying is as
effective as trying
to solve an algebra equation by chewing
bubblegum.
The real troubles in your life are apt to be things that
never crossed your worried mind;
the kind that blindside you at 4pm
on some idle Tuesday.
Do one thing everyday that scares you.
Sing.
Don’t be reckless with other people’s hearts,
don’t put up with
people who are reckless with yours.
Floss.
Don’t waste your time on jealousy;
sometimes you’re ahead, sometimes
you’re behind…the race is long, and in the end,
It’s only with yourself.
Remember the compliments you receive,
forget the insults; if you
succeed in doing this, tell me how.
Keep your old love letters,
throw away your old bank statements.
Stretch.
Don’t feel guilty if you don’t know what you want to do with your
life…
the most interesting people I know didn’t know at 22 what they
wanted to do with their lives,
some of the most interesting 40 year olds I know still don’t.
Get plenty of calcium.
Be kind to your knees,
you’ll miss them when they’re gone.
Maybe you’ll marry, maybe you won’t,
maybe you’ll have children,maybe
you won’t, maybe you’ll divorce at 40,
maybe you’ll dance the funky
chicken on your 75th wedding anniversary…
what ever you do, don’t
congratulate yourself too much or berate yourself either
– your choices are half chance,
so are everybody else’s. Enjoy your body,
use it every way you can…don’t be afraid of it,
or what other people
think of it, it’s the greatest instrument you’ll ever own.. ....
Dance…
even if you have nowhere to do it but in your own living room.
Read the directions, even if you don’t follow them.
Do NOT read beauty magazines, they will only make you feel ugly.
Get to know your parents, you never know when they’ll be gone for
good.
Be nice to your siblings; they are the best link to your past
and the
people most likely to stick with you in the future.
Understand that friends come and go,but for the precious few you
should hold on.
Work hard to bridge the gaps in geography and
lifestyle because the older you get, the more you need the people you
knew when you were young.
Live in New York City once, but leave before it makes you hard;
live in Northern California once, but leave before it makes you soft.
Travel.
Accept certain inalienable truths, prices will rise, politicians will
philander, you too will get old,
and when you do you’ll fantasize
that when you were young prices were reasonable,
politicians were
noble and children respected their elders.
Respect your elders.
Don’t expect anyone else to support you.
Maybe you have a trust fund,
maybe you have a wealthy spouse;
but you never know when either one
might run out.
Don’t mess too much with your hair,
or by the time you're 40, it will look 85.
Be careful whose advice you buy, but,
be patient with those who
supply it.
Advice is a form of nostalgia, dispensing it is a way of
fishing the past from the disposal,
wiping it off, painting over the
ugly parts and recycling it for more than
it’s worth.
But trust me on the sunscreen…

Letting Go

I liked this perspective on trying to let go and send peace to situations that I can not understand.-Michele

DEEPER IN PRAYER, AND QUIETER

April 18, 2007

Transfixed as we still are by the massacre of 32 people at Virginia Tech, we do not lose sight of the fact that there is more every day: 80 people perished in one car-bombing in Baghdad this morning, with dozens more wounded. Death came calling this week, close to home, but it's a regular visitor in a world at war. These are the times to go deeper and deeper in prayer. So many people are involved in so many ways, and there isn't one who is not a child of God, not one to whom we are not called to join ourselves in prayer. Because it can be so hard to pray for someone who wishes me harm, I have learned to allow God to give me that kind of prayer as the gift it can only be. I don't have what it takes to pray for my enemy, one of the many ways in which I can tell I'm not finished evolving. That prayer must come to me from God. I can only step back from the whirlpool of my horror and fear and present the one for whom I cannot pray to God. I lack the power to do more. But I must do that much. Not for us, the prim refusal to engage the enemy in prayer. It is not for us to turn away -- we only compound the sum of the world's enmity if we do that. I can't let my pain and anger keep me away, even if I know myself to be able to overcome it under my own steam. And so I speak the name of the one whose motives I cannot understand, will never understand, the one whose sorrow is so enormous that my heart buckles under its weight. I only speak the name, and then I let God take it from there.

Copyright © 2007 Barbara Crafton

The miniature earth

http://tinyurl.com/25xsct
click above...my favorite song and a very enlightening slideshow!!!!

What Life is about

Life is about who you love and who you hurt.
It's about who you make happy or unhappy purposefully.
It's about keeping or betraying trust.
It's about friendship, used as sanctity, or as a weapon.
It's about what you say and mean, maybe hurtful, maybe heartening.
About starting rumors and contributing to petty gossip.
It's about what judgments you pass and why.
And who your judgments are spread to.

It's about who you've ignored with full control and intention.
It's about jealousy, fear, pain, ignorance, and revenge.
It's about carrying inner hate and love,
letting it grow and spreading it.

But most of all, it's about using your life to touch or poison
other people's hearts in such a way that could never occurred alone.
Only you choose the way these hearts are affected
and those choices are what life is all about.
-author unknown

The real reason we are here...

"There are things you do because they feel right and they may make no sense and they may make no money and it may be the real reason we are here: to love each other and to eat each other's cooking and say it was good."

Brian Andreas
American Author and Storyteller
http://www.storypeople.com

-------

"I don't know exactly what a prayer is.
I do know how to pay attention, how to fall down
into the grass, how to kneel down in the grass,
how to be idle and blessed, how to stroll through the fields,
which is what I have been doing all day.
Tell me, what else should I have done?
Doesn't everything die at last, and too soon?
Tell me, what is it you plan to do
with your one wild and precious life?"

Mary Oliver
American Poet
From her poem: 'The Summer Day'

unconditional love

Macy and her hula hoop, picture taken by Melanie!!


If we could raise one generation with unconditional love, there would be no Hitlers. We need to teach the next generation of children from Day One that they are responsible for their lives. Mankind's greatest gift, also its greatest curse, is that we have free choice. We can make our choices built from love or from fear.
- Elisabeth Kubler Ross

Beautiful People

The most beautiful people we have known are those who have known defeat, known suffering, known struggle, known loss, and have found their way out of the depths. These persons have an appreciation, a sensitivity and an understanding of life that fills them with compassions, gentleness, and a deep loving concern. Beautiful people do not just happen.

-Elisabeth Kubler-Ross

Words For It

by Julia Cameron


I wish I could take language
And fold it like cool, moist rags.
I would lay words on your forehead.
I would wrap words on your wrists.
"There, there," my words would say–
Or something better.
I would ask them to murmur,
"Hush" and "Shh, shhh, it's all right."
I would ask them to hold you all night.
I wish I could take language
And daub and soothe and cool
Where fever blisters and burns,
Where fever turns yourself against you.
I wish I could take language
And heal the words that were the wounds
You have no names for.

Transition

"We're all stumbling towards the light with varying degrees of grace at any given moment".- Bo Lozoff

Other signs or signals that you are either in transition or are just entering a stage of inner transformation are recognized as follows:

1. You may feel quite impatient or discontented with your present lifestyle without understanding or realizing why.

2. You may become unhappy in your job for no apparent reason, but you strongly feel that you need to be doing something else with your life, although you can't pinpoint what it is.

3. You feel a strong urge or a magnetic pull in a certain direction whether it be a new hobby, a new interest, a new lifestyle, a new partner, a new spiritual devotion, etc., but whatever it is, you have no control over the matter; you just can't help yourself from pursuing it.

4. If you suffer from chronic illness, you may suddenly take great interest in discovering how to become well.

5. You may uncover hidden talents or abilities.

6. You may start to experience vivid or bizarre dreams in which you know you are given guidance.

7. You may sense that there is a greater power guiding or feeding you with knowledge that you normally don't possess.

8. Your interests may shift from focusing on the self to instead focusing on community, national or global conditions.

9. You may find that you are becoming more of a humanitarian possessing increased feelings of empathy, sympathy and compassion for others less fortunate than you.

10. Material possessions may become insignificant in Your life and you may long for a simplistic lifestyle.

These are indications in which your soul conveys to you that you are not fulfilling your true potential and that you need to re-connect to your true inner self. I'm sure you have heard the age-old adage, "You can run, but you cannot hide." Yes, who are you really kidding? Quite often these unfold around mid-life and are then blamed or labelled as a "mid-life crisis." Too often people change their material surroundings, thinking that this will solve their inner turmoil.

In reality, you incarnated in order to learn certain lessons or to complete specific agreements in order to progress along your spiritual path. But first you must know who you are, your strengths, your weaknesses, your own unique talents or gifts, your likes or dislikes and this takes honest evaluation, acceptance of truth and strength with determination in order forge ahead to reap the benefits.

Generally, every eighteen years you will be reminded of this, where you will feel deep inner urges or a strong pulling, giving you the opportunity to align with your true spiritual self. Once you recognize or welcome these signs, you will enter a transition stage and the transformation will be your inner growth. Remain open, go with the flow and resist the temptation to try to control or manipulate the process in any way.

You will know that you have accomplished transformation when you feel extreme peace, utter joy and blessed contentment from being just you. You will love yourself, despite any faults or shortcomings that you may have. By this time, you will have reached total integration with your inner spirit or soul, which connects you to your spiritual source and your renewed daily living pattern will reflect this. These feelings of unconditonal love, peace, joy and contentment will not be generated by any circumstance or anything outside of yourself or by any other person; all feelings will exude from within you.

If by chance you continue to remain unaware of this process, then you will be given another opportunity in another eighteen years. But then you ask, "What happens if I never pay attention and completely renege on my spiritual contract?" Nothing drastic will happen, but your soul will have missed its opportunity for growth in this lifetime; thereby slowing its over-all spiritual growth time-frame. Oh well, perhaps in its next incarnation it will have better luck and since time is really a man-made creation, what's the rush?

Margaret Jang