Friday, August 29, 2008

letting go




above are more pictures that I like of our kids at Omega Institute.
I like the words below.....it reminds me to let go and not hang onto stuff that I can't control anyway.
have a great day.
love,
Michele




What worked yesterday doesn't work today-and what works tomorrow may not work today. Just being present here, just being right here, right now means that you leave the past and you leave the future.

This can be painful. Being present, you let go of the ideas that you have about your children when they're not the way you want them to be. Life itself is one big preparation for the big let-go at the end. As you age and as you grow, you've also got to let go of your parents. and, too, there's your self-image you have to let go of -like your ability to get out of bed...and stand up straight, without that pain in your lower back. Then, finally we've got to let go of it all into this mystery that we've had these glimpses of. It's pretty clear nobody gets out alive.

so, what do you do in the meantime? You get ready and then you catch these glimpses of where you've already let go of everything-and then death itself isn't as scary anymore. Being present, you act more in the accordance with the spontaneity of the universe, God, or self.

-David Parks-Ramage

Thursday, August 28, 2008

Inspriation






above are more pictures by Macy that she took at Omega Institute. These inspire me to keep on my path of practicing mindfulness. hope you are having a great day...and I hope you enjoy the quote below. Namaste, Michele




"When you feel inspired, more than ordinary thinking is involved. There is a sense of being uplifted, of suddenly breaking through. Old boundaries fall away, and one feels, if only for a moment, a rush of liberation" ~Deepak Chopra

Tuesday, August 26, 2008

coming home to ourselves



do you like this picture? Macy made this and then took a picture of it.
Macy made my day today....she came home from middle school and said her and her friends went and ate with this boy who was eating lunch all by himself.
She said they talked to him and he seemed happier.
He said he really did not like school much.
I find myself really missing the meditation time at Omega Institute.
I have been scheduling times to meditate daily at home...but it is hard getting a whole hour to devote to this.
I just take what times I have to meditate...to just be here.
that is what calms me down and helps me to let go of things that I can't control.
....well a lot of the time anyway.
hope you like the quote below!!
Namaste,
Michele

Anyone can build a house of wood and bricks, but....that sort of home is not our real home; it's only nominally ours. It's a home in the world, and it follows the ways of the world. Our real home is inner peace. An external, material home may well be pretty, but it is not very peaceful. There's this worry, and then that; this anxiety, and then that.....It's external to us and soon or later we'll have to give it up. It's not a place we can live in permanently, because it doesn't truly belong to us; it's part of the world. Our body is the same: we take it to be self, to be "me" and "mine," but in fact it's not really so at all; it's another worldly home.
-Ajahn Chah

Monday, August 25, 2008

The wonder of the earth

Marko riding Matthew's ATV....before he tipped it over.







These pictures above are from our visit to Chautauqua Lake on our way home from vacation.
We stayed with our friends Steve and Leslie and their kids.
It is so beautiful and relaxing there.
After spending time on the lake on Saturday, they invited us out to their "barn" to ride four wheelers on Sunday. It was only 15 minutes away....and I had it pictured as a field with a four wheeler......I had no idea we would be riding around in heavy duty polaris vehicles on greater than 300 acres that look like a state park.
It was so beautiful and so fun and I found a lot of joy there!!!
hope you enjoy the quote below.
Love,
Michele


"I am so absorbed in the wonder of the earth and the life upon
it that I cannot think of heaven and the angels.
I have enough for this life.
-Pearl S. Buck

Sunday, August 24, 2008

life


above is a picture from Macy and Marko's photography class at Omega.
They had so much fun.
hope you like the quote below!!
Namaste,
Michele




have come to believe that the whole world is an enigma,
a harmless enigma
that is made terrible by our own mad attempt
to interpret it as though it had an underlying truth.
-Umberto Eco

Saturday, August 23, 2008

Heaven on Earth



who is that lady standing in the doorway??
now this lady seems to be an expert at the crow pose.....ha..ha....no now.all I see are lots of ways to improve this pose.

above are pictures that Macy took during my yoga class at Omega.
Macy took a photography class and came into my class and took pictures.
have a great day and enjoy the quote below.
sometimes I feel the heaven on earth...and other times I don't feel it....still working on that one.
love,
Michele



Heaven on earth means you are absolutely delighted with your life just the way it is. You aren’t trying to fix yourself, manifest more money, a better job or a bigger house. You find the sacred right here and right now. That is also where you connect with the creative energy that wants to express in your life.
Abundance comes as we learn to trust the Creative source inside us. We can’t do that when we are busy finding fault with our lives. (IE: thinking that my butt looks big in the crow pose picture)

-Paul Ferrini

Friday, August 22, 2008

Nonconformity


Macy took this picture at Omega last week.
These were drums that some of the kids used during the week.
hope you are having a great day.
read the quote below!!...it kinda reminded me to go ahead and be who I am...I needed this ...esp. after last night....I walked up to Giant Eagle and bought groceries and then walked the mile home with my canvas bags...people probably think that I am a weirdo....well I am.
Namaste,
Michele


If a man does not keep pace with his companions, perhaps it is because he hears a different drummer. Let him step to the music which he hears, however measured and far away.
-Henry David Thoreau
(1817-1862)

Thursday, August 21, 2008

The Mystery




Today was the first day of school!!
hard to believe that it is time for new school beginings!!
hope you like the quote below.
Namaste,
Michele




To one degree or another, everybody is connected to the Mystery, and everybody secretly yearns to expand the connection. That requires expanding the soul. These things can enlarge the soul: laughter, danger, imagination, meditation, wild nature, passion, compassion, psychedelics, beauty, iconoclasm, and driving around in the rain with the top down. These things can diminish it: fear, bitterness, blandness, trendiness, egotism, violence, corruption, ignorance, grasping, shining, and eating ketchup on cottage cheese.
- Tom Robbins

Wednesday, August 20, 2008

Letting Go

Bud Preston's website: click here
Hello!!
Above is a picture from Mira and Marko's guitar lesson yesterday evening.
They both started lessons this summer.
I was so crushed when Mira wanted to quit playing her violin.
She had played the violin for the last 5 years and I enjoyed hearing her play.
However, she was tired of orchestra, tired of the rules and tired of not playing modern songs.
I tried to convince her to stay in it for high school, but then I realized it is not about me.
(hard for me to do.....because I wanted her to be a violin player...I had plans that she would travel with the Medina Orchestra to Russia during high school and that I would go to her concerts throughout her four years at the high school......but it is not my life....and she must follow her own passions....not mine)
so guess why she quit......because she wanted to learn how to play the guitar.
so now Mira and Marko take guitar lessons together.
Mira plays Mark's guitar.....and Marko plays his new "Gibson."

Below are words from Pema Chodron.
She offered these five pieces advice at a retreat this year.
I found them very fitting......have been going through some major stressors lately....those of you who know me well know that.
I have been practicing on learning to "let go."
at times it works really well and at other times I am filled with a lot of anger and feelings of being betrayed.
Last week at Omega Institute, I meditated each morning for an hour and each evening for an hour. which consisted of sitting on these cushions with our legs crossed in total silence...just keeping your mind blank, then at the end the instructor would lead us through a "loving-kindness" meditation where you send love to yourself, love to a teacher in your life, love to someone close, love to someone you have issues with, and you keep stretching it until you are sending love from you heart to every living entity on the planet.
On the last day of meditation, the meditation leader, gave me this piece of paper and told me that it was a gift from her to me.
did you ever notice how the words from someone can be exactly what you needed to hear?
It is really weird....well not really....(truth is something you stumble into when you think you are going someplace else-Jerry Garcia)
but it was like it was really written for me.
so now I will share it with you...read below and have a great day!!!
Namaste,
Michele


At the close of the rainy season retreat at Gampo Abbey this year, Pema Chodron offered these five pieces of advice.

1. The mundane details of our life eat us up. Therefore it is important to keep asking
ourselves again and again: What is the most important thing? Since death is certain and the time of death is uncertain, what is the most important thing? Let that perspective be your guide.

2. Don't be afraid to challenge yourself. At the gut level, you might want to go for the most comfortable thing. Always go for the stretch. Sometimes the stretch is to stay,
sometimes to go. Sometimes to say, Yes, sometimes to say, No. You don't always know. The key is to be willing to go through the shedding and unmasking process.

3. Rest in the insecurity.
Remember that when we lose ground we habitually panic and look for something solid to
hold onto: that's a description of samsara. Go at your pace. And don't push it.
But continue to train in resting and with insecurity.

4. Don't believe everything you think. If you can follow this advice, you will be in good shape.

5. Take exactly what appears as your path.

this last one means, wherever we are, this is our awakening, our sacred space. Listening deeply, we open the doors of our true nature, which is called Buddha nature or God nature
or Allah or the Tao. The mind is clear and bright. Compassion arises. We find our way.

Monday, August 18, 2008

Being Real


Some of my highschool friends were in town last night and we had a mini reunion.
They came over just as we pulled in from our nine day vacation......our house was a mess and we were a mess but they did not seem to mind the chaos.
I love to get together with old friends that know your past and still like you anyway.
Above is a picture of them......Katie is standing beside me, Leslie is below me and Chris is below Katie.
Have a great day.
love,
Michele

When They Revolutionize the Cocktail Parties
by Marilyn Sandberg


"Hello, What are you afraid of?"
"Death"
"Me too."
"When you hear a Mahler symphony?"
"No, when I wake up in the night."
"Me too."
"Nice meeting you."
"Same here."

Saturday, August 16, 2008

the questioning

Isn't the picture above beautiful?
We are here at Lake Chautauqua......a beautiful place that I have been visiting since 8th grade.
My friend Leslie has a cottage here and now they are hosting the five of us for the night.
We went "tubing" today on the lake.
hope you enjoy the quote below.
love,
Michele

In life we are often wiser for
questioning our answers than answering our questions.

- Noah ben Shea

Tuesday, August 12, 2008

Love


Mira's friend, Brielle, made this today at the sanctuary here at Omega Institute.

Isn't it beautiful???

hope you like the words below!!

love,

Michele



"The practice is called the Nonmanifestation of Negative Emotions. I do this practice one full day a week, starting first thing in the morning and continuing until I go to sleep. The practice involves making a conscious effort not to manifest any negative emotions for the entire day, through either external behavior or internal ruminations. This does not mean, however, that anger and other negative emotions will not arise, because they surely will. What it does mean is that as soon as we become aware of them, we make the conscious effort to refrain from indulging the thoughts that fuel those particular emotions."
— Ezra Bayda in Zen Heart: Simple Advice for Living with Mindfulness and Compassion

Sunday, August 10, 2008

above is a very special picture that I made on an Etch a sketch last night.
They passed out these at the restaurant we ate at.
We stayed on Penn State's campus and walked around after dinner.
I love being on a college campus.....lots of good energy there.
hope you like the quote below.
love,
Michele




One of the symptoms of an approaching nervous breakdown
is the belief that one's work is terribly important.

- Bertrand Russell

Friday, August 8, 2008

Love


This is a bunny that I fell in love with at the fair last week.

Isn't he cute??

I hope you enjoy the poem below

love,

Michele



Mother of us all

by Steven Levine


Mother-of-us-all prays to free us
from our image of perfection
to which so much suffering clings.

When in the shadowy mind
we imagine ourselves imperfectly,
praying to be freed from gravity
by enlightenment, she refines our prayers.

Putting her arms around us
she bids us rest our head on her shoulder
whispering, Don’t you know
with all your fear and anger
all you are fit for is love.



Thursday, August 7, 2008

The extraordinary in the ordinary

Above is a view from our front yard.
I am enjoying the simplicity of an ordinary day today......a very big blessing.
hope you enjoy the words below.
love,
Michele

"Normal day, let me be aware of the treasure you are.

Let me learn from you, love you, bless you before you depart.

Let me not pass you by in quest of some rare and perfect tomorrow.

Let me hold you while I may, for it may not always be so.

One day I shall dig my nails into the earth, or bury my face in the pillow,

or stretch myself taut, or raise my hands to the sky and want, more than all the world,

your return."

Mary Jean Iron

Tuesday, August 5, 2008

The sound of silence


This is a picture of Macy bouncing around in our yard.
Hope you like the quote below!!
Namaste,
Michele



See how nature - trees, flowers, grass - grows in silence; see the stars,
the moon and the sun, how they move in silence...
we need silence to be able to touch souls.
--Mother Teresa

Saturday, August 2, 2008

The Art of Disappearing


I took this picture and I hope you enjoy it.....and I hope you enjoy the poem below!!

It is very beautiful.

Love,

Michele


The Art of Disappearing.

by Naomi Shihab Nye

When they say Don't I know you? say no.
When they invite you to the party
remember what parties are like
before answering.
Someone telling you in a loud voice
they once wrote a poem.
Greasy sausage balls on a paper plate.
Then reply.
If they say we should get together.
say why? It's not that you don't love them any more.
You're trying to remember something
too important to forget.
Trees.
The monastery bell at twilight.
Tell them you have a new project.
It will never be finished. When someone recognizes you in a grocery store
nod briefly and become a cabbage.
When someone you haven't seen in ten years
appears at the door,
don't start singing him all your new songs.
You will never catch up.
Walk around feeling like a leaf. Know you could tumble any second. Then decide what to do with your time.

The Mystery


Remember that life does not come in a tidy package. It retains its ragged edges, it's ambiguity, and alas, it's mystery. That is not necessarily a bad thing.

It is better for you to keep asking the questions than to find an answer that makes you dull and complacent.
- Paul Ferrini

Friday, August 1, 2008

World Peace

picture by Mira

I don't think of it as working for world peace,
he said. I think of it as just trying to get along in a really big strange family.
-Brian Andreas