resentment

Marko at Boo at the Zoo:)

“Hanging onto resentment is letting someone you despise live rent-free in your head.”

Esther Lederer(Ann Landers)

letting our light shine

thought you might like the words below...they lifted me up.....and have a happy and safe Halloween:)
Namaste,
Michele

“And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same”- Nelson Mandela

Nelson Mandela has always felt most at ease around children, and in some ways his greatest deprivation was that he spent 27 years without hearing a baby cry or holding a child's hand.
Last month, when I visited Mandela in Johannesburg — a frailer, foggier Mandela than the one I used to know — his first instinct was to spread his arms to my two boys. Within seconds they were hugging the friendly old man who asked them what sports they liked to play and what they'd had for breakfast. While we talked, he held my son Gabriel, whose complicated middle name is Rolihlahla, Nelson Mandela's real first name. He told Gabriel the story of that name, how in Xhosa it translates as "pulling down the branch of a tree" but that its real meaning is "troublemaker."

want to read more??? Here is where I got the article: article link

Life

Mira took this picture....this van is on our dashboard of our van.
I thought that it looked pretty cool.
Below is a poem that I posted about two years ago, but I was reading it over today because I
needed the reminder. I hope you like it.
Namaste,
Michele

So much of what we do in life is insignificant.
So many things that we think are so important,
End up being meaningless when we step back and look.
So step forward and look into the microscope;
Examine your life and your intentions.

If you feel that things are out of sync
Then change them, change something.
Often, change is what we fear the most
When in reality, it is the best thing for us.

Don’t ask life to come to you,
Ask life to catch up with you.
Don’t wait for miracles,
Create and design your own.

Don’t hold out for other people’s approval,
March right past them.
Knowing that as long as you do what is right for you, for your heart,
No one else’s approval matters.

Don’t sit on the sidelines and be a spectator,
Get in the game and participate.
And if you lose, you will have learned something,
Even if it was at the expense of your pride.

Don’t allow anyone to judge you,
Harsher then you would judge yourself.
For negative criticism has a nasty way of
Picking at your soul and damaging your self-worth.

Don’t wait around for things to happen,
But don’t rush them either.
Push the world at a pace,
That makes you comfortable.

Remember the saying,
Sometimes when you hold out for everything,
You end up with nothing.
Don’t permit that to happen to you.

And most of all, remind yourself,
That this life was given to you on a blank piece of expensive canvas.
It is up to you to paint your picture,
As bright and as colorful as possible, or as muted and quiet as you desire.

Do with it what you want,
Compromise only when you feel necessary,
And be proud of what you have painted.
It will be your greatest legacy.

-Unknown author-

The Earth is Crammed with Heaven!!!

Photo by Mira



Earth's crammed with heaven,
and every common bush afire with God;
But only he who sees,
takes off his shoes
-The rest sit round it and pluck blackberries.
-Elizabeth Barrett Browning

Our different Pathways

This is a picture that Mira took at our neighborhood lake.
Our lake association has a "Family Fun Festival" every year at Halloween.
It is a lot of fun. Marko had been talking about it for 3 weeks.
He won the contest where you guess how many candy corns are in the jar.
I love our neighborhood!!!!
Hope you like the words below....one of my favorites.
Have a great day.
Namaste,
Michele

Manuel for Conserving Paths
By Paulo Coelho

1] The path begins with a crossroads. There you can stop and think what direction to follow. But don’t spend too much time thinking or you’ll never leave the spot. Ask yourself the classic Castañeda question: which of these paths has a heart? Reflect a lot on the choices that lie ahead, but once you have taken the first step, forget the crossroads for ever or else you will always torture yourself with the useless question: “did I take the right path?” If you listened to your heart before making the first movement, you chose the right path.

2] The path doesn’t last for ever. It is a blessing to travel the path for some time, but one day it will come to an end, so always be prepared to take leave of it at any moment. However enraptured you may be at certain landscapes, or scared whenever you have to make a great effort to go ahead, don’t get too used to anything. Neither to the hours of euphoria, nor to the endless days when everything seems so difficult and progress is so slow. Don’t forget that sooner or later an angel will appear and your journey will reach an end.

3] Honor your path. It was your choice, your decision, and just as you respect the ground you step on, that ground will respect your feet. Always do what is best to conserve and keep your path and it will do the same for you.

4] Be well equipped. Carry a small rake, a spade, a penknife. Understand that penknives are no use for dry leaves, and rakes are useless for herbs that are deep-rooted. Know also what tool to use at each moment. And take care of them, because they are your best allies.

5] The path goes forward and backward. At times you have to go back because something was lost, or else a message to be delivered was forgotten in your pocket. A well tended path enables you to go back without any great problems.

6] Take care of the path before you take care of what is around you. Attention and concentration are fundamental. Don’t be distracted by the dry leaves at the edges or by the way that others are looking after their paths. Use your energy to tend and conserve the ground that accepts your steps.

7] Be patient. Sometimes the same tasks have to be repeated, like tearing up weeds or closing holes that appear after unexpected rain. Don’t let that annoy you - that is part of the journey. Even though you are tired, even though certain tasks are repeated so often, be patient.

8] Paths cross. People can tell what the weather is like. Listen to advice, and make your own decisions. You alone are responsible for the path that was entrusted to you.

9] Nature follows its own rules. In this way, you have to be prepared for sudden changes in the fall, slippery ice in winter, the temptations of flowers in spring, thirst and showers in the summer. Make the most of each of these seasons, and don’t complain about their characteristics.

10] Make your path a mirror of yourself. By no means let yourself be influenced by the way that others care for their paths. You have your soul to listen to, and the birds to tell what your soul is saying. Let your stories be beautiful and pleasant to everything around you. Above all, let the stories that your soul tells during the journey be echoed at each and every second of the path.

11] Love your path. Without this, nothing makes any sense.

The call

Macy made and took this picture.

Maybe, she likes the meal?????

Hope you enjoy the quote below!!!

Namaste,

Michele

Throughout your life, there is a voice only you can hear. A voice which mythologists label "the call." A call to the value of your life. The choice of risk and individual bliss over the known and secure.

You may choose not to hear your spirit. You may prefer to build a life within the compound, to avoid risk. It is possible to find happiness within a familiar box, a life of comfort and control.

Or, you may choose to be open to new experiences, to leave the limits of your conditioning, to hear the call. Then you must act.

If you never hear it, perhaps nothing is lost. If you hear it and ignore it, your life is lost.
--Jennifer James

Just one of the crowd??

This is a picture of a very unique picture of a very unique daisy taken by a very unique Macy.




You gotta love fellow Deadheads!!!
I made a post on here about the Grateful Dead reunion last week, and a fellow deadhead, David McQuaid contacted me and said he had the concert on CD and asked if I would like him to mail me a copy.
What a nice guy!!! He mailed me a copy of the concert we just saw at Penn State and a copy of his Burning Man dvd from the Burning Man festival that I have always wanted to go to.
That is what I like about the Deadheads.....realizing the unity of us all.
THANK YOU DAVID MCQUAID....YOU MADE MY DAY!!
David also sent me a quote from one of my favorite movies, Harold and Maude:

Maude: I should like to change into a sunflower most of all. They're so tall and simple. What flower would you like to be?

Harold: I don't know. One of these, maybe. (He points to a field of daisies.)

Maude: Why do you say that?

Harold: Because they're all alike.

Maude: Ooooh, but they're NOT. Look. See, some are smaller, some are fatter, some grow to the left, some to the right, some even have lost some petals. All KINDS of observable differences. You see, Harold, I feel that much of the world's sorrow comes from people who are THIS. (She points to a daisy.)

Maude: Yet allow themselves to be treated as THAT (She gestures to a field of daisies.)

Keeping that flame burning

Mira labeled this picture "back in the day" on her facebook.
This is a camping trip from back in the day.




At the end of the night Mickey Hart said something at the Grateful Dead reunion last week that still gives me the chills whenever I think of it. It was something like this:

"Remember the feeling here you have felt tonight in this community we have created.
Then take it home to your family, friends and town and do something good with it.
This is what this is all about."

I am trying to keep that feeling in my heart and to do good with it:)

Tuesdays with Morrie

picture by Marko......hope you enjoy the words below.
Namaste,
Michele


The book, "Tuesdays with Morrie", is still on the best seller list. Why do you think the book has such broad appeal?

Mitch Albom: Three reasons, I think. One, everyone has had some teacher like Morrie, and I think the book reminds people of how precious a teacher or mentor can be. Number two, I think a lot of Americans are working way too many hours-as I was doing-and feeling very dissatisfied, wondering if this is really the path to a happy life. For them, I think the book is an inspiration to allow themselves to step back and appreciate the love and laughter of life without feeling guilty about it. And three, I believe that everyone has either lost someone they love or is going to. Morrie's lessons about how "Death ends a life, but not a relationship" are comforting to people seeking to make peace with saying goodbye to loved ones. Let's face it. We all have two things in common, no matter who we are: We were born and we are going to die. The universal implications of that are why I think "Tuesdays With Morrie" continues to appeal to so many people.

transcript of this talk...click here

On Happiness

ahhh this is when Dusty was like 5 mos. old and still looking like a poodle.



Now and then it's good to pause
in our pursuit of happiness and just be happy.
Guillaume Apollinaire

The best prayer that I have heard in a long time

Here is another picture from the hills of Pennsylvania that I took on our way to Penn State on Monday.............so much beauty in the fall!!!
Below is a prayer that really resonates with me....hope you like it too!!!


Buddhist Prayer

Let all things be healthy.
Let all things be peaceful.
Be sure to count your blessings at least once a day.

Forgive those who have hurt you,
and those who have offended you,

But forgive yourself for what you have done,
And let go of what you have failed to do.

That which is done there's no need to speak of,
That which is past there's no need to blame.

Have self-control, self-knowledge, self-respect,
The courage to dare.
Be tranquil, the light of intelligence will shine.

Strive to make the spot where you stand beautiful.
Then beauty and harmony will follow you
In all your ways and through all your days.

Amen!

there is no isolation from anything

This is a picture that I took on Monday somewhere in Pennsylvania on our way to Penn State for the Grateful Dead reunion. The trees were so beautiful.
We met up with our friend Paul there......and we talked to him on the phone
on our way home. So, you can imagine how surprised I was to get an email from my friend,
Debbie saying that Paul had been in the ICU at the hospital for the past 3 days.
On Wednesday, he was getting ready to fix the chimney on one of his rental properties when a brick fell 35 feet from the top of the chimney and hit him in the head. He was knocked unconscious, then rushed to Huron Road Hospital where they discovered he had a fractured skull and internal bleeding. After a few tense days, his condition stabilized, but he is still in the hospital ICU as of today. His guardian angel, likely his late wife Donna, must have been there to soften the blow, because a brick falling from 35 feet and hitting you in the head can be fatal.
Here is his email address in case you would like to send him a note:
itsaboutlove@sbcglobal.net
hope you like the words below!!!
Namaste,
Michele






Think of a tree. When you think of a tree, you tend to think of a distinctly defined object. But when you look at it more closely, you will see that it has no independent existence. When you contemplate it you will find that it dissolves into an extremely subtle net of relationships that stretch across the universe. The rain that falls on its leaves, the wind that sways it, the soil that nourishes and sustains it all the seasons all form part of the tree. As you think about the tree more and more you will discover that everything in the universe helps make the tree what it is; that it cannot be isolated from anything else and at every moment its nature is subtly changing.
--Soygal Rinpoche

the journey home

above is a picture of Mark and Marko.
I hope you enjoy the quote below!!
Have a great day.
Love,
Michele

Every day is a journey, and the journey itself is home.
-Basho

Grateful Dead Reunite

This is our friend, Green Jerry Bear that we met at the show.
Photo: Weiner/Retna

It was a beautiful show!!!

See the set list below:

The Dead Set List:
“Truckin’”
“U.S. Blues”
“Help On The Way/Slipknot!/Franklin’s Tower”
“Playing In The Band”
“Dark Star”
“St. Stephen”
“Unbroken Chain”
“The Other One”
“Throwing Stones”
“Playing Reprise”

Encore:
“Touch of Grey”/”Not Fade Away”

Here is part of an article from the Rolling Stone about the concert:

Once again, Obama has raised the Dead: The remaining members of the Grateful Dead regrouped for the first time in four years at a “Change Rocks” fundraiser for Barack Obama at Penn State Monday night. Guitarist Bob Weir, babying a set of broken ribs, joined bassist Phil Lesh and drummer Mickey Hart. Drummer Bill Kreutzmann, who did not play at the “Deadheads for Obama” fundraiser last spring, flew in from his Hawaiian holdout to join the band.

The crowd was an even mix of die-hard Deadheads and Penn State students, with the parking lot scene pretty standard, complete with tailgating, music blaring, Frisbees flying, and no hotel vacancies for 30 miles.

Love is the answer

Tonight is Mira's homecoming.
So, I thought I would include these pictures of her and her date, Kevin....and the group she hung out with before the dance.
hope you enjoy the quote below!!





The grass is not, in fact, always greener on the other side of the fence.
Fences have nothing to do with it. The grass is greenest where it is watered.
When crossing over fences, carry water with you and tend the grass wherever you may be.

Robert Fulghum

your spiritual growth

This is Macy and her cousin, Eliza

Your Spiritual growth does not happen when you are peaceful and content.
It happens when you get angry, greedy, jealous, critical,or impatient.
It happens when you loose your "spiritual mask" and realize that you are not superman
or -woman, but just an ordinary human being learning how to love.
-Paul Ferrini

Your gift to the world

Individually and collectively, anything we do to resist or postpone the collapse will only make it worse. So stop resisting the revolution in human beingness. If you want to survive the multiple crises unfolding today, do not seek to survive them. That is the mindset of separation; that is resistance, a clinging to a dying past. Instead, allow your perspective to shift toward reunion, and think in terms of what you can give. What can you contribute to a more beautiful world? That is your only responsibility and your only security. The gifts you need to survive and enjoy will come to you easily, because what you do to the world, you do to yourself.

-Charles Eisenstien

Happy 50th Anniversary Mom and Dad

This is a picture of my parents that I took tonight.
We went out to dinner for my mom's birthday tonight.
They are leaving for 3 weeks......flying to Italy on Tuesday then going on a cruise to the Holy Lands....then they end up in Athens Greece....they will spend 3 days there then fly home...just in time for Halloween.
Have a great trip!!
I hope you enjoy the poem that Mark wrote for you below.
We love you!!!!
Michele



for Fran and Clay on their 50th Anniversary
by markk

they say the first 50 years
are the hardest, so it’s all
downhill from here (not to
say you’re going downhill.)
satchel paige said don’t look
back, because something
might be gaining on you,
but we’ll look back anyway:

you can look back and say
you hit a home run with a
daughter like michele, not
to mention three grandchildren
like mira, macy & marko,
you can look back & say you
got to see places like africa,
china, & australia, not to
mention caribbean islands,
continents & countries,
oceans & deserts, mountains,
& rivers, you can look back & say
you’ve gone to a thousand
baseball games, because
after all, like clay’s t-shirt says,
baseball is life, you can look back
& say that you’ve enjoyed
the company of relatives & friends,
worked hard & played hard, helped
people in need, had fun, you can
look back & say you did your
very best, you went the extra mile,
you stopped to smell the roses,
you can look back all day long --

but the next 50 years are
going to be where the rubber
meets the road, because you
have a family who needs
you, not to mention a cock-a-poo
named dusty, & places to go & people
to see, so set off your journey
& go where you will, we will
all be coming along for the ride.

Letting Go

Mira made this and took this picture.
It reminds me to take a deep breath and let go.
hope you like the quote below!!
love,
Michele




"The energy we need is not fear or anger, but the energy of understanding and compassion. There is no need to blame or condemn. Those who are destroying themselves, societies, and the planet aren't doing it intentionally. Their pain and loneliness are overwhelming, and they want to escape. They need to be helped, not punished. Only understanding and compassion on a collective level can liberate us."
— Thich Nhat Hanh in The World We Have

Dance like No One is watching.

Mira took this picture at the "boys like girls" concert or is it the "girls like boys" concert?
I don't know...it is one of those names.


click on the link below to see one of the best videos that I have seen in a long time.
It made me smile and do a little dance:)
click on link below.
gratitude dance video

Connection

“I feel this pang inside—
Is it my soul trying to break out,
Or the world's soul trying to break in?”
~ Rabindranath Tagore