Laughter

“I used to wait for a sign, she said before I did anything.
Then one night I had a dream and an angel
in black tights came to me and said,
You can start any time now
and then I asked is this a sign?
and the angel started laughing and I woke up.
Now, I think the whole world is filled with signs,
but if there’s no laughter, I know they’re not for me.”
— Brian Andreas

In the land of Oz

This is a picture of Macy dancing..... :)

Okay...since when do 2nd graders do power point presentations?
I was going to go on the computer last night, but Marko informed me that he was busy with his power point presentation for school on the Eastern cottontail rabbit.
I don't have a clue how to make a power point presentation....thank god for Mira....she helped him pick out colors for the background.
hope you like the words below.
love,
Michele


A strong emotional obsession or pattern is like the scene in
"The Wizard of Oz" where Dorothy and
her companions finally get to Oz. The Wizard is this powerful, looming presence that terrifies them
—until the little dog Toto calmly goes over
and pulls back the curtain to reveal an old man stooped over the controls, manipulating a huge wizard image.
Emotional fixations are like that
—if you see them clearly, unflinchingly, for what they really are,
you take the power away from them.
They no longer control you.
Confusion dawns as clarity.
-TARA BENNETT-GOLEMAN

soulshine

Here is a picture from 6/87.
The last day of nursing school.
We got to decorate our blue nursing uniforms the way we wanted.
This is a picture of Chien (Stephanie now) and me at one of my favorite parties.





I am loving this song today!!!!!!!
hope you enjoy the lyrics!!!
Love,
Michele


Lyrics to Soulshine :
The world around
gotcha down
you got high blood pressure people pushing you around
and some wanna tell you how you should behave
cut your hair the right way, tell you what to say,
hang out with the right folks, become a fashion slave

But do you wanna feel free
but do you wanna feel freaky and free
but do you wanna feel free
do you wanna feel free, free, free, freaky and free

(chorus)
Take ya time
unwind ya mind
we all need a little soulshine
take your time
unwind your mind
we all need a little soulshine

9 to 5, people tryin' stay alive
hard livin' in the city
find a diamond in the sewer but the gas bills rise
but I gotta say to say what's it all mean
ya gotta take a loan
to pay the bill on the phone
educated, graduated but you can't get a job

But do you wanna feel free
but do you wanna feel freaky and free
but do you wanna feel free
do you wanna feel free, free, free, freaky and free

Blissing out

This is a picture of my life long friend, Leslie and her daughter, Charlotte.
It was taken Saturday at our house during Macy's family birthday party.
Isn't Charlotte so cute???

I hope you enjoy the below quote today.
It came up on my zen calendar and kinda resonated with me today!!
Namaste,
Michele


Zazen isn't about blissing out or
going into a alpha brainwave trance.
It's about facing who and what you really
are, in every single goddamn moment.

-Brad Warner

Paper Roses???

My dad sent this text sometime in the middle of the night. He and my mom are in Vegas for a few days visiting with old friends. My dad's text says he got to go up on stage and sing with Marie Osmond. .....thus the picture??? have a great day and enjoy the quote.
Namaste, Michele

I am thankful for laughter, except when milk comes out of my nose. --Woody Allen

Powerful!!

Mira took this picture today. I took her to the Cleveland Film Festival today and she got to miss a day of school. We had fun ....went to the Hard Rock Cafe for lunch.

Anyway, we saw this very powerful movie called "An Alternative to Slitting your wrist."
It was one of the best movies (documentary actually) that I have seen in a long time.
I put it up there with Garden State, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind and American Beauty.
And for those of you who know me...those are my very favorite movies ever.
Anyway...there are still two more showings and then eventually you can buy the Dvd.
Owen (who the documentary was based on is there and talks to the audience afterwards.)
You can see it tomorrow at 950pm
or Saturday @ 950am.
Check it out here:
http://www.clevelandfilm.org/ciff_films_find-details.php?fid=2716

well I am going to go email Owen now.
Have a great day!!!
I hope you enjoy the quote below!!!
Namaste,
Michele





To fight fear, act.
To increase fear—wait, put off, postpone.


-David J. Schwartz

Kindness

Macy's birthday "cupcake cake"....from her family birthday party.



sometimes I question if my small random acts of kindness make a difference......
but then I realize that is my ego talking and not my heart.....all kindness matters and I do know that from within.
hope you are having a great day!!
Namaste,
Michele

Do not worry about why problems exist in the world -- just respond to people's needs ... We feel what we are doing is just a drop in the ocean, but that ocean would be less without that drop. --Mother Teresa

Journey

'It is good to have an end to journey toward, but it is the journey that matters in the end'
-Ursula LeQuin.

bird talk

All too frequently we relate like timid birds who don't dare to leave the nest. Here we sit in a nest that's getting pretty smelly and that hasn't served its function for a very long time. No one is arriving to feed us. No one is protecting us and keeping us warm. And yet we keep hoping mother bird will arrive. We could do ourselves the ultimate favor and finally get out of that nest. That this takes courage is obvious. That we could use some helpful hints is also clear. We may doubt that we're up to being a warrior-in-training. But we can ask ourselves this question: "Do I prefer to grow up and relate to life directly, or do I choose to live in fear?"

-Pema Chodron

On Success

"The criteria for success: you are free, you live in the present moment,
you are useful to the people around you, and you feel love for all
humanity."
- Sri Sri Ravi Shankar

The good traveler

.


this is a new friend that Macy made at wilderness school this week.
She just got home yesterday and had a lot of fun.
I stole the picture from her cuz I thought it was cute.
I hope you enjoy the quote below.....have a great day.
Namaste,
Michele


"A good traveler has no fixed plans, and is not intent on arriving. "
-- Lao Tzu

that you are blessed and lucky

Happy 12th Birthday to Macy!!!!! I love, love, love the lyrics below
esp. the part where it says that you are blessed and lucky......and where you might fill with
laughter until you break.....I can't get that song of my head this morning. :) :) :)
Love,
Michele

These Are the Days
by 10,000 maniacs

These are the days you'll remember.
Never before and never since,
I promise,
will the whole world be warm as this.
And as you feel it, you'll know it's true
that you are blessed and lucky.
It's true that you are touched by something
that will grow and bloom in you.
These are the days you'll remember.
When May is rushing over you
with desire to be part of the miracles
you see in every hour.
You'll know it's true
that you are blessed and lucky.
It's true that you are touched by something
that will grow and bloom in you.
These are days.
These are the days you might
fill with laughter until you break.
These days you might
feel a shaft of light make its way
across your face.
And when you do
you'll know how it was meant to be.
See the signs and know their meaning.
It's true, you'll know how it was meant to be.
Hear the signs and know
they're speaking to you, to you.

Peace!!

"Earth provides enough to satisfy every man's need, but not every man's
greed."

- Mahatma Gandhi

Dance!!!!

Say,
"Love,
Give me back my wings.
Lift me,
Lift me nearer."

Say to the sun and moon,
Say to our dear Friend,

"I will take You up now, Beloved,
On that wonderful Dance You promised."

~ Hafiz ~

A new journey

below is part of a poem called "Journey" by David Whyte.
on new beginnings and endings I guess.....and the gift of them all.
hope you are having a great day!!!
love,
Michele




Sometimes it takes
a great sky
to find that

small, bright
and indescribable
wedge of freedom
in your own heart.

Sometimes with
the bones of the black
sticks left when the fire
has gone out

someone has written
something new
in the ashes of your life.

You are not leaving
you are arriving.

~ David Whyte ~

a true friend

the adventure of life

Facebook is always an adventure.....recently my first grade class picture was posted and I was tagged in it....thank you Rick!!!
Yup...that is me looking so happy right behind the teacher.
Hope you enjoy the words below!!
Namaste,
Michele


If you would learn the secret
of right relations
Look only for the divine
in people and things,
leave the rest to God.

-J. Allen Boone
Kinship with all Life

Love it all!!!

I loved the words below and I hope that you do too!!!!

Love it all!!!
Love,

Michele

Tomorrow in our country alone, unknown millions face a dangerous surgery or procedure. Soldiers abroad will risk death. Babies will be born. Lovers will revel in their passion. Tired, loving parents will do their best. Some who are quite young will long to be older. Others will silently weep over youth forever lost.

Rumi invites us to love it all. Celebrate our pain and loss. Open to the love that surrounds us. Each event or challenge or joy is a precious thread in the tapestry of your life.

We have baskets of fresh bread upon our heads,

yet we go door to door asking for crusts.

Knock on the inner door, no other!

….We’re like pearls in the shell

on the bottom of the ocean saying

“Where’s the water?”

These mental questionings form the barrier!

Beg for love expansion.

Meditate only on that!

-Dr. Victoria Lee

Meanwhile, I keep dancing.

I get up.
I walk.
I fall
down.
Meanwhile,
I keep
dancing
-Rabbi Hillel

Your truth

being here now

This is the center of the universe at this moment unless
you're looking in another direction, or are thinking
about something from a long time ago, in which case it
will wait quietly right here until you return

-Brian Andreas

It is a beautiful thing!!!

camping last summer at Findley State Park




We have water...and it is a beautiful thing.
I am in love with Swingle's Plumbing!!!
Love,
Michele

i

There’s some people that you don’t forget,
even though you only meet ‘em one time or two;
In the end, my dear sweet friend, I’ll remember you.

Bob Dylan, I'll remember you

-

Bliss

Hello!!! Well, we still don't have water....but we never moved in with my parents...we wash our dishes down there and the kids shower.......Mark and I go to the rec center to shower.
I was thinking that I feel homeless last night as I walked up to the rec center to wash my face and brush my teeth...........you gotta laugh.....just absurd.
anyway...I hope you like the trailer below......
I am taking Mira to see it at the Cleveland Film Festival.
It is called "An Alternative to slitting your wrist."
have a good day...click on the trailer...and hope you enjoy the quote too!!!
video trailer


Namaste,
Michele

"Follow your Bliss and doors will open where there were no doors before." —Joseph Campbell

Sweet Darkness

I was reminded of this poem today.
It is really beautiful...and really resonates with me.
Namaste,
Michele

When your eyes are tired
the world is tired also.

When your vision has gone
no part of the world can find you.

Time to go into the dark
where the night has eyes
to recognize its own.

There you can be sure
you are not beyond love.

The dark will be your womb
tonight.

The night will give you a horizon
further than you can see.

You must learn one thing:
the world was made to be free in.

Give up all the other worlds
except the one to which you belong.

Sometimes it takes darkness and the sweet
confinement of your aloneness
to learn

anything or anyone
that does not bring you alive

is too small for you.

~ David Whyte ~

reality

We have to move in with my parents.....only for a few days....but we have no water.
Long story and our yard has to get dug up and a pipe replaced.
I just did not realize how much I appreciate running water and how much I take it for granted.
I swear I will never again wash my hands , wash the dishes or flush the toilet with out a silent prayer of gratitude!!!!!!
have a great day!!!!...esp. if you have running water...and enjoy the words below.
Love,
Michele




Often I have tried the frightening way of "reality,"
Where things that count are profession, law, fashion, finance,
But disillusioned and freed I fled away alone
To the other side, the place of dreams and blessed folly.


—Hermann Hess

Surrender

The boat I travel in is called Surrender. My two oars are instant forgiveness and gratitude – complete gratitude for the gift of life. I am thankful for the experience of this life, for the opportunity to dance. I get angry, I get mad, but as soon as I remind myself to put my oars in the water, I forgive.


I serve. I do the dance I must. I plant trees, but I am not the doer of this work. I am the facilitator, the instrument. I am one part of the symphony. I know there is an overall scheme to this symphony that I cannot understand. In some way, we are each playing our own part. It is not for me to judge or criticize the life or work of another. All I know is that this is my dance. I would plant trees today even if I knew for a certainty that the world would end tomorrow.




— Balbir Mathur

Faith

"If you knew who walks beside you on this path
that you have chosen, fear would be impossible."

A Course in Miracles

On being flexible

The living are soft and yielding;
the dead are rigid and stiff.
Living plants are flexible and tender;
the dead are brittle and dry.

Those who are stiff and rigid
are the disciple of death.
Those who are soft and yielding
are the disciples of life.

The rigid and stiff will be broken.
The soft and yielding will overcome.

-Lao Tzu

Letting Go and Letting God

You can either be a host to God or a hostage to your ego
- A Course in Miracles

love

below is one of my favorite quotes from the movie "Harold and Maude."
I hope you enjoy it....and I hope you have a wonderful day.
Love,
Michele

Maude: What a fuss this is -- so unnecessary.

Harold: Don't die, Maude, for Christ’s sake.

Maude: Oh, Harold -- oh, don't upset yourself so.

Harold: I love you. I love you!

Maude: Oh, Harold... That's wonderful. Go and love some more.

on cherishing others

The source of all happiness is
to cherish others more than I cherish myself.
The source of all suffering is to cherish myself
more than I cherish others.

-- Buddhist Scriptures

deep stuff

Mira is there in the neon green wig.....ha-ha


The goal is to touch the deep stuff while we’re here - beauty, love, talent, skill, sacrifice, transformation, gratitude, generosity of spirit, real friendship, and of course the “peace that surpasses understanding.” And that is what is always the same, whether we are “in the palace or the forest.” We are always somewhere and there are always things going on around us and always things to watch out for, always difficult people or situations to deal with. And we always have the opportunity to be among the many people who stay calm and choose faith, who choose love, who choose goodwill, who choose to see and touch the beautiful in life, not just be thrown by the ugly. We don’t succeed at this by denying the ugly, but by including it. And by focusing our precious energy on the choices we have of how to respond to life, not wasting our energy on what life is doing to us at any given time. This is what we’ve got. Now, how do we wish to respond to it?
-Bo Lozoff

Simple

Judy from Seriously amused gave me this award. I feel very honored and so appreciate her comments. Her blog is a lot of fun......you should check it out....she always makes me smile.. :)
So here are the rules! List six things that make you happy. Pass the award on to six bloggers for Kreativ. Link to the blogger who gave you this award. Link to the blogs receiving the award. Notify the recipients.

There are many things that make me happy, just being alive in general makes me smile....but I have put some thought into this and tried to condense things into six main areas....I will try to make this Simple.
I always remember in highschool walking around the halls when we were suppose to be in senior commons studying.......Leslie and I would get things out of the lost and found and act like we volunteered in the office and would deliver friends random things from "their parents."
Well that is what we told the teachers when we knocked on the doors. One teacher, Mr. Delmar Phillips, told his class not to look at me because I was "simple."......(we were making faces in the window.) anyway....I never took being simple as a compliment.....but now I think being "simple" is a compliment......and I try everyday to simplify and make light of my life......so I am dedicating this list of simple happiness to Mr. Delmar Phillips....(RIP)......
May we all be simple!!!!!!!!!!...........

6 things that bring me happiness

1. Mindfulness or Being in the moment-- I feel this feeling of "being here now" mostly during meditation and yoga......but I try to bring the mindfulness to all of my activities....of course it doesn't work a large part of the time......but when I let go and just go with the "now" that is when the magic happens for me.....that is when I feel centered and in connection with all that is....free from attachments of how my ego would like things to be.....and a feeling that everything is perfectly right where it is suppose to be right now.

2. Love -- such a big word and contains so much....really contains all that is.
but Unconditional love from my partner, my kids, my parents,
and friends,my bad dog and especially
self love........the love I feel from them and the love I give really connects me to
joy. That is when I feel my heart chakra open the most......

I also have to post Mark's note...one of his 25 random things...cause it has to be included here in love:
"at the end of the day, my greatest happiness and satisfaction comes from being surrounded by a reasonably functional family that loves one another and understands, appreciates and generates the absurd humor of life. that, and the fact that we love to go camping in our orange 1975 vw westfalia van."

3. Nature -- being surrounded by the great outdoors.......I especially love my walks with our dog, Dusty and camping.....anything where I can commune with our mother earth.

4. Family/friends/human connection --.............I don't have to explain this...you know when you have made that connection of depth with another soul. Being a Gemini with a rising sign of a Gemini....being ruled by Mercury, communication is my passion.

5. Music --........I love to be surrounded by music.......I love to dance at shows and quite often have some kind of music playing......a lot grateful dead music....but any music that has depth...that touches my soul.....
There's one thing about music...when it hits you, you feel no pain.
-Bob Marley

6. Serving -- service to others is probably one of my biggest joys on this earth....especially when it is done anonymously..............one of my biggest highs in life....and one of the best kept secrets of joy...I think. b/c you only can get joy by giving it away!!!

and I can't leave out the last one....so there are 7 things.

7. Creativity....I think that is when we are the most "godlike"....when we are being creative......I celebrate my own creativity....in artwork such as sketching, blogging,and playing the harp, but really love celebrating the creativity of others.......I think we are all artists and all need to create.....whether it is dance, poetry, painting, photography, in movies, books.........the list is endless.

I'd like to present this award to the following:
1) Seriously Amused
2) Cyrus Rumi
3) Fugue
4) Deciphering Spirituality
5) The Soaring Impulse
6) Kickin Tina
7) This is my secret hiding place.

Miracles

The miracle is not to walk on water, but to walk with love on earth
- as if your feet are kissing the ground.
We must remember that our presence alone is a miracle.
We must learn to say 'Yes' to the miracles of life.
Thich Nhat Hanh

On Oddness

Mira's dance team dances to this really cool song by Duffy called "Mercy"





and I thank God for all the "Oddness" in my life.
Love,
Michele




At moments in our lives when we really need help,
the universe moves to support us in ways that may seem strange to us.
Angels sometimes show up in our lives in odd bodies,
odd shapes, odd forms, odd experiences.
Our job is to keep our hearts open to angels in disguise.
Mary Manin Morrissey