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