Go Bucks!!!

A vintage photo taken after the OSU-Michigan game.
This was taken in 1984.
hey....wasn't that a book written by George Orwell???
Anyway......Go Bucks!!!!!!

Set them free

Let us set the children free, break the traps
of fear that history has fashioned for them,
free to grow, to seek and question, to dance and sing,
to be dreamers of tomorrow's rainbows
-from A poem of the heart
by Manitongquat

Ponderings

Good day!!
I have been off from work more than two weeks now.....spending more time in silence and realizing things that I have been putting off for way too long.....like clearing out stuff in our house that we don't need!!!
so I guess the answer to the below questions (see below) would be:
1. this morning after yoga....I meditated for like 20 minutes in silence.....before Dusty barged into the room and sat on my lap.

2. go visit a friend of mine that I keep putting off because I "don't have time." He is paralyzed from the neck down and has this beautiful attitude about life.....I am amazed at his ability to not be angry at life......also want to start working with my friend Paul on Fridays and visit the homeless.

3. Yoga......Yoga, and Yoga, playing harp, walking in nature, watching the girls dance, listening to live jam band shows, sketching, meditating, reading to Marko before he falls asleep at night, ....baths....camping,
.....okay....I have said enough.......read below.
Namaste,
Michele

When was the last time you were alone in silence (no TV, book, music) just getting in touch with how you are feeling?

What is one thing you have always wanted to do that somehow keeps getting put off?

What activity do you love so much that when you’re doing it you feel truly alive and time seems to fly?

-heart.com

A prayer

anyone out there ever read the faithful gardener by Clarissa Pinkola Estes???

A Prayer

by Clarissa Pinkola Estes,

from The Faithful Gardener

Refuse to fall down.

If you cannot refuse to fall down,

refuse to stay down.

If you cannot refuse to stay down,

lift your heart toward heaven,

and like a hungry beggar,

ask that it be filled,

and it will be filled.

You may be pushed down.

You may be kept from rising.

But no one can keep you

from lifting your heart

toward heaven -

only you.

It is in the middle of misery

that so much becomes clear.

The one who says nothing good

came of this,

is not yet listening.

Living Authentically

uhhh? did Macy and Cassie burn those cookies????

People who are happiest in life have mastered the art of living from the inside out..
These are the people we envy because they seem so focused and so good at what they do.
It's as though they know a secret to living a fulfilling life…and they do.
The secret is that a purposeful life grows from the inside out.
We must take the time to look inside and honor what we find.
Care for ourselves, learn what we need to learn, and give what we have to give.
-Counselor from heart.com

"Life's what you make it"

Macy took this picture at the Hannah Montana concert last night.
Jim is our hero.....he got the girls tickets...he is so generous..
Marko won his tickets (Mark and Marko) via a food drive at his school...each item of food or personal care item that he brought in, he got a ticket in a raffle for the tickets. He told me that he knew he was going to win....maybe he did.
This quote below is amazing.
I love Rumi.
Happy New Year!!!
Namaste,
Michele




Don’t wait any longer.
Dive in the ocean,
Leave and let the sea be you.
Silent, absent, walking an empty road,
all praise…

- Rumi

Gotta Serve Someone!

I posted the above picture for Uncle JimBob because he made our girls very happy last night by getting them Hannah Montana tickets in the loge.
thank you Uncle Jim!!! You are awesome!!!
hope you all like the quote below.
Love,
Michele




"You can't lose what you serve. That's the secret.
What you serve, you can't lose.
What you don't serve and what you try to hold onto,
you can't hold onto.
It's always slipping out of your fingers."
--Adyashanti

yo!

I live on Earth at present, and I don’t know what I am, I know I am not a category. I am not a thing -- a noun. I seem to be a verb, an evolutionary process -- an integral function of the universe. --Buckminister Fuller

Speak from your whole being!!!

When you can say what you mean and mean what you say
- with your whole being - then you know you are moving closer to your highest potential,
which includes the ability to help others,
enlarge your circle of compassion to include all others,
not just those few human beings that you know and like,
but even those to whom you find it difficult to relate,
perhaps even those who speak a different language or may belong to another species.
You begin to understand who you are and who "they" are
and begin to see through the differences and into the sacred truth of Oneness.
-Sharon Gannon

getting excited about life

above is a picture from New Years Eve.
We have a tradition of spending it
with our very dear friends, the Hudson-Hecks.
They are very special people in my life.
We met them 10 years ago when our girls were
in preschool together.
It was an instant friendship for all of us.
I love friendships that are so easy.
I chose the quote below because they have
such enthusiasm for life.
I love Anthony de Mello.....
a friend of mine gave me a book by him.
I still read it from time to time.....
he has lots of pearls of wisdom
that I need to be reminded of.
Love,
Michele




"To the woman who complained
that riches hadn't made her happy,
the Master said,

"You speak as if luxury and comfort
were ingredients of happiness;
whereas all you need to be really happy, my dear,
is something to be enthusiastic about."

-- Anthony de Mello

Possibilitarian

Dusty Dog is always a possibilitarian. Always thinking he can catch that squirrel........This is Dusty's favorite spot. It is like his tv that he watches daily.....but he never gives up hope of having his very own squirrel.
love,
Michele



"Become a possibilitarian. No matter how dark things seem to be or
actually are, raise your sights and see possibilities -- always see them,
for they're always there."
-- Dr. Norman Vincent Peale

Wild Woman

"Within every woman there is a wild and natural creature, a powerful force, filled with good instincts, passionate creativity, and ageless knowing. Her name is Wild Woman, but she is an endangered species. Though the gifts of the wildish nature come to us at birth, society's attempt to "civilize" us into rigid roles has plundered this treasure, and muffled the deep, life-giving messages of our own souls. Without Wild Woman, we become over-domesticated, fearful, uncreative, trapped."

The preceding quotes are from the foreward and introduction of Women Who Run with the Wolves by Clarissa Pinkola Estes, Ph.D.

Happy New Year and Happy Birthday Mira!!!

above art work by Mira



One of the shortest and most effective meditations is to take a short breath and smile. This only takes five seconds, but it can be repeated for one minute. This can be done either sitting or standing, eyes open or closed. This is one of my favorite American meditations. It's short, easy, and you can do it anywhere.

-Lama Surya Das

Globetrotters

Thank you Jim Bob!!!
Jim and Gail treated us to the Harlem Globetrotters on Saturday in the BilJac loge.
It was a lot of fun. They signed autographs for the kids afterwards.
have you ever seen them?
This was my first time.....they cracked me up.
happy day.
Love,
Michele

"A day without laughter is a day wasted."

~Charlie Chaplin