Playing it Safe

What gives you meaning????

I got to spend part of the day with my friend Sue today.
She is amazing. She just had gamma knife surgery on Monday to remove some tumors in her brain....and she is up fully engaged in life. She is an amazing artist....I don't think she ever knew she had that kind of talent until she had cancer.
She still is serving others and giving as much as she can.
She has been a long time volunteer at Malachi house which is hospice care that serves the poor. She makes me smile.
She is so full of life and gratitude.....she is alive and so spiriutally invested in other people!!
that to me is the meaning of life.....spiritually investing yourself in something other than yourself.
Love,
Michele



"So many people walk around with a meaningless life.
They seem half-asleep, even when they are busy doing things they think are important.
This is because they are chasing the wrong things.
The way you get meaning into your life is to devote yourself to loving others,
devote yourself to the community around you,
and devote yourself to creating something that gives you purpose and meaning."
- quote from Tuesdays with Morrie

Truckin

Bobby

Now Bobby, that is not very nice!!!

all we have to do is open our eyes......or maybe just our hearts

My mom and dad in South Africa with their tour guide. Yesterday was my mom's birthday.
Happy Birthday Mom.. (October 10Th she turned 67.....exactly one day younger than John Lennon...my mom is a peacemaker too...Libras are the peace makers)...I think my parents are in Vietnam right now....hope they don't eat any doggies!!! That is a delicacy there. Anyway, read below.
Love,
Michele


Looking for and enjoying beauty is a way to nourish the soul. the universe is in the habit of making beauty. There are flowers and songs, snowflakes and smiles, acts of great courage, laughter between friends, a job well done, the smell of fresh-baked bread. Beauty is everywhere.
-Matthew Fox

Spiritual Community

I love Jacquelyn Small....I got to spend a weekend with her about 10 years ago.

It was really powerful. Hope you like the note below.

I really wish we could all be "real " with each other.

I do not like "head games."...........we all have people that like to play them in our lives I guess............. I am feeling grateful for "my soul group" here with me in this lifetime....because they are willing to share and risk the depth with me and just let me be me.....thankyou...thankyou and thankyou!!!!

read below......

Namaste,

Michele

SPIRITUAL COMMUNITY
by Jacquelyn Small, Eupsychia Institute

At certain points along their journey, people begin to crave a larger context. And, for many, now is one of those times. They long to be in the supportive and joyful company of others who are seekers like themselves. ..............

One of the first signs you're becoming a soul-infused personality is that you begin to long for and sense you are part of a larger family of spiritual adventurers, even if you haven't found them yet. And when you actually do meet these fellow travelers, you'll feel a deep sense of familiarity and aliveness; you'll fall "in Love." This is an expanded kind of Love, beyond codependence, ­the possessiveness and exclusive nature of "special relationships." There is a sense of shared purpose and there's room to love a whole lot of people all at once. You are part of a "soul group." [excerpt from AWAKENING IN TIME, pg. 249-250]

She's come undone!!!

My friend Pam sent me this.
I think I am the one unbalanced....my three closest friends are pretty rock solid!!!
Love,
Michele

Love this!!!

"Life is a vast and intricate conspiracy designed to keep us well supplied with blessings. What kind of blessings? Palatial homes, attractive lovers, lottery winnings, career success? Maybe. But just as likely: interesting surprises, unexpected challenges, gifts we hardly know what to do with, conundrums that force us to get smarter. "


-Rob Brezsny

Freedom to Live

This is a picture of Mark's dad, "Doc."
or Marko was his first name.
Anyway, he died July 3rd, 1993.
I was pregnant with Mira.
He had lung cancer....but died when his aneurysm burst.
It was very sudden, but I think he knew.
He worked on finding his life insurance policies and getting his affairs in order all day
on the day he died.
Mark had a dream about him a few months after he died.
He said the dream was really bright and his dad looked like the above picture......
when Mark remembers him being happy.
He was holding a baby which I assume was Mira......He told Mark he was okay and he felt
that "everything " was going to be alright.
When Mark woke up.....He knew that he talked to his dad.
read the quote below.
love,
Michele




In many cases people who've become aware of their mortality fine that they've gain the freedom to live. they are sized with an appreciation for the present: every day is my best day; this is my life; I am not going to have this moment again. They spend more time with the people they love and less time on people and pastimes that don't offer love or joy. this seems like such a simple thought-shouldn't we all spend our lives that way? But we tend not to make those kind of choices until someone says, " you have 12 months to live."
-Bernie Seigel

A thing called love

Shiva

wow....lots of times I feel like the little guy at the bottom of the picture with the hindu god dancing on top of him.
so wrapped up in my stuff that, I don't realize that God is dancing on my back.
(don't we all do that??? whether it is numbing out by surfing the web, reading the sports page or watching the stock market or the wanting to know "why" or wanting something or someone to be different ......we get so wrapped up in that drama that we forget the mystery and the wonder....and the feeling or inner knowing that god is dancing on our back.)
Love,
Michele

Indiana sunrise

My friend Paul sent me this.
Pretty Awesome......read below!!!
Love,
Michele

Hi Michele my friend Dave sent me this. This is camping out in Indiana and his son Sam wakes him up and “c’mon daddy you have to see this.” Pretty cool coming from a 5 year old. Thought Sue might appreciate this. She is in my thoughts and prayers.

Namaste

Paul

The Dragonfly

Now I know why Dragaonflies always appear for my friend Denise ever since her daughter died at age 11....now I know!!! Love, Michele
The dragon fly is symbolic for change and being okay with it.

Here is a story:

The Dragonfly

Once, in a little pond, in the muddy water under the lily pads, there lived a little water beetle in a community of water beetles. They lived a simple and comfortable life in the pond with few disturbances and interruptions. Once in a while, sadness would come to the community when one of their fellow beetles would climb the stem of a lily pad and would never be seen again. They knew when this happened; their friend was dead, gone forever. Then, one day, one little water beetle felt an irresistible urge to climb up that stem. However, he was determined that he would not leave forever. He would come back and tell his friends what he had found at the top. When he reached the top and climbed out of the water onto the surface of the lily pad, he was so tired, and the sun felt so warm, that he decided he must take a nap. As he slept, his body changed and when he woke up, he had turned into a beautiful blue tailed dragonfly with broad wings and a slender body designed for flying. So, fly he did! And, as he soared he saw the beauty of a whole new world and a far superior way of life to what he had never known existed. Then he remembered his beetle friends and how they were thinking by now he was dead. He wanted to go back to tell them, and explain to them that he was now more alive than he had ever been before. His life had been fulfilled rather than ended. But, his new body would not go down into the water. He could not get back to tell his friends the good news. Then he understood that their time would come, when they, too, would know what he now knew. So, he raised his wings and flew off into his joyous new life!

The Mystery

There is nothing beautiful
or sweet or great in life
that is not mysterious.
The erotic touch that stirs our desire,
the majesty of a rainbow from horizon,
the feelings of power in a sacred place,
the voice of a deceased ancestor in our ears,
the unconditional love of a pet dog.
-Francis Rene de Chauterbriand