Peace

I took this peace pole picture.....guess where....at Omega Institute.
I think I tried to bring a piece of Omega home with me.......and in many ways I have,
I for sure have been meditating a whole lot more.....but for me, it is learning to how to hold that peace with all of the waves that come and go.
haven't quite figured that one out yet.....but I am taking baby steps toward that goal.
Namaste,
Michele





In my lifetime, I have lost my country and have been reduced to being totally dependent on the goodwill of others. I have also lost my mother, and most of my tutors and gurus have passed away, although I now have a few new gurus. Of course these are tragic incidents, and I feel sad when I think about them. However, I don't feel overwhelmed by sadness. Old, familiar faces disappear, and new faces appear, but I still maintain my happpiness and peace of mind.
The Dalai Lama

on balancing

"tubing" at Chautauqua Lake







speech by Bryan Dyson, CEO of Coca-Cola Inc. from 1959-1994

Imagine life as a game in which you are juggling some five balls in the air. You name them - work, family, health, friends and spirit ... and you're keeping all of these in the air.

You will soon understand that work is a rubber ball. If you drop it, it will bounce back. But the other four balls - family, health, friends and spirit - are made of glass. If you drop one of these, they will be irrevocably scuffed, marked, nicked, damaged or even shattered. They will never be the same. You must understand that and strive for Balance in your life.

How?

Don't undermine your worth by comparing yourself with others. It is because we are different that each of us is special.

Don't set your goals by what other people deem important. Only you know what is best for you.

Don't take for granted the things closest to your heart. Cling to them as you would your life, for without them, life is meaningless.

Don't let your life slip through your fingers by living in the past or for the future. By living your life one day at a time, you live all the days of your life.

Don't give up when you still have something to give. Nothing is really over until the moment you stop trying.

Don't be afraid to admit that you are less than perfect. It is this fragile thread that binds us to each together.

Don't be afraid to encounter risks. It is by taking chances that we learn how to be brave.

Don't shut love out of your life by saying it's impossible to find time. The quickest way to receive love is to give; the fastest way to lose love is to hold it too tightly; and the best way to keep love is to give it wings!

Don’t run through life so fast that you forget not only where you've been, but also where you are going.

Don't forget, a person's greatest emotional need is to feel appreciated.

Don't be afraid to learn. Knowledge is weightless, a treasure you can always carry easily.

Don't use time or words carelessly. Neither can be retrieved. Life is not a race, but a journey to be savored each step of the way...

things that don't make sense to me

This is the bumper sticker that we see every morning when we drop off Marko at grade school. It is always parked in front of the school and the mom is always dropping off her three kids in her mini van. I don't understand why she would have a bumper sticker like that on her van and park it in front of a school. but then again I don't know how she was raised or what troubles she faces either. I know she loves her kids because I see her hug them each good bye in the morning. I guess I should not be so judgemental.....When people know better, they will do better.... oh well ...hope you like the quote below.
love, Michele


"I no longer expect things to make sense. I know there is no safety.
But that does not mean there is no magic. It does not mean there is no hope.
It simply means that each of us has reason to be wishful and frightened, aspiring and flawed. And it means that, to the degree we are lost, it is on the same ocean, in the same night."
-Elizabeth Kaye

We are trucking up to Penn State on 10/13!!!!

First time in four years that Dead alumni Bob Weir, Phil Lesh, Bill Kreutzmann and Micky Hart will have performed together on-stage

PHILADELPHIA, PA — (OfficialWire) — 09/03/08 -- The surviving members of the rock band the Grateful Dead have announced plans to perform a benefit concert for U.S. presidential candidate Barack Obama.

The Philadelphia Inquirer reported the group will reunite and perform Oct. 13 at the Bryce Jordan Center at the Penn State campus in State College, Pa.

The date marks the first time in four years that Dead alumni Bob Weir, Phil Lesh, Bill Kreutzmann and Micky Hart will have performed together on-stage.

surrendering

Macy took this picture through a pipe at Omega.....I thought it looked kinda cool.
hope you are having a great day.
maybe you will enjoy the words below......
they resonate with me today.
Namaste,
Michele

Willing to experience aloneness,
I discover connection everywhere;
Turning to face my fear,
I meet the warrior who lives within;
Opening to my loss,
gain the embrace of the Universe;
Surrendering into emptiness,
find fullness without end.
Each condition I flee from pursues me,
Each condition I welcome transforms me . . .
~Jennifer Welwood

People that make me smile

These people make me smile.
front is Steve, Matthew on his lap, Leslie, Charlotte on her lap, Mira, Marko
and Mark, Me, and Macy in the back.
I met Leslie in the 7th grade...and Mark lived with Steve for a while.....long time friends.
This picture was taken in front of the hotel Lenhart (click here for link: hotel Lenhart)
It is located on Lake Chautauqua and is like 128 years old.
have a great day.....hang out with people that make you smile.
read the quote below.
Love,
Michele

Not everyone is healthy enough to have a front row seat in our lives. There are some people in your life that need to be loved from a distance. It's amazing what you can accomplish when you let go of or at least minimize your time with draining, negative, incompatible, not-going-anywhere relationships. Observe the relationships around you. Pay attention. Which ones lift and which ones lean? Which ones encourage and which ones discourage? Which ones are on a path of growth uphill and which ones are going downhill? When you leave certain people do you feel better or feel worse? Which ones always have drama or don't really understand, know, or appreciate you? The more you seek quality, respect, growth, peace of mind, love and truth around you...the easier it will become for you to decide who gets to sit in the front row and who should be moved to the balcony of your life.
~Anonymous

connection to spirit

below is part of this really powerful poem by
Jennifer Welwood.....boy is it powerful....well to me it is.
all the things I wanted to ask but stuffed inside my self somewhere and can't express it.
hope you like it to....and Macy took the picture above also.
love,
Michele


Did you make me to realize a freedom
I can't fully embody?
Do my heart and soul burn for a truth
That I can't fully live?

I commune with you in the heavens --
It's not hard to find you there;
But I need you down here,
In the marrow of my bones.

You can't turn away now -- stay here;
I will have this out with you.
You started something with me,
And now I want it finished.
Yes -- I will wrestle with you on this one,
Beloved torturer;
I will wrestle you all the way down
To the very ground

And not rest till I stand
With the soles of my feet upon you,
And not rest till I feel you infuse
My every cell.

Truth

Macy took this picture too.

I really like this one.

hope you like the words below.....kinda helps me to trust the process.

to let go and enjoy the ride....cause I (my ego) am not in charge anyway.

love,

Michele

The truth is that our finest moments are most likely to occur

when we are feeling deeply uncomfortable, unhappy, or unfulfilled.

For it is only in such moments, propelled by our discomfort,

that we are likely to step out of our ruts and start searching for different ways or truer answers.
~M. Scott Peck

precious life

This is a picture of some rocks I painted while camping this weekend.....and a two other pictures from camping. I love being out in nature....I feel renewed.
a friend of mine gave me this poem....below is part of it..
.....one of my favorite gifts to get is a poem.
hope you like it below.
Have a great day!!!
Love,
Michele


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

letting go

above are more pictures that I like of our kids at Omega Institute.
I like the words below.....it reminds me to let go and not hang onto stuff that I can't control anyway.
have a great day.
love,
Michele




What worked yesterday doesn't work today-and what works tomorrow may not work today. Just being present here, just being right here, right now means that you leave the past and you leave the future.

This can be painful. Being present, you let go of the ideas that you have about your children when they're not the way you want them to be. Life itself is one big preparation for the big let-go at the end. As you age and as you grow, you've also got to let go of your parents. and, too, there's your self-image you have to let go of -like your ability to get out of bed...and stand up straight, without that pain in your lower back. Then, finally we've got to let go of it all into this mystery that we've had these glimpses of. It's pretty clear nobody gets out alive.

so, what do you do in the meantime? You get ready and then you catch these glimpses of where you've already let go of everything-and then death itself isn't as scary anymore. Being present, you act more in the accordance with the spontaneity of the universe, God, or self.

-David Parks-Ramage

Inspriation

above are more pictures by Macy that she took at Omega Institute. These inspire me to keep on my path of practicing mindfulness. hope you are having a great day...and I hope you enjoy the quote below. Namaste, Michele




"When you feel inspired, more than ordinary thinking is involved. There is a sense of being uplifted, of suddenly breaking through. Old boundaries fall away, and one feels, if only for a moment, a rush of liberation" ~Deepak Chopra

coming home to ourselves

do you like this picture? Macy made this and then took a picture of it.
Macy made my day today....she came home from middle school and said her and her friends went and ate with this boy who was eating lunch all by himself.
She said they talked to him and he seemed happier.
He said he really did not like school much.
I find myself really missing the meditation time at Omega Institute.
I have been scheduling times to meditate daily at home...but it is hard getting a whole hour to devote to this.
I just take what times I have to meditate...to just be here.
that is what calms me down and helps me to let go of things that I can't control.
....well a lot of the time anyway.
hope you like the quote below!!
Namaste,
Michele

Anyone can build a house of wood and bricks, but....that sort of home is not our real home; it's only nominally ours. It's a home in the world, and it follows the ways of the world. Our real home is inner peace. An external, material home may well be pretty, but it is not very peaceful. There's this worry, and then that; this anxiety, and then that.....It's external to us and soon or later we'll have to give it up. It's not a place we can live in permanently, because it doesn't truly belong to us; it's part of the world. Our body is the same: we take it to be self, to be "me" and "mine," but in fact it's not really so at all; it's another worldly home.
-Ajahn Chah

The wonder of the earth

Marko riding Matthew's ATV....before he tipped it over.







These pictures above are from our visit to Chautauqua Lake on our way home from vacation.
We stayed with our friends Steve and Leslie and their kids.
It is so beautiful and relaxing there.
After spending time on the lake on Saturday, they invited us out to their "barn" to ride four wheelers on Sunday. It was only 15 minutes away....and I had it pictured as a field with a four wheeler......I had no idea we would be riding around in heavy duty polaris vehicles on greater than 300 acres that look like a state park.
It was so beautiful and so fun and I found a lot of joy there!!!
hope you enjoy the quote below.
Love,
Michele


"I am so absorbed in the wonder of the earth and the life upon
it that I cannot think of heaven and the angels.
I have enough for this life.
-Pearl S. Buck

life

above is a picture from Macy and Marko's photography class at Omega.
They had so much fun.
hope you like the quote below!!
Namaste,
Michele




have come to believe that the whole world is an enigma,
a harmless enigma
that is made terrible by our own mad attempt
to interpret it as though it had an underlying truth.
-Umberto Eco