Follow LOVE in 2013

In 1991, the book "The Prophet" by Kahlil Gibran was given to me by a friend of my sister. It was a thoughtful gesture as I had just gone through many challenges earlier that year and my heart was numb. I will never forget the day I read his poem 'On Love'. Its powerful message shifted something inside me. If I have read it once, I have read it a thousand times. Since then, love has had a whole new meaning for me. My heart remains open and my life moves forward in light and love.

Over the years, my book disappeared, perhaps I gave it to someone. Recently, at a yard sale, I was delighted to find a 1973 printing of the Prophet. Whether you know it or have never read it, I share it here as a gift to your heart:

Kahlil Gibran  On Love
When love beckons to you, follow him,
Though his ways are hard and steep,
And when his wings enfold you yield to him,
Though the sword hidden among his pinions may wound you.
And when he speaks to you believe in him,
Though his voice may shatter your dreams as the north wind lays waste the garden.

For even as love crowns you so shall he crucify you.
Even as he is for your growth so is he for your pruning.
Even as he ascends to your height and caresses your tenderest branches that quiver in the sun,
So shall he descend to your roots and shake them in their clinging to the earth.

Like sheaves of corn he gathers you unto himself.
He threshes you to make you naked.
He sifts you to free you from your husks.
He grinds you to whiteness.
He kneads you until you are pliant;
And then he assigns you to his sacred fire,
that you may become sacred bread for God's sacred feast.

All these things shall love do unto you that you may know the secrets of your heart,
and in that knowledge become a fragment of Life's heart.

But if in your fear you would seek only love's peace and love's pleasure,
Then it is better for you that you cover your nakedness and pass out of love's threshing floor,
Into the seasonless world where you shall laugh, but not all of your laughter, and weep, but not all of your tears.

Love gives naught but itself and takes naught but from itself.
Love possesses not nor would it be possessed;
For love is sufficient unto love.

When you love you should not say,
'God is in my heart,' but rather,
'I am in the heart of God.'
And think not you can direct the course of love,
for love, if it finds you worthy, directs your course.

Love has no other desire but to fulfill itself.
But if you love and must needs have desires, let these be your desires:
To melt and be like a running brook that sings its melody to the night,
To know the pain of too much tenderness.
To be wounded by your own understanding of love;
And to bleed willingly and joyfully.
To wake at dawn with a winged heart and give thanks for another day of loving;
To rest at the noon hour and meditate love's ecstasy;
To return home at eventide with gratitude;
And to sleep with a prayer for the beloved in your heart and a song of praise upon your lips. 

 Wishing you true LOVE in the New Year!

Be The JOY!

This is Sugar Mama. Just turned 10 years old in human years. The little give away is her now very grey snout. She is supposedly a black Labrador mix. Yes, she does appear black, but I can attest that she has brown hair mixed in with those black and greys. No matter. It is not what's on the outside that makes her so special. Not her size. Not her breed. It is her spirit that I want to talk about.

Look into those deep brown eyes. That's right, take a minute to just look deeply into the window of her soul. She is totally seeing you! And I know you are seeing her! Some incredibly wise Buddha resides inside her. She is nothing but 72lbs of pure love.

Even after all these years, this old lady moves like a joyful pup. "She's just a baby puppa," I tell her all the time.  Regardless of the many challenges that came to her or all around her in the last 10 years, she always has unconditional love.

Now I will admit that every once in a while she goes totally unconscious (just like most us humans!) and completely slips into her doggie ego, especially if you dare to try to take her food bowl while she was eating. Nevertheless, from the core, Sugar is all heart. Like many canine (and feline), she is a teacher of spiritual truth. 

Yes, we must give them love, feed them, nurture them, play with them and look out for their well-being. In return, you get to learn about True Love by experiencing it in action. So today, consider Sugar Mama's philosophy in life... BE the JOY!

Seeing Truth With The Heart

When you are still, all that is right and best, all that is true of the heart, and all that is sacred will stare you right in the face. 

Are you stopping to see what is truly before you?

Acceptance with Compassion

In a meditation the other day, I got a message for a dear friend; she needed to learn acceptance with compassion. Though meant for her, I thought, "Who doesn't need to learn this very profound lesson?" I know it certainly rang true for me. Accepting 'what is', with the gentleness of a compassionate heart, has been the number one theme in my growth. Releasing the conflict within myself of what was happening and what I wanted to happen. Getting to the point were I gave up the fight, and saw the fact of the matter. Acceptance was the first step I took toward positive change and healing. 

The article below sums up the power of acceptance quite nicely. Perhaps you will find it a valuable tool to add to your Spiritual toolbox.

The Spiritual Power of Acceptance  

by Matt Zavadil

Acceptance is important to living a life of abundance. This is the way to inner peace. The world teaches you that you must always be stressed out and worried about things in your life that you can't control. The "ego" part of you loves getting you all worked up over what's not fair. Your ego tries to convince you that it's important to prove yourself over and over. It tells you that you're not worth anything unless you're constantly striving to validate that worth.

This isn't true. One of the first aspects of acceptance is to know that you are fine just the way you are right at this moment in time. You have no need to prove anything. By living your life with this type of attitude, you begin to remove fear and doubt. These emotions impede your inner peace.

Your higher self has no need for them, as you already know deep inside that abundance is yours. Allow yourself to tap into this knowledge. Now, this isn't to say that you just accept things as they are and then become lazy. It's a way of thinking. A thought process. A knowing.

As you work toward making your physical goals reality, you exist in a state of mind of acceptance. This state of mind frees you from inner anxiety and anguish when things don't go as planned. You understand that some things you can change and influence and some you cannot. There is a feeling of inner peace that will come to you when you can live with that which you can't change. It is what it is.

When you live your life from this perspective, it opens you up more to that which you can influence. When this happens, you're able to be more productive than you ever could or would be when you listen to your ego and make yourself miserable over the unfairness of life.

Another aspect of acceptance that will lead you to abundance and inner peace is that it helps you eliminate judgement from your life. There's no need for you to pre-judge. This is one of the ego's best weapons against your inner peace. In this world, we are brought up with many stereotypes and thoughts on what others should or shouldn't be doing. Pre-judging others is prevalent. It's not your place to decide what is right for others. Notice how you feel inside when you pre-judge or judge another person.

Are you filled with inner peace and contentment? Most likely, you feel inner stress. Your body tightens up. Your ego is loving it! But, your higher self knows that an acceptance state of mind is much healthier for your spirituality. The next time you start this judgement process, be aware of it. Replace it with the thought that you don't want this poison inside of you.

See that other person as an extension of yourself. Understand that you are both of the same spiritual energy. Know that you are no better than this other soul; they are not beneath you to be judged by you.

Acceptance can be summed up with the old Zen saying,

"If you understand, things are just as they are.

If you do not understand, things are just as they are." 

Moving Moments of Beauty, Love and Truth

Louie Schwartzberg: Nature. Beauty. Gratitude.

www.ted.com

Nature’s beauty can be easily missed -- but not through Louie Schwartzberg’s lens. His stunning time-lapse photography, accompanied by powerful words from Benedictine monk David Steindl-Rast, serves as a meditation on being grateful for every day.

Question: What will it take for humanity to thrive?

Without judgment, and with an open mind and heart, you might find some food for thought in the newly released controversial movie, THRIVE. I am including the trailer version here for you to consider, but I would really recommend passing on one of Hollywood's movies this weekend and renting the full 2-hour movie of THRIVE instead.

That's what I did last weekend, and it left me with some curious insights, and a ton of questions about the reality of the world we live in. No conclusions, just questions. It stimulated thoughts and ideas outside of the box. It got me wondering about what was truth and what was just a lie we were only led to believe.

After doing some follow-up research, I found the usual naysayers blogs, comments and videos along with supportive blogs, comments and videos, which you will also find if you Google the subject. However, truth is more than just listening to what someone says or thinks. It even goes beyond what we define as "facts." That's why we need to keep asking the questions, while letting our hearts and higher-selves be our guide to truth and best choices.

THRIVE, the inspiration of Foster Gamble, president and co-founder of Clear Compass Media and movie host, certainly took an incredible amount of time, energy and resources to produce. What seemed clear to me was that Foster's primary passion for the movie, along with his wife and other guest speakers, was for viewers to focus more on their suggested solutions, rather than the implied possible causes of our demise.

For me, I saw it mostly as a wake up call to humanity. A sort of catalyst to shake people up to start asking some important questions about ourselves, our community, the earth, our government, big business, the monetary system, energy alternatives, the quality of our existence...truth. It was a heartfelt plea for us to snap out of the nightmare we call reality, to start asking key questions, to search within ourselves, to shift our perspective of the world, and to ultimately take appropriate steps toward a renewed vision of thriving on this planet.

Perhaps 2012 is the end of old times and the beginning of a new paradigm. The world certainly reflects changing times; a time when we need to step outside of the old ways of thinking and existing, and begin considering the possibilities of a new way of life. During this collective transition, we must all ask the crucial questions. And with clarity of mind and a compassionate heart, we must move forward making new choices for how we will live as a peaceful and productive world society.

Foster Gamble asks, "What on earth will it take (to thrive)?" It is that question and many more that we must keep asking. And even when we think we have found some answers...keep asking. The questions connect the dots on our journey toward a new world; they are the breadcrumbs that will lead us to only one true answer... Thriving!