“Only once in your life, I truly believe, you find someone who can completely turn your world around. You tell them things that you’ve never shared with another soul and they absorb everything you say and actually want to hear more. You share hopes for the future, dreams that will never come true, goals that were never achieved and the many disappointments life has thrown at you. When something wonderful happens, you can’t wait to tell them about it, knowing they will share in your excitement. They are not embarrassed to cry with you when you are hurting or laugh with you when you make a fool of yourself. Never do they hurt your feelings or make you feel like you are not good enough, but rather they build you up and show you the things about yourself that make you special and even beautiful. There is never any pressure, jealousy or competition but only a quiet calmness when they are around. You can be yourself and not worry about what they will think of you because they love you for who you are. The things that seem insignificant to most people such as a note, song or walk become invaluable treasures kept safe in your heart to cherish forever. Memories of your childhood come back and are so clear and vivid it’s like being young again. Colours seem brighter and more brilliant. Laughter seems part of daily life where before it was infrequent or didn’t exist at all. A phone call or two during the day helps to get you through a long day’s work and always brings a smile to your face. In their presence, there’s no need for continuous conversation, but you find you’re quite content in just having them nearby. Things that never interested you before become fascinating because you know they are important to this person who is so special to you. You think of this person on every occasion and in everything you do. Simple things bring them to mind like a pale blue sky, gentle wind or even a storm cloud on the horizon. You open your heart knowing that there’s a chance it may be broken one day and in opening your heart, you experience a love and joy that you never dreamed possible. You find that being vulnerable is the only way to allow your heart to feel true pleasure that’s so real it scares you. You find strength in knowing you have a true friend and possibly a soul mate who will remain loyal to the end. Life seems completely different, exciting and worthwhile. Your only hope and security is in knowing that they are a part of your life.”

“So inner peace is the ultimate source of happiness, joyfulness.”

His Holiness, the Dalai Lama (in an excerpt from the film “Dalai Lama Renaissance“) provides a simple view of inner peace, happiness, God and money.

And, it’s not what you think it is.

Why do I practice compassion?

It’s not for the “him,” or the “them,” or the “they”—it’s for me, and to bring inner peace to all of my days.

Just as the soft rains fill the streams,
pour into the rivers, and join together in the oceans,
so may the power of every moment of your goodness
flow forth to awaken and heal all beings–
those here now, those gone before, those yet to come.

By the power of every moment of your goodness,
may your heart’s wishes be soon fulfilled
as completely shining as the bright full moon,
as magically as by a wish-fulfilling gem.

By the power of every moment of your goodness,
may all dangers be averted and all disease be gone.
May no obstacle come across your way.
May you enjoy fulfillment and long life.

For all in whose heart dwells respect,
who follow the wisdom and compassion, of the Way,
may your life prosper in the four blessings
of old age, beauty, happiness and strength.

~ Buddhist blessing

photo: Statue Stairs, Kyoto, Japan

♥

“Faith is why I’m here today and faith is why I made it through.” ― Jonathan Anthony Burkett

I was struggling just a bit today, as I waited outside the yoga studio. My stomach was in knots, and dreading this class—the same one I had previously, so very much loved.

I had worried myself silly over the most insignificant of things—the “How will I manage today”s and the “I can’t wait till it’s done.”s.

In fact, I had lost myself inside this thought of having been away for so long, that I hadn’t stopped to realize just how very far I had come.

And, in the awkward stillness of dread, there is always a most comforting reminder…that my journey here, has only just begun.

As such, I shall greet each new day with great heart and compassion, and fully embrace the ‘that which is not yet known’s.

Look to this day:
For it is life, the very life of life.
In its brief course
Lie all the verities and realities of your existence.
The bliss of growth,
The glory of action,
The splendor of achievement
Are but experiences of time.

For yesterday is but a dream
And tomorrow is only a vision;
And today well-lived, makes
Yesterday a dream of happiness
And every tomorrow a vision of hope.
Look well therefore to this day;
Such is the salutation to the ever-new dawn!”

~ Kalidisa

Born as Norma Jeane Mortenson inside a charity ward of a dilapidated Los Angeles County Hospital, this beautiful child would spend the first portion of her life facing great hardship.

Her mother, mentally unstable and financially destitute, and her father, ‘unknown’—she would spend these first few years of her childhood moving in and out of foster homes, and praying each night to love and to be loved in return.

When she was just 16 years old, and in order to avoid yet another orphanage stay, she married a merchant marine. And when her new ‘husband’ was deployed to the Pacific, she began her first career working on the assembly line of an aeronautical plant.

It was a grueling, filthy job—but preferable still to the life she had once known.

And then, in 1945, when a photographer captured a still snapshot of this most magnificent beauty, she became…”Marilyn Monroe.”

When asked to describe herself in just a few short words, she replied,

“I’m selfish, impatient and a little insecure. I make mistakes, I am out of control and at times hard to handle. But if you can’t handle me at my worst, then you sure as hell don’t deserve me at my best.”

We all have our ‘edges’ and pieces of this inner sense of ‘brokeness,’ but at the end of day…don’t we all deserve to love and be loved in return?

And, we all “get to choose who we’re going to let into out weird little worlds.”

Namaste and much love to you all.

Bonus Video: On Loving, No Matter What

“Friendship is born at that moment when one person says to another: “What! You too? I thought I was the only one.” ― C.S. Lewis

I was so very proud of my daughter yesterday evening as we sat curled up and on our couch. We were settling into a night of ‘silly program watching’ – something we do together when we feel our energy needs a little ‘lightening.’

And, then it began – the buzz, buzz, buzzing or my daughter’s mobile email alerts.

Joking, and in order to offer just a bit of a ‘nudge,’ I said, “You have so many friends. Do you know how many I have? One.”

To which she replied without missing a beat, “Do you know how many friends you really need, Mom? Just that one.”

Yes, indeed – friendship is not measured in quantity, rather in the brilliance of just ‘that one.’

It’s that gentle knowing and acceptance, and that most unconditional kind of love.

It’s in the limitless offerings of trust and of hope, when all other paths seem to fail.

But mostly, friendship is…

That feeling of knowing there’s none other in your life that will care for you in much the same way.

She’s right, you know, my daughter..that is..in saying that what we really need is just ‘that one’. 

“When we honestly ask ourselves which person in our lives mean the most to us, we often find that it is those who, instead of giving advice, solutions, or cures, have chosen rather to share our pain and touch our wounds with a warm and tender hand. The friend who can be silent with us in a moment of despair or confusion, who can stay with us in an hour of grief and bereavement, who can tolerate not knowing, not curing, not healing and face with us the reality of our powerlessness, that is a friend who cares.” ― Henri J.M. Nouwen, The Road to Daybreak: A Spiritual Journey

  Namaste, and much love to you, my dears…my most beautiful and brilliant of friends.

“A morning-glory at my window satisfies me more than the metaphysics of books.” ~Walt Whitman

“Dare to Be

When a new day begins, dare to smile gratefully.

When there is darkness, dare to be the first to shine a light.

When there is injustice, dare to be the first to condemn it.

When something seems difficult, dare to do it anyway.

When life seems to beat you down, dare to fight back.

When there seems to be no hope, dare to find some.

When you’re feeling tired, dare to keep going.

When times are tough, dare to be tougher.

When love hurts you, dare to love again.

When someone is hurting, dare to help them heal.

When another is lost, dare to help them find the way.

When a friend falls, dare to be the first to extend a hand.

When you cross paths with another, dare to make them smile.

When you feel great, dare to help someone else feel great too.

When the day has ended, dare to feel as you’ve done your best.

Dare to be the best you can –

At all times, Dare to be!

― Steve Maraboli”

I thought of just these words as I sat outside watching the sun drag its sleepy self way up over the early morning sky.

And letting the briskness of dew collect against my skin…I thought, at first, it must have mistaken me for one of its more elegant pieces of nature.

But, then I realized something most wonderful, that gave me this most amazing sense of being cared for…

The dew doesn’t care of my past or my failures, nor does it consider all those ‘ribbons’ on my wall. 

Nature only recognizes our need in this the here and now—and it’s there, always, to offer to us…its limitless love and caring.

How sad that we’ve walled ourselves up in these little brick houses, and placing a wall between our hearts and the most beautiful love of all.

So, this morning, as I sit here with cold wet feet and sipping my first cup of decaf…I’m reminded of what unconditional really means.

And, I am most certainly and unhesitatingly, grateful for this day.