Good morning. I have to give a shoutout to my wonderful husband. Happy Birthday, love of my life!! Sorry that it fell on a Monday this year. 😉
I am having one of those rare, really fun Mondays, so I will just keep it to the meme for today. Have a great week, friends!
Are you passing on love or are you passing on pain? Heal your pain and pass on love.
Good morning. I have a jam packed day. Welcome to Soul Sunday. Here is a classic poem that is always a good one to read again and again. Have a beautiful day.
Are you passing on love or are you passing on pain? Heal your pain and pass on love.
This is Water’s Soul, an eighty foot sculpture unveiled in Jersey City, NJ back in October. She was designed by the artist, Jaume Plensa. When you look from a distance she appears to be shushing New York City.
It has been suggested that the sculpture is not just telling New York to quiet down, but more a message to all of us to remember to relax, quiet down and stop being in such a flurry of activity all of the time. I love the visual of a mothering spirit telling us to find our calm.
Here are some more wisdoms that I found as I explored shops and towns that are new to me: (Wisdoms are all around us if we are looking for them.)
It is so true, isn’t it? We all recognize style, but to describe it, is a very difficult thing to do. Style is just so innate, intrinsic and unique to each individual soul.
And my dear friend was at a Van Gogh exhibit yesterday and texted this:
It’s true! Beauty and wisdom abound. This world is a wondrous place. If we listen to Water’s Soul and we find our calm, we are more likely to notice the beauty and wisdom in everything. Have a wondrous weekend, friends! Find the beauty and the wisdom within and in the external! Soak it in.
Are you passing on love or are you passing on pain? Heal your pain and pass on love.
Don’t worry. I won’t do a repeat of last year’s April Fools pranks. I got a little too much flack for that one. Plus, I think that you all might be too prepared this year. 🙂
My weekend is pretty filled-up with quite a few fun activities, so my blog posts will likely be a little shorter than usual for the next few days. Please forgive me if I seem distracted. As always, though, thank you for your support and validation. I love the connection that we have here at the blog. It is a constant in my life (and hopefully yours, too). I treasure my blog and I treasure you, my readers.
With that being said, today, I only have one favorite to share. My husband and I were recently at one of our favorite local hangouts and they had hired a singer, whom I found to be particularly good and soothing and entertaining. She has one of those deep southern drawls, with a bluesy edge, which is my favorite kind of country singers’ voices. Please give Aubrey Wollett a listen. Apparently, she has a decent following not just in Florida, but also in Nashville. Have a fabulous Favorite Things Friday!! Enjoy at least one of your favorites today or discover a new favorite! This is a precious day of your life.
Are you passing on love or are you passing on pain? Heal your pain and pass on love.
As I write this, our little brown dog, Trip, our Boykin spaniel, is lying at my feet, making sure that his paw is touching my foot. He does this often. He likes to have one paw on his people, whenever we are sitting on the couch, or at our desks, or at the kitchen table. He knows the nurturance and healing nature of touch and he soothes himself with that touch, whenever he gets the opportunity.
Ralphie, our Labrador retriever, is overwhelmingly enthusiastic about everything that he loves every single day. He gets absolutely jumpy and lick-y and giddy about dinner, despite the fact that dinner is the same damn thing every single night: two cups of Hills Science Diet prescription diet dog kibble, put into a maze bowl, to make it last longer. Ralphie shows that same level of enthusiasm for greeting his family, for playing fetch, and for swimming in the pool. His whole body shouts out his feelings of delight, like he can barely contain the happy energy of those feelings inside of his powerful, muscular physique.
Josie, the collie, who is the most obedient of our canine trio, sometimes stubbornly plops herself down in the yard, into her own place in the sun, and refuses to come in. She knows the healing sensation of lying in the sunshine, and she insists that we sit awhile and relax and bathe in some Vitamin D. When I bury my nose into her sunbaked fur, I understand that she is right. She is absolutely right.
Nature makes no apologies for what she needs. Nature never hides her own true nature. That’s not in her nature to do so. Nature is so wise and pure and true. Why do we try to pretend that we aren’t part of nature? Why do our minds try to put up barricades to letting our own natural selves lead the way? Nature flows so perfectly, until we do things to artificially “correct” it. The thing about nature, is that she is quietly patient and powerful. In the end, she won’t let us destroy her, and she hopes that we remember that we are part of her, instead of insisting on separating, and then sadly end up destroying ourselves.
credit: @Native3rd, Twitter
Are you passing on love or are you passing on pain? Heal your pain and pass on love.
“There’s only one reason why you’re not experiencing bliss at this present moment, and it’s because you’re focused on what you don’t have.”
– Anthony De Mello
There’s a lot of belief in spiritual circles that the energy that you put out there is what you get back in life. And then there is a lot of backlash to that idea, suggesting that “toxic positivity” doesn’t allow us to feel all of our genuine feelings, which can be truly unhealthy for our minds and bodies, in the long run. I think the compromise here is not to deny the pain of our individual lives and the tragedies going on in the world, but instead, choosing not to dwell on them. Do what you can do to alleviate what makes you feel sad, and/or frustrated and scared, and then move your attention to all that you are grateful for in your life. Learn to notice and to focus on all of the good. Don’t let the negativity grow out of proportion by hanging one’s hat on to the black clouds.
I get the Daily Om in my email every day and I was going to take excerpts out of today’s reading, but then I thought, this whole thing is worth putting on the blog. It is such an excellent reminder of how the flow of good vibrations work. Imagine if you, and everyone around you, chose to stay in the flow of well-being, just for today. Wouldn’t that be amazing?! Below is today’s reading from the Daily Om:
When we are in a state of good vibration, we attract more of that to us.
Feelings vibrate, just as all things in the universe do, at a particular frequency. Negative feelings like anger, guilt, and greed vibrate at low frequencies, while positive feelings like joy, appreciation, and passion vibrate at high frequencies. These high frequency vibrations make us feel good. This is why people and places that inspire and cultivate positive feelings have what we call good vibrations.
Good vibrations inspire health, happiness, and optimism. When we are tuned in to good vibrations, our bodies heal, our hearts open, and our minds shift toward the light. We see new possibilities and feel powerfully energized to follow our inner visions. At the same time, we feel relaxed and capable of manifesting these visions without giving in to stress or struggle. Good vibrations put us in a state of perfect receptivity so that we feel it is the energy flowing through us that accomplishes what needs to be done. We feel guided, supported, protected, and nourished within this joyful flow. We sometimes forget that we are allowed to feel this way all the time.
Lower frequency vibrations are not bad in a moral sense, but they are bad in the sense that they simply don’t feel good. Still, they have a purpose, which is to alert us to the fact that we are blocking out the higher frequency vibrations that we need to function well. They are a call for healing ourselves from within. The key to our healing lies in remembering that it is our birthright to feel good and that feeling good is the essence of our true nature. When we are receiving and sending out good vibrations, we are in the flow. When we are not, we can begin to raise our vibration by seeking out people, places, and situations that vibrate at a higher frequency. Whether we need to go on retreat or just call a friend who makes us laugh, seeking out those good vibrations and basking in them is a sacred and loving practice that returns us, time and again, to the joyful flow of the universe.
Are you passing on love or are you passing on pain? Heal your pain and pass on love.
How’s everyone doing out there? There is just so much going on right now. It’s a lot, and it’s been happening in steady succession, for a few years now. I just read this long thread on Twitter that started out with a shaming line of how disgusted the writer was with the idea that people are spending so much time on the Academy Awards fiasco, when there is so much pain happening in Ukraine and in other parts of the world. Some people gave the writer a big “Amen!” and some people reminded the writer that sometimes we need silly distractions from all the nightmares happening around us, which we cannot control. And do you know what? “Some people” were right.
Whatever you need to do right now that helps you to process your own living experience is okay. Just don’t assume that what works for you, is the right answer for someone else. If someone asks for our help and for our guidance, we can share what has helped us with our own experiences, and what has given us strength and hope during tough times. But we must also understand that we all have unique personalities and perspectives and coping mechanisms. This isn’t a “one size fits all” and when we try to make things a “one size fits all”, that’s usually when more trouble starts. This is when we get defensive with each other, and division ends up pulling us even further away from each other, with intolerance for others’ points of view and ways of going about living our own individual lives. In times of strife, we try to control everything outside of us, and that includes other people. It makes us feel better to feel like we are in control. But do you like the feeling of being controlled? No one does. A long time ago, a friend shared the Circle of Control, with our group of friends. It is a good one to go to often, as a reminder of the only things that we have total control over, and that is shown in the little green center. The rest of the chart we have a little influence over, and in the widest circle, we literally have no control. If we stick to focusing on what is in the green for ourselves, we will feel more “in control” and calm and peaceful, than when we try to control everything.
I think Groucho Marx said it best, “Man does not control his own fate. The women in his life do that for him.” (kidding)
Have a great day, friends!! Stay in the green.
Are you passing on love or are you passing on pain? Heal your pain and pass on love.
credit: @Ugandan_Marz (Twitter)
I rarely watch awards shows. They’re just not my thing. But my husband was watching a pre-recorded bike race (which is also not my thing) and my daughter convinced me that I should sit on the couch with her, and watch the Academy Awards last night. Wow. Just wow. And of course this moment shown above occurred soon after Regina Hall fondled a bunch of good-looking male Hollywood stars in a fake COVID probe skit. That’s when my 18-year-old daughter turned to me and said, “Wow, can you imagine if the roles were reversed and a guy presenter was fondling female stars?!?” Hollywood, I’ve got to hand it to you. You never cease to entertain. And you love to throw judgment out there, but clearly, you need to focus on cleaning up your own house, a little bit. I think that Denzel Washington came out with the best line of the night and it is a good reminder for all:
“Be careful. At your highest moment, that’s when the devil comes for you.”
Have a great week!!!
Are you passing on love or are you passing on pain? Heal your pain and pass on love.
Yesterday, I took my own advice and I searched “epilepsy” on my blog and I read some of what my son, myself and my family had gone through last fall. And I was utterly shocked to remember how differently I felt, than I do right now, with my son’s epilepsy stabilized and things going generally well for me and for my family. I have always preached to myself, and to my family and friends, and to you readers of the blog, that your life is the endless blue sky, and no matter how dark and torrential and scary and unrelenting they be, the storm clouds always, always pass. The human spirit is amazingly hopeful and resilient and irrepressible. Look at holocaust survivors. Look at wounded soldiers. Look at prisoners of war. Look at the survivors everywhere. We are all survivors of different storms and we shine. We look to the sun, and we reflect the hopeful sunshine. We shine through. Our peaceful, hopeful, sanguine feelings come back when the storm clouds finally pass on by.
Sundays are devoted to poetry on the blog. Today, I didn’t have a poem in my heart to write. So, in the spirit of the strong and the valiant and the hopeful, yet repressed people of the world, I thought that I would look up poems about sunflowers. There are hundreds of poems about sunflowers listed on Google. This one spoke to me. I recommend that you look up the one that speaks to you. Or better yet, write it.
Are you passing on love or are you passing on pain? Heal your pain and pass on love.
My regular readers know that our youngest son has epilepsy. Last fall, we were working on finding a combination of medications that would keep his seizures at bay, and yet have fewer side effects. (Epilepsy medications have a great amount of side effects. They are essentially medications that affect the brain and many other major organs in the body.) From July until Thanksgiving of last year, my son was averaging having at least one major seizure a week. I cannot begin to explain how awful and scary and painful this experience was for our son, and for our family. Luckily, we found a combination of three medications that are currently working to keep our son seizure-free. Some people never find medications that work. Some people with epilepsy suffer several seizures a day. It is a terrifying condition. My mind has often gone to the Ukrainians who have epilepsy and other major medical conditions, who have no access to their medications. It is so wrong that this is happening to them, on so many levels. I cannot even begin to fathom what they are going through.
If you search “epilepsy” on my blog you can read more about our story. If you are so inclined, please give a donation to the Epilepsy Foundation. This organization is the leader in funding research for hopefully one day finding a cure for this deadly condition.
Thank you for your continued love and prayers and concern for my son and for our family.
Are you passing on love or are you passing on pain? Heal your pain and pass on love.
