AOM Meditations: 030313

Vulnerability is the only authentic state. Being vulnerable means being open, for wounding, but also for pleasure. Being open to the wounds of life means also being open to the bounty and beauty. Don’t mask or deny your vulnerability:  it is your greatest asset. Be vulnerable:  quake and shake in your boots with it. The new goodness that is coming to you, in the form of people, situations, and things can only come to you when you are vulnerable, i.e. open.

~Stephen Russell

(Barefoot Doctor's Guide to the Tao:

A Spiritual Handbook for the Urban Warrior)

~*~

When we were children, we used to think 

that when we were grown-up 

we would no longer be vulnerable.  

But to grow up is to accept vulnerability. . . 

To be alive is to be vulnerable.

~Madeleine L'Engle

~*~

We get most upset with those we love because they are close to us and we know that they are aware of our weaknesses. . . If only we could learn to live with our inadequacies, our frailties, our vulnerabilities, we would not need to try so hard to push away those who really know us.

~Desmond Tutu

(Believe)

AOM Meditations: Youth 022713

Youth is happy because it has the ability to see beauty.  

Anyone who keeps the ability to see beauty never grows old.

~Franz Kafka

~*~

 Youth

 by Samuel Ullman

Youth is not a time of life; it is a state of mind; it is not a matter of rosy cheeks, red lips and supple knees; it is a matter of the will, a quality of the imagination, a vigor of the emotions; it is the freshness of the deep springs of life.

Youth means a temperamental predominance of courage over timidity of the appetite, for adventure over the love of ease. This often exists in a man of sixty more than a body of twenty.  Nobody grows old merely by a number of years.  We grow old by deserting our ideals.

Years may wrinkle the skin, but to give up enthusiasm wrinkles the soul.  Worry, fear, self-distrust bows the heart and turns the spirit back to dust.

Whether sixty or sixteen, there is in every human being's heart the lure of wonder, the unfailing child-like appetite of what's next, and the joy of the game of living.  

In the center of your heart and my heart there is a wireless station; so long as it receives messages of beauty, hope, cheer, courage and power from men and from the Infinite, so long are you young.

When the aerials are down, and your spirit is covered with snows of cynicism and the ice of pessimism, then you are grown old, even at twenty, but as long as your aerials are up, to catch the waves of optimism, there is hope you may die young at a hundred.

AOM Meditations: Our Inner Child 022613

There is within each of us a child.  A child who, to one degree or another, did not receive the parenting he or she wanted.  There was not enough love or care or support.

We keep looking for someone to be the good parent, someone to count on.  We demand that our own parents change and apologize for their mistakes or inadequacies.  They often become defensive and refuse; they didn't have a "total" parent, either.

There is only one way to get superb parenting of the child who will always be within you.  Only one person truly knows what that child wants.  Only one person will, or can, love and nurture that child to the point of peace and joy.  Only one person can be the good mother, father, brother, sister.  You are your best parent and friend.

Accept, love, and care for the child within you.

~Joan Chittister

Our inner child is still in there somewhere, 

aching to be let loose from all the layers 

we've piled on over the years.  

Why not break him out for the day or even a moment?  

Be playful.  

Blow some bubbles.  

Skip around the block.  

Feel the freedom.  

Take fearlessness out for a test run.  

Let yourself have some fun.

~Lynn Hasselberger

I am often accused of being childish.  
I prefer to interpret that as child-like.  
I still get wildly enthusiastic about little things.  
I tend to exaggerate and fantasize and embellish.  
I still listen to instinctual urges.  
I play with leaves.  
I skip down the street and run against the wind.  
I never water my garden without soaking myself.  
It has been after such times of joy 
that I have achieved my greatest creativity 
and produced my best work.

~Leo Buscaglia
(Bus 9 to Paradise)

AOM Meditations: CELEBRATIONS! 022513

Daffodils: The Flowers of Celebration!

~*~

The more you praise and celebrate your life, 

the more there is in life to celebrate.

~Oprah Winfrey

~*~

Life is a celebration of awakenings, of new beginnings,  

and wonderful surprises that enlighten the soul.

~Cielo

~*~

What reason do I need to celebrate life?  

A birthday, a wedding anniversary, or a holiday 

are all reminders that there is something to celebrate.  

Yet every day can be a celebration of life.  

I treat others with all the honor 

that I would give great masterpieces, for indeed we are.  

I rejoice in every expression of life I perceive.  

The song of a bird, the beauty of a mountain, 

the fragrance of a flower, the softness of a kitten's fur 

all give me reasons to celebrate life.

~unattributed

AOM Meditations: 022413

The essential difference between the unhappy, neurotic type person and the happy, normal person is the difference between get and give.  The unhappy person is concerned with:  the world is against me, what's in it for me, what are people doing to me, and so forth.  When your central theme in life is getting, you usually do get headaches.  But the happy person is looking toward what he or she can do, what they can give, what they can accomplish.

~Joe D. Batten and Leonard C. Hudson

~*~

Cheerful givers do not count the cost of what they give.  Their hearts are set on pleasing and cheering the person to whom the gift is given.

~Julian of Norwich

~*~

Giving and receiving are opposite sides of the same coin. Receiving entails trust in our own value and our having respect for the giver.  By receiving we reinforce the giver and are ourselves supported and affirmed by the gift.  In this way we participate in life’s goodness and assist in its flourishing.  There are times in our lives when the only way we can give back is to receive.

~Sallirae Henderson

AOM Meditations: Let's Enjoy Some Laughs

Today, instead of quotes,

I wanted to share some laughter.

To me, Frasier is one of the all-time 

greatest sitcoms ever produced.

It is one of the most intelligent

And well-written television comedies.

All the actors were superb

But my favorite was David Hyde Pierce

Who played Niles Crane

In this clip entitled "A Valentine for Niles"

Niles is at Frasier's apartment preparing dinner for his date

Who is supposed to be eXtremely picky

As he waits, he notices that the crease in his pants

Are not perfectly creased

What ensues is one of my favorite comedy sketches.

It is beautifully done to classical music

And a very unique slapstick comedy sketch

"A Valentine for Niles"

From Frasier, Season 6 Episode 14

~*~

All eleven seasons can be watched on NetFlix

I LOVE NETFLIX!!!!!

AOM Meditations: Positive Thinking 022113

Although many of us probably didn't get a thorough education in the value of a positive attitude, we CAN teach ourselves.  Simply by making a decision to look for the good, happy, and beautiful in all things and all people, you will have completed the first and most important step in learning to accentuate the positive.

~Sue Patton Thoele

~*~

The life each of us lives 

is the life within the limits of our own thinking.

To have life more abundant, 

we must think in limitless terms of abundance.

~Thomas Dreier

~*~

The happiness of your life 

depends upon the quality of your thoughts

Take care that you entertain no notions unsuitable 

to virtue and reasonable nature.

~Marcus Aurelius

AOM Meditations: Be Beautiful YOU! 022013

Just being ourselves is the biggest fear of humans.  We have learned to live our life trying to satisfy other people's demands.  We have learned to live by other people's points of view because of the fear of not being accepted and of not being good enough for someone else.

~Don Miguel Ruiz

~*~

All my life I had been looking for something, and everywhere I turned someone tried to tell me what it was. I accepted their answers too, though they were often in contradiction and even self-contradictory. I was naive. I was looking for myself and asking everyone except myself questions which I, and only I, could answer. It took me a long time and much painful boomeranging of my expectations to achieve a realization everyone else appears to have been born with: that I am nobody but myself.

~Ralph Ellison

~*~

By being yourself, 

you put something wonderful in the world 

that was not there before.

 ~Edwin Elliot

~*~

You have a masterpiece inside you, you know.  One unlike any that has ever been created, or ever will be.  If you go to your grave without painting your masterpiece, it will not get painted.  No one else can paint it.  Only you.

~Gordon MacKenzie

AOM Meditations: Awareness 021913

A person is alive only to the degree that he or she is aware.  To make the most of life we must constantly strive to be aware of the importance of being aware. 

Be Aware of Yourself:  We should be aware of who we are and what we want to be.  We should be aware of our ideals and purposes and our relationship to the Infinite.

Be Aware of Your Senses and Use Them:  So often we are distracted and unconscious of the riches our senses can pour into our lives.  We eat food without tasting it, listen to music without hearing it, smell without experiencing the pungency of odors and the delicacy of perfumes, touch without feeling the grain or texture, and see without appreciating the beauty around us.

Be Aware of People:  This calls for sensitivity, an empathy that will make us aware of the inner thoughts of people--sadness, loneliness, discouragement, joy.  This is often an extrasensory awareness. We should see people not as part of a crowd, but as individuals with needs, longings, and aspirations.

Be Aware of Our Environment:   We should be aware of our surroundings, both our community and our country, and of the influences that now mold our world so that we can play our part in the life of our times.  We should be aware of significant events in politics, science, and religion and find in them the true and meaningful.

The secret of being more vitally alive is to be more aware.  Starting today, from this moment, become aware of awareness!

~Wilferd A. Peterson

~*~

We have only this moment, 

sparkling like a star in our hand  

and melting like a snowflake.  

Let us use it before it is too late.

~Marie Edith Beynon

AOM Meditations: Acceptance 021813

Today I know that I cannot control the ocean tides.  I can only go with the flow. When I struggle and try to organize the Atlantic to my specifications, I sink.  If I flail and thrash and growl and grumble, I go under.  But, if I let go and float, I am borne aloft.

~Marie Stilkind

~*~

   

If we rail and kick against it and grow bitter, we won't change the inevitable; but we will change ourselves.  I know.  I have tried it.  I once refused to accept an inevitable situation with which I was confronted.  I played the fool and railed against it, and rebelled.  I turned my nights into hells of insomnia.  I brought upon myself everything I didn't want.  Finally, after a year of self-torture, I had to accept what I knew from the outset I couldn't possible alter.

~Dale Carnegie

 

~*~

Life has no other discipline to impose, if we would but realize it, than to accept life unquestioningly.  Everything we shut our eyes to, everything we run away from, everything we deny, denigrate, or despise, serves to defeat us in the end. What seems nasty, painful, evil, can become a source of beauty, joy, and strength, if faced with an open mind.  Every moment is a golden one for those who have the vision to recognize it as such.

~Henry Miller

AOM Meditations: 021713

Suffering teaches joy.

~Sonia Rumzi

~*~

The deeper that sorrow carves into your being, 

the more joy you can contain.  

Is not the cup that holds your wine 

the very cup that was burned in the potter's oven?  

And is not the lute that soothes your spirit, 

the very wood that was hollowed with knives?

When you are joyous, look deep into your heart 

and you shall find it is only that 

which has given you sorrow that is giving you joy.

When you are sorrowful look again in your heart, 

and you shall see that in truth you are weeping 

for that which has been your delight.

~Khalil Gibran

~*~

Sorrow prepares you for joy.  

It violently sweeps everything 

out of your house, 

so that new joy can find space to enter.  

It shakes the yellow leaves 

from the bough of your heart, 

so that fresh, green leaves 

can grow in their place.  

It pulls up the rotten roots, 

so that new roots hidden beneath 

have room to grow.  

Whatever sorrow shakes from your heart, 

far better things will take their place.

 ~Rumi

AOM Meditations: 021513

Our workaday lives are filled with opportunities to bless others.  The power of a single glance or an encouraging smile must never be underestimated. 

~G. Richard Rieger

~*~

So often we think that to be encouragers we have to produce great words of wisdom when, in fact, a few simple syllables of sympathy and an arm around the shoulder can often provide much needed comfort.

~Florence Littauer

~*~

Something I realized a few years ago in one of those "Of course--I should have realized that all along!" moments is that encouragement is absolutely free.  It doesn't cost me a cent to give it out, but its payoff is incredible.  A brighter smile, improved performance on any sort of task, much more enjoyment in doing something--I see these in people constantly when I or someone else encourages them.  I often read stories by adults who have succeeded in life largely in part because just one person saw their potential and encouraged them when they were younger, and they have never forgotten those people or their words.  Wouldn't you love to feel that something like that would be possible with you as the remembered person?  I know that I would, but unless I plant the seeds today, that sort of harvest will never come to pass.

~tom walsh

Note how good you feel after you have encouraged someone else.  No other argument is necessary to suggest that one never miss the opportunity to give encouragement.

~George M. Adams

*****

PROJECT:

Let us all make a point 

to encourage others this week.

AOM Meditations: 021413

“You must love yourself before you love another. By accepting yourself and fully being what you are, your simple presence can make others happy.”

~*~

People often say that 'beauty is in the eye of the beholder,' and I say that the most liberating thing about beauty is realizing that you are the beholder.  This empowers us to find beauty in places where others have not dared to look, including inside ourselves.

~Salma Hayek

~*~

My primary relationship is with myself--all others are mirrors of it. As I learn to love myself, I automatically receive the love and appreciation that I desire from others. If I am committed to myself and to living my truth, I will attract others with equal commitment. My willingness to be intimate with my own deep feelings creates the space for intimacy with another. As I learn to love myself, I receive the love I desire from others.

Shakti Gawain

~*~

“Love is the only way to grasp another human being in the innermost core of his personality. No one can become fully aware of the very essence of another human being unless he loves him. By his love he is enabled to see the essential traits and features.”

~Viktor Frankl

AOM Meditations: 021213

“To the people who love you, you are beautiful already. This is not because they’re blind to your shortcomings but because they so clearly see your soul.  Your shortcomings then dim by comparison. The people who care about you are willing to let you be imperfect and beautiful, too.” 

~Victoria Moran,

(Lit From Within: Tending Your Soul For Lifelong Beauty)

~*~

“The most beautiful 

is to see the joy in your eyes.” 

~Gregor Golob

~*~

“Let today be the day you stop being haunted by the ghost of yesterday. Holding a grudge & harboring anger/resentment is poison to the soul. Get even with people...but not those who have hurt us, forget them, instead get even with those who have helped us.” 

~Steve Maraboli

(Life, the Truth, and Being Free)

AOM Meditations: 021013

“Your reason and your passion are the rudder and the sails of your seafaring soul. If either your sails or your rudder be broken you can but toss and drift, or else be held at a stand still in mid-seas.

For reason, ruling alone, is a force confining; and a passion unattended, is a flame that burns to its own destruction. Therefore let your soul exalt your reason to the height of passion, that it may sing; and let it direct your passion with reason, that your passion may live through its own daily resurrection and like the phoenix rise above its own ashes.” 

~Kahlil Gibran

~*~

“You are never too old 

to set another goal 

or to dream a new dream.” 

~C.S. Lewis

~*~

“Seek out that particular mental attribute which makes you feel most deeply and vitally alive, along with which comes the inner voice which says, 'This is the real me,' and when you have found that attitude, follow it.” 

~William James

AOM Meditations: Walt Whitman 020713

O TAN-FACED prairie-boy!

Before you came to camp, came many a welcome gift;

Praises and presents came, and nourishing food-

-till at last, among the recruits,

You came, taciturn, with nothing to give-

-we but look'd on each other,

When lo! more than all the gifts of the world, you gave me. 

- Walt Whitman

AOM Meditations: 020113

Kindness is helpful to the happiness of both recipient and giver. Who does not feel happier on showing kindness to others, and who does not feel happier on receiving the manifestation of kindness? Deeds of kindness shown in the little things of life constitute man's chief happiness. Many are not able to do any great things for others, but all can find abundant opportunity of showing little deeds of kindness which will add much to the happiness of mankind.

 ~NICIAS BALLARD COOKSEY

Helps to Happiness

 ~*~

Kindness holds the key to the secret of our own transformation and, in the process, of the transformation of the world.

 ~JEAN MAALOUF

The Healing Power of Kindness

 ~*~

Kindness is the currency of our hearts, the only currency that can never be subtracted and never be balanced in anyone's ledgers. We choose to be kind because it is the way we want to live our lives, not because we will be rewarded in some way. When we start to keep score, we become closed-hearted: I'm not doing anything nice until someone does something good for me. Our acts of kindness are whole unto themselves. They require no acknowledgment and no reward, for the act itself returns us once again to the heart of our own humanity.

 ~WILL GLENNON

Practice Random Acts of Kindness

AOM Meditations: 013113

Practice for the New Millennium 

These thoughts are very simple, inspiring and helpful. The practice of cherishing can be taken very deeply if done wordlessly, allowing yourself to feel the love and appreciation that already exists in your heart.

1. Spend 5 minutes at the beginning of each day remembering we all want the same things (to be happy and be loved) and we are all connected to one another.

2. Spend 5 minutes breathing in, cherishing yourself; and, breathing out cherishing others. If you think about people you have difficulty cherishing, extend your cherishing to them anyway.

3. During the day extend that attitude to everyone you meet. Practice cherishing the "simplest" person (clerks, attendants, etc) or people you dislike.

4. Continue this practice no matter what happens or what anyone does to you. 

~Dalai Lama

~*~

There is no religion without love, 

and people may talk 

as much as they like about their religion, 

but if it does not teach them to be good and kind 

to man and beast it is all a sham

~Anna Sewell, Black Beauty

~*~

This is my simple religion. 

There is no need for temples; 

no need for complicated philosophy. 

Our own brain, our own heart is our temple; 

the philosophy is kindness. 

~Dalai Lama

AOM Meditations: 012913

“Silent solitude makes true speech possible and personal. If I am not in touch with my own belovedness, then I cannot touch the sacredness of others. If I am estranged from myself, I am likewise a stranger to others.” 

~Brennan Manning, Abba's Child: The Cry of the Heart for Intimate Belonging

~*~

“Humility is just as much the opposite of self-abasement as it is of self-exaltation. To be humble is not to make comparisons. Secure in its reality, the self is neither better nor worse, bigger nor smaller, than anything else in the universe. It *is*--is nothing, yet at the same time one with everything. It is in this sense that humility is absolute self-effacement.

To be nothing in the self-effacement of humility, yet, for the sake of the task, to embody its whole weight and importance in your earing, as the one who has been called to undertake it. To give to people, works, poetry, art, what the self can contribute, and to take, simply and freely, what belongs to it by reason of its identity. Praise and blame, the winds of success and adversity, blow over such a life without leaving a trace or upsetting its balance.” 

~Dag Hammarskjöld,

Markings

AOM Meditations: 012813

I thought how lovely and how strange a river is. A river is a river, always there, and yet the water flowing through it is never the same water and is never still. It’s always changing and is always on the move. And over time the river itself changes too. It widens and deepens as it rubs and scours, gnaws and kneads, eats and bores its way through the land. Even the greatest rivers- the Nile and the Ganges, the Yangtze and he Mississippi, the Amazon and the great grey-green greasy Limpopo all set about with fever trees-must have been no more than trickles and flickering streams before they grew into mighty rivers.

Are people like that? I wondered. Am I like that? Always me, like the river itself, always flowing but always different, like the water flowing in the river, sometimes walking steadily along andante, sometimes surging over rapids furioso, sometimes meandering with hardly any visible movement tranquilo, lento, ppp pianissimo, sometimes gurgling giacoso with pleasure, sometimes sparkling brillante in the sun, sometimes lacrimoso, sometimes appassionato, sometimes misterioso, sometimes pesante, sometimes legato, sometimes staccato, sometimes sospirando, sometimes vivace, and always, I hope, amoroso.

Do I change like a river, widening and deepening, eddying back on myself sometimes, bursting my banks sometimes when there’s too much water, too much life in me, and sometimes dried up from lack of rain? Will the I that is me grow and widen and deepen? Or will I stagnate and become an arid riverbed? Will I allow people to dam me up and confine me to wall so that I flow only where they want? Will I allow them to turn me into a canal to use for they own purposes? Or will I make sure I flow freely, coursing my way through the land and ploughing a valley of my own? 

~Aidan Chambers

(This is All: The Pillow Book of Cordelia Kenn)