What tomorrow brings...

exhale, let go, start anew ...

Earth teach me to forget myself as melted snow forgets its life. 

Earth teach me resignation as the leaves which die in the fall. 

Earth teach me courage as the tree which stands all alone. 

Earth teach me regeneration as the seed which rises in the spring. 

~ William Alexander

“Winter is the season in which people try to keep the house as warm as it was in the summer, when they complained about the heat.”

Photo by Tina Babb

No Words

... for what happened in Newtown, CT this week - perhaps this shock to society will cause pause, re-examination, and action.

“Non-violence, which is the quality of the heart, cannot come by an appeal to the brain.” 

― Mahatma Gandhi

"If we don't want our children to be violent, we adults have to be non-violent. If we want our children to be safe, we adults have to make the world a safe place for them. We cannot teach children that violence is a solution to any problem if we want them to be safe. We cannot show children that adults solve their problems through murder---in wars, law enforcement actions, the criminal justice system and gangs---and then expect children not to emulate us. Children don't do as we say, they do as we do. Adults have to start sending a very clear message through their words and actions that murder is not an acceptable solution to any type of problem if we want the violence to stop. The people who want to arm school teachers could not be saying any louder or clearer that the American way of life is to kill the other guy before he kills you. If this is not the message you want to send, take a stand now." ~ Nanci Danison

For Jeffry

With realization of one's own potential and self confidence in one's ability, one can build a better world.  ~ Dalai Lama

CONGRATS!

“One kind word can warm three winter months.”

The Splendor of Winter

Winter is coming! 

December 21

“Winter is the time for comfort, for good food and warmth, for the touch of a friendly hand and for a talk beside the fire: it is the time for home.”   
~ Edith Sitwell

Photos from Tumbler

Holiday Magic

Christmas is a necessity.  There has to be at least one day of the year to remind us that we're here for something else besides ourselves.  ~ Eric Sevareid

“Christmas doesn't come from a store, maybe Christmas perhaps means a little bit more....” ~ Dr. Seuss, How the Grinch Stole Christmas

If the love within your mind is lost and you see other beings as enemies, then no matter how much knowledge or education or material comfort you have, only suffering and confusion will ensue. -Dalai Lama

A good conscience is a continual Christmas. ~Benjamin Franklin

Worry pretends to be necessary but serves no useful purpose ~ Eckhart Tolle

"I must be willing to give up what I am in order to become what I will be." ~ Albert Einstein

“These people walk by a widow deformed by leprosy...walk by children dressed in rags living in the street, and they think, 'Business as usual.' But if they perceive a slight against God, it is a different story. Their faces go red, their chests heave mightily, they sputter angry words. The degree of their indignation is astonishing. Their resolve is frightening.” ― Yann Martel, Life of Pi

Life is a Gift

The mind is everything. What you think you become. ~ Buddhist Quote

"A Teacher affects eternity. He or she can never tell where his or her influence stops." ~ Hendry Adams

Benefit of Failing

"It is impossible to live without failing at something, unless you live so cautiously that you might as well not have lived at all -- in which case, you fail by default... 

Failure meant a stripping away of the inessential... I was set free, because my greatest fear had been realized, and I was still alive." ~ J. K. Rowling

"the drops of water that form the river may not take the shortest path but they will still reach the ocean" ~ unknown

Our Universe

Make it full screen, click and drag to look around the Universe:

http://www.sergebrunier.com/gallerie/pleinciel/360.swf

“We all do better when we work together. Our differences do matter, but our common humanity matters more.”  
~ Bill Clinton

The price of anything is the amount of life you exchange for it. ~Henry David Thoreau

"A man should look for what is, and not for what he thinks should be." ~ Albert Einstein

What are we doing here?

Q&A with Dr. Eben Alexander, Near-Death Experiencer, Neurosurgeon

You touched upon our reasons for existence here, can we just end with giving us a little sense of what we are doing here?  

Yes. It is such a beautiful message and in many ways it is so simple. And what my experience very plainly demonstrated is that our consciousness, our spirit, our soul is eternal -- we are spiritual beings.  It is not dependent on the brain and we are so much more than our physical bodies; and, our true reason for being here, as a spirit and soul, extends far beyond the simple materialist view that it just goes, birth-to-death, and that’s all there is.  We are so much more than that.  And our relationships with our fellow souls are far richer than that ... as the meaning and purpose for our being here at all.

"In Loving Each Other We Are Loving Ourselves"

Dr. Eben Alexander, Neurosurgeon, a near-death experiencer, explains his understanding as a result of his NDE experience:

“... it has to do with our learning lessons in this life.  That’s why I look at hardship, difficulties, challenges, and as a healer I look at disease and illness, as the opportunities for growth; and, our souls are here to learn lessons and we learn them through the difficulties in this life, by embracing those difficulties and seeing them as learning opportunities, realizing that by manifesting that love and compassion in this imperfect realm, that that is how we progress in that higher spiritual realm.  And given that the whole direction of that and the fabric of that higher realm is made of that love, and that evil is but an impurity that allows us to manifest our free will; given that the ascendence in that outer realm has everything to do with moving towards that unconditional love from the creator to the creation.  Anyone who is handing out mayhem and pain in this world is going to have to make up for that wrongward direction either in this life or in other lives.  So, it’s, I mean, to me, that all is kind of the way I have to put it all together.  Of course, it does involve reincarnation as a very necessary part of it.”

NYT #1 Bestseller, Proof of Heaven, by Eben Alexander

"be kind today...it's easier in the long run" ~ Janet

“Anti-intellectualism has been a constant thread winding its way through our political and cultural life, nurtured by the false notion that democracy means that 'my ignorance is just as good as your knowledge.'” ― Isaac Asimov

Everything Happens For A Reason

ALL IS WELL

We The People

"Water can flow, or it can crash. Be water, my friend." - Bruce Lee

What If Money Were No Object?

Nobody Gets Away With Anything

"... nobody really gets away with anything. It is one truth that humanity has known from the distant past.......sowing and reaping; Karma, acts and consequences. There are cases when it seems as if somebody has done something bad and has done such without consequence. But things are not always what they seem." ~ Ted comment by Feyisayo Anjorin

"To offer no resistance to life is to be in a state of grace, ease and lightness. This state is then no longer dependent upon things being in a certain way, good or bad."  ~ Practicing The Power of Now

All Seasons Have Something to Offer

“Things have their time, even eminence bows to timeliness.” 

― Balthasar Gracian, The Art of Worldly Wisdom

"Death is only a door. When one closes, another one opens." ~ David Mitchell, Cloud Atlas

“He who angers you conquers you.” ~ Elizabeth Kenny

Notice how people and events now drain you of energy, then notice how something in you objects to it, then use these principles to keep your own energy for yourself, which is not selfishness. ~ Vernon Howard

"It used to break my heart but now I just accept that they are fools." ~ Anonymous

"We're all on journeys, we're all given lessons. Sometimes when things seem really bad, you have to be able to see the good and learn from it and move forward as graciously as possible."  ~ Liberty Ross

Don't expect everyone to love or even like you...

Live and let live, but be sure to take solace in the poor quality of character in your enemies. When it's mostly the horrible people who are hating you, you must be doing something right. ~ Anonymous

When you recognize that there is a voice in your head that pretends to be you and never stops speaking, you are awakening out of your unconscious identification with the stream of thinking. When you notice that voice, you realize that who you are is not the voice — the thinker — but the one who is aware of it. ~ Eckhart Tolle

Pay no attention to the faults of others, things done or left undone by others. Consider only what by oneself is done or left undone.  -  Buddhist Quote

"Every experience is an opportunity for awakening to the deeper or deepening of consciousness" ~ Jerome

Do not overrate what you have received, nor envy others.- Buddhist Quote

"... he's the boss who tells jokes and waits for you to laugh...or else." ~ James Lipton 

Stress is a Choice

"Most of us create our own hell...It’s a creation in our mind, purely illusory. Our unhappiness is generally a reaction to some outside force. In other words, we allow ourselves to become a victim of a circumstance." ~  Terry A. Gordon, M.D.

http://www.drterrygordon.com/inspirational-resources/stress-is-a-choice/

"Respond to Life flowing through it and around it." ~ Jerry

“... Out of clutter find simplicity; from discord find harmony; in the middle of difficulty lies opportunity." ~ Albert Einstein

"Attempts to change exterior conditions without first altering the inner self are a sad waste of energy. A person can go ahead and switch his residence or profession or friends, but, unless self-change comes first, he will not find lasting satisfaction in them." ~ Vernon Howard

"Old age is an excellent time for outrage. My goal is to say or do at least one outrageous thing every week." ~ Maggie Kuhn

I have learned silence from the talkative, toleration from the intolerant, and kindness from the unkind; yet, strange, I am ungrateful to those teachers. ~Khalil Gibran

"Do everything with a mind that lets go. Do not expect praise or reward." ~ Achaan Chah

"Good people do not need laws to tell them to act responsibly, while bad people will find a way around the laws." ~ Plato

Wherever you are, be there totally. If you find your here and now intolerable and it makes you unhappy, you have three options: remove yourself from the situation, change it, or accept it totally. ~ Eckhart Tolle

"The roots of violence are wealth without work, pleasure without conscience, knowledge without character, commerce without morality, science without humanity, worship without sacrifice, and politics without principals."— Mahatma Gandhi

“No flattery can heal a bad conscience, and no slander can hurt a good one.”

              ~ Thomas Watson

Before you speak, ask yourself, is it kind, is it necessary, is it true, does it improve on the silence? ~ Indian Guru, Sai Baba

"My hesitancy in speech, which was once an annoyance, is now a pleasure. Its greatest benefit has been that it has taught me the economy of words. I have naturally formed the habit of restraining my thoughts... A man of few words will rarely be thoughtless in his speech; he will measure every word. We find so many people impatient to talk... All this talking can hardly be said to be of any benefit to the world. It is so much waste of time."  ~ Mahatma Gandhi 

“Everyone thinks of changing the world, but no one thinks of changing himself.” ― Leo Tolstoy

Simply Spectacular!!!!!!!!! Wish I Could Go.

http://vimeo.com/49643332

ICELANDIA - Time-lapse Visuals from 64° North

One Leg At A Time

One Leg At A Time 

Am 
Some are clever...some are wise... 
F                     G 
some tell the truth...some tell lies-- 
Am 
some see very well...some are blind: 
      F                C            E    7 
we all put our pants on one leg at a time-- 
                    Am 
   one leg at a time. 

Some are celebrities...very famous... 
some are completely anonymous-- 
some have billions...some ain't got a dime: 
we all put our pants on one leg at a time-- 
   one leg at a time. 

Some have all the breaks...some have none... 
some work too much...some have too much fun-- 
some are always looking for a mountain to climb: 
we all put our pants on one leg at a time-- 
   one leg at a time. 

B    F                               G 
R    Some walk barefoot...some wear Italian shoes... 
I                C                    Am 
D    some are usually happy...some have the  blues-- 
G    F                        G 
E    some see a green light...some a stop sign: 
          C                    E            7 
   we all put our pants on one leg at a time-- 
               Am 
   one leg at a time 

~ Harvey Taylor 

THE DREAM OF CONSTANT OKAYNESS

"It’s not impermanence per se, or even knowing we’re going to die, that is the cause of our suffering, the Buddha taught. Rather, it’s our resistance to the fundamental uncertainty of our situation. Our discomfort arises from all of our efforts to put ground under our feet, to realize our dream of constant okayness. When we resist change, it’s called suffering. But when we can completely let go and not struggle against it, when we can embrace the groundlessness of our situation and relax into its dynamic quality, that’s called enlightenment, or awakening to our true nature, to our fundamental goodness. Another word for that is freedom—freedom from struggling against the fundamental ambiguity of being human." ~  Pema Chodron

“The pessimist complains about the wind.
The optimist expects the wind to change.
The leader adjusts the sails.”
- John Maxwell

For The Love Of A Cat

It seems that most people need to experience a great deal of suffering before they will relinquish resistance and accept — before they will forgive. ~ Eckhart Tolle

Speaking of Courage

"To my mind right now, the most courageous among us are those who endure great suffering with little complaint and knowingly face certain death with dignity.  It takes the power of our true nature as Source to overcome human self-preservation instincts and self-pity."

~ Nancy Danison, a near-death experiencer, currently fighting a battle with cancer, who recently lost her brother and mother a week apart.

The “Gratitude Principles” that kept me afloat during that difficult year were as follows:

1. Gratitude is awareness that, as things come to you, they are exactly what you need - be it people, circumstance, or challenges.

2. Worry is the opposite of gratitude; it is the failure to understand that you have been and will continue to be provided for each day.

3. Whenever fear over your future encroaches, stop to observe a tree. Consider how the tree continues to stand tall and grow throughout the various cycles and seasons of its life span.

4. Worry is an action. Gratitude is an action. Both are optional. By choosing gratitude you drive out the space and time for worry.

5. It isn’t hard to do; gratitude is simply noticing the good stuff in your life.

6. What you pay attention to, or notice, tends to expand and grow.

7. Each day brings a multitude of opportunities to feel gratitude and appreciation.

8. When you neglect the action of appreciating, you limit your potential for joy and contentment in the present moment.

9. Worry does not prevent bad things from happening; it only prevents you from accessing joy in this moment.

10. The present moment is the only place where joy and contentment can exist.

 Heidi M. Parton

“Solitude is the furnace of transformation. Without solitude we remain victims of our society and continue to be entangled in the illusions of the false self.” 

~ Henri J. M. Nouwen, Out of Solitude

I cannot believe that the purpose of life is to be just happy. It is to be useful, to be responsible, to be compassionate and above all, to stand for something, to have made some difference that you lived at all. ~ Dr. Antony, Internist Physician

“All truly great thoughts are conceived while walking ” ~ Friedrich Nietzsche

All things share the same breath...

... the beast, the tree, the man... the air shares its spirit with all the life it supports. 
~ Chief Seattle

Life isn't as serious as the mind makes it out to be. ~ Eckhart Tolle

All truth passes through three stages. First, it is ridiculed. Second, it is violently opposed. Third, it is accepted as being self-evident. ~ Arthur Schopenhaur

"When we come to the last moment of this lifetime and we look back across it, the only thing that's going to matter is 'What is the quality of our love?'" - Richard Bach

Your inner purpose is to awaken. It is as simple as that. You share that purpose with every other person on the planet - because it is the purpose of humanity. ~ Eckhart Tolle

Resistance never really succeeds. Controlling the flow of life is impossible. ~ Deepak Chopra

"Enlightenment for a wave in the ocean is the moment the wave realizes that it is water." ~ Thich Nhat Hanh

"Never envy the success of another man. One may not know what they have to do to get it. The grass is not always greener on the other side."

It is necessary to help others, not only in our prayers, but in our daily lives. If we find we cannot help others, the least we can do is to desist from harming them. ~ Dalai Lama

"But, with all your studies, remember this: One minute of experiencing the free flow of life for yourself is worth a thousand hours with books and lectures. You don't want to read the menu; you want to taste the dinner. Knowledge is needed, yes, but let it be the gateway to spaciousness."

  ~  The Mystic Path to Cosmic Power

"The primary cause of unhappiness is never the situation but your thoughts about it." ~ Eckhart Tolle

Dog Carries Puppies Out Of Burning House, Brings Them To Fire Truck

Single-winged seeds of the dandelion plant are blown away by the wind to unknown destinations, not by choice. Life is like that.

Do not judge aimless wandering for there is little control over what the universe brings and all journeys provide expansion. Like the dandelion seed, we can but go where life takes us. Life is part of the same energy that dances with the dandelion.

 "Life is the dancer and you are the dance." ~ Eckhart Tolle

"We all weep in the same language." ~ Unknown

Man's Best Friend

19-year-old Shep being cradled in his father's arms in Lake Superior.  Shep has arthritis and cannot sleep; putting him in water allows him to sleep.

Amazing Dolphins Off Pacific Ocean

http://vimeo.com/47138207

When you are content to be simply yourself and don't compare or compete, everybody will respect you. ~ Lao-tzu

"The more that you read,
the more things you will know.
The more that you learn,
the more places you'll go."
~ Dr. Seuss 

"It takes very little to make you happy if you've had real sadness. It makes you take less for granted, and it's a very enriching experience, really." ~ Frances Shand Kydd, Mother of Princess Diana

Above the Fray, Under the Radar

"The real intelligence of an individual can be measured by the number of things from which he need not escape.  A cosmically mature man does not need to escape the consequences of foolish acts, for he performs none.  He need not escape from social enemies because he dwells above the level of human conflict and hostility.  Anyone not living in a jungle has no need to escape wolves or foxes or anything else."


~ Vernon Howard

I have just three things to teach: simplicity, patience, compassion. These three are your greatest treasures. ~ Lao Tzu

"Life is like an onion. Sometimes you peel off a layer and it brings tears to your eyes. But oh, how sweet the inner core!" ~ Terry Gordon, M.D.

Between stimulus and response there is a space. In that space is our power to choose our response. In our response lies our growth and our freedom. 
~ Viktor Frankl

“Forces beyond your control can take away everything you possess except one thing, your freedom to choose how you will respond to the situation.” ― Viktor E. Frankl

Living in Presence With Your Emotional Pain Body

"There is such a thing as old emotional pain living inside you. It is an accumulation of painful life experience that was not fully faced and accepted in the moment it arose. It leaves behind an energy form of emotional pain. It comes together with other energy forms from other instances, and so after some years you have a "painbody," an energy entity consisting of old emotion." . . . .

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/eckhart-tolle/living-in-presence-with-y_b_753114.html

" . . . the problems and pain of life become the foundation for creating meaning and transformation. You start to see that problems are the instruments of your evolution."
 ~ John Cusack

Wounds of your past...

"You can accept or reject the way you are treated by other people, but until you heal the wounds of your past, you will continue to bleed. You can bandage the bleeding with food, with alcohol, with drugs, with work, with cigarettes, with sex, but eventually, it will all ooze through and stain your life. You must find the strength to open the wounds, stick your hands inside, pull out the core of the pain that is holding you in your past, the memories, and make peace with them."                                                                                                                                                                  

~ Iyanla Vanzant

If you argue with reality, you'll lose every time. ~ Adyashanti

“How is it they live for eons in such harmony—the billions of stars—when most men can barely go a minute without declaring war in their mind against someone they know?” ~ St. Thomas Aquin

There are two ways to be fooled. One is to believe what isn’t true; the other is to refuse to believe what is true. — Søren Kierkegaard (1813-1855)

What a liberation to realize that the “voice in my head” is not who I am. Who am I then? The one who sees that. ~ Eckhart Tolle

"Neither fire nor wind, birth nor death can erase our good deeds" ~ Buddhist Quote

Transcendance

“When adversity comes our way, it is how we respond to that difficulty that determines who we are. Our life experiences become calamities only if we make the conscious decision to make tragedies out of them. We might just as easily choose to view them as opportunities for personal growth.” ~ Dr. Terry Gordon, Cardiologist