Love Is All You Need . . .*

. . . unless it's more postage:

I braved the monsoon to the postbox to send a little somethin' to Chiro-sister.

*You see, Mum, it's a Beatles reference. From a song. :-)

Quote-of-the-Day: Grandparents

Love doesn't make the world go round. Love is what makes the ride worthwhile.

~Franklin P. Jones

What Season Are You In?

Today is so frosty & c-o-l-d. COLD. I have to venture out into the world today. Have to? I get to. Summer seems so far away, but memories of it keep me warm. As does my toasty wood stove. So much of what we experience in this world is in our own world in our head. It goes through our filters and we decide how to interpret it.

Victor Frankl, was a Holocaust survivor and a psychiatrist. In his book, Man's Search for Meaning, he describes a day of digging in the frozen ground with the rest of the prisoners. It was backbreaking work under inhumane conditions. But in his mind he was with his wife feeling absolute LOVE. And warmth. He never saw her again, and he wouldn't know for years that she had already been exterminated, but for that moment, she was there with him. What he says in his book is that when all else is taken away from us: creature comforts, materials things, our family, and our freedom we still have the ability to choose your attitude and what you focus on.

The other thing is this: strip everything away and there is still love. You have the ability to feel it now at anytime. It is who we are at our core, it is what we are made up of. No matter what the circumstances, no matter what season you're in or how far away it seems, there is always LOVE. All it takes is the sincere prayer to open your heart to it and invite it in. As Rumi says,

LOVE is the religion in me.

Reiki LOVE

You will find as you look back upon your life

that the moments when you have really lived

are the moments when you have done things

in the spirit of LOVE. ~William Drummond

I taught a Reiki class yesterday, my first since last year. The above quote is from chiro-sister Ruthie's shirt. I looked over and the first thing I noticed was that it was inside out. And then she explained that it was so the quote would show on her back. I love that! The class was AWESOME! They were all massage therapists and they spoke Bruce Lipton fluently--natch, having been students of Ruthie's! So it was great to have my Bruce references and arm-flailing appreciated. They were also experienced Reiki practitioners and brought their own insights and intuitive hits to the class. I forget how much I LOVE teaching until I do it again! THANKS Ruthie for the invitation and the opportunity. And many THANKS to the class for making it so much FUN!

I am sitting in my brother's v. quiet house. He and SIL arrived Saturday night. Ruthie and I sat at the gate watching the Goo Goo Dolls 4th of July concert on her DVD player while we waited. I made a sign to hold up that said, "Atlasta + Wifey." [Side note here: this is a family joke. In Mum's photo album for us, she wrote: At last! A boy! after me & Ruth. So we call him Atlasta. Hahaha] Just as we finished watching the concert, (It ROCKS!!!) I said we should stand up with the sign and look like we'd been waiting for hours. Just as we stood up, there was SIL walking toward us. Hahaha We got in around 2 a.m.-ish and D & SIL woke up the girls. It was SO SWEET! OK, we're home. Wake up...now go back to sleep. Mum was going to leave first thing Sun. a.m. but D said to look at his photos first. He rigged up a slide show on the TV. I watched the first coupla hours but then had to get ready for my Reiki class. He had 958 photos--AWESOME!!!

Drinking Whole System EEP Like Water

Ignatia is the homeopathic remedy for grief. Whole System EEP is Dr. Brimhall's homepathic remedy for anxiety, depression, energy loss, emotional balance. Barkley used to be so scared of thunder storms she would shake and her teeth would chatter. EEP calmed her right down. It's like a high-powered Rescue Remedy. I have been taking both and Thurssday afternoon I grabbed Everyday Soul by Bradford Keeney off the bookcase and headed for a long bath.

I've put flower essences in my bath before, so I did the same with the Ignatia & EEP. Yes, I literally took a bath in them. I kept opening the book randomly and came to the following passages:

One of the most powerful guides to heartful seeing is to carry an awareness of the inevitability of everyone’s death. You and everyone you meet will die someday and remembering this fact can be a strong wake-up call to feel differently about how we relate to one another. Given that our time on earth is precious and limited, how can we afford not to see through our hearts? Is there time to waste on heartless observation when our time with one another is so brief?
Open your heart to others so they may learn to see you through their heart. When two hearts see one another, each is given a spiritual blessing. This is the closest we get to seeing through the eyes of our Creator. As you learn to see this way, you will find yourself falling in love with the world.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

The purest and truest spiritual life begins with accepting everything that comes to you as a gift and teaching. As Mother Teresa reminds us, this includes sickness and all possible misfortunes. The most difficult times sometimes bring the most important teachings. Each lesson is another step toward learning how to accept what comes to us as material to be transformed into the grace of spiritual light.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Everything in life is a teacher with a lesson that is perfectly made for you during the time in which it is received. We are never given more than we can bear. Grace, the divine presence and generosity of spirit, befalls those whose hands are open to receive it. The work of spirit is toward making graceful outcomes and blessing all that we receive in life. It steps away from seeing problems that need to be solved and difficulties that must be surmounted. Spirituality embraces all of life, its upsides and downsides, and does so with the serenity and calmness of a still but powerful compassion for the whole creation.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Spirit touches and moves our lives through the mystery of love and relationship. Holding both ecstasy and suffering, a spirited soul embraces all the longings of the heart. As Rumi poetically captures this:

Listen to the moan of a dog for its master.
That whining is the connection.
There are love dogs
No one knows the names of.
Give your life to be one of them.

And then I turned to a story (slightly paraphrased for you) about a dog. A DOG. [Cue boo-hooing with violins]

An old, crippled dog approached an elderly man in a park. This man had never experienced love in his entire life. The dog says that he has 3 days left to live, and more than anything he wants to experience being loved by his master. "I want this so much that I have learned how to speak so someone could hear my request. I have searched the world for a person who would understand my situation, and I think you understand what it is not to have love in your life...You don't have to really love me. It would be fine for you to pretend that you love me." So they spend the next 3 days together and the old man gives him the best food and takes him special places in the park and lets him sleep with him at night while he rubbed his belly and sings songs.

At the end of the 3 days, the dog says, "You have truly cared for me and I am most grateful. You have enabled me to open my heart. For the first time I know what it feels like to love someone." The old man began weeping and replied, "I, too, have learned to love and have never felt more alive." At that moment a shaft of bright white light entered the old man's apartment window and transformed itself into a staircase to the sky. A voice from above was heard by all the neighbors, "Come, both of you, unto my house. You have prepared the ground for your hearts to enter the kingdom of light." The old man with the dog by his side walked all the way up that staircase of light and disappeared into the clouds.

Dogs put the UN in unconditional LOVE and open our hearts in a way that only they can do.

Ornament Thursday is Back!

We had such a good time that we're doing a monthly version of artistic expression until we get to December when we'll be posting all-things-ornamenty on Thursdays. So, this month is "Love Story." I was asked to do these two paintings for a skincare line created by a Bulgarian homeopathic acupuncturist. She wanted to include something of her Bulgarian heritage and asked me to use the Cyrillic alphabet. No problem! And she wanted to include the word love in the packaging. Except that the cyrillic version of love is...kinda ugly. She wanted a flower and she wanted 5 petals to represent the Chinese acupuncture five elements. So we settled on taking 3 letters and spelling out L-U-V. The center of the flower is the first letter, then the next letter in the center of each petal, and then each petal is the last letter.

I drew it out on paper and then primed each canvas board (8 X 10). I used graphite paper to trace the image onto the canvas and acrylic paints (mostly Americana from Michael's). I used sparkle varnish where it's sparkley and I used sparkley dimentional paint to outline the flower.

LINKS to other Ornament Gals:

Ornament Thursday - The Main Page

Art Bead Scene The designers at Art Bead Scene have two jewelry love stories for you! Elaine Ray links together a little love with her ceramic heart components while Melanie Brooks Lukacs tells a little tale of romance in a Gothic Garden http://artbeadscene.blogspot.com/2008/01/ornament-thursday-two-love-stories.html
Cindy Gimbrone Beads Cindy's Love Story is about a hook and beadshttp://lampworkdiva.blogspot.com/2008/01/my-love-story-spirals-n-shay.html
Earthenwood Studio Bead Blog What is sweeter than a mix CD for your Valentine? A yummy gift box in which to present it, filled with candy themed decorations, including a cute bracelet and cell phone charm!http://earthenwood-beads.blogspot.com/2008/01/ornament-thursday-sweet-sounds.html
Heart mobile painted paper pulp heartshttp://pomly.livejournal.com/43236.html
Humblebeads Heather shares her favorite bracelet design in a Valentine inspired color scheme.http://humblebeads.blogspot.com/2008/01/ornament-thursday-love-story.html
Jennifer Heynen of Jangles Jennifer has made a fun "Ornament" for her neck that looks good enought to eat.http://jenniferjangles.blogspot.com/2008/01/ornament-thursday.html
Joolz by Lisa This "Love Story" will last all year long! Lisa shares how beads and books work together.http://lisaliddy.wordpress.com/2008/01/30/ornament-thursday-love-story/
Katie's Beading Blog Here's a happy little heart project for you - use it to embellish a bag or your jeans, or as inspiration for a necklace or bracelet.http://katiehacker.blogspot.com/2008/01/happy-hearts.html
Kriss Cramer - Art Interrupted Grow Love! Nuture and care for your loved ones every day. Use this heartfelt book, you can make yourself, to remind you of all the love you have to give.http://art-interrupted.blogspot.com/
Linda Augsburg at Make It Mine magazine Linda's love story project is a dress she embellished by stenciling dancers and a big band along the hem. Read why and learn how to do it yourself on the Make It Mine blog.http://cs.makeitminemag.com/mimcs/blogs/makeitmine/archive/2008/01/31/ornament-thursday-january-love-story.aspx
Michelle's Love Story... The band is getting back together again! Ornament Thursday celebrates the story of love...http://fromichelle.blogspot.com/2008/01/love-story-by-ornament-thursday.html
Savvy Crafter Candie's love affair with big rings continue...she's making her own now! Love Stories and more over at the Savvy Crafter! XOXO! http://candiecooper.typepad.com/savvycrafter/2008/01/heartsy-artsy-i.html
Snap out of it, Jean! There's beading to be done! Ah, Love ! This satirical creation of Jean's immortalizes certain women's profound affecton for their ... handbags!!!http://prettykittydogmoonjewelry.blogspot.com/2008/01/love-story.html
Strands of Beads Love speaks many languages. Learn how to say "I Love You" in an untraditional way with Melissa Lee's whimsical jewelry project.http://strandsofbeads.blogspot.com/2008/01/ornament-thursday-language-of-love.html
SwellDesigner Alexa shares with you her truly swell and punny Valentines!http://www.swelldesigner.blogspot.com
The Impatient Blogger Love is in the air at The Impatient Blogger! Margot shares two vintage inspired jewelry designs that are oozing with romance...in a good way!

LOVE from the Road

I've been traveling with John Morgan this week in WV for his seminars. I was walking down to breakfast in our hotel and there was a sleepy man making his way back to his room holding a danish and coffee. For a moment I saw him as a little boy shuffling into the kitchen in crumpled jammies and his mother asking him if he wanted jelly on his toast. What a sweet little boy you were, I thought as I passed him. And here he is, middle-aged. How quickly life happens.

I have a dear friend whose mother has passed away. Even though it was expected after an illness, and she has a v. strong spiritual foundation, there's something so permanent about death. It's inevitable, we're all going to do it one day. Still. It makes me think about the intangibles and the lovelies and the sweetnesses. Someone once said that you don't lose anyone or anything, they are being returned to where they came from. From that perspective, all we can really say is thank you for however much time we were given for the priviledge of having them in our lives.

A couple years ago I was waiting for a friend on a bench outside the tea room in Shepherdstown. It was a perfect spring day; clear and sunny but not too warm. At the time I was reading Bruce Lipton's Biology of Belief. He was explaining how our souls are broadcasting a signal like a TV station, and our bodies are like a TV. When the TV dies, we are still broadcasting our signal, we just don't have the physical vehicle to express it. As I was reading this, I thought about my friend Dar who had cancer, and whom I just adored. Just then a breeze blew through the pear tree above me, and showered me with pear blossoms. It was the most GLORIOUS sensation. So sweet. I felt a love for her wrap around me and time stopped and eternity was a second. But I knew. I knew she was going to die, and soon. That experience of absolute presence overwhelmed my grief and sadness. My heart was so full of gratitude for all that she meant to me and still does. Because after everything, what's left is the LOVE. And when we allow that to expand and fill our hearts, there is room for nothing else.

The picture above is from a hardware store across the street from where I stayed in Huntington. We get reminders everywhere. LOVE, :-) H.

Quote-of-the-Day

"And I saw the river

over which every soul must pass

to reach the kingdom of heaven

and the name of that river was suffering:~

and I saw the boat

which carries souls across the river

and the name of that boat was

LOVE."

~Saint John of the Cross

P.S. Margot Potter has posted links to all those who are participating in Ornament Thursdays. There are some really inspired, awesome, talented gals in this group! Go see.