Benjamin Franklin Was Right!

“While we may not be able to control all that happens to us,

we can control what happens inside us.”

—Benjamin Franklin

Just a little pick me up reminder for us all ~ Happy Thursday to all of you!

Shine On!

xo

How Do You See A Rose?

The optimist sees the rose and not its thorns;
the pessimist stares at the thorns, oblivious to the rose.
Kahlil Gibran

A grainy cell photo of a rose I once received, but still, a sweet rose which meant so much to me at the time.  I love roses.  I always have, ever since I was a little girl.  There’s something about fresh flowers which touches my heart every time.

I am an optimist and I see the beauty in a rose ~ I acknowledge the thorns, but they don’t take away the beauty and perfection of the rose herself.  I think people are like roses as well.  Some are thornier than others.  Some look perfect, yet have no fragrance.  Some are fragrant, but like the photo above, aren’t perfectly colored.  Me, I like the fragrant ones who aren’t perfectly colored ~ I guess I like a little imperfection in myself.  I think it adds a bit of charm and character.

Who wants to be one of the crowd instead of calmly loving our own uniqueness?

I think that’s the key to a peaceful life ~ accepting ourselves and others for our whole rose and not wishing that the other person were less thorny or more fragrant or more perfectly formed with uniform color.  To accept the rose for who she is and not to find her less attractive for her flaws.  Instead, to hold her gently in your heart with loving kindness, patience and understanding.

I want you to know that like the rose, I see your beauty, flaws and all.  I cherish your uniqueness.  I applaud your fragrance and your thorns.  I will hold your friendship in my heart and it will linger long after we have withered and I will wait for you to bloom again.

Shine On!

xo

Although you are far away Dad

Although you are far away on Father’s Day you’re still here

in my heart in the very warmest way.

I miss my Dad.  My heart and eyes well up with tearful emotion today.  I can’t seem to help it nor control it since yesterday.  And others around me who have not lost their fathers, don’t understand.  I know I didn’t understand until he passed away.  It’s one of those that you don’t seem to really ‘get it’ until you’ve experienced it yourself.  There’s no amount of people telling you how hard or different it is to lose a parent that explains it as well as enduring it on your own.  And then, when it happens, you understand.

Dad and I didn’t always get along and we didn’t understand each other ~ or maybe I should say we understood each other too well, so that’s why we didn’t get along. 🙂   One of my Mom and Sissy’s favorite jabs is to say I am like my Dad.  And truth be told, I am, in many ways.  This is the 2nd Father’s Day without him and I can now say that with a lopsided smile so I guess I am healing.

My Dad was unusual.  He was adored by many and during his time on Earth, he helped many people who were hurting.  Since his passing I have heard stories of how ‘just by being him,’ he helped people get back on their feet who had fallen down, as well as being there for many people’s deaths when there was nobody around.  His powerful life force and connection to others still lingers in those who remain here on Earth.  He was quirky and downright bossy to all.  He did things his way or you could head to the highway.  He was uber-organized, had the most amazing memory for time, dates, people and delighted in telling you the entire ancestry of whomever he was talking about because he knew them so well.  He was an old-time businessman who had clients for generations on end and could help with family matters because he knew the intricate relationships between family members and how to help accomplish what was needed.  One client in particular had nobody left, having outlived her entire family.  He called her every single morning to talk with her until she passed and then quietly made sure that she was buried properly with people in attendance so that she wouldn’t be alone.

On the flip side, he had a mean streak too, cursing up a storm and demanding that things been done the way he wanted them to be done.  On the whole, I guess I’d admit, he was human.  I harshly judged his foibles when I was hurting.  I couldn’t see past the ‘sins’ that so plainly sat in my view.  Childhood memories to present knowledge yawned before me, an ugly litany of what he did, what he said and how we was.  This went on for a long time during his lifetime and after his death.  What I didn’t realize was how much I was hurting and as always, I’d stayed quiet, never daring to reveal how I felt and what I knew.  Instead, I simmered my anger, spewing my sadness once it was too late to speak with him.

Time passed.  Tears flowed.  I tired of feeling so badly, but couldn’t find the way to forgive.  And then I found a wondrous book which changed by life.  It’s a child’s book which I repeatedly read slowly and then it finally dawned on me how I was able to begin the healing process by forgiveness.  The Little Soul and the Sun by Neale Donald Walsch changed me by beginning the healing process in my life.  After I read it, I could see that many times what I ‘saw plainly through my eyes’ as him belittling me, hurting me intentionally etc, was nothing more than his teaching me to be strong and to be blessed.  There were so many a-ha moments after I took the book’s story to heart that they are too numerous to mention, but just as powerful and life-changing to me.

Dad taught me about forgiveness and how to accept others the way we want to be accepted.  He taught me about love, about the power of prayer and emphasized keeping in touch with others.  He showed me the gift of reaching out hand and heart to people in a healing connection.  By example, my Dad left a legacy not of financial solvency, but of unknown numbers of hearts which he touched, he helped and with whom he connected.

So today Dad, no matter how far away you are, you are finally here in my heart, in the warmest way.  I salute you.  I honor your memory and I am grateful that you were mine.

Shine On!

xo

 

 

 

Now you are perfect, just the way you are!

Today is the perfect time

to celebrate the gift of you to this world!

Let’s be clear, I’m not looking for perfection.  Not for myself nor anyone else in the vicinity.  You can choose to look for whatever you wish.  I will tell you though, that I think you are perfect, just the way you are ~ the way you really are ~ that soulful you.  The one deep inside beneath all the rubble of your outside persona.  You know what I’m talking about, don’t you?  The inner being who inhabits the human body called YOU.

That YOU is perfect.  That YOU is love.  Your soul is perfect.

Without having to do or to be anything or anyone more than you already are, if you could just sit quietly and allow your loving self to just merge with life, you would find that you are perfect.  I think that’s what being in the now is all about really.

The willingness to find that open space in the sea of now, to…

sit with it,

be with it,

merge for a time,

embrace, it,

coddle it in our hearts,

bestow love on it,

be grateful in it,

see it,

experience the light in it,

hold the now carefully in our breath,

excite within it,

be pleased with it,

stand by it,

open up to it,

fully believe in it,

tap into it,

open ourselves up in it,

experience our heart beating in it,

experience our breathe in it,

breathe into it,

smile,

love to feel,

touch,

embrace,

feel the embrace of it,

feel the hands of the clock of time stop for a moment,

indulge in the stillness of it,

cast our minds into it,

feel the whoosh of heaven and earth through our bodies in it,

shine our inner light in it,

gaze outwards at the now,

merge with now,

to celebrate the gift of you!

Shine On!

xo