Hearing Heartbeats

The Art Of Hearing Heartbeats by Jan-Philipp Sendker

I love how when you allow your life to flow, you receive what you need.  The adage that the teacher comes when the student is ready also comes to mind as the above book came to me recently and I must tell you that I devoured it.  I mean truly ~ I started reading it yesterday and I finished it today!  There are not many times that I am so enthralled with a book that I neglect other things while I feel so compelled to read because it is so special.

A poignant and inspirational love story set in Burma, The Art of Hearing Heartbeats spans the decades between the 1950s and the present. When a successful New York lawyer suddenly disappears without a trace, neither his wife nor his daughter Julia has any idea where he might be…until they find a love letter he wrote many years ago, to a Burmese woman they have never heard of. Intent on solving the mystery and coming to terms with her father’s past, Julia decides to travel to the village where the woman lived. There she uncovers a tale of unimaginable hardship, resilience, and passion that will reaffirm the reader’s belief in the power of love to move mountains. (from Amazon)

On page 244, there came a paragraph which struck a chord in me and perhaps when you read it as well, it may do the same to you.  At times, love is difficult to see in our lives and it takes hearing the heartbeats of our loved ones in order to know that their love exists.  Perhaps you will find solace, love and understanding below as I did.

“Because we see only what we already know.  We project our own capacities `for good as well as evil’ ~ onto the other person.  Then we acknowledge as love primarily those things that correspond to our own image thereof.  We wish to be loved as we ourselves would love.  Any other way makes us uncomfortable.  We respond with doubt and suspicion.  We misinterpret the signs.  We do not understand the language.  We accuse.  We assert that the other person does not love us.  But perhaps he merely loves us in some idiosyncratic way that we fail to recognize.  I hope you will understand what I mean once I have finished my story.”

In the wake of my father’s death and in the healing of my heart as well as watching many friends recently (both in life and blogosphere) deal with the same circumstances, I feel the need to ignite the peace of understanding in our lives ~ hence this post today.   If you are interested, you can click below on the picture of the book and it will bring you to Amazon where you can buy it via kindle or hard cover as you wish.

Shine On!

Keep Loving!

xo

Miss America’s Mastectomy?

http://todayhealth.today.com/_news/2013/01/11/16463704-miss-america-contestant-gets-hate-mail-over-mastectomy-plans?lite

Dear Miss District of Columbia,

You don’t know me, but when I saw the article on you yesterday, I just knew I had to write to you.  Please accept my deepest sympathies as I am so sad that you lost your mom, your grandmother and your great-aunt to breast cancer.  My heart goes out to you for the difficult decisions you have to contemplate at the tender age of 24 in order to reduce your risk of enduring breast cancer.  As an 11 year breast cancer survivor who was diagnosed at age 34, I can’t even begin to imagine how difficult this decision is for you.  My heart goes out to you.

Although my story is different from yours, I wanted to share in hopes of letting you know that there are those of us who understand.  My journey began with a lumpectomy.  Originally I had wanted a bilateral mastectomy instead of the lumpectomy, but my surgeon denied my request, citing his philosophy to save the breasts and keep them intact.   However, when the pathology results revealed there was further breast cancer invasion to the lymph nodes and outer margins, I was scheduled for a second surgery which was to remove only the cancerous breast.  And that’s when I started listening to myself ~ just like you are doing now!

I called my surgeon back and scheduled a double mastectomy even though nobody agreed with me, least of all my surgeon.  But I know me, and as I began listening to me, I  knew in my heart that it was ME who was going to inhabit my body, day in and night out and it was my comfort level which had to have first priority.  There were shady calcifications in the other breast which to me, would eventually lead to breast cancer again, so I wanted that out of the equation in my life!

It’s been a rocky road for me with the reconstructions, but I have never once regretted my decision to take both of my breasts and I can happily tell you that I feel that I am here because I really listened to myself.  I think our bodies know what we need to do and it is just a matter of our listening to our own bodies which helps to heal and not hinder our lives.

I am very proud of you for listening to yourself and to your body and for having the courage to stand up and speak about it.  Please don’t let anyone else’s opinion sway you because it is YOU who has to live in your body everyday and it will be your healing or your fight in the end and nobody else’s.   It is not easy to live without your breasts and it is a painful decision to make ~ however, I stand firmly beside you ~ for it is YOUR rightful decision to make and no one else’s.  Surely your mom, your grandmother and your great aunt proudly applaud your courage as do the rest of us.

I love your quote, ““I’ve been thinking how powerful that might be to have a Miss America say, ‘I might be Miss America but I’m still going to have surgery. I’m going to take control of my own life, my own health care,’ ” she said. “So I guess it’s up to what happens on Saturday night.”

May you continue to be a shining example of  light, of hope  and of taking control of your own life,

your own healthcare to the millions of women and men in the world!

Shine On Miss District of Columbia!

Long May You Reign!

xo

Empower Your Life Easily With Spiritual Laws!

Above is a portrait of an author that you may not have heard of before now.  I found her picture and within 2 minutes, I put her picture in the frame above, typed in her name/dates, pressed save and copied my latest card to my blog.  Literally 5 minutes to do…just wanted to show you that my pictures are always cards that either I’ve made or ones from our catalog.  That’s the fun of SendOutCards…but…

I’m on a roll and I want to take you with me…I’ve learned a lot in my life and I think the time is now for me to share it!  It’s the tidbits, the little and big things that I find that make my life so much easier, happier and can help me when my days are not all sunshine and rainbows or when I need a little pick me up!

I was talking with BAngel recently and I was telling her about a book that I am re-reading for perhaps the 8th time.  It’s easy reading…a pick up and put down book that will delight you, will make you think (but not too hard) and will easily change your perspective!  KAngel gave me the book years ago and I was quickly taken with it.  In fact, it’s one that I reread on a regular basis, much like many reread the Secret.  Have you read the Secret?  It came out back in 2006 in case you missed it!  It’s an easy read and there’s even a dvd for it as well as other books.
        

However, I’m going back to 1925…long before the popular Secret ~ to a time when a woman who was an artist and an metaphysics teacher in New York named Florence Scovel Shinn wrote 4 amazing books.   She had the ability to explain her success principles and how they worked in an entertaining and easy-to-read manner.  By sharing real-life stories she illustrated how positive attitudes and affirmations invariably succeed in making you a “winner” in life and able to control life’s conditions and release abundance through a knowledge of spiritual law.

Florence had quite the following back in her hey day!  In 1925, Florence published “The Game of Life and How to Play It”  herself because she didn’t have a publisher at the time.

Her next book, “Your Word is Your Wand” was published in 1928.

“The Secret Door to Success” was published in 1940 shortly before her death.

The “Power of the Spoken Word” is a compendium of her notes, gathered by a student and published posthumously in 1945.

All 4 books are a wonderful reminder that YOU CAN EMPOWER YOUR LIFE!

So join me ~ for some old time favorites which will change your life in ways you never imagined!

xo