International Sunday

God bless, it’s Sunday!  But this Sunday has something special to it!  It’s 02/02/2020 which internationally is not only the same date, but it’s also a palindrome!  I was reading an article that explained that the last one was 11/11/111 and I certainly wasn’t around then to celebrate that one!

I love numbers and find significance in them.  Often I see the same ones repeatedly and then go to look up their meanings which often make sense to me.  The number one is special to me as is 3.  Coincidentally, Sunday is the 33rd day of the year and there will be 333 days remaining…how about that for interesting?

Also because of the different ways in which countries write out the date, 02/02/2020 will look the same internationally which I thought was a fun fact to share.  So no matter where you are in the world, when you write Sunday’s date, we will all write it the same numerically.  Could we ask for a day of peace and connection because of this phenomena?  Wouldn’t that be a wondrous miracle?

Alas, we can only dream of world peace, but at least we’ll all be on the same date/page for once.  Whether you are relaxing on Sunday, attending Mass or watching the Superbowl, I hope you have a day full of joy and peace!

Shine On!

xo

 

Practice Turning People Into Trees

When you go out into the woods and you look at the trees,

you see all these different trees. 

And some of them are bent, and some of them are straight,

and some of them are evergreens, and some of them are whatever. 

And you look at the tree and you allow it. 

You see why it is the way it is. 

You sort of understand that it didn’t get enough light, and so it turned that way. 

And you don’t get all emotional about it.  You just allow it.  You appreciate the tree.

  The minute you get near humans, you lose all that. 

And you are constantly saying, “You’re too this, or I’m too this.” 

That judging mind comes in. 

And so I practice turning people into trees. 

Which means appreciating them just the way they are. 

– Ram Dass

I love this quote that I found today and so I had to share it with you.  I think it’s such an easy way for us to all get along, isn’t it?  In this world, connection and harmony are most important, as is appreciation of all people.  It’s inherent in us to enjoy the beauty of Mother Nature, so why not enjoy the beauty of each other?  Instead of condemnation or criticism, let’s employ Ram Dass’ practice of looking at people as trees and appreciating them.  Isn’t it time we spread more light and love in this world?  I can see your heartlights sparkling dear friends!

Shine On!

xo

Which Wolf Do You Feed?

I’ve seen this Native American parable before, but I think it bears repeating, so here it goes:

A grandfather is talking with his grandson and he says there are two wolves inside of us which are always at war with each other. 

One of them is a good wolf which represents things like kindness, bravery and love. The other is a bad wolf, which represents things like greed, hatred and fear.

The grandson stops and thinks about it for a second then he looks up at his grandfather and says, “Grandfather, which one wins?”

The grandfather quietly replies, “The one you feed.”

 

We can use this parable in our daily life by which story we feed our souls, especially when life gets challenging and we feel like we are alone.  We can become depressed and angry for the circumstances we find ourselves in or we can feed ourselves and the situation with love, kindness and forgiveness and move beyond the hurt.

Just like the parable suggests,

it’s all in the wolf that you choose to feed.

It is that simple dear friends.  Come on, hold my hand.  Let’s feed the good wolf together and make this world a better place for us all!

Shine On!

xo

 

 

Memorial Day

“True heroism is remarkably sober, very undramatic.  It is not the urge to surpass all others at whatever cost, but the urge to serve others at whatever cost.”

– Arthur Ashe

I shan’t wish you a Happy Memorial Day for as a friend who is in the military reminded me, it isn’t a happy day.  It isn’t about picnics, nor getting a day off from work.  It is about remembrance for those who gave the ultimate sacrifice for all of us to live in this country.  It is about those who survive, but still have limitations from their service time.  It is about serving others because you believe in our nation.  It is about honoring those who have passed.

So today please take a moment to send peace and love to all those who have passed and to those who have given of themselves to serve our country.  It saddens me that we have lost so many souls in a collection of unrest in our world.  Let’s say a prayer for peace today and remember all those for whom this day is in remembrance.

Shine On!

xo

 

Let Us Love

since that is all

our hearts were made for.

– St. Therese of Lisieux 

St. Therese of Lisieux was affectionately called ‘The Little Flower’ and roses are her signature, hence the photo above which I do not remember where I found it originally, but I send gratitude to whomever shot the photo of the roses.

If you want to read more about her, please click  here!

Just another small reminder today to use our hearts for what they are made for, LOVE!

Shine your heartlight!

Shine On!

xo

The Peace Prayer of St. Francis of Assisi

“Make me a channel of your peace,
Where there is hatred let me bring your love,
Where there is injury your pardon Lord,
And where there’s doubt true faith in you.

Make me a channel of your peace,
Where there’s despair in life, let me bring hope,
Where there is darkness, only light,
And where there’s sadness, ever joy.

O Master grant that I may never seek,
So much to be consoled as to console,
To be understood as to understand,
To be loved as to love with all my soul.

Make me a channel of your peace,
It is in pardoning that we are pardoned,
In giving of ourselves that we receive.
And in dying that we’re born to eternal life.

O Master grant that I may never seek,
So much to be consoled as to console,
To be understood as to understand,
And to love as to love with all my soul.

Make me a channel of your peace,
It is in pardoning that we are pardoned,
In giving of ourselves that we receive.
And in dying that we’re born to eternal life.

Make me a channel of your peace.”

~ St. Francis of Assisi

Shine your heartlights.  Our world needs peace.

Shine On!

xo

Crossing Linear Thinking with Spherical Thinking

What do you get when you cross a linear thinker and a spherical thinker together?

OPPORTUNITY!

You are right, you get opportunity!

The opportunity:

to stretch,

to focus,

to enrich,

to collaborate,

and to make this world a better place!

There is no better way of thinking.  The fact is, we need both sets of learners and thinkers in this world to enrich our lives with the dimensions that only our differences unite.  In collaborating different thinking styles, we enrich our world with new knowledge, power and a fresh take on peace, love and ambiguity.  We allow a bit of wiggle room to be embraced so that we can meet our goals of peace, love, freedom and happiness for all who dwell on our planet Earth.  Without this collaboration, we exist not understanding part of the population and adding dysfunction to an already chaotic world because we do not try to understand each other.  Instead, we keep our blinders on or we turn around spherically incessantly without focus so that we can no longer be productive or connect with others on a level which benefits each party.  Time and time again we watch as nations clash, people clash, parties disagree and the chaotic misunderstandings continue to grow with each opposing faction holding strong their fervent pleas without stepping back for a moment to assess the entire situation.

Imagine a world where we would keep our integrity, shine our heart lights and still be able to meet peacefully with all other human beings no matter the situation ~ to have Linear Thinkers and Spherical Thinkers unite and work together towards a common goal with understanding, collaboration and peace-filled sanctity ~ to believe that we could work towards the higher good of man in a way in which nobody gets trod upon, nobody’s defensive and there is no cheating the system.  Wowsza.  Only in my dreams.

But dreams can become a reality.  We’ve seen it often enough that dreams can prove to move mountains and change lives and better mankind.  So why can’t world peace be something?  Why is it that the will of man to compete, to have better, stronger, faster, slow down our progress because we live with blinders on in a such a fast-paced world?  Why is it that we’ve developed the habit of watching reality shows in unbelievable situations that do not raise us up nor raise up those involved, but instead tend to force the willingness to dig into the ugly, the evil, and increase the base feelings of jealousy, anger, resentment, competitiveness?

Where is the light that shines? 

Where is the sun that warms the entire Earth equally just as the Universe intended? 

Why can’t we embrace our differences, share our points of view and enrich our lives by each taking a bit of what the other has to offer?  Not to make us all the same, mind you.  Oh no, that’s not what I’m proposing!  I want us all to live tolerant and understanding and even applauding our differences, yet embracing our own worthiness and uniqueness with a heart light that shines brightly in the world.  It’s like having a million stars right here on planet Earth who shine, each with their own unique heart light which beams with love and light.

I see your heart lights shining ~ each a special beam of loving light that is uniquely yours!

You are loved for being you!

Shine On!

xo

Peace Be With You

“Peace is not something you wish for; it’s something you make,

something you do, something you are,

and something you give away.”  ~  Robert Fulghum

May peace be with you!

Shine On!

xo

Hello Daily Prompt!

Today’s Daily Prompt asks which Superpower we would choose ~ and I’m torn between the ability to speak and understand any language or the ability to make any 2 people agree with each other.  As synchronicity would have it, I already had written today’s post about World Hello Day so perhaps that qualifies my decision to get BOTH superpowers! 🙂

This morning I found out that yesterday was the 41st annual World Hello Day ~ did you know?  From the website, here I found out that anyone can participate simply by greeting 10 people!  This demonstrates the importance of personal communication for preserving peace which is something that I think many of us strive for in our lives and through our blogs.  To reach out to others in order to connect is what I strive for myself.  How about you?

I thought I’d share even if I am a day late ~ it certainly can’t hurt!  Perhaps you will feel inspired to say hello to 10 people today ~  in real life and perhaps via blogging as well!  Imagine how much good we could do if we all just said hello to someone else!  Baby steps, that’s what it takes to reach world peace…are you willing to say hello?  Please feel free to share this post as well ~ we could all use a kind greeting today!

I found a bunch of ways to say hello here.   I can’t guarantee that it’s correct, but I thought it was a fun way to start a Friday!

Mirëdita (to our Albanian friends)

Ahalan (to our Arabic speaking friends)

Parev (to our Armenian friends)

Zdravei / Zdrasti (to our Bulgarian friends)

Nei Ho (to our Cantonese speaking Chinese friends)

Dobrý den / Ahoj (to our Czech friends)

Goddag (to our Danish friends)

Goede dag, Hallo (to our Dutch friends)

Hello (to our English friends)

Saluton (to our Esperanto speaking friends)

Hei (to our Finnish friends)

Bonjour (to our French friends)

Guten Tag (to our German friends)

Gia’sou (to our Greek friends)

Aloha (to our Hawaiian friends)

Shalom (to our Hebrew speaking friends)

Namaste (to our Hindi speaking friends)

Jó napot (to our Hungarian friends)

Halló / Góðan daginn (to our Icelandic friends)

Halo (to our Indonesian friends)

Aksunai / Qanuipit? (to our Inuit friends)

Dia dhuit (to our Irish friends)

Salve / Ciao (to our Italian friends)

Kon-nichiwa (to our Japanese friends)

An-nyong Ha-se-yo (to our Korean friends)

Salve / Salvëte (to our Latin speaking ancient Roman friends)

Ni hao (to our Mandarin speaking Chinese friends)

Hallo (to our Norwegian friends)

Dzien’ dobry (to our Polish friends)

Olá (to our Portuguese friends)

Bunã ziua (to our Romanian friends)

Zdravstvuyte (to our Russian friends)

Hola (to our Spanish speaking friends)

Jambo / Hujambo (to our Swahili friends)

Hej (to our Swedish friends)

Sa-wat-dee (to our Thai friends)

Merhaba / Selam (to our Turkish friends)

Vitayu (to our Ukrainian friends)

Xin chào (to our Vietnamese friends)

Hylo; Sut Mae? (to our Welsh friends)

Sholem Aleychem (to our Yiddish speaking friends)

Sawubona (to our Zulu speaking friends)

As a global event World Hello Day joins local participation in a global expression of peace.  So that you know you are in good company, 31 winners of the Nobel Peace Prize are among the people who have realized World Hello Day’s value as an instrument for preserving peace and as an occasion that makes it possible for anyone in the world to contribute to the process of creating peace.

So what are you waiting for?

HELLO TO ALL!

Shine On!

xo

Daily Prompt: A Bird, a Plane, You!

http://dailypost.wordpress.com/2013/11/22/daily-prompt-power/

You get to choose one superpower. Pick one of these, and explain your choice:

• the ability to speak and understand any language
• the ability to travel through time
• the ability to make any two people agree with each other

Photographers, artists, poets: show us POWER.