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August 31, 2010 By 98 Comments

You’re Beautiful!…Yes, YOU!

Claustrofobia / Claustrophobia
Creative Commons License photo credit: * Cati Kaoe *

“Smile. Life is beau­ti­ful, and so are you.” ~ Unknown

What is beau­ti­ful, anyway?

Really.  What is it?

Think about that.  How would you describe the word beau­ti­ful?  (hint: I believe it’s personal)

Okay.

Now, how about YOU?  Look in the mir­ror.  (I’ll wait)  And while you are there…tell your­self that you ARE beautiful!

Because YOU ARE!

We all shine beauty out into this world…in our own unique ways.  Do you see that when you look into the mir­ror?  Do you?  Or do you see some­thing else?

Because it’s easy to have some dis­torted view of what beau­ti­ful really is…

Have you seen it?  Images that define beauty.  Images…that are not you.

Images in mag­a­zines.  Com­par­isons with others…leading to images in your head.  Words that remind you…you are not good enough, not beau­ti­ful enough…not enough.

STOP!

You ARE beau­ti­ful, amaz­ing, spec­tac­u­lar, and filled with your own won­der­ful wisdom!

You really are!

I AM BEAUTIFUL!  <– say that…right now…to YOU.

Each one of us has, within us, our very own beau­ti­ful gift of love and light. 

You are beautiful.

Note: This post was inspired, after read­ing the book “Oper­a­tion Beau­ti­ful”, by Caitlin Boyle.  Caitlin, who also runs the web­site Oper­a­tion Beau­ti­ful, writes about how she began a move­ment that started by sim­ply writ­ing the words “You are beau­ti­ful” on a piece of scrap paper in a pub­lic bath­room, and then hang­ing that note on the mir­ror.  In doing this, two things hap­pened.  She left a won­der­ful mes­sage for some­one else to read (an anony­mous act of car­ing), and she her­self felt uplifted just in doing this.

Three words.

You are beautiful.

Three words that touched two lives (at least) that day…and count­less oth­ers as this move­ment has gained momen­tum (and car­ing love) since then!

Three words.

YOU ARE BEAUTIFUL!

Feel that.  Feel that…deep within you.

What are your three words?  Your five words?  Your sen­tence?  What words can you share — words that will touch both the per­son receiv­ing them…and you?

Go forth!

Be sneaky.  Be obvi­ous.  Have fun.  Laugh.  Shed a few tears. Touch an emo­tion within you.…

My words to you (and to me):

YOU ARE AMAZING!

“When I was 5 years old, my mom always told me that hap­pi­ness was the key to life. When I went to school, they asked me what I wanted to be when I grew up. I wrote down “happy.” They told me I didn’t under­stand the assign­ment and I told them they didn’t under­stand life.” ~ Unknown

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August 29, 2010 By

Sunday Thought For The Day

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August 26, 2010 By

Music For The Soul: All My Days

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Alexi Mur­doch: All My Days

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August 23, 2010 By 54 Comments

Lead The Way

Today, I have a spe­cial guest here, shar­ing his thoughts on how we can all lead our lives with love.  Please wel­come Keith Smith, from Straight Up Liv­ing. 

I’ve known Keith for some time, and always find that he speaks very much from a place of deep per­sonal mean­ing and care.  Today is no excep­tion, as he takes a look at the ways each of us can lead…lead from a place of love.

Please read along, as Keith shares some very won­der­ful thoughts on how we can each make a dif­fer­ence, how we can each shine our own amaz­ing light out into the world, how we can each be love in action…

Lead the Way

 

Leadership
Creative Commons License photo credit: somebody_

“Do not wait for lead­ers; do it alone, per­son to per­son.” ~ Mother Teresa

We can look any­where in the world — from our front door step to across the oceans, and see so much that is wrong, so much that needs to change, and so many peo­ple who live in dishar­mony.  There are bright spots out there too, many in fact, and we see them and think “I wish there were peo­ple around here who would do good things like that!”   I believe there are peo­ple like that every­where, and all they need is to see some­one actu­ally doing good things, then they will hap­pily imi­tate those actions.  If you see work that needs to be done, and love that needs to be shown, I encour­age you to be that per­son who takes the first step.  Lead the way.
 

“How won­der­ful it is that nobody need wait a sin­gle moment before start­ing to improve the world.” ~ Anne Frank

Imag­ine, for a moment, how our world would be affected if we not only loved oth­ers, but showed that love through our actions.  I’m not speak­ing of our fam­i­lies or other loved ones, but of cowork­ers, acquain­tances and com­plete strangers.  It is a beau­ti­ful moment when we come to real­ize that we don’t have to wait for some­one else to begin, or for some orga­ni­za­tion to take action.  We can be an activist for love and lead the way!  The world around you needs lead­ers, and not the sort of leader who is elected by pop­u­lar vote, nor those who aspire to have power and recog­ni­tion.  It needs lead­ers who love, and who are not afraid to show that love.  A true leader is some­one who serves oth­ers self­lessly, and who knows that the path to lead­er­ship is through the gate of ser­vant­hood.  If we are to see our world changed for the good, we must love and serve oth­ers.  Isn’t this what it’s all about?  Doesn’t it all come down to this?
 

“Every­one can be great, because every­body can serve” ~ Mar­tin Luther King, Jr.

There aren’t “spe­cial” qual­i­fi­ca­tions required to be an activist for love.  One has only to pos­sess a gen­uine desire for the high­est good for another per­son, and be will­ing to help them get it.  It may seem like a pipe dream to some, but I imag­ine a world in which every­one is lov­ing and serv­ing oth­ers, every­one being loved and served.  Per­haps the entire world will never real­ize this, but I want to find out just how much of it can be!
 

“It is not what we do, it is how much love we put in the doing.” ~ Mother Teresa

The thought of chang­ing the entire world can be over­whelm­ing, and at first glance, may seem a daunt­ing task.  The good news is that we don’t have to change the entire world, at least not by our­selves.  Begin right where you are!  It doesn’t mat­ter if you live in a city teem­ing with thou­sands of peo­ple, or in a rural com­mu­nity with only a hand­ful of neigh­bors, start there!  Start with the peo­ple near­est you; show them that love is real.  Show them that there is hope and that there are peo­ple in this world who care, that offer a help­ing hand with­out ask­ing for any­thing in return.

You may be won­der­ing what it is that you can do to change the world around you.  There is so much to say about this that it would take vol­umes to even begin an expla­na­tion.  Know this, it does not have to be some grand ges­ture that ends up being reported on CNN.  It has been said that life is made up of “the lit­tle things” and that’s very true.  The same can be said about being an activist for love.  The small­est acts of kind­ness, born out of a lov­ing heart, will echo through eternity.

Here’s an exam­ple from my own life.  Liv­ing just down the street from me and Jenny (Jenny is my most awe­some sig­nif­i­cant other), is a nice older gen­tle­man who is a wid­ower. Recently, I came home and found Jenny prepar­ing a plate of food.  I asked her what she was up to and she told me of this gen­tle­man, whose wife died a few years ago, and who now lived alone with seem­ingly few vis­i­tors.  While walk­ing the dog one evening she engaged him in brief con­ver­sa­tion, dur­ing which he com­mented about never cook­ing because it was only him­self at home.  This strummed Jenny’s heart­strings, and that’s why she was prepar­ing him this plate of home-cooked food.  Jenny, her two boys, and I made the deliv­ery.  The look in this man’s eyes, as he received this act of loving-kindness…well, it nearly makes me cry when I think of it.

That’s just one small exam­ple, and I know so many of you who per­form such acts on a reg­u­lar basis.  It is these seem­ingly small acts that are chang­ing the world around you.  It is these small acts that make you an activist for love, a true leader. Besides, there is noth­ing small about caus­ing a per­son to feel cared for, hope­ful, impor­tant and loved. 

Keep up with Keith by sub­scrib­ing to his blog, and fol­low­ing him on Twit­ter.

Filed Under: Guest Posts, Inspiration Tagged With: ,
August 22, 2010 By

Sunday Thought For The Day

Free Girl Spraying Water (unedited) Creative Commons
Creative Commons License photo credit: Pink Sher­bet Photography

“Be silly. Be hon­est. Be kind.” ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson

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August 17, 2010 By 93 Comments

The Moment

Sunset, Bass Harbor Light House
Creative Commons License photo credit: ice­momo

“To fin­ish the moment, to find the journey’s end in every step of the road, to live the great­est num­ber of good hours is wis­dom.” ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson

We tra­verse through this life we are liv­ing.  It is a jour­ney for each of us.  A unique and very per­sonal jour­ney, one that touches upon the paths our lives travel.  No two paths are the same, each of us liv­ing a per­sonal expe­ri­ence with our life. 

A per­sonal expe­ri­ence with YOUR life.  Are you being with that experience?

This Trail of Life

Our world is filled with much nat­ural beauty.  Part of that con­nec­tion to soul, for me, is in the expe­ri­enc­ing of this beauty.  One could say that if we look deeply enough, there is beauty all around.  I step out­side and expe­ri­ence the grass between my toes.  I watch as a leaf gen­tly falls from a mighty oak. The wind blows against my face.  The sun warms my skin…my soul…

A recent expe­ri­ence with nature was a mov­ing expe­ri­ence.  And the thing is — had I known what lie ahead of me, I would have chose a dif­fer­ent path.

The scene:  Aca­dia National Park, Maine.  July 2010.

Day­break ush­ered in a beau­ti­ful day (per­haps they all are, in there very own spe­cial way).  This par­tic­u­lar day brought sun­shine, some light puffy clouds, and a cool­ness amongst the ris­ing warmth of the sun.  A beau­ti­ful day for choos­ing a trail into the expan­sive wilder­ness of our nat­ural world.

…and a trail on this jour­ney through life…

The Bee­hive Trail.  Marked as a stren­u­ous hike.  How “stren­u­ous” could this really be, though?

It all began eas­ily enough…a rocky path into the woods.

Then we took a turn.  A turn toward some­thing much dif­fer­ent than just a “hike in the woods”…hik­ing straight up the side of a rock cliff.  In fact, that cliff ended up being a gran­ite peak reach­ing 500 feet up.  A path maybe two feet wide, snaking up the side of a ver­ti­cal rock face.  Use of hands became as impor­tant as feet, as the trail nar­rowed and involved grasp­ing rocks to con­tinue the climb up. Five hun­dred feet on a flat sur­face seems so short.  Five hun­dred feet, straight up…something alto­gether different.

Per­haps my hik­ing expe­ri­ence is lim­ited.  Per­haps there are more chal­leng­ing hikes out there in this world. 

Per­haps this truly was a chal­leng­ing hike.

What I do know:  That expe­ri­ence, the hik­ing of this trail, was being in the moment like noth­ing I’ve expe­ri­enced in some time.  I clung to each step I was tak­ing.  I noticed the sweat drip­ping from my fore­head.  I felt the for­ma­tion of the rocks.  I focused on “the moment”.

And in that — a les­son.  I can say I’m “in the moment” at any time dur­ing my days.  Am I, though?  Am I really in that moment. 

Fully.

Or am I waver­ing in and out of that moment (like this very moment right now). 

You see…our life is made up of moments.  Mil­lions of moments.  Strung together, they become the jour­ney that is our life.

Our ONE LIFE (that I am aware of). 

So, think about this.  You are in your ONE LIFE, your one very pre­cious life.  Now.

“For a long time it had seemed to me that life was about to begin — real life.  But there was always some obsta­cle in the way.  Some­thing to be got through first, some unfin­ished busi­ness, time still to be served, a debt to be paid.  Then life would begin.  At last it dawned on me that these obsta­cles were my life.”  ~ Fr. Alfred D’Souza

A life that is made up of moments.  Some are big and grand moments.  Some are more ordi­nary moments.  Ordinary…except they are not.  They are not ordi­nary because they are com­pletely YOURS. 

How are you choos­ing to “be” within the moments that make up your life?  In ALL of the moments…

Reflect­ing Back

As I reflect now upon the moments that were my time on that Bee­hive Trail, I fully know that I am not always there…in that place of full con­nec­tion with the moment.  The time invested in tra­vers­ing this trail was a life les­son in what full con­nec­tion is all about.  That’s not always a sim­ple place to “be”, in the ordi­nary moments that make up our days.  Per­haps in those moments that offer some­thing extra­or­di­nary, this is easier. 

What about all those other moments that make up our day, our week, our life?

“Try not. Do or do not, there is no try.” ~ Yoda

Do this…in your life. Really expe­ri­ence the moment.  Each moment…even just for a few minutes.

Get­ting out of bed.  Pour­ing that first cup of cof­fee.  Answer­ing the phone.  Stopped in traf­fic.  Mak­ing din­ner.  Pay­ing your elec­tric bill.  Play­ing with your kids.  Tak­ing a walk with a friend.

A hike up the side of a steep cliff.  Water ski­ing for the first time.  The loss of a loved one.  Hear­ing the words “You’ve got can­cer”.  Achiev­ing a life-long dream.

These moments are YOUR LIFE.  Let these moments become you.  Expe­ri­ence them, as they hap­pen.  Moments that are the high­est of highs.  Moments that are the low­est of lows.  And every­thing in between. 

Your life.

“Carpe diem! Rejoice while you are alive; enjoy the day; live life to the fullest; make the most of what you have. It is later than you think.” ~ Horace

Filed Under: Inspiration, Life Tagged With: ,
August 15, 2010 By

Sunday Thought For The Day


Creative Commons License photo credit: Rayani Melo

When a child loves you for a long, long time …
REALLY loves you,
then you become Real.
Gen­er­ally, by the time you are real,
most of your hair has been loved off,
and your eyes drop out
and you get loose in the joints
and very shabby,
But these things don’t mat­ter at all,
because once you are real,
you can’t be ugly,
except to peo­ple who don’t understand.

~ The Vel­veteen Rab­bit, Margery Williams

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August 13, 2010 By

Music For The Soul: Down Below

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Johannes Stankowski:  Down Below

 

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August 10, 2010 By 74 Comments

On Fields Pond

“
“We carry with us the won­ders, we seek  with­out us.” ~ Sir Thomas Browne

To step away, to see with dif­fer­ent eyes. 

Per­haps that’s it.  To see “you” in a whole new light.  To con­nect to some­thing deeper, some­thing more meaningful.

What is it that really draws us to visit new places, or to return to that place…that place of spe­cial mean­ing?  There is a world out there to see, to expe­ri­ence, to know.  And yet, within all that…

…there is another journey…

The jour­ney into that deep and mag­nif­i­cent chasm of “you”. 

A world to explore.  A world right within your own being. 

On Fields Pond.

“A lake is the landscape’s most beau­ti­ful and expres­sive fea­ture.  It is Earth’s eye; look­ing into which the beholder mea­sures the depth of his own nature.” ~ Henry David Thoreau

I live today, not to seek wealth by com­mon means.  I live today, in the wealth of expe­ri­ences, of moments, of love, of being.

Wednes­day, July 21.  Still­ness.  A set­tled fog upon the pond.  Morn­ing sun, ris­ing in the east.  A loon calls from deep within the fog.  An eagle soars overhead. 

And this is right and good.  The pond and I.

It calls my name.  With kayak, I travel into the pond, into that fog.

And stop. 

I let that all envelop me.  The beauty of this day, this place, these crea­tures, nature, our world.

That call of the loon.  How is it possible?

The flight of that eagle.  What gives her wings?

The fish that swim.  The fog that lifts.  The plants that grow.  The frogs that croak.  The water that moves.  The moon that sets.  The sun that rises.

All of this, a cohe­sive one.  A one with each other…together….

All of this, enter­ing my soul as I sit there, stilled, within that fog-covered pond.

We are one…connected at our soul.

And still, we are each so unique and truly amaz­ing.  Like that loon, or the lift­ing fog.

Do I see this every day?

No, not the lift­ing fog. 

Do I really see the unique and incred­i­ble being I am…not just on July 21…every day.

Do you?

Do you see that in you?  How amaz­ingly incred­i­ble you are!  YOU!  Flow­ing from your being, this spe­cial thing that makes you shine… (because you really do!)

Oh…maybe you don’t always see that.  It’s so easy to let the dis­trac­tions of life over­shadow the amaz­ing within you.  It’s there, though.  In each of us.  In every crea­ture, great and small. 

Today, choose to believe…believe in you…

Shine brightly…and live…

And as I reflect back, I’m drawn to that loon…on a still and peace­ful daybreak…

…on Fields Pond…

Filed Under: Inspiration, Life Tagged With: ,
August 8, 2010 By

Sunday Thought For The Day

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