Side By Side

 

It is Easy to pray for someone that you are in alignment with. It is easy to pray for someone whom you view as good. It is easy to pray for them to have good health, happiness, joy, prosperity, and peace. You genuinely want them to thrive.

It is Hard to pray for someone that has views that are the complete opposite of everything that you hold dear. It is hard to pray for someone that you consider to be bad or evil. It is hard to pray for them to have good health, happiness, joy, prosperity, and peace when that person's actions have taken away your good health or happiness or joy or prosperity or peace.

In order to grow. In order to cultivate kindness. In order to cultivate compassion. You must pray for those whom you hate. Pray for them in an unselfish way. Do not pray that they "wake up and see the light". Do not pray that they suddenly change who are they and become the person that you want them to be. Simply pray for them. Simply try to open your heart. Simply wish them to have good health, happiness, joy, prosperity, and peace because they are a human being and living on this planet with you.

It will be hard. It will hurt. It will make you angry. It will make you sad. But sit with that and ask yourself, "Why does this person have the power to make me hurt? Why does this person have the power to make me feel angry or sad?"

Ask yourself... If you hate someone because you feel that they are hateful doesn't your hate make you hateful as well? Hate is Hate. Do not become hate. Become unconditional love.

Do not be kind to someone simply because they are kind to you. Be kind to someone because the nature of your being is kindness.

Do not let people change your core. Be Love. Be Light. Be Kindness. Be Compassion.

I pray that BOTH of the men in this picture have good health, happiness, joy, prosperity and peace. I pray that BOTH of the men in this picture spend this evening sharing a delicious with meal with all of the people that they love most in this world. Namaste

“In this world

Hate never yet dispelled hate

Only love dispels hate

This is the law

Ancient and inexhaustible

You too shall pass away

Knowing this, how can you quarrel”

~Buddha~

Your Flesh Becomes My Flesh

When I dream, I dream in color

Slow walks, tiny kisses

At first I could only see you sick,

As the years passed you came back to life

While I slept.

Thank you for teaching me,

unconditional love and trust.

Thank you for teaching me,

about life and death.

Thank you for teaching me,

how to open myself to this world

and to this life.

Thank you for teaching me,

how to grieve.

Letting go of you, piece by piece 

Step by step

Scattered across this country

Sabino Creek - Monte Sano - Death Valley

Your earthly remains are now gone.

Yet your soul forever lives in mine.

Disconsolate

"Ernest Hemingway once wrote, 'The world is a fine place and worth fighting for.' I agree with the second part." ~Seven~

Blessed Art Thou Amongst Women

"August said, 'Listen to me now, Lily. I'm going to tell you something I want you always to remember, all right?' Her face had grown serious. Intent. Her eyes did not blink. 

'All right,' I said, and I felt some electric slide down my spine. 

'Our Mother Mary is not some magical being out there somewhere, like a fairy godmother. She's not the statue in the parlor. She's something inside of you. Do you understand what I'm telling you?' 

'Our Mother Mary is inside me,' I repeated, not sure that I did. 

'You have to find a mother inside yourself. WE ALL DO. Even if we already have a mother, we still have to find this part of ourselves inside.'" ~Sue Monk Kidd~

New Life

 

Melting

 

Look past the pain and find the beauty that is life.

Why are my eyes more beautiful after I weep?

“People suffer at the thought of being without parents, without food, or without worth. Yet in losing much is gained. And, in gaining much is lost.” ~Lao Tzu~

Fitful Sleep

 

Horrendous. Atrocious. Demonic. 

War! Invasion! Attack!

Changing the words does not change reality.

Cruelty. Insanity. Criminal.

You cannot rationalize with an irrational person.

Bloodshed. Bombings. Destruction.

The possibility of ending all life on earth, on the table.

Unprecedented. Unknown. Undeniable.

Mind grasping at straws in the darkness,

to wrap around the unwrappable.

Is this a dream, or reality.

Murder. Violence. Death.

Gruesome. Grisly. Ghastly.

Destroy the Destroyer before all is Destroyed.

Sagebrush

The peace that you seek is the peace that you will find, stepping into the unknown. Unable to visualize an alternative reality, believing that all that you have seen is normal. Not even knowing what to hope for, having never gleaned serenity in this life. Trusting, that what comes next has to be better than what has come before. Crashing, rock bottom. Rise again, and again. Keep rising. The only way to fail is to stay down. Up! Up, I say! Get up! The command comes from a voice far away, and within. Are you talking to me? Rise again. Leave all the you have known in the bottomless abyss, step forward into the light. Don’t look back… Step by Step. Piece by Piece. Bit by Bit. Let go of your past. Take the burden off, remove your pack. Open it. Look inside. Pull out each item. Hold it. Love it, no matter how much it hurt you. Make friends with everything inside. Go slowly. Be real. Cry, scream, yell… destroy it. And leave it behind. Discard it on the path. Leave no trace of it within you. Keep going. Keep walking, every step leaving another piece behind. Set down your burdens. Empty your pack. Throw the pack into the canyon, hurl it! Carry no more. The only thing you need from this moment forward is all the love and happiness and peace that your hands and heart can hold. Rejoice! 

Pause

 

Pause to Notice Which Way The Wind is Coming From

Healing With Self-Care

"As I often tell my students, the two most important phrases in therapy, as in yoga, are 'Notice that' and 'What happens next?' Once you start approaching your body with curiosity rather than with fear, everything shifts.”  ~Bessel van der Kolk~

“Everybody wants to change the world, but most people can’t even change themselves.” 

~Tolstoy~

Try to heal, try to change:

1. Prayer

2. Meditation 

3. Therapy 

4. Acupuncture 

5. EMDR (release trauma)

6. 12 Step

7. Massage 

8. Journal 

9. Read

10. Create

11. Hypnosis (reprogram)

12. Go To Nature, Every Day

13. Yoga

14. Eat Only Organic Whole Foods, Mostly Plants

15. Exercise 

16. Cultivate Friendships

17. Surrender

18. Prioritize Sleep

19. No Intoxicants

20. Remove Toxic Relationships 

21. Be of Service

22. Get a Good Doctor 

23. Do Not Consume Violent Images/Music

24. Meaningful Work

25. Forgiveness Practice 

26. Sing

27. Dance

28. Find Your Purpose, Follow It

29. Pranayama (breath work)

30. Affirmations 

31. Participate in Community 

32. Grieve Your Losses

33. Communicate Kindly & Honestly, Always

34. “No.” Is A Complete Sentence

35. Establish Boundaries 

“And this above all else, To Thine Own Self Be True!”

 ~Shakespeare~