Thoughtful Thursday - Is love disappearing in this world?

Friendship is the last vestige of love

Where souls meet and greet in comfort

Where acceptance reigns supreme

Where barriers crumble down

And acceptance flows

Like fall’s high tide

On a cool

Windy

Day

I read a book a couple of years ago on love. The author included a list of questions to ask yourself on love and your relationship to love. The last question was: do you think love is growing or disappearing in the world. I asked a lot of people this question because I believed most saw the world as I did - full of loving people, daily growing in love. Imagine my surprise when most said there is less love in this world and that what there is of it is slipping steadily away.

I wonder how that can be possible when we as a people are made from love, when the world is filled daily with examples of love, when that which gives us life and lets us live and move and be is the highest love and we are all from that source of love. Nevertheless, that ... it seems ... is where many people reside; they anticipate there is no love and then wait to be proven right.

But those of us with friendships can change that.  Friendship is the last vestige of love. When we enter into a friendship, we create a source of love. When we do things together, spend time together; that source of love expands. And as our friendships grow, the source of love grows.

Those of us with true, lasting, 'Anam Cara', 'querencia' friendships give the world an energy boost of high love. That energy boost serves as a way to fill the world with love faster and wider. Why? It takes love to find love. Friendship is a willingness to open one's heart and soul to another. By opening our hearts and souls to our friends we prepare ourselves to open our hearts and souls to the world.

Imagine a world filled with people who have open hearts and souls. That is a world filled with love. It can happen. Love can increase in this world by increasing in us. So, let's all be grateful for our friends, for friendships. They are a source of this world's love, and an avenue to a world filled with loving people.

And like the water's of the ocean, may our friendships always ebb and flow in union with the highest source of love; bringing love to the shores of the hearts of all.

Let's all go make friends.

-- written by asd --

sista girls cafe - friends for life

sistagirlscafe.blogspot.com

photograph from Isobel Diamond; She Knows

Thoughtful Thursday - so... for real... we can make a difference

i had plans for today's post. i had been thinking about it for days and was eager. then yesterday happened and i had to share. so today's post will have to wait. i hope what i share instead resonates with you. 

i have to tell you... i do not listen to the news. i do not read the news. i spend most of my day looking at beautiful things and listening to beautiful music. i surround myself, in my home, with beautiful things. it is not just that i enjoy beautiful things - i am trying to keep evil at bay. it may sound crazy but i really believe what you put out there - in the world, is what you get. so i put out beauty... and goodness... and love. i hope to get a lot of that back.

it does work with me, but as with everything on my journey, it is a hard thing to do. it is hard to let go of my attitudes, perceptions, experiences and focus on just the good, the loving, and the beautiful. it is hard to focus on the light to keep away the darkness. my friends say i wear rose-colored glasses. i don't think that is true, but i do believe if we each try to seek the goodness in others first and try to be kind, we would all be part of a love movement that would bring the people of this world closer to the world it was created to be... a world of love. but as with letting go, that is hard.

yesterday, i and the people i am in a learning group with,  went out to feed people who without our kindness would not eat that night. But we could each spend only seven dollars. and we had to feed a lot of people in two hours. you would be surprised at some of the wonderfully outrageous things we did to make our seven dollars go far. in the end we feed real food - bread, water, pizza and more, to over two hundred people.

and... we didn't just feed them, we talked to them, exchanged names, smiled and connected.  we were not a lot of people. we didn't have a lot of money. we didn't have a lot of time. we didn't have... wait... you know what? it doesn't matter what we didn't have. what matters is what we had. we had each other. we had the desire to make a difference. we had the commitment to help and love. we had the willingness to get what we wanted done without worrying about how we did it.

i am telling you -  love is growing, spirituality is spreading, self-introspection is becoming popular and more people are trying to live lives of kindness, love and peace.

so today, i am lifting up those who are going through hard, sad, tumultuous times. today i am embracing all those who live outrageously in the hopes of touching, moving and inspiring others. today i am blessing those without and holding them close.

i am holding my heart in my hand and letting the glow of my soul fill my heart with radiant love. and then i am going to step outdoors and hold my heart up to the heavens. i believe the radiant glow of my heart's loving kindness will reach out to the hearts and souls of others. i believe it will touch others and they will wish to spread this loving kindness to others as well.

i believe we should all hold our hearts in our hands and let the glow of our souls fill our hearts with radiant love. and then step outdoors and hold our heart up to the heavens. i believe the radiant glow of all of our hearts... of our loving kindness, will reach out to the hearts and souls of others. if enough of us share loving kindness, perhaps next week we will start to hear stories of overcoming and health, of peace and joy, of compassion and goodness. perhaps we will hear stories of love and kindness and we will know that loving kindness does abound in this world of ours.

if you read this and are moved to comment... please tell me and my friends .... you know where the love is... it is within each and every one of us!!! each and every one of us can make a difference

-- written by asd --

Monday Meditation

Happy Monday

susanne van hulst

Quiet the mind and the soul will speak.

Ma Jaya Sati Bhagavita

Let’s try a loving meditation

sit as comfortable and as upright as possible.

rest your hands open and uncross your legs

drop your shoulders and slightly tuck in your chin

breath through your nose

smile... yes... put a smile on your face

keep your eye focused on something just above you or half close them... or... if you like close them all the way... whichever feels the most comfortable for you.

now take slow, deep breaths and tell yourself to relax with each breath.

pay attention to your breaths as you tell each part of your body to relax from your head down to your feet.

when you are relaxed repeat to yourself "I am loving, I open myself to love, life is love"

say it to yourself with each breath

As you say this, bring your attention to a spot about three inches to the left of your chest area and inward toward the center of your body (your core). Imagine that you have a heart at the center of that place inside of you. Every time you breathe out it gets larger and larger. With every exhalation, the image becomes more defined. The heart becomes larger and more solid. Have fun with this image. Paint it your favorite color,  name it, add fragrance to it. Imagine yourself hugging it. This heart is an internal focus point, a place to a place to gather your thoughts, a place to love yourself.

As your heart expands, feel the love that is within spread throughout your entire body. See this love, feel this love, touch this love. As you let your mind rest on the image of expanding love, you will become a conduit for love-energy, for love-forces. The power of love flows through you and you have access to it at any time. You can always return to this when you feel unloved or hurt. This powerful love-energy sustains you as you play in life. If there are areas of your body that need a little extra love, make sure to spend a little extra time filling those areas with love.

When you are finished, tell yourself that life will be more enjoyable and you will be more joyful if you smile and relax just a little bit more. Then rest a moment and relax in the space of your meditation. When you are ready, get up and return to your day. Every now and then, throughout the day,  stop, take three deep breaths and say "I am loving, I open myself to love, life is love."

-- written by asd --

What is it we need?

Don't. Let. Go.

We all seem to want money, power, wealth, and success to some degree or another. We work hard to achieve these, get it and then find that we are still not satisfied - and we wonder why. Often we are not happy because what we want is not necessarily what we need. We must figure out what it is we NeeD in our lives. When what we want matches what we need: we will truly be happy.

What is it most of us both want and need? To be loved. But not JUST to be LoVeD. We want…need to be LoVeD by someone To OuR VERY CORE. We need a companion. But not just any companion; we need a companion for life, a true companion. We need a friend and a soul mate. We need someone special in our life; someone with whom we can share everything. We need someone with whom we can share our heart and our soul. We need someone we can be intimate with; someone who loves us with complete conviction and honesty. Some who loves us even with our imperfections. We need someone we can trust - almost blindly, for the rest of our lives.

The reality is we don’t always get what we want and worse we don’t always get what we need.  So, many of us give up and resign ourselves to spending a lonely life or at least a life alone. But that is not the answer. You must choose to embrace love with open arms whenever it comes to you and touches your heart and soul…in whatever form it appears - the love of family, the love of friends, the love of a mate, the love of a partner. That is the only way to get more. And, in the spirit of love; if someone chooses to love you with all that they have… DON'T. LET. GO.

I am open to giving and receiving loves

and as such,

I give and receive love with open arms and heart.

-- written by asd --

Sista Girls Cafe - Friends for Life

Sistagirlscafe.blogspot.com