Is no news, good news?

I am turning off the news more often than not these days. The only legitimate reason I find to read or look at whats happening in the world beyond my own backyard, is to determine who is in need of my prayers the most. What is up with that?

A beautiful place in Australia.

School taught me that an informed citizen was a responsible citizen. I can remember devouring newspapers and news magazines. Journalism was a fascinating subject to me and was practiced by many excellent organizations.

Today, I believe there are very few organizations that allow their writers to be journalists. We are being informed by a generation of writers who were not given the time or experiences to develop the skills to truly investigate a story. In a culture that often values speed over accuracy; profits over integrity; our writers rehash what they are told. Told by messengers who work on carefully crafting the message of their masters, governments, corporations or [fill in the organization of your choice].

We have devalued journalists so thoroughly that the organizations that used to develop and pay them are disappearing. Rapidly. Our Fourth Estate is dying a not so slow death.

A Tribute to my Father

Posted at Gratefully Yours, Lon.

Gratefully Yours, Lon

The other day I began to write a piece about gratitude. It ended up being about Angels and Teachers. I realized as I kept remembering more people from my past to express my gratitude to;  it was likely I would meet more people to thank in the future; so a separate space should be created. So welcome to Gratefully Yours, Lon.

Beauty and Truth: All You Ever Need To Know

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. This saying has been traced back to the 3^rd century BC, with many writers including Shakespeare restating it in their works. Its current form is attributed to Margaret Wolfe Hungerford from her novel Molly Brown published in 1878.

I believe that not only beauty, but truth are found in the eye of the beholder. We simply can't see things in anyway, but the way we see them. 

My world is colored uniquely by the way I've experienced the world, and what I've made those experiences mean about, and to me. It's a circular construct that continually evolves. My truth ain't growing no moss.

Be a Queen! (Bee) or I Am One with the Cannoli

Someone told me once that if I felt huge resistance ( fear ) to taking a particular path, I might as well start walking down it now, or I would simply have to face it later.

Damn them.

THE JOURNEY:

Nothing scares me more than to imagine, a life lived alone. Living without companionship, intimacy, love, family or friends. It might appear to some, that is exactly where I am putting myself. Alone, in plain sight. Maybe...

I've started down this path a few times before in my life, every time going a little further, but in the end always turning back. Why? 

Umm...cuz I got scared maybe?

On this journey, there is no one but myself to talk to, listen to, or reason with. ( I know I made all of these rules up, but somehow they were important for me to learn, to own. ) There are only my opinions, my voice, my actions, and my wants and desires.  I am the one responsible for, loving and respecting who I am.  Yeah I know, cue “I've Gotta Be Me”.

Trust me I've had HUGE resistance to the idea that I'm all I've got. Are you kidding me? Look at the evidence. I'm pretty sure that a fourth grader could build a convincing case that I am a disaster in progress!

OH, OH, HE THINKS HE'S GOD

I Stand on the Side of Love. Join me.

There’s no bad reason to love someone. Do you love people only because they love you back?

Enjoy this beautiful piece at Thinking Too Hard.

The End of Fear

I woke from a dream, knowing that I was born in the presence of pure love. Clear that I was that presence. That I was, I am, at my core, pure love.

I am pure love. You are pure love.

We are pure love.

Though born knowing, I opened my eyes, saw my parents and decided that love was coming from them, not seeing it was a reflection....forgetting what I knew with certainty, a brief moment before.

Every Day a Little Death

People tend to be uncomfortable with endings, because every ending is a little death. That's why in many languages, the word for "good-bye" means "see you again".

Whenever an experience comes to an end -- a gathering of friends, a vacation, your children leaving home -- you die a little death. a "form" that appeared in your consciousness as that experience dissolves. Often this leaves behind a feeling of emptiness that most people try hard not to feel, not to face.


If you can learn to accept and even welcome the ending in your life, you may find that the feeling of emptiness that initially felt uncomfortable turns into a sense of inner spaciousness that is deeply peaceful.

By learning to die daily in this way, you open yourself to Life.

Eckhart Tolle, Stillness Speaks (New World Library, Novato, California and Namaste Publishing, Vancouver, Canada 2003), 106-107. 

It Isn't All About Me?

In conversation today with a lovely new old friend, I learned the impact that my father's death had on a mutual friend, who lived up the street from me.  In my own myopic view of the world I've never considered how other people were effected.  It is after all, all about me.

If you asked me the date that my father died I would hesitate, struggling to do the math in my head before I came up with the right year and maybe month.  The day... I could guess. 

My friend up the street has the date down cold, it was his father's birthday, and in the storm that injured my parents, he watched giant trees topple like twigs as the roof was blown off of his home.  Quite a memorable evening I imagine.  The next morning he heard that my father had been killed.

He remembers my father taking him and me to a Fathers and Sons function at school the year before; when his father couldn't get off work.  I don't remember this at all.  He does.  I envy him that memory, even if it isn't necessarily a happy one for him.

On the other hand, I now know I was with my dad and my friend when I learned about the birds and the bees.  That makes me smile.  Thank you for sharing your memory with me.

I wonder who else in my life has been profoundly impacted by a shared experience, that I've only considered from my point of view?

Light more light.

Namaste.