photographer unknown to me

New Thoughts
"As a single footstep will not make a path on the earth, so a single thought will not make a pathway in my mind. To make a deep physical path, I walk again and again. To make a deep mental path, I need to think over and over the kind of thoughts I wish to dominate my life."
~Henry David Thoreau

Today's Affirmation
I cultivate thoughts of peace, joy, harmony, happiness and love.

photo from http://thumbs.dreamstime.com/thumb

"The brick walls are not there to keep us out; the brick walls are there to give us a chance to show how badly we want something."
~Randy Pausch

Randy Pausch was 47 years old when he died from pancreatic cancer. He was, as the Independent of London put it, "the dying man who taught America how to live." His book, The Last Lecture, is an international best-seller and it offers many wonderful lessons about life.

Randy Pausch's "last lecture" was delivered in September 2007, at Carnegie Mellon University, where he taught computer science. The lecture began with him standing before a screen beaming down chilling CT images of tumors in his liver, under the title...The Elephant in the Room. He then said to a stunned audience, "I have about 6 months to live." He said, "I'm really in good shape, probably better shape than most of you," ... dropping to the floor to do push-ups.

He went on to say, "I'm dying and I'm having fun, and I'm going to keep having fun every day I have left." He talked about his childhood dreams and what they had taught him about life. He said, "If you live your life the right way, the karma will take care of itself...your dreams will come to you."

Randy Pausch really was a dying man who has taught America how to live.

He died on July 25, 2008, but his wisdom, his passion, and his attitude are lasting sources of inspiration for all of us.

This story came in my Simple Truths email today and it is a good reminder of why we have the brick walls, stumbling blocks or hardships in our lives. If you haven't seen Randy's last lecture here is a link to it. It is truly inspiring. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ji5_MqicxSo. Expect to shed a few tears too.
Sending you all hope, love and a belief that miracles can happen...

photographer unknown to me

"Walk in peace. Be undisturbed and unperturbed: all is in God's plan.
Never doubt this. Bring God into my life, and I will see miracles."
~White Eagle

Thoughts

"Whether I think I can or think Ican't - I am right."
~Henry Ford

Today's Affirmation
My thoughts are gentle, powerful and creative.

Today's Meditation

Dear God, Mother, Father, Spirit,
Thoughts of
sweetness
incredible joy
warm days
completion
friendship
passion
openness
acceptance
purpose
intention
Your presence
and love
fill my mind and shape my world.

Thank You.

Life is not measured by the number of breaths we take, but by the moments that take our breath away ~author unknown

No matter how many sunsets I see, they still take my breath away. The photo in this post is taken on Lake Erie. I chose it because it reminds me of the sunsets we see on our family reunions at Lake Erie. We have the priviledge of staying right on the Lake Erie, in Westfield NY. Going to see the nightly sunset is top on all of our lists our list each night. Well the adult members of our family at least.
Have a wonderful week!!

Elder's Meditation of the Day

"Every thing or living being that exists in this world, be it trees, flowers, birds, grasses, rocks, soil of the earth, or human beings, has its unique manner of existence - its essence, its spirit that makes it what it is. That is what is meant by connectedness."
~ Larry P. Aitken, CHIPPEWA

Scientists are finally realizing what the Elders have taught for thousands of years - everything is connected. Because everything is interconnected, whatever you do to any one thing, you do to everything. If you poison any part of the earth, the poison eventually affects everything else. If you poison the plants, the birds will eat the plants, which poisons the birds. The birds are eaten by humans which poisons the humans. The humans will have babies who could be deformed because the plants were poisoned. We must learn to live in harmony with the earth. We must learn to think good things. Every good thought is felt by everything, which causes everything to be happy.


Creator, let my thoughts only be good thoughts

Every house where love abides
And friendship is a guest,
Is surely home, and home sweet home
For there the heart can rest.
~Henry Van Dyke

I wanted to choose a quote about coming home to honor our newest member of our furry family. Since Tuesday we had a most adorable black and white Tuxedo stray cat trying to move in through our red back door. Wednesday night we resisted, but Thursday day we couldn't resist any longer. He just acted like he knew this was his home. So we moved him into a large wire dog kennel with all the amenities, until Friday's vet check. He ate and ate and then curled up in a ball and slept abd slept. Finally he had a full belly and was safe and warm. My husband named him Who. The rest of our menagerie has welcomed him, some with more opened arms than others, but there is a sense of peasce and that we did the right thing. Who has found his forever home and his heart can rest now.

http://cbertel.files.wordpress.com/2009/09/bee-honeycomb.jpg

Kind words are like a honeycomb, sweetness to the soul and health to the body ~author unknown

and this Rumi...

Honeycomb
My best days are when I melt
Love streams from me
Warm, timeless, honey
From your invisible comb

- Jalal-ud-Din Rumi

photo from an email

“The day is done, and the darkness, Falls from the wings of Night, As a feather is wafted downward, From an eagle in his flight”
~ Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

http://images.fanpop.com/images/image_uploads/WOLVES-wolves-592571_1024_768.jpg

Elder's Meditation of the Day

"No individual or group can block another individual's path or change it against what fits his nature and his purpose. It might be done for a time, but in the end it won't work out."

--Rolling Thunder, CHEROKEE

Every person is born for a purpose. We may know our purpose very early in our lives, or it may take us some time. Very often we need to experience many things before our purpose is clear to us. Sometimes we pick our goals to please others. Sometimes others pick our goals to make themselves happy. Often this makes us unhappy. We need to pray to the Creator and ask Him what our purpose is. When we live outside our purpose, our path is full of obstacles. When we live inside our purpose, our path is smooth. When we are aligned to our purpose, we are happy and content.


Great Spirit, whisper to me, in terms I can understand, what You would have me do and I will do it.

photo from The Daily OM

Surrender
“Surrender is the key that unlocks the door to my journey”
~Cheryl Richardson

Today's Affirmation
I surrender to the power of God moving in my life.

Today's Meditation
Dear God, Mother, Father, Spirit,
You are always at work in my life.
Your guiding spirit nudges me toward the high road.
When I find myself struggling with a problem, I stop myself.
I release any challenging situations to You, and I listen for a divine answer.
I surrender to the answers that You supply, and I move forward in love.
Thank You,

Happy Valentines Day!

photographer unknown by me

Loving is not just looking at each other, it's looking in the same direction.
~Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, Wind, Sand, and Stars, 1939

photo by Shasta Charles taken off her back deck in Newville PA

Elder's Meditation of the Day

"I wanted to feel, smell, hear and see, but not see with my eyes and my mind only. I wanted to see with CANTE ISTA - the eye of the heart."
--Lame Deer, LAKOTA

Why is it that some people seem to have peace of mind every day? How do some people remain so darn positive? How do you stay positive if you work or live in a negative environment? How is it that two people can observe the same difficult situation, but one person is upset about it, and other isn't? Two people experiencing the same situation react entirely different. If each morning we ask the Creator to allow us to see with His understanding and with His love, we will open a new way of "seeing". This eye of the heart is a free gift given to us if we ask for it in prayer each day.


Grandfather, allow me to see the world and all things You have made through "the eye of my heart."

Elder's Meditation of the Day

"The spirit still has something for us to discover - an herb, a sprig, a flower - a very small flower, maybe you can spend a long time in its contemplation, thinking about it."
--Lame Deer, LAKOTA

The world today is about hurry up! Get there faster! Work harder, produce more, hurry up, eat quickly, be on time, don't get stressed- headaches, conflict, drink to calm down, go to training on stress management, time management - STOP! STOP! STOP! STOP! STOP! STOP! STOP! Go spend 5 minutes with a flower or a plant. Look at it - think about it - look at its beauty, smell it, close your eyes and smell it again. Touch it; touch with your eyes closed. Listen to it; listen to it with your eyed closed. Slow your mind down. Think about the little things. Now close your eyes and pray.


Great Spirit, this feeling of calmness that I have, let me have it all day long.

Sweet Silence
"The first fall of snow is not only an event, it is a magical event. We go to bed in one kind of a world and wake up in another quite different, and if this is not enchantment then where is it to be found?"
~J. B. Priestley

Today's Affirmation
I take advantage of every opportunity to experience the peace of God.

Today's Meditation

Holy Spirit, Mother, Father, God,
Thank You for this snowy day and the opportunities for peace that it contains.
Our world is wrapped in a thick blanket of quiet.
For a while, we abandon our schedules and take the time to be still.
We open ourselves to the wonder and magic of this moment.
Thank You for speaking to us through the silence and beauty of falling snow.

Elder's Meditation of the Day

"It can be 100 degrees in the shade one afternoon and suddenly there comes a storm with hailstones as big as golf balls, the prairie is all white and your teeth chatter. That's good - a reminder that you are just a small particle of nature, not so powerful as you think."
--Lame Deer, LAKOTA

No event, no relationship, no joy, no sadness, no situation ever stays the same. Every setback is only temporary. Even setbacks change. Why? Because the Great Spirit designed the world to be constantly changing. We are not the center of the universe, we are but a small part. The whole is constantly changing, and we as humans are constantly participating in the change. We have two choices, to resist change or participate in the change. Every change can be resisted, and every change can be made in cooperation. What will I choose today, resistance or cooperation?


Great Spirit, teach me to make cooperative changes.

Aware

"There are no little events in life, those I think of no consequence may be full of fate,
and it is at my own risk if I neglect the acquaintances and opportunities that seem to be casually offered, and of small importance."
~Amelia E. Barr

Today's Affirmation
My mind and heart are open and receptive.

Today's Meditation

Dear God, Mother, Father, Spirit,
It is easy to see how or where I missed an opportunity.
A job that was offered and declined or a casual remark that was not recognized for the possibility it contained.
Perhaps I overlooked a detail or failed to follow up on something I thought was insignificant that turned out to be pivotal.
Often, I held so tightly to my image of how things "should" be that I missed the wonder that was in front of me.
If I focus at what I think might have been; I sacrifice here and now.
So, I release the past and whatever thoughts I hold of missing anything.
I am in the perfect place at the absolutely perfect time for me.
I have learned to learn.
I have learned to be open and receptive.
I have learned to be watchful; knowing that the flow of divine ideas never stops.
I have come to believe that You are not finished with me yet.
I feel Your presence pouring into and through me as I open myself completely and surrender.
In the sweet communion of silence, I spread my heart and mind like a canvas and wait to see what picture emerges from Your brush strokes.
I am aware of the masterpiece that You are creating in me now.

Thank You

Oh, Great Spirit, whose voice I hear in the winds
Whose breath gives life to the world, hear me I come to you
As one of your many children
I am small and weak, I need your strength and wisdom
May I walk in beauty
Make my eyes ever behold the red and purple sunset
Make my hands respect the things you have made And my ears... sharp to your voice
Make me wise so that I may know the things you have taught your children
The lessons you have written in every leaf and rock make me strong!
Not to be superior to my brothers, but to fight my greatest enemy,myself!

*** A Sioux Prayer Translated by Chief Yellow Lark– 1887

Three Mourning Doves in a Mulberry Tree, pretty close to a partridge in a pear tree.

"Do not wish to be anything but what you are, and try to be that perfectly."
-St. Francis de Sales

“Faith does not rely on knowing anything with certainty.
It requires only the courage to accept that whatever happens is for the highest good.”
by Dan Millman

photographer unknown by me

Be Glad

Drunk on the milky light of the stars
Anyone staggers. If I seem mad
I am. And if you see that
You are too. Be glad.
~Jalal-ud-Din Rumi

My Unconquerable Soul

“In the depths of winter, I discovered within me, an invincible summer.”
~Albert Camus

Today's Affirmation
I am a child of Light.

Today's Meditation
Dear God, Mother, Father, Spirit of the Universe,
Your presence within is greater than I had previously dared to imagine.
I relax into this knowing and I am filled with peace.
No matter how things appear in the outer world, I shall not be moved.
In You I am safe and whole.
You are the Life that fills me with joy and feeds my soul.
You are the Light that shines away all darkness.
May my life be witness to Your love.

Thank you

photographer unknown to me

Elder's Meditation of the Day

"Even the seasons form a great circle in their changing, and always come back again to where they were. The life of a man is a circle from childhood to childhood and so it is everything where power moves."
--Black Elk (Hehaka sapa), OGLALA SIOUX

In these modern times it is difficult to understand why we should think circles and seasons. People and society are always moving, through distance, over yonder, going here and going there - hurry up, grow up, be successful, climb the ladder of success, etc. The Elders tell us to slow down, to be patient, pray and think circles. Circle thinking applies to relationships, business and every area of our lives. We need to teach our awareness to look for seasons and cycles.


My Creator, teach me the seasons of growth.

photo from the Daily OM

Wisdom is, finding the balance between head and heart, upper chakras and lower chakras, earth and sky, masculine and feminine, joy and sorrow, yin and yang, energy and rest, human and divine, cosmos and psyche."
~Matthew Fox

I am back from a wonderful trip to Pennsylvania to reconnect with my long lost childhood friend, Julie. A few of the miracles that occurred were, I rode a horse for an hour trail ride in 19 degree temps for an hour and I felt only a little bit sore afterwards, I drove 7.5 hours each way and I wasn't even very stiff when I got out of the car, I slept in a strange bed fine(slept being the key word here) and best of all my friend and I picked up like we had never grown apart. Life is good!!!