WHOLEHEARTEDNESS

Wholeheartedness is a precious gift, but no one can actually give it to you. You have to find the path that has heart and then walk it impeccably....It's like someone laughing in your ear, challenging you to figure out what to do when you don't know what to do.

PEMA CHÖDRÖN(gratefulness.org)

Smile more

 

 

It doesn't take much--it can be just giving a smile. The world would be a much better place if everyone smiled more.

Saint Mother Teresa(gratefulness.org)



Elder Neglect

" Eventually she will die the way all old people in America die... from humiliation, incontinence, boredom, and neglect.
... because I am an American, I let her go by degrees and abandoned by her family.
... I barely have the courage to visit her. I am the architect of my grandmother's final days on earth, and became of a singular absence of nerve and grace, I have helped to make them squalid, unbearable, and despairing." Pat Conroy, PRINCE OF TIDES.

Man in the Mirror

Man in the Mirror (2012 Remaster)

Michael Jackson

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Lyrics

I’m gonna make a change, for once in my life
It’s gonna feel real good, gonna make a difference
Gonna make it right...

As I turn up the collar on my favorite winter coat
This wind is blowin’ my mind
I see the kids in the street, with not enough to eat
Who am I, to be blind? Pretending not to see their needs
A summer’s disregard, a broken bottle top
And a one man’s soul
They follow each other on the wind ya’ know
’Cause they got nowhere to go
That’s why I want you to know

I’m starting with the man in the mirror
I’m asking him to change his ways
And no message could have been any clearer
If you wanna make the world a better place
(If you wanna make the world a better place)
Take a look at yourself, and then make a change
(Take a look at yourself, and then make a change)
(Na na na, na na na, na na, na nah)

I’ve been a victim of a selfish kind of love
It’s time that I realize
That there are some with no home, not a nickel
to loan
Could it be really me, pretending that they’re
not alone?

A willow deeply scarred, somebody’s broken heart
And a washed-out dream
(Washed-out dream)
They follow the pattern on the wind, ya’ see
’Cause they got no place to be
That’s why I’m starting with me
(Starting with me!)

I’m starting with the man in the mirror
(Ooh!)
I’m asking him to change his ways
(Ooh!)
And no message could have been any clearer
If you wanna make the world a better place
(If you wanna make the world a better place)
Take a look at yourself and then make a change
(Take a look at yourself and then make a change)

I’m starting with the man in the mirror
(Ooh!)
I’m asking him to change his ways
(Change his ways - ooh!)
And no message could have been any clearer
If you wanna make the world a better place
(If you wanna make the world a better place)
Take a look at yourself and then make that...
(Take a look at yourself and then make that...)
Change!

I’m starting with the man in the mirror
(Man in the mirror - Oh yeah!)
I’m asking him to change his ways
(Better change!)
No message could have been any clearer
(If you wanna make the world a better place)
(Take a look at yourself and then make the change)
(You gotta get it right, while you got the time)
(’Cause when you close your heart)
You can’t close your...your mind!
(Then you close your...mind!)
That man, that man, that man, that man
With that man in the mirror
(Man in the mirror, oh yeah!)
That man, that man, that man
I’m asking him to change his ways
(Better change!)
You know...that man
No message could have been any clearer
If you wanna make the world a better place
(If you wanna make the world a better place)
Take a look at yourself and then make a change
(Take a look at yourself and then make a change)
Hoo! Hoo! Hoo! Hoo! Hoo!
Na na na, na na na, na na, na nah
(Oh yeah!)
Gonna feel real good now!
Yeah yeah! Yeah yeah! Yeah yeah!
Na na na, na na na, na na, na nah
(Ooooh...)
Oh no, no no...
I’m gonna make a change
It’s gonna feel real good! Come on!
(Change...)
Just lift yourself
You know
You’ve gotta stop it. Yourself!
(Yeah! - Make that change!)
I’ve got to make that change, today!
Hoo!
(Man in the mirror)
You got to
You got to not let yourself... brother...
Hoo!
(Yeah! - Make that change)
You know - I’ve got to get that man, that man...
(Man in the mirror)
You’ve got to
You’ve got to move! Come on! Come on!
You got to...
Stand up! Stand up! Stand up!
(Yeah! - Make that change)
Stand up and lift yourself, now!
(Man in the mirror)
Hoo! Hoo! Hoo!
Aaow!
(Yeah! - Make that change)
Gonna make that change...come on!
You know it!
You know it!
You know it!
You know...
(Change...)
Make that change.

Agitating, delusory or Living

Living in the past is agitating, living in the future is delusory.
If you live in the present, you have learnt how to live. 
-S.N. Goenka

Quit pitying yourself, you are

Sometimes I go about
                             pitying myself,
     and all the time,
I am carried on great winds
         across the sky.

                            Chippewa, Ojibway or Lakota Sioux saying?

What I hope for?

The very least you can do in your life is to figure out what to hope for. And the most you can do is live inside that hope.

BARBARA KINGSOLVER(greatfulness.org) what i hope for: To be loved unconditionally, and to love unconditionally. To completely realize that i have all i need inside, and i am guided to a wonderful destiny.  to stay focused, especially in hard times, on the eternal. Hope is knowing things do change all the time.        Ron Alexander

A response to Hospice Work

I recently re-read Prince of Tides. Conroy says these things about his grandmother in a nursing home. " Eventually she will die the way all old people in America die... from humiliation, incontinence, boredom, and neglect. ... because I am an American, I let her go by degrees and abandoned by her family. ... I barely have the courage to visit her. I am the architect of my grandmother's final days on earth, and became of a singular absence of nerve and grace, I have helped to make them squalid, unbearable, and despairing. "

I want to get more actively involved with Death with Dignity/ Compassion & Choices to fight for the right to make our own decisions.

Mindful Visit to Hospice

Good sleep last night, so mindfully getting ready to visit hospice then Unity CharlestonUnity CharlestonSC. Have a wonder filled day.😍

Your "friend"?

No person is your friend who demands your silence, or denies your right to grow.

ALICE WALKER(gratefulness.org)

45 as Caligula Nickolas Kristoff, N.Y. Times

Liza Donnelly When a Great Nation Suffers an Unstable Leader… My column today is a bit different. It looks at what happens when the people of a superpower gradually come to realize that their leader is mentally unstable (and thanks to Liza Donnelly for the cartoon of Caligula above). There are lessons to be learned, so read! The Times has an important article noting that blacks and Latinos are even more underrepresented in university now than in 1980. In short, affirmative action policies haven’t helped as much as we might have hoped. To me, one of the lessons is the need to start earlier to create opportunity. The evidence is overwhelming that early childhood education is essential to get disadvantaged kids on a better footing so that they can eventually get into college a dozen or more years later. Rather than invest in a border wall, I’d like to see the U.S. invest in early childhood programs for every at-risk child. Jack Rosenthal, a long-time editor at the Times, has died at the age of 82 (RIP, Jack), and his passing has me thinking about a famous government report he edited in 1968 warning that the United States is moving “toward two societies, separate and unequal.” That’s still true. We’ve made some progress in reducing race gaps, but class gaps have become wider — and the challenges for a black or Native American child in a disadvantaged family are particularly great. What’s frustrating is that we know some of the policies that will help, and they mostly involve investing in children, especially young children. My Thursday column challenged President Trump in his denunciations of the news media, and one of my concerns is that he buoys dictators around the world who are trying to muzzle their own journalists. I wonder if one example of that isn’t now unfolding in Cambodia, where the autocratic government of Prime Minister Hun Sen is moving to close down the Cambodia Daily, a critically important watchdog there. I hope the U.S. will forcefully back the Cambodia Daily. We raised our kids speaking Chinese, so friends often ask us if we recommend it. The answer’s complicated, but I definitely believe that all American kids should learn Spanish, which will be an increasingly important language in the U.S. My colleague Simon Romero offers a glimpse of this bilingual future and notes that the U.S. already may have more Spanish speakers than Spain. Here’s a powerful editorial about the man-made famine in Yemen, and the U.S. and Saudi role in making it happen. And now for my column today about a megalomaniacal, probably crazy leader of a great nation, a greedy narcissist who rolled around on piles of gold coins, who dressed as a god (when he wasn’t cross-dressing), who apparently slept with his sister, who said he could get away with anything — yet who eventually was defeated because of the robustness of institutions and traditions. Read! What happens when the people of a great nation gradually realize that their leader may not be, er, quite right in the head? When Caligula became Roman emperor in A.D. 37, the people rejoiced. “On all sides, you could see nothing but altars and sacrifices, men and women decked in their holiday best and smiling,” according to the first-century writer Philo. The Senate embraced him, and he was hailed as a breath of fresh air after the dourness, absenteeism and miserliness of his great-uncle, Emperor Tiberius. Caligula was colorful and flamboyant, offering plenty of  pportunities for ribald gossip. Caligula had four wives in rapid succession, and he was said to be sleeping with his sister. (Roman historians despised him, so some of the gossip should be treated skeptically.) He was charming, impetuous and energetic, sleeping only three hours a night, and he displayed a common touch as he constantly engaged with the public. His early months as emperor brimmed with hope. Initially, Caligula focused on denouncing his predecessor and reversing everything that he had done . Caligula also made popular promises of tax  reform so as to reduce the burden on the public. He was full of grandiose pledges of infrastructure projects, such as a scheme to cut through the Isthmus of Corinth. But, alas, Caligula had no significant government experience, and he proved utterly incompetent at actually getting things done. Meanwhile, his personal extravagance actually increased the need for tax revenue. Suetonius, the Roman historian, recounted how Caligula’s boats had “sterns set with gems, parti-colored sails, huge spacious baths, colonnades and banquet halls, and even a great variety of vines and fruit trees.” Romans initially accepted Caligula’s luxurious tastes, perhaps intrigued by them. But Caligula’s lavish spending soon exhausted the surplus he had inherited, and Rome ran out of money. This led to increasingly desperate, cruel and tyrannical behavior. Caligula reportedly opened a brothel in the imperial palace to make money, and he introduced new taxes. When this wasn’t enough, he began to confiscate estates, antagonizing Roman elites and sometimes killing them. A coward himself, Caligula was said to delight in the torture of others; rumor had it that he would tell his executioners: “Kill him so that he can feel he is dying.” Caligula, a narcissist and megalomaniac, became increasingly unhinged. He supposedly rolled around on a huge pile of gold coins, and he engaged in conversations with the moon, which he would invite into his bed. He replaced the heads of some statues of gods with his own head, and he occasionally appeared in public dressed as a god. He was referred to as a god in certain circumstances, and he set up a temple where he could be worshiped. “Remember that I have the right to do anything to anybody,” he told his grandmother, according to Suetonius. Caligula had a thing for generals, and he periodically wore the garb of a triumphant military commander. He removed the breastplate of Alexander the Great from his sarcophagus and wore it himself at times. The Senate, dignified and traditional, watched Caligula with increasing alarm. He scandalized the public by sometimes dressing as a woman, and he aggravated tensions by scathingly denouncing the Senate, relying on sarcasm and insult, and showing utter contempt for it. One of Caligula’s last allies was his beloved racehorse, Incitatus, who wore a collar of precious stones and lived in a marble stall. Caligula would invite Incitatus to dine with him. Edward Champlin, a historian of Rome at Princeton University, says that Caligula pursued “a love of pranks that a 4-year-old might disdain” and had a penchant for “blurting out whatever is on his mind” — such as suggesting that Incitatus could become consul. These rash statements rippled through  Rome, for leaders of great powers are often taken not just seriously but also literally. Yet as Caligula wreaked havoc, Rome also had values, institutions and mores that inspired resistance. He offended practically everyone, he couldn’t deliver on his promises, his mental stability was increasingly doubted and he showed he simply had no idea how to govern. Within a few years, he had lost all support, and the Praetorian Guard murdered him in January 41 (not a path I would ever condone).

More playing with the Eternal Light

I think if I concern myself with eternal issues, then more temporal ones fall into place more easily.
- Marianne Williamson

How do I go to the light in these trying times? I will go visit my dying friend, who is surrounded by Angels. That is one way!😊

A harmonized mind produces harmony

A harmonized mind produces harmony in this world of seeming discord.

PARAMAHANSA YOGANANDA (gratefulness.org)

The Power of

Jeff Foster (www.lifewithoutacentre.com)

6 hrs · 

THE POWER OF PRESENCE

I was speaking with a young man about letting go of his ideas about the future, his images of how his life 'should' be, and being present here and now, embracing himself as he actually was.

He said, "Well Jeff, if there's only this moment, only now, then I'm going to kill myself".

For a moment, he had lost all hope. Suicide seemed like the logical solution.

I stayed present. Listened. Validated his pain. Entered his world. Discovering presence can be a shock to the system, can reorganise the entire psyche, release deeply buried feelings. I understand that. I've been through it.

"I understand. It can be scary to lose all your hope".

"Yes, I'm terrified".

"Where do you feel that terror? Can you feel it in your body?"

"Yes. It's burning... in my chest".

"Great. Stay there for a moment. Feel its power".

Silence.

"I feel like... I want to kill someone. I feel so fucking angry with you now. You've taken away everything..."

I stayed present.

"Yes. Yes. Where do you feel that anger?"

"In my belly, my throat, my chest..."

"What does it feel like?"

"It's like... Fire. Power. Rage. Volcanic. Like... I could destroy an entire universe".

"Yes. You're feeling your own power. It's huge. You don't have to deny it any more, or act on it, just feel it now, let it burn, honour it".

"Wow. It's a lot".

"It's yours. Just allow it. Allow those sensations in your belly, heart, throat. Breathe into them, through them..."

"I want to scream".

"Do it!"

"I.... I.... I FUCKING HATE LIFE!"

"Louder!"

"I HATE LIFE! I HATE EVERYONE! I HATE MY PARENTS! I HATE YOU!"

He looks at me. Our eyes meet. He bursts into tears. He slumps, his body relaxes, he breathes deeply again. His rage was met - for the first time ever- with love, acceptance. Something has been released, something old. Something unloveable has been embraced.

"My God. My God. For the first time in my life, honestly, for the first time, I feel like I'm... alive. I feel like myself".

It's amazing, the power of just staying present. Listening. Doing less. Allowing the other to go through what they have to go through, without trying to fix or save them. Taking away false hope, leaving them with new hope. Trusting their process. Trusting life. Trusting the mysteries of love's intelligence.

- Jeff Foster

Playing with the LIGHT of the Universe

Every day you play with the light of the universe.

PABLO NERUDA(gratefulness.org) I think if I concern myself with eternal issues, then more temporal ones fall into place more easily. - Marianne Williamson How do I go to the light in these trying times? I will go visit my dying friend, who is surrounded by Angels. That is one way!😊

Deal with it, get creative.

Only by dealing with the difficulty does the creativity come forth.

BRIAN SWIMME AND THOMAS BERRY(gratefulness.org)

What you see is

To me, awareness of the ETERNAL, is seeing only LOVING ONENESS.
What you see is what you get. Flip Wilson

Concern yourself with the eternal: I can’t say that health, wealth, and spirituality flow together in my mind, but I recognize all of them as simply reflections of energy. Health and wealth are matters of form, not content, and as such are effect and not cause. I try to concern myself most with the level of cause, with the things that do not change, and when I do that, the level of effect seems to take care of itself. I think if I concern myself with eternal issues, then more temporal ones fall into place more easily.

- Marianne WilliamsonWil

son

Easy, I just look at all the

Face your own complexity.

MARK GERZON

Get ready to be blessed

Be the change you want in the world:

Roz Brooks

11 hrs · 

If you imagine that you are a light bulb, the brighter you shine, the more you illuminate the room, including the people who are lost and who are in darkness. The only way that you can bring light into the world is by shining your light brighter, not by dimming your own light. You don’t even have to do anything. Your very presence is all that matters.

So if I just bring my presence into the world, it needs to be a presence full of love, full of joy and full of upliftment, because the person you take out into the world, is the person you are inside. But if you feel stressed because of all the fear, poverty, terrorism and so on, if you feel anger and fear, that is the person you are taking out into the world. You will then only be adding to the energy that is already out there while trying to change it. To take revenge with what you don’t like, you have to become what you are taking revenge against.

The only way to actually change things is to be the change like Gandhi said. Darkness is the absence of light. This is also true for fear. Fear is not a substance in itself. Fear is the absence of love. So the only way to fill the world with love is by filling yourself with love first.

The reason why we have starving people in one part of the world and a lot of wealth in another part of the world is all driven by fear. If we get sucked into the fear and we start fighting it with more fear, we will never get rid of the problem. The only way we can eliminate it is to be reaching deeper for more love.
- Anita Moorjani

Concern yourself with the eternal:

Roz Brooks

I can’t say that health, wealth, and spirituality flow together in my mind, but I recognize all of them as simply reflections of energy. Health and wealth are matters of form, not content, and as such are effect and not cause. I try to concern myself most with the level of cause, with the things that do not change, and when I do that, the level of effect seems to take care of itself. I think if I concern myself with eternal issues, then more temporal ones fall into place more easily.
- Marianne Williamson

Roz Brooks Yes, we are always connected with the eternal or Source Energy if you will but we block it through fear, worry & judgment etc. Just trust in the eternal, keep focused on that :) ❤️

Realize nothing is lacking and

Ron Alexander shared Anja Eghuizen's post:

Anja Eghuizen

Be content with what you have;
rejoice in the way things are.
When you realise there is nothing lacking,
the whole world belongs to you ~~

― Lao Tzu