For the one I'm looking for...

It doesn’t interest me what you do for living. I want to know what you ache for—and if you dare to dream of meeting your heart’s longing.

It doesn’t interest me how old you are. I want to know if you will risk looking like a fool for love, for your dream, for the adventure of being alive.

It doesn’t interest me what planets are squaring your moon. I want to know if you have touched the center of your own sorrow, have been opened by life’s betrayals, or have become shriveled and closed from fear of further pain.

I want to know if you can sit with pain, mine or your own, without moving to hide it or fade it or fix it.

I want to know if you can be with joy, mine or your own, if you dance with wildness and let it fill you to the tips of your fingers and toes, without cautioning us to be careful, to be realistic, or to remember the limitations of being human.

It doesn’t interest me if the story you are telling is true. I want to know if you can disappoint another to be true to yourself, if you can bear the accusation of betrayal—and not betray your own soul.

I want to know if you can see beauty even when it is not pretty everyday, and if you can source your life from its presence.

I want to know if you can live with failure, yours and mine, and still stand on the edge of a lake and shout to the moon: YES!

It doesn’t interest me to know where you live or how much money you have. I want to know if you can get up after the night of grief and despair, weary and bruised to the bone, and do what needs to be done for the children.

It doesn’t interest me who you are or how you came to be here. I want to know if you can stand in the center of the fire with me and not shrink back.

It doesn’t interest me what or where or with whom you have studied. I want to know what sustains you from the inside, when all else falls away.

I want to know if you can be alone with yourself—and if you truly like the company you keep in the empty moments.

—Oriahe Mountain Dreamer, An Indian Elder

Happy Valentines Day, to all those that I love!!!!

Quatable...

"How you climb up the mountain is just as important as how you get down the mountain. In the end, it all comes down to one word. Grace."

~Philosphy's amazing grace

Thoughts...

"The secret of health for both mind and body

is not to mourn for the past,

worry about the future,

or anticipate troubles,

but to live in the present moment

wisely and earnestly."

~Buddha

From Winnie The Pooh

"Don't underestimate the value of Doing Nothing, of just going along, listening to all the things you can't hear, and not bothering. "


~Pooh's Little Instruction Book, inspired by A.A. Milne

Ponderables

THINGS TO PONDER

Can you cry under water?

When I was young we used to go "skinny dipping," now I just"chunkydunk."

How important does a person have to be before they are considered assassinated instead of just murdered?

If money doesn't grow on trees then why do banks have branches?

Since bread is square, then why is sandwich meat round?

Why do you have to "put your two cents in"...but it's only a "penny for your thoughts"? Where's that extra penny going to? Taxes?

Once you're in heaven, do you get stuck wearing the clothes you were buried in for eternity?

Why does a round pizza come in a square box?

How is it that we put man on the moon before we figured out it would bea good idea to put wheels on luggage?

Why is it that people say they "slept like a baby" when babies wake up like every two hours?

If a deaf person has to go to court, is it still called a hearing?

If you drink Pepsi at work in the Coke factory, will they fire you?

Prayer of St. Francis

"Lord, make me an instrument of your peace.

Where there is hatred, let me sow love;

Where there is injury, pardon;

Where there is doubt, faith;

Where there is despair, hope;

Where there is darkness, light;

Where there is sadness, joy;

O Divine Master, grant that I may not so much seek to be consoled as to console;

to be understood as to understand;

to be loved as to love.

For it is in giving that we receive; it is in pardoning that we are pardoned; and it is in dying that we are born to eternal life."


St. Francis was born at Assisi in 1182. After a care free youth, he turned his back on inherited wealth and committed himself to God. Like many early saints, he lived a very simple life of poverty, and in so doing, gained a reputation of being the friend of animals.

Favorite quote for today...

"When God takes something from your grasp, He's not punishing you, but merely opening your hands to receive something better. Concentrate on this sentence...The will of God will never take you where the grace of God will not protect you."