Hungry for Change...and Self

Here is the Hungry for Change quote that I couldn't get into the blog yesterday.  If I type continuously and don't at all try to edit this, it will work.  That takes perseverance and determination.  Someone recently called me stubborn - I suppose that word could be synonymous with the others but not as positive to me!!
   "When you take care of yourself, something powerful happens.  You realize you're precious.  You fall in love with yourself and that love shines through you and overflows to others.
   YOU GIVE YOURSELF PERMISSION TO LIVE HOW YOU WANT TO LIVE!!
    Lovely.  When I think about change and all that has happened over the years, I think about the birth and life cycle.  In a few days, it will be 23 years since these little girls were born into our lives.  It was a total joy and blessing to be engaged in their lives (as much as they would allow!) and watch them thrive, grown and develop into the talented and loving young women that they now are.  Happy Birthday to Rebecca and Kathryn.
   Now the cycle has begun again with the birth of our grandson.  There will be constant changes daily as he is loved and nurtured and he thrives!  Yet another blessing.
    I go back to the quote from Hungry for Change - WHEN YOU TAKE

Intensity...or Flowing with Life?!?

It was a HOT day as my "Little Friend" and our friend "Little Light" explored the U of PA campus yesterday before an appointment.  Hot days make for slow walking and quiet times.  This creates lots of BE STILL opportunities IF one slows down enough to pay attention to everything around us!  The fascinating thing is that we each have our own BE STILL...or not...style and what we see comes from our own hearts and perceptions of who we are...and where we are.  Case in point.

I had never seen calla lillies as totally awesome as these - selectively planted for our viewing - the first thing I saw was NOT the plant and all of its leaves but Little Light tickled my heart and sent me right for her dance and the patterns of one leaf!  When I showed the picteure to "Little Friend", she just hadn't seen the flowers.  She's not sure what else she was looking at, but there we are in our unique differences!!  Fascinating to pay attention to that as well.  Bill and I often rediscover the same thing when we are out and about.  We are in the same space physcially but NOT in the same head/heart space.  Just is....

Then our wanderings took us to a little plaza with a half dozen or so food trucks.  My eyes were immediately connected to these fruits and the soft, gentle colors.  Felt like it would be really refreshing to bite into one of the mangos.  "Little Friend" was immediately attracted to a young couple and their DOG.  Oops I don't have a photo op of that!  She talked about the dog and the heat and did they have any water - yes, the dog was panting and his tongue was hanging out - did I say it was HOT?!?!?  My point - you guessed it already - we SEE different things based on our perceptions and our  interests.  "Little Friend" has 4 dogs and does dog rescue!!

     Here are a few things we saw exactly alike...and one of them gave us pause - have you heard of someone losing their head - well, this person lost all of her hair!!  As we stood looking at the bicycle rack, the shadows disappeared...and then reappeared.  "Little Light" was playing with us!!

One last thing we both feel LOV in our hearts  Robert Indiana has been to the Penn campus and there, sitting on the grass and framed by trees was one of his LOVE statues.  Wonder how many of them are in Philadelphia, let alone around the country.  After all, isn't this the city of  brotherly love??  So much to see...so little time.  "Little Friend" as alike and different as two people can be, realized that we are good traveling companions who just want to set out to see EVERYTHING we possibly can!!  Watch out world...here we come!!  BE STILL and we can always see what we are meant to see from our own hearts and eyes!!

From the Heart!!

Everyone has stories to share.  Many people don't believe that they are storytellers or have anything interesting to say.  Sometimes, it is important to guide a person to Listen to her intuition and use her voice.  This is a lesson to be learned and one Ihave been striving to put into practice - with kindness and compassion.  Sometimes it works...sometimes it doesn't.  I had a conversation with some other women yesterday about just this.  Our group was divided between the 'from the heart' soft individuals and those who believed practicality rules!!  It was a challenging discussion to say the least - and I recognized that conflict and I aren't the best of friends.  I often get emotional or silent.  It's challenging to use one's voice AND BE HEARD in a kind and accepting way.  Funny some of my comments werer ignored. When I said something about that - the comment was ' Of we heard it but didn't want to be negative, so we didn't say anything".  One of my greatest wishes in life is for people to be kind and RESPECTFUL.  We were talking about making a difference in children's lives...and they made a difference in my life yesterday!!   Like Oprah says - This I know for sure... IF an activity doesn't bring JOY to my heart, then why do I need to be engaged in it??
    To end the evening - dinner with a dear friend - and a total contrast from the previous hours.  We sat at a Lebanese cafe in West Philadelphia and ate and talked and totally relaxed.  The time was a different kind of getting to know one another - a time we have never had in the six years we have known one another.  For this time well spent, filled with love, listening and acceptance, I am totally grateful.  This will happen again...it followed my operative word FUN!!  Thank you my friend Lillian for your love and caring!!