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Happy Love Day
It's technically Valentines Day now. Happy VD ppls! May you continuously open to all of Loves forms and contents - however disguised they may be - and when you are hurt and cramped from the slings and arrows, may the Love of the God/dess hold you in tender embrace until you can release to it again.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GobgJ_CG0Bc
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Won't you be my...?
Posted February 14th, 2010 by Carl Alexander"Happy VD"... you are a riot, Jennifer! :)
Enjoy your posts a lot, Happy Love Day to you, too!
Carl A.
“Be joyful always; Pray continually; Give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you." Thessalonians 5: 16 – 18
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!
Posted February 14th, 2010 by Scott Marshall in response to Won't you be my...?I Shot my love today... Would you cry for me? I Lost my head again... Would you lie for me??
-S
love and happiness!
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Hm.
Posted February 14th, 2010 by Jennifer Grove in response to !Sounds serious. Maybe more light, less heat?
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Thank you, Carl.
Posted February 14th, 2010 by Jennifer Grove in response to Won't you be my...?But it appears there is disagreement here.
I wish I knew how to bridge the gap. But I just don't.
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Bridging the 'gap'
Posted February 14th, 2010 by Carl Alexander in response to Thank you, Carl.Hi, Jennifer -
If you've looked at my profile, then you may have noticed that I had a stroke back in 2003. I want to take a sec and tell you a little about that, because I learned a number of helpful things from that experience that may also benefit your situation.
My stroke was left-sided, and it happened in the daytime. So I was awake at the time, and I got to consciously experience what it is like to feel a part of my brain die. Amazingly, it wuzn't no big thing... it didn't hurt a bit. It was a lot like getting punched in the head, only without being punched and not from the outside. :) It just 'stunned' me, and I stayed stunned - sensation-wise - for about the next six months.
But that was the easy part, because the physical damage had already been done, and it took me the better part of the next 2 - 21/2 years to fully recover. I had to re-learn how to use my right hand and right foot properly, regain my ability to think and speak, and deal with persistent bouts of daily vertigo.
But let me back up to when the stroke actually occurred, because my first important life-lesson happened right then. As I said, I was awake and aware that something was happening to me, but didn't understand what was going on exactly. My thinking was muddled and confused, so I just tried to 'wait it out'. I got real sleepy, and started dozing on and off, so I went and laid down to take a 'nap'.
But while I 'napped', I moved deep into my self-awareness searching for any changes that might be taking place internally in who I was as a person. And guess what I discovered... that essential part of my being that I know as "I" or "me" never wavered one iota. Even while a significant part of my physical brain was withering away and dying from lack of oxygen, my IAM remained exactly as it always had been (and always will be).
And realizing that took away all my fear and anxiety about whatever was happening to me, and I was filled with a calmness and peace that has never really gone away, since that very day.
Which is not to say that there hasn't been suffering and turmoil and fear and worries in my life, since then... there definitely has. Re-training a nervous system is not an easy task to accomplish, and parts of that have been very frustrating. Going back to college and becoming a Substance Abuse Counselor was prabaly twice as difficult because of my physical limitations.
But I look at my body quite differently now, and at my own True Self as well... I will be 58 years old in May this year, Jennifer, and I am continually aware now that sooner or later this body is going to wear out, and need to be discarded. Every day there are more and more signals that my body is aging, so I can scarcely ignore that fact - not that I want to ignore it, I welcome the process because it means I am getting closer and closer to going back to my (our) True Home.
Don't mistake me, I love being alive now - if I live to be 100, this life won't be long enough... but I am ready and willing to go this instant, if that is what is meant to be. Death holds no fear for me any longer, for I have seen enough of Eternity to recognise it within my own being.
I cannot be you, Jennifer. I do not live the life you have been given, I live my own. I have not endured the physical shortcomings you have, I have had my own. I have not suffered the emotional upheavals you have (and do) go through, but I have felt my own. And 'my own' have taught me that life is not meant to be feared, or endured, or suffered. It is meant to be lived with joy and happiness, regardless of our individual shortcomings and limitations.
Your life has a purpose, Jennifer. Just as it is, warts and all.
(God gives us our 'warts' to remind us that we are human - but he gives us our Purpose to prove that we are Divine.)
So, what do you want that purpose to be, my friend? It's your life, Jennifer. You get to choose. You do - no one else.
Pick a direction, and go for it... become the bridge YOU want to be.
Carl A.
“Be joyful always; Pray continually; Give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you." Thessalonians 5: 16 – 18
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Wow..
Posted February 14th, 2010 by Jennifer Grove in response to Bridging the 'gap'That is awesome! Totally reminds me of this TED talk vid. Have you seen this? One of the most moving things I've ever seen or heard. And look! I met someone who went through that and can talk to me! Wow!
So much of what you said sounds so familiar. I am not my mind. I am not my disorder. I don't know how many people are privileged to be able to finally live in that reality. I suspect we are few. But others keep trying to put me in the box that is now way too small for me. I've said something that triggers them and they cannot separate out enough to speak to me about it in any way beyond abuse and name calling and further stigma. I know that I am not my brain/body/mind, but I cannot pull away from it long enough to grow when people keep saying such hurtful things. I wish I could. Lord, knows, I've tried. But I'm just too weary and weak. They don't have to live with the disorder. They can walk away. I can't.
But I'm trying to act with Love regardless. Even tho I know I am open to more abuse. There is no other way to open to Love.
Thank you for your Love.
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Cross purposes...
Posted February 15th, 2010 by Carl Alexander in response to Wow..Hello, again!
You said, "I know that I am not my brain/body/mind, but I cannot pull away from it long enough to grow when people keep saying such hurtful things. I wish I could. Lord, knows, I've tried. But I'm just too weary and weak. They don't have to live with the disorder. They can walk away. I can't. But I'm trying to act with Love regardless. Even though I know I am open to more abuse. There is no other way..."
Luke 14:27 reads, "And whosoever does not bear his own cross, and come after me, cannot be my disciple."
That same advice is repeated in Matthew 10:38 & again in verse16:24; in Mark 10: 21 and again in verse 8: 34; and once more in Luke 9: 23, as well. Not once does the Teacher ever say that people should pick up HIS cross in order to follow his teachings - it is always their own cross that has to be overcome...
I think that's because by the very act of picking it up (whatever 'it' may be), you are overcoming it. :)
As for other people and their 'hurtful things', maybe this can help, Jennifer... Back there a ways, I said that "I cannot be you...". But that's only true in a material, physical sense. In Truth, each one of us is a part of the Whole. We always were, and we always will be.
So, we are never really separated from each other, it only seems that way. That means that when 'another person' says something to you, it is really only another part of your own true self that is speaking. In effect, you are just trying to tell yourself something...
But remember, there is nothing that says you have to listen to your own advice. :)
Thank you for being so lovely! ;)
Carl A.
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Happy Love Day To You!
Posted February 14th, 2010 by Jon SandersThank you for the youtube clip - absolutley beautiful!
I really enjoy your posts; there's a crispness, a freshness and clarity in your writing!
Have a lovely day
Jon
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Thank you so much, Jon
Posted February 14th, 2010 by Jennifer Grove in response to Happy Love Day To You!That is unexpected and sweet. I'm glad you liked that video. I found that on twitter. It reignited my love for Rumi and made me decide to include him in my sacred text resources. It is totally timeless.
I read a Rumi story the other day about "Muhammed and the Big Eater". It makes it so clear that if we just get out of the way of the body, it can teach us powerfully about presence and awareness but only if we - and/or someone who loves us - is paying attention. That is my goal in Loving.
Blessings to you.
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In Love, as Love, for Love
Posted February 15th, 2010 by Jon Sanders in response to Thank you so much, JonThank you Jennifer.
From 'The Way of Passion'- A celebration of Rumi by Andrew Harvey
The whole world could be choked with thorns:
A lover's heart will stay a rose garden.
The wheel of heaven could wind to a halt:
The world of lovers will go on turning.
Even if every being grew sad, a lover's soul
Will stay fresh, vibrant, light.
Are all the candles out? Hand them to a lover-
A lover shoots out a hundred thousand fires.
A lover may be solitary, but he is never alone:
For companion he has always the hidden Beloved.
.........................
Blessings to you
Jon
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Oh...
Posted February 15th, 2010 by Jennifer Grove in response to In Love, as Love, for LoveThank God for Rumi. What would I do without him.
Thank you for that, Jon.
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An Old Song
Posted February 14th, 2010 by StanleyI wish you shelter, from the storm
A cozy fire, to keep you warm
But most of all
When snowflakes fall
I wish you love.
May all beings be loved.
May all beings love.
May all beings be love.