More, More, More......

    It's all about love.  Love of anything emits the strongest emotions, even stronger than hate.  Gratitude is the constant profession of love.  Add love to absolutely any situation and it makes it better.  Any conflict of any size with anybody no matter the circumstances can be made better with love.  How, might be your question, how do you get to a place of love?  With gratitude; practice daily, hourly, minute by minute and an evolution starts to happen.  You cannot possibly practice gratitude constantly and not come ever closer to love than anger or jealousy or revenge or any other negative emotion. 
  The thing is; love given comes back, bigger.  You send send it out and is gains strength like a hurricane that has stalled.  When it returns it envelops you. When you feel bad, you have bed head, sweat pants with lint, you know the kind of day I am talking about, it is not chocolate that will lift you although it's not a bad attempt. 
  Take a shower.  While your in there start thinking about what you love.  Then be thankful for having received these things you love.  Focus on everything that makes you feel good.  Elevate to a better place.  Don't think about bloat or weight gain or ants that want in.  Ignore the green pool, the broken door and empty bag of oreos.   There will always be kids that won't listen and a cat that waits for you to lay out your clothes to take a nap.  Your family may ignore you all day until you begin to do something for yourself.  Then it's an emergency, right?  They need you!  But it's ok, it really is.  Breathe and put a smile on your face.  Focus on the love you feel for them to alleviate the frustration that creeps in when you are not looking.  I wonder why we accept and wallow in despair and frustration so easy, which feels terrible but we feel like treating the emotional ailment with love is so far fetched? What do you do to turn around a bad day??  

elle                   

Offense....Defense, No Sense

  Everyone is offended and on the defense, it's as if it's fashionable.  If you are not outraged and offended something is wrong.  All about me...oh yeah, that's where we are.  You can't think of anything except how this or that effects you.  That is not how it is supposed to be; I'm telling you this is not the road to happiness.  When you are very self involved it creates entitlement which festers self indulgence followed by greed and resentment.  Not a recipe for joy.  Gratitude for everything and everyone will encourage tolerance and keep thinking not just about yourself but about other around you.

  We have become a nation of babied, entitled brats.  During the depression times were tough and people struggled and suffered but they also banded to together.  They survived in groups and families. Everyone contributing for the greater good.  There was sharing, oh yes they did!  Now everyone gets a trophy just for participating and children don't have to compete or have their feelings hurt.  Life isn't fair but it also isn't bad.  We need to have a tougher skin and stop be offended over everything.  We can't say anything about religion or sex or age or money or politics because someone may become offended, wah, wah, wah.  The time we spend on defense fending offense is wasted. 

  I'm not suggesting that people anyone can completely verbally assassinate you and it's fine.  I'm saying that this country was founded by hardworking rugged diverse people who were free to speak there mind.  Not a bunch of cry babies that have an emotional breakdown if someone says something we don't like.  "I wasn't included", "I don't think she paid enough attention to me", "It was two whole days before they called me back and I had to wait", "My thank you card was so long in coming and wasn't very personal".  Just stop.  You don't need to be stroked like a cat.  Tend your garden, be thankful!!!! When you are thankful you are full not empty and needy and wait for someone, everyone to kiss it and make it better.  Drop and give me fifty, right now come up with fifty positve things and then tell me what difference it makes if a thank you card is late or if it comes at all.  Manners are great, but really did you give just for the praise and thank you or to extend love? 

  When you give love or with love you get love. When you only give or do for with expectation and need you will come up empty and no one can fill that cup I hate to tell you.  When you are full of need you are a grand canyon of desperation.  What do you suppose that attracts??  Give because it's good to give.  Help because it's the right thing to do.  Take and be thankful for everything that comes your way and stop looking to take offense.  Nothing can offend you unles you let it.  Offense implies you are a victim.  You aren't a victim, you have unlimited capacity for happiness, take that not offense!

 

elle        

Am I Being Tested???

  Since I have begun this journey to be the soul conductor in orchestra that is my life.  I have learned many things and some of them I don't like one bit.  I believe heart and soul that our thoughts and our commitment to gratitude are key elements in the level of joy we have present in our lives.  I won't let anything shake that; but I have to tell you I am being tested right now.  Damned if I do, damned if I don't, hence the  image I chose to accompany this post. Yesterday, had a particularly large potential to host a big, fat angry rain cloud for it's entirety.  I turned on my laptop and someone had posted one of those feel good little dittys...it read "when it looks like things are falling apart maybe they actually falling into place."  It turned out to be the words that I needed to hear to stay my course.  The trick is to take the focus off the source of upset and look for any little shred of goodness.  focus on it until you literally well up with joy and happiness.  It takes you from a bad place to a great place and puts in a position to attract more good things, hell maybe even great or unexpected things. 

  Back to the ditty, it occurs to me that my vision for something isn't always going to be the best scenario and I need to acknowledge that great things are coming; in the distance maybe, but they are coming.  I find a lot of people including myself, become kind of paralyzed when they take a hit. They recoil from healthy routines and wallow in unhealthy ones.  It is so obviously stupid I can't imagine why we do it. When I am happy I walk, listen to music and am very good about following a healthy diet.  When challenged I lose interest in these things.

  So we have another plus for gratitude and positve thinking, it's good for your weight and your over all health.  If the guy at the liquors store knows your first name and your neighbors don't you have some work to do!  The adversity I face right now is exceptionally difficult because it concerns my child and that is a big ugly spider on the toilet paper if ever I saw one.  I am scraping and clawing to not sink into an abyss of despair...I am feverishly saying thank you for anything that crosses my mind.  Today I was very happy to dicover a package of disposable razors I did not know I had!  I refuse to stop believing that everything is going to be ok!

 

elle        

 

Meditation Day Two

Meditation: Day Two 

 
  Well today went surprisingly well did I constantly fight the word garbage that clogs my head of course I did!  At one point I tried so hard to control my thoughts that my brain rebelled to the point of being Turret Syndrome like, with random, vulgar, nonsense thoughts.  I thought I lost control of my brain to a four year old....(tee-hee) poking me every time I tried to settle it.  But at last there was quiet!  I felt that floating sensation that surrounds you just before sleep comes.  It was nice and made me want more.  More peace, more calm, more nothing! Iit didn't last long before the thought vomit returned but I can clearly see that with a lot of practice it could be a beautiful thing!  I am thankful for a glimpse at self imposed peace.  Why is it so easy to put ourselves in a state of chaos but such a task to find peace??

Are You Paying Attenion?

  

  Focus...sooo important. Sooo powerful. Giving a great amount of attention to something is like giving someone a key to your house.  Total access into your life.  Meaning that for good or bad anything you make very important and give large amounts of attention to will dominate direction and events in your life.    If you over focus on your children, let's say...and you should, but if you hyper focus on them and their needs and activities and moods and drama what happens?  You lose yourself.  It's the same thing with your husband or a diet or exercise, QVC or an addiction.  Be careful about your attention and time.  Diversify, and make sure you give time for gratitude.  Gratitude is the great multiplier of the things you love not obsession.

   Take time to meditate.  Spend time focusing on the little lift...the happy attack you feel after a quiet session spent in gratitude.  Let that joy create feelings of peace and happiness, wallow in it.  If you are having a problem with someone or something don't focus on the disturbance.  Instead focus on everything and anything that is good about the person or situtation.  Imagine a solution or several possible good outcomes and give that your eye.

  Someone once told me that Mother Theresa had been asked to attend a war protest rally that was expecting to attract thousands and she declined to the the surprise of the organizers.  She told them that even in protest the focus was still war and she did not want to particiapate in anything that would possibly empower the very thing they were rallying against.  She told them if they ever decided to hold a peace rally attracting thousands in the name of love that she would be there.....
  I am thankful to know that there are people that evolved and that enlightened.  Another motivation to to life better. 

Elle