Ghandi and the concept of passive resistence


The  women who got us the vote

The women who got us the vote

A hundred years ago, women banned together to fight for women to have the right to vote. It was a huge triumph. Because women weren’t allowed to have their own money or time. They did have children to raise and houses to clean, laundry to do and meals to prepare. But they accomplished the huge act of getting us the vote. There was no violence. They did it with speaking up and out and without violence. I think they may have thought about it, but followed in Gandhi’s footsteps. Gandhi taught passive resistance. He led India in their fight for independence from England.

Today, Bobby Kennedy’s son,  JFK’s nephew, used the concept of passive resistance. RFK JR and actress Darryl Hannaah and others cuffed themselves to the White House fence. They were protesting on the behalf of the climate and Mother Earth. This is what the Suffragettes did to turn the tide of opinion, opinion about women having the vote.

Today they were specifically protesting The KeyStone Pipeline. They were passively protesting what the Pipeline would do to our environment.  And they went to jail. It is time for us to finally admit that we have to clean up the air and be responsible adults and children of the Universe.

We must not injure our environment any more than we already have.

We must not injure our environment any more than we already have.

We must stop destroying our planet for money, for greed and with a disregard for future generations. We must realize that this is the only planet we have or will have. It is illogical to destroy exactly what is keeping us alive. So if you haven’t heard about the arrest, check it out. Think about what you have to lose and, without violence, stand up and resist injuring Mother Earth anymore than we already have.


It is now time for us to really took at all of the ramifications of a gun in the house.

Celebrating Each Day of Our Lives


Make sure you dance every day so you can feel your joy

Make sure you dance every day so you can feel your joy

The days of our lives are filled with many things. They can be filled with hard work, illness, anxiety, passion, protesting, child care, doing laundry and a million other things which are not exciting. Life can make us very numb where we just go through the motions. We can look but not see what is right in front of us.

There are days where getting out of your comfort zone is rough. Some days it is easier to over look the song of the bird or the honk of a goose. Some days you don’t hear the music, it swirls around you without being able to get near your heart or soul.

Some days life feels right as soon as we open our eyes. The air smells sweet, you can hear a robin looking for materials to build his nest, you can hear your favorite music in your head and it lifes your heart. You can do a little dance as you make breakfast. A smile graces your face all day and you in turn, can share it with everyone. In short, these types of days show our celebration of  life.

Celebrating life comes in sections .One section is praise for the blessing in your life. Those things that could be material or simply the note you received from an old friend. Praise is easy on the good days. It will flow out and around you as it gently floats upward toward the heavens. Praise on the hard days, when sickness, problems, uncertainity plague you, make praise be something you need to work at. It is just as important on these days and probably more appreciated by The One.

The other section is gratitude. This is not the same. The gratitude raises up out of your soul and engulfs you as you take every breath of air and as you take each step. Gratitude is the ability and intention of seeing every little gift given to you. It is the ability to recognize that you are surrounded by tiny miracles and they make you feel so loved and cherished by the Divinity in life.

When you put gratitude and praise together, you find the ultimate goal. You find yourself celebrating life. Celebrating life takes the weaving together of gratitude and praise to create an emotional quilt to wrap around yourself. So try each day to find a way to be in touch with your innerself and celebrate life as often as you can. Life, here on this plane, won’t last forever. There will be a day when we move on to the next plane of existence. We go forward experiencing the cycle of  life. So today, try to really see and hear your world, dance a few steps, and sing your favorite song, even if it is off tune. Celebrate! Celebrate and see what comes back to you. Blessings to all, Barbara

I am a feminist woman

Butterfly whispering. Photo by Cliff Mattio

Celebrate with praise and gratitude.

Celebrate with praise and gratitude.


If you thought you had a difficult day, well read this!

CJ Clarke's avatarComing At You Live

Write about anything you’d like. Somewhere in your post, include the sentence, “I heard the car door slam, and immediately looked at the clock.”

Over last weekend I did something really moronic.  After driving up to Pennsylvania to hang out with “the Bitches” aka my bff’s from high school I found that my phone battery was running really low.  Because I didn’t have a proper charger and I wasn’t going to be driving to the Dogs ‘n Dames event we would be attending I went out to my car which was parked in the driveway and put my phone on the car charger – of course I had to put the key in the ignition and turn it a click.  Of course.

Later that night when I was trying to fall asleep all sorts of thoughts were going through my head and one of them was – oh shit, I took…

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A Tiny Drop of Water


     The Joy of Unity With the Universe

“O Lord,
One tiny bit of water rests on the palm of my hand.
I bring it to you and with it I bring the whole ocean
This tiny drop has the power to ease the burning thirst of men,
when spread on the earth, to give life to the seed and the future
harvest,
when poured on the fire to quench the blaze.
A tiny drop of water
can cleanse the whole of my impurity when blessed by your forgiveness.

—Ishpriya rscj

Blessings

Seeing the World Through Different Eyes

Invoking the powers of the Universe or bestowing on Mother Earth or other beings is neither a simple benevolent wish nor an act of hubris. It is really an act of creative confidence.We free ourselves to come into dynamic relationship with the entire Universe. “May all beings be happy.”

“What a thing it is to sit absolutely alone,
in the forest, at night, cherished by this
wonderful, unintelligible,
perfectly innocent speech,
The most comforting speech in the world,
the talk that rain makes by itself all over the ridges,
and the talk of the watercourses everywhere in the hollows!
Nobody started it, nobody is going to stop it.
It will talk as long as it wants, this rain.
As long as it talks I am going to listen.
————Thomas Merton

“Let us be united,
Let us speak in harmony,
Let our minds apprehend alike,
Common be our prayer,
Common be the end of our assembly,
Common be our resolution.
Alike be our feelings,
United be our hearts,
Common be our intentions,
Perfect be our unity.

—— From the Hindu Rig Veda

Cuyahogua Falls, Ohio;  Photo by Barbara Mattio

Cuyahogua Falls, Ohio; Photo by Barbara Mattio


I am grateful for life

Whitebird & Speaks With Wings's avatarSoul Writings

 Spiritual Bliss

Shared by “Michael”

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Minimum wage provides the working poor a fighting chance for a decent life.

Mashed Potato Bulletin's avatarMashed Potato Bulletin

raise minimum wageBoth times in fairly recent years federal minimum wage was increased with the cooperation of Republican leadership. In 1996, the Republican-controlled House under Newt Gingrich, the minimum wage was raised from $4.25 to $5.15 over a 2 year period. The next wage increase took place a decade later, in 2006-2007, when Democrats won back control of the House. They found support for the increase in then President, George W. Bush. This instance raised the minimum rate to its current level of $7.25 per hour.

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