February 14, 2015 by IdealisticRebel

Love is in the Air

I dedicate this poem to everyone. Everyone of us who has experienced love. I send hugs to all who have loved and then lost that love. This year, my husband will have been gone twenty years. Hearts to all.

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HOW DO I LOVE THEE? LET ME COUNT THE WAYS

Elizabeth Barrett Browning

How do I love thee? Let me count the ways.

I love thee to the depth and breadth and height

My soul can reach, when feeling out of sight

For the ends of being and ideal grace.

I love thee to the level of everyday’s

Most quiet need, by sun and candle-light.

I love thee freely, as men strive for right.

I love thee purely, as they turn from praise.

I love thee with the passion put to use

In my old griefs, and with my childhood’s faith.

I love thee with a love I seemed to lose

With my lost saints, —I love thee with the breath,

Smiles, tears, of all my life! —And, if God choose,

I shall but love thee better after death.

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Love is the sweetest and most painful of emotions. Some say that love is a state of mind. I like what Gibran has to say about love. We experience love every day from somewhere, but let it not bound you and let your being be whole within the love.

LOVE ONE ANOTHER

From The Prophet

Khalil Gibran

Love one another, but make not a bond of love.

Let it rather be a moving sea between the shores of your souls.

Fill each other’s cup but drink not from one cup.

Give one another of your bread but eat not from the same loaf.

Sing and dance together and be joyous, but let each one of you be alone.

Even as the strings of a lute are alone though they quiver with the same music.

Give you hearts, but not into each other’s keeping.

For only the land of Life can contain your hearts.

And stand together yet not too near together

For the pillars of the temple stand apart,

And the oak tree and the cypress grow not in each other’s shadow.

Thank you for being part of my WordPress family. I love you all. Hearts, Barbara

January 13, 2015 by IdealisticRebel

A Little Something Uplifting

Right now, the world is full of a lot of hate. Not only has the attack on Charlie Hebdo changed France forever, but anti-semitism is growing and racism is on the rise.

But I want to remind all of us that the world also is full of love, generosity, kindness, passion — the good things in life. This story, from CNN, is the story of a miracle: a miracle of love.

I hope you enjoy it as much as I did, and I hope you smile.

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boy and girl flower girlrotated

(CNN) Briggs Fussy doesn’t remember much about walking down the aisle 20 years ago with the woman who would eventually become his wife.

“I don’t really remember the wedding part at all,” Briggs said. “I didn’t even talk to her.”

A groom not remembering the wedding could undoubtedly crush a bride, especially a bride like Brittney Fussy, who admits she’s been planning her wedding since she was a little girl.

But Brittney Fussy said the only thing she remembers about their trip down the aisle was her partner’s unique name.

“I don’t remember too much about being a flower girl,” she said.

Briggs and Britney Fussy took their first walk down the aisle when they were just 3, as a ring bearer and flower girl in the wedding of Briggs’ godmother. The couple took their second walk down the aisle Saturday to become husband and wife.

The couple, who failed to leave an impression on each other at their first wedding, reunited years later in their ninth grade in a government class at Blaine High School, north of Minneapolis.

Briggs had just transferred to Brittney’s school; she said she knew the moment she heard the teacher say his name that it had to be the same Briggs who walked her down the aisle all those years ago.

“I confirmed it with my mom,” Brittney said before she said anything to Briggs and then the couple laughed about how both of their moms had pictures of the pair hanging up at their respective houses.

They didn’t become a couple until junior year and eventually separated to attend college in separate cities — Briggs to the University of Wisconsin, LaCrosse, and Brittney to Minnesota State University, Mankato.

A few years into the long-distance relationship, Briggs returned to Minnesota State to be with his beloved.

“I knew I was going to marry her,” he said.

Before they tied the knot over the weekend, the couple viewed the video of themselves in the wedding.

Briggs called it “hilarious.”

Brittney said she was the “obnoxious flower girl,” who can be seen on wedding video weaving in and out bridesmaids. At one point, she pauses in front of the bride to look up at her. Briggs, on the other hand, stood calmly in the same place for the entirety of the ceremony.

“I’m such a rule follower — I’m sure someone said ‘stay still,’ and I never moved,” Briggs said.

Brittney promises she’s a rule follower now, too, but contends she and her groom can both be “pretty weird and outspoken” sometimes.

The picture of the two of them at age 3 is now framed in their own home, and they even reenacted the photograph at their own wedding.

boy and girl married

Here’s the same couple — this time, they’re the ones getting hitched.

“I’m pretty cheesy when it comes to love stuff, I’m not going to lie,” Brittney said.

Briggs and Britney, who are both finishing up their degrees in economics and elementary education at Minnesota State, Mantoka, said they didn’t really understand what all the fuss was about regarding their story at first. But they said they have known all along that they were meant to be.

“It’s all a part of God’s plan,” she said, “All fate for sure.”

As for their second time down the aisle, the couple said it’s far more memorable than their first.

“It was wonderful,” Brittney said. “As close to perfect as you can get.”

December 31, 2014 by IdealisticRebel

Ending the Year with Peace

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It is officially New Year’s Eve. I am wishing all of us and all of the world a 2015 filled with light, love and peace for all. May Justice reign and suffering end. Thank you all for following me and reading me these past 2 1/2 years. It may be virtual but your friendship is a joy and a pleasure in my life. You have enriched my heart and soul and I am grateful. Your friend and a really good hugger, Barbara

December 30, 2014 by IdealisticRebel

Gratitude for Mother Earth

We are coming to an end of another year. We witnessed a lot of horror, violence and pain this year. We have also had reason to hope, love and show kindness to others. My goal for 2015 is to promote peace and love as much as possible. Will I succeed? I don’t know but I believe that if I and others don’t try, it will make life here in our world worse. So I want to state that we are all one family, one species and we share one World. It is our only one. There isn’t even a second string planet waiting to fill in if we destroy Mother Earth. So let 2015 be the year we save our own lives and begin to heal Mother Earth. May 2015 be the year we practice love, kindness and acceptance.

“O Hidden life vibrant in every atom;

O Hidden Light shining in every creature;

O Hidden Love! embracing all in Oneness;

May each who feels himself as one with Thee,

Know he is also one with every other.”

—Annie Besant

” 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;

Common be our deliberations.

Alike be our feelings;

Unified be our hearts;

Common be our intentions;

Perfect be our unity.”

—From the Hindu sacred writings of the Rig Veda

“Grant me the ability to be alone;

May it be my custom to go outdoors each day

among the trees and grasses,

among all growing things

and there may I be alone,

and enter into prayer

to talk with the one

that I belong to.”

—Rabbi Nachman of Bratzlav

We need to save our forests, jungles and green spaces. Plants give off Oxygen that we need to breathe.

The indigenous people of the world valued life. Do you?

Gratitude and gratefulness for Mother Earth

December 2, 2014 by IdealisticRebel

The Harmony & Peace Award

HarmonyPeace

I created this new award to celebrate all those who promote Harmony & Peace, and who add Love & Beauty to the world through their Blogs and through their lives. Their Positivity makes the world a better place for all of us.

Rules:

As most of you know by now, I am not big on rules, but here they are:

Give this award to seven bloggers who have added Harmony & Peace, Love & Beauty and Positivity to the world you live in.
Let them know that you nominated them.
Acknowledge the blogger from whom you received this award
Display your award on your blog, because you have earned it!
Continue to live in Harmony & Peace

The first nominees for this award:

November 22, 2014 by IdealisticRebel

Rumi’s Words in My Head

Wake and Walk Out

–Rumi

If I flinched at every grief, I

would be an intelligent idiot. If

I were not the sun, I’d ebb and

flow like sadness. If you were not

my guide, I’d wander lost in Sanai.

If there were no light, I’d keep

opening and closing the door. If

there were no rose garden, where

would the morning breezes go? If

love did not want music and laughter

and poetry, what would I say? If

you were not medicine, I would look

sick and skinny. If there were no

leafy limbs in the air, there would

be no wet roots. If no gifts were

given, I’d grow arrogant and cruel.

If there were no way into God, I

would not have lain in the grave of

this body so long. If there were no

way from left to right, I could not

be swaying in the grasses. If

there were no grace and no kindness,

conversation would be useless, and

nothing we do would matter. Listen

to the new stories that begin every

day. If light were not beginning

again in the east, I would not now

wake and walk out inside the dawn

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Form is Ecstatic

–Rumi

There is a shimmering excitement in

being sentient and shaped. The

caravan masters sees his camels lost

in it, nose to tail, as he himself is,

his friend, and the stranger coming

toward them. A gardener watches the

sky break into song, cloud wobbly with

what it is. Bud, thorn, the same.

Wind, water, wandering this essential

state. Fire, ground, gone. That’s

how it is with the outside. Form

it ecstatic. Now imagine the inner:

soul, intelligence, the secret worlds!

And don’t think the garden loses its

ecstacy in the winter. It’s quiet, but

the roots down there riotous.

If someone bumps you in the street,

don’t be angry. Everyone careens

shout in this surprise. Respond in

kind. Let the knots untie, turbans

be given away. Someone drunk on this

could drink a donkeyload a night.

Believer, unbeliever, cynic, lover,

all combine in the spirit-form we are.

but no one yet is awake like Shams.

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I was at the hospital today, visiting my friend who is recovering from the surgeries well, but she still has Stage 4 cancer. And I could hear Rumi putting words in my head, and I could feel his energy and his reminder that his religion is Love, and our religion is Love, no matter what path you follow. The ecstasy in the path of Love can help you get through the trying times and sometimes in the devastating times. When the going is the toughest, it’s good to remember that the God is Love, Lover and Beloved, and nothing else can be all three.

November 14, 2014 by IdealisticRebel

To Heal the Whole

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;

Common be our deliberations.

Alike be our feelings;

Unified be our hearts,

Common be our intentions;

Perfect be our unity. —From the Rig Veda, Hindu scripture

This is not thinking about humans being carbon copies of each other but that we all unify around love, kindness, compassion, gratitude and forgiveness. No matter what country you live in or what religion or spiritual path you follow, no matter your skin color, we are all one. Our planet is not divided. It is whole and beautiful, though damaged due to our not being good stewards. It is us who have divided, sectioned off, and formed boundaries out of human blood. For this is a big part of what war accomplishes.

We are in a time of great imbalance on our planet, and again we have no other planet. Mother Earth is reflecting the imbalance within ourselves. We need to heal humankind. There is no one who does not have their own inner traumas and psychological problems. We are not separate from this wonderful planet. We are totally part of the living Earth, and we must recognize that isolated health is an illusion. Healing ourselves and working to resolve the contradictions in the human-Earth ecology is the same work. And it is work, hope and love that will bring us to success.

All healing involves making whole again. For many people who have lived with violence or trauma, they feel it is just them and the rest of the world is whole and mentally healthy. I have heard this many hundreds of times from patients. This leads them to feel marginalized and not part of the mainstream. In truth, we all need healing of one sort or another. We all need each other.

All healing involves making ourselves and our world whole again. We need to resolve the contradictions that exist between self and other, body and spirit, mind and nature.

We need to relearn that we belong to the whole. We need to know that we are not encapsulated, self-enclosed entities, but we are fields of energy integrated with the environment.

Everything we do transforms and reshapes the world. Because our actions can destroy, they can also heal. There is no distinction between our physical lives and the work of our spirits.

WeCon

Like it or not, we are all one beautiful, intelligent species

Mother Earth

November 6, 2014 by IdealisticRebel

Khalil Gibran

Khalil Gibran is a writer many of us found in the seventies. He developed almost a cult following. He was born near the Holy Cedars of Lebanon. He and his family moved to America. He went to schools in Boston. The family sent him back to Lebanon to go to college. He later also attended college in Paris. He was a painter and a writer.

He wrote of Mother Earth and carried the torch of freedom that sprinkled through his writings. He felt everyone should be free.

” I love you, my Brother, wherever you are, whether you kneel in your church, worship in your synagogue or pray in your mosque.”

“Are you troubled by the many faiths that Mankind professes? Are you lost in the valley of conflicting beliefs? Do you think that the freedom of heresy is less burdensome than the yoke of submission, and the livery of dissent safer than the stronghold of acquiescence? If such be the case, then make Beauty your religion, and worship her as your godhead; for she is the visible, manifest and perfect handiwork of God.”

” They deem me mad because I will not sell my days for gold; and I deem them mad because they think my days have a price.”

“The truly great man is he who would master no one, and who would be mastered by none. ”

“A bigot is a stone-deaf orator.”

” An exaggeration is a truth that has lost its temper.”

“Generosity is giving more than you can, and pride is taking less than you need.”

Khalil Gibran

An Interpretation of Khalil Gibran’s heart by Anita Krizzan

A Gibran verse

One of Khalil Gibran’s books. My favorite.

Wisdom of Gibran

September 5, 2014 by IdealisticRebel

What the Dalai Lama has to say

I have a great respect for the Dalai Lama. At fifteen he was secreted in the night by monks. The Chinese were invading and they were saving his life. They fled to India through the mountains and he has not been to Tibet since. The world watched as Buddhist nuns and monks were murdered and raped. But the Dalai Lama has kept his positive attitude and his belief in the positive aspects of peace and compassion. He has spent his life traveling the world talking about Tibet and sharing his wisdom on peace, kindness, and compassion. I am going to quote some of his best quotes. We need all of the positive energy we can muster.

“Usually, when I describe the essence of Buddhism, I say that at best we should try to help others, and if we cannot help them at least we should do them no harm. This teaching grows from the soil of love and compassion.”

“For us, the focus is not on God but on enlightenment. Human beings are responsible for their own lives. We alone are the creators of our fate. The Buddha did not create the world, nor is he responsible for its deficiencies. But he shows us ways in which we can move from the present state of suffering to perfection. Because of this and other reasons, the Buddha did not address teachings about the existence of God.”

“Buddhism is one of the many religions which teaches us to be less selfish and more compassionate. It teaches us to be humane, altruistic, and to think of others in the way we think of ourselves. Our daily thoughts and actions should be directed toward the benefit of others.”

“For certain people, Buddhism may simply not be an answer. Different religious meet different people’s needs. I do not try to convert people to Buddhism. What I try to explore is how we Buddhists can make a contributions to human society in accordance with our ideas and values.”

” Compassion can be roughly defined in terms of a state of mind that is nonviolent and nonharming, or nonaggressive. Because of this there is a danger of confusing compassion with attachment and intimacy.”

“Genuine compassion should be unbiased. If we only feel close to our friends, and not to our enemies, or to the countless people who are unknown to us personally and toward whom we are indifferent, then our compassion is only partial or biased.”

“Generating concern for others has vast power to transform your mind. If you practice compassion for the sake of all living beings===including animals—then that same limitless merit will accrue to you.”

“Without love we could not survive. Human beings are social creatures, and a concern for each other is the very basis of our life together.”

“Love is a simple practice yet it is very beneficial for the individual who practices it as well as for the community in which they live, for the nation, and for the whole world.”

“Loving oneself is crucial. If we do not love ourselves, how can we love others? It seems that when some people talk of compassion, they have the notion that it entails a total disregard for one’s own interests—a sacrificing of one’s interests. This is not the case. In fact genuine love should first be directed at oneself.”

“If someone greets me with a nice smile, and expresses a genuinely friendly attitude. I appreciate it very much. Though I might not know that person or understand their language, they instantly gladden my heart…Kindness and love, a real sense of brotherhood and sisterhood, these are very precious. They make community possible and this are crucial in society.”

September 4, 2014 by IdealisticRebel

The Importance of Hope in Today’s World

In Wales, Nato is meeting to address the dual problems of ISIL and Russia. It is also a time of increased racism here in the United States. The world is tense, you can feel it as you go about your regular life. I want to encourage you to remember that peace starts within us. Hope and peace live within and is touched by the Divinity within. Our hearts and souls are very important in our lives. We just are not really aware of them.

Our hearts have been attacked more than once in the last few months. Mother Earth is screaming in pain. 16 million children live in poverty in America, we really have no idea of how many people in Iraq and Syria have been killed and or displaced. Now ISIL members are discussing moving into India. That country is filled with a billion people. They have just been served notice that the darkness is now planning moves to disrupt their country and families.

What can one person do? One person in France, Belgium, India or America can do a lot. We can keep giving love, peace, hope, compassion and empathy flowing out from our hearts and souls into this world. We must believe that, in the big picture, that good will conquer the hatred and bigotry that we are up against. Our spirituality can be the engine that pulls us ahead and keeps us focused on what can be done rather than what can not be done. We may suffer, I may suffer but if we lose our lives, we will return home to the Divine presence of God.

“At night make me one with the darkness, in the morning make me one with the light. ” —Wendell Berry

“Just to be is a blessing, Just to live is holy.” —Rabbi Abraham Heschel

” As we are together, praying for peace, let us be truly with each other.

Let us pay attention to our breathing.

Let us be relaxed in our bodies and our minds.

Let us be at peace with our bodies and our minds.

Let us return to ourselves and become wholly ourselves. Let us maintain a half-smile on our faces.

Let us be aware of the source of being common to us all and to all living things.

Evoking the presence of the Great Compassion, let us fill our hearts with our own compassion, towards ourselves and towards all living beings.

Let us pray that all living beings realize that they are all brothers and sisters. all nourished from the same source of life.

Let us pray with ourselves to live in a way which will not deprive other beings of air, water, food, shelter, or the chance to live.

With humility, and with awareness of the existence of life, and of the sufferings that are going on around us, let us pray for the establishment of peace in our hearts and on earth. Amen. —Thich Nhat Hanh

Truth

The face of truth is open,

The eyes of truth are bright,

The lips of truth are ever closed,

The head of truth is upright.

The breast of truth stands forward,

The gaze of truth is straight,

Truth has neither fear nor doubt,

Truth has patience to wait.

The words of truth are touching,

The voice of truth is deep,

The law of truth is simple:

All that you sow you reap.

The soul of truth is flaming,

The heart of truth is warm,

The mind of truth is clear,

And firm through rain or storm.

Facts are but its shadows,

Truth stands above all sin;

Great be the battle in life,

Truth in the end shall win.

Wisdom”s message its rod;

Sign of truth is the cross,

Soul of truth is God.

Life of truth is eternal,

Immortal is its past,

Power of truth will endure,

Truth shall hold to the last. —Hazrat Inayat Khan

Cup and Ocean

“These forms we seem to be are cups floating in an ocean of living consciousness.

They fill and sink without leaving an arc of bubbles or any good bye spray.

What we are is that ocean, too near to see, though we swim in it and drink it in.

Don’t be a cup with a dry rim, or someone who rides all night and never knows the horse

beneath this thighs, the surging that carries him along.” —Rumi