Empathy Over Anger

Everyone faces challenges. Most people are dealing with a lot of them right now. It would serve us well to remember that. 

It's so easy to be frustrated or angry with someone who isn't being as kind as we would like. Maybe we could expand our patience a bit. Things are hard for almost everyone.

Maybe we could fly above it. Life is too short. 

Choose empathy. Choose understanding. Choose compassion. Choose Love.

Love,

T

The Decision Is Real

I'm going to call it a decision, rather than a struggle. The decision is real because when I woke up this morning, the first thing I saw was this draft (for Instagram) that I had planned on posting today:

"Hello Sunshine! Have a beautiful day! 💛 ☀️ xo!
#sunshine #flowers #goodday #positivity #positivevibes #positiveenergy #instamood #smile #Love"

Within seconds, I also saw the news. Trump supporters had rolled into Portland, instigating violence and antagonizing others with paint guns and bear mace. One of them had been killed. The president tweeted sympathies. (Stop.) He has displayed a complete LACK of sympathy for COUNTLESS others killed while peaceful protesters have been demonized, abused and murdered as well. NOW there is a sympathy tweet? "HOW DARE YOU?" - was the most polite thought that came to mind. How dare you use someone's death to feign concern, then hide behind that facade when those you ignore and oppress are rightfully enraged by your complete BULL. Meanwhile, scores of spin doctors go to work propagating false narratives designed to take advantage of our basic human frailties and desires to lash out and blame someone. They turn Truth inside out and have people fighting AGAINST their own values!

I maintain that our actions and our mindset are choices we make. THEY do not have to be a struggle. We can choose to act with positive energy, self care, happiness, kindness, understanding and Love. This DOES NOT mean we need to be silent or complicit about any of the issues we are passionate about.

We can fight hard and also adjust the level of our personal emotions to whatever degree we choose or can tolerate. We know our own breaking point. Let's keep the gauge within the realm of survival, and stand strong. Our interiors need strength in order to make "good trouble" externally.

I posted my original "sunshine" post. NO ONE is going to stop me from spreading Love.

Thus fortified, my eyes open wider to injustice and deliberate deception. It absolutely disgusts me to see opportunists selling what I call "fake empowerment." How on earth any person or group of people can manage to take their hate and craving for power and supremacy, repackage it in the form of self-righteousness and Christian values, then capitalize on people's fear, frustration and sometimes ignorance, is almost beyond comprehension. As sickening as this is, we can not allow it to make US sick.

Nourish yourself - then fight like hell. Stand in your truth and stand in Love. Find strength in positivity and happiness. Follow joy. Don't be afraid to glow. SHINE ON. Don't get lost in it. Feed on it. Balance. Then take that strength and...

KICK.

HATE'S.

ASS.

We are tasked with healing the world.

Love,
T

#Biden2020 #DumpTrump #Vote #StayStrong #StaySafe

Conversations

This is no time to stay inside a comfort zone.

Time to take a long hard look at ourselves - because we are supposed to take the log out of our own eye before addressing the speck in our friend's.

"Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother's eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? How can you say to your brother, 'Let me take the speck out of your eye,' when all the time there is a plank in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother's eye."

Matthew 7:3-5

The truth is we can do better. 

Conversations that are long overdue are now taking place. Will we say something stupid? (Probably.) Will we give another person the opportunity to judge us? (YES!) Are we experts on a subject before we start to open our mouths? (Not usually.) Would we pounce on someone else's lack of expertise if they got something incorrect? (Just nod your head yes here and wonder when I'm going to shut up because I already made this point.) 

Alright. But we have to be committed enough to walk this path anyway. We have the ability to change our own minds. We have the ability to learn. We can reject our own habitual responses and grow into something new and better.

We are about to change the world.

We are going to be more kind toward each other. We are going to be more understanding. We are going to listen and learn. We are going to take that one extra step. We're going to unearth a new level of truth within. Someone will reach out a hand when we stumble and we'll do the same for another. We are going to be courageous together. We are going to build.

"Justice never comes when you only do what's comfortable and convenient. Change never comes, oppression never ends, equality never prevails. You have to be willing to raise the issues, to challenge the systems that don't educate people about the history honestly."

- Bryan Stevenson, Equal Justice Initiative

"We have been practicing silence about our history for a very long time. In this country we don't talk about slavery, we don't talk about lynching, we don't talk about segregation. We have a hard time talking about race and it has burdened us. We don't think it's odd that we don't talk about this history. We actually think it's odd when somebody tries to talk about it. We react to the effort of trying to talk about it as if THAT's the threat, not our continued silence."

- Bryan Stevenson, Equal Justice Initiative

Blessed week.

Love,
T

More to learn (There's ALWAYS more to learn):

Click here for The Equal Justice Initiative

Click here for NationalGeographic.com's article: 'It was a modern-day lynching': Violent deaths reflect a brutal American legacy

We need to talk about Injustice - Bryan Stevenson

Taking Requests

We're just doing what we do.

If you have any song suggestions, please comment or message. 

I'll start posting these as single posts as well, so forgive me if you see these more than once. If you're on TikTok (oh please go on TikTok, it's so much fun!), we'd love to be friends there too! 

Here's wishing and praying for all of us to be a little better at kindness, understanding and Love in the weeks to come. People deal with stress and anxiety in so many different ways. A little compassion could go such a long way for others and might be there for us too, just when we need it the most. 

Blessings to you and yours... Stay well. xo

Love,

T

The Everyday

We're OK. May that be the first thing you hear from loved ones as the next few weeks go by.

We went from new school protocols, to no school. From playground, to no contact with other children - not even the ones next door. From relatively normal life - to this.

As is the case for most of the world, life is changing by the minute.

Now we are heroes for keeping distance from each other, for following guidelines that require our mastery of the mundane within the walls at home.

There's a litany of things we can NOT do, but what about the things that we can? We can appreciate time together with our children. We can understand that we are all in this together. We can learn more. We can seek out positivity and do our part to promote it. We can call someone who is alone or elderly and keep them company by our conversation. We can put differences aside. We can act in a way that lifts others up and that brings us together in spirit. We can find new ways to have fun. We can do a lot to show each other love and respect.

Here's wishing health and happiness... and for the peace and comfort that comes from knowing that there are great depths of Love, Kindness, Understanding and Strength within us all.

Stay safe.
Love,
T

Click here for The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

#MiraclesHappen

It would be impossible not to notice the conflict and division that surround us this week...

As a new mom, I am also keenly aware of the miracles that surround us as well...

Through conflict and differences, may we discover opportunities for greater understanding and expansion of our perceived capacity to Love. #WereAllInThisTogether

Namaste,
T

The Artistic Endeavor...

The booklet that accompanies my CD includes a quote from Martha Graham (as recounted by Agnes De Mille). It reads as follows:

"There is a vitality, a life force, an energy, a quickening that is translated through you into action, and because there is only one of you in all of time, this expression is unique. And if you block it, it will never exist through any other medium and it will be lost. The world will not have it. It is not your business to determine how good it is not how valuable nor how it compares with other expressions. It is your business to keep it yours clearly and directly, to keep the channel open. You do not even have to believe in yourself or your work. You have to keep yourself open and aware to the urges that motivate you. Keep the channel open. ... No artist is pleased. [There is] no satisfaction whatever at any time. There is only a queer divine dissatisfaction, a blessed unrest that keeps us marching and makes us more alive..."

The Graham quote comes to mind in the wake of Meryl Streep's acceptance speech at the Golden Globe Awards:

Viola Davis's Introduction, Meryl Streep's Acceptance Speech:

I respect everyone's right to their own opinion. In my own artistic experience, I've come to believe that there is a special gift that comes with having to place yourself in another's shoes and portray their emotions effectively. To be able to step into another's shoes and make that person's point of view accessible, as one must do in an intensive role of dramatic acting, requires a great understanding of humanity.

I remember my favorite teacher of all time - my acting teacher - talking about playing various roles. He was speaking about playing the role of someone whose views may be COMPLETELY different from your own. What if you were playing the role of a psychopath, for example? In that character's mind, they are probably not TRYING to be psychotic. Similarly, a drunk person is not TRYING to act "drunk." They are trying to act normally within the context of their own ability. To portray them effectively, the actor must try to deeply understand their motivations, limitations, frustrations and inspirations. This is the level of human understanding we can expect from a studied, practiced, and gifted practitioner of the dramatic arts.

Regardless of your political views, I am a believer that we can ALL benefit from cultivating a practice of understanding one another better.

Here's hoping we can all step up our game a little in this department and be not afraid to stand up for ourselves and our beliefs in ways that are as brave, articulate, and inspiring to others as was Ms. Streep's speech.

Namaste,
T

#TheRightSide

I was so excited about the prospect of turning off the news and getting back to enjoying nature and the seasons this week.

I thought that getting back to meditation would be a great thing to blog about this time around.

It seems that there is going to be quite a lot of news watching and controversy for some time to come. I would sincerely hope that, no matter WHO you voted for, we can agree on one thing:

Here's wishing we all find a path to peace and understanding.

Namaste,
T

Perception is Everything

At a memorial service on Thursday, the dearly departed had given instructions to have this song played. It was beautiful.

How wonderful of her to have known ahead of time exactly what she wanted us all to hear after her passing. She managed to reach out from wherever she is now to tell us all that she is fine. It's amazing that she had such strong faith that she would be fine. How beautifully touching that she, while facing her own mortality, was so concerned with the well-being and comfort of those she had to leave behind here on this earth. She spoke directly to us and inspired us from beyond her own physical existence. Endless thanks to her for showing us all another perspective - hers, from where she is now.

Here's to remembering that there is always another perspective besides our own. There is another viewpoint beyond what we can imagine on almost everything. Here's hoping that we all remember that, and try to open our minds a little and show some understanding to other perspectives. #LetsLearn

Keeping the idea of different perspectives in mind, I noticed something. I have often gazed at the shower tile and seen an image of an Angel in the design (above). In some of the other tiles, I've noticed what seems like the image of a sheep (below).

The really neat thing I noticed THIS week is that - the two images are in fact the same.

Looking around the room at the tiles, I noticed both images on almost every tile although some are turned in different directions. After that, I started paying close attention to varying perspectives on news articles. Obama was talking about the different sides of the National Anthem controversy and encouraged everyone to be understanding of other points of view. There was also a story about a forger, Adolfo Kaminsky, who while breaking the law during World War II, managed to save thousands of lives by answering to his own, higher law.

"I saved lives because I can't deal with unnecessary deaths - I just can't... 

all humans are equal, whatever their origins, their beliefs, their skin color... 

There are no superiors, no inferiors. That is not acceptable for me."

- Adolfo Kaminsky

#Amazing how we can view so many things from different perspectives.

Namaste,
T

Click here for: "On Colin Kaepernick national anthem protest, President Obama calls for understanding from both sides"

Click here for: "If I Sleep for an Hour, 30 People Will Die" (story on Adolfo Kaminsky)

The Spinning Wheel

"That looks so cool! What is that?"

That's what I said early last week when I walked into the little book/gift shop that I frequent, and saw the lady behind the counter demonstrating a most interesting spinning object to a customer. She told me it was a Tibetan Prayer Wheel.

I was in a hurry that day and the shop was busy, so I returned on Friday to look at it in more detail. The shop owner explained to me that the wheel contained a prayer inside (Om mani padme hum), and the idea is that the user says his or her own prayer which is then sent out into the Universe as the wheel is spun around, having a kind of amplified effect. I was so intrigued! I had never heard of such a thing or seen anything like it. It looked important, sacred, something to be revered. I bought it and took it home, eager to learn more about the practice.

Prayer Wheel: A revolving cylinder with or containing prayers, 

a revolution of which symbolizes the repetition of prayer, 

used by Tibetan Buddhists.
(Concise Oxford English Dictionary)

Click here for "Prayer Wheel" on Wikipedia

Click here for "Om mani padme hum" on Wikipedia

I like the idea of learning something about another culture, another practice, and deepening our understanding of our fellow brothers and sisters. At a time in the world when our differences make headlines and cause unimaginable conflict... Why not respond by finding something new and different to appreciate in a culture we may not be familiar with? I like the idea of making that a habit. What better way is there to oppose forces that seek to divide our human family than finding a way to unite our human spirit through understanding?

Here's to our new discoveries and appreciation!

Namaste,
T

The Good News

Early in the week I saw a news report that caught my attention. It was about a couple in Turkey who decided to feed Syrian refugees instead of hosting an expensive dinner reception for family and friends. Amazing.

Click here for article: "The Most Generous Bride on Earth: Couple Feeds 4000 Syrian Refugees on Their Wedding Day"

The story stood out in sharp contract to other news stories. Then came the story of how police officers showed up to a three year old's birthday party when many of the guests cancelled at the last minute and the mother feared it was because of her son's autism. Beautiful.

Click here for article: "Police crash boy's birthday party in best way possible"

It was so nice to hear about good, positive things happening amidst all of the other disheartening things. Later still in the week, yet another news report contained a stand out sentence. It said:

"We're often better at outrage than understanding."

- Steve Hartman

It was a story about a well-intentioned woman's community act that was not well received. One can understand the varying opinions on the building of a slave cabin - historic significance and intentions aside.

Click here for article: "Missouri woman builds slave cabin to bring community together"

A major point in that story is how two people with very different perspectives can come to some understanding - and they did. It was another thought provoking and inspirational piece of news.

I suppose I've been watching a lot of news. I'm glad to be reminded that there are good stories. There are so many tragic things happening and so much anger and grief. It is easy to be overwhelmed. It's easy to just not watch at all, but then we'd just be uninformed. 

I'll try to remember that even in the midst of unimaginable loss, amazing human spirit can be found. I don't have to stick my head in the sand in order to maintain my faith in the goodness of humanity. Terrible reports are media highlights, but there IS inspiration to be found. There IS understanding to be gained. I will look for good news. It is there too.

Namaste,

T

P.S. Just as I finished this, a news article popped up on my phone... a baby born... "amid unspeakable calamity..."

Click here for article: "Amid death in Aleppo, a spark of life" (warning: disturbing video)

A Little Prayer...

Today I bought a little prayer book titled "A Book of Healing Prayer." I was looking for some prayers to say for a relative going through some health challenges. The book is a compilation of prayer submissions from people who have served as healers at The Healing Temple at the Spiritualist community of Lily Dale, New York. Proceeds from sales of the book will go toward improving and renovating The Healing Temple there. The book includes "verse and prayers of many religions, ancient and modern, that embrace the diversity of our world. Spiritualism believes that Spiritual Healing is available to all life." I sat down and read it from cover to cover. All the quotes used here are taken from it.

As I read through all the prayers, I was keenly reminded of how much we are all alike. There are words written from people all over the world. Sentiments from people of different cultures and from different times - all seeking comfort, love, peace and understanding.

When I look at the statistics of people who read this blog, sometimes I am astounded at the worldwide audience. This week alone, there have been views from Russia, the United States, the United Kingdom, France, Ireland, Germany, Mauritius, Portugal and Saudi Arabia. I am so grateful to be able to connect here with brothers and sisters from around the world!

It occurs to me that as I seek out prayers for an ailing relative, people all over the world are doing the same thing for theirs. My hope this week is that we can all say a prayer or two keeping each other in mind. There are so many of us searching for the same thing - healing, love, peace, understanding - and asking for it in the quiet of our own hearts. May we remember that we are many. May that give us strength and reassurance.

"God Is Love

With bended knees, with hands outstretched,

do I yearn for the effective expression of the

Holy Spirit working within me.

For this love and understanding, truth and justice;

for wisdom to know the apparent from the real

that I might alleviate the sufferings of men on earth...

God is love, understanding, wisdom, and virtue.

Let us love one another, let us practice mercy and forgiveness,

let us have peace, born of fellow-feeling...

Let my joy be of altruistic living, of doing good to others.

Happiness is unto him from whom happiness

proceeds to any other human being."

- Zoroastrian Prayer

"O Great Spirit

Help me always speak the truth quietly, 

to listen with an open mind when others speak

and to remember the peace that may be found in silence."

- Cherokee Prayer

"For those who have asked us to pray for them,

For those that we have promised to pray for,

For those that have no one to pray for them,

May they know the embrace of God's healing touch and love.

Amen"

 - Anonymous 

"I ask the Great Unseen Healing Force to remove

all obstructions from my mind and body

and to restore me to perfect health.

I ask this in all sincerity and honesty

and I will do my part.

I ask the Great Unseen Healing Force

to help both present and absent ones who are

in need of help and to restore them to 

perfect health.

I put my trust in the Love and Power of God."

- Spiritualist Prayer for Healing

Namaste,
T

Redirected...

The most amazing thing just happened...

In searching for a blog topic this morning, I was recounting the activities of the last week and had CNN on in the background.  While opening up Word and typing some keywords to search, I heard today's news stories including the latest on Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 and the shootings in Kansas.  President Obama was on the air saying, "No one should ever fear for their safety when they go to pray."

I Googled the following words, having no idea whatsoever what to write this week's blog about:

bal-ance: 
- the state of having your weight spread equally so that you do not fall
- the ability to move or to remain in a position without losing control or falling
- a state in which different things occur in equal or proper amounts or have an equal or proper amount of importance

(from Merriam-Webster Dictionary)

un-der-stand-ing:
- the knowledge and ability to judge a particular situation or subject
- an informal agreement
- a willingness to understand people's behavior and forgive them
(from Merriam-Webster Dictionary)

I soon remembered something that happened recently that I thought significant at the time.  On one day, I started the morning by reading small sections from these two books:

Soon after reading the sections from each, I found myself at an Indian restaurant ordering Masala Tea. While I was waiting for the tea, the manager of the establishment began to tell me about the Indian name "Ashok," which is the name of someone I know and I was trying to remember and pronounce the name correctly.  He began slowly, almost cautiously in my opinion, telling me about a famous King bearing the name, and when I welcomed the story, in part by my sharing with him that I had just read words from the Dalai Lama that morning, the floodgates seemed to open up and he told me all about the story of "Ashoka the Great."

In short, Ashoka was a great king and conquerer around the time of 300 BC.  After one particularly deadly battle, he found himself scanning the bloody battlefield and seeing all of the dead bodies and had the realization from within that his own ego had caused all of the death and destruction that lay before him.  This caused him to change and he soon become a great force for Kindness and Good.  He was credited much with the spread of Buddhism throughout the region and the world.

"Legend says that one day after the war was over, Ashoka ventured out to roam the city and all he could see were burnt houses and scattered corpses. This sight made him sick and he cried the famous monologue:

What have I done? If this is a victory, what's a defeat then? Is this a victory or a defeat? Is this justice or injustice? Is it gallantry or a rout? Is it valor to kill innocent children and women? Did I do it to widen the empire and for prosperity or to destroy the other's kingdom and splendor? One has lost her husband, someone else a father, someone a child, someone an unborn infant.... What's this debris of the corpses? Are these marks of victory or defeat? Are these vultures, crows, eagles the messengers of death or evil?

The lethal war with Kalinga transformed the vengeful Emperor Ashoka to a stable and peaceful emperor and he embraced Buddhism. This led to the expansion of Buddhism in the Mauryan empire and other kingdoms during his rule, and worldwide from about 250 BCE."

(from Wikipedia.com)

Click here for Ashoka (the Indian emperor, on Wikipedia.com)

Today, as I recalled the incident of hearing that story, it occurred to me that it would make a good blog topic.  So I Googled "Ashoka the Great."  THAT'S WHEN IT HAPPENED...

I had typed the words and hit "enter" so fast that the computer had only registered the last four letters, "reat" when it searched and I sat in wonderment at how my search for "Ashoka the Great" had turned into a search for "reat" and had brought up the story that had just played on CNN about the Kansas shootings ("Reat" was the name of the 14 year old shooting victim at the Jewish Community Center who was there for a vocal audition with his grandfather, also killed).  The following link appeared on my screen, on this the eve of Passover:

Click here for CNN's video: 'I know they're in heaven together,' says woman who lost son, dad

At once I realized the significance of the "accident" of my computer's search and sat in stunned amazement.

Earlier, I had randomly opened to this page from "The Dalai Lama" book pictured above:

As so many of us prepare to celebrate Easter and Passover, I personally feel exceptionally Blessed, as someone who was raised Catholic, to be in attendance at a Jewish Seder this evening and to be included in that celebration of Passover.  I am encouraged to learn about other traditions as well.  I remember feeling a sense of significance and belonging when a simple stop for tea turned into an education about a historic king that I had previously known nothing about.  Why not learn a little something about a culture I am less familiar with and take a moment to "understand" how similar we all are... for collective "balance."

Namaste
T

P.S.
In another related "coincidence," Russell participated as a cast member in a historic musical performed at Jazz at Lincoln Center last week, written by David and Iola Brubeck, that has much to do with the topic of understanding and race relations....

"They say I look like God, 

Could God be black? My God!
If all are made in the image of Thee, 

Could Thou perchance a zebra be? 

He's watching all the earth, 

He's watched us from our birth, 

And if He cared if you're black or white, 

He'd mix one color, one just right..."

- lyrics from "They Say I Look Like God" from the musical "The Real Ambassadors"

Click here for The Real Ambassadors - The Musical

In Fear of A Dead Bird

Whew!  It has been a week filled with turmoil, questions and challenges.  So here’s how the week capped itself off…

After an extremely tiring drive back home, which took an incredible amount of time due to the bad weather and snow (yes, I said it…SNOW), I arrived to find the place in some disarray.  Curtains were knocked down and things that had been on windowsills and counter tops were on the floor and scattered about.  I considered for a moment if there might have been an earthquake.  As my mind scanned the possibilities, I saw the bird poop on the ledge of the window frame and instantly realized that, in my absence, a bird had gotten into the house and found itself trapped there.

(Alright.  That answers that.  On to the next issue… Where is the bird now?)

There was a sense of urgency.  It was almost 6am and I had been driving all night.  I had very little opportunity for sleep and I had to bring the dogs inside.  I had to find that bird before Bentley did.  I looked in all of the obvious places and found nothing.  I walked the dogs, brought them in and watched them carefully.  They did not lead me to the dead bird, but instead sniffed around a little, drank some water and laid down for a nap (some help THEY are).

I still had to find the bird.  I wanted to leave in the morning and the dogs would be in the house alone.  I couldn’t have Bentley finding a dead bird while I was gone.  (If you knew him, you’d understand that he has an unhealthy obsession with birds.)  I searched everywhere and was battling complete exhaustion.

Finally, I gave up.  It didn't seem to be anywhere that was accessible to the dogs.  I had to sleep.  As I got ready for bed and opened cabinets and reached for towels, I hesitated at every turn, fully aware of the possibility that the bird could be anywhere.  Finally, I slowly peeled back the bed covers hoping the bird wasn’t on my pillow and thankfully, upon finding that it was not, climbed in and slept. 

Miraculously, I woke up in time for church and got up and went.  There, I listened to a lecture/sermon about how we can make decisions from a place of love or from a place of fear.  The speaker talked about how with every choice we make and with every word we speak we can ask ourselves if we are building a wall or a bridge.  With compassion and love energy, we build bridges.  When we come from a place of fear, we tend to build walls.  We might, in a fear state, have an energy that closes us off and we might only see what we perceive as wrong or negative instead of what is positive and wonderful.  He spoke of how sometimes religion can do this as people try to impose their views on each other instead of realizing, through understanding, how much we are all alike.  How true this is when we reflect on all the war and death, pain and suffering brought about under the guise of  “religion” or trying to be understood instead of trying to understand.

In the end he encouraged us all to try to build bridges with every move we make, because if we build walls, we will eventually become walled in.

Link to the "We Are Family" foundation... (Amazingly inspirational and wonderful)

I went home and cleaned up the house.  I sanitized the windows and countertops and washed the curtains that had been knocked down.  I bought fresh fruit and veggies, placed them in a bowl on the counter and decided that I do not want to live in fear of a dead bird.  I still haven’t found it.  I know it might happen that I open a drawer or reach for something and, to my utter shock, find that dead bird, but you know what?  Who cares?  I mean, so what?  What’s the worst that can happen?  I might scream.  I might get hurt somewhat.  OK.

Yes, it is quite likely that I am living with a dead bird.  Fine.  I am no longer going to walk around being afraid of finding it where or when I least expect it.  I’m not going to move slowly and hesitate with every move I make.  I have decided that I will no longer live in fear of a dead bird.

This week, as I fling open cabinet doors with confidence, let me be the same way with life itself.  Let me move fear out of the way, stand in truth and speak with love.  BRING IT ON!  I ain’t afraid of no dead bird!  ;)

Have a beautiful week!

Namaste!

T

click here for words and music to Tanya Diona's song "Family Reunion"