By The Light

"Look on the bright side." 

This is what he said to me right before he asked me what "the bright side" is. It launched us into a whole exercise with water in a glass and a conversation about whether it was half empty or half full. :)

Then I wanted to film the beautiful Super Pink Moon and only managed to get 30 seconds before it disappeared behind the clouds. The image was dark and not very clear. On the other hand, it was as if the moon waited just for me. It wasn't going anywhere until I went out and felt its glow. 

Here's wishing you a great week with plenty of time on "the bright side." 

Sometimes how you choose to view things makes such a world of difference.

Love,

T

Some Rain

A walk in the rain can bring a beautiful new perspective.

While rain carries a beauty all its own, it also helps us appreciate the sunshine - much like the way tears of sadness help us know the sweetness of laughter with deeper understanding.

Sometimes in our effort to stay positive and happy, it's tempting to bury our heads in the sand. We don't want to feel the rain.

Only we know how much rain we're capable of dealing with at any particular time. As for me, I'm down for a walk in the rain. I'll meet you out there if you want. I'll understand if you'd rather stay inside though too.

Love you all!
T

#Perspective

Everything is totally different, yet everything is exactly the same.
#Perspective #Focus

How am I going to color it THIS week? (Just thinking out loud.) Happy Monday everyone. xo

Namaste,

T 

"Just thinking out loud" reminded me of this song:

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)

Well, Which is It?

Is it THIS...

Hope is the thing with feathers

That perches in the soul,

And sings the tune without the words,

And never stops at all,

And sweetest in the gale is heard;

And sore must be the storm

That could abash the little bird

That kept so many warm.

I've heard it in the chillest land, 

And on the strangest sea;

Yet, never, in extremity,

It asked a crumb of me.

- Emily Dickinson

Or THIS...

Hope - that slippery creature of temptation

Shall I let him in?

Is it I, by myself

who allows that slithering beast?

That devil is already inside of me

Waiting...

For any crack in the door

To creep, undetected

Into the deepest recesses of me

And from there

Like a cancer grow.

- T.G. 

Which perception is Truth? Are they both true?  Does it depend on mood?

I have been considering perception and its powerful influence - how we, with the power of our mind, can choose to view any circumstance with a different perspective and create our future with it.

This week, I challenge my perspective of everything.  I encourage myself to see everything from a positive viewpoint.  With faith and gratitude, I know that all is well.  There is really never anything to fear.

Hope can be a beautiful, angelic creature or we can paint it with fear.  Is there something that we are afraid to hope, for fear that it will never be?  What dream is so important?  What idea do we have to guard so fiercely?  What holds that much power over us - that we would choose to kill hope instead of even trying?

This week, I want to figure that out - and make a change.  I want to dare to hope anything!  Isn't imagining something the first step towards creating it?  I don't want to be afraid to imagine anything!  I want to welcome hope and its sweet song!

LET'S DO IT!  

#fearless #daretodream

Namaste,

T

What A Wonderful World

You can't really go wrong when you start off the week at Leon's...

Me and Russ at Leon Studio One

Josh and Me at Leon's

and then meet with Vincent and Megan...

Me and Russ with Vincent and Megan - from New York Global Marketing Solutions

There was more driving...

and THEN there was Wednesday...

I DON'T KNOW WHAT HAPPENED ON WEDNESDAY!  It was as if all the planets went out of alignment or something.  Nothing went right.  I was completely misunderstood a number of times and I just couldn't get over how rude people in the world seemed to be.  I decided that I just had to go home and stay there.  Once I got home, I was stung by a bee in my driveway.  THAT WAS IT!  I just had to go to bed and start over on Thursday.  (Oh well, at least I managed to take the dogs to the groomer - BTW, Bentley also got stung by a bee in the driveway.)

With Wednesday out of the way things got better.  :)  Plans were made and flights were booked.

When I first got to my seat on the plane on Friday, I had scarcely gotten over my mad dash hysteria of trying to make the flight on time.  It was a small plane.  My row had only two seats in it and they were both occupied.  There was one female adult and one small child.  (Uh oh...)  When the lady saw me approaching while closely examining my ticket, then the sign above her head, she said "Oh, is this your seat?" and slid over to the window seat, placing the child on her lap.  The one-year-old little girl's feet were dangling over my seat and beginning to kick up and down.  (Oh great.)

Here's the thing - by the time the flight was over, my faith in humanity was restored.  Those two beautiful angels masquerading as people sitting next to me had me smiling throughout my entire soul.  There was the sweetest little girl and her most amazing adoptive mother.  Their story was incredible, moving, inspirational and miraculously wonderful.  I have GOT to try to remember (especially on days like Wednesday) that angels are everywhere.  I hugged them both goodbye when we landed.

So then, I was having a grand time in the Sunshine State visiting friends, meeting people and negotiating with children.  (Don't ask - I'm pretty sure that I promised a one-year-old that I would put him through college if he would just settle down quietly in a shopping cart - AND HE DID!!!)

Me and my friend Ramza

The week was perfectly topped off with a beautiful church service that seemed to speak directly to me.  The minister spoke about the song "What a Wonderful World" (written by Bob Thiele as "George Douglas" and George David Weiss).  She told the congregation about how the song was written as a positive antidote for the challenging times during which it was created, and about how through our perspective and our own choosing we can view the world and the future with optimism.  We can, during challenging times, choose to step back and see the wonder of the world and its perfection.  (Which was EXACTLY what I needed on Wednesday and what those two wonderful people sitting next to me on the plane helped me do!)

The minister also mentioned how the song wasn't a hit here in the US right away.  It did well in the UK, but took years to grow in popularity here in the US.

Hmmm...

Sounds like perfect sentiments for me to hold on to this week!  It IS a wonderful world and we need only to remember and shift our perspective if ever it seems otherwise.  THAT and the fact that a hit song sometimes takes a while to be recognized as such. 

:)  Perfect!

Namaste

T

Love That Lemonade...

The idea of making lemonade from lemons has surfaced from numerous sources this week.

There was of course the bitterly severe weather and the challenges it posed.  But then there was also the spirit of community and brotherly love it fostered when teams of people pulled together to shovel driveways and push cars and when families cooked at home and spent time with each other indoors. 

Angela and me shoveling after the blizzard...

My homemade seafood gumbo...

There are often lemons in the challenges we face together and individually in our life circumstance that can make us feel less than fortunate.  What ALWAYS follows that particular circumstance will be whatever WE MAKE of that situation.  I was clearly reminded of that truth watching Jennifer Hudson win The People’s Choice Award for Favorite Humanitarian. 

click here for Jennifer Hudson article - "Jennifer Hudson Breaks Down In Tears Accepting Humanitarian Award For Charity Established After Family Tragedy"

As we all search to find our way and try to make sense out of so many different challenging circumstances, I’m reminded…

Perspective is everything.  We can move from “Damn it!  I only ever win a dollar on these lottery tickets!” to “Hey!  I won something!” with a little bit of gratitude.  Even in severe circumstances, we can create something beautiful from what might initially seem hopeless. 

Isn’t it amazing how we can take ANY given circumstance and choose to make something wonderful from it?  Our RESPONSE is what holds the key.  We can respond to anything with love, kindness and understanding.  We can certainly choose gratitude as a state of mind –and from THAT can grow the most precious and powerful inspirations. 

Artwork that hangs in Angela's room...

I’ll drink to that!  LOVE that lemonade! 

From the photo shoot I just had in my kitchen with four lemons, water, ice and a tall glass...

Inspirational selection from Ella Wheeler Wilcox:

“Not long ago there was a great trotting-race at Brighton Beach.  The blind conqueror “Rhythmic” won five consecutive races.

Think of it!  He did not, like a mortal man, shrink back and say “I am blind –that is a terrible destiny –I am cursed by God –I will not try to win the race.”  He just trusted the hand of the Master at the reins, did his best, and won the honors of the season.

We are all blind racers at the track of earth.  The king, the millionaire, the statesman, the lawmaker, the beggar, the laborer, the cripple, we are all in the dark.  The only thing is to trust the hand of the Master, and do our best.

Believe your position is the right starting point for you, merely the starting point.

It is the shapeless block of stone from which you are to fashion the perfect statue.

Or it is the mere mud from which you are to mold the clay image, and later that is to be put into enduring marble.

What is uglier or more unattractive than mud?

Yet think of the glorious conceptions which it imprisons.

Take the mud of your present environment and thank God for it, and make the image of the future you desire.

You can do it –you must do it –you will do it.”

 –Ella Wheeler Wilcox, “The Heart of New Thought” (1903)