me, you, and everything

(Source: IslandGirl, edited by RoseAlma)

"Touch the peace that comes when you know you're a part of everything, and everything is part of you."
Deepak Chopra

A reminder of love

Hello beautiful beings. ♥

I want to sincerely and lovingly remind all of you that I am always here. Whether you want to ask questions, share quotes, tell stories, or simply seek a friend. We have the usual tradition of "Loveful, Thoughtful Fridays" in which I share with all our readers the messages I have gotten (minus last names), and the love I have to offer those who wrote them. I encourage anyone and everyone to write. We all have something inside us to share. And there is never judgment, only love.

I am always here: we.are.one@inbox.com

Infinite peace and love.
Rosie

Thankful Thursday

Today I am thankful for an inner feeling of sunshine despite the grey skies and rain: I did my monthly grocery shopping, and as oppose to last month, I felt less tired and more energized afterward. A sign that perhaps my recent indoor biking is helping my lungs and endurance a bit.
For this, I am so joyful and grateful.

Dear Readers, please share what you are thankful for. ♥

(Image Source: MrxStitch, edited by RoseAlma)

love for all humanity, for all of existence

"Through my love for you, 
I want to express my love 
for the whole cosmos, 
the whole of humanity, 
and all beings. 
By living with you, 
I want to learn to love 
everyone and all species. 
If I succeed in loving you, 
I will be able to love everyone 
and all species on earth... 
This is the real message of love."

Thich Nhat Hanh (1926-),
Vietnamese Buddhist monk, writer, peace activist

(Image Source: NiteSkyGirl, edited by RoseAlma)

Music Monday!

A sweet song for you all. ♥

Thankful Thursday

(Image Source: TravelingBlind, edited by RoseAlma)

Today I am thankful for a beautiful day outside the house. The entire day spent with my loved one: getting hair trimmed at a lovely salon, eating tofu salad at a veggie-friendly restaurant, and sipping on a warm tea in a downtown coffeeshop. The sun even peeked through the clouds. Nothing more rewarding or pleasing than a beautiful gold-colored sunset at the end of an active day. I am grateful for the gift that was today. I haven't felt so normal or active or social in quite some time.

Sweet readers, please share the beautiful things (big or small) that you are thankful for. ♥

my love for you

Another message from my personal sticker art collection. ♥

(The introduction to them can be found here.)

          

"Refrain from all that is divisive 
and contentious... do what 
promotes harmony and unity."
Steve Hagen

(Image Source: aCelebrationofWomen, edited by RoseAlma)

Music Monday!

Beautiful song, beautiful cause, beautiful people. ♥

Let's Win! from Alexander on Vimeo.

open, endless, flowing

"I have often dreamed that I was in a house, a house that I had once lived in, or the house that I was then living in, or a house I was about to move into, and in my dream I discover that there are more rooms in the house than I knew were there. It is quite marvelous to discover all these new rooms and quite incredible that I never realized they were there, when, of course, they were there all along. It gives me a sense of expanding possibility, as when hiking down a narrow ravine to a creek at the bottom, when the creek becomes an estuary which gets wider and wider until suddenly it opens out into the wide sea. There is great joy in arriving there. I have been there, and made a fire on the rocks. The sea roars, and under my feet the round red stones are wet... So it is in my dream -- the house opens up, generous and endless. These dreams are so real, that for a few moments after I wake, I can still believe them."

(Sherril Jaffe, professor and writer)

(Image Source: TripIdeas.org, edited by RoseAlma)

Thankful Thursday

(Source: Vanderbilt, edited by RoseAlma)

I have so much to be grateful for today. I just returned home from a three-day visit to Vanderbilt University in Nashville, TN. I was there being evaluated for double-lung transplant. (I am already listed at the University of Alabama in Birmingham, but I am trying to be double-listed at Vanderbilt.)

I am so thankful for my beautiful parents and the infinite strength and love they give me in such times. I am thankful for my sweet fiance, who was able to get time off work and be by my side. I am thankful for all the incredible technicians, nurses, doctors, and staff at Vanderbilt, who treated me with gentleness, respect, and sincere kindness. I am thankful all the evaluation tests went smoothly and that, so far, things are looking good. I am thankful to have returned home, safe and sound, despite traffic and a snowstorm. And I am immensely thankful for the love that lives in my heart - before, during, and after this experience. It is fueled by my endlessly loving family, my incredibly supportive friends, and the infinitely beautiful strangers in the world around me. ♥

What are you grateful for, dear people? I have missed you all.

Music Monday!

Today's musical treat is an informal acoustic cover of "Stand By Me" by Jade Castrinos.

It is a rather unique and beautiful rendition of a wonderfully classic song. ♥

Jade Castrinos singing "Stand By Me" from Alma Har'el on Vimeo

a realization

  (Source: Behance, edited by RoseAlma) 

"When I find myself reacting

with anger or opposition 

to any person or circumstance, 

I will realize that I'm only

struggling with myself."

Deepak Chopra

We are all one.

"Just as a man shudders with horror when he steps upon a serpent, 

but laughs when he looks down and sees that it is only a rope, 

so I discovered one day that what I was calling 'I' cannot be found,

and all fear and anxiety vanished with my mistake."

Buddha/Siddhartha Gautama

(Source: DaughterNumberThree, edited by RoseAlma)

Loveful, Thoughtful Friday

Hello beautiful ones. ♥

This Friday we return to our "Loveful, Thoughtful" post. A beautiful reader wrote to me a while back asking for loving thoughts, and I want to express my apologies for delaying in my response. Time can get away from us. Nevertheless, I hope to offer some ounce of love to this beautiful soul.

They have identified themselves as "Big Nugget" and here is what they shared:

Dear Rosie, I have complications when it comes to my future. Currently I am in college and I do not know what I am going to do with my life. Everyone keeps on telling me that I will eventually know; the problem is that I have been hearing this since high school. I have no interest in science, math, theater. The only thing I think that I might like is English, but only because I like to read. I try to write, and at times I am successful, but other times because of school and work I don't have time and end up forgetting about writing for long periods of time. In class, I feel pressure because everyone around me seems to know way more than I do, and I am afraid I am going down the wrong path and I do not know what to do. I graduate soon, and I feel that I will not impress anyone at job interviews, including myself. I used to be an optimist, but as time continues on, as people yell at me at my current job and make me feel crappy about myself in school, I fear that I may turn into a pessimist. And I don't want that for myself. Like you I believe in love, happiness, and spreading kindness around the world. For without it, then there is no joy in living. Any suggestions about what I should do?

BN, you are a beautiful being and I appreciate you sharing your worries. Your concerns are most legitimate.
But there are also essential truths that you are allowing yourself to forget with the coming of these worries:

• You should only do what you are most passionate about. Life is too short to waste it doing what others want of you, or what will make you wealthy or successful. If you haven't discovered what that passion is for you yet, do not be troubled. What you need is to explore further. Your passion is out there, waiting for you to find it. Try new experiences and it will increase your chances. Some of the greatest ways to explore inwardly and outwardly:

                    ♥ travel (if possible) 
                    ♥ volunteering (anywhere that interests you; animal shelters, schools, community farms)
                    ♥ hobbies (painting, singing, crafts, dancing; anything you might like to try, even once)

• No one can take away your inner light but you. I understand our society and our world can be full of negativity and harshness at times. People around us can weigh us down, or rough circumstances can steal away our smiles. But ultimately, how we live through the darkness and respond to it is entirely up to us. Our sunshine can go on forever if we choose to let it. Once we acknowledge that life comes in waves (being both rewarding and challenging), and we resolve to love all, then nothing can steal away the light we have inside. Let your love shine, my beautiful one. No one can dampen that love without your consent.

My sincerest love goes out to you. Follow the light and love in your heart, always.

Infinite peace and love. ♥

Rosie

Thankful Thursday

(Source: SocialDesigner, edited by RoseAlma)

Today I awoke to blue sky and sunshine. The back patio welcomed me with its sunbeams, and I sat sipping my steamy morning chai. My cup and robe kept me warm in the beautiful crisp air. A certain loved one joined me, and along with his love brought warm conversation. A continuation, it felt almost, of our stimulating discussion the night before. It was the kind of conversation that involves sharing ideas, sometimes opposing ones, and that ends with new understanding and a deeper sense of love.

For all of these beautiful things, I am tremendously grateful.

May we all remember to soak up each moment.

my love for you

A little over a year ago I started creating personal sticker art (which is technically a form of graffiti). I was inspired to try it by a friend and fellow artist. It seemed like an interesting way to deliver my love to strangers - the beings who might happen upon these messages, wherever I left them. Though "graffiti" is loaded with negative connotations, I found it acceptable to do as long as I followed two rules: every message must be genuine and loving; and they can only be placed on manmade objects. (I wish to cause no harm to the earth.) So on occasion, I will share these messages with you. My dear readers. Here is the first:

Everything's the same, even if it's different.

"You're looking at what is called a book. 
You conceive of it as separate from other things. 
However, it's intimately connected with everything 
else in the universe... This book is not merely this book, 
it is the sun as well. If not for the sun, trees would not 
grow to produce the pulp to make the paper. 
And we cannot forget Ts'ai Lun, who invented paper 
in the second century, or Johann Gutenberg, who found a way to apply movable type to a printing press in the fifteenth century. And intermixed with the trees 
and the sun and creative human minds are other things. We cannot ignore language, time, soil, plants, animals, emotions, or thoughts. We cannot forget the rain, or even the stars, or the galaxies of stars. Indeed, 
there is nothing we can point to, or even imagine, 
that does not find its way into this book."

(Steve Hagen)

(Image Source: OpenLibrary.org, edited by RoseAlma)

the illusion of Good and Bad

Nothing in this world is truly good or bad. 

And the things that we perceive as "good" and "bad" are in all of us. 

Our lives and our world exist in flux, or constant change. The best we can do is to see. 

To look and observe without judgment. And offer everything around us endless love.

 (Image Source: MindMirror, edited by RoseAlma)