“To be yourself in a world that is constantly trying to make you something else is the greatest accomplishment.” ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson
Love what you’re doing and love it in front of others
“You rarely have time for everything you want in this life, so you need to make choices. And hopefully your choices can come from a deep sense of who you are.
The thing I remember best about successful people I’ve met all through the years is their obvious delight in what they’re doing and it seems to have very little to do with worldly success. They just love what they’re doing, and they love it in front of others.” ~ Fred Rogers
Source: Love What You’re Doing and Love it in Front of Others | Escape Adulthood with Kim & Jason
On ‘the best way out’…
“The best way out is always through.” – Robert Frost
I love despair.com and the way they illustrate a point using absurdity and rich sarcasm. Visit their site — always good for an ‘lol’… :-D
Do you look like a dead fish?
With
passion pray.
With passion make love.
With passion eat and drink and dance and play.
Why look like a dead fish
in this ocean
of
God?
– Rumi (1207-1273), translated by Daniel LadinskySource: Do you look like a dead fish? ~ a passion poem from Rumi – Loving With Power
Crazy Love
My wife and I are celebrating 23 years of ‘Crazy Love’ today. This version of the song is oddly appropriate because on one level, we have as much in common as Ray Charles and Van Morrison. Still, we make beautiful music together…
Lyrics…
I can hear her heart beat for a thousand miles
And the heavens open every time she smiles
And when I come to her that’s where I belong
Yet I’m running to her like a river’s songChorus:
She give me love, love, love, love, crazy love
She give me love, love, love, love, crazy loveShe’s got a fine sense of humor when I’m feeling low down
And when I come to her when the sun goes down
Take away my trouble, take away my grief
Take away my heartache, in the night like a thiefChorus:
Yes I need her in the daytime
Yes I need her in the night
Yes I want to throw my arms around her
Kiss her hug her kiss her hug her tightAnd when I’m returning from so far away
She gives me some sweet lovin’ brighten up my day
Yes it makes me righteous, yes it makes me feel whole
Yes it makes me mellow down in to my soul
I thank God for 23 unbelievable years…
How To Live The Life You REALLY Want!
I started out to only curate a small part of Mastin’s post this morning but just couldn’t stop. Here’s the whole post in it’s entirety more or less…
Are there any habits that you have that are costing you the things in your life that you truly love? For example, do you love your family but overworking causes you to miss out on them? Do you want to fall in love, but your desire to not get hurt again holds you back? Are you pursuing a professional career because you want to get significance from one of your parents, even though what you are doing doesn’t make you come alive? Are you so focused on the future of where your relationship is going that you aren’t enjoying it in the present? Are you so focused on the potential of someone you are in a toxic relationship with that you ignore the fact that you are unhappy with it, but you cling to the idea that they could change?
What is your current set of beliefs costing you? Are there any behaviors you have that are preventing you from getting what you really want?
For example – did you start a business because you wanted more free time, yet that will never happen? Or because you think it will make you rich, and that will allow you to spend more time with the family, but you have no time for them? Do you work your butt off so you don’t have to stress about money, but no matter what happens, you stress about money? Are you in a toxic relationship because you want Love, but aren’t really getting any?
So many times we do things that are not really in our nature because there is an outcome we want that we could get with much more ease if we were to just accept our nature. There are lots of ways to get what you really want, but first you have to know who you really are! Some people have no idea who they are; others own themselves like crazy!
So, how do you find out who you really are? Well it would be a lot easier if I was working with you one on one, we could get to the core of it rather quickly. But here’s the rub… Remember back over your life to all the moments where you were really alive! What were they? What moments in your life were you totally happy, fulfilled, etc.?
Think back and look at the things in common that you had in each of these moments. These are the things you REALLY want in life. Freedom. Passion. Love. Connection. Growth. Contribution. Joy. Variety.
So, in your current life, what are you doing to GET these things that is actually the OPPOSITE of them? Are you settling to get love? Are you doing things that confine you to get freedom?
What if it were true that you could get everything you wanted now, just by changing your story about what’s possible? What if you could have all the Love you wanted right now if you gave up trying to prove your way into getting Love and just accepted that you were love-able now? How would that change your life? Are you in the rat race because you think winning it will give you something? IF so, remember that even if you win the rat race you are still a rat!
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So, how can you see that it’s possible to already get what you want, right now? Are you trying to get what matters most to you in a backwards way? Can you really get what you want now by changing your story about what you really deserve and what you have to do to get the thing you want most? Have you forgotten who you really are and lived a life to live up to someone else’s expectations?
Turn up the self love!
Some good thoughts from Laura Fenamore this morning…
“We all spend so much time thinking about our relationships with others that we forget our relationships to our own selves. Before we can find love without, we must find love within.
Self-love first, True Love second.
We ought to be our own best friends, but all too often we end up being our own worst critics. We develop a negative voice, the one that berates us when we mess up at work, the one that critiques our reflections as we pass by a store window. That voice is so present, so ubiquitous, we may not even realize that we don’t have to listen to it. With that little guy or gal talking in our ears, it’s no wonder so many of us have trouble walking the path of self-love.” Source; Turn Down Your Negative Voice – Turn Up Self-Love!
She goes on to say…
“And so I taught self-love to myself. Love, both of ourselves and others, isn’t just a sense of peace and bliss, though that is where it may end up eventually. At the beginning, it’s a deep sense of desire and drive. I’d like to share with you three inspirational practices I used as I learned to walk the path of heart.
1. Accept Who You Are Now
Accepting yourself, warts and all, puts you in charge of your destiny. On my own journey, I began to see that while my negative voice as a part of me – the wounded part of me – it was not me. I ultimately learned is that I never would escape negativity by ignoring it or making myself wrong for my feelings. I first had to accept that yes, I am depressed, but that is not who I am. It is simply where I am in this moment, whether that moment is an hour or a year.2. Affirm, Affirm, Affirm Again
Affirmations are a great way to work from the outside in – remind yourself how loveable you are, and eventually you’ll start believing it, too. Write yourself an affirmation.
• Make it about yourself – “I” statements only.
• Be positive – instead of “I don’t give up on my goals,” say “I stay focused on my goals.”
• Use the present tense – because you already are wonderful! Use the boldest, most positive phrasing you can muster.
• Be precise, be specific – list particular qualities about yourself that you love.
3. Quiet Your Negative Self-Talk
Negative self-talk takes many forms; it can be personally attacking thoughts (“You’re an idiot!”), complaints about your situation and the people in it (blaming others disempowers us), or silent judgments (“Is he/she better looking than I am?”). These thoughts reinforce our negative perceptions of ourselves and make it impossible for self-love to take hold. While we may not be able to turn off our negative voices, we can definitely turn them down.
Tune into that voice, and identify and write down seven negative thoughts you have about yourself in the next week. The next time you find yourself thinking that negative thought (“You screwed up this project!”), gently replace it with an affirmation.
Stick with it! Self-love is about being gentle and firm. Let go of the excuses and the stories about your lack of worth. Love requires us to stretch and to grow – not so that we may become someone worth loving (which we all already are), but rather so we can become someone who can love others and ourselvesgreatly and unconditionally.” Source; Turn Down Your Negative Voice – Turn Up Self-Love!
I hope this blesses you, too…
It’s Time To Let Go!
It’s okay to let go.
True Love is letting go. Freedom and free will are the by-products of Love.
So many of us lead our lives holding on so tightly that nothing new, nothing miraculous can find us.
We have been taught for a very long time that holding on is what makes us strong, is what Love is made of and is the best answer.
But we are stepping into a new paradigm. We are stepping into a time where growth and Love lead the way. This means we are constantly changing, evolving, dying and being reborn.
What must come first is our own spiritual growth. This means listening to our intuition, trusting our gut and expressing ourselves authentically without hiding.
Holding on to a broken relationship stunts our growth. You don’t get points from The Uni-verse for how much you suffer. The Uni-verse wants to deliver to you all that your heart desires.
via thedailylove.com
You Are Enough, Period!
Mastin Kipp shares this thought today…
Where we get our source of approval from is everything. As children we look up to and make our parents our Higher Power. We think they are perfect, infallible human beings. We eventually learn (some earlier than others) that this isn’t the case. Part of stepping onto and into The Path of our Highest Potential is learning to re-parent ourselves.
This means realizing that our parents are not perfect people and loving them anyway. We realize that The Uni-verse has perfect love & approval for us and that we need not chase. We are approved of and loved as we are, where we are and for who we are right now. This allows us to take a step back and no longer need perfect Love from our parents and instead, we can be grateful for their role in our lives as stewards of our lives instead of masters of our destiny.
Once we begin to heal this process, the other relationships of our lives improve. When we no longer assign magical qualities to our parents, or if we were never loved by our parents or assign magical qualities to other people, we see reality and take our power back. When we know that we are already approved of as Children of The Uni-verse, we no longer need to seek approval in business, with sex, with drugs or with status and stature. We can instead rest in the perfect imperfection of who we already are and let it be.
No longer seeking approval, we now have the confidence, self-esteem and personal integrity to create relationships of a higher caliber. We no longer need to use sex as a way to make us feel loved, but instead as a byproduct of love and intimacy. We no longer are defined by fancy things or big houses, because “stuff” doesn’t validate us.
When we can allow ourselves and everyone in our lives to be imperfect and love them anyways, we have taken a massive leap towards Love.
What would your life look like if you lived it without the compulsive desire to show your parents how awesome you are, or to get their approval? What would your love life look like? What would your professional life look like?
How would your life be different if you KNEW in every cell of your being that you are enough, right now, as is… PERIOD?
via thedailylove.com
Recognize Your Worth & Don’t Settle
Mastin Kipp shares this today…
We spend more of our lives trying to chase the proverbial carrot that is “right” around the corner. If we could just become a little more, be a little better, be just a little more perfect, we would be worthy enough to get this carrot.
The joke is on us.
Not only is there no carrot, the only thing we need lies within us. That is our own approval. Everything outside of that is outside of our control.
When we realize that we are enough, as is, we set ourselves free. When we no longer decide to settle for a quarter of the love, the joy and the awesomeness of life that we want and instead, raise our standards and declare ONLY THE BEST – can the best find us.
The Uni-verse is ready, willing and able to give us what our hearts desire. But, in order for this to happen, we have to own our worthiness – AS IS. And be willing and courageous enough to let go of all that resonates with LOVE, with JOY and with our growth.
One of my most favorite phrases that TDL has propagated out there in the internet is: What you put up with, you end up with.
I cannot tweet, email, write or remind myself of that enough. It’s soooo true.
We are here to own our worthiness as is and then be courageous and receptive enough to allow all the good stuff in. This requires us to let go of fears of abandonment or rejection and of not belonging.
For us to live at our Highest Potential we must be willing to let go of that unworthy life and step into a life of knowing how love-able we are, right now.
via thedailylove.com
Love & Hate Can’t Occupy The Same Space…
You’re either loving or hating – it can’t be both.
No one really understands that love and hate can’t occupy the same space until they experience real love. Love is love and hate is hate. The two do not mix because, when put next to one another, love will consume the hate. Hence the phrase, “love conquers all.”
When you experience real love you find that you no longer can hate anyone else. What was hate towards others is now replaced with sympathy. You feel sorry for those that you would normally hate because now you understand that they are the way they are because they’ve never experienced real love. This type of love does exist because I have it. It started by loving myself, understanding my purpose and knowing my worth. After that, I was able to love any and everyone else.
Love changes things! Love conquers all!!
via thedailylove.com
Don’t blame them! It’s not their fault…
Keen insite this morning from Mastin Kipp of The Daily Love…
Many times in relationships we love to blame the other person.
We like to blame them for not loving us the way we want to be loved, or for not making us enough of a priority, or for being too stubborn and on and on.
Then we start giving names to the way we interpret others actions. So instead of saying: “Hey, I’d really appreciate it if you let me figure it out on my own,” or “The way I really feel loved is when you (fill in the blank)”. When we are lacking, we say: “You’re a jerk”, or assume that they don’t love us.
So instead of expressing how we feel, we blame, judge and then convict the other person of being guilty. Then we project our verdict onto them and wonder why they react negatively and then use that negative reaction as further proof that our verdict was in fact, correct.
Instead of blaming and judging, if we can open up, become vulnerable and EXPRESS our feelings and needs, we give the other person an opportunity to course correct and with this new information.
And, if over time we are expressing our needs and feelings and they aren’t being seen, have the courage to pick up our things and leave. That’s the Master’s path – vulnerability and courage.
It might seem scary, but showing emotion and expressing your needs is how you build intimacy. And having high standards and the courage to maintain them is how you make sure that only the best kind of relationships remains in your life.
It’s the mark of a Master to no longer blame the other person, but instead to see the other person as a mirror of his or her own life. It’s the mark of a Master to share his or her feelings, rather than blaming someone else for not meeting the needs that were never expressed in the first place. It’s the mark of a Master who is strong enough to walk away from a broken and unfulfilled kind of love if his or her needs and emotions aren’t being seen. It’s the mark of a Master to be able to also meet the needs of their partner.
When you see the current relationships of your life as not a victim, but as a mirror of your own life, you can begin to take empowered action.
So, you say you want love, yes?
Then whatcha gonna do today? Blame them? Or express yourself and set loving boundaries?
Do you want to keep going round in the dramatic circle of blame or do you want to step into the loving flow of vulnerable expression?
The choice is yours. What’ll it be?
via thedailylove.com
A New Way Of Looking At Love That Changes Everything!
What do you think of when you hear the word, “love”? Lovers entwined in a passionate embrace? The joy and fulfillment of finding your soul mate? Or perhaps you recall the feelings you have for your children, your parents or your friends.
All of these experiences of love have one thing in common: they’re dependent on another person. Don’t get me wrong, loving relationships are great, but we all know that relationships change and basing our happiness and love on other people isn’t the wisest choice. But what if you could experience a love that didn’t depend on anything outside you?
What if you could love for no reason at all?
via thedailylove.com
Follow the ‘via’ link if you’d like to read more…
Unconditional Love
Chris Assaad shared this today over at The Daily Love…
Relationships are one of the most single most important aspects of our lives on this planet. For many of us, the joy we experience in life is directly proportional to our ability to share those experiences with others and much of the pain we experience unfolds in the context of our relationships. Whether it’s in our relationships with significant others, family, friends or colleagues, we invest a great deal of time and energy in the hope of coexisting peacefully with others, having our relationships function well and finding fulfillment in them.
Amidst all of this, we often forget that it is our relationship with ourselves that is the most important of all. We’ve all heard the saying that we can only love others to the extent that we love ourselves. Well, guess what? Not only is that true, but what’s also true is that until we learn to love ourselves UNCONDITIONALLY, none of our relationships or any other external sources of fulfillment will ever do the trick.
So what does it mean to love ourselves unconditionally? It means to be gentle with ourselves, to be kind to ourselves and above all, to forgive ourselves for our mistakes, for our shortcomings and for our imperfections. Many of us may not even realize that we have a relationship with ourselves at all. If that’s the case, the best place to start is to examine your thoughts about yourself. What does the voice in your head say to you? What do you say about yourself in conversations with others? You may be surprised to find that you’re not very nice to yourself. Go ahead and ask yourself honestly: “On a scale from 1 to 10, how much do I love myself right now?“
Regardless of where you’re starting from, the goal is 10 out of 10, which is where you will be when you love yourself unconditionally. That means that no matter what you or your life looks like today, no matter what mistake you just made for the hundredth time, NO MATTER WHAT, you still get to be loved fully and completely. That’s what real love is. There’s no condition attached to it. It’s not that when you do X, then you deserve to be loved this much. You deserve to be loved 100% just as you are; we all do. The world would be a different place if we were all experts at loving one another unconditionally and the best relationship to begin practicing this is in our relationship with ourselves.
It may sound crazy but it’s good stuff, I promise, so give it a try. Maybe you’re at a 4 out of 10 today. Imagine how you would feel at a 10 out of 10? Close your eyes and imagine what 10 out of 10 feels like and looks like on you. If you really want to see it for yourself, do this in front of a mirror.
Remember, the most important part of this is that you don’t need a reason to love yourself 10 out of 10 and no reason under the sun should have any bearing on how much you get to be loved. The best part is that once you start truly loving yourself this way, you will find it easier to love others and you will be much more open to receiving their love as well. It all starts with you, so go ahead and let the love flow unconditionally.
via thedailylove.com
Love Me When I Least Deserve It
“Love me when I least deserve it, because that’s when I need it the most.”
– Swedish proverb
via thedailylove.com
50 Reasons to Celebrate Your Husband or Wife
Even when you are totally in love with your spouse, sometimes pressures of life get in the way and take over your interactions with each other. It’s a little too easy to let the daily grind wear you down. That’s why it’s important to remember what you love about each other. You don’t have to wait for a special occasion to show your appreciation. You can do it every day. Here are 50 reasons to get you started…
via familyminute.com
Follow the ‘via’ link above to get the 50 reasons…
Related articles
- 8 Tips for Writing a Love Letter to Your Spouse (psychcentral.com)
- Zsa Zsa Gabor’s Husband Expresses Marriage Bliss On Billboard (since1910.com)
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