Compassion

Don't forget to dance!!!!

First, I was dying to finish my high school and start college
And then I was dying to finish college and start working.

Then, I was dying to get married and have children
And then I was dying for my children to grow old enough
so I could go back to work.
But, then I was dying to retire.
And now I’m dying .
Suddenly, I realized I forgot to live.
Don’t let this happen to you.
Appreciate your present situation.
Enjoy each day.
-Unknown


Be Here Now!!!!!- Ram Dass

Your Gift

love

Macy, Andie and Tiki-Tiki

The most important aspect of love is not in giving or the receiving: it’s in the being. When I need love from others, or need to give love to others, I’m caught in an unstable situation. Being in love, rather than giving or taking love, is the only thing that provides stability. Being in love means seeing the Beloved all around me. -Ram Dass

Letting go.....

Above is a picture of our Easter egg adventures. Yesterday was early release day...and lots of fun. Mira and I went to this yoga/world peace meditation after the Easter egg dying last night...and I felt so centered. .....way more than meditating alone.......I guess it is the whole "where two or more are gathered thing.".....anyway.....I love the quote below..and I hope you do too. so true...so true....and something I tell Mira a lot. have a great day. Namaste, Michele

Learn to watch your drama unfold while at the same time knowing you are more than your drama.
- Ram Dass

being content

Mark made this piece of art. I hope you enjoy the words below.
Namaste,
Michele

"Being Content. Just now, being here, being content.
Not wanting anything or if you want anything that's fine.
Not trying to change anything - not judging the moment.
Content. Content with the way things are. Being at ease.
We've all pushed and achieved and realized our dreams. That's all right.
But are you content?"
-Ram Dass


sometimes I am and sometimes I am not :)

Rest in Peace

An old classmate of mine, Tammi Dunlap Schaffer just lost her daughter in a car accident on Saturday.
She was a senior at Medina High School. I can't imagine the loss that their family feels.
She was a beautiful girl with so much life ahead of her.....it sounds like she touched a lot of lives by reading all of the notes people have left on the facebook group" Rest in Peace Jessica Schaffer."
Please keep the family in your prayers.

below are some words of comfort that I remember that Ram Dass wrote to a family when their 12 year old daughter was violently murdered.
It is a beautiful letter.



Dear Steve and Anita,
Rachel finished her work on earth, and left the stage in a manner that leaves those of us left behind with a cry of agony in our hearts, as the fragile thread of our faith is dealt with so violently. Is anyone strong enough to stay conscious through such teaching as you are receiving? Probably very few. And even they would only have a whisper of equanimity and peace amidst the screaming trumpets of their rage, grief, horror and desolation.

I can't assuage your pain with any words, nor should I. For your pain is Rachel's legacy to you. Not that she or I would inflict such pain by choice, but there it is. And it must burn its purifying way to completion. For something in you dies when you bear the unbearable, and it is only in that dark night of the soul that you are prepared to see as God sees, and to love as God loves.

Now is the time to let your grief find expression. No false strength.

Now is the time to sit quietly and speak to Rachel, and thank her for being with you these few years, and encourage her to go on with whatever her work is, knowing that you will grow in compassion and wisdom from this experience. In my heart, I know that you and she will meet again and again, and recognize the many ways in which you have known each other. And when you meet you will know, in a flash, what now it is not given to you to know: Why this had to be the way it was. Our rational minds can never understand what has happened, but our hearts – if we can keep them open to God – will find their own intuitive way. Rachel came through you to do her work on earth, which includes her manner of death. Now her soul is free, and the love that you can share with her is invulnerable to the winds of changing time and space. In that deep love, include me.

In love,
Ram Dass

Become as little children

As you can see, my dad has no problem being like little children:)
This is a picture of him on his porch on Halloween.
This is how he handed out candy.
hope you like the words below...one of my favorites.
have a great day!!!
Namaste,
Michele

"Become as little children..........unless you start again
Become that trusting OPEN SURRENDERED BEING
the energy can't come in
that is the kindom of heaven
THE ENERGY
it is the same thing.
COSMIC CONSCIOUSNESS."
-Ram Dass

your gift

Here is one of those tiles that touched my heart in Ohio City.
They are art tiles by area kids.
hope you like the quote below.
love,
Michele



"The gift you offer another person is just your being."
-Ram Dass

be like gandhi

"One day Maharajji said to me, 'Do you know Gandhi?'

I said, 'No, I don't know him. I've heard about him.'

He said, 'Well, you learn how to be like Gandhi.'

And I couldn't quite gather what he meant, so the next day I went into town and I bought those little glasses Gandhi used to wear. But that didn't make any difference in my life. Then I got a mouse pad for my computer and there was a picture of Gandhi and it said, 'My life is my message.' That must have been what Maharajji meant."

- Ram Dass

change

In honor of going to see Phil Lesh tomorrrow, here is a sticker on the back of my van.
I love Phil!!!
read the words below....and I hope you enjoy them.
Love,
Michele





"You have to make friends with change in our lives
because change is going to be fully in your future."
- Ram Dass

Enlightenment

You may have expected that enlightenment would come like sap!
Instantaneous and permanent. This is unlikely. After the first "aha"
experience, it can be thought of as the thinning of a layer of clouds.
-Ram Dass

Being Love

Marko made this collage with Mark in our art studio....do you like it???

Being Love

Remember, we are all affecting the world every moment, whether we mean to or not.

Our actions and states of mind matter, because we're so deeply interconnected with one another. Working on our own consciousness is the most important thing that we are doing at any moment, and being love is the supreme creative act.

~Ram Dass

Beautiful

My friend Sarah let me borrow this book on Tuesday with 2 beautiful cds in it and lots of beautiful words of wisdom. Sarah is a friend that just "appeared in my life"....thanks to Macy who was obsessed with me finding her a cello teacher and bugged me to call her constantly until I did. I should listen to Macy more often because Sarah is now a dear friend of mine. She is also Macy's cello teacher,and my harp teacher. She and I connect on such a spiritual level.

Anyway this book is called Graceful Passages....a companion for living and dying.
Listen to this beautiful poem written and read by Ram Dass by clicking on the link below.
http://www.wisdomoftheworld.com/mp3/Graceful_Passages_RamDass.mp3

below is the poem (part of),written by Ram Dass, a spiritual teacher.

Be here now.

Don’t anticipate, don’t yearn for things of the past.

Let the past go with forgiveness and let the future go with no anticipation.

Each of us contains a being that doesn't die and a being that does die.
Everything must change except the soul..............

There are realms other than the one we are meeting on.
Planes where we see the souls that we have known in the past
as just souls.
We won't meet them in their clothing of mother or
father, or uncle or aunt.

then......sensual planes, planes with color, music......

This letter was written by Ram Dass to a family after their young daughter was murdered. Ram Dass is truly a hero of mine. Love, Michele
Dear Steve and Anita,

Rachel finished her work on earth, and left the stage in a manner that leaves those of us left behind with a cry of agony in our hearts, as the fragile thread of our faith is dealt with so violently.
Is anyone strong enough to stay conscious through such teaching as you are receiving? Probably very few. And even they would only have a whisper of equanimity and peace amidst the screaming trumpets of their rage, grief, horror and desolation.
I can't assuage your pain with any words, nor should I. For your pain is Rachel's legacy to you.
Not that she or I would inflict such pain by choice, but there it is. And it must burn its purifying way to completion.
For something in you dies when you bear the unbearable, and it is only in that dark night of the soul that you are prepared to see as God sees, and to love as God loves.
Now is the time to let your grief find expression. No false strength. Now is the time to sit quietly and speak to Rachel, and thank her for being with you these few years, and encourage her to go on with whatever her work is, knowing that you will grow in compassion and wisdom from this experience.
In my heart, I know that you and she will meet again and again, and recognize the many ways in which you have known each other. And when you meet you will know, in a flash, what now it is not given to you to know: Why this had to be the way it was.
Our rational minds can never understand what has happened, but our hearts – if we can keep them open to God – will find their own intuitive way. Rachel came through you to do her work on earth, which includes her manner of death. Now her soul is free, and the love that you can share with her is invulnerable to the winds of changing time and space.
In that deep love, include me.
In love,
Ram Dass