AOM Meditations: 090120

by Gustav Klimt

  

~*~

 "Life is meant to be fun, and fun is a sure antidote to disappointment.  A million things have brought me joy, or laughter, or most important, the experience of beauty.  Read.  Plant a potato, and discover a treasure chest of new ones when you dig them.  Walk down a northern path in the springtime, and try to count the dogwood blossoms and the trilliums.  Read Shakespeare.  Discover love.  Then look up at the stars and reach for them."

~Richard Cutler

~*~

"Those who do not get fun and enjoyment 

out of every day. . . 

need to reorganize their lives."

~George Matthew Adams

~*~

"Fun is fundamental.  

There is no way around it.  

You absolutely must have fun.  

Without fun, there is no enthusiasm.  

Without enthusiasm, there is no energy.  

Without energy, there are only shades of gray."

~Doug Hall

~*~

“This is the real secret of life -- 

to be completely engaged 

with what you are doing 

in the here and now. 

And instead of calling it work, 

realize it is play.”

~Alan Watts

~*~

And then the day came,

when the risk

to remain tight

in a bud

was more painful

than the risk

it took

to Blossom. 

~Anais Nin

AOM Meditations: 010820

Bois de hêtres (1902) by Gustav Klimt

~*~

~*~

AOM Meditations: 121018

Fir Forest I by Gustav Klimt

~*~

More Thoughts from Uncle Walt

from the writings of

W A L T    W H I T M A N

“I think I could turn and live with animals, they are so placid and self-contain’d, I stand and look at them long and long.

They do not sweat and whine about their condition, They do not lie awake in the dark and weep for their sins, They do not make me sick discussing their duty to God, Not one is dissatisfied, not one is demented with the mania of owning things, Not one kneels to another, nor to his kind that lived thousands of years ago, Not one is respectable or unhappy over the whole earth.” 

~Walt Whitman

Leaves of Grass: The Death-Bed Edition

~*~

“Re-examine all you have been told. 

Dismiss what insults your soul.” 

~Walt Whitman    

~*~

"THE untold want, by life and land ne'er granted,

Now voyager sail thou forth to seek and find."

~Walt Whitman

Notes on this last poem.

One way I read this poem - (and it is the whole poem)  is like this: Have you a life-long dream to do something but life just got in the way. Perhaps life or your family situation was such that you just could not go after what you most wanted.  Whitman urges us to rise, sail forth to seek and find. 

As an aside: The theme of this poem was the theme and title of a Bette Davis film - Now, Voyager (1942). It also starred Paul Henreid (of Casablanca fame - who played Victor Laszlo - Ingrid Bergman's husband). Claude Rains of Casablanca was also in this film. Bette plays the part of a defeated, dominated daughter of a VERY Domineering mother.  OMG! The mom was just horrible - you just wanted to push her down the stairs. So Bette grew up without the benefits of Life or Land - as her mother kept her under her thumb, but good! Eventually, Bette did Voyage and you will have to watch the film to find out if she sought and found. Really great movie. 

AOM Meditations: 090418

Farmhouse with Birch Trees (1903) by Gustav Klimt

Thanks to our Friend for sending us this beautiful art

~*~

“When the mind is festering with trouble or the heart torn, we can find healing among the silence of mountains or fields, or listen to the simple, steadying rhythm of waves. The slowness and stillness gradually takes us over. Our breathing deepens and our hearts calm and our hungers relent. When serenity is restored, new perspectives open to us and difficulty can begin to seem like an invitation to new growth.

This invitation to friendship with nature does of course entail a willingness to be alone out there. Yet this aloneness is anything but lonely. Solitude gradually clarifies the heart until a true tranquility is reached. The irony is that at the heart of that aloneness you feel intimately connected with the world. Indeed, the beauty of nature is often the wisest balm for it gently relieves and releases the caged mind.”

~John O'Donohue

AOM Meditations: 082218

Apple Tree by Gustav Klimt

Thanks to our Friend for sending us this beautiful art

~*~

Feeling Fed Up With Humanity

by Madisyn Taylor

from The Daily OM (link)

I highly recommend making 

A daily visit to The Daily OM

"From time to time, we may all feel fed up with humanity, whether it's from learning about what's going on around the world, or what's going on next door. There are always situations that leave us feeling as if people are simply not capable of behaving in a way that is coming from a place of awareness. Often it seems as if people are actually geared to handle things in the worst possible way, repeatedly. At the same time, none of us wants to linger in a judgmental mood about our own species. As a result, we might tend to repress the feelings coming up as we take in the news from the world and the neighborhood.

It is natural to feel let down and disappointed when we see our fellow humans behaving in ways that are greedy, selfish, violent, or uncaring, but there are also ways to process that disappointment without sinking into despondency. As with any emotional response, we honor our feelings by feeling them fully, without judging or acting on them. Once we've done that - and we may need to do it every day, as part of our daily self-care - we can begin to consider ways that we might help the situation in which humanity finds itself.

As always, we start with ourselves, utilizing our awareness of the failings of others to renew our own commitment to be more conscious human beings. We are all capable of the best and the worst that humanity has to offer, and remembering this keeps us in check, as well as allowing us to find compassion for others. We may find ourselves feeling compelled to serve people who are suffering injustices at the hands of other people, or we may begin to speak out when we see something that we don't think is right. Whatever the case, the only thing we can do is pledge to serve the best, rather than the worst, of what humanity has to offer, both in the world, and in ourselves."

by Madisyn Taylor

from The Daily OM (link)

I highly recommend making 

A daily visit to The Daily OM

AOM Meditations: 071318

by Gustav Klimt

Thanks to a Friend for sending us this beautiful art

~*~

"I am a divine expression of love, I am light within a human frame, this light infuses every cell of my body, this love, this light infuses my bones and blood, this light infuses every organ in my body, this light infuses my nervous system, this light infuses my hormonal system, this light infuses my digestive system, lifting my vibration into higher frequencies of possibility. I am light."

~the soul matrix

~*~

"I greet the morning in humility, 

rising with the sun 

and giving thanks for another day. 

Finding beauty wherever I am 

and wherever I’m going."

~Unknown

~*~

“Love and compassion 

are necessities, not luxuries. 

Without them, 

humanity cannot survive.”

Dalai Lama XIV

"The Art of Happiness"

AOM Meditations: 060118

by Gustav Klimt

~*~

"Life is meant to be fun, and fun is a sure antidote to disappointment.  A million things have brought me joy, or laughter, or most important, the experience of beauty.  Read.  Plant a potato, and discover a treasure chest of new ones when you dig them.  Walk down a northern path in the springtime, and try to count the dogwood blossoms and the trilliums.  Read Shakespeare.  Discover love.  Then look up at the stars and reach for them."

~Richard Cutler

~*~

"Those who do not get fun and enjoyment 

out of every day. . . 

need to reorganize their lives."

~George Matthew Adams

~*~

"Fun is fundamental.  

There is no way around it.  

You absolutely must have fun.  

Without fun, there is no enthusiasm.  

Without enthusiasm, there is no energy.  

Without energy, there are only shades of gray."

~Doug Hall