AOM Meditations: 052120

The Two Majesties (1883) by Jean-Léon Gérôme

  

~*~

This is the best description of AOM's mission

Why I do what I do 

This is a quote I read to start each day

So let us call this quote

AOM's Mission Statement

       

“To be hopeful in bad times is not just foolishly romantic. It is based on the fact that human history is a history not only of cruelty but also of compassion, sacrifice, courage, kindness.

What we choose to emphasize in this complex history will determine our lives. If we see only the worst, it destroys our capacity to do something. If we remember those times and places—and there are so many—where people have behaved magnificently, this gives us the energy to act, and at least the possibility of sending this spinning top of a world in a different direction.

And if we do act, in however small a way, we don’t have to wait for some grand Utopian future. The future is an infinite succession of presents, and to live now as we think human beings should live, in defiance of all that is bad around us, is itself a marvelous victory.” 

~Howard Zinn

AOM Meditations: 040220

Bathers at San Niccolo 

by Domenico Cresti (Passignano)

(1559 - 1638)

~*~

“Listen to the mustn'ts, child. Listen to the don'ts. Listen to the shouldn'ts, the impossibles, the won'ts. Listen to the never haves, then listen close to me... Anything can happen, child. Anything can be.”

~Shel Silverstein

~*~

“When we love, we always strive to become better than we are. When we strive to become better than we are, everything around us becomes better too.”

~Paulo Coelho

(The Alchemist)

~*~

“Hold fast to dreams,

For if dreams die

Life is a broken-winged bird,

That cannot fly.”

~Langston Hughes

~*~

“I believe that imagination is stronger than knowledge. That myth is more potent than history. That dreams are more powerful than facts. That hope always triumphs over experience. That laughter is the only cure for grief. And I believe that love is stronger than death.”

~Robert Fulghum

AOM Meditations: 033120

photography by Jean-Francois Chaubard

Thanks to our Friend, David, for sending us this beautiful art

~*~

“Never lose hope. 

Storms make people stronger 

and never last forever.”

~Roy T. Bennett

~*~

“Even if I knew that tomorrow 

the world would go to pieces, 

I would still plant my apple tree.”

~Martin Luther

~*~

“My own heroes are the dreamers, those men and women who tried to make the world a better place than when they found it, whether in small ways or great ones. Some succeeded, some failed, most had mixed results... but it is the effort that's heroic, as I see it. Win or lose, I admire those who fight the good fight.”

~George R.R. Martin

MUSIC: "It's Gonna Be Okay" by The PianoGuys

INSPIRING HOPE

Story behind the song: 

We've all had that phone call. That email or that message. That conversation. Bad news. We're all struggling with something – a debilitating weakness or illness. Or someone we love is barely holding on. We watch the news. We see the tweets, the Facebook posts...the YouTube comments! We hear about hate, terror, and despair. But just because what sells, what goes "viral," or what gets attention may try to drown out the good in the world, it doesn't mean that goodness is gone. Just because choruses of controversy and scandal shout louder than quiet symphonies of service, it doesn't change the fact that, inside, most of us still genuinely want happiness -- not only for ourselves, but also for our family, our friends, and our fellow human beings. 

Media can make the world look bleak. They've given themselves this job description, in part because there's a darker side on the surface of human nature that feeds on fear and cynicism. But deep down, we are beings of light. And in the end, since darkness is merely the absence of light, light will inevitably overcome dark. 

This is the essence of hope. And the essence of this song. "No matter what you've been through, no matter if you think you're falling apart, it's gonna be okay." 

Maybe not today. Maybe not tomorrow. But we believe that someday, somehow, all things will be made right. And as the Psalm says, "They that sow in tears shall reap in joy." 

In the meantime, there are so many more things to hope for and to work at while we yearn for the outcome we want so badly – more gratitude for what we have, more love for those we've taken for granted, more faith in ourselves and those we hold dear, and more confidence in a Divine purpose. 

We felt like the best way to spread the message of this song was to supplement our standard classically-influenced instrumental niche with a more pop-driven tune featuring Al's superb vocal skills. 

As Oscar Hammerstein once said, "It is a modern tragedy that despair has so many spokesmen, and hope so few." Please share this song with someone you think might need it today. Thank you!" (ThePianoGuys YouTube)

~*~

The Piano Guys w/ Sir Cliff Richard

"It's Gonna Be Okay"

YouTube Direct Link: https://youtu.be/rOr38bGCZto

Namaste Sweetie! 120717

 Andre Boleyn from Bel Ami

Namaste Sweetie,

Happy Thor's Day!

PLEASE VOTE IN OUR POLL----------------->

Please vote just once

I hope it will give me some idea

Of how many folks actually visit here

Come on in

Grab some Tea or coffee

And visit with me

I'm a poet and don't know it!

: )

I can Rhyme anytime

:  )

~*~

I hope you are doing well

Thanks for being with me

I really appreciate your comments and E-mails

Hearing from you keeps me going

Thank you for your Love and Support

You know what?

What?

Do you know what energizes me to keep blogging

Doing all this work every day

What is it that gives me the energy and desire

It is

HOPE

Hope that something I do here

Helps you - makes things better for you

Hope that something I post

Will spur your imagination

Turn you on to new interests

Hope that what I do

Refreshes your Spirit

Brightens you Day

Nourishes your Soul

Hope

That is what energizes me to blog.

I hope I am a service to you

Let us continue to promote

Peace and Love

and continue to build

The more Beautiful World

Our Hearts know is Possible

Peace and Love,

AOM

~*~

I invite you to join me now in this short Metta Prayer

Radiating the energy of peace and love out to all living beings

Take a few deep breaths to clear your mind

And focus on the here and now

This present moment

Now

Breathe in

Filling your being with peace and love

As you begin each line, breathe out slowly

Breathing these thoughts into the world

Reading, thinking, and feeling the words with peace and love

Sending them from your heart

Giving the energy to yourself and to all living beings

Breathe in and repeat the process for each line

AOM Meditations: 120717

The Sower (1888) Vincent van Gogh

To me this painting is a vision of hope

The hope of a new crop - The hope of a new day

Thanks to our Friend for sending us this beautiful art

~*~

"We all have hope.  Sometimes, oddly enough, we don't want to admit it--to others or to ourselves--but no matter how bad things get in our lives, we have hope.  It's one of the greatest gifts that we've been given, for out of hope come all of our scientific and medical advances -- why even start trying something new if there's no hope for a successful outcome?  Hope is what keeps us going on those dark, dark nights in our lives when it seems as if the sun never again will shine, but we have to give hope its due; we have to let its light shine in our lives if it's to do any good.  We have to tell ourselves that things will get better, that life will radiate its beauty in our lives once more, if we but let it.

Hope never dies in us, yet often we cover its light, or we cover our ears so that we won't hear it sing its song.  But that's like turning off a lamp when we most need its light, or shutting the door on a best friend when we most need company.  We were created to be hopeful creatures, to look at the possibilities in the world and in ourselves, yet many of us aren't willing to do so, and we deny that there's even hope in the world, and once we deny the existence of hope, we start living dull, lightless lives that serve no one -- ourselves or those who surround us.  To live is to hope, and to hope is to live.

Personally, I remember that even during my darkest depressions, I've always felt the flame of hope, no matter how tiny it seemed to be.  The problem was that all of the negative thoughts that were my depression kept arguing against the hope, calling it stupid, telling me that it was unrealistic and unjustified.  The hope inside of me was like the one person who is willing to stand up with a voice of reason against a mob, only to be attacked by that mob and left for dead.  Thankfully, it didn't die, or I might have.

When the voice of hope speaks inside of you, listen closely.  The voice of hope is the voice of God, the voice of all the wonderful people with whom we share this world, the voice of truth and reality.  It's those other voices inside of you, the voices of despair and condemnation and hopelessness, that are the liars.  Call them what they are, and give them no credence.  It's hope that springs eternal.  These other things are temporary parts of ourselves that we have to learn to reject, like someone renting our house who not only isn't paying their rent, but who's destroying the house.  To restore peace and equilibrium, we have to get rid of the renter and restore the hope of better days to come."

~tom walsh

~*~

"Hope works in these ways: 

it looks for the good in people

instead of harping on the worst; 

it discovers what can be done

instead of grumbling about what cannot; 

it regards problems, large or small, as opportunities; 

it pushes ahead when it would be easy to quit; 

it "lights the candle" instead of "cursing the darkness."

~unattributed

MUSIC: "It's Gonna Be Okay" by The Piano Guys w/ Sir Cliff Richard

INSPIRING HOPE

Story behind the song: 

We've all had that phone call. That email or that message. That conversation. Bad news. We're all struggling with something – a debilitating weakness or illness. Or someone we love is barely holding on. We watch the news. We see the tweets, the Facebook posts...the YouTube comments! We hear about hate, terror, and despair. But just because what sells, what goes "viral," or what gets attention may try to drown out the good in the world, it doesn't mean that goodness is gone. Just because choruses of controversy and scandal shout louder than quiet symphonies of service, it doesn't change the fact that, inside, most of us still genuinely want happiness -- not only for ourselves, but also for our family, our friends, and our fellow human beings. 

Media can make the world look bleak. They've given themselves this job description, in part because there's a darker side on the surface of human nature that feeds on fear and cynicism. But deep down, we are beings of light. And in the end, since darkness is merely the absence of light, light will inevitably overcome dark. 

This is the essence of hope. And the essence of this song. "No matter what you've been through, no matter if you think you're falling apart, it's gonna be okay." 

Maybe not today. Maybe not tomorrow. But we believe that someday, somehow, all things will be made right. And as the Psalm says, "They that sow in tears shall reap in joy." 

In the meantime, there are so many more things to hope for and to work at while we yearn for the outcome we want so badly – more gratitude for what we have, more love for those we've taken for granted, more faith in ourselves and those we hold dear, and more confidence in a Divine purpose. 

We felt like the best way to spread the message of this song was to supplement our standard classically-influenced instrumental niche with a more pop-driven tune featuring Al's superb vocal skills. 

As Oscar Hammerstein once said, "It is a modern tragedy that despair has so many spokesmen, and hope so few." Please share this song with someone you think might need it today. Thank you!" (ThePianoGuys YouTube)

~*~

The Piano Guys w/ Sir Cliff Richard

"It's Gonna Be Okay"

YouTube Direct Link: https://youtu.be/rOr38bGCZto

AOM Meditations: 061917

The Two Majesties (1883) by Jean-Léon Gérôme
  
~*~
 

This is the best description of AOM's mission
Why I do what I do 
This is a quote I read to start each day
So let us call this quote
AOM's Mission Statement
       

“To be hopeful in bad times is not just foolishly romantic. It is based on the fact that human history is a history not only of cruelty but also of compassion, sacrifice, courage, kindness.

What we choose to emphasize in this complex history will determine our lives. If we see only the worst, it destroys our capacity to do something. If we remember those times and places—and there are so many—where people have behaved magnificently, this gives us the energy to act, and at least the possibility of sending this spinning top of a world in a different direction.

And if we do act, in however small a way, we don’t have to wait for some grand utopian future. The future is an infinite succession of presents, and to live now as we think human beings should live, in defiance of all that is bad around us, is itself a marvelous victory.” 

~Howard Zinn