Namaste Sweetie! WHERE I COME FROM

Namaste Sweetie,

Happy 2's Day!

Whatever you enjoy the most

Do it at least twice today!

OKAY!

I'm gonna go for it

I am going to post the article I wrote

After hearing from many of you

I've decided that the article I wrote about my life

Even though it shows the ugliness and pain of life

Can actually give us hope for a better tomorrow

So here it goes

I share this hoping it will benefit us

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

This may be the most important article I have ever written and shared through AOM. It is certainly the scariest one for me to post.  It is a bit long so I hope you will take the time to experience it. It also has some ugly language that is used to illustrate the culture that surrounded me as I grew up. I hope it will benefit you to know where I came from. This article is painful to read but I wanted you to know the world that I came from - from which I overcame. I also think reading through this pain will show us hope for our future.

Where I come from

Growing Up on the Wrong Side of History

My journey from the Right Wing to the Left Wing

When everyone in the little bubble of your world

Thinks certain things, says certain things, and acts in certain ways

Odds are, those are the things you believe are true

The culture of your little world is all you know

All that you've been taught and told

It is your Reality - what you see as Real

It happened to my folks and their folks and so on and so on down to me

If you are lucky enough to have a chance

To experience other bubbles

Then there's a good chance you will never be the same. The first step is to realize the bubble you are in. It is best seen from a distance. Find a way to step out of your bubble so you can see it clearly. Like Atticus Finch said to Scout in the book, To Kill A Mockingbird:

“You never really understand a person 

until you consider things from his point of view...

Until you climb inside of his skin 

and walk around in it.”

(~Harper Lee, To Kill a Mockingbird)

I must also thank my mother, her mother and my great-aunts through all this that I experience growing up. When I would repeat hateful or hurtful speech, my mother would remind me that we didn't hate or want others hurt. God didn't want that from us - He wanted us to love others. I think what she did caused me to stop and reconsider my bubble - she got me to become a questioner of my bubble. Without her, I may not have been able to see and then change my bubble.

I was born and raised in the good old C.S.A.

The Confederate States of America

100 years after The War of Northern Aggression

Known as the Civil War to you Yankees.

After hearing what the North did to us

I learned to hate them damn Yankee Carpetbaggers.

I didn't know any

But I despised them nonetheless

I also happened to be raised in the only church

That was going to heaven

It was sad and we felt bad

That all the other religions were lost

Even them poor protestants 

thinking they were Christians

All headed to burn in the fires of Hell

My church was the only true church

Because we got all the rules right

Obeying every Letter of every LAW

I also grew up hearing that black people

Were not to be trusted

They were all on welfare and drugs

Violent dope dealing thugs

Driving around in their

Big fancy welfare Cadillacs

Pumping out kid after kid

So they could steal more welfare money

That's what I was told

I was "Christian" enough not to hate 'em

(my momma made sure of that)

But not enough to get to know 'em

When I was four years old

I remember watching our

Little black and white TV

It only had three channels

I laid down tummy on the floor

Under my momma's ironing board

So I could watch cartoons while she ironed

But all three channels were showing the same program

A horse-drawn, flag-draped casket

Moving down the streets of Washington, D.C.

Carrying some dead liberal Cath'lic

We didn't care much for them Cath'lics

As a good Evangelical Christian Protestant I heard

They  and their Pope were weird and were definitely going to Hell

That's what I was told

When I was five years old

I heard that we were of the righteous few

Who voted for Barry Goldwater

He lost in a landslide to that damn liberal Texan, LBJ

Back in the days when Texas had some liberals

Them damn liberals - EVIL DOERS

Giving our country away to Jews who killed Jesus

and Blacks trying to steal our rights

That's what I was told

When I was six

I remember us attending

Our town's high school football games

How the marching band would end each half-time show

By marching off the field playing Dixie

while proudly unfurling our beloved Confederate Flag.

Oh, how my heart would swell with Rebel Pride

With visions of Stonewall Jackson and General Robert E. Lee

Marching into glorious victory

Now they were great human beings to be admired

When I was nine years old

Some old guy shot and killed

A rabble rousing black preacher

Who had had some kind of dream

And not long after

Another liberal Kennedy was shot and killed

Saving America from a commie take over

We weren't happy about them getting killed

Good Christians like us were never happy about killing folks

We knew killin' was wrong

It was right there in the Good Book - in the Thou Shalt Nots

But we were relieved just the same.

One afternoon, when I was ten years old,

I was sitting at my desk in school

One mother showed up and took her kid away

Then another and another and another

We asked Mrs. Hughes what was going on

She said some kids just had to leave early - that's all

I was hoping my mother would come get me

Because I wanted to get out of school early too

And then she did! Woo Hooo!

On our walk home we saw

A female newspaper reporter getting beat up by a woman named Possum

Later I found out that a teacher at the black high school got fired

And the students there went into a rage and tore up the school

That's when all the mothers came and got us out of school

For fear the violence would move to other schools

The racial tension in my town was at its peak

Because a black activist named Sweet Willie Wine (Lance Watson)

Was marching from West Memphis to Little Rock

In his "March Against Fear" to prove black folks could walk into Arkansas

My town was on that highway he'd be marching through

A town named after the confederate general who started the Klan

The mayor of my town was also a Klansman

Our town was on high alert

The national guard was called in

A citywide curfew and martial law was declared

Men with machine guns were on top of the buildings down town
My Grandma, my mother's mother
Worked at a department store down town
She knew one of the soldiers up there on the building
She thanked him for being up there to protect them
He told her
"Mrs. P, We're not up here to protect you
We're up here to protect them"
(That was very telling about that situation in our town)

I heard Sweet Willie Wine got arrested for spitting on the side walk

Not sure that's true but it's what I heard

It was scary times

My parents bought their first and only gun

They were so afraid

BIG QUESTION: Who was stoking that Fear? And for what purpose?

While all this was going on at home,

Vietnam was happening in the background

Every night the news showed blood and guts and body bags

I specifically remember being in the car

Listening to a loud man on AM radio ranting about

Our commie Senator William Fulbright

And all them dope smoking anti-war hippies

They wanted to let them commie Viet Cong beat us in the war

That's what I heard

I agreed with the loud man

They weren't human beings

They were evil commie dope smokin' hippies

And I railed against them commies saying that they

Should all be rounded up, put into helicopters,

And dumped into the middle of the ocean

Oh and we also wanted to take that damn liberal Jane Fonda

And strap her to a bomb and shoot her into Hanoi

Fuck that liberal bitch

That's what I heard

When I was eleven

I shot cum for the first time

Since sex or the human body was never ever discussed

Except for how extraordinarily sinful it was

I had no idea what abomination had just occurred

I just figured my sinuses had backed up

And that I'd shot snot out my weinie

I soon found how good it felt to rub my weinie

So I started masturbating every night
It felt too good - it must be a sin

And I knew the wages of sin were death

I tried to quit but I was helpless to its pleasures

I lived sexually satisfied but terrified and so ashamed

Each night my orgasms were quickly followed

by a panicked heart-pounding prayer to God

Pleading with him, Begging  him

Not to burn me in the eternal fires of Hell for masturbating

So each night as I went to sleep

I felt the flames of Hell lapping at my soul

Not long after that

Pubes began to sprout around my wienie

I didn't like that at all

So I shaved them off at once

Thinking that would be the end of that

I learned a very valuable lesson that day

When I was twelve,

The gov'ment forced us to integrate schools.

That damn liberal Supreme Court and their bussing.

Out of fear of what the blacks might do to us,

I was transferred to a newly formed all white-flight private school

Named in honor of the guy who started the Ku Klux Klan.

It was there I met my first damn Yankee.

He wasn't a human being - he was a damn Yankee

I didn't like him or anyone born north of the Mason-Dixon line

But I was Christian enough to be polite to him

He talked funny

He's the one that introduced me to the word, "Fag"

Some boys were harassing him

And I heard him call them Fags under his breath

I didn't know what that was

But it must have been really bad by the way he said it

So I looked it up

It meant, "tired" or the British term for "cigarette"

Didn't make much sense to me

Callin' them boys

A bunch of tired cigarettes

I later learned the word Fag meant Queer as in homo sectional

Whatever that was

We didn't have any homo sectionals where I lived

Nope. Not a one.

Even though my dreams of shirtless men in the Navy and boys my age

made for less room in my tented whitie tighties.

At that all white-flight school (AKA Red Neck Tech)

My class was made up of 7th grade boys only

At lunch one day I distinctly remember planning and saying out loud my first cuss word -

I pretended there was something wrong with my food

and I said, "I don't like this "shit."

The boys near me nearly fell over in their chairs they were so surprised

That I had uttered a cuss word - not preacher boy!

That was a milestone day for sure

When we boys went outside for recess

Some of the boys would unbutton their shirts all the way

I was mesmerized by their tan chests and flat tanned tummies

I'd stand spellbound salivating catching glimpses of their dark brown nipples

But

I certainly wasn't one of them fag things

I was just a horny guy without a gal

I ain't no Faggy Freak

Nope. Not me.

At one recess one of the bigger boys came over to bully me

He slapped me across my face

I didn't cry, I didn't yell or even fight back

I faced up to him and turned the other cheek just like Jesus said to do

And it worked - he left me alone after that

That same year

I made hundreds of small campaign posters

George Wallace for President

The only man who could Make America Great Again

But he got shot and paralyzed

I thought the world was coming to an end

Luckily Nixon won with Law and Order ...---...

Which was Code for Keeping Them Black Folks Down

And Keeping Us White Folks Supreme ...---...
...---... Save Our Supremacy ...---...

At least we didn't get that damn liberal HH Humphrey

Cause he'd have given the whole country away to the blacks

In ninth grade I returned to public school

There, I vehemently argued with my Civics teacher every day

That Nixon was NOT a crook

I stood by Nixon until he saluted

and flew away back to Californ-I-A

I wept

It was at this time that

All us good Christians in the Confederate States of America

Adopted the Republican Party as the Party of Real America

Us Silent Majority folks

You see we confederates had all been Democrats because of what

The Republicans had done to us during Reconstruction after the Civil War

But after granddaddy died we finally come around to becoming Republicans

Because them damn Democrats started helping Jews and Blacks take over our country

That's what I was told

Republicans promised us the Code Words of Law and Order...---...

Damn Liberal Democrats Destroying America

Damn Liberal Democrats were definitely Evil and going to rot in Hell

But Jesus loves you yes we know

For the Bible tells me so

I campaigned for Ford

Who lost to a peanut farmer from Georgia

I campaigned for Reagan

And when I finally reached age eighteen

I voted for Reagan and his morning in America

That summer a buddy of mine and I 69ed

I'd played with other boys my age a few times

But this was different

This wasn't some feel good exploration

I felt strong emotions of attraction to him

I was so confused

I ached to be naked with him all the time

But I wasn't a gay - I didn't even know about the gay

I loved being with him and yet

I couldn't even jack off without guilt and shame

Having sex with him took my pain to a whole new level

Searing guilt and Scalding shame drove me to cast him away.

With him around, I'd feel feelings I couldn't live with feeling.

So I cast him aside and looked away.

Looked away Dixieland

I guessed

Maybe I was just a horny guy without a gal

Yeah. That was it.

It would all be worked out once I got married and had kids.

It was around then

That I left my bubble

And went off to college

And summers working at summer camp

Met lots of different people

From lots of different places

With lots of different ideas

Lots of different bubbles

Bubbling up enlarging mine

One amazing bubble came from summer camp

That is where I fell in love with Jeff

We'd been best friends for years at camp

Then one hot steamy moonlit night in between camp sessions

With no campers and just a few of the staff at camp

He and I broke into the camp's pool

He stripped naked and jumped in

And I followed his example

We swam around skinny dipping, wrestling a bit

Then rested standing in the pool side by side

leaning up against the side of the pool

That is when I told him how much he meant to me

He took my hand in his causing me an earth shattering orgasm

The most powerful electric shock shook me to my core

I swear you could see the blindingly bright blue light of electricity

skittering scattering all around the pool from space

We made love all that night from the pool back to our cabin

It was then that I knew I was in love with a guy

If that was being a gay then I was a gay

To be with him I would suffer everything

No matter what pain I'd have to endure

Sadly, our lives took different roads

And we never got to be together

But I had had those moments loving him

And being loved by him

Moments

That I will cherish in my heart for eternity

Moments of clarity about my sexuality

I remember on one of my visits back home

I went to church and saw a black guy visiting there

He wasn't difficult to spot being the only black guy there

I recognized him

He was a friend of mine who was also home from college

We had both been in the high school band together

I was so happy to see him and worship with him

After church services, while I was shaking his hand and giving him a hug,

the wife of a church elder walked up to him

And politely reminded him

that there was a lovely little black church in town

And perhaps he'd be more comfortable worshipping there

I could see the pain slapped across his face

I was so angry and hurt for him

What was wrong with my people?

How could they profess to love Jesus

And live contrary to his teachings?

How?

When I was one and twenty I heard a wise man say

“...re-examine all you have been told at school or church

or in any book, dismiss whatever insults your soul...”

Uncle Walt Whitman's words changed my life

I had lots of stuff that insulted my soul to dismiss

My Great-Aunt who was truly Love incarnate

A true follower of Jesus

Gave me a copy of Kahlil Gibran's book, The Prophet,

A book I've read all along my life's journey

She and Kahlil taught me that true Spiritual Life

Cannot be codified in Letters of the Law

But only in the Spirit of those ideas

It was also at that time

That I really began to understand

What that bleeding heart hippie, Jesus, was all about

His example of

Living Peace and Love

Compassion, Inclusion, Understanding

Forgiveness, Charity, Sacrifice.

Loving your neighbor as you Love yourself

Doing unto others as you would have them do to you

Meaning we are to love every person on the earth

And that all people everywhere are human beings

Deserving of our love, compassion, and kindness

Jesus taught me that there is nothing more important in this life

Than helping all people

That the meaning of life is for us to take care of each other

That ALL people on earth are our neighbors - our family

That we are all brothers and sisters as children of God

That we are not to dehumanize people with labels

It was the powerful teachings of Jesus

That was the beginning of how I transformed

From reading about Jesus to living like Jesus

It was the story of my journey

Crossing over

From being a Fervent Fundamentalist Christian American Right Winger

To become

The Bleeding Heart, Tree Huggin', Hippie, Liberal, Gay, Jesus Freak,

Progressive Christian Buddhist American Left Winger,

Which is how I am now categorized today for those who like labels - I personally don't believe labels are a good thing. They divide. I prefer the things that bring us together - I am a human as we are all human and part of the human family.

And now today in that land of cotton

Old times here are still not forgotten

In the land where I was born in

Early on one  frosty mornin'

While my body lives here once again

I am not the same person

My bubble is so much bigger and brighter

Full of Love and Light

Things are better here

People of all groups get along much better

There is respect and kindness mostly

It ain't perfect by no means

There is still lots of fear to be batted around

But we get along better than we used to

I am proud of how far we've come as a people

Even though we still have a long way to go in this country

Through my life I've seen huge sea changes for the better

Racists and homophobes still exist

But they are not near as powerful as they once were

Most religious folks get along better

There is far less fear these days

Even though Trump and Fox News do their best to divide us

By stoking fear, anger and hatred for their own profit and power

From my perspective seeing how things have changed for the better over my years

I think those Trumposaurs will soon be nothing but a bad, nasty painful memory

A painfully nasty page of history to learn from

If my bubble could change so dramatically for the better

Then I know it is possible all bubbles can change for the better

I believe we are closer to becoming a united human race

Where Peace and Love will be victorious over fear and hate

Darkness cannot drive out darkness; 

only light can do that.

Hate cannot drive out hate; 

only love can do that. (MLK)

Did you see the MILLIONS of People all over the world that poured forth to protest racial injustice? Each one of them a Light of Love. All over the world Light and Love marching for Justice. Light and Love are dawning a new day for us the Human Race.

It is going to happen

Light and Love will win 

if we hold on to that hope 

and work our way through to make it happen.

Peace and Love to you my Sisters and Brothers

Peace and Love,

AOM

~*~

Namaste Sweetie: Where I Come From

Scott Gardner

Namaste Sweetie,

Happy 2's Day

Whatever you enjoy the most

Do it at least twice today

Thanks for being here with me

And I thank everyone for not yelling at me yesterday

When I posted my thought about current events

I was going to post an article I wrote about my life growing up
But I got the feeling it was too racist that I have decided to wait
Because I grew up in a racist culture
And just talking about what I heard and was taught at the time
Is just too horrible to repeat
The gist of the article was how fear is the tool of bad leaders
A tool used to divide us and conquer us as a people
Using Whites against Blacks
Straights against Gays
Christians against Jews
Protestants against Catholics
Fear of the other
Fear of those who are different
Dividing us into groups so politicians can use the fear
To scare groups to vote for them
Fear of others to keep them in power
What I wrote was how I was taught to think
And it was just too ugly to repeat
I chickened out
I may post it later for you to read
Knowing who I am today
You will never believe the culture I was raised in
The people who helped me evolve to the person I am today
Were my mother, my great-aunt, Walt Whitman, Kahlil Gibran
and most importantly, Jesus
Following Jesus led me out of the world of the
Fervent Evangelical Christian Right Wing
and how I became
The Bleeding Heart, Tree Huggin', Hippie, Liberal, 
Gay, Jesus Freak, Progressive Christian American Left Winger,

Which is how I am now categorized today for those who like labels - I personally don't believe labels are a good thing. They divide. I prefer the things that bring us together - I am a human as we are all human and part of the human family.

I hope to one day find a way to share the ugliness of the culture I was born into

So you can follow my journey

I hope you will enjoy our visit

I wish you a beautiful day

Peace and Love,

AOM

~*~

Namaste Sweetie! 060820

Timothée Chalamet, 

Namaste Sweetie,

Happy Monday

And 

Welcome Back to AOM

I am so glad you are here with me

I hope you had a lovely weekend

I enjoyed many days of Tea in my Undies during the day

And Lovely Skinny Sitting Sessions and NOW Sessions at night

I even had a NOW session during one of those days

Woo Hooo!

l realize that AOM is a place for you to visit to get away from all the trouble in our world.  My plan is to keep AOM a place to escape the horrors but I will be expressing my thoughts and feelings about current events from time to time. If you disagree with me, that is fine. I still love you and care about you, but I suggest you seriously question why you disagree. Maybe we can all learn something new.

With that said

Here is what I wrote 

After watching events in our country last week:

When I was young and first began to use a typewriter, my mother, who was a typist, had me type the following exercise.

"Now is the time 

for all good people 

to come to the aid of their country."

I asked her why. 

She said because it was an exercise she had had to type when she took typing in high school. 

I also asked her what it meant.

She said there are times in our history when good people need to work together to save their country.

Well, that Time is NOW!

Now is the time 

for all good people 

to come to the aid of OUR country.

You know that over the years, I've kept my feelings and thoughts concerning current affairs out of AOM. After the events of this past week, I can no longer stay silent. Trump - like some skeezy scared dictator - ordered a violent military strike against our fellow American citizens in our nation's capital while they were peacefully exercising their constitutionally protected right of Free Speech to peaceably assemble to protest the systemic racism in America. Trump deliberately and viciously attacked peaceful Americans - crushing their constitutionally protected rights under his knee so he could show his supporters, watching on Fox News, that he was their tough law-and-order gunslinger after slithering out of his panic bunker. After violating the US Constitution, Trump and his minions strutted across the street and committed an outrageous sacrilege by violating a church and the Bible by using them as political props for his creepy law-and-order photo op. Then, after building his Great Wall around the White House, Trump has threatened to use the full force and might of the American military against all of us - against We the People of the United States of America. This is fascism pure and simple. Imagine if the military should bend to Trump's will. I did not think it possible in America until I witnessed Trump's actions last week.

This is not a partisan issue. This is about the survival of the United States of America as a constitutional democracy - "a government of the people, by the people, for the people."

Now is the time for all good people to come to the aid of OUR country. You can do this by Registering to Vote, get others to register to vote, campaign and then all y'all go Vote! There is Great Power in Your Vote! Voting Matters.

Peace and Love, Liberty and Justice, Compassion and Kindness, Democracy and the US Constitution and our very Union are under attack by the divisive fascist tactics of Trump and his administration of Fear, Division, and Hate. The United States of America is at a tipping point. If we do not vote Trump and the Republicans who have enabled him out of office on November 3, 2020, there may not be a country to aid. 

I did not think it was possible that one man could be so dangerous and destructive to American democracy but I was wrong. I call for all of us to do all that we can to vote Trump and his Republican enablers out of office. If you cannot see this then you are not paying attention. It is now time for all of us to wake up and pay attention. GOOD PEOPLE, WAKE UP, GET INVOLVED AND TAKE ACTION!

Now is the time

For ALL GOOD PEOPLE

To come to the aid of OUR country.

In the name of Peace and Love and the United States Constitution, register to vote, then Vote against Trump and those Republicans who have enabled him.

Good people the world over are praying. Only you can answer their prayers. Vote against Tyranny! Vote against Racism! Vote against Fear! Vote against Trump! Vote for Love! Vote for Peace! Vote for Unity! Vote for Humanity! Don't just protest - VOTE!!!

“America, … 

Always inform yourself; 

always do the best you can; 

always vote.”

 ~ Walt Whitman

~*~

I hope you will enjoy your visit

I wish you a beautiful day

Peace and Love,

AOM

~*~

AOM Meditations: 051920

 by Philip Gladstone

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

~*~

This is an updated version of a piece I wrote and posted before
I think it is the most important thing I have to say to the world
I hope it will benefit and inspire you

~*~

Is it possible 

to change our world for the better? 

The world has certainly been a lot worse in the past than it is today. This proves to me that it is possible for things to get better. I'm certainly glad that civil liberties have expanded and I hope they will continue. I look back at the changes that have come about just during my 61 trips around the sun. WOW! There have been some MAJOR changes that have made the world a better place for more of us. We still have lots of work to do, but we have come a long way in a relatively short amount of time. Looking back to where we were in the past and seeing where we are today, should inspire and motivate us all to keep pushing forward.

Do you want 

the world to be a better place for all of us? 

I'm sure most of us would say 'yes' to this question. And if 'yes' - then "Kwitchur Bitchin', get off your ass, and do something to help make a positive difference in the world. You do possess this power despite what the powers that be would have you believe,

So how do we go about 

changing the world for the better? 

There are probably seven billion answers to this question. I'll narrow it down to what I see and you can decide whether you agree with me or not. It's okay if you don't, because each of us sits in a different spot around the Perspective Circle. We need to hear from all sides.

I believe the world can be better if we all Love each other more. I believe we need to make it our responsibility to take care of each other - your neighbor next door, the guy standing in front of you in a grocery store checkout, the secretary at your place of work - every person you see with your eyes is part of our family. I believe the reason we are here is to look out for and take care of each other. I firmly believe we are all brothers and sisters - in the immortal words of Sister Sledge,  "We Are Family!" It is what Jesus was all about. Here is Jesus speaking to his disciples:

Matthew 25: 

‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. 35 For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, 36 I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’

37 “Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? 38 When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? 39 When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?’


40 “The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’

This reminds me of the story about the guy who saw a starving child on the street. The man looked up and yelled at God, "How GOD!? could you let this happen. Why don't you do something to help this poor starving child, God? And then God answered , "I did do something to help that starving child - I created YOU!"

So how do we Love each other more?

The first step toward a more loving world is for each of us to love ourselves more. This is key. The more you love yourself, the more you are able to love others. As Jesus said, 

"Love your neighbor as you 

Love yourself." 

So how do I Love myself more?

That is the question. I don't have an easy answer or quote for this question. It is up to each of us to look within and find that answer for ourselves. The Love is within us. It has been and forever will be. We just have to let go of any and all obstacles that block us from connecting to the Love within.

We can start by taking better care or ourselves - Eat better, exercise better, get enough sleep, think positive about ourselves, surround ourselves with people who are positive and who lift us up. Perhaps we need to see ourselves as our own child. We protect, love and nurture our own children - let us do this for ourselves.

If we are to bring about positive change in our world and make it a better place for all to live, then we must begin by loving ourselves. As Mahatma Gandhi said, 

“Be the change 

that you wish to see in the world.”

And then let us influence others through our actions and deeds. 

I'll stop here and let you think about these things.

~AOM

~*~

~*~

~*~

FEEL GRATITUDE 
FOR ALL THAT YOU ARE AND HAVE
FILL YOUR ENTIRE BEING TO OVERFLOWING
WITH THE FEELINGS OF GRATITUDE

AOM Meditation: 042020

~*~

Hatchet is a novel by Gary Paulsen. It is a survival story of a teen-aged boy named Brian. The story begins with Brian and a pilot flying over the vast Canadian wilderness in a single engine bush plane. During the flight, the pilot suffers a heart attack, loses control of the plane, and crashes into a lake. 

Brian escapes the submerged plane and swims to the shore. That first night, as he tries to sleep, he is viciously attacked by thousands upon thousands of mosquitoes. He fights, wrestles and writhes insane trying to stop the unstoppable mosquito attack. Finally, he surrenders and just takes it. 

Alone, battered and bruised, he just lies there in the dark and takes the attack. Accepting what he could not change did not stop his suffering but he suffered less once he accepted what was.  Later in the story, Brian discovered how to make fire and finds other strategies to combat the mosquitoes. While the mosquitoes were awful to endure, he was able to endure them without the torture because he changed his attitude. He quit fighting and accepted what he could not change. It was only then that he could move on to learn how to make life better for himself.

I've remembered that scene from the book because it is a great example of accepting what is - accepting the things we cannot change. It seems to me we are all in a similar situation today. We are all enduring a period of self-isolation due to the virus. We can't go and do as we once did. We can fight, wrestle, and writhe against our current situation or we can accept what is and find ways to make our current situation more pleasant. It's all a matter of changing our attitudes. Let us see our current situation with new eyes. Rather than focusing on what we can't do, let's focus on what we can. Let's choose to make this time amazing and fun. We have this time to grow in so many different ways. It's all about our perspective - how we see what is. We can make these hard times better. Our Perspective and Attitude are Key. 

~AOM

~*~

Let's Just Go With The FLOW

Namaste Sweetie! 010620

 Benoit_Ulliel from Bel Ami

Namaste Sweetie,

Before anything else today

I want to let those of you in Australia

Know that you are in my prayers

I know that isn't much

But you are family

And I hope you will be safe and well

I send my Love and Support to you

~*~

Welcome back my Friends

I hope you had a wonderful holiday season

Before we begin the new year of AOM

I felt the need to say something

In regard to current events

I know most of us are on edge

Anxious about a war that

Many of us figured was coming somewhere soon

Like most of you I am fearful

And I pray that the cause of Peace and Love

Will overcome the cause of Greed and Hate

I just wanted you to know that I am aware

That dangerous times are on the rise.

Even though AOM will stay positive

In the face of so much that is not,

I didn't want you to think I was like Nero

Fiddling away while Rome burned.

I am here for you

You are here for me

We are here for each other

Together

Let us Celebrate Beauty and the Goodness of Humanity

Promoting Peace and Love for all

I hope you will enjoy your visit

I wish  you a Courageous Day

Peace and Love,

AOM

~*~