AOM Meditations: 110520

The Wanderer, Lost by Philip Gladstone

Thanks to our Friend for sending us this beautiful art

~*~

"I am the one and only me. I may not think of myself as a creative person, but I know that I have unique talents and skills to share. For instance, art may appear on a canvas, or it may appear in a meal prepared with love.  Some hands sculpt clay or play a musical instrument, and some gently hold the hand of a child.  Wisdom can be found in books, but it can also be found in quiet conversation across the kitchen table. 

I am creative in my own unique way.  As I more fully express who I am, I bless others, and blessings flow back to me.  I am creative, productive, and open to divine inspiration.  I give my gifts to the world." 

~Unattributed (Daily Word)

~*~

"You must understand the whole of life, 

not just one little part of it. 

That is why you must read, 

that is why you must look at the skies, 

that is why you must sing, and dance, 

and write poems, and suffer, and understand, 

for all that is life."

 ~J. Krishnamurti

~*~

"O beautiful human life!  

Tears come to my eyes as I think of it.  

So beautiful, so inexpressibly beautiful!  

The song should never be silent, 

the dance never still, 

the laugh should sound like water

 which runs forever."

 ~Richard Jeffries

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 Meditations: 050620

by Philip Gladstone

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

~*~

…if anything matters then everything matters. Because you are important, everything you do is important. Every time you forgive, the universe changes; every time you reach out and touch a heart or a life, the world changes; with every kindness and service, seen or unseen, my purposes are accomplished and nothing will be the same again.

~William Paul Young

(The Shack 

~*~

“Rather than trying to think positive thoughts, let your thoughts come and go as they will. Look up. Smile. Drink in the sky. Do little things that make your heart sing. There may be days when it feels like the music has run out of notes. That’s okay. It’s okay to feel sad, to feel empty or numb. Give every feeling space to be just what it is. Stay present with it as long as it stays with you, and then be ready to let it go when it leaves. All feelings are visiting, like the weather and like the seasons, and the constancy of change is always bringing fresh colour to our inner landscapes and skies. Let gratitude and your curiosity find the overlooked wonder and small joys in the simple things, the twinkle in each moment. See what fills your thoughts when your soul is content.”

~Quiet Lotus

AOM Meditations: 032320

by Philip Gladstone

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

~*~

“Your birth day happens once, it is the day you were born, why wait until the anniversary of your birth date to celebrate you? Every day is the anniversary of your BIRTH DAY if you counted in DAYS not YEARS 

So celebrate DAILY not YEARLY

Treat yourself with kindness every day, spoil yourself, do things that make you happy, do things that are fun. You are a very special soul, a unique individual, a precious person.

Enjoy celebrating YOU, EVERYDAY”

~Hazel Butterworth

~*~

“Rather than see ageing as a reason to contract, 

we should view it as an opportunity to expand. 

We should make each year of our lives 

more interesting than the one before.” 

~Srinivas Rao

~*~

AOM Meditations: 021920

by Philip Gladstone

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

~*~

“Silence is a source of Great Strength.”

~Lao Tzu

~*~

“In Silence there is eloquence. 

Stop weaving 

and see how the pattern improves.”

~Rumi

~*~

“Make peace with silence, and remind yourself that it is in this space that you'll come to remember your spirit. When you're able to transcend an aversion to silence, you'll also transcend many other miseries. And it is in this silence that the remembrance of God will be activated.”

~Wayne W. Dyer

~*~

“This is thy hour O Soul, 

thy free flight into the wordless,

Away from books, away from art, 

the day erased, the lesson done,

Thee fully forth emerging, silent, 

gazing, pondering the themes thou lovest best.

Night, sleep, and the stars.”

~Walt Whitman

AOM Meditations: 010620

by Philip Gladstone

~*~

"Anti-intellectualism has been a constant thread winding its way through our political and cultural life, nurtured by the false notion that democracy means that ‘my ignorance is just as good as your knowledge."

~Isaac Asimov

~*~

"You have enemies? Good.

That means you’ve stood up for something, 

sometime in your life."

~Winston Churchill

~*~

“When I despair, 

I remember that all through history 

the way of truth and love have always won. 

There have been tyrants and murderers, 

and for a time, they can seem invincible, 

but in the end, 

they always fall. 

Think of it--

always.”

~Mahatma Gandhi

AOM Meditations: 111819

by Philip Gladstone

~*~

Disciples and devotees… 

what are most of them doing? 

Worshiping the teapot, 

instead of drinking the tea!

~Wei Wu Wei

~*~

“This is what you shall do; Love the earth and sun and the animals, despise riches, give alms to every one that asks, stand up for the stupid and crazy, devote your income and labor to others, hate tyrants, argue not concerning God, have patience and indulgence toward the people, take off your hat to nothing known or unknown or to any man or number of men, go freely with powerful uneducated persons and with the young and with the mothers of families, read these leaves in the open air every season of every year of your life, re-examine all you have been told at school or church or in any book, dismiss whatever insults your own soul, and your very flesh shall be a great poem and have the richest fluency not only in its words but in the silent lines of its lips and face and between the lashes of your eyes and in every motion and joint of your body.”

~Walt Whitman

AOM Meditations: 102519

 by Philip Gladstone

~*~

~*~

AOM Meditations: 090419

by Philip Gladstone

~*~

“The beginning of love 

is the will to let those we love 

be perfectly themselves, 

the resolution 

not to twist them to fit our own image. 

If in loving them 

we do not love what they are, 

but only their potential likeness to ourselves, 

then we do not love them: 

we only love 

the reflection of ourselves we find in them” 

~Thomas Merton

(No Man Is an Island)

ART: "The Sluggard" by Philip Gladstone

The Sluggard by Philip Gladstone

"Philip Gladstone (born 1963) is an artist best known for his story-telling, evocative — and sometimes provocative — tableaux featuring an ensemble cast of nude men. Gladstone’s diverse body of work can be understood as an ongoing pursuit of a profoundly personal, allegorical exercise in self-portraiture — a collection of loosely related, colorful fables populated by figures the artist creates to stand in for himself, 'characters' invented to express a state of mind, to tease a multi-layered, subjective story, or to attempt to conjure a vision of a universally shared experience for the artist’s audience." (Source)

To see more of Gladstone's exquisite artwork, visit his website: 

Philip Gladstone Studio

~*~

You may remember this sculpture

The Sluggard by Lord Frederick Leighton

ART: Philip Gladstone

Halfway (2009) by Philip Gladstone

"Philip Gladstone (born 1963) is an artist best known for his story-telling, evocative — and sometimes provocative — tableaux featuring an ensemble cast of nude men. Gladstone’s diverse body of work can be understood as an ongoing pursuit of a profoundly personal, allegorical exercise in self-portraiture — a collection of loosely related, colorful fables populated by figures the artist creates to stand in for himself, 'characters' invented to express a state of mind, to tease a multi-layered, subjective story, or to attempt to conjure a vision of a universally shared experience for the artist’s audience." (Source)

To see more of Gladstone's exquisite artwork, 

visit his website: 

Philip Gladstone Studio

AOM Meditations: 040419

by Philip Gladstone

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

~*~

“The measure of intelligence 

is the ability to change.” 

~Albert Einstein

~*~

“Your assumptions 

are your windows on the world. 

Scrub them off every once in a while, 

or the light won't come in.” 

~Isaac Asimov

~*~

“A mind is like a parachute. 

It doesn't work if it is not open.” 

~Frank Zappa

~*~

"A university professor went to visit a famous Zen master. While the master quietly served tea, the professor talked about Zen. The master poured the visitor's cup to the brim, and then kept pouring. The professor watched the overflowing cup until he could no longer restrain himself. 

"It's full! No more will go in!" the professor blurted. 

"This is you," the master replied, "How can I show you Zen unless you first empty your cup."

~Version of a Traditional Story

~*~

From time to time take time

To Question your Assumptions

If you've never changed your mind

Never questioned your beliefs

You are likely afraid to do so 
which may cause you 
to be blind to other ways 
of thinking and perceiving the world

Don't be afraid

OPEN YOUR MIND

AOM Meditations: 040319

by Philip Gladstone

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

~*~

As you know, one of my reasons for blogging AOMMD is to help inspire others to take a more active role in adding positive energy and Love into the world by helping others. The first step in loving others is to love ourselves first. The more love we have for ourselves, the more love we have to share with others. Today's Meditations relates to this by helping us understand the importance of ACCEPTING ourselves as we are - warts, farts, shits and all.

I post this to get us thinking outside of our safe little boxes that we feel comfy in. It is not an easy thing for me to accept this view of myself, but something inside me tells me it is true:

All the very best 

and all the very worst of humanity 

is within each of us. 

Only by accepting our 'shadow or darkness' can we learn to fully accept ourselves and fully integrate ourselves in wholeness. It does not mean we act upon our 'dark' thoughts, feelings, impulses. It means that we accept ourselves warts and all. When we can fully accept our WHOLE self, then we can learn to accept, understand, and be compassionate with ourselves and others. Rather than judging and condemning ourselves and others because of our flaws, we accept them and see them as a natural part of our whole being - parts that have in their own way contributed in positive ways. As stated by Alan Watts in the quote below, "The manure is contributive to the perfume of the rose".

"The Recognition of the fact that behind the social role that your assume; behind all your pretensions to being either a good citizen or a fine scholar or a great scientist or a leading politician or a physician or whatever you happen to be - that behind this facade - there is a certain element of the unreconstructed bum. Not as something to be condemned and wailed over, but as something to be recognized as contributive to one's greatness and to one's positive aspect; in the same way that manure is contributive to the perfume of the rose."

~Alan Watts, discussing the work of Carl Jung

~*~

"We cannot change anything 

until we accept it. 

Condemnation does not liberate, 

it oppresses." 

 “Only he 

who has accepted himself completely 

possesses  ‘unprejudiced objectivity,’ 

that ingredient without which 

he will be unable to help others 

nor even himself. 

~Carl Jung

~*~

Let us accept the "manure" that is within

So that it may do its work in bringing forth

The fragrance of the rose

AOM Meditations: 111318

 The Wanderer, Lost by Philip Gladstone

Thanks to our Friend for sending us this beautiful art

~*~

"I am the one and only me. I may not think of myself as a creative person, but I know that I have unique talents and skills to share. For instance, art may appear on a canvas, or it may appear in a meal prepared with love.  Some hands sculpt clay or play a musical instrument, and some gently hold the hand of a child.  Wisdom can be found in books, but it can also be found in quiet conversation across the kitchen table. 

I am creative in my own unique way.  As I more fully express who I am, I bless others, and blessings flow back to me.  I am creative, productive, and open to divine inspiration.  I give my gifts to the world." 

~Unattributed (Daily Word)

~*~

"You must understand the whole of life, 

not just one little part of it. 

That is why you must read, 

that is why you must look at the skies, 

that is why you must sing, and dance, 

and write poems, and suffer, and understand, 

for all that is life."

 ~J. Krishnamurti

~*~

"O beautiful human life!  

Tears come to my eyes as I think of it.  

So beautiful, so inexpressibly beautiful!  

The song should never be silent, 

the dance never still, 

the laugh should sound like water

 which runs forever."

 ~Richard Jeffries

AOM Meditations: 051118

by Philip Gladstone

Thanks to our Friend for sending us this beautiful art

~*~

Desiderata: A Poem for a Way of Life 

by Max Ehrmann

“Go placidly amid the noise and the haste, and remember what peace there may be in silence. As far as possible without surrender, be on good terms with all persons. Speak your truth quietly and clearly, and listen to others, even the dull and ignorant; they too have their story. 

Be yourself. Especially do not feign affection. Neither be cynical about love – for in the face of all aridity and disenchantment it is perennial as the grass. Take kindly the counsel of the years, gracefully surrendering the things of youth. 

Nurture strength of spirit to shield you from misfortune. But do not distress yourself with imaginings. Many fears are born of fatigue and loneliness. Beyond a wholesome discipline, be gentle with yourself. You are a child of the universe no less than the trees and the stars; you have a right to be here. And whether or not it is clear to you, no doubt the universe is unfolding as it should. 

Therefore be at peace with God, whatever you conceive Him to be, and whatever your labours and aspirations, in the noisy confusion of life keep peace with your soul. With all its sham, drudgery and broken dreams, it is still a beautiful world.”

~Max Ehrmann

(Desiderata: A Poem for a Way of Life)

~*~

Love isn’t a state of perfect caring. 
It is an active noun like struggle. 
To love someone is to strive to accept that person 
exactly the way he or she is, 
right here and now. 

~Fred Rogers

AOM Meditations: 032618

by Philip Gladstone

Thanks to our Friend for sending us this beautiful art

~*~

"True friends see who we really are, hear our words and the feelings behind them, hold us in the safe harbor of their embrace, and accept us as we are. Good friends mirror our best back to us, forgive us our worst, and believe we will evolve into wise, wacky, and wonderful old people.  Dear friends give us their undivided attention, encourage us to laugh, and entice us into silliness.  And we do the same for them.  A true friend gives us the courage to be ourselves because he or she is with us always and in all ways.  In the safety of such friendships, our hearts can fully open."

~Sue Patton Thoele

~*~

"Befriending the life in others is sometimes a complex matter. There are times when we offer our strength and protection, but these are usually only temporary measures. The greatest blessing we offer others may be the belief we have in their struggle for freedom, the courage to support and accompany them as they determine for themselves the strength that will become their refuge and the foundation for their lives.  I think it is especially important to believe in someone at a time when they cannot yet believe in themselves.  Then your belief will become their lifeline."

~Rachel Naomi Remen