AOM Meditations: 011421

Path in the Woods, 1887, by Vincent van Gogh

~*~

"Trust your intuition, trust your inner knowing. Take what resonates, leave the rest behind. I am part of a very intuitive group of lovely people. You guys know what is your truth, you guys can smell when something’s off. Trust yourself because more often than not, the lies are revealed and those trying to spread falsities and hate will get a taste of their own poison. Spread enough hate, you become the hate. Spread enough poison, you become poisoned yourself. Soon enough what is left of the hateful and the poisoned? Nothing at all."

~Unknown

~*~

 

AOM Meditations: 011121

Starry Night by Vincent van Gogh

~*~

As our attention is being drawn

To all the awful shit in our world

Remember 

The sun is shining

Van Gogh's paintings are hanging

The eyes of loved ones are sparkling

Be grateful

For our ears that hear music

For our eyes that see beauty

For our hearts that feel love

Do not allow the shit

To take hours away from your life 

Enjoying what is good and pleasant

Life is limited

Let us spend our time savoring

What is good, what is beautiful, what is loving

And doing good, showing compassion 

and nurturing love

~AOM

~*~

 

AOM Meditations: 042220

Cast a Spell by Marcos Chin

~*~

Quotes from Thich Nhat Hanh

(A Teacher I admire)

“Around us, life bursts with miracles--a glass of water, a ray of sunshine, a leaf, a caterpillar, a flower, laughter, raindrops. If you live in awareness, it is easy to see miracles everywhere. Each human being is a multiplicity of miracles. Eyes that see thousands of colors, shapes, and forms; ears that hear a bee flying or a thunderclap; a brain that ponders a speck of dust as easily as the entire cosmos; a heart that beats in rhythm with the heartbeat of all beings. When we are tired and feel discouraged by life's daily struggles, we may not notice these miracles, but they are always there.”

~Thich Nhat Hanh

~*~

“I have noticed that people are dealing too much with the negative, with what is wrong. ... Why not try the other way, to look into the patient and see positive things, to just touch those things and make them bloom?”

~Thich Nhat Hanh

~*~

"Do not be idolatrous about or bound to any doctrine, theory, or ideology, even Buddhist ones. Buddhist systems of thought are guiding means; they are not absolute truth."

~Thich Nhat Hanh

AOM Meditations: 041720

Path in the Woods (1887) by Vincent van Gogh

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

~*~

“I have come to accept the feeling of not knowing where I am going. And I have trained myself to love it. Because it is only when we are suspended in mid-air with no landing in sight, that we force our wings to unravel and alas begin our flight. And as we fly, we still may not know where we are going to. But the miracle is in the unfolding of the wings. You may not know where you're going, but you know that so long as you spread your wings, the winds will carry you.”

~C. JoyBell C.

~*~

AOM Meditations: 121719

by Vincent van Gogh

~*~

"Comparison is the thief of joy." 

~Theodore Roosevelt

~*~

"You have choice. You can select joy over despair. You can select happiness over tears. You can select action over apathy. You can select growth over stagnation. You can select you. And you can select life. And it's time that people tell you you're not at the mercy of forces greater than yourself. You are, indeed, the greatest force for you."

~Leo Buscaglia

AOM Meditations: 111419

The Bois de Boulogne with People Walking, 

(Paris, 1886) by Vincent van Gogh

~*~

AOM Meditations: 111918

Poplars near Nuenen by Vincent van Gogh

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

~*~

A few years ago I responded to an E-mail sent to me from a guy who visits AOM daily. We quickly became Friends and have been chatting ever since. (He's "our Friend" that provides us with much of the art I post) The other day I asked him what he gets from visiting AOM - What is AOM to you? What do you think AOM is all about? What benefits do you receive from what I am doing through AOM? He graciously wrote back telling me what he got from AOM in a rather poetic form. I'm posting his thoughts and hope that all of you receive these gifts through your visits here. 

Peace and Love, 

AOM

~*~

AOM IS:

by our Friend, David

"AOM is:

a place for men to gather

a place to refresh 

the male mind, body, heart, and spirit

a place to learn about being male

a place to celebrate 

the male body, spirit, and soul

a place to learn how men love themselves 

and each other in body and spirit

a place to be in harmony with nature

a place to be in solidarity with all men 

expressing masculinity in all its forms

a place to enjoy great art and music

a place to see beautiful male bodies

a place to explore male sexuality 

and eroticism in freedom and peace

a place to simply enjoy being male

a place to keep the spark 

of being male alive, vital, and well 

in harmony with the earth and universe

a unique place, a peaceful place, 

a loving place, an accepting place, 

a safe place, a creative place, a fun place

a place to meditate

a place to enjoy some coffee or tea

a place to learn

a place to be free"

~by David

Thank you, David, 

for your Friendship and for your generous contributions here. 

AOM Meditations: 110618

by Vincent van Gogh

Thanks to our Friend for sending us this beautiful art

~*~

“When Van Gogh was a young man in his early twenties, he was in London studying to be a clergyman. He had no thought of being an artist at all. he sat in his cheap little room writing a letter to his younger brother in Holland, whom he loved very much. He looked out his window at a watery twilight, a thin lamppost, a star, and he said in his letter something like this: "it is so beautiful I must show you how it looks." And then on his cheap ruled note paper, he made the most beautiful, tender, little drawing of it. 

When I read this letter of Van Gogh's it comforted me very much and seemed to throw a clear light on the whole road of Art. Before, I thought that to produce a work of painting or literature, you scowled and thought long and ponderously and weighed everything solemnly and learned everything that all artists had ever done aforetime, and what their influences and schools were, and you were extremely careful about *design* and *balance* and getting *interesting planes* into your painting, and avoided, with the most astringent severity, showing the faintest *acedemical* tendency, and were strictly modern. And so on and so on.

But the moment I read Van Gogh's letter I knew what art was, and the creative impulse. It is a feeling of love and enthusiasm for something, and in a direct, simple, passionate and true way, you try to show this beauty in things to others, by drawing it.

And Van Gogh's little drawing on the cheap note paper was a work of art because he loved the sky and the frail lamppost against it so seriously that he made the drawing with the most exquisite conscientiousness and care. ” 

~Brenda Ueland

~*~

TODAY!

REMEMBER TO

PLEASE VOTE TODAY!!!!!!

AOM Meditations: 101218

Vincent van Gogh

(I think this is from the film, Loving Vincent)

Thanks to our Friend for sending us this beautiful art

~*~

“Forget about self-image and self-judgment. It's about self-love, and no one teaches you that at school. No one teaches you that if you accept and love yourself, nothing and no one can touch you. This is the only face and body you're ever going to get, so be comfortable and happy in it. Own it. Own every aspect of who you are and present it to the world with the utmost pride.” 

~Connor Franta

~*~

"Don’t rush into any kind of relationship. Work on yourself. Feel yourself, experience yourself and love yourself. Do this first and you will soon attract that special loving other."

~Russ von Hoelscher

~*~

"We all make mistakes, have struggles, and even regret things in our past. But you are not your mistakes, you are not your struggles, and you are here now with the power to shape your day and your future."

~Steve Maraboli

AOM Meditations: 080818

by Vincent van Gogh

Thanks to our Friend for sending us this beautiful art

~*~

“Dance. Smile. Giggle. Marvel. TRUST. HOPE. LOVE. WISH. BELIEVE. Most of all, enjoy every moment of the journey, and appreciate where you are at this moment instead of always focusing on how far you have to go.” 

~Mandy Hale

~*~

“It's being here now that's important. There's no past and there's no future. Time is a very misleading thing. All there is ever, is the now. We can gain experience from the past, but we can't relive it; and we can hope for the future, but we don't know if there is one.” 

~George Harrison

~*~

“Don’t waste your time in 

anger, regrets, worries, and grudges. 

Life is too short to be unhappy.” 

~Roy T. Bennett

AOM Meditations: 073118

Tree Roots and Trunks by Vincent van Gogh

Thanks to our Friend for sending us this beautiful art

~*~

“Faith is a state of openness or trust... In other words, a person who is fanatic in matters of religion, and clings to certain ideas about the nature of God and the universe, becomes a person who has no faith at all. Instead they are holding tight. But the attitude of faith is to let go, and become open to the truth, whatever it might turn out to be.”

~Shunryu Suzuki

~*~

"If they cannot understand the wildness inside you, they will try to tame it and cage it. Find someone who appreciates the beauty of wild things like you."

~Nikita Gill

~*~

“The practice of patience guards us against losing our presence of mind. It enables us to remain undisturbed, even when the situation is really difficult. It gives us a certain amount of inner peace, which allows us some self-control, so that we can choose to respond to situations in an appropriate and compassionate manner, rather than being driven by our disturbing emotions.”

~Dalai Lama

AOM Meditations: 073018

Café Terrace at Night (1888) by Vincent van Gogh

Thanks to our Friend for sending us this beautiful art

~*~

Arrow and the Song 

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow 

"I shot an arrow into the air, 

It fell to earth, I knew not where; 

For, so swiftly it flew, the sight 

Could not follow it in its flight. 

I breathed a song into the air, 

It fell to earth, I knew not where; 

For who has sight so keen and strong, 

That it can follow the flight of song? 

Long, long afterward, in an oak 

I found the arrow, still unbroke; 

And the song, from beginning to end, 

I found again in the heart of a friend."

~*~

Sometimes we never know how our actions and words can affect the world. They can hurt, help, or heal. I want to be more mindfully aware of my actions and words so that they will be helpful as they ripple throughout the world and into the lives of other people.

~AOM

~*~

Please take five minutes
To hear this instruction about Music

Maestro Daniel Barenboim
(conductor, pianist and chamber musician)
presents
"How to Listen to Music"

YouTube Direct Link:  https://youtu.be/LCKZDSIHV80

AOM Meditations: 052318

by Vincent van Gogh

Thanks to our Friend for sending us this beautiful art

~*~

Today's quotes come from the NatGeo Series

The Story of God

You can see Season One on YouTube

The links are on the sidebar under Watch on YouTube

It is very interesting and thought provoking

I highly recommend it

~*~

"Success should be measured

By how I serve others

Not by how much I can get for myself"

~from The Story of God

~*~

"God is so many things

To so many people

The warm light of the sun

The sound of sweet music

An inner voice that drives us forward

A Friend

Your Inspiration

Your Power

There is a bit of the divine in all of us

There's God in You

There's God in me

The God in me

Is who I really am at my core

The God in me

Is the best version of me

The God in me

Is who I strive to be

Who I am meant to be"

~Morgan Freeman

(The Story of God)

~*~

"You can always make more money

But you can never make more time"

~Morgan Freeman

(The Story of God)

~*~

We all need to 

Love and Care and Respect each other

That is the source of happiness

Whoever has that

Their journey is good

~from The Story of God

AOM Meditations: 052118

(digital artist unknown)

The Starry Night by Vincent van Gogh and 

The Great Wave Of Kanagawa by Katsushika Hokusai

Thanks to our Friend for sending us this beautiful art

~*~

"When we fully understand the brevity of life, its fleeting joys and unavoidable pains; when we accept the facts that all men and women are approaching an inevitable doom: the consciousness of it should make us more kindly and considerate of each other. This feeling should make men and women use their best efforts to help their fellow travelers on the road, to make the path brighter and easier as we journey on. It should bring a closer kinship, a better understanding, and a deeper sympathy for the wayfarers who must live a common life and die a common death.” 

~Clarence Darrow, 

(The Essential Words and Writings of Clarence Darrow)

~*~

“Spirituality is recognizing and celebrating that we are all inextricably connected to each other by a power greater than all of us, and that our connection to that power and to one another is grounded in love and compassion. Practicing spirituality brings a sense of perspective, meaning and purpose to our lives.”

~Brené Brown

(The Gifts of Imperfection)

~*~

"Every morning, when we wake up, 

we have twenty-four brand-new hours to live. 

What a precious gift! 

We have the capacity to live in a way 

that these twenty-four hours 

will bring peace, joy, and happiness 

to ourselves and others."

~Thich Nhat Hanh

AOM Meditations: 032118

Almond Blossoms by Vincent van Gogh

Thanks to our Friend for sending us this beautiful art

~*~

As for me, I know nothing else but miracles,

Whether I walk the streets of Manhattan,

Or dart my sight over the roofs of houses toward the sky,

Or wade with naked feet along the beach just in the edge of the water,

Or stand under the trees in the woods,

Or talk by day with any one I love,

Or sleep in bed at night with any one I love,

Or watch honey bees busy around the hive of a summer forenoon...

Or the wonderfulness of the sundown, 

Or of stars shining so quiet and bright,

Or the exquisite delicate thin curve of the new moon in spring...

What stranger miracles are there?

~Walt Whitman

AOM Meditations: 030818

by Vincent van Gogh

Thanks to our Friend for sending us this beautiful art

~*~

"Once we believe in ourselves, 

we can risk curiosity, wonder, spontaneous delight, 

or any experience that reveals the human spirit."

~E.E. Cummings

~*~

"Speak out for those who cannot speak, 

for the rights of all the destitute. 

Speak out, judge righteously, 

defend the rights of the poor and needy."

~Proverb 31:8-9

~*~

"Just as a solid rock is not shaken by the storm, 

even so the wise are not affected by praise or blame."

~Buddha

AOM Meditations: 011818

Poplars near Nuenen by Vincent van Gogh

~*~

 Walt Whitman

(from the preface to his first edition of Leaves of Grass)

"This is what you shall do: Love the earth and the sun and the animals, despise riches, give alms to everyone that asks, stand up for the stupid and the 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..."

AOM Meditations: 010918

Country Road in Provence by Night (1890) by Vincent van Gogh

Thanks to a Friend for sending us this beautiful art

~*~

"I am shocked to have discovered this morning that I am the only me there is. I think this is the key to everything - compassion, kindness, trust of life, mystery. A genuine and not inflated sense of importance and self-value. I've spent most of my life comparing myself to other men. Are they ahead of me in Forbes? Do they sit on more powerful boards? Are they smarter? Sexier? Do they have more hair? And all the time there is this other way of seeing things. I am not one of the motors my company produces by the hundreds of thousands. I am handmade. Less than perfect but more a work of creation than a product of technology. And I am not alone in this. Everyone is the only "me" there is."

~unattributed (an unknown cancer survivor)

related by Rachel Naomi Reme

~*~

"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

Parting Shot: 121917

Van Gogh in Motion!

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