I've learned that love means to know the deepest experience of joy and pain in a way that no other experience in life can offer us.  When I'm in love, the joy is inexpressible, an energy that carries me thru the most difficult of situations with an internal peace ...  I am invincible.  When I don't feel love, lose love, or reject love, there exists a pain within me that clouds my every experience, and I  become incapable of healing on a very deep level.   Because of this I've learned how important it is to learn to LOVE MYSELF as a daily practice, taking the time each day to care for my body, mind and soul, I remind myself each day of my gratitutde in the people and the many small things in my life, and each day, I make time for myself and to BE with myself.  When I feel uncomfortable being with me, then I know that I'm not loving myself enough, and that means I'm blocking love from coming into my life.  So the truest of love begins at the source .... me!   Then and only then, love is an energy that flows from me and attracts love to me.  That is what I've learned about love!

Love must be as much a light, as it is a flame.  ~ Henry David Thoreau

Time is too slow for those who wait, too swift for those who fear, too long for those who grieve, too short for those who rejoice, but for those who love, time is eternity.  ~ Henry Van Dyke

I am amazed at how many toxic people I encounter on a daily basis.  They include people who are angry, frustrated, negative, sad, depressed, nay-sayers, or just plain energy vampires.  For years I have read and studied as much as I could on enlightenment, thinking that if I found my personal enlightenment, that somehow I would no longer have toxic people in my life, or if I encountered some, that I could remain in a place of peace whenever our paths crossed.  But the more I understand enlightenment, the more I realize that it isn't about changing a situation or people or even myself, but rather it's about become awake, aware of the toxins, so I can fully understand the experience and have compassion for the other persons suffering.  The purpose of enlightenment isn't so you can tolerate or be pleasant to toxic people or situations but rather to recognize them for what they are, to be compassionate, to learn from the experience and finally, allow yourself to embrace what is healthy and to open doors that move you forward and close those that hold you back.

"Enlightenment is not imaging figures of light but making the darkness conscious."  ~Carl Gustav Jung 1875-1961

Friendship!  I've been one of those folks that join social networks, like gaia, facebook. etc. but paticipate only as an observer, reading everyone's blogs, profiles, etc. I'd see everyone's long list of "friends" and say to myself, "wow, wish I had that many friends".  Well, the perverbial lightbulb finally went off this week.  The voice in my head shouted "when will you wake up, share your voice and stop sitting on the fence! " So this week I began adding some special friends, communicating with folks on these sites, and posting blogs.  What a feeling!  I've been getting such a rush from the incredible people I've become friends with online.  The diversity of people and stories is an eye opener and has given me such a new perspective on life.  So I realize now that its the friendships in our lives that nuture our souls and our minds.  Being a friend to others, you become a better friend to yourself!!  Bless my friends ... they are the wind beneath my wings!!

My mommy's belly following a day of housecleaning and after she'd eaten 3 hamburger patties!!  Okay, but really, I want to believe that I come from the place where God and all those that serve Him listen from beyond the Universe to the souls already here on earth and hear the voids in their human spirit that need to be filled.  We all play a very important part in the lives of those we touch, and so I believe I came from a very wise and intuitive place, that saw all, knew all, and understood all, and placed my spirit into that place where I would be most needed.  I have not been the perfect daughter, nor did I have the perfect mother, I was not the most perfect friend, nor were there lessons I could have done without, I am not the most perfect wife, but I have tried to inspire, to understand, to console, and above all to love, I am not the perfect mother, but I have completed the circle and have breathed life into a soul that has entered this world and that will continue to inspire, to touch, and to love .... I really don't know "where" I came from but I do know that I came from love, to be love, and to leave with love and in love ... the mystery of "where" is not really important.  It's the mystery of "why", the purpose, that illuminates all!