Clouds

“O! It is pleasant with a head of ease,
Just after sunset, or by moonlight skies,
To make the shifting clouds be what you please.”

Samuel Taylor Coleridge

Of the Open Sky

“It is a strange thing how little in general people know about the sky. It is the part of all creation in which nature has done more for the sake of pleasing man, more, for the sole and evident purpose of talking to him and teaching him, than in any other of her works, and it is just the part in which we least attend to her. There are not many of her other works in which some more material or essential purpose than the mere pleasing of man is not answered by every part of their organization; but every essential purpose of the sky might, as far as we know, be answered, if once in three days, or thereabouts, a great, ugly black rain cloud were brought up over the blue, and everything well watered, and so all left blue again till next time, with perhaps a film of morning and evening mist for dew. And instead of this, there is not a moment of any day of our lives, when nature is not producing scene after scene, picture after picture, glory after glory, and working still upon such exquisite and constant principles of the most perfect beauty, that it is quite certain it is all done for us, and intended for our perpetual pleasure. And every man, wherever placed, however far from other sources of interest or of beauty, has this doing for him constantly… the sky is for all; bright as it is, it is not “too bright, nor good, for human nature’s daily food,” it is fitted in all its functions for the perpetual comfort and exalting of the heart, for the soothing it and purifying it from its dross and dust. Sometimes gentle, sometimes capricious, sometimes awful, never the same for two moments together; almost human in its passions, almost spiritual in its tenderness, almost divine in its infinity, it is surely meant for the chief teacher of what is immortal in us, as it is the chief minister of chastisement or of blessing to what is mortal. And yet we never attend to it, we never make it a subject of thought…”

John Ruskin

Victorian art critic and essayist

To view some really stunning pictures of clouds visit

The Cloud Appreciation Society's website

www.cloudappreciationsociety.org

Gifts of Gratitude

Doodling?

Well yes, it’s a favourite pastime of mine.

By releasing any expected outcome, I simply allow my creativity to flow freely – just me, the pen and all possibility! One evening, while musing on my doodles, I noted that many commonly recognized symbols were peeking through my orderly disorder.

And then, as if by fate, I asked my Sweetheart, “What is the symbol for Gratitude?” Think about it. There’s a symbol for the sun, the moon, love, peace – even a simple “swoosh” is recognizable world-wide. There must be a symbol for Gratitude …. And Voila! I glanced down to witness this symbol of Gratitude being created by my own hand. Immediately I glimpsed a little ‘g’ in a circle. “Gratitude begins with a G” I thought. Perfect!

Stacey Robyn
Go Gratitude

Blessings of Peace

I am at the center of peace

The outer world touches me not.

I am in charge of my own being.

I guard my inner world, for it is there that I create.

I do whatever I need to do to keep my inner world peaceful.

My inner peace is essential for my health and well being.

I go within and find that space where all is quiet and serene.

I may see it as a peaceful, deep, quiet pool surrounded by green grass and tall, silent trees.

I may feel it as white, billowy clouds upon which to lay and be caressed.

I may hear it as flowing, delightful music soothing my senses. However I choose to experience my inner space, I find peace.

At this center of peace I am.

I am the pureness and stillness of the center of my creative process. In peace I create.

In peace I live and move and experience life.

Because I keep myself centered in inner peace, I have peace in my outer world.

Though others may have discord and chaos, it touches me not for I declare peace for myself.

Though there may be madness all around me, I am calm and peaceful. The Universe is one of great order and peacefulness, and I reflect this in my every moment of life.

The stars and the planets do not need to be worried or fearful in order to maintain their heavenly orbits.

Nor does chaotic thinking contribute to my peaceful existence in life.

I choose to express peacefulness, for I am peace.

And so it is.

‘Heart Thoughts’ Louise Hay.

Click here to find out more about Christine Grace Magnussen and the beautiful harp music accompanying 'Blessings of Peace'.

Love

Learning To Love Better

All things are moving toward that which you are moving toward

Whenever the hustle-bustle of life starts to weigh heavily upon you, and your mind seems to run around in never ending circles, one of the quickest ways to rebalance yourself is to make a connection with the Earth. Go out and get your bare feet on the lawn or in the sand at the beach. Just as your TV reception will clear up when you run a wire from the antenna to the ground, so shall your thoughts and feelings smooth out when you connect with Mother Earth. It's one of the easiest ways for you to love yourself.

In fact, there are many ways of learning to love, not only yourself, but those around you, as well. Another is to plant and grow some food of your own. Most people don't realize it, but something very special happens when we nurture and consume food that we have grown for ourselves. Not only does the life force in it transfer to us when we eat it, the love that we put into caring for it has a magical way of returning to us from Mother Earth herself. Indeed, she befriends all those who care for the least of her creatures.

And it doesn't matter whether it's an acre of organic gardens you're growing or a single kumquat tree or tomato plant you keep on the patio. It can even be a batch of sprouts (for those who want the quickest results) that live on your kitchen windowsill. Regardless of what you plant, you will have shortened the gap between you and your food supply by being just that much less reliant on someone else to provide you with your food. It is a subtle shift, but one that raises your Spirit the minute you cover the little seeds over with soil and water them.

Back on the farm, BJ used to say that if we wanted to learn to love better, it would be a good idea for us to start out with plants. Plants are the easiest, he said, because they stay in one place and hold still when we're working with them. They also have a way of reflecting the love we give them back at us right away by perking up when we water them, and greening up quickly when we fertilize. And, they won't hurt us if we accidentally harm them (unless, of course, we get too close to the ones with thorns!)

After we get the hang of taking care of plants, and they are thriving happily under our supervision, we can go on to animals. Animals, he said, are a little trickier to love because they move around. Unlike plants, it's more difficult to get them to do things they don't want to do. Oh yeah, and they also make their share of noises and messes that will sometimes surprise us.

Then, after we get pretty good at taking care of plants and animals, we can move on to learning how to love people better. According to BJ, people are much harder to love because not only do they move around and make messes, but they'll talk back, change their minds, be unloving in return, and do all sorts of things that will challenge our patience. They'll even bring out the worst in us (often by unknowingly providing the adversity we need the most), and sometimes, he said, it can take years before we see the results of our love.

Conversely, he also stated that they can bring out the best in us. This usually happens when we've matured enough ourselves to the point where we are able to set aside all of our personal reactions to their adversities, noises, messes, and so forth, and see into the core of who they really are. That's when we really learn to love. And ironically, that's also when our love comes back to us.

My intention for today is:

I Intend that I am deliberately learning to love, that life is my teacher, and my everyday experiences are the perfect lessons I need to move forward.



Quoted from The Intenders of the Highest Good - The Bridge. I love these daily messages - they often seem to synchronistically arrive at the perfect time. You can register for daily Intenders Bridge messages in your inbox by clicking
http://www.intenders.org/home.cfm

Oneness

By your thought shall you be fulfilled

Excerpt from The Reunion ~ A Parable for Peace

Tony Burroughs

One of the most common questions we get has to do with people having a difficult time marrying what's going on in their mind and what's going on outside of them. They tell us that they just can't seem to hold a vision of their Intention having already manifested, when the evidence in their outside world doesn't support that line of thinking. In answering these questions I'm reminded of one of my favorite characters in my latest novel, The Reunion: A Parable for Peace, namely Chief Seattle. To me, Chief Seattle embodies the attitude of staying positive regardless of his external situation better than anyone. Indeed, he knows how to hold his attention on the end result as if it is already done and manifested. I share his eloquent message with you now.

"My brother, I tell you true. If all who see the Earth as being poisoned would, instead, give more attention to seeing the Earth clean and vibrant, then, very soon, your Earth would be cleansed.

If all who see their nation's leaders as misguided or uncaring would, instead, give more time to seeing themselves being represented by responsible, caring leaders who stand firm for the highest good of all, then, very soon, you would have good leadership.

If all who see their spouses or family members as troublesome or unloving would, instead, give more thought to seeing their loved ones as the shining children of God that they are, then, very soon, all challenged relationships would be renewed and love rekindled.

If all who see themselves as sick or poor or weak of heart or undeserving would, instead, give more energy to seeing themselves as healthy, abundant, empowered, worthy, and lifted up, then, very soon, they would experience all of the good things that life has to offer.

If all who see themselves as a physical body and no more would, instead, give more thought to seeing themselves as an ever-brightening star that resides inside the body, then, very soon, everyone in your world would be shining their lights--just as all of the Elders who have walked your Earth have done. You would be living in peace, harmony, and comfort in a culture that you have created consciously, a culture which, by your divine right of birth, you deserve to enjoy.

Each challenge is there to guide you toward the desire of your heart

Each problem, seen from the positive side, always turns into a blessing

Each sorrow leads you to your joy

Each doubt--to your knowing

Each lack--to your abundance

Each debt--to your freedom

Each feeling of hopelessness--to your power

Each cry of pain--to your comfort

Each act of war--to your peace

Each act of anger--to your love

And each journey through darkness--into the light."

The Gentle Art of Blessing

The Gentle Art of Blessing

On awakening, bless this day, for it is already full of unseen good which your blessings will call forth; for to bless is to acknowledge the unlimited good that is embedded in the very texture of the universe and awaiting each and all.

On passing people in the street, on the bus, in places of work and play, bless them. The peace of your blessing will accompany them on their way and the aura of its gentle fragrance will be a light to their path.

On meeting and talking to people, bless them in their health, their work, their joy, their relationships to God, themselves, and others. Bless them in their abundance, their finances...bless them in every conceivable way, for such blessings not only sow seeds of healing but one day will spring forth as flowers of joy in the waste places of your own life.

As you walk, bless the city in which you live, its government and teachers, its nurses and street sweepers, its children and bankers, its priests and prostitutes. The minute anyone expresses the least aggression or unkindness to you, respond with a blessing: bless themtotally, sincerely, joyfully, for such blessings are a shield which protects them from the ignorance of their misdeed, and deflects the arrow that was aimed at you.

To bless means to wish, unconditionally, total, unrestricted good for others and events from the deepest wellspring in the innermost chamber of your heart: it means to hallow, to hold in reverence, to behold with utter awe that which is always a gift from the Creator. He who is hallowed by your blessing is set aside, consecrated, holy, whole. To bless is to invoke divine care upon, to think or speak gratefully for, to confer happiness upon - although we ourselves are never the bestower, but simply the joyful witnesses of Life's abundance.

To bless all without discrimination of any sort is the ultimate form of giving, because those you bless will never know from whence came the sudden ray of sun that burst through the clouds of their skies, and you will rarely be a witness to the sunlight in their lives.

When something goes completely askew in your day, some unexpected event knocks down your plans and you too also, burst into blessing: for life is teaching you a lesson, and the very event you believe to be unwanted, you yourself called forth, so as to learn the lesson you might balk against were you not to bless it. Trials are blessings in disguise, and hosts of angels follow in their path.

To bless is to acknowledge the omnipresent, universal beauty hidden to material eyes; it is to activate that law of attraction which, from the furthest reaches of the universe, will bring into your life exactly what you need to experience and enjoy.

When you pass a prison, mentally bless its inmates in their innocence and freedom, their gentleness, pure essence and unconditional forgiveness; for one can only be prisoner of one's self-image, and a free man can walk unshackled in the courtyard of a jail, just as citizens of countries where freedom reigns can be prisoners when fear lurks in their thoughts.

When you pass a hospital, bless its patients in their present wholeness, for even in their suffering, this wholeness awaits in them to be discovered. When your eyes behold a man in tears, or seemingly broken by life, bless him in his vitality and joy: for the material senses present but the inverted image of the ultimate splendor and perfection which only the inner eye beholds.

It is impossible to bless and to judge at the same time. So hold constantly as a deep, hallowed, intoned thought that desire to bless, for truly then shall you become a peacemaker, and one day you shall, everywhere, behold the very face of God.

And of course, above all, don’t forget to bless the utterly beautiful person YOU are!

Pierre Pradervand

Points to Ponder

"As you elevate in consciousness,
it will serve you to know what pleases your spirit.
Seek only to fulfil your spirit and you will know Joy.
Learn to live your life as a pleasurable experience
not a serious task."

Abraham via Maureen Moss – World Puja

Water

I would like to discuss the method of our prayer for world peace. It is after all, as I expressed in the Preface, to “pray to yourself.” Let me explain why I propose this.

1) There is a principle that nothing can continue vibrating all by itself. For example, when you spin a top, at the beginning it spins vigorously, but soon it looses its force and stops spinning. All kinds of engines or motors, including car engines, cannot continue running without fuel or electricity. In the same way, no life can live without water, because "water is like a truck to deliver the energy that is called vibrations;" when the means of energy supply is lost, no life form can live. The 60 trillion cells of our body are the same way, and send a signal when their vibrations are becoming weak. It is expressed as the feeling of "hunger" and therefore we take food then. Each cell has a different role so has a different vibration frequency. When the vibrations become weak, it requires the support of food with the same vibration frequency to create a resonance phenomenon and activate the vibrations of the cell again. Bad food, however, in other words, the food that does not have a required frequency level, disturbs the vitality of cells instead. It is the same as when we are with someone all the time with whom we do not get along; we get stressed and lose vitality. Wishing for world peace, wishing on behalf of someone other than yourself means "sending good vibrations to other people," so you yourself need to be always vibrating in good health. For that reason, we ourselves need to be healthy and happy. This is the basis of everything, the beginning of it all.

2) I believe only when you like yourself, feel grateful to your existence itself, and when you respect yourself, only then are you able to have the same feelings toward other people. After all, the "existence" and the "phenomenon" cannot exist without energy and cannot rise as a phenomenon. That is, "energy is vibrations."

3) As proved in the experiment at a lake in Carapicuiba in Chapter 4 (page 107), when the group of less than twenty sent the "vibrations of love and thanks prayer" to the small amount of water taken from the lake, the vibrations were spread all over the lake.

Water, we love you.Water, we thank you.Water, we respect you.

The "vibrations of pure prayer" to the small amount of water are capable of conveying the same vibrations to the surrounding water. Indeed, we should not forget that we ourselves are "water." When we shine and keep sending out good vibrations, they reach the people and the "water" around us and eventually they spread like ripples all over the world. When I was a child I used to see that a great deal of floatsam and jetsam from distant countries had reached the shores of Tokyo Bay.

4) I have been studying why people get sick, from the point of view of HADO, for about fifteen years. It is clear that sickness is primarily caused by the distortions of vibrations at the level of elementary particles. If we assume the Earth or the entire global human race is a person, each one of us is then an elementary particle. The distortions of each of us will grow to become the sickness of the entire Earth or the whole human race. Indeed, "Man is a microcosm." On the contrary, if we as elementary particles are strong and happy, this Earth and all the people on it will become healthy and happy. This is the reason why I propose to "wish and pray to first love yourself, be grateful to yourself, and respect yourself." We should ourselves shine and have strong vibrations, and then give our vigorous spirit to others. I think that is true love. Do you think you understand what my idea is? To those who would accept this idea, or those who think that this sounds good even if they don’t fully understand it, let us pray for ourselves from today with the following procedure, I am sure something will change in yourself.

Prayer to pray for yourself

1* Time ~ Place: Anytime, anywhere. When you wake up, when you go to bed, in bed. When you are taking a walk. Before taking a meal. Anytime, anywhere when you are alone spending a quiet time is OK.

2* Feelings ~ Image: With feelings of thanks to the water which convey your feelings. Picture all the people in the world holding hands with one another in harmony, and our water planet, the Earth, and the water of our bodies.

3* Phrases ~ Let us say to ourselves:
(Your name) I love you(Your name) I thank you(your name) I respect you
After this, it is also good to say the name of a person who you are concerned about or who is on a different wavelength.

4* How ~ With your eyes closed and your hands put together: If it is difficult to say aloud, say it in your heart first. Then when you get used to it. It is very easy, isn’t it? Each prayer lasts only thirty seconds. Of course it’s no problem if you want to take a little longer. When you start praying for yourself, something will definitely change in yourself. And when more and more of your fellow men change in the same way, your surroundings will change, society will change, the country will change and the world will change, all in a good direction, of course …

Masaru Emoto

Small is Beautiful