LOVE LITTLE PRINCE STYLE

 

I am grateful for understanding Antoine de Saint-Exupéry’s advice

Which I offer to you with my affection:

“Love does not consist of gazing at each other

but in looking outward together in the same direction.

LOVE AND OUR SOUL

May we all be blessed 

to know the kind of love Zora Neal Hurston wrote about….

even if only a trace….

The kind of love that makes your soul

crawl out of it’s hiding place. 

CIRCLES OF LOVE

 

 As I watched the waves gently glide onto shore the other day

having rippled out from some unseen sailboat’s wake

I was reminded as a child how I loved to watch the circles form

once I tossed a stone into the middle of a lake.

I was mesmerized how out of one stone’s wake 

perfect concentric circles would flow…

how each repeated circle began life small..

and how large each one would grow.

I loved watching those circles spread out across the lake…

in a silent rhythmic beat

until they found their way to shore…and rested at my feet.

Sometimes I would count the seconds…timing how long it would take

for a circle, once it began it’s journey…to find it’s way across the lake.

Now…as I remembered a time when the world seemed more innocent and calm…

I wondered…when did the stones we once so innocently tossed 

turn into bullets and missiles and bombs.

And how is it our politicians….our lawmakers…our leaders…

after all these years still don’t understand….still do not know

the damage every bullet…every missile and every bomb will do…

and how far the circles of hatred they create will go.

How each bullet, missile and bomb they toss..

destroying buildings and killing people on their streets

will eventually have the ripple effect…and land back at their feet.

So while governments continue to toss their bullets, 

their missiles 

their bombs…

unaware, or worse, unconcerned with their ever-widening circles of hate…

I prefer to toss stones of love into my lake…stand on the shore

and see what kind of world those circles of love create.

DAILY GRATITUDE UNDERSTANDING ABOUT CHILDREN

 

I am grateful for understanding :

When a world of pain and sadness is all that I can see

I need only look to the innocence of our children

to restore my faith in humanity…

And grateful for remembering…

All children are accepting and generous and loving

all begin life with kindness in their eyes.

They know nothing of hatred, 

hostility 

and prejudice

until we teach them otherwise.

OUR CHILDREN

 

May we blessed to remember…

It’s up to us introduce our children to love and family

to nature…to the the wonder of imagination…and books

And help them to discover magic…everywhere they look…

But when we introduce them to hatred, war and prejudice,

destroy their families…their  homes…their nature…ban their books

when we make survival the only purpose of their day…

What are they to do…

when we’ve taken all the magic away?

MY BABY

 

I love to watch a parent smile…love to vicariously feel their joy

when they point to the tiny newborn they created

and proudly say…That’s my baby boy. 

Likewise…I love to watch a parent smile…

as if they’ve just uncovered a priceless pearl

and love to hear them proudly say…That’s my baby girl.

And no matter how old their child grows…

I love to be there to absorb their joy…

when they look at their grown child and say

He’ll always be my baby girl

She’ll always be my baby boy.

Even if they’re from different countries

speaking different languages…using different names….

when any parent talks about their baby…

the joy we feel is the same.

For no matter when or where or how

their lives together may unfurl…

they will always be their baby boy…

always be their baby girl.

I love when a parent smiles and says

when their child realizes they are L G B T or Q

I love you…whoever you know you are

and you’re still my baby too.

There is so much that is wrong with the world today…

so many things that needs to be saved…

so many behaviors and beliefs that need to be reversed…

I wonder if the best place to begin to turn this all around…

Is to remember the love all parents have for their children…

and make a pledge…

to save our babies first.

DAILY GRATITUDE KIND PEOPLE

 

I am grateful for all the kind people 

who have touched my life…

who’ve helped to change the way I see…

who have played a part in creating

the person I’ve come to be.

THE FINGERPRINTS WE LEAVE BEHIND

 

Before we touch another person’s life

A question to keep in mind…

Is it fingerprints of kindness

of fingerprints of cruelty

We want to leave behind.

ONE LIFE

 

In that moment before we're about to touch another life

when deciding whether to be cruel… or kind

here a little something we need to keep in mind…

 

Think of all we both will gain 

when it’s kindness we are choosing

Or…

when it comes to selecting cruelty,

think of all we’ll both be losing.

If there is one lesson our life experience has taught

when we think we’re only touching one life…

there’s a good chance…we are not…

Because when we touch one life…we never really know

how far the ripples of our kindness 

or our cruelty will go…

So, in that moment before we’re about to touch another life

whether it is kindness or cruelty we clutch

may we take that moment and think of all the other lives

our kindness or our cruelty may touch.

DAILHY GRATITUDE THE COURAGE TO BE KIND

 

When I look out on the world…

in the midst of all the malice, 

enmity and sorrow that we find…

I am grateful to those

who despite the most difficult conditions

continue to have

the courage to be kind.

RADIATE KINDNESS

 

May you choose kindness when interacting with another person…

today

tomorrow

And may that kindness from your hands…

Ripple out across the universe

And radiate across the land.

A FEW SENTENCES WOULD SUFFICE

 

I admit…I haven’t read many of the religious writings out there

but I’ve read a few…and I imagine all their authors were hoping to make a case

by transcribing words and teachings to help make this world a better place.

However…When I look out on our world and see all the damage done 

in the name of what is written in religious texts…

When I see pain, suffering, hatred, wars and killing

in the name of a religion…I am bewildered and perplexed.

It seems to me…many of their original teachings…doctrines

and canons by ‘believers’ have been amended…

allowing them to do cruel and heinous things

in ways the authors never intended.

When one looks at the many pages of religious writings out there…

I imagine their creators…should have been a little more precise….

knowing if they had to do it over again…a few sentences would suffice:

Empathy and love is the basis of all religions

It is what can truly make us great….

When we love our neighbor as we love ourselves

there is no room for hate.

I suppose they could have added:

Live a life of love, compassion and kindness…treat everyone the same

so when you’re gone…people will smile whenever they say your name

As I say…I haven’t read many religious writings….

but I imagine what would bring a smile to any of their creator’s face

is knowing everyone who truly heeds their words…

no matter what language they are written in…

will leave this world a better place.