This is so great! The art of illusion, imagination and "what were they thinking"! A video to get your work week started off right: laughing!
31 August 2009
30 August 2009
4 Videos: Funny Speakers at Kennedys Irish Wake
From Denny: The highlight of dreary funerals is when people get to tell the funny stories about you and Kennedy was no exception. In fact he wanted people to tell their opinions and observations about him if only to prove just how human he really was in life. Kennedy's life was an exercise in trials, sorrows, screw-ups and redemption. He was an inspiration to many of us who think our screw-ups are beyond redemption and our sorrows too great to heal. Listen to several relatives and, most of all, even his Republican friends talk about their relationships with the beloved, and often annoying, Ted Kennedy. He was fun to the end.
Caroline Kennedy whom he fathered after the assassination of her father President John F. Kennedy:
Close friend Vice President Joe Biden whom Ted mentored in the Senate when Biden was very young and "very green" when it came to real world politics - and suggested as Vice President for Obama:
Former Senator John Culver, D-Iowa, a best friend from college who played football with Ted, brought the house down with his recounting of a harrowing sailing experience with Ted:
Senator Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, a close friend of Ted's for over 30 years in the Senate and the two were like oil and water, never mixing well, yet a real love fest that lasted in spite of political differences:
Caroline Kennedy whom he fathered after the assassination of her father President John F. Kennedy:
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Close friend Vice President Joe Biden whom Ted mentored in the Senate when Biden was very young and "very green" when it came to real world politics - and suggested as Vice President for Obama:
Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy
Former Senator John Culver, D-Iowa, a best friend from college who played football with Ted, brought the house down with his recounting of a harrowing sailing experience with Ted:
Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy
Senator Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, a close friend of Ted's for over 30 years in the Senate and the two were like oil and water, never mixing well, yet a real love fest that lasted in spite of political differences:
Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy
4 Videos: More Funny Speakers at Kennedys Wake
Senator John Kerry, the junior senator from Massachusetts, recalls Kennedy's booming personality that was like a force of nature. He also recounts how Kennedy never left his side during the 2004 presidential campaign.
Senator John McCain, R-Arizona, recounts his funny and downright annoying experiences with Kennedy. He also declared just how much he loved Ted and how much he misses him already. McCain was so overcome with emotion that after his speech he abruptly left the stage with welling tears in his eyes. Truly that was a close relationship in spite of political wrangling.
Governor Deval L. Patrick, Massachusets, recalls his time with Kennedy and his impressions of him:
Senator Chris Dodd, D-Connecticut, recalls how Kennedy, who was more ill than Dodd, called Dodd to see how he was doing. That really touched Dodd's heart. They, too, were life long friends.
Joseph P. Kennedy II, talks about his favorite uncle who helped father him and his siblings after his father, Robert, was also assassinated on the presidential trail in 1968. You really have to ask yourself "What is wrong with the Republicans who are willing to kill politicians in this great country called America? Who are these people who are so willing to kill a fellow American?":
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Senator John McCain, R-Arizona, recounts his funny and downright annoying experiences with Kennedy. He also declared just how much he loved Ted and how much he misses him already. McCain was so overcome with emotion that after his speech he abruptly left the stage with welling tears in his eyes. Truly that was a close relationship in spite of political wrangling.
Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy
Governor Deval L. Patrick, Massachusets, recalls his time with Kennedy and his impressions of him:
Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy
Senator Chris Dodd, D-Connecticut, recalls how Kennedy, who was more ill than Dodd, called Dodd to see how he was doing. That really touched Dodd's heart. They, too, were life long friends.
Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy
Joseph P. Kennedy II, talks about his favorite uncle who helped father him and his siblings after his father, Robert, was also assassinated on the presidential trail in 1968. You really have to ask yourself "What is wrong with the Republicans who are willing to kill politicians in this great country called America? Who are these people who are so willing to kill a fellow American?":
Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy
29 August 2009
President Obama's Eulogy of Friend Senator Ted Kennedy
From Denny: This was one incredibly beautiful funeral today - all three hours of it. President Obama was last in line to speak and what a wonderful speech it was. Here's the text in its entirety in case you missed it or only caught a few quotes of what the President had to say about his friend today at Our Lady of Perpetual Help Basilica Catholic Church in Roxbury, Massachusetts.
Photo by Brian Snyder/Reuters
President Obama:
Your Eminence, Vicki, Kara, Edward, Patrick, Curran, Caroline, members of the Kennedy family, distinguished guests, and fellow citizens:
Today we say goodbye to the youngest child of Rose and Joseph Kennedy. The world will long remember their son Edward as the heir to a weighty legacy; a champion for those who had none; the soul of the Democratic Party; and the lion of the United States Senate — a man who graces nearly 1,000 laws, and who penned more than 300 laws himself.
But those of us who loved him, and ache with his passing, know Ted Kennedy by the other titles he held: Father. Brother. Husband. Grandfather. Uncle Teddy, or as he was often known to his younger nieces and nephews, "The Grand Fromage," or "The Big Cheese." I, like so many others in the city where he worked for nearly half a century, knew him as a colleague, a mentor, and above all, as a friend.
Ted Kennedy was the baby of the family who became its patriarch; the restless dreamer who became its rock. He was the sunny, joyful child who bore the brunt of his brothers' teasing, but learned quickly how to brush it off. When they tossed him off a boat because he didn't know what a jib was, six-year-old Teddy got back in and learned to sail. When a photographer asked the newly elected Bobby to step back at a press conference because he was casting a shadow on his younger brother, Teddy quipped, "It'll be the same in Washington."
That spirit of resilience and good humor would see Teddy through more pain and tragedy than most of us will ever know. He lost two siblings by the age of 16. He saw two more taken violently from a country that loved them. He said goodbye to his beloved sister, Eunice, in the final days of his life. He narrowly survived a plane crash, watched two children struggle with cancer, buried three nephews, and experienced personal failings and setbacks in the most public way possible.
It's a string of events that would have broken a lesser man. And it would have been easy for Ted to let himself become bitter and hardened; to surrender to self-pity and regret; to retreat from public life and live out his years in peaceful quiet. No one would have blamed him for that.
But that was not Ted Kennedy. As he told us, ".[I]ndividual faults and frailties are no excuse to give in — and no exemption from the common obligation to give of ourselves." Indeed, Ted was the "Happy Warrior" that the poet Wordsworth spoke of when he wrote:
As tempted more; more able to endure,
As more exposed to suffering and distress;
Thence, also, more alive to tenderness.
Through his own suffering, Ted Kennedy became more alive to the plight and the suffering of others — the sick child who could not see a doctor; the young soldier denied her rights because of what she looks like or who she loves or where she comes from. The landmark laws that he championed — the Civil Rights Act, the Americans with Disabilities Act, immigration reform, children's health insurance, the Family and Medical Leave Act — all have a running thread. Ted Kennedy's life work was not to champion the causes of those with wealth or power or special connections. It was to give a voice to those who were not heard; to add a rung to the ladder of opportunity; to make real the dream of our founding. He was given the gift of time that his brothers were not, and he used that gift to touch as many lives and right as many wrongs as the years would allow.
We can still hear his voice bellowing through the Senate chamber, face reddened, fist pounding the podium, a veritable force of nature, in support of health care or workers' rights or civil rights. And yet, as has been noted, while his causes became deeply personal, his disagreements never did. While he was seen by his fiercest critics as a partisan lightning rod, that's not the prism through which Ted Kennedy saw the world, nor was it the prism through which his colleagues saw Ted Kennedy. He was a product of an age when the joy and nobility of politics prevented differences of party and platform and philosophy from becoming barriers to cooperation and mutual respect — a time when adversaries still saw each other as patriots.
And that's how Ted Kennedy became the greatest legislator of our time. He did it by hewing to principle, yes, but also by seeking compromise and common cause — not through deal-making and horse-trading alone, but through friendship, and kindness, and humor. There was the time he courted Orrin Hatch for support of the Children's Health Insurance Program by having his chief of staff serenade the senator with a song Orrin had written himself; the time he delivered shamrock cookies on a china plate to sweeten up a crusty Republican colleague; the famous story of how he won the support of a Texas committee chairman on an immigration bill. Teddy walked into a meeting with a plain manila envelope, and showed only the chairman that it was filled with the Texan's favorite cigars. When the negotiations were going well, he would inch the envelope closer to the chairman. When they weren't, he'd pull it back. Before long, the deal was done.
It was only a few years ago, on St. Patrick's Day, when Teddy buttonholed me on the floor of the Senate for my support of a certain piece of legislation that was coming up for vote. I gave my pledge, but I expressed skepticism that it would pass. But when the roll call was over, the bill garnered the votes that it needed, and then some. I looked at Teddy with astonishment and asked how had he done it. He just patted me on the back and said, "Luck of the Irish."
Of course, luck had little to do with Ted Kennedy's legislative success; he knew that. A few years ago, his father-in-law told him that he and Daniel Webster just might be the two greatest senators of all time. Without missing a beat, Teddy replied, "What did Webster do?"
But though it is Teddy's historic body of achievements that we will remember, it is his giving heart that we will miss. It was the friend and the colleague who was always the first to pick up the phone and say, "I'm sorry for your loss," or "I hope you feel better," or "What can I do to help?" It was the boss so adored by his staff that over 500, spanning five decades, showed up for his 75th birthday party. It was the man who sent birthday wishes and thank-you notes and even his own paintings to so many who never imagined that a U.S. senator of such stature would take the time to think about somebody like them. I have one of those paintings in my private study off the Oval Office — a Cape Cod seascape that was a gift to a freshman legislator who had just arrived in Washington and happened to admire it when Ted Kennedy welcomed him into his office. That, by the way, is my second gift from Teddy and Vicki after our dog Bo. And it seems like everyone has one of those stories — the ones that often start with "You wouldn't believe who called me today."
Ted Kennedy was the father who looked not only after his own three children, but John's and Bobby's as well. He took them camping and taught them to sail. He laughed and danced with them at birthdays and weddings; cried and mourned with them through hardship and tragedy; and passed on that same sense of service and selflessness that his parents had instilled in him. Shortly after Ted walked Caroline down the aisle and gave her away at the altar, he received a note from Jackie that read, "On you the carefree youngest brother fell a burden a hero would have begged to been spared. We are all going to make it because you were always there with your love."
Not only did the Kennedy family make it because of Ted's love — he made it because of theirs, especially because the love and the life he found in Vicki. After so much loss and so much sorrow, it could not have been easy for Ted to risk his heart again. And that he did is a testament to how deeply he loved this remarkable woman from Louisiana. And she didn't just love him back. As Ted would often acknowledge, Vicki saved him. She gave him strength and purpose; joy and friendship; and stood by him always, especially in those last, hardest days.
We cannot know for certain how long we have here. We cannot foresee the trials or misfortunes that will test us along the way. We cannot know what God's plan is for us.
What we can do is to live out our lives as best we can with purpose, and with love, and with joy. We can use each day to show those who are closest to us how much we care about them, and treat others with the kindness and respect that we wish for ourselves. We can learn from our mistakes and grow from our failures. And we can strive at all costs to make a better world, so that someday, if we are blessed with the chance to look back on our time here, we know that we spent it well; that we made a difference; that our fleeting presence had a lasting impact on the lives of others.
This is how Ted Kennedy lived. This is his legacy. He once said, as has already been mentioned, of his brother Bobby that he need not be idealized or enlarged in death because what he was in life — and I imagine he would say the same about himself. The greatest expectations were placed upon Ted Kennedy's shoulders because of who he was, but he surpassed them all because of who he became. We do not weep for him today because of the prestige attached to his name or his office. We weep because we loved this kind and tender hero who persevered through pain and tragedy — not for the sake of ambition or vanity; not for wealth or power; but only for the people and the country that he loved.
In the days after September 11th, Teddy made it a point to personally call each one of the 177 families of this state who lost a loved one in the attack. But he didn't stop there. He kept calling and checking up on them. He fought through red tape to get them assistance and grief counseling. He invited them sailing, played with their children, and would write each family a letter whenever the anniversary of that terrible day came along. To one widow, he wrote the following:
"As you know so well, the passage of time never really heals the tragic memory of such a great loss, but we carry on, because we have to, because our loved ones would want us to, and because there is still light to guide us in the world from the love they gave us."
We carry on.
Ted Kennedy has gone home now, guided by his faith and by the light of those that he has loved and lost. At last he is with them once more, leaving those of us who grieve his passing with the memories he gave, the good that he did, the dream he kept alive, and a single, enduring image — the image of a man on a boat, white mane tousled, smiling broadly as he sails into the wind, ready for whatever storms may come, carrying on toward some new and wondrous place just beyond the horizon. May God bless Ted Kennedy, and may he rest in eternal peace.
Barack Obama, Senator Ted Kennedy, eulogy, Politics, America
Photo by Brian Snyder/Reuters
President Obama:
Your Eminence, Vicki, Kara, Edward, Patrick, Curran, Caroline, members of the Kennedy family, distinguished guests, and fellow citizens:
Today we say goodbye to the youngest child of Rose and Joseph Kennedy. The world will long remember their son Edward as the heir to a weighty legacy; a champion for those who had none; the soul of the Democratic Party; and the lion of the United States Senate — a man who graces nearly 1,000 laws, and who penned more than 300 laws himself.
But those of us who loved him, and ache with his passing, know Ted Kennedy by the other titles he held: Father. Brother. Husband. Grandfather. Uncle Teddy, or as he was often known to his younger nieces and nephews, "The Grand Fromage," or "The Big Cheese." I, like so many others in the city where he worked for nearly half a century, knew him as a colleague, a mentor, and above all, as a friend.
Ted Kennedy was the baby of the family who became its patriarch; the restless dreamer who became its rock. He was the sunny, joyful child who bore the brunt of his brothers' teasing, but learned quickly how to brush it off. When they tossed him off a boat because he didn't know what a jib was, six-year-old Teddy got back in and learned to sail. When a photographer asked the newly elected Bobby to step back at a press conference because he was casting a shadow on his younger brother, Teddy quipped, "It'll be the same in Washington."
That spirit of resilience and good humor would see Teddy through more pain and tragedy than most of us will ever know. He lost two siblings by the age of 16. He saw two more taken violently from a country that loved them. He said goodbye to his beloved sister, Eunice, in the final days of his life. He narrowly survived a plane crash, watched two children struggle with cancer, buried three nephews, and experienced personal failings and setbacks in the most public way possible.
It's a string of events that would have broken a lesser man. And it would have been easy for Ted to let himself become bitter and hardened; to surrender to self-pity and regret; to retreat from public life and live out his years in peaceful quiet. No one would have blamed him for that.
But that was not Ted Kennedy. As he told us, ".[I]ndividual faults and frailties are no excuse to give in — and no exemption from the common obligation to give of ourselves." Indeed, Ted was the "Happy Warrior" that the poet Wordsworth spoke of when he wrote:
As tempted more; more able to endure,
As more exposed to suffering and distress;
Thence, also, more alive to tenderness.
Through his own suffering, Ted Kennedy became more alive to the plight and the suffering of others — the sick child who could not see a doctor; the young soldier denied her rights because of what she looks like or who she loves or where she comes from. The landmark laws that he championed — the Civil Rights Act, the Americans with Disabilities Act, immigration reform, children's health insurance, the Family and Medical Leave Act — all have a running thread. Ted Kennedy's life work was not to champion the causes of those with wealth or power or special connections. It was to give a voice to those who were not heard; to add a rung to the ladder of opportunity; to make real the dream of our founding. He was given the gift of time that his brothers were not, and he used that gift to touch as many lives and right as many wrongs as the years would allow.
We can still hear his voice bellowing through the Senate chamber, face reddened, fist pounding the podium, a veritable force of nature, in support of health care or workers' rights or civil rights. And yet, as has been noted, while his causes became deeply personal, his disagreements never did. While he was seen by his fiercest critics as a partisan lightning rod, that's not the prism through which Ted Kennedy saw the world, nor was it the prism through which his colleagues saw Ted Kennedy. He was a product of an age when the joy and nobility of politics prevented differences of party and platform and philosophy from becoming barriers to cooperation and mutual respect — a time when adversaries still saw each other as patriots.
And that's how Ted Kennedy became the greatest legislator of our time. He did it by hewing to principle, yes, but also by seeking compromise and common cause — not through deal-making and horse-trading alone, but through friendship, and kindness, and humor. There was the time he courted Orrin Hatch for support of the Children's Health Insurance Program by having his chief of staff serenade the senator with a song Orrin had written himself; the time he delivered shamrock cookies on a china plate to sweeten up a crusty Republican colleague; the famous story of how he won the support of a Texas committee chairman on an immigration bill. Teddy walked into a meeting with a plain manila envelope, and showed only the chairman that it was filled with the Texan's favorite cigars. When the negotiations were going well, he would inch the envelope closer to the chairman. When they weren't, he'd pull it back. Before long, the deal was done.
It was only a few years ago, on St. Patrick's Day, when Teddy buttonholed me on the floor of the Senate for my support of a certain piece of legislation that was coming up for vote. I gave my pledge, but I expressed skepticism that it would pass. But when the roll call was over, the bill garnered the votes that it needed, and then some. I looked at Teddy with astonishment and asked how had he done it. He just patted me on the back and said, "Luck of the Irish."
Of course, luck had little to do with Ted Kennedy's legislative success; he knew that. A few years ago, his father-in-law told him that he and Daniel Webster just might be the two greatest senators of all time. Without missing a beat, Teddy replied, "What did Webster do?"
But though it is Teddy's historic body of achievements that we will remember, it is his giving heart that we will miss. It was the friend and the colleague who was always the first to pick up the phone and say, "I'm sorry for your loss," or "I hope you feel better," or "What can I do to help?" It was the boss so adored by his staff that over 500, spanning five decades, showed up for his 75th birthday party. It was the man who sent birthday wishes and thank-you notes and even his own paintings to so many who never imagined that a U.S. senator of such stature would take the time to think about somebody like them. I have one of those paintings in my private study off the Oval Office — a Cape Cod seascape that was a gift to a freshman legislator who had just arrived in Washington and happened to admire it when Ted Kennedy welcomed him into his office. That, by the way, is my second gift from Teddy and Vicki after our dog Bo. And it seems like everyone has one of those stories — the ones that often start with "You wouldn't believe who called me today."
Ted Kennedy was the father who looked not only after his own three children, but John's and Bobby's as well. He took them camping and taught them to sail. He laughed and danced with them at birthdays and weddings; cried and mourned with them through hardship and tragedy; and passed on that same sense of service and selflessness that his parents had instilled in him. Shortly after Ted walked Caroline down the aisle and gave her away at the altar, he received a note from Jackie that read, "On you the carefree youngest brother fell a burden a hero would have begged to been spared. We are all going to make it because you were always there with your love."
Not only did the Kennedy family make it because of Ted's love — he made it because of theirs, especially because the love and the life he found in Vicki. After so much loss and so much sorrow, it could not have been easy for Ted to risk his heart again. And that he did is a testament to how deeply he loved this remarkable woman from Louisiana. And she didn't just love him back. As Ted would often acknowledge, Vicki saved him. She gave him strength and purpose; joy and friendship; and stood by him always, especially in those last, hardest days.
We cannot know for certain how long we have here. We cannot foresee the trials or misfortunes that will test us along the way. We cannot know what God's plan is for us.
What we can do is to live out our lives as best we can with purpose, and with love, and with joy. We can use each day to show those who are closest to us how much we care about them, and treat others with the kindness and respect that we wish for ourselves. We can learn from our mistakes and grow from our failures. And we can strive at all costs to make a better world, so that someday, if we are blessed with the chance to look back on our time here, we know that we spent it well; that we made a difference; that our fleeting presence had a lasting impact on the lives of others.
This is how Ted Kennedy lived. This is his legacy. He once said, as has already been mentioned, of his brother Bobby that he need not be idealized or enlarged in death because what he was in life — and I imagine he would say the same about himself. The greatest expectations were placed upon Ted Kennedy's shoulders because of who he was, but he surpassed them all because of who he became. We do not weep for him today because of the prestige attached to his name or his office. We weep because we loved this kind and tender hero who persevered through pain and tragedy — not for the sake of ambition or vanity; not for wealth or power; but only for the people and the country that he loved.
In the days after September 11th, Teddy made it a point to personally call each one of the 177 families of this state who lost a loved one in the attack. But he didn't stop there. He kept calling and checking up on them. He fought through red tape to get them assistance and grief counseling. He invited them sailing, played with their children, and would write each family a letter whenever the anniversary of that terrible day came along. To one widow, he wrote the following:
"As you know so well, the passage of time never really heals the tragic memory of such a great loss, but we carry on, because we have to, because our loved ones would want us to, and because there is still light to guide us in the world from the love they gave us."
We carry on.
Ted Kennedy has gone home now, guided by his faith and by the light of those that he has loved and lost. At last he is with them once more, leaving those of us who grieve his passing with the memories he gave, the good that he did, the dream he kept alive, and a single, enduring image — the image of a man on a boat, white mane tousled, smiling broadly as he sails into the wind, ready for whatever storms may come, carrying on toward some new and wondrous place just beyond the horizon. May God bless Ted Kennedy, and may he rest in eternal peace.
Barack Obama, Senator Ted Kennedy, eulogy, Politics, America
28 August 2009
Poem: People Trees
This was the poem I wrote last week for my Friday poem over at The Social Poets blog and I've been meaning to get it up over here. The folks over at StumbleUpon came in by the hordes for these wonderful photos, enjoy!
Drink in the richness of the wonderful photos from the photographers over at flickr in creative commons. (I find them beautiful and emotionally soothing.) You are free to use their photos if you also give attribution and a link back to their flickr page.
I've been thinking about what poem to write all week, and, as usual, started on another idea which just didn't gel well or in time. That's what's good about setting deadlines for yourself as you get that rush of adrenaline going to get out the words. :) Anyway, was researching some wonderful photos and kept finding awesome trees and one thing led to another as I knew my eternal mind was tapping my everyday mind on the shoulder and saying, "Hey! What about this?"
Photos often do give me inspiration for writing as so many ideas start flowing. Take a trip on over to flickr yourself to get inspired. You can always view my 5,000+ favorites I've found while researching for articles as I keep them bookmarked "just in case."
*****
People Trees
Some of us ruggedly root ourselves mountain high to savor the views
Some of us enjoy beauty’s lingering mirrored perfection
Some of us feel forlorn in life’s landscape, until we see we are a duet
Some of us like to stand tall with a crowd, all in a perfect row
Some of us like to party with different people, the more the merrier
Some of us like to stand out in a crowd, fiercely plumped proud
Some of us see our own rippling beauty, reflected in the mirrors of others
Some of us rush to greet the exploding morning at first blush
Some of us sway and bend with life’s swirling storms yet remain
Some of us rush zig zagging through life and still look wildly beautiful
Some of us safely hold dear a child’s swing and his playful heart
Some of us are strong, sheltering lightly in the shadows
Some of us rise up from the water and tenaciously breathe through our knees*
Some of us suffer, enduring kindly a bit of indignity from time to time
Some of us absorb the strongest truth, filtering softly inner light
Some of us like to stroll unknown passageways and secret gardens
Some of us play hard to get, secretly happy to see company coming
Some of us like to wear jewelry, all decked out at least once a year
And some of us
dream big
just by looking up – lost in thought for hours.
Denny Lyon
Copyright 20 August 2009
All Rights Reserved
* Copyright is for the text of the poem only, copyright for the photos belong to the photographers.
Have a great weekend, everyone! Thanks for visiting!
*Cyprus trees have what are called "knees" - those bumps you see sticking out of the water near the roots which are underwater in the swamps. These knees are how the cyprus tree breathes the air!
*****
Photo Credits
Mountain Mist treeline photo by Lida Rose @ flickr
Rugged lone tree high on a mountain photo By Chris Gin @ flickr
Cherry blossomed tree reflecting photo By rachel_thecat @ flickr
Cherry trees blanketed by snow photo By lrargerich @ flickr
Cherry blossomed trees all in a row photo By VJ flicks @ flickr
Bluebells partying in a stand of trees photo By left-hand @ flickr
Red tree photo By code poet @ flickr
Trees reflected in the river photo by Denis Collette @ flickr
Sunrise in Corfu, Greece photo by Katarina 2353 @ flickr
Bent tree Bonsai Moon photo by h.koppdelaney @ flickr
Rolling hills and tree photo by Katarina 2353 @ flickr
Trees give support to the child’s swing photo by lepiaf.geo @ flickr
Sheltering tree photo in the shadows by Zest-pk @ flickr
Cypress tree at sunrise in the water photo by Bill Swindamon @ flickr
Suffer a bit of indignity tree photo by Scarleth White @ flickr
Filtering Illuminating light tree photo by *clairity* @ flickr
Strolling with the trees photo by Bjǿrn Giesenbauer @ flickr
Tree of Peace photo by h.koppdelaney @ flickr
Christmas tree photo by laffty4k @ flickr
Redwood trees in California photo by aigeanta @ flickr
Strong tree’s canopy photo By -= Bruce Berrien =- @ flickr
Black and white tree canopy photo by anonymous
Drink in the richness of the wonderful photos from the photographers over at flickr in creative commons. (I find them beautiful and emotionally soothing.) You are free to use their photos if you also give attribution and a link back to their flickr page.
I've been thinking about what poem to write all week, and, as usual, started on another idea which just didn't gel well or in time. That's what's good about setting deadlines for yourself as you get that rush of adrenaline going to get out the words. :) Anyway, was researching some wonderful photos and kept finding awesome trees and one thing led to another as I knew my eternal mind was tapping my everyday mind on the shoulder and saying, "Hey! What about this?"
Photos often do give me inspiration for writing as so many ideas start flowing. Take a trip on over to flickr yourself to get inspired. You can always view my 5,000+ favorites I've found while researching for articles as I keep them bookmarked "just in case."
*****
People Trees
Some of us ruggedly root ourselves mountain high to savor the views
Some of us enjoy beauty’s lingering mirrored perfection
Some of us feel forlorn in life’s landscape, until we see we are a duet
Some of us like to stand tall with a crowd, all in a perfect row
Some of us like to party with different people, the more the merrier
Some of us like to stand out in a crowd, fiercely plumped proud
Some of us see our own rippling beauty, reflected in the mirrors of others
Some of us rush to greet the exploding morning at first blush
Some of us sway and bend with life’s swirling storms yet remain
Some of us rush zig zagging through life and still look wildly beautiful
Some of us safely hold dear a child’s swing and his playful heart
Some of us are strong, sheltering lightly in the shadows
Some of us rise up from the water and tenaciously breathe through our knees*
Some of us suffer, enduring kindly a bit of indignity from time to time
Some of us absorb the strongest truth, filtering softly inner light
Some of us like to stroll unknown passageways and secret gardens
Some of us play hard to get, secretly happy to see company coming
Some of us like to wear jewelry, all decked out at least once a year
And some of us
dream big
just by looking up – lost in thought for hours.
Denny Lyon
Copyright 20 August 2009
All Rights Reserved
* Copyright is for the text of the poem only, copyright for the photos belong to the photographers.
Have a great weekend, everyone! Thanks for visiting!
*Cyprus trees have what are called "knees" - those bumps you see sticking out of the water near the roots which are underwater in the swamps. These knees are how the cyprus tree breathes the air!
*****
Photo Credits
Mountain Mist treeline photo by Lida Rose @ flickr
Rugged lone tree high on a mountain photo By Chris Gin @ flickr
Cherry blossomed tree reflecting photo By rachel_thecat @ flickr
Cherry trees blanketed by snow photo By lrargerich @ flickr
Cherry blossomed trees all in a row photo By VJ flicks @ flickr
Bluebells partying in a stand of trees photo By left-hand @ flickr
Red tree photo By code poet @ flickr
Trees reflected in the river photo by Denis Collette @ flickr
Sunrise in Corfu, Greece photo by Katarina 2353 @ flickr
Bent tree Bonsai Moon photo by h.koppdelaney @ flickr
Rolling hills and tree photo by Katarina 2353 @ flickr
Trees give support to the child’s swing photo by lepiaf.geo @ flickr
Sheltering tree photo in the shadows by Zest-pk @ flickr
Cypress tree at sunrise in the water photo by Bill Swindamon @ flickr
Suffer a bit of indignity tree photo by Scarleth White @ flickr
Filtering Illuminating light tree photo by *clairity* @ flickr
Strolling with the trees photo by Bjǿrn Giesenbauer @ flickr
Tree of Peace photo by h.koppdelaney @ flickr
Christmas tree photo by laffty4k @ flickr
Redwood trees in California photo by aigeanta @ flickr
Strong tree’s canopy photo By -= Bruce Berrien =- @ flickr
Black and white tree canopy photo by anonymous
27 August 2009
How Senator Ted Kennedy Affected Your Life in America
From Denny: Did you know that Ted Kennedy passed over 300 bills during his tenure in the Senate? He also co-authored another 550!
“Ted Kennedy changed the circumstances of tens of millions of Americans,” VP Biden.
How did he affect our lives today? How does that translate into your everyday life that this generation may take for granted was always there?
Here are just a few examples that make life easier for so many to live well:
Wheelchair ramps: wheelchair access in public places; those are thanks to Ted Kennedy.
Minimum wage: you earn more thanks to Kennedy
Children’s Health Insurance: he went to bat for the most vulnerable members of our society – children
Kennedy was the driving force behind COBRA - for people in need of health insurance when just fired from a job.
He developed personal relationships with people like a 6 year old child suffering from diabetes who could have benefited from stem cell research. He didn’t just use her in front of the cameras for politics. She first wrote him a letter asking for his help on pushing for stem cell research; he read that letter on the Senate floor. For years he privately corresponded with Lauren Stanford, thanking her for her help and encouraging her in her fight with juvenile diabetes. The public never knew about that.
Christi Coombs, September 11th widow: Kennedy wrote her every year on the anniversary of her husband’s death. She recognized he truly did know what loss she was feeling as he had experienced so much loss in his life. The public never knew about that either.
Ted Kennedy at the Democratic Convention in 2008 - Photo (Mike Segar / Reuters)
Senator Kennedy, kicks off the Democratic Party's national convention Aug. 25, 2008, his was a performance that galvanized the audience, producing a roaring frenzy. The crowd cheered, then wiped away tears for several minutes, then cheered again. They knew Ted was thhe last living Kennedy brother.
He smiled and declared loudly, "My fellow Americans, it is so wonderful to be here." He was alluding to news reports hinting his doctors were hesitant to allow him to travel to the Denver convention.
The Senator continued, "Nothing, nothing is going to keep me away from this special gathering tonight. I have come here tonight to stand with you, to change America, to restore its future, to rise to our best ideals and to elect Barack Obama President of the United States."
Take a look at his long list of accomplishments that affect our lives to the postive!
The Civil Rights Act of 1964
The Voting Rights Act of 1965
The Americans with Disabilities Act
The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act
The Family and Medical Leave Act
The Fair Housing Act
No Child Left Behind Act
AMBER Alert Notification Systems Funding
The Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act
The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act
The Meals on Wheels Act (elderly)
The Economic Opportunity Act
The Occupational Health and Safety Act
The National Community Health Center Program
The Elementary and Secondary Education Act
The Bilingual Education Act
The Older American Community Service Employment Act
The Low Income Heating Energy Assistance Program
Women, Infants and Children (WIC) Nutrition Program
Title IX of the Education Amendments (female athletes)
Individuals with Disabilities Education
Civil Rights Commission Act Amendments
Civil Rights for Institutionalized Persons Act
Comprehensive Crime Control Act
1985 Anti-Apartheid Act
Employment Opportunities for Disabled Americans Act
The Handicapped Children’s Protection Act
The Fair Housing Act Amendments
The National Military Child Care Act
The 1980 Refuge Act
The Job Training Partnership Act
The Civil Rights Act of 1991
Summer Jobs for Youth Program
The Mammography Quality Standards Act
The National and Community Service Trust Act (created AmeriCorps)
The School-to-Work Opportunities Act
Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program
Children’s Health Insurance Program
Work Incentives Improvement Act
The Minority Health and Disparities Research and Education Act
2002 Bioterrorism Preparedness Act
The Pediatric Graduate Medical Education Act
Enhanced Border Security and Visa Reform Act
The Project Bioshield Act
The Family Opportunity Act
The Ryan White Care Act (for AIDS patients)
The Higher Education Opportunity Act
The Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act
In honor of Ted Kennedy, President Obama signed a $5.7 billion national service bill April 21, 2009.
The bipartisan Edward M. Kennedy Serve America Act strives to open up new service opportunities for millions of Americans, tripling the size of the AmeriCorps service program over the next eight years.
"I'm asking you to stand up and play your part," said the president. Kennedy championed the legislation with Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah. Photo (SAUL LOEB/AFP/Getty Images)
Senator "Ted" Kennedy changed history in America. He fought against racism and sexism. He championed the poor for equal opportunities for jobs, homes and being able to go to college.
Too many middle class Republican families who foolishly denounce Ted Kennedy do so without full knowledge of how he has benefited their lives. They have been the direct beneficiaries of his humanity.
Among many fights for the middle class, it was Ted Kennedy who fought hard to provide college grant money to middle income families, not just the poor. This generation owes a lot of their successful lifestyle to his endeavors to make America a better country and a better society. Let not his humanity fall on deaf ears to the next generation...
Barack Obama, Senator Ted Kennedy, Democrats, diabetes, Politics, September 11th, America
26 August 2009
4 Videos: Remembering the Lion of the Senate Ted Kennedy
From Denny: It's an end of an era and the beginning of a new one with the passing of the torch from Senator Ted Kennedy to the next generation. The man certainly paved the way for the next generation of liberal social issue politicians who are as concerned for creating a better and more equal society for all.
The Kennedy legacy is well known worldwide as theirs was a wealthy family strongly involved in politics. They put their money - and their daily work - where their mouth was.
Kennedy's character stain upon his name and legacy came during his alcoholic years and crescendoed with the drowning of an aide in a car accident from which he fled. Much of the public figured he drank so heavily because of the not one, but two assassinations of his political brothers: one, President John Kennedy, killed in 1963, and two, Robert Kennedy was killed as he was running for President in 1968.
What exacerbated his alcoholism was a plane crash in the early sixties where he broke his back and was forever left with extreme pain and that "hunch and shuffle" kind of walk that became so distinctive. Back then there were not the pain relievers available today and many people chose to self-medicate through alcohol. Unfortunately, too much alcohol and eventually a person tips over into alcoholism as did Ted Kennedy.
To his credit, trying to sober up and do right again, that sad accident and tragic death of a young woman startled him into getting his act together. He went hard-charging into social reforms across the board. He led on education and health care reform right up until his death, fighting for better health care for twenty long years. Kennedy fought to shape America's political future for 50 years, leaving a longer-lasting legacy than both of his equally popular brothers combined. He was the brother of which the least was expected and he ended up doing the most for his country.
The lion-like Kennedy championed workers' rights, pushing to constantly raise the miserable minimum wage. He demanded civil rights and voting rights for African-Americans. Kennedy championed womens' rights and helped pushed the womens' movement into the public spotlight and into the heart of the Democratic Party. Lately, he was working on immigration reform in a more positive vein than the Republicans.
For decades his life was threatened by Republican supporters who constantly issued death threats if he ever dared to run for President. Even the military threatened to kill him if he did so. Such was the sixties and early seventies. To his credit, Kennedy ran anyway. He lost to unexpected dark horse Jimmy Carter who later became President Carter. Carter was doomed to become a one term president because he was outmaneuvered by Reagen. Behind his back while he was still President, it was candidate Reagen who traded guns for those American hostages in Iran. President Reagen created the Iranian Revolution and terrorist mess in Iran today from this foolish action. Reagen may have won the Presidency with his back-stabbing of a current sitting President but it's the next generation who had to deal with the consequences.
Senator Ted Kennedy's goodbye words were defiantly declared after that fateful loss to Carter and are appropriate all these years later as his epitaph: "The Work goes on, the Cause endures, the Hope still lives, and, the Dream never shall never die."
Kennedy was 77, passed away on Tuesday night from an extended illness with brain cancer. He will be greatly missed but his work was done. Now it is time for the next generation to lead. Thank you for your service, Ted, thank you, from a grateful nation...
President Obama bestows the Medal of Freedom upon Senator Ted Kennedy
Larry King interviews Kennedy about his life in the Senate back in 2006
Kennedy stood up for Obama when others were hesitant in the Democratic Party. Senator Edward Kennedy, the patriarch of the first family of Democratic politics, died at his home in Hyannis Port, Massachusetts.
alcoholism, President Jimmy Carter, civil rights, college education, health care reform, Senate, Senator Ted Kennedy, voting rights, womens rights, Robert Kennedy, President John F. Kennedy
The Kennedy legacy is well known worldwide as theirs was a wealthy family strongly involved in politics. They put their money - and their daily work - where their mouth was.
Kennedy's character stain upon his name and legacy came during his alcoholic years and crescendoed with the drowning of an aide in a car accident from which he fled. Much of the public figured he drank so heavily because of the not one, but two assassinations of his political brothers: one, President John Kennedy, killed in 1963, and two, Robert Kennedy was killed as he was running for President in 1968.
What exacerbated his alcoholism was a plane crash in the early sixties where he broke his back and was forever left with extreme pain and that "hunch and shuffle" kind of walk that became so distinctive. Back then there were not the pain relievers available today and many people chose to self-medicate through alcohol. Unfortunately, too much alcohol and eventually a person tips over into alcoholism as did Ted Kennedy.
To his credit, trying to sober up and do right again, that sad accident and tragic death of a young woman startled him into getting his act together. He went hard-charging into social reforms across the board. He led on education and health care reform right up until his death, fighting for better health care for twenty long years. Kennedy fought to shape America's political future for 50 years, leaving a longer-lasting legacy than both of his equally popular brothers combined. He was the brother of which the least was expected and he ended up doing the most for his country.
The lion-like Kennedy championed workers' rights, pushing to constantly raise the miserable minimum wage. He demanded civil rights and voting rights for African-Americans. Kennedy championed womens' rights and helped pushed the womens' movement into the public spotlight and into the heart of the Democratic Party. Lately, he was working on immigration reform in a more positive vein than the Republicans.
For decades his life was threatened by Republican supporters who constantly issued death threats if he ever dared to run for President. Even the military threatened to kill him if he did so. Such was the sixties and early seventies. To his credit, Kennedy ran anyway. He lost to unexpected dark horse Jimmy Carter who later became President Carter. Carter was doomed to become a one term president because he was outmaneuvered by Reagen. Behind his back while he was still President, it was candidate Reagen who traded guns for those American hostages in Iran. President Reagen created the Iranian Revolution and terrorist mess in Iran today from this foolish action. Reagen may have won the Presidency with his back-stabbing of a current sitting President but it's the next generation who had to deal with the consequences.
Senator Ted Kennedy's goodbye words were defiantly declared after that fateful loss to Carter and are appropriate all these years later as his epitaph: "The Work goes on, the Cause endures, the Hope still lives, and, the Dream never shall never die."
Kennedy was 77, passed away on Tuesday night from an extended illness with brain cancer. He will be greatly missed but his work was done. Now it is time for the next generation to lead. Thank you for your service, Ted, thank you, from a grateful nation...
President Obama bestows the Medal of Freedom upon Senator Ted Kennedy
Larry King interviews Kennedy about his life in the Senate back in 2006
Kennedy stood up for Obama when others were hesitant in the Democratic Party. Senator Edward Kennedy, the patriarch of the first family of Democratic politics, died at his home in Hyannis Port, Massachusetts.
alcoholism, President Jimmy Carter, civil rights, college education, health care reform, Senate, Senator Ted Kennedy, voting rights, womens rights, Robert Kennedy, President John F. Kennedy
25 August 2009
Funny Pets Photo: The Art of Hiding Well
From Denny: This funny photo showed up on Digg today so I'm passing it forward for the rest of the world to enjoy! This is truly the art of hiding well. Look closely...
Quote: "This demonstrates the value of not being seen." - British comedian John Cleese
odd photos, funny photos, Digg, animals, pets, humor, dogs, monkeys
21 August 2009
Just Some Poetry.
Just Some Poetry.
by akeejaho @ HubPages
From Denny: I found this as a wonderful poem expressing a husband's love for his wife. The husband suffers from bipolar depression so he deeply understands how profoundly his wife's love affects him positively and appreciates her. (What every woman wants to hear!)
As a writing exercise this is a delightful take on how to write love poetry from a completely different angle without the usual greeting card mushiness.
Here's the comment I left for the author: "I'm always up for an unconventional take on love poetry and this little gem of a poem takes the prize. Awesome how you contrast inner and outer light, talking on two levels simultaneously, delivered with utter directness and simplicity, well done!"
Photo by AmahRa58 @ flickr
20 August 2009
Added Hunger Site and Literacy Site Buttons
From Denny: Added those wonderful buttons for us to click on daily when we can to help feed hungry people throughout the world and fund free books for children. All by just clicking on these buttons, cool, isn't it?! :) We all can participate and please do when you think about it from time to time when reading a post. Thanks for visiting!
19 August 2009
Added Spiritual Self-Healing Article Links in the Sidebar
From Denny: For the past six months I've been writing various articles and poems about healing spiritually. As of today there are eight articles and poems listed. I'm a huge proponent of self-healing as while the journey is tough it's also a rewarding one. In these articles and poems I've placed some of my experiences and knowledge gained along the way of my own discovery. Many people have found the information and just another way to think about healing from yet another unconventional angle as useful, maybe you will too. Look at it this way: it's free. Look, no ebook for sale... :)
Here's what you will find so far in the sidebar. Will be adding to it as time goes along...
Healing: Universal Spiritual Principles That Work (part 1) - Spiritual principles can be used in a practical way in your everyday life to enhance it. Begins with the Indian proverb of how we live our lives in essentially four internal rooms. Discussion of cultivating a simple concept to regain and maintain our balance in life.
Healing: Keep Your Joy (part 2 of universal spiritual principles that work) - Explores internal clutter as what gets us off balance in life and a meditation and visualization exercise to clear that internal clutter to live a free and happier life!
What Really Makes Me So Smart (part 1) - How well do you know yourself on your deepest level? A war veteran I know suffering from PTSD often remarked how I knew myself so very well and marveled at it. I once suffered from PTSD and figured out how to heal myself over time without counseling or drug therapy. That's the secret to healing: know yourself well. More is talked about in this article, mostly centered upon how you perceive others and the action you take in relationships. Also, discussion of the spirit vs. the ego in getting to know yourself better.
Walk the Talk to Happiness - With the passing of Britain's last WWI veteran, Henry Allingham, the world was briefly focused upon his message of honoring others in our lives through the love of mentoring. Henry cultivated a path of happiness for over 100 years!
Push Abuse Out of Your Life and Out of Your Head - This article and poem is about the process of overcoming abuse to heal yourself. I was touched one day when I ran across a blog by an abused young woman who is also bipolar where she wrote about her inner struggle.
Poem: It Isnt In Me - A poem to help you define yourself by what you are not, take a look.
Writing Spiritual Poetry - With a spiritual poem about transformation in the hurricanes of life.
The Joy Makers: Feel the Love - This article is chock full of fun videos that will get you laughing so much you will fall off the chair and forget all about that bad day.
18 August 2009
Video: Team Hoyt as the Most Inspirational People on the Planet!
From Denny: Thanks to tweetmoola @ Twitter for bringing this fabulous video to my attention. If ever you needed something to make your day this video is it. This is love in action and just plants you firmly in the awe-inspired corner of your life.
Team Hoyt is a father and son team who run races together everywhere and have for decades. The son, Rick, has severe cerebral palsy and cannot speak except through a machine. His father carries, tows, pushes him in a wheelchair uphill for Iron Man Triathelons, road races and more. One word: unbelievable.
These races are tough enough just for yourself but to carry, tow or push an additional dead weight of 110 pounds is clearly a miracle of God given strength and endurance. Watch it all the way to the end to see the clips of the father's incredible feats of strength from someone who was never an athlete when he started doing this act of love for his son. Now that's inspirational! Pass this video forward to others to be inspired when they need it.
Team Hoyt is a father and son team who run races together everywhere and have for decades. The son, Rick, has severe cerebral palsy and cannot speak except through a machine. His father carries, tows, pushes him in a wheelchair uphill for Iron Man Triathelons, road races and more. One word: unbelievable.
These races are tough enough just for yourself but to carry, tow or push an additional dead weight of 110 pounds is clearly a miracle of God given strength and endurance. Watch it all the way to the end to see the clips of the father's incredible feats of strength from someone who was never an athlete when he started doing this act of love for his son. Now that's inspirational! Pass this video forward to others to be inspired when they need it.
17 August 2009
3 Videos: How Deep Sea Coral Can Help Us Heal
From Denny: Until recently the deep sea coral was too difficult for us to reach the ocean floor to explore the possibilities of harvesting for healing benefits. Now we are able to investigate and have discovered many healing properties on the ocean floor. One is the benefit to helping heal a stubborn and highly fatal cancer: pancreatic cancer. We had better get busy on this planet lessening our pollution so we don't kill off what may be our last natural resource for healing such difficult illnesses such as cancer.
We have already devastated the Amazon forest - the lungs of our planet - that held much promise for healing until slash and burn agriculture and logging ravaged the area. These videos hold exciting news!
This video is only available on the web. Some of the beginning footage is the same as video one, keep watching as the detail is worth the watch.
Ocean, marine biology, coral reefs, pancreatic cancer, Breast cancer, healing,
We have already devastated the Amazon forest - the lungs of our planet - that held much promise for healing until slash and burn agriculture and logging ravaged the area. These videos hold exciting news!
Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy
Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy
This video is only available on the web. Some of the beginning footage is the same as video one, keep watching as the detail is worth the watch.
Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy
Ocean, marine biology, coral reefs, pancreatic cancer, Breast cancer, healing,
16 August 2009
Video: Making a Difference for Inner City Kids Thru Outdoors Program
From Denny: Here is a man in Pennsylvania who grew up in similar circumstances, experienced abuse and yet discovered nature, hunting, fishing and skeet shooting. At a year 'round camp for local kids he introduces them to Nature and outdoor activities to open their minds to other possibilities than a life of stress and crime.
Making a Difference, abuse, Kids and Teens, society and culture
Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy
Making a Difference, abuse, Kids and Teens, society and culture
15 August 2009
Video: Team Effort to Help Native Americans Earn Their Way to College Degrees
From Denny: A heart-warming story about someone making a difference in the lives of others - and bettering society for all of us - in a practical way with lots of love in their heart for their fellow man. The statistics for Native Americans is mind-boggling as listed here and this man has charted his life path to change all that negativity, turning a bad situation into a positive life!
Native Americans, sports, children at risk, college education, society and culture
Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy
Native Americans, sports, children at risk, college education, society and culture
14 August 2009
Louisiana Summer Sigh
Louisiana Summer Sigh: "Writing exercise in the form of a “simile smile” and an original poem about us and summer changing into the next season of life."
By Denny Lyon @ HubPages
From Denny: I've been writing this summer poem in my head for weeks now and am so glad it's finally on paper! :) Found some awesome images from my flickr friends to illustrate it too.
Thanks for visiting me at HubPages too! Have a great weekend!
Photo by OakleyOriginals @ flickr
summer, summer poem, denny lyon, hubpages, poetry, Writing Exercises, simile
13 August 2009
7 Summer Quotes
From Denny: I seem to be thinking about the ending of summer a lot lately, even wrote a poem about it: finally! Glad to have that off my plate and out of my head where thoughts of summer have been rolling around for weeks! :)
These are some lovely quotes I found on the subject of summer, some wistful in the passing of summer, some profound in their heightened awareness on a summer night, some amusing in how our culture views a time of the year that could be viewed negatively if it came at a different time.
Summer is a great time to relax and hear our creative thoughts. There is a magical quality to the summer night. Come on, even Shakespeare thought so and wrote a play for it! :) It's like a waking dream time full of promise and fun.
Have you entertained the thought to write your own summer poem before the season steals away? These quotes will get you sparked into your own creativity!
Quotes
"The summer night is like a perfection of thought." - Wallace Stephens
"In summer, the song sings itself." - William Carlos Williams
"People don't notice whether it's winter or summer when they're happy." - Anton Chekhov
"Deep summer is when laziness finds respectability." - Sam Keen
"Summer afternoon: to me those have always been the two most beautiful words in the English language." - Henry James
"Summer is the time when one sheds one's tensions with one's clothes, and the right kind of day is jeweled balm for the battered spirit. A few of those days and you can become drunk with the belief that all's right with the world." - Ada Louise Huxtable
"There shall be eternal summer in the grateful heart." - Celia Thaxter
Photo by Pink Sherbet Photography @ flickr
09 August 2009
Do You Realize How Much Love There is Between Hugs?
From Denny: I'm constantly on the search for interesting articles and videos that would speak to the area of healing people. I try not to narrow it down too much to just one subject like say, Reiki, or only a Christian perspective. People are all different and "one size does not fit all" in my book. You never know when one idea may speak to someone to take and make their own and - voila! - they are on their way to self-healing.
Since Thursday when a huge thunderstorm moved through our area and we lost power for the day - and it put me way behind on my posting to all my blogs, apologies if you were arriving for a daily post - it also gave me some time off the grid to think. Then, of course, the obvious jumped up into my own face and I realized I wasn't mining a really good source for healing in my own yard: my quotes blog with commentary, Beautiful Illustrated Quotations.
I've always enjoyed good quotes, especially the witty ones and the inspirational ones. They are a good jumping off point for getting your writing going for the day. I used to keep them in a private journal but then decided to start writing out loud for others as maybe someone may find some benefit in how my mind was rolling around a thought that day. :)
So, I've decided to start including some posts from my quotes with commentary blog (have a funny quotes list blog too) that pertain to healing and inspiration. Sometimes, learning technique like Reiki isn't enough; we need more.
That's one reason I put up the miracle videos as it's important to re-think what and how we think about miracles other than in the way of fantasy thinking or the negative thinking of "it will never happen." I'll be writing more about different thoughts on how we move our thinking to the level it takes to self-healing.
Just yesterday I was reminded when I saw a couple of friends and they inquired about how I was faring after the car accident a few years ago. I told them I was just fine and finely had healed of the nerve pain and how I didn't know how other people lived with such pain year after year for decades. Well, turned out my friend had the same issue and it surprised her it was possible to heal of nerve pain when the doctors tell you to get used to it and learn to live with it. Like I was going to listen to that negativity when I knew I could figure out how to heal myself; so I did. I guarantee she will be back to talk to me about that one! :)
Healing is required from a lot of different angles and it's important to push your attitude up to a more positive level to achieve it. Part of my method to do that is to use my rational mind to mentally chew on some ideas. As a conceptual thinker I can glean from any field an idea to use in another way most people just don't consider. Sort of like I'm the person who enjoys going into a hardware store and start envisioning all the fun things I could build.
So, in the effort to help others to re-think and think from different angles here's a recent quote from the other blog, enjoy! And check back to Thursday as I put up other quotes' commentary that applied to these blog's theme on healing for Thursday through today's.
How Much Love There is Between Hugs?
Today's quote brings to mind what yoga and tai chi teachers speak about: the infinite amount of time between each breath. They teach about placing our focus not as much "on" each breath but most especially "between" each breath. In that small space lives a large portion of our lives. A lot goes on in that seemingly small interval of time that affects our perception too.
This is the first love quote I've seen that mentions the enormity of time and welling up of extreme passionate emotion that is felt in an instant between hugs extended and hugs received. Instead of focused upon the wonderful hug, this lover is focused upon the small space of time between his reaching out to hug his lover and her response in kind. He felt that moment so strongly he wrote about it!
Quote
"Millions and millions of years would still not give me half enough time to describe that tiny instant of all eternity when you put your arms around me and I put my arms around you." - Jacques Prévert
Photo by notsogoodphotography @ flickr
Jacques Prevert, hugs, eternity, quotes, love, love quotes
08 August 2009
What is the Simplest Most Unusual Way to Live Our Life to the Fullest?
This quote is both instructive and downright amusing. How many times have we looked back at a situation we found difficult only to find our own ego was what got in the way of our success? Some egos are bloated with pride, others with doubt, still others with fear.
Forget about feeling guilty or unworthy as those feelings are useless to us. It really doesn't matter what caused the "bloating" over time but rather the ego is so out of shape like a huge water balloon that it is easy to trip over it while pursuing something worthwhile! The whole point of this quote is to get rid of the bloat that is holding us back and making life more difficult than it has to be.
Reality is about interacting with life as it happens without the Negative Nannies filter in our heads. Once we set aside all these silly habits we grew from this or that disappointment here and there along the way in our lives we soon realize it's all old garbage that is time to trash.
Once unburdened of our past attitudes or ideas that have been holding us back, it's easy to relate to this quote. This profound quote is the most wonderful way I've ever seen to describe how easy it can become to live our lives to the fullest!
Quote
“When we stop opposing reality, action becomes simple, fluid, kind, and fearless." - Byron Katie
Byron Katie, Bloat, Water balloon, Home, positive attitude, Family, trauma, PTSD
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07 August 2009
How Do You Gauge How Happy You Are?
Anyway, today's quote was from a U.S. President. We hear a lot of quotes and sometimes don't realize they were said originally by American Presidents. Even a culture often grows up over time around the thought in that quote, so it is with this one.
Generations later we are now addressing how to work our attitudes to improve our lives. Well, Abraham Lincoln, who knew an awful lot of terrible adversity, certainly understood what it took to build and maintain a positive attitude.
He lost 69 elections and he lost all his children over a span of time. He was also President during the trying times of America's only Civil War and was ill with a slow disease. His wife went into a terrible depression upon the loss of their youngest son from illness.
Lincoln was a strong-willed kind-hearted man who even brought his political enemies into his administration in the effort to govern the country in a bi-partisan manner. Lincoln is most famous for several of his inspiring speeches and deciding to dare to go against the tide of convention and free America's slaves. He was all about doing the best job possible for the sake of ALL the American people.
Quote
"People are just about as happy as they make up their minds to be." - President Abraham Lincoln
quotes, politics, positive attitude, presidential quotes, American Civil War, United States, History, Civil War, President, List of Presidents of the United States
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06 August 2009
How Can Our Dreams Prevent Us From Awakening?
Looking outside ourselves sets us up for frustration. We can reach outside to others for information to help us look within. We read posts like this and books on the subject we are trying to learn more about before we begin the long process of introspection; all that is helpful. The problem arises, and this is what I think Jung is stressing here in this quote, is that people can become co-dependent on the next speaker at a seminar, the next church class, the next DVD series all in the name of learning more. At some point it becomes "busy work" setting us up to doubt ourselves to the point of inaction.
The step two in the process after information gathering is to turn inward for introspection. This act is not about doubting or beating up yourself with negative and regretful self-talk of what you did or didn't do. It's about allowing your own spirit to reveal to your every day conscious mind what is holding you back from achieving your dreams and goals. Our spirit understands our desires and knows how to meet them.
The disconnect comes when our conscious every day mind (the one who makes lists and goes grocery shopping = the left brain) doesn't listen to our spirit revealing insight through the right brain. Basically, because of our Western culture we shut down and close the door from our right brain, essentially shutting out half of the information we need to make good decisions in life. You could say the left brain is downright bossy in it's need to dominate rather than cooperate in a partnership for the benefit of all.
Carl Jung stumbled upon a profound insight. Lucky us that he chose to write about it for the benefit of future generations. Because he listened to his own spirit within we now have a wealth of knowledge at our fingertips. All that is left is action on our part to look within.
Quote
"Your vision will become clear only when you look into your heart. Who looks outside, dreams. Who looks inside, awakens." Carl Jung
Carl Jung, Psychology, Social Sciences, Dream interpretation, Psychoanalytic and Psychodynamic, Dream, Psychiatry, Brain, Consciousness
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