A kind heart

For those that feel that being kind hearted to people got you nothing but rejection and hurt, do not let that change the person that you are. If you are a thoughtful person who does nice things, don’t stop just because these people failed to see the goodness inside you.  It’s their reaction or lack of response that is the problem, not yours. Don’t change yourself. They need to change. They need to work on themselves. Keep being the wonderful kind you. ~Brigitte Nicole

Letting go

Food for Thought

It's not what you look at that matters; it's what you see.
Henry David Thoreau

The obvious is that which is never seen until someone expresses it simply. Khalil Gibran

The truth is, every moment of life is special, and you can be completely open to life most of the time. You have to see the truth to see true life.
 
“Know thy self,” as Socrates said.  

All perspectives are unique.

We do not see things the way they are; we see things the way we are.

You cannot control life, but you can control the way you see life.

Perception and perspective determine how clearly and truly you see life and how fulfilling or unfulfilled life is for you.

Fulfilled: It is the way we feel when our minds are completely open to life; we become “filled” with life. Being filled with life makes you feel the way you want to feel all the time. Fulfillment is true happiness.  


The truth: You now know “the truth” part of the truth and life. There are only five fundamental things you need to know, and they are the following:

1. Our true history.
2. You are immortal.
3. Everything will balance.
4. You are a spiritual being.
5. The present is everything.


As a single footstep will not make a path on the earth, so a single thought will not make a pathway in the mind. To make a deep physical path, we walk again and again. To make a deep mental path, we must think over and over the kind of thoughts we wish to dominate our lives.
Henry David Thoreau

See things like you are seeing them for the first time.

True religion is real living.
Albert Einstein

Behind your thoughts and feelings, my brother, there stands a mighty ruler. An unknown sage - whose name is self. In your body he dwells. There is more reason in your body than in your best wisdom. Friedrich Nietzsche

We need an age of the spirit now. Our spirit must be seen as the more important part of us. Spirit is the real part, the eternal part, what we have always been and always will be; the real us.

It is only when we forget all our learning that we begin to know.
Henry David Thoreau

the goal of your life is to be more aware of it. How can that not be the most important and most worthwhile thing to do?
 

True happiness is… to enjoy the present, without anxious dependence upon the future. Lucius Annaeus Seneca


You should devote your life to life, because life is the only thing that exists.


Every moment in the present is perfect and complete in and of itself.


Getting into life completely should be the obvious goal,

All you need is love, but not carnal love; you need love of the truth and life.

There is no time but the present.


My brain is only a receiver, in the Universe there is a core from which we obtain knowledge, strength and inspiration. I have not penetrated into the secrets of this core, but I know that it exists. Nikola Tesla

The good life is living true life, and that is the simple and absolute truth.

Wherever you look, there is something to see.
The Talmud


Divine awareness, divine love, is mostly just your total attention to life and everything and everyone in it.


Love is just knowing the truth, and being in the present. It is that simple.

Yesterday, we obeyed kings and bent our necks before emperors. But today, we kneel only to truth, follow only beauty, and obey only love.
Khalil Gibran

As you simplify your life, the laws of the universe will be simpler. Solitude will not be solitude, poverty will not be poverty, nor weakness, weakness. Henry David Thoreau

Finish each day and be done with it. You have done what you could. Some blunders and absurdities no doubt crept in; forget them as soon as you can. Tomorrow is a new day; begin it well and serenely and with too high a spirit to be encumbered with the old nonsense. Ralph Waldo Emerson     

            

I come to her

I come to her,she that weeps-her stories,spill on me,like tears-woman to woman,we send them up-like crystal stars,unto the sky ofour hearts.
I listen t...o her,hold her ache,as mine-in my heart,
I hold her hand-gently,as she silently-comes to her resolve,
I come with her,to the edge of,her deciding.
I laugh with her,I hold her song-as it rises with mine,my voice swells as
I –sing with her.we dance-to the melody of,our lives-mingled to the music-of our souls.woman to woman,heart to heart-weaving our lives,together-giving voice,to our power-through her breaking away,
I sit with her-in her still waiting,
I will hold her-in the arms of comforting grace.
By Maureen Kwiat

Christmas past

A long time ago

Donna, Mom, George Alicja, Henry

Still the season

Beverly House

New Beginings

Heart's Calling

come to my finding,
the finding my life-
journey yet unspoken,
which completes itself.
in the resting of my soul....
come to my searching,
what is it I seek-
stay in this moment learning,
not catching fast-
my running ahead,
wait in this wise moment.
come to my living,
it is in now-
that I truly exist,
scoop of the air I breathe-
feel the earth,
under feet touching-
not tomorrow,
or remembering yesterday-
come to all of it,
right now-
in its finding,
searching,
living,
my valuable existence.
Heart's Calling
By Maureen Kwiat Meshenberg ©

"Be a Queen"

"Be a queen. Dare to be different. Be a pioneer. Be a leader. Be the kind of woman who in the face of adversity will continue to embrace life and walk fearlessly toward the challenge.
Take it on! Be a truth seeker, and rule your domain, whatever it is; your home, your office, your family ~with a loving heart....
Be a queen. Be tender. Continue to give Birth to new ideas and rejoice in your Womanhood

We are daughters of 'the Goddess', here to teach the world how to Love. It doesn't matter what you've been through, where you come from, who your parents are, or your social or economics status. None of that matters. What matters is how you choose to Love, how you choose to express that Love through your work, through your family, through what you have to give to the world.
Be a Queen. Own your Power and your Glory."
~Oprah Winfrey

"Launch me in the sea of love and let me sail."
Rumi


"There is nothing like returning to a place that remains unchanged to find the ways in which you yourself have altered."
Nelson Mandela 

Santa Claus is coming

Happy Holidays

On Pain

“Pain is the doorway to the here and now. Physical or emotional pain is the ultimate form of ground, saying, to each of us, in effect, there is no other place than this place, no other body than this body, no other limb or joint or pang or sharpness but this searing presence. Pain asks us to heal by focusing on the very center of the actual torment and the very way the pain is felt.

Pain is an introduction and then an apprenticeship to alertness and particularity. Through the radical undoing and debilitation of repeated pain we are reacquainted with the essentialities of place and time and existence itself. In deep pain we have energy only for what we can do wholeheartedly and then, only within a narrow range of motion, metaphorically or physically, from tying our shoe-lace to holding the essential core conversations that are reciprocal and reinforcing within the close-in circle of those we love. Pain teaches us a fine economy, in movement, in what we choose to do, in the heart’s affections, in what we ask of our selves and eventually in what we ask of others.

Pain’s beautiful humiliations followed fully make us naturally and sincerely humble and force us to put aside the guise of pretence. In real pain we have no other choice but to learn to ask for help on a daily basis. Pain tells us we belong and cannot live forever alone or in isolation. Pain makes us understand reciprocation. In real pain we often have nothing to give back other than our own gratitude, a smile that looks half way to a grimace or the passing friendship of the thankful moment to a helpful stranger, and pain is an introduction to real friendship, it tests those friends we think we already have but also introduces us to those who newly and surprisingly come to our aid.

Pain is the first proper step to real compassion; it can be a foundation for understanding all those who struggle with their existence. Experiencing real pain ourselves, our moral superiority comes to an end; we stop urging others to get with the program, to get their act together or to sharpen up, and start to look for the particular form of debilitation, visible or invisible that every person struggles to overcome. We suddenly find instead, our understanding and compassion engaged as to why others may find it hard to fully participate.

Strangely, the narrow focus that is the central and most difficult aspect of bodily pain, calls for the greater perspective, for a bigger, more generous sense of humor. With the grand perspective real pain is never far from real laughter – at our self or for another watching that self –laughter at the predicament or the physical absurdity that has become a daily experience. Pain makes drama of an everyday life with our body and our presence firmly caught on stage and in the spotlight: we are visible to others in a way over which we have no choice, limping here or leaning there.

Lastly, pain is appreciation; above all for the simple possibility and gift of a pain free life- all the rest is a bonus. Others do not know the gift in simply being healthy, of being unconsciously free to move or walk or run. Pain is a lonely road, no one can know the measure of our particular agonies, but through pain we have the possibility, just the possibility, of coming to know others as we have, with so much difficulty, come to know ourselves.”      by David Whyte

Verse 52

~ Tao Te Ching

....Seeing into darkness is clarity.
Knowing how to yield is strength.
Use your own light
And return to the source of light.
This is called practicing eternity.

Crying

A little boy asked his mother, "Why are you crying?" "Because I'm a woman," she told him. "I don't understand," he said. His Mom just hugged him and said, "A...nd you never will." 
Later the little boy asked his father, 
"Why does mother seem to cry for no reason?" "All women cry for no reason," was all his dad could say.
 The little boy grew up and became a man, still wondering why women cry. Finally he put in a call to God. 
When God got on the phone, he asked, "God, why do women cry so easily?" God said, "When I made the woman she had to be special.
 I made her shoulders strong enough to carry the weight of the world, yet gentle enough to give comfort.
 I gave her an inner strength to endure childbirth and the rejection that many times comes from her children. 
 I gave her a hardness that allows her to keep going when everyone else gives up, and take care of her family through sickness and fatigue without complaining. 
 I gave her the sensitivity to love her children under any and all circumstances, even when her child has hurt her very badly. 
I gave her strength to carry her husband through his faults and fashioned her from his rib to protect his heart. 
I gave her wisdom to know that a good husband never hurts his wife, but sometimes tests her strengths and her resolve to stand beside him And finally, 
I gave her a tear to shed. This is hers exclusively to use whenever it is needed." "You see my son," said God, "the beauty of a woman is not in the clothes she wears, the figure that she carries, or the way she combs her hair. 
The beauty of a woman must be seen in her eyes, because that is the doorway to her heart the place where love resides."

Dating Symon Sez

1 - Laughing is essential.
2 - Perfection is impossible. Just make the most of everything that comes along our way.
3 - Better to be single than to be in a bad relationship. If a relationship has to be a secret, you shouldn't be in it.

4 – If you have ANY doubt in your mind about a person’s character, leave him (or her) alone.
5 - Get involved with someone you are proud to be with.
6 - A real healthy relationship requires two people. One person can end it – but it takes two make it work.

7 - If it's worth it, I'll work for it; if it's not, I won't. (An "actions speak louder than words" thing)
8 - Don't say anything you'll regret because you can't take it back. (and really who would want to? I do not regret anything I have ever said or done).
9 - If you don’t love yourself.... You can’t love anyone else.(Gives looking in the mirror a whole new meaning).

10 - You can give without loving, but you can’t love without giving.
11 – Learn to forgive but know when to draw the line. (Time heals all wounds, all depends how badly you have been hurt that determines duration, or the other person is just not worth your forgiveness).
12 - Never consider going back, when its done its done, remember why you left in the first place, even if it was a mistake. (This is where the mind has to be stronger than the heart unless you really loved that person and you want to give them one more chance).

13. Say what you mean and mean what you say ... don't make false promises or give false hope.
14. Be truthful, honest and dedicated to your partner.
15. If your relationship is like "sand in your hand" it wont last, feels good when you have it there but it slowly slips away.

16. Actions always speak louder than words, things are said but its what you do that counts.
17. Be patient, as "they" say "Patience is a virtue" sometimes the good things take time to get.
18. Makes sure expectations of you and your (potential) partner are very clear to each other, one of the biggest reasons for a relationship failing is mis or non communication of what you expect from the other person. (And its OK to have expectations).

19. Communication is the key ~ make sure the other person UNDERSTANDS what you are trying to communicate.
20. If you love someone, do it unconditionally, a truly open heart would not place conditions on any relationship... hard to do but really that is true love. that is not to say that you allow a person to take advantage, you do have to draw the line .. and only you know where that is.

21. Be Humble, accept that you can be wrong and be willing to say "sorry"
22. Be accommodating ~ sometimes we have to change what we do to please others, however do not forsake your core values, if you do you will be unhappy (Part of unconditional love).

23. Keep family and friends close.
24. Variety is the spice of life ... Keep things interesting and fun no matter what you do .. and do it together if possible.
25. Finally, you must expose yourself emotionally, take risks, it's the only way to reap love's greatest rewards.

By Symon Sez

Verse # 44

Tao Te Ching

...
Money or happiness: which is more valuable?
Success of failure: which is more destructive?

If you look to others for fulfillment,
you will never truly be fulfilled.
If your happiness depends on money,
you will never be happy with yourself.

Be content with what you have;
rejoice in the way things are.
When you realize there is nothing lacking,
the whole world belongs to you.
Fame or integrity: which is more important?

Lao Tzu 

Freedom for Ukraine ????

"There is no turning back, we have reached the point of no return," protester Sergey Vysotsky told CNN. "Now the whole future is in the hands of those people," the demonstrators.

What started out late last month as demonstrations against Yanukovich's decision not to sign a landmark trade deal with the European Union has ballooned into something much larger. Demonstrators say they will stop at nothing short of new parliamentary and presidential elections.

"This is not a protest. This is a revolution," protest leader Yuri Lutsenko, told a crowd of thousands who packed Independence Square .

"Revolution! Revolution!" the crowd chanted.

Change Too

It is never late to ask yourself “Am I ready to change my life, am I ready to change myself?”. However old we are, whatever we went through, it is always possible to reborn. If each day is a copy of the last one, what a pity! Every breath is a chance to reborn. But to reborn into a new life, you have to die before dying.
~ Shams Tabrizi

I recently moved back to my mother's house, to keep an eye on her she is 83 and her companion 88  he has Alzheimer and is forgetting much these days and repeats many things over, it's a challenge to live with other's at the best of times but it's harder to live with hoarders, change is hard for them.do we all get this way by the time we are in our 80's,  walking around in half light not seeing or wanting to see.

Olga and Ivan 2013 Birthday

I've had to let go of a lot in the past few years and even more coming back to what could be called "home"
The saying " home is where the heart" is what I'm working on up on the third floor of what was my room when we first moved here 43 years ago and I called it home.
 I have my sanctuary on the third floor where I can find the peace I seek I can see the clouds and trees from my rooftop window and for now it will be what it is I want it to be. It's nice to have the time to heal the body without having the stress of providing a living for oneself

“All you can ever achieve is a sense of your soul. You gain little glimpses of its light, colors, and contours. You feel the inspiration of its possibilities and the wonder of its mysteries.”
~ John O'Donohue ~

This picture is a corner of my room where I started painting a mural the story of my mother's journey I call it the tree of life

Hope. It brings us through the darkest times. It seems to come when we need it most; yet, 
It requires other practices to maintain such as patience. Patience when things are not happening fast enough, patience to allow life to unfold without knowing how or when it will happen.
I can not change them I see that, what has to change is me.

It requires courage to stand in the unknown. It requires  confidence that all be okay. It requires persistence to keep going no matter what.

Hope requires enthusiasm to fuel it. It is an experience that fuels our physical level as we are in a positive flow easily being patient, courageous, and persistence. Hope is acting in a persistent patience knowing when to step out.