my favorite story i’ve heard all week.

by erica jong

for me, gratitude is mindful recognition of genuine concern and unwavering support gifted to me each and every day. celebrating friendship and love is something i can do tirelessly time and time again. it is those i hold near and dear that consistently lift my spirits with a simple word, caring touch, or knowing glance. for this i am grateful. this year, i wanted to go beyond a generalization and make a specific list of things that keep me satisfied.

my nieces & nephews

heart-to-hearts

honesty

LOVE

adventures in my kitchen

cold nights under warm blankets

solitude

my yoga practice

private memories

sincere understanding

quiet moments

dress-up parties

growing pains

my students

gentleness

self-reflection

sleep

hard-earned lessons

music that moves

breath

deliberate hugs

inspired wonder

and most of all, i am grateful for my health, which allows me to be a sister, a daughter, an aunt, a lover, a friend, a teacher, a student, a woman.

“They moved in dance steps too intricate for the noninitiated eye to imitate or understand.

Clearly they were of one soul. Handsome, rangy, wildly various,

they were bound in total loyalty, not by oath, but by the simple,

unquestioning belongingness of part of one organism.”

- Louise Erdrich

i had decided on a yoga-related video post but could not resist showing this adorable interaction between a couple trying to figure out how to use a webcam. i’m not sure which part is my favorite, but it’s safe to say that grandpa flirting with grandma is absolutely precious.

Believe, when you are most unhappy, that there is something for you to do in the world. So long as you can sweeten another’s pain, life is not in vain.

- helen keller

(photo via postsecret)

this may be the most beautiful song ever made.

a few weeks ago my friend, minna, emailed me a link to a documentary we had previously discussed while in talks of love called how will we love. i finally got around to watching the hour and a half heart-warmer last weekend. this film interviews a few couples (including the grandparents of the director) who open their hearts and profess a life-altering love they have experienced. i was moved from beginning to end, observing the divine love these individuals have unearthed with another human being. the couples reveal challenges they have endured and truths they have discovered over time.

you can watch the how will we love? by clicking here.

i spent part of my morning yesterday at the cove in la jolla watching the waves. there is an area of massive boulder i had visited a couple of times before and never realized just how many heartfelt testimonies were engraved in the rock. i took many more photos than i am posting, but chose my favorites to share.

Beginning today, treat everyone you meet as if they were going to be dead by midnight. Extend to them all the care, kindness and understanding you can muster, and do it with no thought of any reward. Your life will never be the same. -Og Mandino

“That is some proposal,” I thought, when it came into clear view at five o’clock in the morning, a couple of weeks back. A request like this one, upon waking, brings a person to their senses in no time. I immediately recalled recent moments when I have regarded those closest to me contradictory to this statement, not to mention the strangers on the street I have barely acknowledged.

To live with such intensity requires an awareness not easily diverted by flippant thoughts of self-indulgence and petty fears. This guileless dare evoked a composed response, while I sat munching on my breakfast of strawberries and peaches. How do I begin? It sounds simple but must be tougher than it looks, or else everyone would be doing it.

I started with the people I consider nearest and dearest to me. To look someone I love in the eyes and understand where he or she is coming from, without contemplating my own wishes, puts my unspoken tactics to the test. Not an easy undertaking, but definitely a skill worth polishing.

A few days ago, life permitted me an opportunity to take on this challenge with flying colors. I didn’t do so well. Instead, fear hindered my empathy and provoked a defense mechanism, which disabled my capacity to love wholeheartedly. Love is not always the easiest option, but I know when I choose it over all other responses, even the most unexpected results are easier to swallow.

Hindsight is 20/20. Circumstances can change in an instant. And if we are lucky, we eventually learn to love those closest to us as if they are going to be dead by midnight. It may take a bit longer than I would like, but I’ll keep practicing until it becomes second nature.

when traveling with another person, we sometimes come to a junction. it may be in the best interests of one person to go one way, to see certain sights, gain certain experiences, learn particular lessons, and for the other to go in another direction. this is a difficult time of challenges, maybe hard choices.

blending journeys sometimes is not always best, or even possible. we can accompany another on his or her journey, but there may be a price to pay for that. we may forgo our own journey and become passive observers. we can ask or insist that the other go along with us on our journey. but for the most part, he or she may be as bored and restless as we would be if the situation were reversed. sometimes we need to let go. sometimes we need to say good-bye.

feel all your feelings. although you may need to feel angry for a while, clear all resentments from your heart as soon as possible. say good-bye with blessings and love toward the other, thanking that person for all he or she has helped you learn. remember that any curses you place on another will ultimately come back to harm you.

grieve your losses. say your good-byes. then let each travel down the road that he or she needs to go. holding on won’t help. let both be free to plan their own journeys, map their own trips, and embrace and enjoy their destinies.

set others free to achieve and experience the path that leads to their highest good and you, too, will become free to find yours.

melody beattie

is it the face of a child

is it the thrill of danger

is it the kindness we see in the eyes of a stranger?

is it more than faith, is it more than hope

is it waiting for us at the end of our rope?

is it the one you call home

is it the holy land

is it standing right here holding your hand?

is it just like the movies

is it rice and white lace

is it the feeling i get when i wake to your face?

is it the first summer storm

is it the colors of fall

is it having so little, and yet having it all?

is it one in a million

is it a chance to belong

is it standing right here singing this song?

i say it’s love.

this song gives me chills every time.

Freedom and love go together. Love is not a reaction.

If I love you because you love me, that is mere trade, a thing to be bought in the market; it is not love. To love is not to ask anything in return, not even to feel that you are giving something – and it is only such love that can know freedom.

words by krishnamurti