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

photo unknown

art by curly girl design

You can explore the universe looking for somebody who is more deserving of your love and affection than you are yourself, and you will not find that person anywhere.

~buddha

her voice + her words + her passion = magic

beth hart

let the lover be

disgraceful, crazy, absentminded.

someone sober will worry 

about things going badly.

let the lover be.

~ Rumi

(images via visualize)

there’s courage involved if you want
to become truth.  there is a broken-

open place in a lover.  where are
those qualities of bravery and sharp

compassion in this group?  what’s the
use of old and frozen thought?  i want

a howling hurt.  this is not a treasury
where gold is stored; this is for copper.

we alchemists look for talent that
can heat up and change.  lukewarm

won’t do. halfhearted holding back,
well-enough getting by?  not here.

~rumi

i wanna touch the earth
i wanna break it in my hands
i wanna grow something wild and unruly

i wanna sleep on the hard ground
in the comfort of your arms
on a pillow of bluebonnets
in a blanket made of stars

i wanna walk and not run
i wanna skip and not fall
i wanna look at the horizon
and not see a building standing tall

i wanna be the only one
for miles and miles
except for maybe you
and your simple smile

~ dixie chicks said it all in a song

to love a person is to learn the song in their heart

and sing it back to them

when they have forgotten the words.

~unknown