Egyptian Proverb

Let your life be led by your heart
And you will never lose your way.

Budda says

We are what we think. All we are arises from our thoughts. With our thoughts we make our world.

Excerpt from a letter about my brother-in-law's passing

I don't want to say this out loud, but I don't want to not say it either: Somewhere in the middle of the night between Saturday, August 25th and Sunday, August 26th, my wife's baby brother, Sky, took a gun and shot and killed himself.

Sky was a beautiful, loving, kind, funny, radiant, amazing man. He was only 28 years old and had suffered depression most of his teenage and adult life, which was only compounded by his mother's untimely death from cancer when he was 19 years old, followed by the death of his father six years later. I grieve for the pain he endured and couldn't survive, pain I knew only too well from my bouts of depression at that same age and younger.

There but for the grace of g-d could have gone I.

I'm still trying to wrap my mind around the fact that beautiful, loving, kind, funny, radiant, and amazing Sky took a gun and ended his life with it. I just feel a big empty numbness in my heart for all the love that I have for Sky that has no avenue to express itself anymore.

If ever I wanted a Mulligan, a do-over, a rewind button on life, this is it.

Anyway, I didn't want to thunk this awful news into your otherwise beautiful day, but I didn't want to not tell you either. I thought you would want to know. At whatever time seems appropriate, please tell whomever you think would want to know.

I wanted to call, but I am wrung out talking about it.

Love,
John

http://rememberingsky.blogspot.com

Excerpt from a Letter to a Friend

Mi Compadre:

I have never come close to and can't imagine I ever will come close to giving up on you. What a thought!

This week's word is:

mu·tu·al·ism / [myoo-choo-uh-liz-uhm] –noun

1.	a symbiotic relationship in which each of the organisms benefit from the association.

2.

the doctrine that the interdependence of social elements is the primary determinant of individual and social relations, esp. the theory that common ownership of property, or collective effort and control governed by sentiments of brotherhood and mutual aid, will be beneficial to both the individual and society.

3.	Sociology. the force or principle of mutual aid.

Ponder that as you go about your life this week, my dear friend. Not merely as it applies to you and me, but notice how every experience and every person you meet is directing or teaching or influencing you spiritually. Notice how you are doing the same (directing and teaching and influencing) whether you are consciously intending to or not.

We (us souls) are One. Each of us is an amorphous, constantly metamorphosing, multi-dimensional piece of an amorphous, constantly metamorphosing, multi-dimensional whole, the entirety of which is g-d. We all fit together perfectly in a constantly active and interactive shifting and shaping infinite and formless ball of energy (for lack of a better word).

You are not about to fall over the cliff unless you want to, unless you think you need to. Stop saying that (unless you want to, unless you think you need to). There is no cliff. There is no falling. Be in the moment that YOU taught me how to be in so many years ago. Love the one(s) your with. (And by "love" I mean act with love, act with celebration, and gratitude, and wonder, and joy.) See yourself calm, even-keeled, connected to each experience, marveling at the amazing intricacies of life, grateful for all that you are and all that you have and all that you can and will be. As you see yourself so you will be. I swear on all I hold near and dear that this is true. Trust me if you can't trust yourself on this one. All the rest will follow.

I love you!

~John

Perfect You Perfect Me

The absolute truth is that the "I" is perfect and complete; the real "I" is spiritual and can therefore never be less than perfect; it can never have any lack, limitation, or disease. ~Charles Haanel

Believe

What the mind can conceive and believe it can achieve. ~Napoleon Hill

Perfect Presence

"Focus on feeling the life presence inside of You. As you focus on the presence within it will begin to reveal itself to You. It is a feeling of pure love and bliss, and it is perfection. That presence is the perfection of You. That presence is the real You. As you focus on that presence, as you feel, love, and praise that presence, you will love yourself fully, quite possibly for the first time in your life.

"Any time you look at yourself with critical eyes, switch your focus immediately to the within, and its perfection will reveal itself to You. As you do this, all imperfections that have manifested in your life will dissolve, because imperfections cannot exist in the light of this presence. Whether you want to regain perfect eyesight, dissolve disease and restore well-being, turn poverty into abundance, reverse aging and degeneration, or eradicate any negativity, focus on and love the presence within you and perfection will manifest." ~from The Secret by Rhonda Byrne, p. 173