"Never let someone's opinion become your reality. Never

sacrifice who you are because someone else has a problem with

it. Love who you are inside and out."

"Sometimes falling flat on your face allows you to see things

from a totally different perspective."

You have to walk carefully in the beginning of love; the running across fields into your lover's arms can only come later when you're sure they won't laugh if you trip.

"My wish for you is that this life becomes all that you want

it to. Your dreams stay big, and your worries stay small. You

never need to carry more than you can hold and while you're

out there getting where you're getting to, I hope you know

somebody loves you, and wants the same things too. This is my

wish."

 I don't pretend to know what love is for everyone, but I can tell you what it is for me; love is knowing all about someone, and still wanting to be with them more than any other person, love is trusting them enough to tell them everything about yourself, including the things you might be ashamed of, love is feeling comfortable and safe with someone, but still getting weak knees when they walk into a room and smile at you.

To love someone is nothing, to be loved by someone is something, but to be loved by the one you love is everything.

WARMTH

There is nothing like bringing a heated blanket and sharing its comforting warmth

with a patient. His or her eyes light up as they experience and express the satisfaction

of receiving the gift.

As this new year begins, I want to picture my caring as providing the warmth of

a comforting blanket. No matter how young or old, there is a part of each human

person that needs to be wrapped up with care like a newborn babe.

There are lots of ways that I can cover others with the warmth of my care; a kind

gesture, a warm hello, a good joke, a meal shared or a toast offered with thanks.

Life can be as cold as January but I will offer a vision of warmth.

O Love of the Universe, fill my heart with a warmth that is easily shared. Help

me to live each day with the belief that I can be a blanket that covers those whom

I care for with a blanket that offers comfort. AMEN.

ACTION: Set out to share some warmth in gesture or word this week. Take special

note of the reaction of the recipient.

"We spend January 1 walking through our lives, room by room,

drawing up a list of work to be done, cracks to be patched.

Maybe this year, to balance the list, we ought to walk through

the rooms of our lives... not looking for flaws, but for

potential."

The beginning of love is to let those we love be perfectly themselves, and not to twist them to fit our own image. Otherwise we love only the reflection of ourselves we find in them.

"Weeds are flowers, too, once you get to know them."

"We must be willing to let go of the life we planned in order

to have the life that is waiting for us."

If there is righteousness in your heart, there will be beauty in your character

and harmony at your home. - Baba

T

houghts are like a magic carpet, on which the soul rides across eternity. Rest for the spirit (which is what we are) is when we allow only the current of the purest thoughts to flow through our mind - thoughts which carry good wishes and blessings for ourselves and others. This is not so much going with the flow, as being in the flow, and refreshed by the flow. For when we have powerful, positive thoughts for and about others, who experiences them first?