The Costume

Hello from my heart to yours....

"If death meant just leaving the stage long enough to change costume and come back as a new character, would you slow down? Or speed up?"   Chuck Palahniuk

Well.. that wasn't exactly the quote I was looking for to write about Halloween, but I love it.... This morning, Giorgio wakes up and tells me that he has to dress as a pirate for his teacher's going away party... (yes, I thank him for the advance notice..lol) ... so, we go to the closet where we have, what seems to be, a million costumes... and we find one... he hugs me and says, "I love you, Mama...we are the costume people.." ... yes, yes, yes, we ARE!!! 

We have always loved to dress up.. my entire family... we even have a family portrait with all of us dressed as Pirates from the Caribbean... and I look through the albums of our life and am amazed at the wonderful costumes we have created... and the memories of becoming someone or something other than ourselves for a few hours... new characters, alright... whether we were Indians, cowboys, clowns, vampires, werewolves, or whatever we dreamed up that day, we "became" our costumes... 

Everyday, when we get dressed, we put on a costume of sorts... we dress depending on where we are going, what we are doing, who we are seeing, and how we are feeling... women put on more or less make-up..or do their hair differently... and we all put on "masks" ... some days our masks are happy and some days they are sad ... some days they are peaceful and some days they are just plain mad... and I reflect now on what Chuck said... if death meant that we could leave the stage and change your costume, what would be the costume you would put on? 

Frankly, I don't think it really matters..... it is what you carry inside of you... it is the smile you offer people.. it is the twinkling of your eyes when you look at the world.. it is the hug you give someone... it is the kiss (even the ones blown to the wind) that you give one another.. it is the love that you give freely... sure, this may sound way out there because we all love to dress-up and play a different role everyday, but Epictetus said, "Know, first, who you are; and then adorn yourself accordingly." 

So, that's it... Know who you are... a person who is loved beyond measure.. a person who is a cherished blessing to the world... death does not afford you the time to change your costume, so strive to be the blessed person that God intended you to be from the inside first... let the light within you shine brightly... share the faith, hope and love in your heart with one another, and eventually, LOVE will be the only recognizable costume we will all be wearing on the stage... and the Indians, cowboys, clowns, vampires and werewolves, can do the LOVE dance together...... 

May your day be blessed with all things good,

With love,

Elena

The Electric Fence

Hello from my heart to yours....

 

Well... I know that I have written about the electric fence on my father's farm before... several times actually... and how it really didn't deter us from going into the field no matter how many times we got shocked... and I know that I have, also, said that because of our ability to choose to ignore the fear of a quick electrocution... (so long as we are moving forward in our lives to become better people)..that there is no electric fence that should keep us from realizing our dreams...   however, maybe I didn't tell you that sometimes... yes, sometimes... we have to know when to just say... "Darn the electric fence.." and move on... and away from it.

 

This comes from a Gary Larson poem entitled "Distant Hills" (and is recited by a Cow) it goes like this:

 

The distant hills call to me.
Their rolling waves seduce my heart.
Oh, how I want to graze in their lush valleys.
Oh, how I want to run down their green slopes.
Alas, I cannot.
Darn the electric fence!
Darn the electric fence!

 

I think we have to be able to discern whether the initial shock of the fence is worth the lush valley or the green slopes... we have to be able to refrain from things that really (when we way the pro's and con's of it) are not going to change our lives for the better... things that we call in Spanish "antojos" or whims....

 

It could be that we want a different position at work... or we want to move... or we want to go out with a certain group of people ... maybe that position you think is so wonderful requires much more of your time... or moving to a new home will cause an undue hardship on you and your family... or the people you think are so much fun really don't share in your values or beliefs... well, while we may want these things, they may not be good for us... hence, the electric fence.... those electric fences are sometimes placed there for a reason... to save us from something worse.... some type of heartache that we really shouldn't have to experience.... and while I am a big believer in that we have the "free will" to be able to choose whether or not to suffer the electrocution... if we can avoid it, well then... we should....

 

May you always be able to see the lush valleys in which you already live.. may you always be able to run down the green slopes... and if you come up to the electric fence... may you be able to stop and be still .. and think.. and meditate... and pray... drawing on the faith, hope and love in your heart... so that if it's just an "antojo" ..then, may you be able to say...

 

"Thank God for that electric fence..."  because yours is a lovely life and you are loved beyond measure and a cherished blessing to the world.

 

May your day be blessed with all things good.

With Love,

Elena

The Mysterious

Hello from my heart to yours....

The most beautiful thing we can experience is the mysterious. He to whom this emotion is a stranger, who can no longer pause to wonder and stand rapt in awe, is as good as dead: his eyes are closed. ~ Albert Einstein

mysterious: (adjective) .. Difficult or impossible to understand, explain or identify.

The mysterious... most of us are drawn to it... we enjoy the emotion of it... simply because it is breath-taking... we are curious as to how it all happens and find it exhilarating ... we relish in the colors of the sky at sundown... we stand in awe of the full moon every month... we look at the stars on clear nights... we are amazed at the colors of autumn leaves... we stand at the ocean's edge and watch the waves break and crash against one another... we say "wow" as we watch lightening during a storm... we are still when we see images of tornadoes whirling around... we sit in the grass and marvel at the bugs crawling around... we stand and let the gusts of wind envelop us... we look up to the sun to fill us with warmth... and in getting our fill of the wonders of nature and the beauties of the world we live in, we wonder about the Creator of it all... all of this and so much more...

.... or at least we should wonder and stand rapt in awe.... the mysterious is what keeps us alive... it makes our hearts beat so wildly without even thought of what is happening and the tears seem to form and fall in such an instant that we feel our cheeks wet and then wonder why?.... well, why not? ...  this is not a strange emotion... this is the LOVE that lives in our hearts... and it is a glorious gift to have because in being able to see the mysteries of the world with open eyes, our souls are continuously replenished with over-flowing love... of course, I can go into a long discourse of using all of your senses, but I will leave that to you to ponder...

One of my favorite movies is "City of Angels" ... there is so much love in that love story... not just the kind of romantic love that we all want, but the love the angels express in their "awe" moments of the mysterious... every morning at sunrise and every evening at sundown, they gather by the ocean... and they stand there and "listen" to the mysterious... it's a breath-taking scene in the movie... and I cry every time I see it... so many angels gathered together... and now the random thought comes... I am suddenly at the space shuttle launching with my boys... same type of thing.. 100's of people gathered on the beach at 6:00 am, waiting to see a wonder created by man... and after the launch, everyone kind of stayed and watched the sunrise... the sky was a swirl of pinks, oranges, blues, violets... truly amazing... I must have cried for about an hour... not that kind of wailing crying or with the whole body like a baby does.. but the kind of crying that you are almost unaware of... the cleansing and soothing kind....  

Anyway... in the movie, Seth asks Maggie why people cry and she answers that the tear ducts lubricate the eyes naturally, but when you have an emotion, they over react and create tears... Seth's interpretation of it is this.... "The emotion becomes so intense your body just can't contain it. Your mind and your feelings become too powerful, and your body weeps.."  Isn't that fantastic? ... I love it... 

So this is my heartfelt wish to you all today.... may you always be able to stand in awe of the mysterious and may the emotion cause your body to weep with love... and then, may you be thankful for that love... because it is through all the deeper mysteries of "your" faith in God, Allah, Buddha, Brahma, Waheguru... that you are loved beyond measure ... 

You are all cherished blessings to the world... 

May your day be filled with the beautiful mysteries of life,

With love and with prayer hands, I bow slightly before you and say... Namaste.... 

I am thankful for the mysterious that allows me to love you all daily... 

XO

Elena

Forget Regret

Hello from my heart to yours....

Jonathan Larson, who wrote the play RENT.. said,  “Forget regret, or life is yours to miss.” ....

Well, hmmmmm... this is something I think about often... not so much because I regret anything I've done in my life, but because I hear people saying that often.. and especially in an apology that goes something like this..."I am sorry for what I have done and said to you..I truly regret that it happened...and I have learned..."  okay, that sounds alright and probably there is sincerity in that apology, however, I wouldn't phrase it that way... the latter part of that apology, I might just keep to myself... but that's me... probably because I grew up with a mother who always told us, "I don't want to hear that you're sorry if you are going to do it again... if you "regretted" what you've done, you wouldn't be a repeat offender" ... I even remember once when my niece broke a little cordial cup, after my mother had told her not to play with it, and she said, "Sorry Abuela, I didn't mean to.." my mother just looked at her and said, "if you had listened to me in the first place and not played with it, you wouldn't be saying "sorry" to me" ... I think of that incident often only because, if we would only stop and think about something we are about to do or say...just for a moment..and ask ourselves, "Will I be saying "sorry" afterwards?" then, we might be able to actually "forget regret...." and not miss our lives...

But we are human and none of us are perfect...we all do things that we might regret later.. but when I have that momentary feeling, I stop and reflect about it.. I try to turn it into a positive ... and ask myself... "what did I learn and how can I correct my thinking and behavior so that it doesn't happen again? .. so that.. I don't do it and I do not let it be done to me again?"  ... I am ever mindful that if God forgives the things I've done, and in order to grow spiritually from these experiences, I must forgive myself and others, and do better ... and most of all, I should not repeat my offenses and not let others repeat their offenses to me... if I do, then how am I being the blessed person that I want to be...?

One of my favorite prayers is the "Act of Contrition" ... It is a sincere apology to God... no where in the prayer does it say, "I regret my sins" though... it simply says.. "I am sorry with all my heart.. I chose to do wrong.. I intend to amend my ways by praying and avoiding whatever led me to have to apologize in the first place..."  those words can easily be used in sincerely apologizing to people we have offended ....... 

So, we eliminate the word regret... it's a waste of energy... ask for forgiveness, forgive yourself, and forgive others, too... and move on. Regrets will only weigh you down and will not allow you to grow as a person..... think of your regrets instead as a valuable experience... it may be years later that you realize what a wonderful experience it was for you, even though, at the time, it may have been unpleasant... you are ever changing... draw on the experiences you have already had in your life to become a better person... and 

if you catch yourself suddenly saying, “I just did something and now I totally regret it”, ask yourself  “Why?”.... Realizing and acknowledging that you have done something that you shouldn't have, is the first step in learning from it... then, turn it around into a positive experience... forget regret...

May you live your life and be able to say (as Frank Sinatra did),  "Regrets? I've had a few, But then again, too few to mention" .... and may those few never deter you from living the blessed life that you are intended to live... have faith, hope and love always....for you are loved beyond measure and are a cherished blessing to the world... 

May your day be filled with all things good.

With love,

Elena

Energy You Bring

Hello from my heart to yours....

"Be responsible for the energy you bring into this room."  Dr. Jill Bolte Taylor

A friend of mine from childhood, who I have only come to know, "see" and love now as an adult, posted this quote as her status last night.  After suffering from a stroke, Dr. Taylor had these words posted on the door to her room... it would definitely make me stop and reflect on the kind of energy I was going into the room with... We are selfish by nature and are usually preoccupied with our own feelings and emotions.... we are not usually aware of the energy we carry... some of us don't really have to think about it that much.. there are positive people who always seem to light up a room with their presence, however, there are plenty of people who walk into a space and you think, "Oh brother, here they come.. I hope they are happy today." 

I had a friend who I grew up with that was always a happy child.. sweet, giving and loving... when she came back into our group about 2 years ago, she was going through a bitter divorce and we thought we'd give her the support she needed to get through it all.... at first, we kind of excused her negativity and chalked it up to her "circumstance", but little by little, instead of our positive energy rubbing off on her, her negative energy drained us.. at lunch one time, she (sadly) was able to actually make me physically ill... I know it sounds crazy... but I decided to be her friend from afar.. to simply pray for her, but never see her again... as I write this, I think, "wow, that was selfish of me to protect my own energy..."  hmmmm... I wonder...

Anyway, Omar Khayyam said, "Be happy for this moment. This moment is your life."  There is a spectacular photograph of 2 of my friends hugging one another... in the background, you see all the other friends looking upon them and smiling.. when you see it, it is love in motion and you can't help but be moved by the happy energy... one of the girls commented to the photographer, "thank you for capturing the "moment." and he replied, "You are a walking "moment." ... What a compliment! I want to cry every time I think about it... That is exactly what we all should want to strive for.. walking into a room and being the positive "moment" for everyone else present.

Is it really that difficult? I don't think so... as Dr. Taylor says we are responsible... we have to be aware of ourselves.. our disposition.. our demeanor.. we all have things that trouble us... we all have days that we are down and don't want to get out of our beds to face the world, but we don't have to take those feelings out with us... if we're lucky we have a friend or 2 with whom we can "vent".. get it out.. and move on into the positive energy that allows us to love ourselves and the world's people as we should... 

May you all be responsible for the energy you bring into a room.. and in your emails.. and on your facebook walls, even... if you choose to remember how blessed you are to be alive and how loved beyond measure you truly are, then.. there is no reason you cannot be the "moment" of positiveness for all the world to witness.. be happy... these moments are your life...

May your weekend be blessed with the energy of LOVE,

With love,

Elena

Coming Full Circle

Hello from my heart to yours....

"Be like the bird who, pausing in her flight awhile on boughs too slight, feels them give way beneath her, and yet sings, knowing she hath wings."     Victor Hugo 

.. and let me tell you... I was singing this morning when the sun's rays were making their way through my window... Alleluia! This is what an Autumn day is like in South Florida.... and the birds are here already... they start arriving as early as August.. we can see them pausing on the tree branches if we would just stop for a moment to observe the wonders of nature... it's easy to take it for granted when you live in such a wonderful climate as SoFla, but since I am one with nature, the "jungle-like" garden (that is overrun with weeds right now from all the rain) is a sanctuary of sorts... it attracts all kinds of birds and animals... there is even a gecko living in the bushes since Easter weekend... 

I read a little about a bird's migration... it's only a "true migration" if it is a round-trip journey... made me think of "coming full-circle..." ... not sure why really, but I suppose I envision the birds always going home... touching base again and starting the next leg of their journey almost as soon as they arrive... I saw a chart that has birds arriving in Miami in August and spending only 3 months here before they start heading back around Thanksgiving... crazy huh? do the math.... half of the year flying and the other half resting... completing a circle over and over... 

We are like that, too... but hopefully we don't spend as much time as they do on each segment of our lives... we are always beginning again... with every new adventure and endeavor, we take flight, and then, we rest... we fly again, and rest again... sometimes the wind is behind us and we can almost glide, however, other times..the headwind is so strong that we are forced to sit on a bough ... if we are lucky, we pick a strong bough to wait out the wind... but if not, and the bough starts to give way beneath us, we have nothing to fear as long as we remember that we have wings....

There are several interpretations for "coming full circle"... but I like this one: 

"To complete a cycle of transition, returning to where one started after gaining experience or exploring other things. " 

no.. I don't "like" it .. I LOVE it ! ... Isn't that what we are always doing? ...changing and transitioning...? hopefully we are doing it to better ourselves... gaining experiences and learning lessons that help us to be the blessed people God intends us to be... always returning to where we started..perhaps to prepare ourselves for the next transition...to gain momentum from the "home" point... what I like is that we can "come full circle" over and over and over again... as long as we keep the "core" values of our circle intact... our morals, our convictions, our beliefs, our faith ... there is no reason why we should ever stop singing during our journey... let the bough break and soar!

May you all fly.. may you all sing... may you all remember that you are loved beyond measure and a cherished blessing to the world and me....

May your evening be blessed with all things good,

With Love,

Elena

Love and Light Within

Hello from my heart to yours...

“I will love the light for it shows me the way, yet I will endure the darkness for it shows me the stars.”
                                                                                  ― Og Mandino

It's still dark here in "sunny" South Florida... and there seems to be no sign of relief... the rain just keeps pounding down on us... but we keep rowing along the streets because in our hearts we know that our light comes from within... and our stars are visible in our dreams... or at least, we should know this as our truth... because as Rev. Willard Fuller said, ‎"You walk in the atmosphere of your own believing." and if you believe that you have that light within you, then, even if it is horridly dark outside, it will not affect your inner atmosphere...

In the past month or so, there has been some strange "love fest" going on between me and my friends and total strangers who have become my friend... I am seeing the "light" in so many people that I am completely relating to Teilhard de Chardin's thought that we are all spiritual beings having a human experience... I sound crazier and crazier to myself.. but I wake up and can't wait to tell Dian, a beautiful young girl who lives in Indonesia, how much I love her... I am overwhelmed with joy when I see all the little 's on my FB wall.. and the interaction between my friends and their friends all exudes love and light... 

Of course, my life isn't perfect.. and actually... pretty far from it... so much so that I was thinking of writing a blog called "the other side of the cloud of peace" .. but then that would be denying the light and the stars within me from having a chance to shine... and that wouldn't be very blessed of me, would it?

In our journey through life, we are all given challenges and tests... trouble and strife.... we all feel moments of hopelessness and despair.. it is part of our human experience.. but we have it in us to accept those times and face them head-on.. armed with the light we carry within us.. Our faith, our hope, and the love we carry in our hearts, can overcome any obstacle in our way... prayer is the steadfast way to finding our way back to ourselves and to our light source... 

This is the month of the Rosary... one of my favorite Priests and Brother in Christ gave the Catholic Council of Women a lesson on the Rosary... he confessed to us how difficult it is for him to say an entire Rosary... which we all found hilarious... in his humanness, he says that the Rosary is not for everyone... but I prayed the Rosary last night with my friends because I believe every little bit of prayer helps... and it is intended to be prayed as a meditation of the mysteries and with hope that our supplications are heard and answered.  

I read that the Tibetans use a "Prayer Wheel" ... they believe that saying the mantra (prayer) Om Mani Padme Hum, invites the blessing of Chenrezig, the embodiment of compassion... and by spinning the written form of the mantra on a prayer wheel, they are in constant prayer... . (Om = Generosity ; Ma = Ethics ; Ni = Patience ; Pad = Wisdom ; Me = Renunciation ; Hum = Diligence)

Whew... that sure was a tangent.... good grief... anyway, this is the prayer I offer right now.... I personally like to say prayers of thanksgiving as I believe that in being grateful for the blessings I have, helps in diminishing the darkness... 

"Infinite Spirit of God, I thank you for the love and the light You have graciously placed in my heart.  May I be able to draw upon its strength always... knowing that You are who replenishes it daily... Thank you for the spiritual beings you have chosen as my travel companions through life... May our lights join so Divinely that there is no possible way we cannot be the blessed people You intend for us to be... Amen." 

...... may you all love the light that guides you from within... may you see only stars in moments of darkness... may you be a source of light for someone who needs faith, hope and love in their lives... always remembering that this human experience you are having is only for a short time... as the cherished blessing that you are to the world, shine your love and light so that everyone realizes how loved beyond measure we all are.....

May your afternoon be filled with light,

With love,

Elena

The Season of Our Joy

Hello from my heart to yours....

"It rained today. All day. Everything was the sound of rain."   RM

.... and it's been raining for 4 days straight .. I would like to write something happy about it, but I am in love with the Sun and the Moon and if I cannot see either of them because of the rain... well, I feel like I am lacking nourishment of some kind.... but that's just the way I am feeling today... because other days like this, I might go out without an umbrella so as to purposely get wet... I love the idea of taking off my shoes and walking into a store barefoot and saying, "I didn't want to ruin my shoes..." and the "No Shoes, No Service" sign is ignored by everyone... 

Rain causes a plethora of emotions in everyone... but I am going to find the blessing in it .... after all, water is essential to life..It nourishes us when we drink it, cook with it, use it to irrigate our crops... It surrounded the world when God created the earth.. and surrounds a fetus as it grows in its mother's womb... 

So... I google... and find "Sukkot" or "The Feast of Tabernacles", which began on the evening of October 12th and ends on October 20th with "Shemini Atzeret" (the day of the RAIN blessing)... This festival commemorates the years that the Jews spent in the desert on their way to the Promised Land, and celebrates the way in which God took special care of them under impossible conditions... The "Feast" is a Hebrew festival because it was given to all Israelites and hence, there are Christian groups who celebrate it as well in order to study their "Hebrew Roots" and the relationship between God and our Messiah... some ancient Jewish sages refer to this time as "The Season of Our JOY."  

"You shall hold a festival for the LORD your God seven days, in the place that the LORD will choose; for the LORD your God will bless all your crops and all your undertakings, and you shall have nothing but joy. "  Deuteronomy 16:15

There you have it... a reason to celebrate the rain... that was a pretty easy lesson for me on how to change my perspective and find the blessing in it... I am happy now and realize that there is no reason why a little rain should get me down... course, 4 days of it.... geeeez... hahahaha...  

May you all be able to find the blessing in everything... blessings surround us all of the time... we are the ones who block the light of the Sun and the glow of the Moon with rainclouds of our own making... welcome the rain... I know that now, whenever it rains, I am going to think of it as "the Season of Our Joy" no matter what time of the year it is...  and my hope is in this comment my friend posted on my facebook status, "Your big beautiful rainbow is on the way!" ... Can't get anymore joyous than that... remember you are loved beyond measure and a cherished blessing to the world and to me... 

May your day be filled with all things good,

With love,

Elena