NOT "Someday"

Hello from my heart to yours.....

"I've heard of Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday. But I've never heard of "Someday." —Reverend Ike

"Someday" I will write a blessing.... lol.... it sounds hilarious of me to write that... but I think I might have answered my aunt that way last night when she said to me, "Cloud, you haven't written lately.."  ... well, it isn't because I haven't had anything to write about... I've actually had too many things to write about maybe...but my thoughts and words just haven't made it to the page...

It reminded me of a friend I had once that would always excuse himself from going places or doing things or moving forward in life by telling me, "Life got in the way." ... yes, "life" does sometimes get in the way, I suppose, and then we start putting everything off and saying "Someday" .. it's so easy to fall into that rut.. it's safer and more comfortable... the idea is to eliminate that word from our vocabulary... we have to simply start... it's impossible for us to live the life we love if we keep putting off our dreams until "Someday"... we are stalling our journey... and we will never love the life we live if we keep saying "Someday" ....

I was trying to think of an affirmation that might help, but saying "Monday or Tuesday or Wednesday.. etc... I will start.... " didn't seem much better to me.... perhaps saying "Today, I will start....." is the only way to ensure that life does not get in the way... so, this morning I said, "Today, I will write a blessing... " ... it may not be a great blessing and it may not convey all the feelings of love that I have been feeling since making my resolution to have "The Best Day EVER" everyday.. (which by the way is working) .. but it's a start... 

... so, my daily affirmations.. my daily mantra.. my daily prayers... my daily offerings in thanksgiving for all the blessings I have... continues to grow.. and I say them aloud because I know that God is listening... I know that the Universe is absorbing all that I send forth from my heart... because I am loved beyond measure... I am blessed.

May you always be willing to give up "Someday" for this day.... TODAY.... because you are loved beyond measure, too.... and you are a cherished blessing to the world TODAY, not "someday" .... 

May you start having "the best day ever" TODAY ... 

I love you,

Elena

Teach LOVE

Hello from my heart to yours...

"No one is born hating another person because of the color of his skin, or his background, or his religion. People must learn to hate, and if they can learn to hate, they can be taught to love, for love comes more naturally to the human heart than its opposite"  

                                       — Nelson Mandela

My parents are loving people, however, when we were growing up, they were prejudice and a little racist, too... fortunately, my siblings and I did not learn that .. probably because, even though they had certain feelings about the friends we chose, they did allow us to choose.. they accepted whoever we brought around... sure, sometimes not without commentaries or eye-rolling, but regardless, they respected our choices... and continue to do so... but God help us if the relationships we choose don't work out... lol... I do think though that "we" keep teaching them that it's easier to just LOVE everyone ... (course, my Ma receives the blessings and I'm certain I will get a response... lol... oh well... it's okay, I know I'm not the "favorite" child... )

Anyway, we are all teachers... we teach those around us through the words we speak and the things we do.... I remember reading a quote once about doing the right thing in front of your kids because they are worse than paparazzi.. they are always learning by watching everything you do... scary, huh? well, it goes the same for all of us.. we are all learning from one another whether we realize it or not... we are all connected to one another as children of God.. and I think we are supposed to learn from one another, but I don't think we are supposed to learn "hate" .. as I said yesterday, "God is LOVE" and because we were all created in His image and are all equally beautiful in His eyes, then WE are LOVE, too... and now I just had a random thought... maybe God only sees our hearts... maybe He only sees the light in our souls when it's shining brightly... maybe He just sees spiritual beings interacting and playing and loving... like fireflies maybe... Oh brother! this is when simply sitting down and writing the blessing without much deep thought and/or editing gets me in trouble...  

Back to teaching... I believe that if we are to truly make a difference in the world, the question we must ask ourselves daily is this: 

Am I teaching LOVE today?

no, no, no...... maybe we should affirm daily... 

I am going to teach LOVE today... I am loved beyond measure... I am a cherished blessing to the world... I am LOVE.

Yes... that's it...I like affirmations better.... 

May your weekend be filled with an abundance of LOVE... 

May you have the best day ever everyday.

I love you.

Elena

So.......

Hello from my heart to yours...

So... think as if your every thought were to be etched in fire upon the sky for all and everything to see. For so, in truth, it is.
So... speak as if the entire world were but a single ear intent on hearing what you say. And so, in truth, it is.
So... do as if your every deed were to recoil upon your heads. And so, in truth, it does.
So... wish as if you were the wish. And so, in truth, you are.
So... live your life as if God himself had need of you. His life to live. And so, in truth, He does."
                                                                                                           — Mikhail Naimy, from The Book of Mirdad 

So... it seems that everything we think and say and do and wish becomes the life we live for God. And so, in truth, it does.
So... it appears that with every step we take we are experiencing God. And so, in truth, we are.

So... my heart felt thought and wish for you is this: 

May your thoughts be filled with LOVE... and so, with God.
May your words be filled with LOVE... and so, with God.
May your actions be filled with LOVE... and so, with God.
May your wishes be filled with LOVE... and so, with God.
"God is LOVE. Those who live in God's love, live in God, and God lives in them." 

You are loved beyond measure.

You are a cherished blessing to the world.

May you have the best day ever.

I love you,

Elena

Speaking Loudly

Hello from my heart to yours....

"What you do speaks so loudly that I cannot hear what you say." 
 Ralph Waldo Emerson

Alrighty then... be truthful... when you read the quote, you immediately had all these negative thoughts of people behaving badly towards you just flashing before your eyes like a mad freak slideshow, didn't you? lol... yeah, it's okay... I kind of did, too.. but of course, since my daily affirmation for 2012 is "This is the best day ever", I quickly turned it around... those negative thoughts and people can only affect me if I let them... therefore, I am here to tell you that there are soooo many more wonderful people in your lives that "speak" so loudly with their actions of LOVE, that you don't need to "hear" what they are saying...

I am here to testify to that... I can honestly say that I have people in my life who "speak" LOVE to me with their actions... and I thank God for that...

Sure, it's nice to "hear" lovely things, but when someone silently smiles at you or gives you a hug or touches your arm or hand.... when someone just passes by you and gives you an unsuspecting kiss... when someone shows you LOVE and kindness and happiness and peace... sometimes... that's all you need to "hear" to have the best day ever....

A friend of mine posted a "Pay it Forward" kind of challenge... this is how it goes....

I promise to make something homemade/handmade for the first 5 people who comment on my post. You must then re-post this on your status and make something for the first 5 people who comment on your status. The rules are it HAS to be homemade by YOU, they must receive it before 2012 ends and you HAVE to re-post this!

Okay.. so I wasn't one of her first 5 to comment, so she won't have to make me anything, but I re-posted it anyway.. after all, I love to make things for people... and really.. how nice would it be to be able to connect with our friends this way... I only have 218 friends... (haha.. I say "only" like it's a few...but I did have almost 500 at one time.. anyway.. I have less drama now...)

I thought it would be easy to get 5 comments... sometimes I get 15 in 2 minutes for really ridiculous things... 53 minutes later, I have 3 comments, but only 1 is willing to play along and re-posted the status... am I taking it personally? nah, not really... however, it does sadden me a bit... only 1 of my friends is willing to "DO" for another ... so...... my beautiful angelic friend and I will make something for one another... lol... and we will show one another the love we feel ... and it will "speak" volumes from Miami to Jerusalem and back.. and we will have the best day ever... Amen.

May you always remember that everything you "do" shows others who you are... all your actions "speak" loudly... the good and the bad... and while people will remember all the smiles and hugs and kisses you have given them, for some reason, the bad actions speak so much louder that they can sometimes be deafening...

May you all be able to "speak" LOVE in all that you "do"... because you are loved beyond measure and are a cherished blessing to the world.. and may your evening be blessed with all things good,
With love,
Elena

Never Alone

Hello from my heart to yours....

“So long as we love, we serve; so long as we are loved by others, I should say that we are almost indispensable; and no man is useless while he has a friend.”

                                                                                                                        Robert Louis Stevenson

We are never alone... so long as we love...

In good times and in bad, in sickness and in health, God is there for us, with us, and in us....  We only have to give ourselves a little love to tap into the amazing flow of the creator's love.... We only have to give ourselves a little respect to feel His great respect for His own creation.... We only have to be thankful for the abundance in our own hearts to tap into a greater flow of abundance.

So when you're tired... down... depressed... and not feeling like yourself, sit and find things to appreciate about yourself.  Give God an inch of opportunity to love you, and He'll take over your heart once again. It feels good to know we are never lost.  Love is only one good thought away....

Keep in mind, too... that God has as many faces as the people He looks after.... and so when someone offers you an outstretched hand.. some words of confidence... a listening ear.. a hug.. a smile.. a pat on the back ... accept these things as God working in disguise... reaching out to you through His blessed people... loving you through the Angels that walk among you in your time of need.... let others love you and you will find how easily you begin to love YOU, too...

May you never feel alone ... but know that if you do, you can always write me a little note and I will tell you what a cherished blessing you are to the world and how you are loved beyond measure....!

May your days be filled with all things good,

With love,

Elena

It's You

Hello from my heart to yours....

"Sniff, sniff, sniff...I think I smell a friend"
"Sniff, sniff, sniff...oh, it's you!"                   Bear in the Big Blue House

When my 16 year old son, Giovanni, was little, he loved to do this to me and for me to do it to him... it was absolutely adorable... He'd yell out... "It's YOU!" and crack himself up....

I have a friend who loves to smell me... says it's my perfume ... it's a cheapy perfume, but now I want to buy every bottle in the store and own stock in it even because I love when he sniffs my face and my neck... T.M.I. for a blessing probably, however, it's a wonderful feeling to have someone want to be so close to you that they sniff, sniff, sniff... and say, "It's you." LOL... 

This is a recycled blessing... you know.. recycled, reduced and reused... I'm glad I had it saved because I had forgotten the wonderfulness of "It's you."  This blessing came about because I was singing in church one Saturday evening .. not in the choir.. but from the last pew...it's safer there since no one is going to turn around to see who's singing... Anyway, during the part of the Mass where we wish one another peace, a man, who was sitting with his family in the back row, walked over and said, "Oh, it's you... peace be with you secret singer" and I just smiled and replied, "and peace be with you my Emmaus brother.." and he walked away... to this day, I have no idea who he is... 

This reminded me of the movie Hook, which I watch again and again with Giorgio since his best friend loves Peter Pan.. anyway, there's a scene where one of the lost boys cups the grown-up Peter Pan's face and looking into his eyes he says, "It's you."

and I started thinking about that little sentence... "It's you."  Imagine if we could all use our senses to recognize God in one another.... it really isn't that difficult obviously... I mean a bear can smell a friend... a man in church heard my voice.. and the lost boy saw the child in Peter Pan's eyes....

We are all children of God... His love is in our hearts... Love and let God shine through you...be open to see God in others, too..... so that we can always recognize each other... it's actually very simple... think about this way......

.......through our ability to hear one another's voices and the sound of laughter... through our ability to touch hands and feel someone's cheek against ours... through our ability to smell someone's cooking or their cheap perfume... through our ability to taste a dessert prepared for us or the taste of salty tears when we kiss our children... through our ability to see the beauty in someone's smile and the sparkle in everyone's eyes ....  through all of these things and more, we can see God in one another.. and wouldn't this world be a fabulous place if all around us we heard.... 

Oh, it's YOU!

After all, we are loved beyond measure and are cherished blessings to the world... we should recognize God in each other always....

May your afternoon be filled with love,

Elena 

Resolution: Pray and Prepare

Hello from my heart to yours....

 

"If one prays and asks for success and prepares for failure, he will get the situation he has prayed and prepared for..."

                                                                                    Florence Scovel Shinn

 

Happy New Year... it's resolution time again... I'm not too sure that I have exactly "one" resolution I'd like to make... or if I want to make any really... they all seem so frivolous.. lose the 5 lbs I gained over the holidays.. drink less beer... eat healthier... seriously?  ... so, I'm thinking I may just make it more general... like praying and preparing for a decidedly good year ... that's easy, right? maybe too general... but I have been praying about the best "resolution" for me... so, I think I just might ask God to open my eyes and ears and heart more... so that I am prepared to receive all that is mine in my Divine Right... although, as I write that, it seems a little selfish since I feel that I am so blessed already with an abundance of love... I am surrounded by loving and peaceful family and friends... and I carry the hearts of all my kindred spirits in my heart all the time..... love flows like a river.. ever-winding and free... so, I pause now and reflect.... as I think about how wonderful the miracle season has been for me, the "light bulb" goes on and shines brightly.... and my resolution will be this: 

"I resolve to pray and prepare myself for all the continued blessings that I will receive... and I resolve to be thankful to God for all the unconditional love He bestows upon me through His gracious blessings... and I resolve to be the blessed person He intends for me to be... "

I will pray and prepare for an even better year.. the best I have ever experienced....  I will pray and prepare for smiles and sunshine...and joy and laughter.... and love, above all things, I will pray for love, and I will be prepared to share the love I have in my heart with everyone I come in contact with... be it in person or via email or via facebook, even... and I will pray that you all have the same and are prepared to receive love as well....

 

... I will not be discouraged if I feel it isn't happening... it will be a daily exercise ... I resolve to have continued faith and hope.. and I will sit back and prepare to enjoy everyday daily as the best imaginable day ever... I will be constant in my prayers and preparation ... so that at the end of each day I can say, 

"I prayed and was prepared for the blessings of this day... it was one of the best days I've ever had...."

 

May you always be willing to pray and prepare for the best that God has to offer you .. resolve to be open to receive all the blessings that are yours in your Divine Right because 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