Plant Cell Model Courtesy of Adam

selectively permeable membrane – A membrane that allows the passage of only certain substances, selected on the basis of the size and usefulness of molecules. (According to encyclopedia.com)

Not Selectively Permeable – closer to Completely Permeable – that was more my constitution for many of my younger years. Boundaries? hmmm….doesn’t ring a bell…absorbent, spongelike and porous was more my M.O. Attitudes, opinions, anger, fear, irrational behavior, addictions, natural disasters and unnatural disasters happening both half way around the world and in my back yard but usually completely not my own- all had the ability at any given moment to blast through my pathetic first defense line and completely run am0k through my entire being. My lack of selectability, caused me to appear as quite a “fragile” girl, and at times an utter train wreck. Appearances can be quite deceiving though, even to oneself. I never felt particularly fragile, just knew I was extremely sensitive to the world around me, and often had difficulty seeing where you ended and where I began.

Times have changed though (Can I hear a Hallelujah!) – amazing what twenty years can do, and I have worked with much diligence to remember to honor and respect myself on a daily basis. Have gotten a lot better at drawing clearer, bolder, cleaner lines between me and my surroundings and am much better for it. Also learning to take things that come up less personally, with a loving detachment, which has proven to be a very strong tool to get through some days with. I’ve come to the conclusion (so glad I am realizing this now rather than years from now), that it is all one big lesson. Be a duck (let it roll off your back, remember?) Let it go…take what you can from it…move on….it is all good….it really is you know…think on it…feel it…

Someone’s brilliant and inspired exhibition at the 2009 Rose Bowl Parade -
Leonardo Da Vinci – one of the greatest dreamers of all time.

If there were even one bright light amidst a pitch black night
it would have the ability to radiate for miles with the potency to illuminate a multitude of pathways.

Don’t terminate your dreams. Please don’t stuff them away. Don’t think any of the seemingly insignificant or ridiculous notions that swim around or marinate in your brain, keeping you up nights, sending your heart soaring and swooning, propelling blissful shock waves through your soul, butterflies in your stomach – for weeks, months, maybe even years – is inconsequential.
You might feel if you brought it out to the world that it wouldn’t matter, or wouldn’t make a difference. After all, who is going to want to hear your idea, listen to your song, read your novel, taste your fabulous spaghetti sauce, utilize your new and improved mouse trap…

We have all been given very special and unique gifts in this lifetime, and although we may gratefully accept these gifts, we truly are only doing half of our job as receivers if we don’t share with others what it is we have received. That ‘s just how it is. You need to take all of those plans you socked away on scraps of paper and pull them out of your junk drawer, collect all the sheet music you had given up a long time ago on, gather up that manuscript that has been rejected what – at least once if not twenty times…just splash your face, brush your teeth, slap a smile on and commit to getting it out into the light. Because this is what you were meant to do – maybe one of the many things you were meant to do – all of those dreams you let go by the way side because of that little voice inside your head (or some of the voices outside of your head) telling you it wasn’t a good enough idea, people might laugh, its been done before, you’ll fail miserably, why don’t you get a real job, what are you crazy?

WELL YOU KNOW WHAT? la la la la la la la la….I can’t hear you…la la la la la …did you say something because I CAN’T HEAR YOU….

NO MORE. You MUST bring it out, because not only were these Divine gifts meant to enchant You, inspire You, teach You, Delight You…they were also intended for all of us as well. And that’s what we do, we share.

When I see someone
With malice in his heart
I want to be the mirror of his hatred
Until I let myself see the God in him.

When I stand in error
Having done a thing I meant never to do
I view myself with loathing
Until I let myself know the God in me.

When we stand apart
Making differences of all we are
I want to win the battle of our wills
Until I allow the thought that we are both Creators.

Is it respect I must then admit to
Or tolerance or acceptance?
Or is it the caress of understanding we are One?

By Mary Beth Watt

Thank you for letting me share this loving and inspired reminder, Mary Beth…
Just the message I needed to hear this morning….Donna

Louis, love of my life, and all around wonderful, kind-hearted and compassionate guy is presently participating in an amazing, life altering adventure. He has been working on a personal goal to participate in a 100 mile bike ride this year, and has been busy self training for a few months already. To give a greater purpose to his goal, he has now partnered with The Leukemia and Lymphoma Society’s Team In Training program.

Come June 7th, he will be participating in “America’s Most Beautiful Bike Ride”, a 100 mile ride around Lake Tahoe. During the next several months of intense training with his Team In Training coaches and teammates, his more important mission is to raise a minimum of $3900 to help find a cure for leukemia, lymphoma, Hodgkin lymphoma and myeloma. To accomplish this, he is asking for your generous support. Help find a cure by donating now.

Please go to his personal online fundraising page for your credit card donations: http://pages.teamintraining.org/los/ambbr09/lcetorelli

Your generosity is greatly appreciated. Thank you.

P.S. For more info on the Team In Training program, please visit www.teamintraining.org/los .

Time to take the blinders off and break through the fences put up so long ago….

Remove all armor, don’t run and hide…

Reach to new heights that nourish and allow growth…

Let out a victory yell and let them know you have arrived…

And prepare to take flight. It’s okay, you’re never alone….

You are glorious!

Resides a most appropriate message…

Peace, Love and the Warmest of Wishes to You All!

Donna

Carla is teaching me that it doesn’t take but just a little bit of effort to make someone purr in rapturous delight. The crows are instructing me how to focus amidst chaos, to see the bigger pictures as well as the smaller ones, and that magic completely surrounds us if we only make the choice to see it. Louis is demonstrating how to cultivate a compelling sense of humor, how to laugh consistently throughout the day, and how to get over myself. (Thank you big time for that!) Elaine is reminding me to take care of myself. Rose Hydrosol is keeping me light, fresh and optimistic. The sun is beckoning me to come join it for awhile – good for the soul, good for the bones. Chocolate is training me to jump for joy everyday (he is a guinea pig – that’s what they do.) Muffin is showing me it is okay to stay on the wheel for hours on end but every once in awhile you just have to stop running let go and see where you get flung – have faith and enjoy the flight!

“Be Still.”
“Hmmm, what should I call this new blend? And I’ll need to make labels, do I even have any of that size left….”
“Be Still.”
“Ahhh, yes breathe, thank you… Oh, I can’t forget to call Brian and see which classroom I am in this weekend. How am I going to begin this new class? I need to mix it up a bit, create a new intro…”
“Be Still.”
“Okay. Yes, I know…don’t force it, be still, just listen, yes I will… That’s it, I can use that 50 pounds of turbinado sugar to make Christmas cookies with. That’s a lot of cookies though. I won’t need that many. What else could I use it for? I guess I could always give it away….”
“Be Still.”
“I forgot… okay, let’s begin again and be still. This is me breathing – in and out…ahhh…I wonder what time it is, I still have to post – what am I going to write about? Oh, and go to Kinko’s to check on pricing. Darn it I forgot to stop at the post office. Maybe I can swing by on the way home from picking up the kids – oh that’s right, I’m not picking up the kids today, it’s not my day….”
“Be Still.
“Alright. I know. Focus. Use your eagle sense…Be still and listen. Pay attention. Stop wandering. O.k. I’m ready now…here’s me taking a big breath in – ahhhhh.”
“Be Still. (We can do this all day.)”
“No, it’s okay, I am here now, I am present, see, I’m breathing…”
“Be Still and Listen, Before You Take Any Action.”
“Yes, thank you, this is good, just breathe, observe, listen – I can do that.”
“It’s the most important step.”

Just found this beautiful piece on YouTube and was incredibly moved – the video speaks for itself. Thanks for sharing with us Juan! I send you a big energetic hug where ever you are out there…

free hugs campaign

www.freehomecampaign.org

Ps. Interested to hear more on your www.freehelpcampaign.org – it is not coming up so maybe the name has changed – a truly brilliant idea!

Ravaged by the dark night of the soul of our country, losing grasp of our tightly held capitalist ideals, unsure in our footing of how to proceed without losing everything we have come to know as our truth, our path, our way of existence, it can be positively unfathomable to some how this could have ever happened. To some it is unfathomable to think that it never would.

We are without doubt on the down side of this particular cycle, not many would argue that. There will be much more pain experienced by many world wide on a variety of levels and some of us won’t be able to see it through. We are being forced to wait out the wake of this global transformation. We will be thoroughly cleansed, held accountable and will change our course of action both individually and as a global unit, or we will wither and die as a civilization. Don’t think this is a mere economic issue, this ripple is the largest and most powerful to date in all of human existence.

But it’s just what we needed – a gift of a global wake up call. There have been certain voices that have been heralding warnings to us all for some time now, but they haven’t been heeded. What we are experiencing is the universe in a state of self-correction on course to reclaim balance – and it will with or without us.

Let us not get sucked in to the media vacuum and frenzy though as that won’t serve us or our cause. It’s too easy to buy into the bombardment of doom and gloom commentary, (yes, I am aware things aren’t looking great right now, I am not an ostrich) but what we really need is clear heads when working it all through, try and reach some level of detachment, so we can focus. Lets start being accountable for our own part of the plight though, and personally develop our own plans of how we can improve the situation. This is not to be left solely in the hands of our leaders. It is much much bigger then that and needs everyone’s participation. If you can’t lend a hand on a physical level to assist one of the many situations that need addressing, consider praying. You don’t have to be religious to pray. If you prefer, call it visualizing. Visualize the changes necessary to achieve balance. Don’t focus on the negative, focus on seeing a positive change. In the most precious words of Mahatma Gandhi “Be the change you want to see in the world.” Reevaluate your present values, make immediate changes where necessary. And they can be immediate, just express it out loud to the world whatever it is, and keep saying it ’til it sticks.

Don’t turn a blind eye. (This is reminder to myself here just as much as to anyone else – it is easy to point fingers under such circumstances, but we all need to hold ourselves responsible for our own parts of the imbalance, not to mention for our own future.) We are not a perfect species, but as my sister reminds me often, “It’s progress, not perfection.” We just need to begin and take positive action somewhere.

Yes, I think this was a very generous gift, this upheaval. Got all of our attention didn’t it? Tsunamis, Earthquakes, Hurricanes, Fires and we still neglected to see. (Okay, hit ‘em in the pocket book – gee that might actually work… ) We have the chance to turn it ALL around though. What an opportunity! We can make it even better than before. We can rise to this challenge and look forward to brighter days ahead. We just each need to step up and get involved. We will see the light again. We must have hope and positive expectations.