Notes From the Universe

Each weekday I receive a note from the universe…it arrives via email. Quite a nice way to greet the day. Here is today’s note….made me smile!

Do you know what today is, Miss Dragonfly?

Besides Friday.

It’s February 29, 2008.

Ah-ha!

Do you know what today means, in spiritual, numerical terms?

Me neither.

But I know this, your thoughts become things every single day, no matter what the occasion, no matter where the energy vortices lie, no matter when the equinox starts, no matter what the economy is doing, no matter who is in office, no matter what you want, no matter when you want it, no matter what, no matter what, no matter what.

Any other thinking just gives your power away.

Love you by leaps and bounds,

The Universe

Of course, Miss Dragonfly, numbers have a story to tell, so do the stars, tea leaves, and crystals, it’s just that your thoughts speak 10,000 times louder than all of them combined.

Check out Notes From the Universe.

A New Earth

Pink lotus, originally uploaded by tanakawho.

I have decided to (try and) read Oprah’s book club selection A New Earth: Awakening to Your Life’s Purpose and (maybe) participate in the online classes.* I am less than 30 pages into the book, and …so far…Eckhart Tolle has said so many things that make sense to me. I don’t know if he is right, but I do know what I have felt and known since I was five or six years old. This is when I first remember thinking, there is more, there is something we are missing.

As I read this book last night, I was reminded of the Unitarian Universalist principles which include: The inherent worth and dignity of every person; Justice, equity and compassion in human relations; Acceptance of one another and encouragement to spiritual growth; A free and responsible search for truth and meaning; The goal of world community with peace, liberty and justice for all; Respect for the interdependent web of existence of which we are a part.

I don’t know if it will continue to make sense and ring true to me, but so far I am pleasantly surprised.

*As you can see, I am a very decisive person!

If It’s The Beaches

I am in a FAFSA fog today. So, I thought that I would just post this wonderful song by The Avett Brothers:

Don’t say it’s over
Cause that’s the worst news I could hear I swear that I will
Do my best to be here just the way you like it
Even though its hard to hide
Push my feelings all aside
I will rearrange my plans and change for you

If I could go back
That’s the first thing I would do I swear that I would
Do my best to follow through
Come up with a master plan
A home run hit, a winning stand
A guarantee and not a promise
That I’d never let your love slip from my hands

If it’s the beaches
If it’s the beaches’ sands you want
Then you will have them
If it’s the mountains’ bending rivers
Then you will have them
If it’s the wish to run away
Then I will grant it
Take whatever what you think of
While I go gas up the truck
Pack the old love letters up
We will read them when we forget why we left here

“If It’s The Beaches” – The Avett Brothers

Hmm, second chances…we don’t always get them.

Looking For the Hope

Recently, we have had another layer (actually more than one…) of tragedy added to the layers of pain that we are currently experiencing. I never expected life to keep adding blow after blow like this. It is too much. It’s just too painful.

I keep reaching for hope, reaching for love, reaching for healing…only to get slapped back down. I am left with hoping for hope.

For years and years, I have had daily suicidal thoughts. Physical pain. How to live through the next minute, the next hour? Day? Knowing that it doesn’t stop. It never stops. How do you keep going…and why?

Starr. Family. Hope. Art. Love. Spirituality. Music. Oh my God, Starr.

These things have been my lifeline.

In the face of these additional continued unrelenting agonizing life events…well, the line is thinning. Not broken, but oh so very thin.

I am not giving up. I promise.

I spent some time looking through my music files, looking for the “perfect” song to add to this post. In the absence of that song, I have chosen to go with….completely irrelevant.

“Are We Ever Gonna Have Sex Again?” – Amy Rigby

Hope Connects Us All

I hate to post more videos so soon, but there were a couple bits of awesomeness at the Oscars last night. I felt a bit like a proud parent.

From Glen – “Make Art. Make Art.”

From Marketa – “No matter how far out your dreams are…it’s possible.”

Edit: The second and BEST part of this post was removed from YouTube…I found a second best option…hopefully it will stay up for a while.

Edit again: So, in lieu of the real thing…here is a transcript of the acceptance speeches…which were just great:

Glen Hansard:
Thanks! This is amazing. What are we doing here? This is mad. We made this film two years ago. We shot on two Handycams. It took us three weeks to make. We made it for a hundred grand. We never thought we would come into a room like this and be in front of you people. It’s been an amazing thing. Thanks for taking this film seriously, all of you. It means a lot to us. Thanks to the Academy, thanks to all the people who’ve helped us, they know who they are, we don’t need to say them. This is amazing. Make art. Make art. Thanks.

Marketa Irglova:
Hi everyone. I just want to thank you so much. This is such a big deal, not only for us, but for all other independent musicians and artists that spend most of their time struggling, and this, the fact that we’re standing here tonight, the fact that we’re able to hold this, it’s just to prove no matter how far out your dreams are, it’s possible. And, you know, fair play to those who dare to dream and don’t give up. And this song was written from a perspective of hope, and hope at the end of the day connects us all, no matter how different we are. And so thank you so much, who helped us along way. Thank you.

PostSecret Sunday

Each and every week, I start my Sundays with PostSecret. I have so much love for Frank and his project. I am passionate about it.

Sometimes shocking. Sometimes funny. Often moving.

I have been to the bookstore and paged through a couple of Frank Warren’s PostSecret books. There were several secrets left there by others. I often wonder which of my secrets I would like to release in this manner.

Today I will decide. I will make a postcard with my secret, and I will leave it for someone to find.

I Saw My Reflection

David Fridlund is offering a new EP “I Saw My Reflection and Didn’t Recognize Myself” (download the Zip file with this link) as a free download from his band David & the Citizens‘ website.

Thanks to Sixeyes MP3 Blog for the heads up. I was moved by David’s words about the first song on the EP “With Every New Day”:

“With Every New Day” was written early 2007 in a period of my life when everything was really fucked up. I was in a place that felt like hell. Everything was falling apart and people who I thought were my friends were showing sides of themselves that scared me and brought me to my knees over and over again.. I won’t say I was suicidal, because that’s not my style, but I was so sad and broken that I thought it would never pass. This song was an attempt to tell myself that there were still sparks inside of me. All I had to do was to get through whatever shit I was in and I would come out stronger on the other side, ’cause what doesn’t kill you… All this time the phone was so quiet and I slowly realized nobody would call and ask how I was.”

I am still trying to find those sparks within myself.

Check David and his band out, listen to some of their songs, as well as listen to David’s girlfriend Sarah Culler’s music. They all have several mp3′s available for downloading on MySpace and their individual websites.

Here is the first song that I ever heard of David’s, it is still highly rated around here:

“April & May” – David Fridlund

Thanks to David for sharing, and to Alan Williamson at Sixeyes for the moving post.

Love is My Religion

So, I was in my car this morning, running errands, listening to my favorite local radio station, KBCO, and this song by Ziggy Marley came on. Love is My Religion. I like the song, I like Ziggy, but it really struck me on this beautiful spring-like day.

There are relationships in our lives right now that are so very broken (as a result of that tragic tragic accident) that they feel irreparable. But love might just be the cure…in the long run. We have been choosing love, but results are elusive. We will continue to focus our love in those directions and maybe some day, we will all begin to feel the healing.

I don’t want to fight.
Hey, let’s go fly a kite.
There’s nothing that we can’t cure.
And I’ll keep you in my arms for sure.

So don’t let nobody stop us.
Free spirits have to soar.
With you, I share the gift,
The gift that we now know.

I wish that it was easier.

Ziggy Marley MySpace

It’s an Abomination…not!

I just read the Pajiba review for For The BIBLE Tells Me So I found his review really quite powerful, and while I haven’t seen the movie yet, it has been on my to-do list for quite some time. Here is a clip from The West Wing, which Dustin Rowles included in his piece. (I chose a slightly shorter clip)

And although I posted this trailer for the film several weeks ago, here it is again:

Thank you, Dustin, for sharing.

Um, Clogging?

Starr is in pain today. She called me just now while walking to class just to tell me that she is in a “hella lotta pain!” caused by her recent attempts at “clogging” in her dorm room. Huh? She’s a fast talker and she is walking and I am hearing wind noise over the cell phone.

She said that she thought she remembered how, so she thought she would try it for a while and see how it goes. But, now she regrets it because she can barely walk! She’s talking so fast, I can’t clarify yet, and she did clog when she was ten….but?

I am getting silly mental images of her clogging in her tiny dorm room, other students looking in at the sight as they pass by. And just what kind of music did she choose? And just how much clogging would she have to do to be in “hella” pain? Nope, it really doesn’t sound right, and at a small break in her conversation (monologue?) I asked “um, did you say clogging?”

Amid laughter, she responds “Oh my God, mom….no! Pilates!”

Ahh, now that makes so much more sense!!