February 2

Tomorrow my son turns six, and tonight he was literally buzzing with the excitement.... "mommy, aren't you so excited??? Tomorrow is my birthday!! Tomorrow I turn six!!"....

Tonight, I cradled my dying grandmother in my arms and felt so totally at peace.  So grateful that her whole entire life will end in the arms of loved ones.

Tonight, I laughed with my sisters over the madness of my week.

I'm setting fire to the rain.... listening over and over to the popular song by Adele that just moves my spirit so high....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FlsBObg-1BQ

And I am embracing "joie de vivre"....


Joie de vivre (French pronunciation: [ʒwa də vivʁ], joy of living) is a French phrase often used in English to express a cheerful enjoyment of life; an exultation of spirit. Joie de vivre "can be a joy of conversation, joy of eating, joy of anything one might do… And joie de vivre may be seen as a joy of everything, a comprehensive joy, a philosophy of life, a Weltanschauung. Robert's Dictionnaire says joie is sentiment exaltant ressenti par toute la conscience, that is, involves one's whole being."[1]

This week... I have laughed and I have sobbed... and become even more convinced that there is nothing in this world that matters more than love.  No money, no things, no rain, no distance, no pain, no resentment, no loneliness, nothing matters more than love.  May love set fire to my life.... may a wildfire spread throughout the world.... may love set fire to the rain.....

I'm crying too hard to see the screen anymore...

Aloha, 

Emily

January 14

"The most common way people give up their power is by thinking they don't have any."
- Alice Walker

What power do you possess that you have never harnessed???

Interesting to ponder....

Aloha,
Emily

January 5

I love the inspiration that I am getting from music.  God has always loved to speak right into my heart through music.

Today I've been grumpy.... My body feels crappy.... I feel out of sorts... troubled.... broken down....
And for the last hour, I've been trying to embrace my crappy mood and just be grateful for the reasons that I feel crappy.... And then on comes Jack Johnson again.....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y4O7ufx9D_s


Breakdown
I hope this old train breaks down
Then I could take a walk around
See what there is to see
Time is just a melody
With all the people in the street
Walking as fast as their feet can take them
I just roll through town
And though my window’s got a view
Well the frame I’m looking through
Seems to have no concern for now so for now I
I need this here old train to breakdown
Oh please just let me please breakdown
Well this engine screams out loud
Centipede gonna crawl westbound
So I don’t even make a sound
Because it’s gonna sting me when I leave this town
And all the people in the street
That I’ll never get to meet
If these tracks don’t bend somehow
And I got no time that I got to get
To where I don’t need to be so I
I need this here old train to breakdown
Oh please just let me please breakdown
I want to break on down
But I can’t stop now
Let me break on down
But you can’t stop nothing if you got no control
Of the thoughts in your mind that you kept and you know
That you don’t know nothing but you don’t need to know
The wisdom’s in the trees not the glass windows
You can’t stop wishing if you don’t let go
Of the things that you find and you lose and you know
You keep on rolling, put the moment on hold
Because the frame’s too bright, so put the blinds down low
I need this here old train to breakdown
Oh please just let me please breakdown
I got to break on down
But I can’t stop now

This Hawaii theme is just too cool in my life right now.

Aloha,
Emily

December 30

Sitting with my sis falling asleep on my shoulder listening to tunes.... today's blog is inspired by Jack Johnson, who hails from Hawaii.... what a nice fit with the theme for my blog this year.  Happy New Year everyone.... and wishing my mom and dad love on their 40th wedding anniversary today.  Love is always best when shared.

Enjoy:) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c2KYTOw5Fm4

"Better Together"

There is no combination of words I could put on the back of a postcard
No song that I could sing, but I can try for your heart
Our dreams, and they are made out of real things
Like a, shoebox of photographs
With sepia-toned loving
Love is the answer,
At least for most of the questions in my heart
Like why are we here? And where do we go?
And how come it's so hard?
It's not always easy and
Sometimes life can be deceiving
I'll tell you one thing, it's always better when we're together

Mmm, it's always better when we're together
Yeah, we'll look at the stars when we're together
Well, it's always better when we're together
Yeah, it's always better when we're together

And all of these moments
Just might find their way into my dreams tonight
But I know that they'll be gone
When the morning light sings
And brings new things
For tomorrow night you see
That they'll be gone too
Too many things I have to do
But if all of these dreams might find their way
Into my day to day scene
I'd be under the impression
I was somewhere in between
With only two
Just me and you
Not so many things we got to do
Or places we got to be
We'll sit beneath the mango tree now

Yeah, it's always better when we're together
Mmm, we're somewhere in between together
Well, it's always better when we're together
Yeah, it's always better when we're together

Mmm, mmm, mmm

I believe in memories
They look so, so pretty when I sleep
Hey now, and when I wake up,
You look so pretty sleeping next to me
But there is not enough time,
And there is no, no song I could sing
And there is no combination of words I could say
But I will still tell you one thing
We're better together.

To a New Year full of love!

Aloha,
Emily

December 22

Love your neighbour as you love yourself...

As you love yourself...

As I love myself....

What if I have been neglecting my self...

Does that impact my capacity to love my neighbour - - - or anyone else for that matter?

I have always loved Cheryl Richardson's philosophy of "The Art of Self-Care"....

I have decided that it is time to spend more time showing love and care for myself.... in meaningful ways that fill my cup and give me the capacity to love others, and it all starts here and now with improving my health.

Aloha,
Emily

December 19

Happy Holidays Everyone.

May the love of the season gently rest in our hearts.....Renee Locks

I am here to tell you, to promise you in fact, that simple, tiny changes made one minute at a time, one experience at a time, will positively change your life and every outcome of every experience, in powerful (though sometimes subtle) ways.
  ~Karen Casey

December 5

"I love the way you lie...."

These words come from a favourite pop song of my right now by Eminem and Rihanna....

Sometimes we accept lies... untruth...

We allow pain and resentment, apathy, ignorance, disregard to settle in our lives like water trapped in puddles after a flood.... but they stagnate and breed disease.  Our lives become swamps and we get stuck, bogged down by the rot and decay of life lived devoid of the light.... and we get sick... and wonder why we can never get healthy....

Can I admit that I am guilty of accepting lies because the truth would be harder to accept?

Yes.... But the light is growing brighter.... Like sunshine on a meadow of wildflowers...

Once, I wasn't doing very well.  I felt lost and exhausted.  I felt bogged down.

I sat in my front room and turned my face to the sun to take a few deep breaths and regain myself.  And in that moment, I recall that I turned my face, eyes closed to the sun.... Initially, the sun shone dark and red through my eyelids....but within moments, the light pulsed, growing brighter and whiter until it was pure and white.... and the lord spoke to me and said, "I want to fill your life with love and light".  And I knew that I was strong enough to overcome anything, and that he would always find a way to bring me back into his love and light when I wandered into darkness.

I don't believe anymore that God sits and waits for us to return when we wander.

I believe that He is with us everywhere, always.... trying to fill our lives with love and light if we will let Him.

God has always spoken to me through music... and I thank him for the gift of music that he is teaching me to rediscover right now.  Music is truly a language of love.....

Aloha,
Emily