Unfolding...

petal by petal... moment by moment, day.. by day...

May we give ourselves

the same gift..

Thank you Lotos Blossom, for your wisdom!

What we can't do alone...

We can do together!!

Thank you "We for Animals"

Star of the day...

Starfish deserve their stars!

Each Starfish has the ability to regenerate itself into a new starfish, with a single lost arm attached to a portion of the central starfish body disc. This central disc is the activity center of the starfish and also contains their mouth. Starfish can be found in the ocean all around the world.

Females are capable of releasing 2 million starfish eggs at any one time, usually, they release 1 million eggs! Starfish also can change gender when it is convenient to them!! What gifted creatures!

The downside is that due to habitat loss and pollution, starfish are an endangered species and their numbers are drastically decreasing!!

All eyes and ears..

The incredible deep eyes of this little monkey captured my heart. Those ears look like they are fine tuned for hearing and listening. Your intense look little monkey seems to be saying.. "pay attention"! How much do I miss each day because I am not really paying attention to what is going on within me and around me? "All eyes and ears" is an expression that says to me.. be focused.. give your full attention, and that is what I want to do on a daily basis. Give Life and Living my full attention..! Thank you dear little monkey for reminding me, as I don't want to miss out on anything in this wonderful journey of life. "What wonders will I become aware of today by remaining all eyes and ears?"

A Heart to Heart with "Little Stream"

Little brook, little stream I heard you before I saw you..or was it sister wind rippling through the trees as we approached you? Your gentle song, gladdened and saddened my heart. Gladdened, because you sing as you give life and you and your song nurture me. Saddened, because I saw what a small stream you had become and wondered how much you would have liked to go deeper.

We humans have closed our ears and our hearts to your song. Closed our ears and our hearts to your needs. We treat you as an object for our gratification with no sense or willingness to sense your Being, your gift as you are!! We expect and demand that you fill our needs.. fill.. fill..fill.. as we deplete all that nurtures you, enlivens you and refreshes you.

We your blind and selfish kin do not honor you with that understanding of kin. We pollute your sparkling crisp clear essence and drown your song with the noise of more more more..with no thought of replenishing you or renewing you. I fear what you might say to us and you would have every reason to disown our kinship. We truly speak with forked tongue extolling your beauty on the one hand while objectifying you on the other.

How do we begin to heal our relationship ...how do we become kin little stream? Is it yet possible or have we come too little to late?

" As you have said dear human, even in my little-ness I sing and move; you and others have honored that and that is a beginning. We are entering into relationship, a mutual relationship..Many are beginning to see me for and in my essence and fullness, rather than my doing..just as you humans are beginning to

realize the contamination of too much "doing" without valuing your essence your own fullness. Each of us then, needs to be nothing more than who and what we are in our fullness...To begin to realize this and recognize this is the beginning of healing and the renewing of kinship and relationship."

Thank you little stream, this sharing has gladdened me and amazed me.

Twins??

Being a Twin myself, I was delighted to find this picture!

Thank you, "Beautiful Free Pictures.com"

Mother Earth feeds us...

How do we feed her?

Consequences...

This sea turtle on Grand Terre Island is suffering the consequences of an oil spill

that was unexpected and unplanned for!

Let us learn to think hard about the long term consequences of our actions.. especially

the ones we think "won't have any major effects" or more "will never happen"!

Thank you Lee Celano from Reuters for this photo.

Be...

the light in the darkness!

How?

By being yourself!

Do something you love to do, today!

Give...

A word of thanks..

A smile..

A gentle touch..

A word of appreciation..

Forgiveness..

Be the light in the darkness!

Just as the sun shines through the clouds for us,

We can be the sun for all those we meet today!

Enjoy the light that you will bring...!

Getting to know you..!

I don't think it would surprise us to find out that the favorite food of Grasshopper is ...Grass! We may be surprised to learn that Grasshopper can jump incredible heights and distances and that his/her life span is one year! There are 11,000 species of Grasshopper and a baby grasshopper is known as a nymph.

Grasshopper also has wings which means he/she can migrate over long distances when the weather gets to cold.

Thank you A-Z Animals for this unique information concerning grasshopper. The more I learn the more I appreciate the wonderful diversity and giftedness of our family.

When we were kids we thought nothing of catching grasshoppers and putting them in jars for our enjoyment. We were not trying to be mean, we just thought they were special and wanted to enjoy them as long as we could. Now that I know their life span is so short I want to shout to all our family members "enjoy them but let them be!!"

Isn't it wonderful what the gift of a little more information can do for appreciating one's family!

I will be watching very carefully to catch grasshopper displaying his/her jumping skills!!

Thank you Grasshopper.. I'm so glad to have gotten to know you better!

More than "just a Bee"!

I have greatly underestimated the value of Bumble Bees!! According to A-Z Animals; "Bumble Bees play a valuable part in the eco-system, as around 1/3 of what humans eat is pollinated by bees. It is estimated that around 80% of the worlds crop species are dependent on the pollination of bees to survive. Sadly, due to high pollution levels and habitat loss Bumble Bees are rapidly declining. " "Human beings do not give Bees the respect they deserve as Bees are vital to the survival of plants which in turn are vital to the survival of humans."

Dear Bumble Bee, I was not aware of how much you give to the life and survival of our family. I am so sorry. May what I have learned not be too little and too late for ensuring your survival.

Vulnerability...death...Life...

This sky blue fragile, strong, ice challenges me to see and admit my limitations! We do have our limits..and the changing weather patterns in our lives often make them more real than we would like to admit.

Strong, solid, ice...melts...cracks...and breaks! We are no different.. and yet there are times we'd like to think we are.

As I hold this image in my heart I realize that limits, change and death, as hard as they can be..bring about some form of newness.. If I am willing to see it....The strong ice is not lost...but has changed form...and is now water. This new form brings its own gifts and challenges.

This cycle, of life, growth, and death, we may see as undesirable and fearful, yet.. All of life..and all life forms live this cycle second by second.. We leave one home for another.. we grow from a child to a teen to an adult... rock becomes sand..ice becomes water...

Thank you dear transparent ice for giving me the courage to see in our life, growth, death cycle more than death..death comes and if we are willing to wait.. so does life once again....

See your strength...!

The stance of this beautiful Tiger says I know my strength! A stance of confidence and assurance! A powerful claiming of what is true within! Do I know my strength? Do I reflect in my own living that same sense of confidence and assurance?? Sometimes I think I do and at other times I'm not so sure. In a recent conversation with my nephew he raised a question that many of us have thought about.. Why is it we don't see our own strengths? Often it takes another persons observation and reflection to name for us that which we might doubt in ourselves. All the more reason that we need a community around us.. so that we can make visible for each other what we may see but question on our own. Once our strengths are revealed, however, it is up to us to claim them.. no one can do that for us! Thank you Tiger, for challenging me to see, name and claim my strengths, just as you do yours!

Thank you too for reminding us that it is living within our Pride /family and engaging with others that enables us to know and claim those strengths.