Isabell

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We are all different expressions of one reality, different songs of one singer, different dances of one dancer, different paintings - but the painter is one. ~Osho Look at every path closely and deliberately. Try it as many times as you think necessary. Then ask yourself, and yourself alone, one question . . . Does this path have a heart? If it does, the path is good; if it doesn't it is of no use. Both paths lead nowhere; but one has a heart, the other doesn't. One makes for a joyful journey; as long as you follow it, you are one with it. The other will make you curse your life. One makes you strong; the other weakens you. -From The Teachings of don Juan All that we are is the result of what we have thought. If a man speaks or acts with an evil thought, pain follows him. If a man speaks or acts with a pure thought, happiness follows him, like a shadow that never leaves him. Buddha Three passions have governed my life: The longings for love, the search for knowledge, And unbearable pity for the suffering of [humankind].Love brings ecstasy and relieves loneliness. In the union of love I have seen In a mystic miniature the prefiguring vision Of the heavens that saints and poets have imagined.With equal passion I have sought knowledge. I have wished to understand the hearts of [people]. I have wished to know why the stars shine.Love and knowledge led upwards to the heavens, But always pity brought me back to earth; Cries of pain reverberated in my heart Of children in famine, of victims tortured And of old people left helpless. I long to alleviate the evil, but I cannot, And I too suffer. This has been my life; I found it worth living it BERTRAND RUSSELLOm, I and all prostrate to the liberator, the fully realized, transcendent subduer. I prostrate to the glorious mother who liberates with Tare; You are the mother who eliminates all fears with Tuttare; You are the mother who grants all success with Ture; To Soha and the other syllables we offer the greatest homage. Both light and shadow are the dance of Love. Love has no cause, it is the astrolabe of God's secrets.Lover and loving are inseparable and timeless.Although I may try to describe love,when I experience it, I am speechless.Although I may try to write about love, I am rendered helpless.My pen breaks, and the paper slips awayat the ineffable place where lover loving and loved are one.Every moment is made glorious by the light of Love.Rumi "Giving is the highest expression of potency. In the very act of giving, I experience my strength, my wealth, my power. This experience of heightened vitality and potency fills me with joy. I experience myself as overflowing, spending, alive, hence as joyous. Giving is more joyous than receiving, not because it is a deprivation, but because in the act of giving lies the expression of my aliveness."~Erich Fromm, We who lived in concentration camps can remember the men who walked through the huts comforting others, giving away their last piece of bread. They may have been few in number, but they offer sufficient proof that everything can be taken from a man but one thing: the last of the human freedoms -- to choose one's attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one's own way. Victor Frankl Everyone has inside of him a piece of good news. The good news is that you don't know how great you can be! How much you can love! What you can accomplish! And what your potential is! Anne Frank THE BUTTERFLY~The last, the very last, So richly, brightly, dazzingly yellow. Perhaps if the sun's tears would sing against a white stone Such, such a yellow Is carried lightly 'way up high. It went away I"m sure because it wished to kiss the world goodbye. For seven weeks I've lived in here, penned up inside this ghetto But I have found my people here. The dandelions call to me and the white chestnut candles in the court. Only I never saw another butterfly. That butterfly was the last one. Butterflies don't live in here, In the ghetto.~~Pavel Friedman In the darkest darkness, love is more magnificent than ever. In the deepest sadness, hope has the strength to create anything.When the whole world is against you, every positive action can bring miraculous results. When the burden of being is unbearably heavy, the spirit can fly to infinite heights.If all is lost, there is no end to what can be gained. Completely let go of everything, and you surely do have it all. The more confusing and noisy and complicated the world becomes, the more power there is in stillness. When the day is filled with harshness, gentle actions grow more powerful and effective.In a world filled with fear, truth gains new clarity. In a time of severe discontent, the possibilities for real joy grow ever greater.At the deepest level, goodness always prevails. For truth by its very nature will not be denied.~ Ralph Marston~What is this life if, full of care, We have no time to stand and stare.No time to stand beneath the boughs And stare as long as sheep or cows.No time to see, when woods we pass, Where squirrels hide their nuts in grass.No time to see, in broad daylight, Streams full of stars, like skies at night.No time to turn at Beauty's glance, And watch her feet, how they can dance.No time to wait till her mouth can Enrich that smile her eyes began.A poor life this if, full of care, We have no time to stand and stare. My heart is so small it's almost invisible. How can You place such big sorrows in it?"Look," He answered, "your eyes are even smaller, yet they behold the world."~ Rumi ~My Dear Friends! Just saying hello to all of you and want to share a bit from my African’s mission! Thank you so very much for your beautiful messages, words, love and support! I was in Senegal, Mali, Sierra Leone, Liberia and Cote d’Ivoire! Can't describe the human pain and suffering! I saw adults and children who died from leprosy, cholera, AIDS and many more… some of them in my hands. Sometimes I cried and felt desperate and devastated and went somewhere and hid myself from the world and the pain but after that just went out and gave a glass of water to somebody, spent time with dying people and I was fully there with them in their last minute and I even didn’t talk their language.. I was just there! I am so grateful I was there. Also I faced in Africa something I thought I will never see- female genital mutilation! I worked with small girls who got horrible infections after “the surgery”. The girls were between 5-13 years old and because I am so very sensitive around small children to see that meaningless suffering made me feel so very sad. I saw all the different kinds of the mutilation- sunna circumcision, clitori..omy and infibulation /with a bit bigger girls/ which is the most horrible one because it is a clitori..omy followed by sewing up of the vulva. A small opening is left to allow urine and menstrual blood to pass. That is horrible because the procedure is frequently done under less than hygienic conditions, often by non-medically trained personnel, and usually without anaesthesia. Razor blades, knives or scissors are usually the instruments used. And I saw the horrible result. I saw infections, keloid formations, labial adherences, clitoral cysts, chronic urinary infections… and when I saw that on the body of small girls I got so angry and just did my best to make their suffering less. I must say at the same time that there is some positive change- in 1998 Senegal prohibited by law female circumcision! Now back in Europe I feel so strange! I have a big “food” problem because can’t bear the way we waste food. Every time somebody throw away food I feel almost dizzy because I know how people die somewhere because they don’t have handful of rice. I feel so very humble and grateful for everything in my life and believe more than before that every small effort makes a difference… sometimes our effort just looks like a drop in a vast ocean but I believe that better with that small drop!!! “It has been said that something as small as the flutter of a butterfly’s wing can ultimately cause a typhoon halfway across the world.” Thank you again so much for the support you gave me with your messages and words! Sending you Love, Isabell Gratitude unlocks the fullness of life. It turns what we have into enough, and more. It turns denial into acceptance, chaos to order, confusion to clarity. It can turn a meal into a feast, a house into a home, a stranger into a friend. Melody Beattie Ordinary happiness depends on happenstance. Joy is that extraordinary happiness that is independent of what happens to us. Good luck can make us happy, but it cannot give us lasting joy. The root of joy is gratefulness. We tend to misunderstand the link between joy and gratefulness. We notice that joyful people are grateful and suppose that they are grateful for their joy. But the reverse is true: their joy springs from gratefulness. If one has all the good luck in the world, but takes it for granted, it will not give one joy. Yet even bad luck will give joy to those who manage to be grateful for it. We hold the key to lasting happiness in our own hands. For it is not joy that makes us grateful; it is gratitude that makes us joyful.Crisis in Darfur, Sudan Amid ongoing attempts to instill a lasting peace in Darfur, Mercy Corps continues to help more than 150,000 Sudanese displaced by the deadly, ongoing conflict. More than 200 of our staff are addressing the immediate needs of families — improving sanitation, providing clean water, distributing relief items, and creating safe places for children to learn and play. We're also helping women gain knowledge and skills they can use when they return home. A Prolonged Crisis Since rebels took up arms against the government in 2003, at least 200,000 people have died through violence, hunger and disease in Darfur, a remote, barren land about the size of France. More than 2.5 million have been forced to flee their homes. These internally displaced persons are extremely vulnerable to harassment and violence. Fighting and banditry prevented 355,000 in Darfur from receiving food aid in August 2006, according to the U.N. World Food Program, which still feeds 2.6 million Darfurians a month — nearly half the region's population. Even in a best-case scenario of political reconciliation and disarmament, millions of people in Darfur will remain extremely vulnerable and dependent on outside assistance for the coming years. Building Healthy Environments Mercy Corps has built or rehabilitated more than 4,000 latrines, trained dozens of men in latrine construction, and established a garbage-collection system where ten donkey carts collect waste from the camps each day. To increase access to safe water, our aid teams maintain hand-pumps and hand dug wells, test water quality and provide chlorination services at water points. Promoting Good Hygiene Nearly 200 Mercy Corps hygiene promoters — men and women selected and trained from within the community — go house-to-house in every camp distributing items such as soap and insecticide treated mosquito nets, and promoting good health practices. These safety measures help prevent the spread of infectious diseases such as cholera, Hepatitis E and malaria, which have claimed thousands of lives in Darfur. Protecting Vulnerable Women More than 4,000 women are trained to build fuel-efficient stoves, which require about half the wood of normal stoves. That means fewer hours collecting firewood, less time in dangerous wooded areas outside of camp and an income from selling the wood they gather but don't need for cooking. Various classes also offer women a chance to increase their literacy and learn skills such as baking, weaving or cheesemaking. Educating Youth In 16,000-person Mukjar, where nine out of ten residents are displaced from other villages, we've constructed, rehabilitated or furnished schools for all the town's 5,000 youth. In every camp where we operate, Mercy Corps and the Ministry of Education identify teachers, consult community leaders to develop school sites, and facilitate the instruction of Sudan's national curriculum to children aged 7-16. Tailoring an Effective Response Our efforts to help families persevere through the crisis continue to evolve and expand. Mercy Corps is working with community leaders to develop assistance projects that will help families raise poultry and crops, fund veterinary programs to protect their livestock, and establish community food stores. Future programs also will incorporate host communities, nomadic settlements and intact villages to lessen the potential for resource conflicts, facilitate the peaceful return of people to their communities, and build a stronger Darfur. --The conflict that erupted in Darfur, Sudan, in 2003 has forced more than two million people from their homes. Approximately 200,000 of them have fled across the border into Chad.--About 3.4 million people—more than half the population of Darfur—depend on international aid for their survival.--Estimates on the number of people killed as a result of the conflict vary widely from 180,000 to 400,000. Violence is one cause of death. Many people have also died from illness and malnutrition. The enormous humanitarian response has largely managed to stabilize conditions in the camps, but renewed insecurity is again threatening this progress.--Though Sudan’s government and one of the rebel groups signed a peace agreement on May 5, 2006, security in Darfur is now at its worst ever. Between July and September, 12 humanitarian aid workers, including one from Oxfam, lost their lives working in Darfur. That’s more than in the previous two years together.--Widespread insecurity across Darfur makes it extremely difficult for aid groups to deliver assistance. The United Nations estimates that four out of every 10 people who need assistance are not getting it because fighting and banditry make it too difficult to reach them.--The African Union has a small force deployed in Darfur. But the 7,000-member unit is ill equipped, lacks a strong mandate to protect civilians, and is too few in numbers to cover all of Darfur—an area about the size of France. It urgently needs more support from the international community. To 'let go' does not mean to stop caring; it means I can't do it for someone else.To 'let go' is not to cut myself off; it is the realization that I must not control another.To 'let go' is not to fix; but to be supportive.To 'let go' is not to be in the middle arranging all the outcomes; but to allow others to effect their destinies.To 'let go' is not to be protective; it is to permit another to face reality.To 'let go' is not to regret the past; but to grow and live for the future.To 'let go' is to fear less and love more. Back in the middle ages, a dispatcher went out to determine how laborers felt about their work. He went to a building site in France. He approached the first worker and asked, "What are you doing?" "What, are you blind?" the worker snapped back. "I am cutting these impossible boulders with primitive tools and putting them together the way the boss tells me. I am sweating under the blazing sun. It's back-breaking work, and it's boring me to death". The dispatcher quickly backed off and retreated to a second worker. He asked the same question, "What are you doing?" The worker replied, "I am shaping these boulders into usable forms, which are then assembled according to the architect's plan. It's hard work and sometimes it get's repetitive, but I earn five francs week and that supports the wife and kids. It is a job. It could be worse, too". Some what encouraged, the dispatcher went on to a third worker, "And what are you doing?" he asked. "Why, can't you see?" said the worker as he lifted his arm to the sky. "I am building a cathedral". Now that's the joy of working. One day some three thousand years ago, King David commanded his court jeweler to make him a ring and inscribe upon it words which would enable the great king to temper his jubilance at times of triumph, as well as lift his spirits at moments of despair. The court jeweler rather handily crafted a ring of exquisite beauty, but his search to find the inscription that the king required eluded him altogether. In desperation, he threw himself at the king's son's feet saying "What words can I possibly inscribe upon your father's ring that will modulate his ecstasy as well as lift him from despair?...Young and even then wise Solomon thought for a moment and replied, "Inscribe upon the ring the Hebrew words "Gam Zeh Ya-avor" (This too shall pass!) Then whenever my father gazes upon it in triumph, they will temper his pride, and whenever he beholds them in despair, they will also lift up his spirit. The wisdom of Solomon continues to transcend the generations for these words in which we may all find meaning and consolation as we walk the path of life. For everything changes and everything passes, and once again we realize some three thousand years later that when it comes to the nature of human life itself, there is nothing new under the sun. (Ecclesiastes 1:9) You don't know real lonelinessif you don't know closeness.The road to great solitudepasses through great love.A measure of the immensehorizon of lonelinessis the embrace from whichyou extricate yourself.Imagine how many timesthe narrow circle of this embracefits into the cosmic circle of loneliness.You are implaled exactly in its center-a live butterfly on a pin.Wrench yourself out! Try to flywith the pin piercing your heart.The space confronting you is boundless.Freedom has the salty taste of seaand solitude. Woman is the creator of the Universe, And the Universe is her form; woman is the foundation of the world, she is the true form of the body. Whatever form she takes, whether the form of a man or a woman, is the superior form. In woman is the form of all things, of all that lives and moves in the world. There is no jewel rarer than Woman, no condition superior to that of woman. There is not, nor has been, nor will be any destiny to equal that of woman. There is no kingdom, no wealth, to be compared with a woman; there is not, nor has been, nor will be any holy place like unto a woman. There is no prayer to equal to woman. There is not, nor has been, nor will be Any yoga to compare with a woman, No mystical formula nor asceticism To match a woman. There are not, nor have been, nor will be Any riches more valuable than a woman. /A hymn to the goddess of the Saktisangama Tantra honors this creative force/
"The most beautiful people we have known are those who have known defeat, known suffering, known struggle, known loss, and have found their way out of the depths. These persons have an appreciation, a sensitivity, and an understanding of life that fills them with compassion, gentleness, and a deep loving concern. Beautiful people do not just happen."Elizabeth Kubler Ross ...There's this place in me where your fingerprints still rest, your kisses still linger, and your whispers softly echo. It's the place where a part of you will forever be a part of me... …Love me without fear… Trust me without questioning… Need me without demanding… Want me without restrictions… Accept me without change… Desire me without inhibitions… “Love is the only way to grasp another human being in the innermost core of his personality. No one can become fully aware of the very essence of another human being unless he loves him. By his love he is enabled to see the essential traits and featur” Victor FranklIF OUR THOUGHTS CAN DO THIS TO WATER, IMAGINE WHAT OUR THOUGHTS CAN DO TO OUR BODIES.If I keep a green bough in my heart, the singing bird will come /Chinese Proverb/ This is a gathering of Lovers. In this gathering there is no high, no low, no smart, no ignorant, no special assembly, no grand discourse, no proper schooling required. There is no master, no disciple. This gathering is more like a drunken party, full of tricksters, fools, mad men and mad women. This is a gathering of Lovers.~~RUMI Perfect love is rare indeed - for to be a lover will require that you continually have the subtlety of the very wise, the flexibility of the child, the sensitivity of the artist, the understanding of the philosopher, the acceptance of the saint, the tolerance of the scholar and the fortitude of the certainLeo Buscaglia We are all filled with a longing for the wild. There are few culturally sanctioned antidotes for this yearning. We were taught to feel shame for such a desire. We grew our hair long and used it to hide our feelings. But the shadow of Wild Woman still lurks behind us during our days and in our nights. No matter where we are, the shadow that trots behind us is definitely four-footed. Clarissa Pinkola Estes "Anything you do from the soulful self will help lighten the burdens of the world. Anything. You have no idea what the smallest word, the tiniest generosity can cause to be set in motion. Be outrageous in forgiving. Be dramatic in reconciling. Mistakes? Back up and make them as right as you can, then move on. Be off the charts in kindness. In whatever you are called to, strive to be devoted to it in all aspects large and small. Fall short? Try again. Mastery is made in increments, not in leaps. Be brave, be fierce, be visionary. Mend the parts of the world that are within your reach. To strive to live this way is the most dramatic gift you can ever give to the world."~Clarissa Pinkola Estes~"Ancient Egyptians believed that upon death they would be asked two questions and their answers would determine whether they could continue their journey in the afterlife. The first question was, 'Did you bring joy?' The second was, 'Did you find joy?'" Dr. Leo Buscaglia "The moment you start seeing life as non-serious, a playfulness, all the burden on your heart disappears. All the fear of death, of life, of love - everything disappears. One starts living with a very light weight or almost no weight. So weightless one becomes, one can fly in the open sky. Life is rarely as serious as we believe it to be, and when we recognize this fact, it responds by giving us more and more opportunities to play."~Osho~ Don’t think that saying “I am God” is proclaiming one’s greatness. It is actually total humility. Some one who says “I am the servant of God” infers two – God and himself – whereas someone who says “I am God” relinquishes his own existence. I am God means “I don’t exist. Everything is God. Only God exists. I am nothing. I am utter emptiness.” This is complete humility, not arrogance, but people often misunderstand. When someone says he is God’s servant, he still sees himself as a doer, albeit in God’s service. He is not yet drowned in the ocean of God. When he is, there will be no such thing as “his actions”, only movements in the water. Rumi A man found a cocoon of a butterfly. One day a small opening appeared. He sat and watched the butterfly for several hours as it struggled to force its body through that little hole. Then it seemed to stop making any progress. It appeared as if it had gotten as far as it could, and it could go no further.So the man decided to help the butterfly. He took a pair of scissors and snipped off the remaining bit of the cocoon. The butterfly then emerged easily. But it had a swollen body and small, shriveled wings.The man continued to watch the butterfly because he expected that, at any moment, the wings would enlarge and expand to be able to support the body, which would contract in time. Neither happened! In fact, the butterfly spent the rest of its life crawling around with a swollen body and shriveled wings. It never was able to fly.What the man, in his kindness and haste, did not understand was that the restricting cocoon and the struggle required for the butterfly to get through the tiny opening were God's way of forcing fluid from the body of the butterfly into its wings so that it would be ready for flight once it achieved its freedom from the cocoon. Sometimes struggles are exactly what we need in our lives. If God allowed us to go through our lives without any obstacles, it would cripple us. We would not be as strong as what we could have been.We could never fly! The good you find in others, is in you too. The faults you find in others are your faults as well. After all, to recognize something you must know it. The possibilities you see in others, are possible for you as well. The beauty you see around you is your beauty. The world around you is a reflection, a mirror showing you the person you are. To change your world, you must change yourself. To blame and complain will only make matters worse. Whatever you care about, is your responsibility. What you see in others, shows you yourself. See the best in others, and you will be your best. Give to others, and you give to yourself. Appreciate beauty, and you will be beautiful. Admire creativity, and you will be creative. Love, and you will be loved. Seek to understand, and you will be understood. Listen, and your voice will be heard. Teach, and you will learn. Show your best face to the mirror, and you'll be happy with the face looking back at you. Butterflies... This beautiful insect stands for change. It is the symbol of transformation. It is the symbol most likely to be selected by people that are not content with their lot in life and desire to change it. During the Second World War with Germany there were millions of people imprisoned in concentration camps destined to be gassed. Many were children. In 1945 when the Americans liberated these death camps, there was a curious oddity that they were faced with. Although these death camps were many miles apart and there was no way that the children could have communicated..... There was a common denominator that linked each camp, a common denominator that also linked the children together even at death. In the wooden barracks where the children were being held, the American soldiers found butterflies. They were carved in the doors, walls, and ceilings. Of course there were other animals carved in the woodwork as well, but the carvings of butterflies outnumbered the other drawings by ten to one. Now if these carvings were found in only one camp it would not be significant, but they were found in them all. Even though these camps were separated by hundreds of miles, did these poor children­moments from death­know something that we do not? Life after death? All available evidence points to this theory. These children knew that they would be born again. So if you are unhappy, depressed, and forlorn, the butterfly will help you achieve a major transformation in your life. Because of it being so delicate and beautiful, in the orient it is the symbol of a woman in love or a woman about to fall in love. The significant meaning of the butterfly lies in it's metamorphosis from egg to larva. Since the beginning of time the butterfly has been the symbol of the soul that physical death can not destroy. Because of it's very short life span the butterfly reminds us that life is precious and short. Time is relative and no matter how long we live, it seems not long enough... 2 December 1923 – 16 September 1977I don't know what happens to me on stage. Something else seems to take over. Maria CallasLovers don't finally meet somewhere, they're in each other all along. I will bring you flowers Every morning for your breakfast And you will kiss me With flowers in your mouth And you will bring me flowers Every morning when you wake And look at me with flowers in your eyes ~ Heather Holden ~ Shiva and Shakti are one and the same. There is no place that He is not. There is no place that She is not. They are one and the same. She is in every thing. She is in every word. She is all there is. See Her in all things. Hear Her in all sounds. Know Her in all thoughts. Feel Her in all feelings. She is all there is. She is the one in the three worlds**. Shiva and Shakti are one and the same. That is the secret."The most wonderful of all things in life, I believe, is the discovery of another human being with whom one's relationship has a growing depth, beauty, and joy as the years increase. This inner progressiveness of love between two human beings is a most marvelous thing; it cannot be found by looking for it or by passionately wishing for it. It is a sort of divine accident, and the most wonderful of all things in life.” Hugh Walpole, Sr. There is a brokenness out of which comes the unbroken, A shatteredness out of which blooms the unshatterable. There is a sorrow Beyond all grief which leads to joy And a fragility Out of which depth emerges strength. There is a hollow space Too vast for words Through which we pass with each loss, Out of whose darkness we are sanctified into being. There is a cry deeper than all sound Whose serrated edges cut the heart As we break open To the place inside which is unbreakable And whole. ~~by Rashani I seem to have loved you in numberless forms, numberless times, in life after life, in age after age forever. My spell-bound heart has made and remade the necklace of songs that you take as your gift, wear round your neck in your many forms in life after life, in age after age forever.Whenever I hear old chronicles of love, its age-old pain, its ancient tale of being apart or together, as I stare on and on into the past, in the end you emerge clad in the light of a pole-star piercing the darkness of time: you become an image of what is remembered forever.You and I have floated here on the stream that brings from the fount at the heart of time love of one for another. We have played alongside millions of lovers, shared in the same shy sweetness of meeting, the same distressful tears of farewell-- old love, but in shapes that renew and renew forever.Today it is heaped at your feet, it has found its end in you, the love of all man's days both past and forever: universal joy, universal sorrow, universal life, the memories of all loves merging with this one love of ours-- and the songs of every poet past and forever.--Rabindranath Tagore