Author: Victoria

“Love yourself first and everything else falls into line. You really have to love yourself to get anything done in this world.”
~ Lucille Ball

Do you see the heart in the sun? I sure do 🙂

So yesterday, I started off the day not feeling so hot – grumbling stomach and tight muscles – and by mid morning, I was running a 101 degree fever. I am rarely sick, but when I am, I allow this time to practice metta (lovingkindness meditation).

May I be happy,
May I be free from suffering,
May I make friends with my body,
May I dwell in peace,
May I be at ease. read more

“The man who moves a mountain begins by carrying away small stones.”
~ Confucius

Our weather-gurus say that our much needed, showery weather is the result of an old frontal boundary. This made me think of persistence this morning.

The most successful people in the world made their achievements through perseverance, and their quotes bring me courage to continue striving towards my goals and dreams. Inch by inch, life’s a cinch ….

How about you ? Did you set some goals at the first of the year ? It’s the start of a new month. If you’ve backslide a little bit, it’s time to re-dedicate yourself, and begin by picking up just one little stone today 🙂 read more

I awoke this morning with devout thanksgiving for my friends, the old and new.
~ Ralph Waldo Emerson

As I watched the sun rise this morning, I delighted in seeing how the rays illuminated each cloud in a pinkish-orange hue, until the individual clouds become a beautiful interwoven tapestry for the brilliant sun to finally peak through.

I began humming “you are the wind beneath my wings”
– my heart filled with joy – as I realized how fortunate I am to have all of you so I can share this creative outlet, my love for the simple, quiet beauty in life, and the amazing words, impressions, philosophy and quotes that humanity has expressed over the centuries. read more

“Time is a healer. Every new day brings the light of hope and the promise of renewal.”
~ Mae Marie

I opened my laptop to Facebook this morning, to find this quote, so I’m passing it along. More hope 🙂

Yesterday was a bit rough. A close friend of the family passed away in her sleep at the young age of 37. She had been suffering with lupus, and had called the ambulance earlier that day because she really just didn’t feel well. They took her vitals, and said everything was normal, and left her. In this tragedy is the message that we MUST learn to trust our inner guidance over all else. God lies within, and when we practice being still in quietness, we can be in this powerful stream of consciousness. The joy and comfort that exists there is for all of us to connect with. May my friend Andy Woodruff Robinson be at peace. read more

Hope is the thing with feathers—
That perches in the soul—
And sings the tune without the words—
And never stops—at all—

And sweetest—in the Gale—is heard—
And sore must be the storm—
That could abash the little Bird
That kept so many warm—

I’ve heard it in the chillest land—
And on the strangest Sea—
Yet, never, in Extremity,
It asked a crumb—of Me.

~ Emily Dickinson

Hope sure has filled my thoughts over the past couple of days …

I lost a dear friend to heart disease a few years back. Pam would have been 52 this month. She found the above poem painted underneath a bridge outside of the hospital where she was receiving treatments. Her husband sent it to me, and said it gave her much comfort. read more

“A human being is a part of a whole, called by us a universe, a part limited in time and space.
He experiences himself, his thoughts and feelings as something separate from the rest …
a kind of optical delusion of his consciousness.
This delusion is a kind of prison for us,
restricting us to our personal desires and to affection for a few persons nearest to us.
Our task must be to free ourselves from this prison
by widening our circle of compassion
to embrace all living creatures and the whole of nature in it’s beauty.”
~ Einstein read more