Beauty is all around us.

Beauty is all around us.

I've been going out for walks on these warm early fall nights listening to the crickets and cicada sounds.

I tend to feel better when I connect to nature.

Have a great one.

Us Versus Us

Look at US.  There is no THEM from this point of view.  

We're in this together.  That's not a pithy little Hallmark greeting.  That's a fact, Jack.

It's time we stop blaming others for our own individual problems.  We, as individuals, have to take ownership of our own lives.  It all starts at home.  We have to become aware of what we are contributing with our thoughts and minds and hearts.  It's not what we do, it's what we INTEND by doing it.

It's time to wake up and create more than we destroy.  I know there is a certain amount of destruction inherent to Life.  The point is: Pay attention to what you're doing.  

It seems every generation leaves the world a little more confused and sad than the one before it, and I'm here to say it, that's just not good enough anymore.  It's time to stop the cycle of fear and war.  Stop the cycle of negativity and indifference.

Certainly, if there's a problem on the pale blue dot in the picture, it's MY PROBLEM.  It's not something I can blame on anyone else.  And it's no longer something I can ignore.  

There's no pill for what ails you because what ails you is you.  You have to accept this fact and learn to forgive everyone, including yourself.

When you look in the mirror and take ownership of your role in this experience called Life, something strange and beautiful may happen.  You may actually begin to care.  Not because you were conditioned to believe "good people help others."  But because you realize your inborn nature is to love and to share who you really are with this world.

Thanks.  We need you.

(Re)Discovering Love

Check out the little kid in this photo with his doggie.  They are just in the present, playing in the living moment.  

That's where love lives.

In our fast-food culture, we like to twist love into a game of Monopoly.  "See how much I can collect."  "See how much I can win." "Let's see what I'm worth."  That's something else.  That's not love.  

Love is not a winner or a loser.  Love is a dance.  Love is a song.  

Its nature is simply to give and give and give and give.  To play and to sing.  No approval is needed.  No grades.  No judgement.  

The Sun shines everyday, unconditionally.  It doesn't bother about whether or not we deserve the life-giving energy it shines!  No!  The Sun doesn't wait for our encouragement or applause.  No!  Its nature is simply to give.

The Sun doesn't discriminate.  The Sun doesn't know an Israeli from a Palestinian, neither does love.  It can't tell gay from straight.  It just shines on.

Love is a gift and you can't earn it, so stop trying.  Love is free!

And if you don't understand this, you won't understand love.

I have learned from personal experience that until we sort out our own definition of love, we will never be happy.  We will never have enough.  We will always feel frustrated and fearful, under-appreciated and mostly lonely.  

But, like the Sun, weren't we created to give light?  To give love?

We were all created to share who we are with the world.  

Shine your light as brightly and consistently as humanly possible everyday. 

That's what love does.  And that's all that matters.