Cruising the Stratosphere

I am thinking about this today as I lay around with my relatives in this abundance that we call the economic downturn. While it's true that many of us have been scraping our monetary butts on the asphalt, mine included, it's really nice that the holidays and that Holiday Spirit that we know so well still comes shining through! I think of those the world over that went to sleep hungry on Christmas night and thank God for the bountiful existence that I enjoy, even if it is challenging at times---it's Still Bountiful and there's no denying that.
So while we're lying around with fat bellies full of family love in environs that are warm in temperature and warm in Heart I think it behooves the Soul (my soul, anyway) to soak in the beauty of that love, and treasure the closeness of relatives and be not in a hurry to remove ourselves so quickly from those bonds of affection and back to our solitary address of operation. These times are meant for the soaking up of this togetherness and love so as to nourish us in times of famine.
For me, the lesson comes back to loving and cherishing that which you have. Family is everything. Personalities and lifestyles are supposed to be different!! It's what makes the world go around. It's the love and acceptance of one another with the differences intact that Changes the World; The family is the microcosm of that. It seems to me that peace may actually, really begin at home.

I had to take a few photos of my Mom and Risa's new place. They have a pretty home. Here they are....

I'm not saying I understand all this, but it sure looks interesting. Check out this article: http://m.gizmodo.com/site?t=t1llqpuAuCHTLuA2yqIR0A&sid=gizmodoip

Sitting still.
Gazing into the action of self in motion.
The flitting about to and fro---
The movement of the energy of thought as a butterfly lighting about upon one fascination after another measured in nano-seconds. Amazing.
Realization comes only after the action--the recognition of the internal universe--self-- in motion. Beautiful fluidity.
Allowance of awareness unencumbered lends to an experience of peace. Peace that is not 'sought' but comes because It Can. Because the pH of the spirit-mind is just right. You can open the window to invite the wind, but you cannot force it to come through.
Just like love, peace cannot be forced. It doesn't mean that in our forgetfulness that we do not sometimes try.
Looking within the answers rise to the surface when the spirit/mind/heart is just so. When greed, control, and desire are absent. When there is true innocence, then those Roses ARE.
A lot of energy is spent in the manipulation of What Is in order to get what one wants. Perhaps the common equation is backwards. Perhaps to really be fulfilled takes place through agenda-less investigation of What Is both within oneself and without sans the contortive twist that our minds wish to place upon the facets of our experiential reality due to our wants and desires.
Awareness with lightness seems to be key. Awareness with 'the judge' tagging along with free commentary in the background never even gets off the ground---way too harsh and heavy. That kind of awareness is ill fated and therefore dies out quickly as it is too heavy to survive.
Awareness requires freedom to operate. Awareness requires oxygen. Awareness requires a lightness of being. Can any sense of awareness of self be maintained if one feels compulsed to change what one sees at every turn?? Freedom and love must be present in order for real awareness to live.
Looking within. The answers are there if one discovers How to look, but there is a beauty in that 'how' because it is living and therefore you cannot find it in a book. One says to oneself, "I have been there before. I have experienced that Beauty." However, when one goes back with the map that one used before one finds that the location has shifted, and such it is with Living States of Beauty that cannot be owned, tricked, swindled or decieved by any manipulation of the mind of man. THAT to me is astounding. The Purity of the truth of that is So Beautiful. All the true virtues hang out together and are Interlinked, so that when this innocence of Being brings you into contact with The Power called Love, then Peace, Light, and Joy are also there in the same space of energy. Not the falsettos,...oh no.....the Real. When there is this there is light inside. En-Light.
"Love is a rose, but you better not pick it.
It only grows when its on the vine.
A hand full of thorns and you know you've missed it.
Lose your love when you say the word 'mine'."
-L. Ronstadt