What is love

To know oneself.
To serve.
To be loved.
To be woman.
To be courageous
loyal
compassionate
loving
To be fearless.
To have one's heart broken.

To give and recieve.
To love and be loved.

Ecclesiastes 11:3-5; 10

If clouds are full of water,
they pour rain upon the earth.
Whether a tree falls to the south or the north,
in the place where it falls, there it will lie.
Whoever watches the wind will not plant;
whoever looks at the clouds will not reap.

As you do not know the path of the wind
or how the body is fomed in a mother's womb,
so you cannot understand the work of God,
the maker of all things.

So then banish anxiety from your heart and cast off the troubles of your body for youth and vigor are meaningless...

Healer of Galilee

Again you accompany us,
when our faith falters,
when our relationships break down,
when in our loneliness we move beyond tears,
O Healer of Galilee.

An Iona Prayer Book

A picture of dignity and balance: http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2006/05/04/1146335867017.html

My macro playing...

Thank God for George

work through, joy through, work the goddess,of religion, dogma and guilt.poor me start, joyful destiny, respite, guilt free passion,grant fear of freedom, sympathy,god and myself, god and myself,to another place from respect, joyful girl, thankyou
and I'm ready to release on another day,I'm ready to respect the day todayI'm ready to respect myself today,I'm ready to release
self-image, confidence, troubled,comfortable, blame, touching, partakewith grace, jealousy, wisdom,unabashed joy and me you yumpower, transference to equality, letting go, joy again,loving do unto others as to yourself, thank you.
and I'm ready to release on another day,I'm ready to respect the day todayI'm ready to respect myself today,I'm ready to release on another day I'm ready to release myself today,I'm ready to release
male female innocent carefree,fate honour and wrongsuccess caressing a self love,do to yourself as to otherscomfortable held release,comfortable held release,comfortable held release,comfortable held release.
and I'm ready to release on another day,I'm ready to respect the day todayI'm ready to respect myself today,I'm ready to release on another day.and I'm ready to release on another day,I'm ready to respect the day todayI'm ready to respect myself today,I'm ready to release
grant fear of freedom, sympathy,god and myself, god and myself,to another place from respect, joyful girl, thankyou

Fountain

Prayer on reflection

Oh God, the journey has been so long.
I’ve taken every side road along the way.
I’ve explored all the hidden places
As your prodigal daughter, I’ve felt that I could find the way myself.

Even so, You, as loving parent, were beside me
Picking me up when I fell
Sustaining me when my strength was gone
Nurturing me when I was helpless

And when I was exhausted
Floundering
Ready to give up
You touched me with Your grace,
And I felt your abundant love.
We walk back home together…
Hand in hand


Susan Gregg-Schroeder mentalhealthministries.net

Discernment

"Our task is to deal with our ignorance. But in the meantime, moment to moment in our everyday life, it is very important for us not only to be aware, but to exercise discernement.
We must know how to discern the true intention behind everything we think, do and say. When unwholesome things come to mind, we recognize them, we let them go. We accept them, we don't deny them. We don't get into conflict about them. We see them, recognize them, and let them go. We encourage and rejoice in wholesome things. In this way, step by step, we purify the mind."
Tenzin Palmo: Reflections on a Mountain Lake.

Eternal sunshine

Eternal sunshine of a spotless mind

Each prayer accepted

& each wish resigned

Sparks

We all have a history - and a future - and sometimes it just gets too much dealing with both I think. Somehow we need to find an avenue to hold both gently in our hands, to let some of it sift through our fingers and to hold tightly on to the rest. The crunch point is having the wisdom to know what's what. Sometimes what appears precious really needs to be part of that which is sifted out.

Here it is! Insights is up and running - check out my Mental Health article!
http://insights.uca.org.au/2006/may/mental-healing.htm
It's funny - kind of having a sense that your life and your story is sacred and okay...yet knowing that there are always people out there who think otherwise.

Mental illness pushes so many buttons for people. For some reason, otherwise normal and sensible people get really firey and misguided when talking about Mental Illness and/or sexuality. It's a weird phenomenon.

Cancer

It's been a couple of months.
I found out I probably had cancer and then found out I didn't. 2 operations and lots of stress later - I'm back. Oddly unaffected it seems. Well - people expect me to be 'normal' again. They ask me if I'm "all better" or tell me I look "back to normal". But what is normal after you have thought you could be dying? It has to change you. Something is wrong if it doesn't I think.

The more I learn, the more I learn
The more I cry, the more I cry
as I say goodbye to a way of life I thought I had designed for me

And I see you standing there, wanting more from me.
And all I can do is try.
And I see you standing there, I'm all I'll ever be,
and all I can do is try.
Nelly Furtado