I went for a long evening walk with my dog-buddy, Stoney. As dusk settled to night, I could hear coyotes calling to one another. Then I noticed the traffic, it seemed out of place, wrong, too fast, too loud, too much light. I wanted to be away from it.

The air has a cool sweet smell to it now. Slight damp and red leaves.

I realize:

• I like to spend a good deal of time alone. I wonder if I could live with a partner again, or if it is better for me and the health of my relationships to have a separate dwelling place.
• Daydreaming is essential for my happiness.
• I love reading good books – and I don’t read books nearly as much as I’d like.
• I get excited, sometimes almost agitated, when I am free to paint. I daydream about painting a lot.
• I was anxious and melancholy about summer coming to an end, but now I’m feeling better. Summer ending means more writing and painting and yoga.
• I ❤ my bike more than ever.

Chakra 4: Anahata ~ Love • Peace • The Pure Sound of Creation • The Right to Love • Air • Mantra: Vam

“There are two basic motivating forces: fear and love. When we are afraid, we pull back from life. When we are in love, we open to all that life has to offer with passion, excitement, and acceptance. We need to learn to love ourselves first, in all our glory and our imperfections. If we cannot love ourselves, we cannot fully open to our ability to love others or our potential to create. Evolution and all hopes for a better world rest in the fearlessness and open-hearted vision of people who embrace life.” ― John Lennon

“Everyday, say a hundred things you love about yourself.” ~ Sonia Choquette

“When we love ourselves, and love what we’re doing, we make the whole world happier.” ~ Dana Gerdhardt

“In love, no question is ever preposterous.”  ~ André Brink

The heart is the toughest part of the body.
Tenderness is in the hands.  ~ Carolyn Forché

“Be real with love! We have so little time here.” – Randi Vanessa Taylor-Habib

“If you work really hard, and you’re kind, amazing things will happen.” ~ Conan O’Brien

“I love you also means I love you more than anyone loves you, or has loved you, or will love you, and also, I love you in a way that no one loves you, or has loved you, or will love you, and also, I love you in a way that I love no one else, and never have loved anyone else, and never will love anyone else.” ― Jonathan Safran Foer

“To love at all is to be vulnerable.” – C.S. Lewis

“Certainly the modern poets I cherish most are disturbing spirits; they do not come to coo.” ~ Stanley Kunitz

“Grief changes shape, but it never ends. People have a misconception that you can deal
with it and say, ‘It’s gone, and I’m better.’ They’re wrong.” — Keanu Reeves

“Come on people, now, smile on your brother,
Everybody get together, try to love one another
right now…. “
—Chet (Chester Williams) Powers, Jr. (1937-1994)
AKA Dino Valenti, Jesse Oris Farrow,
“Let’s Get Together” (1963)

“If we begin to get in touch with whatever we feel with some kind of kindness, our protective shells will melt, and we’ll find that more areas of our lives are workable. AS we learn to have compassion for ourselves, the circle of compassion for others—what and whom we can work with, and how—becomes wider.” – Pema Chodron

“The only reason that we don’t open our hearts and minds to other people is that they trigger confusion in us that we don’t feel brave enough or sane enough to deal with. To the degree that we look clearly and compassionately at ourselves, we feel confident and fearless about looking into someone else’s eyes.” – Pema Chodron

“From the very beginning to the very end, pointing to our own hearts to discover what is true isn’t just a matter of honesty but also of compassion and respect for what we see.” – Pema Chodron

“I grabbed my book and opened it up. I wanted to smell it. Heck, I wanted to kiss it. Yes, kiss it. That’s right, I am a book kisser. Maybe that’s kind of perverted or maybe it’s just romantic and highly intelligent.”  ― Sherman Alexie

“Compassion is the basis of morality.” ~ Arthur Schopenhauer

“Love comforteth like sunshine after rain.” ~ William Shakespeare

A strange passion is moving in my head.
My heart has become a bird
Which searches in the sky.
Every part of me goes in different directions.
Is it really so
That the one I love is everywhere? ~ Rumi

“For small beings such as we, the vastness is only bearable through love.” ~ Carl Sagan

“Love asks us that we be a little braver than is comfortable, a little more generous, a little more flexible. It means living on the edge more than we care to.” ~ Norman Mailer

“Whether or not you believe in God, you can probably sign on to the idea that being kind to others is divine. Just remember to include yourself in that circle of kindness.” ~ Saul Bass

“If grass can grow through cement, love can find you at every time in your life.” – Cher

“We are all born for love. It is the principal of existence, and its only end.” ~ Benjamin Disraeli

“We need 4 hugs a day for survival.
We need 8 hugs a day for maintenance.
We need 12 hugs a day for growth.”
~ Virginia Satir

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There is still space to sign up for the next online session of Writing the Energetic Body.

Writing the Energetic Body ~ Begins October 23, 2014
Place, Somatics, and Self-Discovery – 21 Days of Writing Past the Mind and Into the Chakras
New Moon in Scorpio, Lunar Samhain, Scorpio Sun Rising, Solar Eclipse

Writing the Energetic Body. New Moon. Scorpio Rises, Lunar Samhain. Cost is 89.00 for the three-week online course. Register here or contact me at sacredfolly@gmail.com.

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Thanks for reading.

Om shanti.