One

Thoughts on Individuals, Community, Love, Wholeness

1. The Individual is First and Absolutely-Essential.
2. Relationship and Community are secondary and totally dependant upon the reality of individuals.
3. All who think it’s the other way around are just wrong.
4. God is One.
5. I am one.
6. True Love between two is only real when each one loves their Self, and can then give Love freely.
7. Any “love” dependant upon anything (or anyone else) is not Love, but addiction/ obsession/ evil-perversion.
8. Love begets Love.
9. Love is always better than “Perfection.”
10. Love in the midst of brokenness is best because it is Love being and giving True Love for Love of Being.
11. Wholeness is brokenness healed by Love.  (NOT a return to unbrokenness, NOT “Perfection.”  It is better than never-having-been-broken.
12. Brokenness is part of the sacred path to Wholeness; Love is the Way; Wholeness-in-Christ is Home.
13. Brokenness (and suffering) are holy, not for the sake of suffering, but for the time and space to choose Love through free-will.  When we choose Love in the midst of our own suffering, we are choosing Love for Love’s sake.
14. Even so, Love is so prolific, so generous and lavish, that every love has some reward, some good, and opportunity for further redemption, i.e. empowerment to love better.  Love is like Light: no darkness or evil can overcome it or squelch it.  Love grows.  Love endures.

Authenticity Affirmations

I affirm my

1. Inner Child: Awe for simple goodness is grace, a gift to be treasured and celebrated.
2. Sensitivity: Being Aware of small changes helps me see the gift of each moment.
3. Need for Solitude: Alone-ness with God, with myself, with Quiet is nourishment for my soul; it is to be honored (never deprecated).  To recognize a true need and to fulfill it is Godly.
4. Voice: Until I can speak freely as I truly wish, writing uncensored is Holy Work; I must do it.  Writing is Sacred Art that honors the Authentic Soul.
5. Need for music: Hallelujah for the gift of music!  Thank You, God, for making me a musician!
6. Need for color: Praise be Jesus for color and the gift of finely-tuned sight!
7. Courage: I face my fears with deep courage founded on Hope and Grace.  I have faith in God and in myself.

All I Need

Things I need: things, qualities, anything that helps me enjoy living.

1. Art
2. Books, believing
3. Coffee, cats, chocolate
4. Dreams
5. Experimenting
6. Freedom, faith, flowers
7. Grace
8. Healing
9. Integrity
10. Joy
11. Kindness
12. Love, laughter
13. Meaning, music
14. No! (yes, I need “no” in my vocabulary, in my experience)
15. Open-ness, open-views (figurative and literal)
16. Peace, process, poetry, piano!
17. Quiet
18. Roses
19. Sweetness
20. Truth, tenderness
21. Up (upward thinking/viewing and the notion of defying gravity)
22. Value, veracity, validation
23. Wholeness
24. Xeric plants!  I love succulents!  I love plants that grow despite little water!
25. Yes!
26. Zero (yes, the number and the notion of zero; I find it both mystifying and so practical it’s nearly banal.)  I also like that (until the 20th century), there was no notion of zero in musical-math.

So, ask me on another day, and this list might have variations.  And I realize “need” can be defined in many ways and the degree of need can be easily argued.  For today, for this list, what I mean is: these are the things/ experiences/ values that I regularly treasure/ embrace/ consciously and deliberately choose as part of my (mostly daily) living and for which I am always grateful.

For a more starkly realistic list of what I truly need?

What all human-beings need:

1. Love (somewhere, somehow, some experience of being loved/ valued and the opportunity to love other.)
2. Some degree of shelter, some amount of food and water, some degree of personal hygiene, some opportunity for communication (even if only within one’s imagination)
3. Meaning/ faith/ hope.

I think that’s probably all we need: sustenance for our bodies, relating for our social selves, hope for our souls.

Thanks be to God for all Your blessings, graces, mercies.  Praise be Jesus forever.  Lord, give me the grace to be ever-more grateful and gracious, ready to receive and to share.

 

 

Choices

My Favorite Things (Besides God, family, and myself!)

1. Music: Especially classical piano solo; most especially Chopin, Beethoven, Schubert, Bach, Scarlatti, Mozart, Brahms
2. Books: Especially British and Russian Literature; most especially Tolstoy
3. Coffee: hot/cold, black/altered, pure/flavored, any way you want to fix it; especially hot, black, dark roast
4. Scripture: Old and New Judeo/Christian scriptures, especially Genesis, the Psalms, Isaiah, Hosea, the Gospels, select verses, and Revelation
5. Sleep: especially in my own bed, in the dark, with absolute silence
6. Trees: especially hard-wood forests
7. Flowers: all!
8. Ocean: especially the Atlantic
9. Writing: lists, my thoughts, processing ideas, letters
10. Pens: especially short and fat, heavy, metal ones
11. Journals and great quality paper
12. Color!  Especially tertiary colors and “colors” that waver between two or three colors or shades or hues

Things I can’t stand:

1. Cruelty: actual or implied, to humans or animals or anything conceptualized as being able to suffer
2. Noise: meaningless sound, any sound that is too loud, any sound whose purpose is simply to fill up silence
3. Bullying: whether bullying a child or an adult, I can’t stand bullying behavior
4. Lies, deceit, deception, cheating, dishonesty, profiting from wrong-doing or untruth — intended or not
5. Evil in any form
6. Intentional killing of any human-being for any reason
7. Hypocrisy

How I respond to things I can’t stand but can’t change:

1. Pray for God’s intercession
2. Pray for revelation and/or discernment of what I CAN do
3. Do at least one positive thing in response no matter how small, because there is ALWAYS a positive option
4. Persist in faith, hope, and love.

Authenticity Affirmations

I affirm my:

1. Inner Child: My awe for simple goodness is grace, a gift to be treasured and celebrated.
2. Sensitivity: Being aware of small changes helps me see the gift of each moment.
3. Need for Solitude: Alone-ness with God, with myself, with quiet, is nourishment for my soul; it is to be honored (never deprecated).  To recognize a true need and to fulfill it is Godly.
4. Voice: Until I can speak freely as I truly wish, writing uncensored is holy work; I must do it.  Writing is sacred art that honors the authentic soul.
5. Need for Music: Hallelujah for the gift of Music!  Thank You, God, for making me a musician!
6. Need for Color: Praise be Jesus for color!  And the gift of finely tuned sight!
7. Courage: I face my fears with deeply fertile courage founded on Hope and Grace; I have faith in God and in myself; I have faith in Life.

 

A person’s a person.

“A person’s a person, no matter how small.”*

A person’s a person, no matter how tall.

Whether a he or a she or a me or a we,

Whether virgin or straight or an LGBT,

A person’s a person.  And that is all.

 

No matter the race, no matter the age,

Matters not if they are foolish or if they are sage,

I don’t care what color their skin or their clothes,

The size of their body or the shape of their nose.

I don’t care if they like elephants or if they like donkeys,

If they prefer hawks or doves, or bees, or monkeys,

There’s only one thing that matters to me

A person’s a person.  And that is all.

 

A person’s a person whether loser or winner.

A person’s a person whether a saint or a sinner.

No matter what they’ve done, what they can or can’t do.

A person’s a person, whether a me or a you.

 

A person’s a person no matter their power.

A person’s a person whether sweet or they’re sour,

Whether neighbor or stranger, a friend or a foe,

A person’s a person where-ever you go.

Whether it’s you or it’s me, whether it’s “them” or it’s “us”

Remember one thing, remember we must:

A person’s a person; let everyone live

No matter their ___, (anything)!   Just let each one live.

~ MLHC

(*Quote from Dr. Seuss’ “Horton Hears a Who”)