Wednesday, January 12, 2011

We ARE what we value...

Many people have teased me for my "handle"...MORLUV. On the back of my car, (hubby initially feared I'd be accosted at a gas station :-) and in my email address, and on my dresser...etc. - it reminds me to be with the flow of things in a spirit of love. It's a REMINDER for me, for Pete's Sake, NOT an advertisement! ;) It doesn't mean I don't occasionally speed, or even (heaven forbid) cut off, or tailgate a fellow traveler in that car with that handle. No, I am not beyond much that is human and prone to err. But I try not to. And I find that it seems to help me. I put it everywhere I will see it... because when all I have seen and all I have learned boils down to one simple thought...the thought that makes the most sense to me is ...
MORE LOVE.

My friend (who lives in Maui amid the flowers and the peace) gave me a bumper sticker. At the risk of overstatement, I put it too on the back window of my car...it says, "The Answer is... LOVE". Yep, just about says it all.


And then there's the story of money. Many of us live in conditions that most of us cannot imagine. That breaks my heart. And, like so many of us, I don't seem to know where to begin to change that imbalance...which will, in the end, impoverish us all...rich and poor alike. The best I seem to be able to do is to value life, and living, and LOVE... above all else that's material. I remind myself daily to be in a place of gratitude, not scarcity, and that helps me to expand and to release what I have, in a healthy way, so that it can flow out into the world, and then return to me (as life always does).

On my desk I have a card that reminds me "If you realize that you have enough, you are truly rich" (Tao Te Ching) and when I am stilled or stirred by nature, or touched by a beautiful heart, or poignant words, or when hubby and I find our way to the higher ground and make peace instead of war...I remind myself that I am RICH, beyond measure. I know so many, with so much, that truly have so little.

Today, I got a new gift, from a good friend, and I felt immediately blessed and aligned with the thought behind the words. And so I wanted to share it with you. In the hopes you will feel more love, and enriched, in reading it.

Many blessings! Jolinda

Robert F. Kennedy Address, University of Kansas, Lawrence, Kansas, March 18, 1968

"Too much and too long, we seem to have surrendered community excellence and community values in the mere accumulation of material things. Our gross national product ... if we should judge America by that - counts air pollution and cigarette advertising, and ambulances to clear our highways of carnage. It counts special locks for our doors and the jails for those who break them. It counts the destruction of our redwoods and the loss of our natural wonder in chaotic sprawl. It counts napalm and the cost of a nuclear warhead, and armored cars for police who fight riots in our streets. It counts Whitman's rifle and Speck's knife, and the television programs which glorify violence in order to sell toys to our children.


"Yet the gross national product does not allow for the health of our children, the quality of their education, or the joy of their play. It does not include the beauty of our poetry or the strength of our marriages; the intelligence of our public debate or the integrity of our public officials. It measures neither our wit nor our courage; neither our wisdom nor our learning; neither our compassion nor our devotion to our country; it measures everything, in short, except that which makes life worthwhile."

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