As This is Your Life......

"You don’t need knowledge or great philosophical concepts. You don’t need the acceptance of others. You express your own divinity by being alive and by loving yourself and others." — Don Miguel Ruiz

"The most important aspect of love is not in giving or the receiving: it’s in the being. When I need love from others, or need to give love to others, I’m caught in an unstable situation. Being in love, rather than giving or taking love, is the only thing that provides stability. Being in love means seeing the Beloved all around me." — Ram Dass

"Millions of people never analyze themselves. Mentally they are mechanical products of the factory of their environment, preoccupied with breakfast, lunch, and dinner, working and sleeping, and going here and there to be entertained. They don’t know what or why they are seeking, nor why they never realize complete happiness and lasting satisfaction. By evading self-analysis, people go on being robots, conditioned by their environment. True self-analysis is the greatest art of progress." — Paramahansa Yogananda

"Take no offense because that which offends you only weakens you. Being offended creates the same destructive energy that offended you in the first place. So, transcend your ego and stay in peace." — Wayne Dyer 

Chris Abani: "Bombing for Peace... Is like Fucking for Virginity"...

Chris Abani is Brilliant...

I completely forgot how ingenious and inspirational the stories told on TED.com were... I was infatuated with this site for awhile... and then my life became sooo busy... but this story of our shared humanity told by Chris Abani is worth your time and then some.... hopefully you get addicted to Ted.com.. there is definitely something for everyone on this site

My favorite lines in this story...
"bombing for peace... is like fucking for virginity"
"language cannot be understood in its abstraction....it can only be understood in the context of a story.."
"the cause of all our trouble is the belief in an essential pure identity...."

Here is the link to the video and to the site:)------->http://blog.ted.com/2008/07/22/telling_stories/

Here is the video

Your Utopia

"Your Work is to Discover Your World and then With All Your Heart Give Yourself to It...."

-Buddha

... this is a beautiful and an absolutist quote- there IS a sense of peace that settles within you when you stop living by the rules of society… and you discover a world that best fits your being… and in essence creates your happiness… it is definitely worth searching for…

Her Morning Elegance

This song .... "Her Morning Elegance" by Oren Lavie... sends amazing fluttering sensations through my body... I had to SHARE:).... listen for the tightly compressed notes in the beginning of the song... and 33 seconds into the song ..the beautiful elegance of the chimes... this particular part gives me goosebumps every time i hear it... you will be hooked.. I was! I heard the song for the first time yesterday per a friend's recommendation(two thumbs up Fems:)

Oh and the best part----->The Video... one word..no.. two words lol... Artistically Beautiful!

Background Info- Oren is an Isralie singer/songwriter... and this particular song has been nominated for a Grammy...for Best Short Form Music Video

Here is the link-------> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2_HXUhShhmY

TAKEN

I truly believe in being “taken” by something..someone.. anything… that  out of this world feeling of senseless bewilderment .. grasping for control but consciously free falling to that desired feeling of utter bliss... maybe awareness..… there is the sought that happens between two strangers… maybe at first sight.. or through incessant involvement…. whatever the case… they are feverishly taken by each other… and there is splendor in it all… the unusualness… the uniqueness of that feeling… I may be crazy.. but being “taken” by something..... someone...absolutely takes my breath away:)…

Skyline of Nairobi, Kenya

There is something uniquely beautiful about seeing a country's skyline in AFRICA lighted up in this form... and the light stretches throughout the whole city... meaning its availability isn't isolated to a section of the country...

Painting of the Week: Nwoke (Man)

Painting of the Week: Nwoke (Man)

ILLINOIS REPEALS THE DEATH PENALTY

I started interning with Amnesty International USA on Monday, January 10, 2011… and they put me right to work… I wouldn’t call it work though since every single assignment or task that needs to be done is like a erm..hmm.. what's the word.. ah yea.. a "hobby…" You get..lol…

One of my first assignments was to call people and ask them to call their Senators to tell them to vote yes on SB 3539 to end the death penalty…

I’m excited to say that the Bill was passed today, the Illinois House of Representatives and the Senate voted to end the death penalty!!! Woohooo.. and I contributed in helping pass the bill.. I feel amazingssss:)

The Fluidity of Love...

When you love someone, you do not love them all the time, in exactly the same way, from moment to moment. it is an impossibility. it is even a lie to pretend to and yet this is exactly what most of us demand. we have so little faith in the ebb and flow of life, of love, of relationships. we leap at the flow of the tide and resist in terror its ebb. we are afraid it will never return. we insist on permanency, on duration, on continuity; when the only continuity possible, in life as in love, is in growth, in fluidity – in freedom…

excerpt from “the gift from the sea” by Anne Morrow Lindbergh

You Only Live Once