Nourish The garden of Your Life by Jean Houston

Just as you would not neglect seeds that you planted with the hope that they will bear vegetables and fruits and flowers, so you must attend to and nourish the garden of your becoming.
Jean Houston

BALADA INTERIOR de Federico Garcia Lorca

BALADA INTERIOR
Federico Garcia Lorca

El corazón,
que tenía en la escuela
donde estuvo pintada
la cartilla primera,
¿Está en tí ,noche negra?

Frío,frío,como el agua del río

El primer beso que supo a beso
y fué para mis labios niños
como la lluvia fresca,
¿Está en tí,noche negra?

Frío,frío, como el agua del río
Mi primer verso,
la niña de las trenzas
que miraba de frente
¿Está en tí,noche negra?

Frío,frío, como agua del río

Pero mi corazón,roído de culebras
el que estuvo colgado
del árbol de la ciencia,
¿Está en tí, noche negra?

Caliente,caliente,como el agua de la fuente
Mi amor errante,
castillo sin firmeza,
de sombras enmohecidas,
¿Está en tí,noche negra?

Caliente,caliente,como el agua de la fuente
¡Oh,gran dolor!
admites en tu cueva
¿Es cierto noche negra?

Caliente,caliente,como el agua de la fuente

¡Oh corazón perdido!
¡Requiem aetarnam!

Du musst das Leben nicht verstehen Von Rainer Maria Rilke (Mut machen und Leben - Gedichte)

William Adolphe Bouguereau Art

Du musst das Leben nicht verstehen
Rainer Maria Rilke

Du musst das Leben nicht verstehen,
dann wird es werden wie ein Fest.
Und lass dir jeden Tag geschehen
so wie ein Kind im Weitergehen
von jedem Wehen
sich viele Blüten schenken lässt.
Sie aufzusammeln und zu sparen,
das kommt dem Kind nicht in den Sinn.
Es löst sie leise aus den Haaren,
drin sie so gern gefangen waren,
und hält den lieben jungen Jahren
nach neuen seine Hände hin.

Slowing down by Douglas Pagels

Tatyana Tomsickova Photography

Some of the secret joys of
living are not found by
rushing from point A
to point B, but by
inventing some imaginary
letters along the way.
Douglas Pagels

The youthful soul by MARTIN FARQUHAR TUPPER

Emile Eisman Semenowsky Art

In the morning of life, before its wearisome journey,
The youthful soul doth expand,in the simple luxury of being;
It hath not contracted its wishes, nor set a limit on its hopes;
The wing of fancy is unclipped,
and sin hath not seared the feelings:
Each feature is stamped with immortality,
for all its desires are infinite,
And it seeketh an ocean of happiness,
to fill the deep hollow within.
MARTIN FARQUHAR TUPPER,Proverbial Philosophy

On art and life by Jorge Luis Borges

Charles Edward Art

A writer -- and, I believe, generally all persons -- must think that whatever happens to him or her is a resource. All things have been given to us for a purpose, and an artist must feel this more intensely. All that happens to us, including our humiliations, our misfortunes, our embarrassments, all is given to us as raw material, as clay, so that we may shape our art.
Jorge Luis Borges

Autumn poems:The Autumn by Elizabeth Barrett Browning*Autumn in the Garden by Henry Van Dyke

Music:Autumn Dreams

Is not this a true autumn day? Just the still melancholy that I love - that makes life and nature harmonise. The birds are consulting about their migrations, the trees are putting on the hectic or the pallid hues of decay, and begin to strew the ground, that one's very footsteps may not disturb the repose of earth and air, while they give us a scent that is a perfect anodyne to the restless spirit. Delicious autumn! My very soul is wedded to it, and if I were a bird I would fly about the earth seeking the successive autumns.
George Eliot

Graham Gercken Art

The Autumn
Elizabeth Barrett Browning

Go, sit upon the lofty hill,
And turn your eyes around,
Where waving woods and waters wild
Do hymn an autumn sound.
The summer sun is faint on them --
The summer flowers depart --
Sit still -- as all transform'd to stone,
Except your musing heart.
How there you sat in summer-time,
May yet be in your mind;
And how you heard the green woods sing
Beneath the freshening wind.
Though the same wind now blows around,
You would its blast recall;
For every breath that stirs the trees,
Doth cause a leaf to fall.

Oh! like that wind, is all the mirth
That flesh and dust impart:
We cannot bear its visitings,
When change is on the heart.
Gay words and jests may make us smile,
When Sorrow is asleep;
But other things must make us smile,
When Sorrow bids us weep!

The dearest hands that clasp our hands, --
Their presence may be o'er;
The dearest voice that meets our ear,
That tone may come no more!
Youth fades; and then, the joys of youth,
Which once refresh'd our mind,
Shall come -- as, on those sighing woods,
The chilling autumn wind.

Hear not the wind -- view not the woods;
Look out o'er vale and hill-
In spring, the sky encircled them --
The sky is round them still.
Come autumn's scathe -- come winter's cold --
Come change -- and human fate!
Whatever prospect Heaven doth bound,
Can ne'er be desolate.

Graham Gercken Art

Autumn in the Garden
Henry Van Dyke

When the frosty kiss of Autumn in the dark
Makes its mark
On the flowers, and the misty morning grieves
Over fallen leaves;
Then my olden garden, where the golden soil
Through the toil
Of a hundred years is mellow, rich, and deep,
Whispers in its sleep.

'Mid the crumpled beds of marigold and phlox,
Where the box
Borders with its glossy green the ancient walks,
There's a voice that talks
Of the human hopes that bloomed and withered here
Year by year,--
Dreams of joy, that brightened all the labouring hours,
Fading as the flowers.

Yet the whispered story does not deepen grief;
But relief
For the loneliness of sorrow seems to flow
From the Long-Ago,
When I think of other lives that learned, like mine,
To resign,
And remember that the sadness of the fall
Comes alike to all.

What regrets, what longings for the lost were theirs!
And what prayers
For the silent strength that nerves us to endure
Things we cannot cure!
Pacing up and down the garden where they paced,
I have traced
All their well-worn paths of patience, till I find
Comfort in my mind.

Faint and far away their ancient griefs appear:
Yet how near
Is the tender voice, the careworn, kindly face,
Of the human race!
Let us walk together in the garden, dearest heart,
Not apart!
They who know the sorrows other lives have known
Never walk alone.

Heart warming moment

Heart-warming moment gentle labrador dog coaxed reluctant Down’s Syndrome boy who shuns human contact to play with him.

The Daffodil Principle Story By Jaroldeen Asplund Edwards

Edward Dufner Art

The Daffodil Principle
Jaroldeen Asplund Edwards

Several times my daughter had telephoned to say, "Mother, you must come see the daffodils before they are over." I wanted to go, but it was a two-hour drive from Laguna to Lake Arrowhead.

"I will come next Tuesday, " I promised, a little reluctantly, on her third call.

Next Tuesday dawned cold and rainy. Still, I had promised, and so I drove there. When I finally walked into Carolyn's house and hugged and greeted my grandchildren, I said, "Forget the daffodils, Carolyn! The road is invisible in the clouds and fog, and there is nothing in the world except you and these children that I want to see bad enough to drive another inch!"

My daughter smiled calmly and said,
"We drive in this all the time, Mother."

"Well, you won't get me back on the road until it clears, and then I'm heading for home!" I assured her.

"I was hoping you'd take me over to the garage
to pick up my car."

"How far will we have to drive?"

"Just a few blocks," Carolyn said. "I'll drive.
I'm used to this."

After several minutes, I had to ask, "Where are we going? This isn't the way to the garage!"

"We're going to my garage the long way," Carolyn smiled, "by way of the daffodils."wbr

"Carolyn," I said sternly, "please turn around."

"It's all right, Mother, I promise. You will never forgive yourself if you miss this experience."

After about twenty minutes, we turned onto a small gravel road and I saw a small church. On the far side of the church, I saw a hand-lettered sign that said, "Daffodil Garden."

We got out of the car and each took a child's hand, and I followed Carolyn down the path. Then, we turned a corner of the path, and I looked up and gasped. Before me lay the most glorious sight. It looked as though someone had taken a great vat of gold and poured it down over the mountain peak and slopes. The flowers were planted in majestic, swirling patterns-great ribbons and swaths of deep orange, white, lemon yellow, salmon pink, saffron, and butter yellow. Each different-colored variety was planted as a group so that it swirled and flowed like its own river with its own unique hue. There were five acres of flowers.

"But who has done this?" I asked Carolyn.

"It's just one woman," Carolyn answered. "She lives on the property. That's her home."

Carolyn pointed to a well kept A-frame house that looked small and modest in the midst of all that glory. We walked up to the house. On the patio, we saw a poster. "Answers to the Questions I Know You Are Asking" was the headline.

The first answer was a simple one."50,000 bulbs," it read. The second answer was, "One at a time, by one woman. Two hands, two feet, and very little brain." The third answer was, "Began in 1958."

There it was, The Daffodil Principle. For me, that moment was a life-changing experience. I thought of this woman whom I had never met, who, more than forty years before, had begun ~ one bulb at a time ~ to bring her vision of beauty and joy to an obscure mountain top. Still, just planting one bulb at a time, year after year, had changed the world. This unknown woman had forever changed the world in which she lived. She had created something of ineffable (indescribable) magnificence, beauty, and inspiration.

The principle her daffodil garden taught is one of the greatest principles of celebration. That is, learning to move toward our goals and desires one step at a time ~ often just one baby-step at a time ~ and learning to love the doing, learning to use the accumulation of time. When we multiply tiny pieces of time with small increments of daily effort, we too will find we can accomplish magnificent things. We can change the world.

"It makes me sad in a way," I admitted to Carolyn. "What might I have accomplished if I had thought of a wonderful goal thirty-five or forty years ago and had worked away at it 'one bulb at a time' through all those years. Just think what I might have been able to achieve!"

My daughter summed up the message of the day in her usual direct way. "Start tomorrow," she said.

Autumn quote by Thomas Hood

I saw old Autumn in the misty morn
Stand shadowless like silence, listening
To silence, for no lonely bird would sing
Into his hollow ear from woods forlorn.
Thomas Hood

Not ours the vows by Bernard Barton

VIII. Wedded Love
“Not ours the vows”
Bernard Barton

NOT ours the vows of such as plight
Their troth in sunny weather,
While leaves are green and skies are bright,
To walk on flowers together.

But we have loved as those who tread
The thorny path of sorrow,
With clouds above, and cause to dread
Yet deeper gloom to-morrow.

That thorny path, those stormy skies,
Have drawn our spirits nearer;
And rendered us, by sorrow’s ties,
Each to the other dearer.

Love, born in hours of joy and mirth,
With mirth and joy may perish;
That to which darker hours gave birth
Still more and more we cherish.

It looks beyond the clouds of time,
And through death’s shadowy portal;
Made by adversity sublime,
By faith and hope immortal.

Love Quote

Someone who is worthy of your love will NEVER put you in the situation where you feel you must sacrifice your dignity, your integrity, or your self-worth to be with them.

Life-Wisdom Poetry:I believe by Unknown* I've learned by Maya Angelou* A Creed To Live by Nancy Sims

Music:
OMAR AKRAM-Downpour

I believe
Unknown

I believe in miracles and dreams that will come true.
I believe in tender moments and friendship, through and through.

I believe in stardust and moonbeams all aglow.
I believe there's magic and more there than we know.

I believe in reaching out
and touching from the heart.

I believe that if we touch,
a gift we can impart.

I believe that if you cry
your tears are not in vain.
And when you are sad and lonely,
others know your pain.

I believe that when we laugh
a sparkle starts to shine.

And I just know that spark will spread
from more hearts than just mine.

I believe that hidden
in the quiet of the night,
there's magic moths and gypsies
a fairy and a sprite.

I believe that if you dance
the dances of your heart,
that greater happiness will find
a brand new way to start.

I believe the gifts you have
are there for you to share
And when you give them from the heart,
the whole world knows your care.

I believe that if you give,
even just to one,
that gift will grow in magnitude
before the day is done.

I believe that comfort comes
from giving part of me.
And if I share with others,
there's more for all to see.

I believe that love is still
the greatest gift of all
and when it's given from the
heart then not one of us will fall.

I believe that each life affects another
We may not always realize
that every thing we do,
affects not only our lives
but touches others, too!

For a little bit of thoughtfulness
that shows someone you care,
creates a ray of sunshine
for both of you to share.

Yes, every time you offer
someone a helping hand...
Every time you show a friend
you care and understand...

Every time you have
a kind and gentle word to give...
You help someone find beauty
in this precious life we live.

For happiness brings happiness
and loving ways bring love;
And Giving is the treasure
that contentment is made of.

Heinrich Vogeler art

I've learned
Maya Angelou

I've learned that no matter what happens, or how bad it
seems today, life does go on, and it will be better tomorrow.'

I've learned that you can tell a lot about a person by
the way he/she handles these three things: a rainy day,
lost luggage, and tangled Christmas tree lights.

I've learned that regardless of your relationship with
your parents, you'll miss them when
they're gone from your life.

I've learned that making a 'living' is not the same thing as 'making a life.'

I've learned that life sometimes gives you a second chance.'

I've learned that you shouldn't go through life with
a catcher's mitt on both hands; you need to be able
to throw some things back...

I've learned that whenever I decide something with
an open heart, I usually make the right decision.

I've learned that even when I have pains,
I don't have to be one.

I've learned that every day you should reach out and
touch someone. People love a warm hug, or just a friendly
pat on the back...

I've learned that I still have a lot to learn...

I've learned that people will forget what you said,
people will forget what you did, but people will never
forget how you made them feel.

Frederick Carl Frieseke Art

A Creed To Live By
Nancy Sims

Don't undermine your worth by comparing yourself with others.

It is because we are different that each of us are special.
Don't set your goals by what other people deem important.
Only do what is best for you.

Don't take for granted the things closest to your heart.
Cling to them as you would your life, for without them
life is meaningless.

Don't let life slip through your fingers by living in
the past or in the future. By living one day at a time
you live all days of your life.

Don't give up when you still have something to give.
Nothing is really over until the moment you stop trying.

Don't be afraid to admit that you are less than perfect.
It is the fragile thread that binds us to each other.

Don't be afraid to encounter risks. It is by taking chances
that we learn how to be brave.

Don't shut love out of your life by saying it is impossible.
The fastest way to lose love is to hold to it tightly, and
the best way to keep love is to give it wings.

Don't dismiss your dreams. To be without dreams is to be
without hope, to be without hope is to be without purpose.

Don't run through life so fast that you forget not only
where you have been, but also where you are going.

Life is not a race, but a journey to be savoured each step of the way.