Check out Catherine’s lovely post today over at Everyday Life As Lyric Poetry. She talks about perspective, and these quotes in particular reached me;

After you soak in Catherine’s wisdom, take a quick peak over at Jen Lemen’s again and see a small sampling of the love notes she made to leave around her city. She is a woman who takes action instead of just talking - any wonder she’s one of my heros?

Came across this video today on yet another wonderful blog - Diamonds In The Sky With Lucy.

I’d like to think I’d be one of the people who would have gone up to this guy without hesitation or reservation and given and received a hug. But would I? Would I have gone with my gut, or would I have been so tied up in social convention and our ‘don’t touch’ society that I would have passed him by with a snicker and a look of amused condescension on my face. And if I had done that – what would I have lost?

Nothing perhaps, after all it would have just been a random moment, quite likely quickly forgotten as I got swept up in the all-consuming mundanities of daily life. But I would have lost something, something small but profound. I would have lost the infinitely precious opportunity for real connection with another human being.

The seclusion and separateness with which we live our lives creates a seemingly insurmountable division between us. And if this distance often seems too wide to cross with people we love, it seems near impossible with the countless people who pass in and out of our lives on a daily basis.

We can’t connect with everyone, of course, but how many potentially magical connections – large and small – do we miss because we’re not open to noticing and receiving them? How often do we not notice, not reach out, not connect simply because we are too busy, too shy, too scared, too distracted to reach out and grab the opportunity?

How much more richness might we claim in this existence if, ever once in a while, we took a day and vowed to live it in awareness. If we decided to boldly claim each and every opportunity that came our way, no matter how seemingly bizarre or random or inconsequential. What sort of things might we learn? What sort of bliss might we encounter? What sort of growth might come our way?

Think about moments like this one from the same blog.

Or these two stories of connection from the ever wise Jen Lemen

Or this story from Krystyn Heide, who just yesterday found a negative rant left in a coffee shop and used it as inspiration to write and leave random love notes around the city for people to find.

What would you have done if you passed a long haired, bearded stranger in the mall holding a sign offering “FREE HUGS”? What would you have done with the stranger on the bus, or at the gas station or at Trader Joes? What would you have done with that noxious note in the coffee store?

Every second of our existence is created by and carries the potential of our choices. The choice to connect or disconnect. The choice to reach out or close off. The choice to notice and be aware, or the choice to shut down and look away. The choice to not only accept, but to seek out and create new opportunities for connection with the people surrounding us.

Lets just think for a moment about what could happen if we all took a day and made the choice to connect, to notice, to reach out…can you imagine the power in that?

So what do you say? I say lets do it.

I believe…

…that everything is a form of energy, especially our words and thoughts…

…that this energy is transmitted from us and through us every second of our lives, and that it shapes our experiences and our relationships and our perceptions of the world around us…

…that if I exist in a place of gratitude and generosity that the universe will care for me as I need to be cared for – even if I don’t always recognize it at the time…

…that a long, hot shower is perhaps the sweetest form of therapy in the world…

…that compassion is the greatest gift I have to give…

…that music is power…

…that I could exist without a house or a car or even community, but I would surely cease to exist without the company of words…

…that I could happily drown in a good poem…

…that what I put out into the universe will come back to me…

…that I only have one life, but that it is awfully easy to forget to fully live it…

…that I need to have better personal boundaries…

…that silence shared between two deeply connected people is perhaps the most blissful sound in the world…

…that a two year old has the power - in the span of mere moments - to inspire (or incite) every single emotion that exists inside me…

…that love is everything, but that it is not always enough…

…that our only real job on this earth is to be who we are, and to be that person as completely as we can be…

…that singing Patsy Cline at full volume can heal my battered heart better than anything else (except perhaps copious amounts of rich dark chocolate)…

…that the ocean has the power to instantly calm my weary soul…

…that life is a series of choices…

…that laughter really is the best medicine…

….that if I am obsessing about something I need to take a long, hard run to get myself out of my head and into my body…

…that periods of essential learning and growth often make me feel like absolute shit when I’m in them…

…that I often find my gurus in the strangest places…

…that loving touch given freely and without reservation has the power to sustain me…

…that my new red heels really are made of magic, even if they do hurt like hell after an hour…

…that love only finds it’s true strength and power when it is both given and received…

…that opportunities for peaceful solitude should be cherished…

…that sometimes the only way to get through a difficult situation is to lean into it, and lean into it hard, even when what you most want to do is run back to bed and pull the covers over your head…

…that American Idol truly is a great example of quality television programming…

…that I manifest my own blessings quite easily, but that I need to be conscious and aware to recognize them when they appear…

…that sometimes it’s harder to see the good in some people than others, but it’s also almost always worthwhile to take the time to look…

…that sometimes, when I most feel the urge to run away, I probably most need to sit still and wait for further directions…

…that there is beauty everywhere if I only remember to keep my eyes wide open…

…that if I am true to myself, eventually all the pieces will fall into place…

…that the center of my existence is my breath…

…that the best part of life is the delicious knowledge that magic might fall into your lap in the very next moment…

What do you believe?