THE COURAGE TO BE FREE (IN A WORLD GONE MAD)
The world has gone insane with work.
You alone have the courage to rest.
The world has lost its playfulness, its joy of being.
You alone have the courage to live like a free child.
To touch life at the point of creation.
To laugh at cats and snow.
People seem busy, but they are running.
Running from their feelings.
Running from shame and guilt.
Running so they don’t have to stop.
And meet themselves.
And wonder who they really are.
You alone have the courage to stop.
To feel your feet in contact with the sacred ground.
To notice your breath rising and falling.
To feel yourself caressed by the morning sunshine,
filled by the afternoon, and entered by the evening.
The world needs you, because you are not fully in this world.
You bring a presence that warms this world.
Your innocence is a balm for this world’s certainties.
The world has become jaded, but you are new.
– Jeff Foster
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Alcohol Ink & Epoxy Resin Blooming Mandalas by Peace House Art is the tutorial I’m featuring today. I think you will find it both a fun and relaxing process to watch. This is what Peace House Art has to say about this tutorial.
“Alcohol inks dripped into epoxy resin in a mandala pattern. Watch the mandalas bloom into beautiful structures reminiscent of coral reefs, outer space, and mushroom-filled gardens. For more information about mandalas and how they can enhance healing and relaxation, check out these links:
“From Wikipedia: “A mandala (Sanskrit: मण्डल, literally “circle”) is a spiritual and ritual symbol in Hinduism and Buddhism, representing the universe. In common use, “mandala” has become a generic term for any diagram, chart or geometric pattern that represents the cosmos metaphysically or symbolically; a microcosm of the universe.”
Enjoy!
Alcohol Ink & Epoxy Resin Blooming Mandalas by Peace House Art
On TED.com: Jane Fonda-Life’s Third Act. “Within this generation, an extra 30 years have been added to our life expectancy — and these years aren’t just a footnote. Jane Fonda asks how we can re-imagine this new phase of our lives.”
Today is my 65th Birthday (and it happens to be a Thursday). In the eyes of our government, I am now “officially” a senior citizen. I have been disabled by chronic illness for 30 years. I have been living a life removed from what is the”norm.” I have missed most of the markers for a human life, parenthood, grand-parenthood, career and retirement. I have only marked each birthday as another year of more illness, and another year closer to death. By one of those unexplained “coincidences” I stumbled upon this Ted Talk by Jane Fonda.
For some unknown reason when I started this blog, I not only created Mandala Monday, but Ted Talk Thursday as well. For the last couple of months I have not been drawn to create a new Ted Talk Thursday. I don’t know why. It was just how life unfolded. But today, I am drawn to share this one with you.
So here is my birthday gift to you. Enjoy.
Life’s Third Act by Jane Fonda
In case you don’t live in the USA or have been living without media for the last 40 years or so this is who Jane Fonda is according to TED.com:
“Jane Fonda is an actor, author, producer and activist supporting environmental issues, peace and female empowerment. She founded the Georgia Campaign for Adolescent Pregnancy Prevention, and established the Jane Fonda Center for Adolescent Reproductive Health at Emory. She cofounded the Women’s Media Center, and sits on the board of V-Day, a global effort to stop violence against women and girls.
Fonda’s remarkable screen and stage career includes two Best Actress Oscars, an Emmy, a Tony Award nomination and an Honorary Palme d’Or from the Cannes Film Festival. Offstage, she revolutionized the fitness industry in the 1980s with Jane Fonda’s Workout — the all-time top-grossing home video. She has written a best-selling memoir, My Life So Far, and Prime Time, a comprehensive guide to living life to the fullest.”
For those of you not familiar with TED Talks here is a brief summery from www.ted.com: “TED is a small nonprofit devoted to Ideas Worth Spreading. It started out (in 1984) as a conference bringing together people from three worlds: Technology, Entertainment, Design. Since then its scope has become ever broader. Along with two annual conferences — the TED Conference in Long Beach and Palm Springs each spring, and the TEDGlobal conference in Oxford UK each summer — TED includes the award-winning TEDTalks video site, the Open Translation Project and Open TV Project, the inspiring TED Fellows and TEDx programs, and the annual TED Prize”
On