Don't Pray

A  L  O  H  A !

Newark, New Jersey

"Those who are willing 

to be vulnerable move 

among the mysteries."

                Theodore Roethke

Waikiki, Hawaii

"Don’t pray when it rains if you 

don’t pray when the sun shines."

                       Satchel Paige

"Rancho Novato" Detail; Novato CA

“When a thing is funny, 

search it carefully for 

a hidden truth.” 

            George Bernard Shaw

Linking to

Monday Murals

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Thank YOU

Friend!

           Warmly, cloudia

We Are Contra

A  L  O  H  A !

If every prayer

was answered in a

predictable way

then it wouldn't

be a prayer.

It would be

a transaction.

 Someone said

that every prayer

is heard, and

is answered.

But sometimes

the answer is "No"

for our own good.

 Every day unnoticed
we are helped
in a million ways.
Still we get to
"do it ourselves" in
an enduring mystery
of our being.

We are mysterious beings
who are often quite 
predictable.
Apparent contradictions
appear near the source
of great truths.

Linking to

Wild Bird Wednesday


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Thank YOU
Friend!
        Warmly, cloudia

Enmity Prayer

            A   L   O   H   A  !           

" I have sworn
upon the altar of God,
 eternal hostility
against every form
of tyranny
over the mind of man. "

    Thomas Jefferson

" Don't tell me 

the moon is shining; 

show me the glint

 of light

 on broken glass. "

Anton Chekhov

“ It seems to me

 people tend to forget 

that we are to love

 our enemies,
 not to satisfy

 some standard of righteousness
 but because God 

their Father

 loves them. ”

 Marilynne Robinson, 

Gilead

" I want to be

 with those who know

 secret things 

or else alone "

Rainer Maria Rilke

 
Sworn Eternal Enmity

Those things I hate

will be my enemies forever.

I will oppose and fight them,

being opposite in every way.

Rudeness I hate -

I will be kind.

Grasping is evil -

I will joyfully share.

Exclusion offends - 

I will be warmly present

for all others,

not hurrying away.

Blame is corrosive -

 I will forgive myself

and others;

Trusting to the altar

or ambiguity

that which I

do not understand;

Tomorrow,

the next hour,

are promised to none - 

I will live in gratitude

N O W.

> < 3 3 3 ( ° >

 

' Take Peace & Laughs - Leave Your Comment '

Thanks for visiting!
                       Warmly, cloudia
 

  

Status Talisman. . .

Or Stratus Talisman?

ALOHA!

Beauty in all it's forms

heals me.

"Those disabled from work - the aged,

 and invalids -

 have a well-grounded claim

 to care from the state."

Otto von Bismarck, 1881,

 proposing a social insurance program.

"An onion can make people cry,

 but there has never been a vegetable invented

 to make them laugh." 

Will Rogers

"Clothes make the man.

 Naked people have little or no influence on society."

Mark Twain

"The pine stays green in winter...

 wisdom in hardship." 

Norman Douglas 

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We are designed to look for faces

and patterns in behavior.

We interpret the actions of others

without even realizing it.

What we "see"

seems as self evident

as sports teams do

when they are winning.

But leads can be lost;

Momentum is always shifting.

Don't remain moored

to past patterns, habits,

automatic responses.

Cleanse your windows of perception.

Invite a few "what ifs"

to the party.

Get 

tipsy

with the real possibilities

that a shift in attitude

can begin.

O Lord

grant me the wisdom

to discern between

whole, healthy habits,

and stultifying routines -

Help me to be more able

to swim in the cataract of abundance

that surrounds me.

Amen

Bonus Tip:

We assume that our friends

or partners

are making a decision,

or sending a message,

when they are simply on auto-pilot

(as we are).

Remembering that they

are as lost & searching

as yourself

Allows compassion

to blanket and quench

the hot coals of hurt

in cool,

sparkling,

joyous

purity.

      Warmly, cloudia

Run This Town

ALOHA
Friend
Saturday
has come to
W A I K I K I

Today's song is upbeat! I find it very compelling:

click on photos for enlargement; yours?

"Character consists of what you do on the third and fourth tries."
James Michener

Trees look ghostly and mysterious at night.
I like the rainbow effect in this shot.

"Beautiful young people are accidents of nature,
but beautiful old people are works of art."
Eleanor Roosevelt

This small dog can drink us all under the table!


"The only end of writing
is to enable the readers better to enjoy life,
or better to endure it."
Samuel Johnson

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Walking along the beach yesterday,
I was thinking that it often takes "common sense"
a while to catch up to the facts.




Some old folks were afraid to have electricity,
or telephones, in their homes.
Common sense once proclaimed:
"Man was not meant to fly"
But we know that men
and women
DO fly every day,
though many of us still feel that primal fear
of losing the ground beneath our feet.




Mystics have long taught us
that our thoughts have power,
effecting ourselves, others,
and our circumstances
small and large.




Common sense rebels at this,
but yesterday I saw a report on the news
in which the reporter was driving a small car
with only her thoughts!




Brain waves can be measured.
When an angry or agitated person enters the room
we feel it - whatever our logic dictates.




I like to think that there is a benevolent effect
from the love I feel for those who walk beside me.




Today I found the passage below in a book.
Coincidence?




"In many ways
the spiritual challenge of 'waiting'
and becoming a different quality of person
makes more of a contribution to this world
than financing a new hospital. . .
We are unaccustomed to giving value to what we
cannot see,
and we cannot see the power emitted
from a healthy psyche."
Caroline Myss
"Anatomy of the Spirit"




What do YOU think?
Can you feel it?






ALOHA, cloudia

Anniversary

ALOHA
it's
Monday in Waikiki


click on photos!

"Conventional opinion is the ruin of our souls."

Rumi

What can you lose if you have your own heart?

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"I cannot endure to waste anything as precious as autumn sunshine by staying in the house. So I spend almost all the daylight hours in the open air."
-Nathaniel Hawthorne

"A life of leisure and a life of laziness are two (different) things."
Ben Franklin

Many years ago
on the Boardwalk
at the New Jersey shore
a fortuneteller asked me
if I was an artist.
"Writer"
I answered.
"You will write the book,
don't worry."
And so I have,
scroll to the bottom of this page
then click on the book cover to find out more.


She further told me
that I would marry a
"kingly man"
younger than myself,
and live with him
in a foreign land.
And here we are
in Hawaii.


24 years ago
today
I met a man.
Older than me in years,
but eternally young
in his spirit.


All that time
we have been together.
He is kingly
and a delightful
little boy at once.


Happy Anniversary,
Honey.

E Ku'u Sweetie

mele na Mälia Craver

leo na Kenneth Makuakäne

© 1991 Makuakäne Publishing Co.

He ha'upu keia no ka sweetie la
This is a remembrance for the sweetie
My warm beautiful pearl
Ku'u momi nani mehana la
One who is desired by many others
A lovely one, you are from the uplands
'I'ini na ipo la
He nohea 'oe i ka nahele

HUI: CHORUS:
O my Sweetie, O my Sweetie
E ku'u sweetie, e ku'u sweetie The intimate companion of the mist
O, so, relaxed with the ferns
Ka pilina a lilinoe
The beautiful one I've met
E luana nei, me ka palai
I ka beauty a o huia e

Kahiko ka ua i Punalu'u la
The usual rain is at Punalu'u
Upon the many Lehua blossoms
I ka pua o ka lehua
Arched above is the hued rainbow
In space above the Ko'olau cliffs
Pi'o mai la ke anuenue la
I ka lewa o ke Ko'olau

Puana keia mele no sweetie la
I'll sing a song for the Sweetie
My warm beautiful pearl
Ku'u momi nani mehana
Indeed, with you, is my love
Your admired always will be
Me 'oe wale no ke aloha la
A kou lei ho'ohihi a mau loa

ALOHA and thanks SO much for visiting! cloudia

Clear Skies

A L O H A!

It's the 'Morning After' here in Waikiki. . .

click on photos to enter a magical realm "The truly efficient laborer will not crowd his day with work but will saunter to his task, surrounded by a wide halo of ease and leisure, and then do what he loves best."

Henry Thoreau

"An idea is not responsible for the people who believe in it."

Don Marquis

"No man ever got high by pulling other people down. The intelligent merchant does not knock his competitors. The sensible worker does not 'work' those who work with him. Don't knock your friends. Don't knock your enemies. Don't knock yourself."

Alfred Lord Tennyson

)=(

Lovely Spirit of the Earth,
of soil,
God's beloved
Rock-ribbed
spongy
fitting flesh of our experience
I live on you with gratitude.
You are within me
of which I'm made.








Lovely Water Spirit,
God's beloved,
flowing
falling
resting
patient;
Ocean, raindrop, tear
mother of life
you share the salt of the Earth.
I was born in you
and you are within me
of which I'm made.










Sacred Fire,
God's beloved,
Cold at the distance of stars:
you are the spark
the transformer
comfort and delight,
you nourish,
cleanse
destroy
and birth
in the melding of suns.
The lightning strike,
smile,
and hug
you imbue
within me of which I'm made.









Air,
God's beloved,
You
Are
!





Of which I'm made
Amen.
!

A L O H A, my friend ;-) Cloudia

the Power of Words

Click on photos to enlarge! "Whoever has the most birthdays wins!" Eddie Sherman

"Doing the right thing will always make everything balance."

Ah Quon McElrath, Social Worker/Social Activist, impatiently to a legislator "explaining" the balancing of priorities to her.

"The dog was created especially for children. He is the god of frolic."
Henry Ward Beecher

"A dog owns nothing, yet is seldom dissatisfied."
Irish Proverb

Japanese researcher Dr. Emoto spent years studying the crystallization properties of water. Water with different characteristics, he found, produces very different crystal structures.

Dr. E. photographs these for documentation.

Polluted water produces brown, ugly structures. Clean water from pristine mountain streams blossoms into brilliantly bright structures of ethereal beauty.

Dr. Emoto got the idea to talk to water.

"Thank you," he said to a batch of water before crystallizing it.

The resulting crystals were as beautiful as angels.

"I hate you," he said to the next batch.

The crystal formed was dark, misshapen and ugly.

Dr. E tried writing the word

"Beauty" on a piece of paper, which he then taped to the next batch of experimental water.

The crystal structure formed was lovely.

Ancient people trusted in the magical power of words.

A prayer written on papyrus, then dissolved in water,

and drunk down,

had the power to bless and heal

they believed.

What other ancient magic have we discarded?

A L O H A, Cloudia