When I Am Silent

When I am silent, I fall into that place where everything is music.

~ Rumi

In biological terms, melodious sounds help encourage the release of dopamine in the reward area of the brain, as would eating a delicacy, looking at something appealing or smelling a pleasant aroma.

  Being silent or "in meditation" opens the  mind to experience the world in a new way. 

The power of music  is like love because just as melody enters into our thoughts, so can love.

   There is a magic to music. In the book Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, Albus Dumbledore says:

    "Ah music. A magic beyond all we do here!"

When we find a love that makes our emotions strong, that brings us great happiness and joy, we get to this place. Music reminds us that this place of silence can be physical or emotional. Music and love both are connections to something outside of ourselves.

Listen to the music by Yuja Wang and fall into that place where everything is music.

  

Pop The Question 2

If you're going to propose marriage, get down on one knee. You might as well get the rest of the city to get down on their knees too.
Here's a how to propose to a woman.

I think if you meet the right person, you become a better man or woman. It is reasonable to assume that a good seed will develop into a good tree that will bear good fruit, in which others will build their nests.

                                                                     Commentary - "ABetter Man"

                                                                   Lady Antebellum - A Better Man

Here are some Hollywood Movie Wedding Proposals.  Enjoy and keep the music playing.

Pop The Question 1

Ski slopes are an ideal setting for marriage proposals,  or try a thrilling zip-line proposal, or a romantic getaway weekend, or writing your names in the clouds while you both stand on the shoreline of your favorite beach.






Inside elephants are a very unique place. Watch this proposal (below) inside  a National Historic Landmark called "Lucy the Elephant" in Margate, New Jersey.

    
                                                                                             And She Said Yes

Now get ready for your wedding and later on read about how to stay married, in the book "For Better".

The Best Way To Spell Love

“Time is your most precious gift because you only have a set amount of it. You can make more money, but you can't make more time. When you give someone your time, you are giving them a portion of your life that you'll never get back. Your time is your life. That is why the greatest gift you can give someone is your time...It is not enough to just say relationships are important; we must prove it by investing time in them. Words alone are worthless. "My children, our love should not be just words and talk; it must be true love, which shows itself in action."                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                             Relationships take time and effort, and the best way to spell love is "T-I-M-E.”     

                       ― Rick Warren, The Purpose Driven Life: What on Earth Am I Here For?

Ben Franklin, scientist, inventor, philosopher, signer of the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution understood the importance of self-examination. In his book, The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin, he scheduled each day of his life around two questions:

   Every single morning, he asked himself,  "What Good Shall I Do This Day?" 

and every evening he asked,  "What Good Have I Done This Day?" 

    So spend time with someone you love today. You have 84,600 seconds to do it.

Who You Love

                                                           John Mayer and Katy Perry duet on the "Who You Love"

    One of the wonderful things about the Olympics is that you are judged by your merit," said U.S. President Barack Obama.  "How good you are regardless of where you come from, what you look like, who you love, and that, I think, is consistent with the spirit of the Olympics. It is certainly consistent with American values and we want to make sure the people understand that."

    The couple above, and other couples in this video, have to really hold on tight to that mechanical bull or they're going to fall off and hit their heads.The important thing isn't the animal, it's can you stay on when your arms feel shaky or the ride gets rough.

  If you can't get on a mechanical bull. Just get down together in a downward dog. Hold the pose! Take a rest says the instructor, "if your arms feel shaky".
Happy Valentine's Day! Read these dozen poems and cherish them like a dozen roses. Enjoy!

LOVE IS

                                                                     Love Is - Nelson Rangell

February is heart month. And love is symbolized with a red heart. But what is love? Love involves not only the physical attraction ( "a beam of light shining") or an emotion ("love aches"), but it involves a deeper commitment of the mind and a challenge to unite us to eternity. The song "Love Is" (with lyrics) gives us some answers, but so does 1 Corinthians 13:4 -8.

    "Love Is"

They say it's a river
That circles the earth
A beam of light shining
To the edge of the universe
It conquers all
It changes everything

They say it's a blessing
They say it's a gift
They say it's a miracle
And I believe that it is
It conquers all
But it's a mystery

Love breaks your heart
Love takes no less than everything
Love makes it hard
And it fades away so easily

In this world we've created
In this place that we live
From the blink of an eye, babe
The darkness sets in
Love lights the world
And lights the lovers for eternity

Love breaks the chains
Love aches for everyone of us
Love takes the tears and pain
And it turns it into the beauty that remains

Look at this place
It was paradise, but now it's dying
I'll pray for love
I'll take my chances that it's not too late

Love breaks your heart
Love takes no less than everything
Love makes it hard
And it fades away so easily, oh...

Love breaks the chains
Love aches for everyone of us
Love takes the tears and the pain
And it turns it into the beauty that remains

Mmm...mmm...mmm...

1 Corinthians 13:4 - 8
English Standard Version

   "Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never ends."

    The love that is "patient and kind" is known by the Greek word agape.  Agape is marked by a commitment toward a way of seeing and behaving toward others.
 I think of it as "an unselfish love".  Very few of us practice this type of love.

    The minister Kate Braestrup reveals the meaning of this Corinthian passage with a deeper understanding and description: 

   "Agape is patient, agape is kind, it is not envious, boastful, arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; It is not irritable or resentful, it does not rejoice in wrongdoings but rejoices in the truth. It hears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Agape never ends."

    When I listen to the song "Love Is" with Brian McKnight and Vanessa Williams, I think of romantic love. When I listen to the instrumental version with Nelson Rangell, I think of agape.

Pale Blue Dot

“Look again at that dot. That's here. That's home. That's us. On it everyone you love, everyone you know, everyone you ever heard of, every human being who ever was, lived out their lives. The aggregate of our joy and suffering, thousands of confident religions, ideologies, and economic doctrines, every hunter and forager, every hero and coward, every creator and destroyer of civilization, every king and peasant, every young couple in love, every mother and father, hopeful child, inventor and explorer ..., every teacher of morals, every corrupt politician, every "superstar," every "supreme leader," every saint and sinner in the history of our species lived there-on a mote of dust suspended in a sunbeam.

... To me, it underscores our responsibility to deal more kindly with one another, and to preserve and cherish the pale blue dot, the only home we've ever known.” 
                                     ―  "Pale Blue Dot: A Vision of the Human Future in Space" — Carl Sagan
The astronomer Carl Sagan contemplated the universe with reverence and awe.  We inhabit this planet, this blue dot called Earth, for better or worse. We are golden specks of dust capable of joy, suffering and love. What amazes me as I listen to this recording of Sagan reading this passage are the words, that this earth, this blue planet, is also home to "every human being who ever was..."
  Sagan is saying that even those we love who have died, are still part of this earth. In many ways this is true.
Think of those people who you have ever loved. Are they not still a part of your thought and being?
I remember a girl who was killed in an automobile accident when I was in college. She was a friend from secondary school. I still remember her all these years later and she is a part of this dot. It is comforting to listen to Carl Sagan and the song below. Love brings out the best in our society. Remembering those we love and cherish is helped by words and music and helps dry the tears.

                                                   Karla Bonoff - Good-bye My Friend
                                               

Our Closeness

"Friend, our closeness is this.
Anywhere you put your foot
feel me in the firmness under you.

How is it with this love,
I see your world and not you?"

   ~ Rumi

When you love your friend,  you feel their closeness and it is comforting to know that they are everywhere and anywhere. A best friend clicks with with your heart and your spirit.
   A good friend will do more than just be around when times are hard or when times are good.  A friend will "filter your blood", and bring you health, said  Walt Whitman in his poem "Song of Myself"

"I bequeath myself to the dirt to grow from the grass I love, 
If you want me again look for me under your boot-soles. 
You will hardly know who I am or what I mean,
But I shall be good health to you nevertheless..."