Paths, Flowers and the Present Moment

Words by Melody Beattie from Journey to the Heart

Photos from my 2010 trip to Positano

"Stay in the present moment.

Listen to your inner guidance.

Trust the wisdom of your heart.

Positano, Italy 2010

Feel the life force, guiding you, moving you forward.

Go where it leads.

Embrace your destiny.

Know you help create it

by what you choose each step of the way.

Let your choices come from your heart.

Trust and value each moment of your life.

Let it be important.

It is a turning point.

It is a spiritual experience.

Now is the time to practice what you know.

Trust.

Let go.

Stay peaceful as you can.

Stay right here

in the present moment.

Sharpen your tools- your intuition, your inner voice,

your consciousness, and your awareness.

Do the little things, the small actions that appear right,

the things that are right before you.

Feel your feelings.

Move through the fear.

Wrap up in self-love.

Then let the journey unfold.

Trust that you are being guided and led."

~Melody Beattie

from Journey to the Heart

I love this song! It will give you a boost!

Hope you enjoy it!!

If you haven't heard, our brothers and sisters in the Cinque Terre and Genova need our prayers and our help. If you can, please give to the Italian Red Cross. Under "Causale della donazione" hit the arrow and click on "Emergenza Liguria e Toscana." Grazie!

Blessings and light to you, my friends!

Colorful Positano ... A little winter fantasy

I do, of course, subscribe to living in the moment and being present and all, but a little guided meditation can do wonders for the psyche! A little fantasy and lot of color should do the trick!

Positano May 2010

Ah, that's better.

What can I say? I am getting ready to go back to school next week, so I have Italy on the brain. Italian 102! I also have decided to take Art History: Renaissance to Modern. I wish it wasn't covering quite so much territory but hopefully the professor's good! (Hard to compete with Flavio!) Anyway, I am pretty excited but nervous as well, about how much more difficult 102 will be. You will be hearing about it, I am sure!

The greatest achievement was at first and for a time a dream.

The oak sleeps in the acorn, the bird waits in the egg,

and in the highest vision of the soul

a waking angel stirs.

Dreams are the seedlings of realities.

~James Allen

Hope your week is off to a wonderful start!

Ciao!

Amalfi ... "When fate hands you lemons ..."

The Amalfi Coast

When life gave them lemons ...

They made ceramic tiles

plates

dishtowels

fabric handbags

soap

and of course, my personal favorite ...

LIMONCELLO!

which I had at almost every meal!

I was feeling the need for a dose of Italy today and with some crazy weather back East and around the globe I figured everybody might need a little sunshine. These were taken on my trip last May. Of course, it would be lovely to hop on a plane and be back there but until then, I might just pull my little bottle of limoncello out of the freezer, close my eyes and ... pretend for a moment that I am back on the Amalfi Coast.

Ahhh.

"When fate hands you a lemon,

make lemonade."

~Dale Carnegie

American lecturer, author, 1888-1955

(or if fate hand you several ... make limoncello!)

Have a fantastic weekend!

Positano Walk

"I was the world in which I walked."

~Wallace Stevens

Tea at the Palaz of Hoon

Walk with me ...

Breathe

Appreciate what is behind you ...

All of the beauty ...

But don't forget ...

to see the beauty

that is in your midst

right where you stand ...

On the path you are on.

These photos were from my trip to Italy last May. Sometimes I wish I could teleport myself back there (for obvious reasons! How crazy gorgeous is it!?) but I try to remind myself to see all the beauty that is around me right here, right now. Of course, I am not at all perfect at this but fortunately there are things and people to remind me of it. Life reminds me of it.

I hope you are finding beauty in your world,

on your path,

right

where

you

are.

If not, I pray you find it soon!

Blessings and light my friends.

Positano "Rocks"

O.K., ... they aren't exactly rocks.

Our friend Stefano at Hotel Posa Posa told us at breakfast how people in Positano toss their old tiles out into the sea and that they wash up on the beach, time worn, something akin to sea glass. He told us that he chips off the part of the tile without the color and uses the colored pieces to make mosaics. Cool, right? He was asking guests to each bring back one of these "rocks" from the beach for another project. One?

Well, I love a project. (And if has something to do with hunting for things on the beach, all the better!) My Mom and Dad were in on it as well and in the process we found a funky little place with fabulous seafood linguine. The restaurant is basically built on a rock, as you can see in the bottom photo. As you can also see, we got a little carried away with the hunt.

Could it be ... ?

Mom and I sorting just a few of at lunch ...

The waitress laughed, "Positano Rocks!" and used them as a trivet!

Under the restaurant ... if you click to enlarge you can see a little blue tile in the foreground ...

This gives you a better idea of the location of the restaurant!

My mom got so excited by the tiles she thought about making her own mosaic table but my Dad, standing there with his backpack loaded down with tile, reminded her of the hand-painted tiles that were already in her suitcase from Assisi and the other very heavy tiles on hold at the ceramics place in town. So, Mom and I picked out of few tiny ones to bring home as keepsakes and that evening handed Stefano a bag full of "Positano Rocks."

I uploaded these photos and wrote this post yesterday, not realizing after running out of time, that it would post on September 11th. I so hope we can all find peace and healing for the trauma of that day and all that has happened since.

Your daily life is your temple and your religion.

... And if you would know God

be not therefore a solver of riddles.

Rather look about you and you shall see Him

walking in the cloud, outstretching His arms

in the lightening and descending in rain.

You shall see Him smiling in flowers,

then rising and waving His hands in trees.

~Kahlil Gibran

from The Prophet