LaPlante Family - Independence Day

Jeff LaPlante Photography

Joyful Nature

Choose Peace

Choose Peace

A friend confided in me that he was struggling to understand his responsibility in a world obsessed with war. I told him the answer is simple: choose peace.

While you cannot control the attitudes or actions of politicians or others, you have total control over the thoughts, feelings, and energy you are exuding. If you are steeped in fear, anger, or a sense of victimization, you are contributing to the darkness. If you hold a sense of peace, compassion, kindness, and the presence of love, you are contributing to healing. As Kipling nobly penned, "If you can hold your head when all about you are losing theirs...”

Mother Teresa was once asked to speak at an anti-war rally. She refused. "If it were a pro-peace rally, I would attend," she explained. "But fighting against war, like fighting against anything, is just another form of war."

A liberal spiritual teacher once recounted that on his altar he has pictures of Christ and many other spiritual masters. He recently added a photo of George W. Bush. Why? "Until I can find the same divinity in George W. Bush as I find in other holy beings, I am stuck. When I can see and honor his soul, then I am in a position to protest. Until then, I am ineffective."

The power of intention and prayer goes a long, long way. At any given moment the world situation is a precise expression of the consciousness of all the people who live here. As you shift your consciousness in the direction of peace, wholeness, and faith, you tip the balance in that direction. You literally become the tipping point for the world you would like to create.

Be less concerned with what you are doing and more concerned with how you are doing it. Actions that spring from fear or hatred, no matter how nobly clothed, create only more of the same. Actions that issue from faith and love, no matter how humbly clothed, create only more of the same.

A visionary thrives under all circumstances, for he or she sees beyond the obvious. At this time the world needs good visionaries. If you would save the world, begin with your own consciousness.


Author: Alan Cohen
Image: Unknown

Our Deepest Fear

Our Deepest Fear

Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate.
Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure.
It is our light, not our darkness
That most frightens us.

We ask ourselves
Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous?
Actually, who are you not to be?
You are a child of God.

Your playing small
Does not serve the world.
There's nothing enlightened about shrinking
So that other people won't feel insecure around you.

We are all meant to shine,
As children do.
We were born to make manifest
The glory of God that is within us.

It's not just in some of us;
It's in everyone.

And as we let our own light shine,
We unconsciously give other people permission to do the same.
As we're liberated from our own fear,
Our presence automatically liberates others.

Author: Marianne Williamson
Image: Gilbert Williams

Look Well to This Day

Look Well to This Day

Look well to this day,
For it and it alone is life.
In its brief course
Lie all the essence of your existence:

The Glory of Growth
The Satisfaction of Achievement
The Splendor of Beauty

For yesterday is but a dream,
And tomorrow is but a vision.
But today well lived makes every yesterday a dream of happiness,
And every tomorrow a vision of hope.

Author: Anonymous, 50 B.C.
Image: Unknown

Hidden Mystery

Hidden Mystery

In the deepest depths of you and me
In the deepest depths of we
Lies the most beautiful jewel
Shining forth eternally

Within that precious jewel
Within that priceless piece of we
Lies a time beyond all time
Lies a place beyond all space

Within that sacred source of radiance
Lies a love beyond all love
Waiting
Waiting
Waiting
Ever so patiently

Waiting for you, waiting for me
Waiting patiently for all to see
The beauty that is you inside of me
The beauty that is me inside of thee

In the deepest depths of you and me
In the deepest depths of we
Lies the love and wisdom
Of all Eternity

Author: Fred Burks
Image: Unknown

Be Peace

"We can never obtain peace in the world if we neglect
the inner world and don't make peace with ourselves.
World Peace must develop out of inner peace."
—The Dalai Lama

Link: Let There Be Peace On Earth

Love is Life's Sweetest Flower

Love is Life's Sweetest Flower

Our love is like the blossoms sweet that open one-by-one.
Our love is like a pair of wings that lift us towards the sun.

Our love is like a precious jewel wih many facets to explore.
Our love is like the universe that forever shall endure.

Image: "Love is Life's Sweetest Flower" by Jody Bergsma