Pamela Leavey

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Month: February 2012

Late Night Blues: Big Mama Thornton with Buddy Guy – Hound Dog

Going way back… Big Mama Thornton with Buddy Guy, 1965:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5XUAg1_A7IE

Enjoy…

 

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Reflections: Seeing Rainbows

When I look to the skies, I often see very magical formations in clouds like the one below that looks a bit like a rainbow colored lightening bolt seen through the the bare trees:

When I see rainbows, my heart lifts up to the heavens in a sort of communion with the universe that fills me with joy.

It’s so important to find joy in the little things in life, as I have noted here in my Daily Affirmation today, and my Food For Thought post yesterday.

We go through life sometimes in a very numb state of mind, in that we forgot to look to the skies for rainbows or stop and smell the flowers.

I learned a long time ago that in being in the moment, you place your heart and soul in alignment with the opportunity to experience and feel joy. To be in the moment takes constant work and practice on living with an open mind and an open heart.

Awakening to joy, seeing rainbows is a great balm to the soul when we learn to look to even the littlest things to fill our hearts and minds with love and gratitude.

(Photo: Rainbow Bolt Through the Trees ~ c. Pamela J. Leavey 2012)

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Daily Affirmations: Grateful For The Little Things

Today, I will take time to be grateful for the little things that make each day special. Crocus blooming early in the garden, the river glistening in the sun, the birds singing in the trees, the ever chaging cycles of Mother Nature which inspire and awe me each day. ~~ Pamela J. Leavey

(Photo: On The River ~~ c. Pamela J. Leavey)

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Late Night blues: U2 & BB King – When Love Comes To Town

From the Lovetown Tour in Australia, 1989 — U2 and BB King perform When Love Comes To Town:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=th1kQER770M

Enjoy…

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Food For Thought: Find Joy

A short time after publishing my earlier post today, Live With Sorrow, I looked out of my desk window to check on my little yellow crocus that have been blooming sporadically for over a week now and found they had some companions… Some lovely white crocus had also bloomed.

As I hobbled down my driveway, camera in hand, I was filled with joy knowing that more of the crocus I had planted last fall were poking their pretty little petals out in the sun.

It’s true that the smallest and simplest things can fill our hearts with joy. For me flowers have always been a great source of joy. I spent 20 years working as a floral designer and although the long hours during the holiday seasons were rough, the work itself was always filled with joy. It never ceased to amaze me during those 20 years, that I could look at a bunch of white daises, or red roses, or pink carnations and find that one perfect flower that made me say, “wow.”

Joy is all around us… Even in times of deep sorrow, we must open our eyes to see, open our ears to hear and let it the joy flow into us every day.

(Photo: Crocus On The River ~ c. Pamela J. Leavey 2012)

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Reflections: Live With Sorrow

I’ve reflected here, sometimes on a very personal level, in recent weeks some of what I have been going through in my life. There’s been a a lot of change, an injury that has kept me mostly house-bound for over 7 weeks and when I lump all the stuff that has happened together, I find my self at times slipping into sorrow.

The quote below from the great spiritual master J. Krishnamurti eloquently expresses how to… Live with sorrow:

We all have sorrow. Don’t you have sorrow in one form or another? And do you want to know about it? If you do, you can analyze it and explain why you suffer. You can read books on the subject, or go to the church, and you will soon know something about sorrow. But I am not talking about that; I am talking about the ending of sorrow. Knowledge does not end sorrow. The ending of sorrow begins with the facing of psychological facts within oneself and being totally aware of all the implications of those facts from moment to moment. This means never escaping from the fact that one is in sorrow, never rationalizing it, never offering an opinion about it, but living with that fact completely.

You know, to live with the beauty of those mountains and not get accustomed to it is very difficult. You have beheld those mountains, heard the stream, and seen the shadows creep across the valley, day after day; and have you not noticed how easily you get used to it all? You say, ‘Yes, it is quite beautiful,’ and you pass by. To live with beauty, or to live with an ugly thing, and not become habituated to it requires enormous energy,an awareness that does not allow your mind to grow dull. In the same way, sorrow dulls the mind if you merely get used to it,and most of us do get used to it. But you need not get used to sorrow. You can live with sorrow, understand it, go into it -but not in order to know about it. You know that sorrow is there; it is a fact, and there is nothing more to know. You have to live. ~~ J. Krishnamurti, The Book of Life

The great lesson in living with sorrow, is that yes, “you have to live.” You must carry on… And learn to live your life through the suffering and sorrow…

(Photo: Two Swans at the Parker River National Wildlife Refuge ~ c. Pamela J. Leavey)

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