Has anyone noticed that sometimes is seems like you hole life has been planned out for you? Does every day seem like it's just the same as the last? You know, get up, eat brakefast, yadda, yadda, yadda. before your even born, your parents basically know how to plan you life, go to grade school, go to high school, and hopefully then college. Now, eveen though some of these things we can't avoid, we can still mix life up a little, do something different. If you have free time, don't watch TV, do something you don't do every day, volenteer somewhere, go on a hike, go out to dinner with some friends, write a letter to someone you haven't seen in a long time, go to a museum, SOMETHING! I find it so much easier to bear life if you never know what's coming next, even in a world of conformity it's good to know your not confined to the boundries set for you.

It has come time for me to move on, take another steop toward adult hood, and although graduationg from 8th grade may not seem as important as graduating from high school or college, I believ that all graduations are important. And I don't just mean the defined graduations, we are always graduating, we may just not realize it. Everytime we learn something new, try something different, mature in some way, we are taking another step toward adulthood, we are shedding off, bit by bit, our child hood selves and that, in itself, is graduating. You can graduate every day, every hour, every miniut, if you jut open yourself to the world and let all of its wonders and knowlege flow in. They say the truly educated never graduate, that is another way to look at it. You can never truly graduate, for there is always more to learn. So just take life step by step, and soak in as much scenery as possible.

Then said Almitra, "Speak to us of Love."
And he raised his head and looked upon the people, and there fell a stillness upon them. And with a great voice he said:
When love beckons to you follow him,
Though his ways are hard and steep.
And when his wings enfold you yield to him,
Though the sword hidden among his pinions may wound you.
And when he speaks to you believe in him,
Though his voice may shatter your dreams as the north wind lays waste the garden.
For even as love crowns you so shall he crucify you. Even as he is for your growth so is he for your pruning.
Even as he ascends to your height and caresses your tenderest branches that quiver in the sun,
So shall he descend to your roots and shake them in their clinging to the earth.
Like sheaves of corn he gathers you unto himself.
He threshes you to make you naked.
He sifts you to free you from your husks.
He grinds you to whiteness.
He kneads you until you are pliant;
And then he assigns you to his sacred fire, that you may become sacred bread for God's sacred feast.
All these things shall love do unto you that you may know the secrets of your heart, and in that knowledge become a fragment of Life's heart.
But if in your fear you would seek only love's peace and love's pleasure,
Then it is better for you that you cover your nakedness and pass out of love's threshing-floor,
Into the seasonless world where you shall laugh, but not all of your laughter, and weep, but not all of your tears.
Love gives naught but itself and takes naught but from itself.
Love possesses not nor would it be possessed;
For love is sufficient unto love.
When you love you should not say, "God is in my heart," but rather, I am in the heart of God."
And think not you can direct the course of love, for love, if it finds you worthy, directs your course.
Love has no other desire but to fulfil itself.
But if you love and must needs have desires, let these be your desires:
To melt and be like a running brook that sings its melody to the night.
To know the pain of too much tenderness.
To be wounded by your own understanding of love;
And to bleed willingly and joyfully.
To wake at dawn with a winged heart and give thanks for another day of loving;
To rest at the noon hour and meditate love's ecstasy;
To return home at eventide with gratitude;
And then to sleep with a prayer for the beloved in your heart and a song of praise upon your lips. -The PROPHET, by Kahlil Gibran

I think that this is a very interesting view of love. I think that it makes sences, in that althought there is much pain in love, enduring that pain makes the joy even more joyful, having pain makes it easier to have joy. I had never really thought about that before, but it makes so much sense. A day without loving will make one with it that much more happy. So love love, whether it bring you pain or joy.

"The love in your heart wasn't put there to stay, love isn't love till you give it away."

It starts with the steady chanting, tuning youself to the earth, to the universe. The calm sets in, as if you could do no wrong, as if there is no wrong. Then the yoga begins. The streches, breathing, mind work and so much more. You become one with youself, your mind and body rejoin. All of the hate or anger you held just washes away, flows out and is swallowed by nothingness. You are at peace, something you strive to be all the time, in every waking moment of you life, but there are so many things that distract you from the life you wish to lead.

I practice yoga and meditation, and I think it has done more for me than I can comprehend. I believe if we all partook in these practices that all the hate we have for eachother would be lost with the wind, and we could finally understand that we are all the earth's children and would sing and dance together in the wonder of life, in the music of the universe.

I belong to an organic coop, I order the organics I want each month and then pick up the food. It is a wonderful feeling, knowing your doing something good for the earth. All of the vegetables are organic and grown on local farms, so I am not paying to have my food trucked here by some noisy, smog billowing 18wheeler. The people there are so nice, caring and wonderful to be around. You can tell that they feel passionatly about what they are doing and how it effects the earth.
I am looking around and trying to find an organic community garden, since I cannot have are garden of my own, but love creating life within the earth. It is wonderful to watch a plant go from a seed all the way into an adult plant, even though they may be perturped by bad weather of bugs, they do not give up. A lot can be learned from this phenomenon, and you can learn it every day, for it is happening everywhere, to every living thing, and that is why everything deserves respect. They're going through the same thing as you.