Love

I think it's important to learn how to love oneself, to be able to be complete and happy and whole without requiring someone else to love one. Only by being strong and complete, can we not enter a relationship full of neediness - that leads to disappointment. Of course we'll be disappointed. Who can better love oneself than ourselves? We know what we want. We can't expect other people to be mind readers or robots, doing everything exactly the way we want to - only we can do that. I think relationships are best entered with the Question - What can I give the other person, expecting nothing in return, rather than the question, What do I want from the other person? To be able to love someone else, we first need to be able to be whole ourselves. Sometimes, we can't love someone else. We're too needy. We expect the other person to fulfill us. This isn't love. It's selfishness. Only if you find a person, you only want to give to without asking for anything in return - is one strong and mature enough to call it love. Think of a mother with a child or a carer of a pet. We don't ask the baby or the puppy for a list of things, requirements. We simply want to do all we can to make them happy. That's love.

January

I love my house.  In the winter afternoon, I have a large picture window from floor to ceiling that overlooks a lawn and then trees for as far as the eye can see.  The forest floor is covered in snow, the tree limbs are bare of leaves and right before sunset at 4:30, the tree line glows pink, white against a fluffy blue sky.  I can spend hours on my couch looking at this view.  The light, the snow, the trees, the sky - I feel like a snug squirrel, warm and surrounded by beauty.

December

What do I love about December?
- The beautiful, pure winter crystal light that comes only in the Winter.
- The forest, with its bare trees and the floor covered with crisp, bright, golden, crunchy leaves.
- A layer of snow on all the tree limbs, silently stunning.
- Time, time, time to do whatever you want to.  Work is winding down, winter trips haven't started yet.  Days to just play.
- Florida in December - 70F, walks by the beach in shorts and t shirts.  Cuban, vietnamese food.  Sunsets, warm breezes off of the ocean.  Watching dolophins along the shore.
- Books.
  1.Tony Blair's - A Journey.  
  2.Daniel Amen's - Change Your Brain, Change your body.
  3.Yongey Mingyur Rinpoche - The Joy of Living
  4.Daniel Goleman - Emotional Intelligence

 (2-4) above have really increased my internal sense of well being and happiness.  If you read them as a result of my blog, they're my Christmas present to you.  Happy New Year all.