When I was around 4 years old one of little my friends decided to run away. I went with her to the next block, where we stopped to look at the seashells that were embedded in the sidewalk. As I was always more connected to my appetite than to adventure, we looked in her suitcase and found out she hadn't brought any food, only a couple of dolls. I decided to go home. She followed me. As we came around the corner, my mother was waiting. I told her, "Dina ran away, and I didn't want her to be alone." Her mother came outside when we walked to their front door. My mother said, "Keep an eye on your kids. They don't know how to get home when they run away." I thought that meant that Dina should learn her street address and phone number. My mother likely meant that the younger mother should keep closer to her children, and perhaps take a turn or two around the block so those children would learn the physical characteristics and placement of the house where they lived. It made sense to me even at that age. My mother took my sister and me on long walks around our little subdivision. We would push up hills and "find" our distinctive street looking through (but never walking in) the gardens of people we never met. We observed boundaries; counted windows, named colors and textures. We named its intersections and courts, and generally traveled a circular route back home, to our little duplex. It would be years before I understood that home is anywhere I go, when I travel with LOVE. Most of us mark progress and position in our lives. We adopt a location that intersects with a job, a view, an opportunity. We fill spaces with styles and, as our intersections shift, we release, refurbish, remove, and restock those spaces. Intermittently, we explore new paths, new perspectives, new adventures. Some of those lead us to new opportunities and spaces, brighter kitchens, new menus, larger vocabularies, and many of them remind us that we long to return home. "Home is where the heart is" becomes more about relationship. Whether our relationship is with friends, family, pets, neighbors, or colleagues, we revel in knowing our place is with those we love and who love us. Some of us expand those relationships and sustain them; others of us travel through them keeping relationships close in memory when circumstances impose distance. Some of us long for deeper relationship, and inevitably we are led within our being. Whether we call ourselves mystics, thinkers, introverts, seekers, skeptics, or believers we come to believe that our heartfelt, home-based relationships are generating LOVE. We expand Love for ourselves, for others, for all life, with ALL that is (chemical, electrical, seen, unseen, possible, imagined, and concrete). Our home is Love. Wherever we are, Love moves with us, among us, and through us. We learn, there is no place like home. Love is Home, here, now.
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Life could be a dream. Dreams certainly lead us through life, whether we seek to escape nightmares or create transcendent experiences where we fly through rainbows, dance on stars, and sing with angels. What are we dreaming that SHOULD become a reality? If the core of our dreams is love, peace, and responsibility for a better world, we should be sharing them. Today (in the USA) we celebrate the birthday of a man who, in his Finest Hour, shared a dream for his little children that is still unfolding for his grandchildren. Now, in your Finest Hour, speak your dream so clearly that others recognize their place in its truth. Sing it out, so that 100 years from now, your great-great-great grandchildren will hear it wherever they are waiting to be born, and hum it to the rhythm of their mama's heartbeats. Dance with it, so that someone who has no language can teach it to everyone they meet. Dream on. Even if you never have a holiday in your name, your dream can become reality, if we share it. When you seek change, start here: "I have a dream today." Dreams come true, if first we speak them. Words become reality when we see them, fully illustrated; epics ringing from hearts and souls. Songs become action, when new partners look into each others eyes, see their same words, hear sweet dreams, dance away fear. Dreamed aloud, Truth opens arms, leaps into spaces where might built walls, crumbles ancient crimes and paves a path for peace. DonnaMarie Fekete, 18 January 2016 Oprah has opened scores of hearts and minds to the power of their spirit, of a presence that connects us beyond this physical world. Yesterday morning, I noticed I'm reacting strongly to her promotion with Weight Watchers, declaring that this is the year of her "best body." Insight whispered to me. "I want to have my best year in THIS body!" could be even more encouraging and positive for many of us who struggle with our physical mass, regardless of why and how we perceive its appearance. I know very thin people who worry, fret, and punish themselves because they are concerned about how others see them. I know others who see themselves as unlovable at any size. No matter what we eat, no matter how much we exercise, we are happy only when someone compliments us. As soon as we see a photo of that attractive self, we are startled because we imagined what we looked like and it isn't in the photo. Years ago, I started looking at photos to notice if my smile was genuine. I began to understand that even if my hair was disheveled, my posture imperfect, or my choice of pattern or color out of sync with those around me, when my eyes sparkled and I had a loving or joyful memory of that moment, I was looking (at) my best. When I saw sorrow, or worry, or resentment behind the smile, I learned to say "I love you" to that photograph, no matter how much time had passed since it was taken. Shifting what I judged about myself~ teaching my heart to love pimples, multiple chins, heavy arms, bad hair, and ugly spectacles (almost) as much as I loved photos of me with flowing hair, perky boobs, size 6 gowns, and flawless makeup moved me into a deeper understanding of what shows through my smile and beyond my eyes~ no matter what I wear or who sees me wearing it. After my lifetime of delighting and despairing about my body, being surprised by how it affects others, and amazed at its resilience, I am moving into a phase where I feel strong, graceful, and healthy BECAUSE I honor my emotions, my health, and my spirit above my bulges, scars, and numerical indices (height, weight, clothing labels, etc.). As this campaign advances, I'm hoping that Oprah's wisdom (and Weight Watchers advertising) proclaims loving our bodies at any size. We need to accept ourselves as we are because these collections of tissue, blood, bone, and baggage are the physical, chemical, and emotional vehicles for bringing love into our hearts, peace into relationships, and creative energy into spaces we share at home, in community, and across the world. Nothing about my body mass index needs to change to make miracles happen. Now is my Finest Hour! This is my best body! Here is my best time for beginning to Love Life and Transform it beautifully. How will we share Inspiration*Dreams*Energy*Authenticity*Spirit? DonnaMarie, 8 January 2016 We've turned a page on paper, a construction of eternity. We're making promises to exercise, diet, cast off negative influences, and accumulate wealth. In three months, we may be a few pounds lighter, hanging with the same crowd, and paying off the balance on the gifts we purchased for friends, families, and ourselves. How will we feel in that future, looking back at our resolutions and intentions today? I believe that how we change is more often a matter of small, daily decisions, intentional or inspired, remembered and repeated. We change when we breathe deeply each morning, knowing we'll be traveling to work under relatively safe circumstances. We grow when we smile at someone standing in the aisle of a bus; or yield our place in line to someone with fewer items; or donate a bit of clothing that we were keeping for a special occasion that hasn't come. We blossom when we settle in place at the end of the day, ticking off two or three, ten or twenty, or just one moment for which we are truly grateful. We gain wisdom when we grieve and persevere on our path without someone who loved us. We gain strength when we acknowledge our challenge to another heart. We transform any moment by looking at it, even in past tense, with Love. We begin NOW, regardless of the numbers on the calendar, the candles on the cake, or the writing on the wall. May this day become a Happy NOW, moment to moment, day to day, heart to heart, life to life. NOW is when a New Year a New Day a New Moment a New Love a fresh start a bright idea a vision a change a miracle Life Begins. What will the next 524,600 minutes become if we share this one, NOW? DonnaMarie Fekete, January 2016 |
AuthorI've been paid to sing, act, paint, teach and write. What I do most to express myself is write. I've self-published four books: poems, essays, stories, and prayers. Archives
December 2016
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NOW is our Finest Hour! | I*D*E*A*S* |