True love, part 2

Today, let's think more about LOVE.  There is so much to it!  Let's take a look at a verse in the Bible. Dr. Tae Yun Kim's puts it so well -  regardless whether you are religious or not, or even believe in Jesus or not - just read in the Bible and see how it makes you feel.  What do you have to lose?

And here is one of Dr. Kim's favorite quotes of the Bible, in 1 Corinthians 13, which has also become my favorite now.  Just sit back and let this sink in:

Love is patient, love is kind. 

It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. 

 It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, 

it keeps no record of wrongs.

 Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth.

 It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.

 Love never fails.

How beautiful and how true!  I went outside today into the beautiful garden, and the signs of love are everywhere!  Just look at the first sign of buds opening up! 

Typically we associate roses with the concept of love, and they are indeed beautiful!

Just make sure you open your eyes to ALL the love and beauty life has to offer!  Life is beautiful, life is love, to all of those that seek it! 

True Love, Part 1

Happy Valentine's everyone!

We all love Valentine's Day one way or another, right?  Whether it's to eat all the chocolate and have some champagne, or whether you get treated to dinner at your favorite restaurant, or breakfast in bed, or.....what's not to like about Valentines?

That's all well and good and I too love all of the above.  ALL of it.
But real love is so much more than that.

Dr. Tae Yun Kim, who as you know is my Martial Arts teacher and a Great Grandmaster, wrote the following poem about love, which is my absolute favorite in the world:

"You are who I dreamed of...

And so you came to be.

And you shall be with me beyond time.

I will never leave you,

and 

My love will follow you

As you follow my Light,

Just as the tail of the bird follows the wing."

Dr. Kim also emphasizes the importance of loving oneself first - how can you love someone else, and how can you expect anyone to love you, if you can't even love yourself?  

So rather than looking into the mirror and telling ourselves how ugly, fat, old, etc etc etc we look - let's start by telling ourselves how we love ourselves, and how we appreciate whom we see in that mirror!  

So take today, and treat yourself as who you really are, the most important person in your life!   

And because Love is such a beautiful topic, I will have part 2 for you tomorrow - stay in tune! 

Don't be afraid of change!

Everyone loves rainbows, right?  They are so beautiful, so cheerful and they freely give so much joy on a rainy day!

But first - there is always rain!  When you wake up to this:

it's hard sometimes to "see the light."  No matter how much you logically know we need the rain, when your backyard transforms into a lake you probably wish it would stop!

Dr. Tae Yun Kim, very wisely, puts it this way:

"When you know there are cycles of change, you avoid accepting limited or negative conditions as permanent or final.  No mater where you are in a cycle, the seed for the new condition is there.  

Have an attitude of letting go.  You needn't hold on to positive or negative conditions as though they will last forever; rather, let the flow from yin to yang to yin lead you into harmonious, balanced, progressive change.  Never be afraid of change.  All change should lead you into greater good eventually.  That is the purpose of change, and that is the purpose of life."

(Seven Steps to Inner Power, page 50)

Wow!  With such an attitude, life becomes much less stressful and much more beautiful.  Let's do this!  

The little things that make you happy

What says spring better than the first snowdrops?  What a beautiful sight after all that bitter cold weather!
Just looking at them makes me so happy.  The simple act of snowdrops breaking through and flowering brings intense happiness to me.

They also remind me of Dr. Tae Yun Kim's powerful words:

"You, and you alone, have the power to make yourself free, because taking charge of your life is a choice  You have within you right now your creative Life Force of the universe.  All you need to do is choose to discover it!"  (The Silent Master, page 12)

These lovely messengers of nature sure know about taking charge and remind us of doing the same.  They sure set themselves free and pushed up through the dirt and discovered their life force along the way.

Let 's be like the pretty little flowers and discover our life force and become the best we can be!

The Power of True Love

Some days you just feel the love!  You wake up wanting to give the entire Universe a big hug and you smile all day.  And, as Dr. Tae Yun Kim points out, on those days you don't feel this love, and you are grumpy because you have to get up and go to work when you would rather stay in bed - try the loving approach! Remember, the key is that true love comes from within us, not to us!

Here are the words of Dr. Kim to remember, when the dog bites and the bee stings:

"When you find real Love in your life, you have a special feeling of happiness that is not dependent on anyone or anything in order to be.  That's because it comes from you, not to you from outside sources.  
It's a quiet joy, but also one that expresses great enthusiasm.  When you feel this love, you are glad to be alive, and grateful to wake up every day and live your life.  This love finds beauty everywhere, and appreciates how creative life is, knowing that possibilities exist everywhere to create more joy and more happiness and more freedom.  This Love can't be hurt or destroyed because it is pure energy.  It can be temporarily clouded over, but not destroyed.  When it is clouded over with negative emotions or painful situations, it keeps on loving until harmony is reached again. Because this love is real and true, it is powerful.  It can overcome anything untrue simply by being there, just as the sunlight burns the clouds away." (The Silent Master, page 113)

Can you feel it?  Let's give love a try!

HE CAN DO, SHE CAN DO, WHY NOT ME!

The importance of Charity Work and giving back to our communities

After blogging about choices, New Years Resolutions and all sorts of motivational stuff, why a blog post about a tiny school out in the middle of nowhere?

Well, Dr. Tae Yun Kim, when she was growing up in war-torn post war South Korea, she had to walk for miles to school, and there was a serious shortage of teachers, supplies, food and pretty much everything.  She recalls walking to school in the middle of winter with sneakers that were so much to small that her big toes were sticking out.  Dr. Kim knows what important community communication hubs these schools can be!

Now, more than 60 years later and in the USA, she still thinks about school children and she knows first hand how important it is to keep the doors of local schools open, no matter how small or large they are.
When Dr. Kim heard that the Applegate School needed computers very badly, she jumped right in and donated enough funds to purchase 10 new notebook computers!
Sometimes well meaning people suggest she stop going to small schools and focus on big universities.

Of course I do that too, she says, but these small schools are so vital to local communities.  They are not only schools for the children, but they become community centers.  We need to do everything we can to keep their doors open!
Can you imagine how delighted the children were to have such a celebrity as Dr. Kim come and give a lecture, AND give a big check?

The power is in you, it is your personal choice what you do in your life, Dr. Kim says.  So let's act on it and do good whenever and wherever we can!

Part Three: The Power in Making Choices

And here, as promised, is the last and very important part about choices.  Look at the apple flower above!  What if it had made the choice not to open up?  What if it was too lazy to become the apple it was born to be?  What if it had chosen to remain the bud in the next picture?  Here is what Dr. Tae Yun Kim concludes her page on choices:

"Sometimes we tend to feel that making choices limits our options, and that by choosing a direction, we somehow eliminate all others.  No. Quite the contrary, every time you make a choice, you open up an entire web of possibilities connected with that choice.  If you dislike the outcome, the worst thing that can happen is you make another choice, and this opens up another entirely different number of possibilities adding to all the other previous choices!  There is no limitation in choosing!"

(These quotes came from "The First Element", pages 128 - 129)

This frosty little bud will later in the year open up to become the beauty you see above

So, let's not limit ourselves.  Let's make a choice - and either stick with it, or change it to another choice!  But let's not let our environment or anything or anyone else make choices for us!

One more time, Dr. Tae Yun Kim's powerful words:

The power is in us, it is our personal choice what we do in our lives!