A Journey of Hope

Charlie Chaplin, The Great Dictator Speech

2 Comments
Hope, Life

I found two versions of this speech, and found it to be a beautiful message for the new year.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UHEhrvuVCHw (Set to trance/electronic music)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6FMNFvKEy4c (Set to Inception theme music)

Transcript:

I’m sorry, but I don’t want to be an Emperor. That’s not my business.
I don’t want to rule or conquer anyone.
I should like to help everyone if possible — Jew, gentile, black man, white.
We all want to help one another. Human beings are like that.
We want to live by each other’s happiness, not by each other’s misery.
We don’t want to hate and despise one another.
In this world there is room for everyone, and the good earth is rich and can provide for everyone.
The way of life can be free and beautiful, but we have lost the way.

Greed has poisoned men’s souls, has barricaded the world with hate, has goose-stepped us into misery and bloodshed.

We have developed speed but we have shut ourselves in: machinery that gives abundance has left us in want.
Our knowledge has made us cynical, our cleverness hard and unkind.
We think too much and feel too little.
More than machinery we need humanity.
More than cleverness we need kindness and gentleness.

Without these qualities, life will be violent and all will be lost.

The aeroplane and the radio have brought us closer together.
The very nature of these inventions cries out for the goodness in men, cries out for universal brotherhood for the unity of us all.
Even now my voice is reaching millions throughout the world, millions of despairing men, women and little children, victims of a system that makes men torture and imprison innocent people.
To those who can hear me I say, “Do not despair”.

The misery that is now upon us is but the passing of greed, the bitterness of men who fear the way of human progress.
The hate of men will pass and dictators die, and the power they took from the people will return to the people, and so long as men die, liberty will never perish.

Soldiers: don’t give yourselves to brutes, men who despise you, enslave you, who regiment your lives, tell you what to do, what to think or what to feel, who drill you, diet you, treat you like cattle, use you as cannon fodder.
Don’t give yourselves to these unnatural men, machine men, with machine minds and machine hearts.
You are not machines. You are not cattle. You are men.
You have the love of humanity in your hearts.
You don’t hate, only the unloved hate.
The unloved and the unnatural.
Soldiers: don’t fight for slavery, fight for liberty.

In the seventeenth chapter of Saint Luke it is written:
“The kingdom of God is within man”
Not one man, nor a group of men, but in all men; in you.
You the people have the power, the power to create machines, the power to create happiness. You the people have the power to make this life free and beautiful, to make this life a wonderful adventure.
Then in the name of democracy let us use that power. Let us all unite!
Let us fight for a new world, a decent world that will give men a chance to work, that will give youth a future and old age a security.
By the promise of these things, brutes have risen to power, but they lie.
They do not fulfill that promise; they never will.
Dictators free themselves but they enslave the people.
Now let us fight to fulfill that promise.
Let us fight to free the world, to do away with national barriers, to do away with greed, with hate and intolerance.
Let us fight for a world of reason, a world where science and progress will lead to all men’s happiness.

Soldiers! In the name of democracy: Let us all unite!

Baby’s first Christmas and New Year’s

No Comments
Baby, Experience, Life

The holidays this year have been busy and nice. It’s Aidan’s first Christmas and New Year’s, although he is too young to understand what’s happening. He is content with his milk, sleep and cuddles.

Aidan’s Christmas gift to us was sleeping through the night — really sleeping through. At first from 8pm to 4am, or 8 hours. Then he started doing from 8pm to 7am one day, 11 hours straight!

He is getting stronger physically and able to stand up quite well with assistance. He is also babbling and talking up a storm, making lots of cute sounds and baby noises. A few times he has laughed and giggled, which made me absolutely melt.

At times it almost doesn’t feel real to have this sweet and healthy little baby in our lives. Last holiday season I was mourning the loss of Liam and a miscarriage, and I didn’t really celebrate the holidays. This year it’s been very much healing to have Aidan with us.

Oh, and as an almost afterthought, my birthday came and went. I am getting older, but I’m hardly noticing it because my mind is so focused on more important things. I feel so blessed and grateful to have my husband and our son, and the rest of our wonderful family with us.

Light and Love

No Comments
Hope, Love, Spirituality

The following are from emails that my husband sent me


Your letter is exceedingly insightful! You are absolutely right. I want so badly to see you NOW but.. for you, I can wait. Some part of me has been waiting to be ready for you my whole life. Waiting another month to stare into your eyes is, by comparison, trivial.

I was thinking about your letter while I was working today — moving around computers and stacking them neatly into the truck — and had so many thoughts going through my head. And a big smile on my face. But for all the things that can be analyzed about love and what it is, why it is, how it feels, it is so much more beautiful for me just to feel it.

Your description of relationships past is interesting. I think you’re likely right that I was feeling something similar in the past. I used to “want” a “relationship” so badly. I felt like all these other people around me could find relationships so why were mine always so.. bad? I think I just wanted to be able to “say” that I had a girlfriend. Which, in hindsight, seems so silly. I eventually realized this. I realized that if I was “looking” for a relationship, I was never going to find real love. So I stopped looking and contented myself with the possibility of being single my whole life but “hoped” that I would eventually be in the right place to meet someone special. Someone who was right.

On top of all that I am very picky in certain ways. Not in the typical male ways of body type, background, personality, intelligence, etc. I am very picky about being certain that things feel right. I’m very picky about feeling that the love I share is genuine. I am very picky about being certain that there is a real and meaningful connection between myself and the object of my earthly affection. I never found these things before. I tried to “create” them but… That was silly. With you, I cannot even begin to explain it. I have no room to be picky with you because I feel like everything I ever could have wanted has been found in you. That phrase, and its profound feeling of truth, nearly brought tears to my eyes in writing it… And I don’t tear up easily.

I have a story to relate as well. It struck me as profound at the time. While I was driving the truck back to the shop, I saw a man who was struggling to walk. He was older, scruffy, possibly homeless or at very least living very poorly. I looked at him and felt that I should send him “love” to try to help him. And he looked at me. There were plenty of other cars on the road, but as I felt that thought go through my head, and the tingle of the healing mind in my head, he looked me straight in the eyes. And I thought, maybe I shouldn’t be so eager to send out my love.. what if I run out? Then.. a thought popped into my head. It was almost not my own, if that makes sense: Love is not a perishable resource. And I had a sort of “aha!” moment. I need not worry about ever “falling out of love” with you or “getting bored” because… love is not perishable.

It’s strange because it really hasn’t been so much A to B as it is a continuous and fairly smooth progression from A to wherever we choose to take it. Really, this is living in the now. Sure we could define B or C as meeting in march, or D if I somehow found a way to go to China with you (which doesn’t look likely to be honest). Or E if we choose to make a life together. But it’s so beautiful to see the even flow such that mile markers and scenic cairns feel almost obsolete.

I cannot define my feeling of love for you, nor my feeling of being loved by you. Sometimes definitions are unnecessary. The only wording which works, and is sufficient, is to say “I love you” and truly mean it. More powerfully than I could have dreamed. I could write for the rest of my life to try to describe this one feeling adequately, or I could simply feel it with you. And live it.

I feel also like I have been waiting for you my whole life. Like everything in my life was, aside from its own significance, preparing for me to meet you now and share what things may come. I say this intentionally vaguely because I otherwise feel like I want to share the rest of my existence with you. I feel like, together, we can reach for infinity and actually grasp it. Experience it together. And I feel like we have experienced it before. Together. That is the most mind expanding part. I feel like I have known you for longer than my own life, and as you’ve said, we’ve only recently “met”. I cannot know if this is truth or a hormone-chemically induced hallucination, but it really doesn’t matter.

While the vastness of infinity remains forever on our palette, I have doubts that we are meant to drift apart. Whatever things either of us could achieve alone are compounded geometrically by our being as one. That is how I feel with you, and I have not so much felt it before. We are one being, complete. It’s at once frightening and beautiful beyond words. This feeling, seeing the other as one’s self, is what that Law Of One philosophy claims ascension is all about. With you at my side I may actually be able to achieve these wonders which I’ve always felt I was here to manifest.. having no concept of exactly what they are. You’re destined for greatness as well. Once again, I cannot know how. Even the greatness of the light we can bring into this world through our expressions of love would be an achievement to be proud of for eternity.

I have so much more to say to you, but, thankfully, I also have a plenum of time in which to do it:)

I feel there is real truth to the comparison of Light to Love. A profound similarity — an isomorphism — connects these two concepts. Just as our eyes are sensors which pick up vibrations of electromagnetic energy we name Light, our hearts are sensors which pick up the etheric vibrations of something called Love. It is a real energy. It empowers our hearts, bodies, and minds. It is the food of the happy soul — Ambrosia.

Some would say that our eyes also sense darkness, much like our hearts feel pain. I feel this is a misnomer of significant proportion. The sense of darkness is a recognition of a lack of light. We do not “see” darkness, rather we recognize when the light reaching our eyes is dim or otherwise not present. It is the same for love. Some would say that we feel pain and depression and fear. Perhaps this is more accurately a sensation wherein we consciously recognize a dimness of love or a lack of it.

When we yearn to feel the bright light of the afternoon sun washing over our bodies, but are deprived of it, we feel a longing. We feel a lacking. Perhaps we even feel pain or fear. What if the sun were never to rise again? What if this lacking of light were to persist forever. It is the same, then, for love. The sensation of pain and fear — the anxiety caused by an absence of Love — is a manifestation of our Love sensing organs failing to sense that Love. What if it’s never felt again? What if loneliness will persist for the rest of existence? I would argue, then, that these feelings are a chimaera. They are a sensation born of a Lack of love.

Some look at the nature of electromagnetic vibration — the physical body of Light — and see two opposites. There is darkness, and there is Light. But darkness is an illusion. Some would even say that the fundamental medium of existence is a darkness which can be permeated by Light. This too, is an illusion. In every microcosm of space, we can detect the vibrations of Light. It may be dim, or of a frequency undetectable to our ordinary senses, but it is there. Always. And the strongest darkness, when ennobled by Light, is transmuted in remarkable time. Meanwhile light cannot be transmuted by darkness. It can be absorbed. It can be transformed into motion and life, but it cannot be destroyed in the way that darkness is destroyed by light. Love is the same.

All of the pain and longing and separation we may have felt is burnt away by the brilliance of Love which we can feel. Surely we can feel pain or depression or fear, but only in the absence of the bright radiance of our Love which is ever present in potential. Should we be afraid, we need only remember that there is One who Loves us. Should we be anxious and despondent toward the future, we need only remember to open ourselves to the Love which the other sends — to open our heart’s metaphorical eyes. And in doing so that Love will wash over our body, our heart, our mind — touching to our very soul — feeding us the Ambrosia we require. Reigniting the sun inside of us that may reflect and recreate that Loving Light in return.

I choose to feel Love. I am compelled by a connection deeper than my waking mind to Love you more purely than I have ever been capable of before. Should we ever feel doubt, we must only remember these words: I love you.

Choose love over fear

No Comments
Hope, Life, Love

I saw this today and thought it was worth sharing. The author is Kimberly Giles at www.claritypointcoaching.com.


  • I am a unique, irreplaceable, incomparable soul. My value is infinite and absolute. I know who I am. I am not a perfect person, but I’m right on track in my process of growth and learning. There is really nothing to fear. I am a student in the classroom of life. I am bulletproof, and no one can diminish me without my permission.
  • My life is a classroom, not a testing center. I am here to learn and grow. Every experience is a lesson (not a test) and my value (as a unique, irreplaceable, incomparable soul) never changes. This experience is serving me with lessons which bless my life and teach me things. Every person I meet is there to show me something about myself and help me grow. Some of these teachers don’t stay in my life forever. I choose to be grateful for each lesson.
  • I will choose to experience each situation in trust and love. If a person is the right one for me, it will work out. If they aren’t the right one (or are only meant to be with me for a while, to facilitate a lesson) then it won’t work out, which will leave me open for another one. Either way, I am fine.
  • There is nothing to fear. I can meet people and socialize without any fear. I can do this because I understand who I am and the nature of life. When I let go of my fears, I can start giving, loving and edifying others.
  • Sometimes another person will like me more than I like them. I will kindly tell them the truth. I will do this honestly and kindly. I will not attach fear around this experience or feel guilty for it. The universe has brought this perfect experience to both of us. This person will process through their disappointment and learn something from it. I must let them experience this however they choose.
  • If I make mistakes, I will own them, apologize and focus on better behavior in the future. I won’t beat myself up for mistakes because they are lessons, and they are helping me become a better me.
  • Everyone is afraid they aren’t good enough. This fear and insecurity create all kinds of bad behavior. Fear makes people brag, boast, criticize and judge. People do these things because they are scared about their own value. This is immature behavior, but I don’t let it hurt me. No one can hurt me without my participation.
  • When other people behave badly, it’s not about me. They are learning their own lessons. Most bad behavior is a request for love. I recognize this and give people validation and attention whenever I can. I spend my time asking questions and listening to other people to show them I care about them. Listening to them is the deepest way to show another person they are valued. I choose to treat people with love and respect.
  • I do not have to participate in negative, hurtful or destructive conversations. I can remove myself or change the subject. I can guide conversations by asking more productive questions.
  • There are times when it might make sense to defend myself (from a place of strength and love), but most of the time I just ignore bad behavior. I see it for what it is and refuse to give it power. When I feel it’s appropriate to address bad behavior, I handle it with love and respect. I will not cast blame and accuse. Instead, I will focus on the behavior I would appreciate in the future.
  • No matter what goes on around me, I get to choose my inner state. I have the power to choose how I will feel in each moment. There are only two choices, so this decision is simple. I can either choose a state of fear, where I feel insecure, uncomfortable, inferior or unsafe, or I can choose a state of optimism, trust and love. I choose optimism, trust and love.

3 months and back to work

No Comments
Baby, Experience, Life

Aidan is just about 3 months old now, over 13 pounds, and sleeping 6 hours for the first half of the night regularly. He’s increasingly curious about the world, and being more talkative and interactive as well.

I went back to work this week, and my mother-in-law has been taking care of him most of the day. The first day was rough on him, and we could tell he missed me a lot. I also missed him, but being back around adults is nice. My female friends at work are wonderful, and we reconnected right away.

Yesterday I dropped Aidan off at the grandmother home daycare place I had found. She was great, and apparently he was a good boy for the half day that he was there. I am really glad that it’s going to work out, and that he has been in good hands.

It’s going to be a new routine, and it’s all a learning experience, but things are going well. Also, everybody who sees Aidan says he’s cute, which he is!

2 months and 12 pounds!

8 Comments
Baby, Experience, Life

Our little boy is 2 months old today, and he has been doing very well. He has virtually doubled his birth weight, weighing over 12 pounds, and has reached several milestones. He is now holding his head up well, doing some mini-push ups, and most wonderfully of all for me, he has started smiling!

He will smile at little things that make him happy, like if I rub his head. But the most memorable smile was when he looked up at me with his big adorable eyes and just broke into the sweetest smile. My heart absolutely melted. Before then his smiles were not so obviously directed toward me.

Another nice milestone he has reached is sleeping 6 hours at a time. It was just two nights ago, so he is not doing it consistently yet, but he is definitely sleeping for longer stretches at night. It’s a nice change from the way he would get up every 2-3 hours crying and demanding milk. His acid reflux is also getting a bit better since we put him on Prevacid in addition to Ranitidine/Zantac, so that may be helping him sleep.

He is also becoming more aware of his surroundings and doing things like cooing, reaching out, and staring at lights and other objects. I’m pretty sure he also knows when he is outside versus when he is home, because he behaves himself and doesn’t cry until he is no longer around other people.

I love this little baby so much. He is the cutest and most adorable thing ever, although I’m sure every mother thinks so of her child. I love just holding him in my arms and watching him sleep. He just lights up my world, and I am so grateful to have him.

6 weeks update

3 Comments
Baby, Experience, Life

Our little Aidan is 6 weeks today! They say you never stop worrying about your baby, and it’s definitely true.

We went to the pediatrician on Friday. He weighed over 10 pounds! We were there to check out some red rash that had broken out all over his body, torso, back and legs. We worried that it was a sign of something serious, like a virus-caused rash. The doctor said to keep an eye on it and to monitor his temperature, and to go to the hospital if it goes up above 100.4 F, especially since my husband has had a cold.

The rash has since gone away, and there has been no fever. We suspect now that it’s because I had wiped him with some diaper wipes. We gave him two baths, and his skin cleared up nicely.

The doctor also prescribed Prevacid, since Aidan’s reflux isn’t getting much better, and he still seems to be in pain during some of his spitting up episodes. The medication was rather expensive, but my husband just shrugged, “Nobody ever said babies were cheap.”

As far as sleep goes, Aidan had been waking up every 2-3 hours at night and crying to be fed every time. Until this week I had been acquiescing to his demands, but then one night I tracked how much he ate. He took almost 20 ounces between 8pm and 8am! That seemed a bit off to me, so the next night I tried to stretch out his night feedings a bit. He was not happy about it — nor was I, since he woke up almost every hour crying and needing to be comforted. But the next night he went 4 hours between feedings. It was nice to get a little more sleep, but I worry that he is unhappy about going hungry.

Maybe soon he will get on a better schedule, eat more during the day, and sleep 5-7 hours at night. That would be nice, but these things do take time. He is hitting some milestones like holding his head up for a few seconds and focusing on objects and faces. I also can’t wait to see a real social smile from him!

Super busy

3 Comments
Baby, Experience, Parenthood

Life is good, albeit very busy. Our little Aidan is growing steadily, up to almost 8 pounds at the 2-week visit with the pediatrician. He is almost gaining weight a bit too quickly, perhaps because of some reflux.

Now that my mother-in-law is no longer staying with us, I’ve been doing just about everything on my own, except for a brief period of time when my husband is home in the evening.

The issue of feeding has been worked out, so now it’s onto sleeping. Aidan has had his days and nights mixed up, so on Monday night he was basically up for 7 hours from 1 to 8AM. I’ve taken the past few days to try and train him to recognize the difference between day and night. It seems to be working judging from the last two nights, when he slept in 2-hour stretches and was at least not up all night.

My husband and I haven’t had much time to ourselves, but we sneak some quality time here and there. One time while we were cuddling, I mentioned to him that his ears and nose seemed to have grown really big, and that his face also looked huge. He replied that my face also looks big, but that he wasn’t going to say anything. I guess we’d been looking at Aidan’s tiny little face for so long lately that in contrast, we both just look gigantic.

Two weeks old

7 Comments
Baby, Experience, Life

Time really flies! Our little Aidan is two weeks old today.

Things are still going well, and I’m starting to feel more human. Having a baby is hard work, but it’s so worth it.

I’m up to 4 or 5 ounces per pumping consistently now, still pumping 10+ times per day. Our freezer is full of milk storage bags.

I have set up a Shutterfly site for his pictures:

http://aidanrc.shutterfly.com/

Shutterfly is a photo printing service. I’ve created a photo book that I ordered two copies of, one for our own keeping and one for my mother-in-law. I hope they arrive soon, so we can present it to her for her birthday.

He has started making more and more faces, and the most amazing thing is when he does these spontaneous smiles. They just melt my heart. I can’t wait to see real smiles!

Life with the little one

6 Comments
Baby, Experience, Life, Parenthood

The past week has seen a lot of change. Aidan went from fussy and crying all the time to calm and not noisy at all most of the time. I went from pumping half an ounce total to consistently 4 ounces! I’m like a human milk-making machine, putting out more than he can eat, although he does have a voracious appetite, so the fact that I’m ahead is a good thing.

My husband has gone back to work, and we have settled into a new routine. My mother-in-law who is here until October 1 has been helping watch Aidan during the day. I sleep whenever I can and watch the baby through the night, snoozing on the couch in our living room. The living room has turned into the new baby station, and we have not been using the room we had set up to be Aidan’s nursery at all. He hasn’t even been inside his crib once! I heard that could be the case with newborns, but until it became reality, I thought it was somewhat silly. I totally get it now.

I’m glad to be living in a day and age when so much technology have become available to help our day-to-day lives. I may be tethered to various electronic devices, but my computer, smartphone and other machinery are life savers. Starting from before I got pregnant I had been keeping track of my menstrual cycle with an app on my Android phone, and during the pregnancy I would keep various notes and read information from my phone.

Now I use my phone to time feedings, record volume pumped, and of course there is the indispensable Medela pump that we got while I was half manic and half depressed about the feeding situation. Things have definitely turned around since then. Aidan is eating very well and likely gaining a good amount of weight. I’ve given up on directly breastfeeding because Aidan likely has a tight frenulum which is causing his improper latch. He even fussed at the bottle that required a proper latch because he couldn’t make it work. We then tried out four different bottle systems before settling on the Playtex nurser.

So far, we’re transitioning pretty well to parenthood. Aidan has us well-trained to cater to his needs, and we’re training him to be on more of a schedule. I just hope things continue to be smooth and wonderful.