Tag: Love

soulmate

Soul Mates – They aren’t what you think

When the term Soul Mate is depicted in movies and books most of the time it’s a romantic notion of someone finding their “other half”. The truth is, that is just silly. We aren’t half a person walking around nor are we just half a soul. 

Earth is a school of sorts. We choose to incarnate here in human form to learn, grow, expand and help others to do the same. We agree, pre-birth, to lessons taught and to be taught by us. We contract with other souls and form agreements. This includes relationships, family ties, friends, and some believe even animals get in on the act.

Our soul mates, yes I said mates with an “s”, will find us throughout our lives, when and only when we and they are ready. A soul mate may come in the form of a sister, a lover, a husband or wife, a father, or a friend. The connection is immediately felt. Many will remark soon after meeting that it feels like you have known one another forever, even though it has been a very short time. Essentially, your soul mates feel like “home”. They are sometimes also referred to as “soul group” or “soul family”.

But what about the romantic notion of Soul Mate love?

When “in love” with a soul mate on a romantic level it can be amazing. The connection is like nothing else you have ever experienced before. (Unless you are lucky enough to have encountered more than 1 soulmate- though each connection will be intense, no two will be the same).
Wait – What?

Yes, that is confusing. It is imagined that if you meet a soul mate, BAM that is it! You are together for life. Happily ever after. That isn’t always the purpose of your reunion.  Soul mate relationships are deep and filled with learning on both parts. They serve to jumpstart your growth on a soul level and act as a catalyst.

This can present itself in an endless number of ways I won’t even try and cover. Just know that when you encounter soul-level connections you will likely find yourself being tested as well as being more open to love than ever before. 

The story of “The Little Soul” is one of the best explanations of soul contracts I have come across.

I will have to slow down my vibration and become very heavy to do this not-so-nice thing.

I will have to pretend to be something very unlike myself. And so, I have but one favor to ask of you in return.

“Oh, anything, anything!” cried the Little Soul, and began to dance and sing, “I get to be forgiving, I get to be forgiving!”

Then the Little Soul saw that the Friendly Soul was remaining very quiet.

“What is it?” the Little Soul asked. “What can I do for you? You are such an angel to be willing to do this for me!”

“Of course this Friendly Soul is an angel!” God interrupted. “Everyone is! Always remember: I have sent you nothing but angels.

And so the Little Soul wanted more than ever to grant the Friendly Soul’s request.

“What can I do for you?” the Little Soul asked again.

“In the moment that I strike you and smite you,” the Friendly Soul replied, “in the moment that I do the worst to you that you could possible imagine ~ in that very moment…”

“Yes?” the Little Soul interrupted, “yes…?”

“Remember Who I Really Am.”

“Oh, I will!” cried the Little Soul, “I promise! I will always remember you as I see you right here, right now!”

“Good,” said the Friendly Soul, “because, you see, I will have been pretending so hard, I will have forgotten myself. And if you do not remember me as I really am, I may not be able to remember for a very long time. And if I forget Who I Am, you may even forget Who You Are, and we will both be lost. Then we will need another soul to come along and remind us both of Who We Are.”

“No, we won’t!” the Little Soul promised again. “I will remember you! And I will thank you for bringing me this gift ~ the chance to experience myself as Who I Am.”

~The Little Soul and the Sun. A Children’s Parable Adapted from Conversations with God~

There is an awful lot that comes into play as to why souls will reincarnate with one another. Past karma (good or bad) to be worked out, things left unresolved, vows made or broken, or sometimes if you are really lucky, simply out of pure love. – and remember that behind all of these the motivation is always love. Sometimes there is hurt, anger, resentment, and more to be worked out as well, but under that is love. That is what souls are on an energetic level and what we are all working to get back to.

If you meet a soul mate or are lucky enough to be born into a family with one be ready for a wonderful, sometimes tumultuous wild ride. Lessons are ripe for learning and they don’t get dropped till we pass our tests.

The best advice I have is from practical application over the years. FEEL with your heart always over listening to your MIND. Your soul knows whats right and whats best for you. We just have a hard time listening sometimes.

Can your soul mate be your life partner? Sure! I just wanted to clarify the point that not every soul mate will be your life partner. They also come in other shapes and sizes, colors and flavors… If you feel a soul level connection with someone, it is likely that you are correct. Love and appreciate them accordingly. 

Need a reading done? 

It isn’t easy to know who is and who isn’t the real deal when it comes to readings. I can tell you first hand that Joanne Leo is the very best. HIGHLY personally recommend! <3

Reach her on FB: https://www.facebook.com/joanne.leo.186
OR
On the web: www.psychicjoanneleo.com
OR
By calling: 727-743-3400

 

 

 

 

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Bailey & Polar bear

Lil’ Dog needs knee surgery

Hi everybody. My name is Bailey. I’m a spunky loving 10 year old Lhasa Apso who lives in Sunny Florida.  After I was given up for adoption by my original family, my Sarah adopted me. She loves me more than anything in the entire world.  My life is wonderful, but lately my little back knee really hurts a lot. I am having trouble walking.

I didn’t want to say anything or tell Sarah cause she would worry about me, but I can’t help limping and she took me to the vet.

He says I need surgery. I have somehow torn my ACL and damaged my meniscus. This scares me and Sarah says it’s very expensive. I would get a job and help, but well… I am a fuzzy little dog.  My talents encompass napping, rolling around and moaning, eating things, going for walks and snuggling. No one is hiring for this.

My Sarah’s company got bought out a couple of months ago and she is only working part time so this is bad timing in our house.

I hate to bother the humans… as I know you need money to buy your own snackie things… but if you are so inclined to help a little dog out both I and my Sarah would be forever thankful.

I have to schedule another appointment to meet with the surgeon next week. The best guestimate the office staff was able to give today was $3500.

Love,

Bailey Lhasa Apso

If you can help or even just share please click here  <3 https://www.gofundme.com/baileybarendse

UPDATE!: Bailey has had his surgery. He is in recuperation mode.  He is doing very very well and the fur is starting to grow back on his leg, the incision is healing very well. Beginning to go on walks again! 🙂 Thanks to all of you for the support, both financial and in shares and love.

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29 gifts

Enriching Your Life By Giving

The perception of wealth has mistakenly become all about what we have and what we can get on a material level. True wealth is measured in richness of life and of the heart. It is boosted not by what we get but by what we give and whom we help.

You don’t have to be well off financially to give of yourself. In many social experiments it has been found that those who have the least tend to give the most because they know what it is like to go without.

A few years back I came across a book that I haven’t been able to forget. “29 Gifts – How a Month of Giving Can Change Your Life” by Cami Walker.

One month after her wedding day, 33-year-old Cami Walker was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis, and the life she knew changed forever. Cami was soon in and out of L.A.’s emergency rooms with alarming frequency as she battled the neurological condition that left her barely able to walk and put enormous stress on her marriage. Each day brought new negative thoughts:

“I’m going to end up in a wheelchair… My life is over.

“Why did this have to happen to me?”

Then, as a remedy for her condition, Cami received an uncommon prescription from a friend, an African Medicine Woman named Mbali Creazzo. The prescription was simply to give away 29 gifts in 29 days.

“By giving,” Mbali told her, “you are focusing on what you have to offer others, inviting more abundance into your life.”

The gifts, she said, could be anything, but their giving had to be both authentic and mindful. At least one gift needed to be something she felt was scarce in her life.

Cami was amazed by what unfolded during her month-long journey. Not only did her state of mind improve but her health did as well.

I myself will be doing this challenge starting July 1st, 2015. I would like to invite you, our readers, to join me.

Gifts can be anything including a nice gesture – those are free and we never run out. This world needs more kindness. If we want the world to change, we have to start with ourselves.

To learn more go to www.29gifts.org

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Removed from Reality

The fascination we, as a society, have with observing other peoples lives from the sidelines has gone from merely entertainment to crossing the line of dangerous passivity.

Reality TV has given us all a voyeuristic window into the lives of others that has never been had in the past. There have always been nosy neighbors and gossips but now you don’t even have to get together with your friends, or even go out of your house. Just flip on the little box in your bedroom, living room, TV room, even bathroom and you can see in full color the drama and strife of other peoples daily lives.

No more need for writers, actors or even talented people at all. The only qualification seems to be vanity, a need for attention and to be vaguely attractive. Are you a total hot mess with a seriously screwed up life? Great! Video yourself, upload and apply! We can make you famous!

This is blurring the lines of reality.

What’s right?

What’s wrong?

What’s acceptable?

What’s sociopathic?

Apparently all of it and all the better if you happen to be able to capture someone doing something on your phone so you TOO can profit from it, whether it be monetarily or through the second hand attention of “likes” and praise online with YouTube or social media.

When did it become funny to watch people hurt themselves over and over and over again?

How many people can hit themselves in the balls with a bat, a golf club, a basket ball before you lose interest? Apparently for most of you the amusement goes on and on…

Yet I bet if it was you? You wouldn’t think it was so funny.

I have seen numerous videos online lately of incidences where someone is being harassed, hurt, injured or worse and what do the by standers do?
Live up to the name. They do nothing but stand by and film.

-Crowds of people gathered around young kids while others beat them, no one steps in to help.

-Adults throw temper tantrums at fast food restaurants, screaming obscenities at the workers – no one opens their mouths to try and get them to either calm down or leave, they just whip out their phones and record the abuse.

-In the Knockout Game, random strangers are simply hit out of no where. There are almost always several other people in the videos who again, just stand there. They don’t say a word, they don’t yell at the attacker, they don’t make any move to go after him and rarely do you even see them grab their phone to call for help.

-Police step over the line in arrests brutalizing citizens who are already down on the ground and compliant. Their friends just film.

While I do understand the natural inclination is to not want to be involved in a fight, you really need to consider – What if it was you?

Would you hope your friends, your family, a caring stranger, anyone would step in? Do something, say something, … ANYTHING?

I certainly would appreciate it.

I don’t advocate jumping right in to a fight if you are not trained.

What I am saying is speak up! Use your voice. Grab their arm. Make SOME  attempt to slow them down, insert a little reason in to the scene. Don’t just passively sit there and watch it happen. If you do, you BECOME part of the problem.

Let me say this as clearly as possible.


THIS IS NOT TV.



We are quickly losing our humanity.



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The Art of Non-Attachment

We all want the very best for friends and family. Many of us have a tendency to take on other people’s problems as if they were our own. We do it out of love, but ironically it can often lead to codependency in relationships as well as self-neglect. I speak from experience in this. My natural inclination in life has been to try and “save” the world, especially those closest to me. Unfortunately, I have found it just doesn’t work that way.

 

It is difficult to watch someone make, what you believe to be, bad decision after bad decision leading his or her life in a negative or non-progressing direction. We want to intervene, even at times – to grab them and shake them and say “what are you doing!?” and literally shove them in a better direction.

 

What we have to realize is that as much as we love or care about them that no one can make decisions for them. The only person who can rescue them… is them.

 

Why do I call Non-Attachment an art?

 

I call it an art because as easy as the concept is, it takes years, sometimes lifetimes to master.

 

It is easy to be jokingly callous and step back saying “Not my circus, not my monkeys”. But it’s heart wrenching and unnerving at times to pull back, relinquish the illusion of control, and simply allow that person and situation to be what it is and to work itself out.

Now in saying this I do not at all mean withdraw love or support.

A simple “I am still here and I love you.” Is one of the best statements of caring you can make to another person. There is no better gift than that of unconditional love. In that gift it allows the other person to know that it is ok to try – succeed or fail, you won’t think less of them and you will still be there.

 

This also allows you the mental and emotional space you need in order to take care of yourself. Getting lost in another person’s issues, regardless of love, is never healthy.

 

In order for anyone to reclaim their life and get it “Back on Track” that drive and power have to come from within. Owning responsibility for their decisions and their actions will lead them to a place of control and from that feeling of self empowerment comes both self esteem and the start of self love.

Written for: The Alberta Street News – Back on Track Column. Columnist: Sarah J. Barendse


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Hard to Say Goodbye (Repost from Helium.com 2011)

Mr. Pooh had been adopted at the age of 6 after him and his brother both were left to fend for themselves when their owner, a little old lady, had died. They were in the apartment with her until she was found, they think several days. It was clear by their condition that she had not been able to really take good care of them for some time.

I had seen Pooh online on Petfinders.com, and at the time could not take two dogs. I wrote to the shelter and told them “If you are unable to place them together, I would really like to adopt the little red one.” I heard nothing back until one day three months later when I got a phone call which stated that his brother had been adopted and Pooh was sitting alone in his cage and had been for a month and did I still want him.

Of course I did.

I drove from Tampa all the way to Miami to pick him up. He was the cutest little mess I had ever seen. No one wanted him because he was in such bad shape. His eyes were totally crusted over, as he had severe dry eye and was mostly blind from lack of care, no hair on his back end because of mange and previously fleas, he was skinny as he had not eaten well. But beyond all that was the cutest little soul I had ever seen. I fell in love instantly. The staff seemed relieved and happy that I still wanted him when I saw him in person.

He had no idea how to walk on a leash and he really could not see where he was going.

Over time, with lots of love, care, good food and medical care he became one of the cutest happiest little creatures I have ever seen. Everyone who met him fell in love and the people who said “THAT’S the dog you picked?” finally could see what I saw in him.

We spent 10 wonderful years together.

 – – – – – – – –

After a weekend out of town, I came home and walked in the door as usual, said “Hi Lil’ Pooh!” and looked down. He didn’t move, and looked like he was sleeping. I bent down, and nudged him… Nothing… “Pooh?” I rolled him a little.

His eyes were totally crusted over, worse than I had ever seen… He moved a little. I cleaned out his eyes and he blinked at me. “Oh, poor lil pooh!” I said and kissed him on the forehead. He was very hot. Then I realized he wasn’t really moving.

I kept talking to him and rubbing him, but he seemed like he was paralyzed. I scooped him up and went to the ER Vet. Half way there he started trying to stand up. He was very wobbly, shaky and hot. They did x rays and blood work….. He had a mass/tumor in his chest pressing on his heart if not in it. It was also pressing against his esophagus which was shoved over at least 2 inches off of where it should have been. He had a bad infection and an inoperable mass.

They tried to send me home with me with antibiotics to see if we could clear the infection. 

I sat with him, and he was shaking, and hot and falling over…. I cried and talked to him and tried my best to comfort him, but he just looked so frail.

I couldn’t make him go on. I sat and hugged him and told him he wouldn’t have crusty eyes, or aching hips, or itchy skin or any pain anymore and that he would be free. He looked right at me and I know he understood. He was a smart little dog who understood English when he chose to.

Josh, my ex and best friend, called and said goodbye to him on the phone and pooh kissed the phone and then kissed me. 

They had already put the catheter in his little leg, and it was wrapped in a snazzy red bandage. I held him in my arms and they gave him the injection. I stroked his little fuzzy head and told him to go to sleep and he would feel better….He looked peaceful, then went limp.

…….

Interestingly………..The tech at the ER clinic says “Oh my he looks just like my little dog who passed last month”….. After talking? I think it might have been Pooh’s brother Teddy! He was from the same rescue and right about the same time frame.

They thought I was a little nuts, but as I was so sad and upset they humored me. I asked them to weigh Pooh after he passed. I had seen studies that said the soul weighs 4 oz……… he weighed 3 oz. less than he had only 30 minutes earlier.

Right after he left his body my good friend Jen said that she saw white sparkles of light where Pooh used to sit in her house. The next night I heard his collar jingle in my kitchen. (His collar was in the car). So, the little fuzzy love of my life, though gone in physical form, and missed beyond what breaks my heart, is still around as a little lhasa spirit.

Looking back, I think he had been in the process of dying when I came home. I think he stuck around and managed to struggle back to life to say good bye to me, which I cherish and appreciate more than words could ever express. 

I love you forever Mr. Pooh Lhasa Apso. You came into my life and you changed me.

Thank you for being a part of my life little dog. I could never imagine it having happened without you.

Pooh

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sarah & Her Lil Pooh
– – – – – – – – –

“Don’t cry because it’s over. Smile because it happened.” – Dr. Seuss

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