“You are the light of the world.” ~ the Bible, Matthew 5:14

As I write to you on this New Year’s morning, I am getting beautiful loving messages from around the world, from hearts of love that I love, some of whom have been co-workers, some patients, some parents of patients, some students / seminarians, some dental colleagues, and some friends who share our journeys of life.  

Some, truly, I barely knew; many I knew well.  With each and all, we have shared happy, joyous times, talks, sharing.

As my heart swells and thrills to these messages, to each heart of my heart, I am grateful to be a vessel, through which the love flows, part of the process of shared light of the world.  
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Isn’t it just precious to be a drop in the vast ocean of God, a thread in the fabric of this life of souls having a human experience?

You are indeed, the light of the world. 

Your Place in the Cosmos

You came for a reason.  Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to leave this world a better place.  You, yes you.  

“When I say it's you I like, I'm talking about that part of you that knows that life is far more than anything you can ever see or hear or touch. That deep part of you that allows you to stand for those things without which humankind cannot survive. Love that conquers hate, peace that rises triumphant over war, and justice that proves more powerful than greed.” - FRED ROGERS

You have the power to do remarkable things... should you choose to accept the assignment.

What can you do when everything has gone wrong?  What can you do when  you have no money?  What can you do in a disaster?

You, yes you, can do remarkable things.  You can find it in you to reach inside and change anything for yourself that you want to change.  

You are remarkable.  You are full of love.

You, yes you.

A rainy day can be a contemplative day. 

Curled up in a wing chair, feet on the ottoman, steaming cup of coffee in hand.  A beautiful moment to contemplate, cherish and savor. 

Never mind the metaphorical rainy day, but rather imagine the actuality of the soft rain, the very green of the wet trees and plants, and scents of the moist air laced with wet plant, mud, decaying fallen leaves and fresh rain.

Grab your opportunity soon, to ponder and enjoy just such a moment, hopefully on a weekend day of rest.  Inhale the scents, absorb what your eyes can take in and listen to the sounds, no matter the season, of the insects, birds, and dripping rain.

Go to gratitude.

Can you feel it?  As you relax into it, think of so many things you are grateful for - loves, work to do, goals to meet, and the rainy day.

Close your eyes and just be.
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Be.
In.
Joy.

Growing.
Learning.
Changing.
Going for it.

Moving forward keeps you happy.  And, conversely, stagnation is dying.

Live life to its fullest.  Search for what you want to learn, become. 

Look around you and notice friends, colleagues, others who seem really happy, probably really active, busy.  Ask them what they are learning.  Ask them what drives them.  Ask.

Choose something to read, to learn about, to work toward.  
Ask your husband or wife to do it with you.

Maybe get Norman Vincent Peale’s book, “The Power of Positive Thinking”.  Good place to start.

Read it aloud to each other.  You’ll be amazed at the results.

And you’ll be growing, learning, changing!
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Joy awaits!

Sharing money. 

It’s easy to feel like you’ll give when you “have it.” 

It’s easy to see others share money and assume they’ve made it.  They “have it.”

Guess what you’re missing here? 

Money has NO power except the power of your love.  

When you feel as if you have to have a lot to give a little, or a lot, you are thinking from the viewpoint of scarcity.  

When you think someone doesn’t deserve it, or isn’t smart enough, or… you are rationalizing from the viewpoint of scarcity.

Scarcity cannot love.  Scarcity is weak.  Scarcity keeps you weak and feeling unloved, even fearful.

Start giving wholeheartedly!  Tip a little or a lot extra, and feel the love.

When we put love into money - and share it - we leave scarcity behind.
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Abundance awaits.  Go for it today!!

Sit for a minute and get quiet.  Totally quiet. 

Think - what is on your “I should” list?

“One of the best places to start to turn your life around is by doing whatever appears on your mental ‘I should’ list.” ~ Jim Rohn

That’s a place to start.  

Then as you go through your day, notice what you see that could be done better, that could be done differently, that you’d like to see changed.

When your vision, your idea is aligned with insatiable hunger and a persistence that just keeps moving in the face of apparent failure, get ready for your miracles!

Believe it - your direction is awaiting.
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Have fun!!

In Abu Dhabi, Claude and I have been ever so fortunate to enjoy the Manarat Al Saadiyat, and its traveling exhibits from the British Museum, and to enjoy the Louvre-Abu Dhabi, a campus of the Louvre, Paris.  The solitude and beauty of each are heady and wonderful.

I can sort of imagine the English poet John Keats, standing in a perfectly quiet room of the British Museum in London, observing a Greek urn.  This young man, who died at 26 of tuberculosis, was moved by the engraving on the funerary urn and wrote,

“Beauty is truth, truth beauty, — that is all ye know on earth, and all ye need to know.” ~ John Keats

Beauty is truth.  Beauty captures us.  We cannot get away.

I live in the world of orthodontics.  Orthodontics is a beauty treatment.

“If there is a defect on the soul, it cannot be corrected on the face, but if there is a defect on the face and one corrects it, it can correct a soul.”      ~ Jean Cocteau

Seeing beauty - of a smile, of art, of nature - holds each of us.  We cannot get away.  It connects us to the Universe.

Today, see the beauty in your day, in your world, around you.
Feel its joy.

Think about perspective.

Think about your day.  

It’s easy to think about “getting through the day,” and then we’ve sort of wished away yet another of our precious days.  

Instead, we can see our day as a blank slate, upon which to write, in which to love, feel joy, and work toward our goals.

“One of the major reasons people don't make any progress toward their goals is because they keep trying to get through the day. A more worthy challenge is to try to get something from the day.” 
​~ Jim Rohn

We have today.  We have no promise of tomorrow.  

Savor your possibilities. 

Cherish your moments. 

Make the most possible of your day, today.  Move along your path with joy.