This:




I believe the children are our are future
Teach them well and let them lead the way
Show them all the beauty they possess inside
Give them a sense of pride to make it easier
Let the children's laughter remind us how we used to be
Everybody searching for a hero
People need someone to look up to
I never found anyone who fulfill my needs
A lonely place to be
So I learned to depend on me

I decided long ago, never to walk in anyone's shadows
If I fail, if I succeed
At least I'll live as I believe
No matter what they take from me
They can't take away my dignity
Because the greatest love of all
Is happening to me
I found the greatest love of all
Inside of me
The greatest love of all
Is easy to achieve
Learning to love yourself
It is the greatest love of all

- Lyrics by Linda Creed

Original haiku first posted here.
Photo source.

At the hairdresser’s the other day I heard this song I hadn’t heard in years, and fell in love with it all over again. What was playing was of course the standard Whitney Houston: Bodyguard version, and I can’t say enough about the voice, the images, the perfection of that. But in looking through the YouTube selections that came up when I googled the song (which incidentally was written by Dolly Parton and performed by her in Best Little Whorehouse in Texas), I came across this live performance I liked a lot too. It's Whitney again and if not equal to the other in sound quality it has a more personal feel to it, possibly because of the setting, although I have in general been less taken with her other live versions. Well, judge for yourself. Unfortunately, embedding has been disabled for both Whitney videos, but you can get to them by following the links. Here's the Dolly Parton clip then.




And hey, this is my blog and I’m feelin’ the love so I’d like to dedicate this song to you...and you...and you. And just in case you’re wondering, yes, I do mean YOU.

I will always love you.

Acceptance of what is, as opposed to struggling against it.

Is that true? I can hear Byron Katie question in the background.

When I think about it, the worst that non-acceptance does is lead to further lessons until I finally do accept. How can I lose? Is there any big rush? Will my soul be in peril of being forever cast out if I fail to accept what is in front of my nose in this very minute? In soul terms, does time even exist?

Some folks like to talk about illusion – everything is illusion anyway, they say, so what's the fuss? Or as Nietsche said: There are no facts, only interpretations. Or judgments. So fine, I'll reword my response and say: It's about accepting what is or appears to be so. And especially, it's about accepting the thing that niggles. I think it’s pretty safe to say the thing that niggles has a particular interpretation, a value-judgment attached to it. In other words, it’s more than just what it purports to be.

For example, I see there are lines in my face. No problem, it just is what it is, unless I take it to mean I am getting old or give it some other, usually stress-inducing meaning. Getting old is an interpretation, a judgment, of lines in my face.

It’s all in the way you look at it, people say, why not change your interpretation from getting old to getting wise? But isn’t reinterpreting something I don’t like just another way of not accepting what is? What I see is lines in my face. The minute I attach any meaning, any words beyond the mere observation, I’m in trouble. I look in my face. I see lines. Is there anything difficult about accepting that there are lines? Without any meaning attached?

I don’t have to accept getting old (or getting wise, for that matter) unless it’s there for me, unless it niggles. It would never even get that far if I were able to see lines without any thought of what they might mean. “Ah, lines.” See? Harmless. It’s the judgments that screw me up every time, never the thing itself.

Accepting something fully leaves off any judgments about it.