Love is Real: Lesson from The Velveteen Rabbit

"What is REAL?" the Velveteen Rabbit asked the Skin Horse one day. "Does it mean having things that buzz inside you and a stick-out handle?"

"Real isn't how you are made," said the Skin Horse. "It's a thing that happens to you. When a child loves you for a long, long time, not just to play with, but REALLY loves you, then you become Real."

"Does it hurt?" asked the Velveteen Rabbit .

"Sometimes," said the Skin Horse, for he was always truthful. "When you are Real you don't mind being hurt."

"It doesn't happen all at once," said the Skin Horse. "You become. It takes a long time. That's why it doesn't happen often to people who break easily, or have sharp edges, or who have to be carefully kept. Generally, by the time you are Real, most of your hair has been loved off, and your eyes drop out and you get loose in your joints and very shabby. But these things don't matter at all, because once you are Real you can't be ugly, except to people who don't understand. But once you are Real you can't become unreal again. It lasts for always."

Taking the example from The Velveteen Rabbit: Being Real sometimes hurts. The alternative to being real, however, is unimaginable.

Being Loved sometimes hurts. Although we do our utmost not to deliberately hurt the ones we love, the truth is, we inadvertently hurt the ones we love (and they hurt us), because our hearts are exposed the most to one another. What greater way is there to communicate and to exist, than to live wide openly and authentically Real with one another?

• I'm not afraid of being in imperfect shape...for that means I'm not left on the shelf, untouched and unharmed.

• I'm not afraid of my ears being lopsided and my eyes drooping by affectionate touches.

• I'm not afraid of the seams of my edges fraying from so much caressing.

• I'm not afraid of going bald because I was rubbed too vigorously (take that ANY way you want!).

• I'm not afraid of my stuffing being enthusiastically squeezed out of me.

• I want to endure all that Love is for the sake of being Real...the good days and bad.

• I want to expose my sunshine as well as my darkness.

• I want to express joy and as well as sorrow, courage and fear, peace and anxiety.

• I want to be challenged when I'm wrong, encouraged when I'm scared and lovingly laughed at when I'm being ridiculous.

• I want to be comforted and played with.

• I want to be cherished and treasured.

• I want to be needed and wanted and liked and loved.

• I want to be seen, heard, felt and tasted.

• I want to experience the full spectrum of Love, the entire meaning of what it means to be Real.

• I always want the kind of love that makes me Real...

• I want to be Real...

In the words of Melissa Etheridge, "I want to live my life pursuing all my happiness. I want a fearless love, I won't settle for anything less."

Lyrid Meteor Shower

Did anyone catch the show last night? I got up about 3am to check it out. The moon was almost set so the sky was nearly dark. What a wondrous display of fireworks, like Nature's own beautiful umbrella formed by sparkles, twinkles and streaks. The water was calm and dark, and a couple times it seemed the shooting stars dived right toward the water. I leaned in close and held my breath, waiting to hear a "sizzle" but never heard a peep :)

As I watched the display, I thought about our ancestors who first saw the Lyrids around 687 B.C. I thought about what they must have said and thought and felt. Last night, I could almost hear their ooohs and ahhhs of them standing there with me. Last night, standing underneath the Heavens, I felt a part of something much bigger than myself. Hope you did too...

All I Really Needed to Know I Learned in Kindergarten

For the past couple of weeks I've been doing some personal study. This tried and true favorite was speaking to me tonight...thought I'd share it to remind us all, that all we really needed to know we learned in kindergarten. Here's to staying connected to our inner child and loving her with kindness, patience and gentleness and LOTS of play!! :)

"Most of what I really need to know about how to live, and what to do, and how to be, I learned in Kindergarten. Wisdom was not at the top of the graduate school mountain, but there in the sandbox at nursery school.

"These are the things I learned: Share everything. Play fair. Don't hit people. Put things back where you found them. Clean up your own mess. Don't take things that aren't yours. Say you're sorry when you hurt somebody. Wash your hands before you eat. Flush. Warm cookies and cold milk are good for you. Live a balanced life. Learn some and think some and draw and paint and sing and dance and play and work some every day.

"Take a nap every afternoon. When you go out into the world, watch for traffic, hold hands, and stick together. Be aware of wonder. Remember the little seed in the plastic cup. The roots go down and the plant goes up and nobody really knows how or why, but we are all like that.

"Goldfish and hamsters and white mice and even the little seed in the plastic cup ~ they all die. So do we.

"And then remember the book about Dick and Jane and the first word you learned, the biggest word of all: LOOK. Everything you need to know is in there somewhere. The Golden Rule and love and basic sanitation, ecology and politics and sane living.

"Think of what a better world it would be if we all ~ the whole world ~ had cookies and milk about 3 o'clock every afternoon and then lay down with our blankets for a nap.

"Or if we had a basic policy in our nation and other nations to always put things back where we found them and clean up our own messes.

"And it is still true, no matter how old you are, when you go out into the world, it is best to hold hands and stick together."

~ by Robert Fulgham ~