August 16, 2014 by johannisthinking@wordpresss.com

there is ALWAYS one more chance

We must accept finite disappointment,

but never lose infinite hope.

-Martin Luther King

there is a fresh tomorrow

there is unqiue birth each day

there is new love ever present

there is a brilliant sun in the sky

there is a gentle moon at night

there is the soft wind to carry you

there is the deep longing inside

there is someone standing beside you

Spring Lake, Alberta, Canada, August 2013; Photo Credit: Jane H Johann

there is ALWAYS one more chance

August 14, 2014 by johannisthinking@wordpresss.com

Oh, Little Butterfly

Miss Betty displays such deep emotion and imagery in this poem–her voice comes out so strongly! Please direct your likes and comments back to her site! I know she will be pleased to hear from you! http://clarabetty.wordpress.com/2013/05/03/oh-little-butterfly/

clarabetty

O h,   L i t t l e   B u t t e r f l y –
w h e r e   w i l l   y o u   f l y   t o d a y?
S o   f r e s h   f r o m   t h e c o c o o n.

Y o u r   u n t r i e d   w i n g s
u n f u r l e d   a g a i n s t
t h e b e c k o n i n g   s k y.

Y o u r   c o n q u e r i n g   o f
t h e   b l u e   h e i g h t s
l i k e   h e a d y   w i n e

S o u…

View original post 55 more words

August 14, 2014 by johannisthinking@wordpresss.com

Good Writing

Wonder

Delight

Questions

Pause

Reflection

What if

Discovery

August 13, 2014 by johannisthinking@wordpresss.com

Part II: Love and Forgiveness

“All that we love deeply becomes a part of us.”

-Helen Keller

Love is the deepest and purest when it is freely given and received. It seems so many are afraid of openness. So many are afraid of love. Love enhances us and those we love. How can there be a limit to love?

The more open we are, of course, the more vulnerable we become. But the flip side is, if we are open the more we are truly ourselves and love who we are. We are open because we accept our limitations and gifts. We have nothing to fear and nothing to hide. Love only increases within us and makes us Light Beings to others when we are open and receptive…and the more we can love those around us. Loving one person does not limit loving others. If we do not measure our love or the love someone has for us, there is plenty of love to go around. When we become possessive or jealous, we are measuring love. When we begin to measure love, we stifle it or kill it. Measurement doesn’t come into the equation…we just need to love love and let it be.

Loving is not always easy. Sometimes those we love hurt us and sometimes hurt us deeply. That is the test of our true love–when we can walk through that hurt and still love and care about the person. We are all human; we all make mistakes –I guess that is how people who are in major hand battle with each other, can come to the peace table, even after members of their own families have been killed by each other’s troops. Yes, that is the extreme–but does give pause for reflection.

Yet, I think how I wage my own inner battles that can be as devastating as actual combat warfare. I think of how people close to me and whom I love, can lash out with their words or actions and nearly annihilate me. That is the deepest hurt–to give love to another and then to be rejected –when deception enters the picture it becomes even harder–One begins to question one’s own sanity and motives. Self-worth is attacked and self-love struggles. Anger pops out all around–and the peace that was found in the love has gone underground. Love becomes hell. I just want to run away and hide from the world and I want everyone to leave me alone — and WHY? Because I feel like nothing again…like I do not matter to anyone or any cause or purpose. I travel to the point of WHY do I exist!

It is then that I realize my own words and actions—how out of my pain I have said things that were unkind to others…how I acted badly towards others. Sometimes I just want to quit. I think how can I ever be forgiven?

The wounds become deep and fester–I have to pick myself up and put the pieces together again. It is a process and takes time…And even after that, questions still arise. Judgments come from all around. Then I have to take it all to my meditation bench and quietly sift through it–going back to the Source of my breathing. I have to affirm within myself that I am part of God’s loving being…I ” live in the heart of God,” to borrow from Kahlil Gibran. It also teaches me to be more caring and loving to others, realizing how words and actions hurt. I see how I need forgiveness from others…and, so I too, must forgive.

I have to forgive myself for my own unloving ways and I have to forgive others –then I can go forward. We are all human. We all make errors in judgment. We each have our shadow side and we have to learn to love even our shadow side and forgive ourselves.

Helen Keller is quoted as saying, “All that we love deeply becomes a part of us.”

Love deepens who we are as a person and each person we love becomes a part of who we are, shaping our understanding and acceptance of humanity, within ourselves and others. With love of self, both are good side and our shadow side, comes the ability to forgive ourselves and then others.

August 13, 2014 by johannisthinking@wordpresss.com

Part I: Forgiveness …YOU are not so Easy to Live!

It was easy

to write about You,

Forgiveness,

when I could speak of you far away

and not smack in the middle of my lap!

“As you forgive, so shall you be forgiven”

My Catholic conscience rings out the verse

Forgiveness…

I didn’t know it would be so hard to do…

It was easy to tell others,

“Oh, just forgive and it will be okay,

You have to go on for another day.”

I have heard many charitable and religious quotes

from well-intentioned friends and folks,

“You needed to learn from this experience”…

“God loves you and so do I”…

“Let it go…forgive”

“Not forgiving allows that person to take up free rent in your brain!”

“You shall be forgiven as you forgive”

Hurt and anger are wrapped around you so tight!

It is difficult to believe everything will be alright.

Then the words of the Gospel came to me again:

Then Peter came up and said to him, “Lord, how often will my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? As many as seven times?” Jesus said to him, “I do not say to you seven times, but seventy times seven.

Once more you are trying to enter into my heart, Friend,

You, Forgiveness,

WHO are you?

You, Forgiveness,

WHY do you plague me so?

You, Forgiveness,

You are asking a great deal of me!

You, Forgiveness,

You were easy to speak about

when it was not so personal!

“Forgiveness is the fragrance that the violet sheds on the heel that has crushed it.”

–Mark Twain

Forgiveness, how do I reach YOU?

August 13, 2014 by johannisthinking@wordpresss.com

Haiku: Cycles of Life

Beginnings enter

Comings and goings…Exit

Final letting go

PhotoCredit: Jane H Johann, April, 2014
Alberta, Canada

August 12, 2014 by johannisthinking@wordpresss.com

Od’s Story part 1

John Flanagan’s story of Od captivates your heart! Please direct your likes and comments to his site: johnpoetflanagan@wordpress.com. The story is worth your reading time!

August 12, 2014 by johannisthinking@wordpresss.com

Give it ONE more try!

Isn’t this is what LIFE is all about?

if you do not try, you will never know

even if you do not succeed the first time

try again…

again …

again…

until your last breath

do not ever give up

give it one more try!

I cannot tell you how many times I have begun something and then it flops. I have had more failures than successes. On those dark days, I remind myself of what I did accomplish. I have to believe in myself, because it all starts with that inner conviction that I can and will do it! I must take my dream and live it.

Regardless of the naysayers and all those who tell me it is not possible. I have had acquaintances say to me, “past behavior is a pretty good indicator of future behavior.” Then therapists express these words, “Well, this is a pattern in your life. It is very difficult, if not impossible to change” and even religious people who thrive on the conviction that with “Jesus, all things are possible”– then tell me, “You have low self-esteem and that is impossible to change at your age.” So, I think, what happened to the power of Jesus? I have had people call me a “sucker”–as one friend said to me, “The S-word is emblazoned on your forehead–this will always be your situation because you love too much.” How can anyone love too much? I also have people tell me that I do not love myself enough. That phrase really gets my goat. It is an easy cliché that people love to throw around. If I did not love myself, WHY would I keep on trying? Because I am willing to risk and love, that does not mean I do not love myself. And if I was such a loser, I wouldn’t even try …I would not try to go out of myself and risk loving others.

If I listened to all of those naysayers, I may as well fold up the game of checkers and call it a life.

Guess what I say to all of those naysayers?

“I am going to give it another try!”

I love this quote by Martha Graham: “There is a vitality, a life force, an energy, a quickening that is translated through you into action, and because there is only one of you in all time, this expression is unique. And if you block it, it will never exist through any other medium and will be lost.” Martha Graham

I have to believe in myself and in my abilities and do it! I begin to think of all the people who helped me this far. Those who have helped me return to my balance are those who have taken the time to listen and not label me or pronounce final judgment on me. Then I begin to think of all the things I still need to do and can do!

I like the story of Thomas Edison when asked by a young reporter if he was about to give up on inventing the electric light bulb. Edison replied something similar to that he now knew 9,000 ways that the light bulb would not work! Imagine that? And it was only after the 9,001th time that Edison succeeded in inventing the electric light bulb! Maybe the numbers are not accurate but the point is right on target. No matter how many times you fail, the next time may be the success!

Spread that news when someone you know is about to give up!

I cannot find the poem, but I remember the title from 1968, “Don’t give up! Give it one more try!” I do not know who the poet was but that line has never left me through all these many years. I have had great personal losses. I have not been that successful at relationships. I have had my life’s dreams altered. I have ended up in a completely different direction than from where I began my life. The changes have not come easy and because I am the kind of person where my passion runs deep, I have felt the loss deeply. I am sure I have disappointed people along the way and sometimes I have disappointed myself. But I would always come back to that line: “Don’t give up; give it one more try.” That is all we can do…is try and hope for the best. We are humans. We make mistakes…but we should never, ever quit. We are all in this together.

Sometimes we just need one person to believe in us! One person to say, “Give it one more try!”

When I was a teacher, I would try to encourage the students to give it one more try. I would encourage them onward! I do not know if I always succeeded at saying at the correct time or not, of doing that or not, but I tried more often than I didn’t. I know that sometimes people get really annoyed with me, because I am urging them forward. But then I remember that sometimes I thought and felt that way too–thinking “Why don’t they just leave me alone! Why don’t they just go away and let me crash and burn!” But, really, deep down I did not want them to give up on me. I was pleading in my own stubborn way, “prove to me that I am someone, because at this moment in time, I do not feel like I am. ”

When we think we have nothing to offer the world, we can offer this simple phrase to someone: “Give it one more try!” It could change a life! Not only that, it could save a life. This is how important one person is to another!

August 11, 2014 by johannisthinking@wordpresss.com

GOD wakes up!

Yesterday morning as Ayden, now 7, and Nadia, 5 and one half (very important) and I were walking into Church, Ayden piped up, “I think God has services at 9:30 because He FINALLY wakes up! He has to sleep in because we make Him so tired during the week, with His listening to all of our problems!”