quote by Albert Schweitzer

At times our own light goes out and is rekindled by a spark from another person.  Each of us has cause to think with gratitude of those who have lighted the flame within us.

Seeing the Joy of Life

Two selections from the June 2010 issue of O Magazine:

Regaining Your Eyesight after 33 Years of Blindness

"Simple everyday things bring me to tears.  Watching butter being spread is fascinating.  Cutting my meat without struggling gives me so much joy.  I look at my husband and say, 'I did that myself.'  I'm surrounded by so much beauty and color: my husband's blue eyes, the red pieces on the Candy Land game that my grandson and I play, the way the light hits the colored glass windows at church, the stark branches against the blue winter sky.  I've been watching movies of my children when they were in high school, playing volleyball, acting in plays.  Imagining them doing those things wasn't the same.  I was 23 when I lost my sight, and my children were 2 and 5.  When I see my young grandchildren, it's as if I'm looking at my children again when they were little -- picturing how the wind blew my daughter's hair across the side of her face.  I can't wait to witness my granddaughter's first steps.  And I love watching my grandson dance.  When he used to visit and wanted to play outside, he always knew that Grandma stayed on the deck.  But I recently told him, 'Grandma isn't going to stay on the deck anymore.'"

- Jenny Peterson, who received a prosthetic implant in January 2010 to restore the sight that she lost in 1976 after a reaction to antibiotics

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Seeing the World From the Top of a 16-Story Tree

"It's like climbing to outer space.  There are millions of undiscovered creatures in every nook and cranny.  Some are two feet long, some smaller than a raindrop.  At 165 feet up, I'm the first to see rain on the horizon.  There are 1,000 shades of green, and I usually can't see the forest floor.  Sometimes I stay overnight, and it's too much fun to sleep.  The tree's strong architecture is very protecting.  The swaying lulls me like I'm a baby.  At night the insects chew and chirp - it's a symphony by Mother Nature, Times Square in the forest."

- Tropical rainforest canopy biologist and conservationist Margaret D. Lowman, PhD, who began taking her two children up with her into the treetops when they were 4 and 6 years old

Stillness as an antidote to overwork

Be still and receptive to life. The more still you can become, the more receptive you are, for it is in the stillness that you can hear My still, small voice. It is in the stillness that you become aware of My wonders all around you. You become very sensitive to the things that matter in life, and in this state of sensitivity doors can be flung wide open and anything can happen. You must seek and find periods of peace and stillness, no matter how busy a person you are, for they need not be long periods. You will find those few moments in silent communion with Me will work wonders in everything you do. Instead of rushing into a project, or doing something because it has to be done, your whole attitude towards whatever you undertake will be one of benediction, praise and thanksgiving. Because your attitude and approach are right, only the very best can come from it and bring blessings to all those souls concerned with it.

from Opening Doors Within, channeled guidance from Eileen Caddy

For more about Eileen Caddy, see: http://www.findhorn.org/