in this life than to have lost a loved one, for it is in this remembrance that the stanzas of grief entwine with unparalleled experience of having loved. What a miracle love is, what an amazing, unexplainable miracle. When love is offered us in a moment or a life time we must accept. Refusal of love’s gift comes only from the fear of pain or loss. We must accept it all, every drop of the grief and sorrow and every rush of the love and wonder otherwise our life is empty, completely void of living – and this is the greatest loss of all.

The most fragile of weather is the single snow flake.  And yet the unstoppable power of delicate, gentle snow flakes bound together is unstoppable. So we must ask what is nature trying to tell us in the winter when the snow falls, drifts, dumps into life?  And isn’t it curious that the higher the land reaches the more snow it receives? Are the metaphysics really that hard to see or is it simple another case of the ego speaking in agreement yet refusing to adjust inner Truth?    
Gentleness is the one thing you can count on from a person of strength.  It is weakness that causes cruelty. No person of strength needs cruelty.  When inner strength is tapped a gentleness is discovered – a calm and knowing that is so powerful, so amazing that it is as unstoppable as the avalanche.  This Christmas season let us listen to the snowflake as it whispers the power of gentleness.  Let us become the power of snow – not through ego, need to, have to, or should – but through gentleness. 
Sunshine motivates, rain cleanses, wind supports…  and snow?  Well snow reminds the soul that it is time to return to the greatest of strengths – our gentleness.        

The latest breaking news of my thoughts is the complete and amazing realization that I do not have a soul.  I do not have a soul and neither do you, him, her, they or anyone.  Humans do not have souls.  At such a claim the neurons that create my thoughts, react to my surroundings, hear words enter my consideration all begin to posture to speak up (and out) about the ludicrously of such a comment: “What do you mean you do not have a soul?”    “Are you saying you are soulless?”  If you do not have a soul what do you call the  non-physical energy of your beingness?”  It is one of those ‘ peeshaw’ moments (peeshaw is a word my grandfather often used to quickly express his opinion that what ever had just been uttered was complete nonsense).  
 Yet, once my ego-habits step back from defensiveness and over-rehearsed abilities to defend what I already know, once I shed my immediate emotional response I can see a glimmer of truth.  It’s true, I do not have a soul.  Thinking I have a soul means I feel I am something other than a soul.  I DO NOT have a soul - I am a soul.  My soul happens to have a body.  And what an honor this body is to my soul.  There is  no greater reflection of a person’s love, gratitude and giving in this world than the way we treat our body.  As a soul the honor of the body is beyond understanding.  It is a miracle offered the soul so that it might express itself in the physical world.  The body is something to be treasured, appreciated, adored, honored, and thanked every nanosecond that it houses our souls.  Yet what do we do with it?  We put it down.  Claim it is not tall enough, thin enough, it aches to much and it sleeps too little.  Our body has become a trash dump for what ever emotion, action, food or thought we want to pollute it with.  On top of all that we allow advertisements, childhood memories, supposed friends and opinions of our society tell us what is good, bad, incomplete, and lacking in our body. 
 

Doctor, Lawyer, Engineer, Teacher, Expert, Millionaire, President, Counselor, Author – on and on we could go with titles that claim instant status in the world.   By the title we give immediate ranking, prestige, benefit and often fear and coveting.  So much life is lived in our world striving for title and once reached a certain righteousness is claimed, “ I have earned the respect I get”.  Really?  A title stating your profession, skills, bank account or public office means you have earned my respect? Hers? His? Theirs? And everyone else’s?  I just don’t think so!   That doesn’t work for me – not sure it works for any on us.  
Unless….. Well…… Unless the title your given is “Old FRIEND”.  This is a title that tells me something special about you, a title that gains not only instant status and respect but honor and grace.  Old friends our the greatest mirror of who we really are.  Money, status, things and stuff do not show who a person is beneath the skin – they show who we are trying to be, feel we need to be to the world.  It is the Old Friend that mirrors the soul, the power, the love and wonder of who we are.  Old Friends bless us all with the joy and utter right of being stupid, wrong, flawed, sad, angry and even selfish – they don’t fall for any of it, but allow it to be expressed.  Old friends know us, yet love us anyway – they are the family of our heart, of our making.  They are the measure of what we have truly created, established, accomplished in this world. They sing inside our soul every day - no matter the miles between or the days without words shared.
With all my education, years of teaching, coaching, speaking and striving to become a person of worth in my own eyes.  It was in my learning to become a friend that brought me the realization, the peace and the wonder of loving me and being gloriously happy and successful in life.  No greater treasure will I ever uncover in this life than the old friends I have and will create along the way.  I can now say that not only do I have old friends – I am one.  That the life title of which I carry the deepest pride is that of “Old  Friend” and that  keeps me young beneath my years.  
Pick up the phone today, or knock on that door – reconnect with old friends and remember the wonder of who you are by this never ending love.  If you are estranged in any way – one phone call from an old friend to another will heal all.  Become the old friend you most desire, whether 19 or 79 the title is yours to live, enjoy, obtain and regain at your hearts desire.  

The years we live upon this earth are a blessing that is nothing less of miraculous.  The very beingness of living is a mystery offered to all and yet denied by far too many.   The counting of days, of wrongs, of facts and worries -  it is in these measurements that we become old.  When we land upon this miracle called Earth we are all very old souls.  As we live and experience human existence our souls become younger and younger.  We forget more and more who we are as a spark of divinity unique to this world.  Remaining in the “oldness” of the soul refers to the wisdom of Oneness and life itself.  Being an old soul is to say we have maintained wisdom of conscious existence with the One.  What a blessing we are born little children, with the imagination and lack of language skills – so that we have more human time living with our divine parent – Oneness.  This is why every great mystic refers to the wisdom of the child as so profound, so honorable and so needed – because their souls are much older – not yet grown young.   
In the awe inspiring genius of the human body we find our greatest measurement of how young our soul is becoming.  The body is indeed born young and yet grows old.  This mirroring of the soul and the body is often over looked in our quest to conquer the physical world.  For the sake of reputations we seek,  things and stuff we covet and the control we crave, we give up the wonder of youth in the body and wisdom ( age) in the soul.  With this in mind the question comes up:  Can we reverse the aging process?  I believe we can. 
And I do not think it hard.  Here is a formula for keeping the body young and the soul old: 
Water – drink it like water.  
Sleep –  put it at the top of your to do list every day.  
Laughter – partake at least 5 times a day, and laugh most often at yourself.  (BTW there is an illusion that we stop laughing as we get older – not so… we get older because we stop laughing.  The average child laughs over 50 times a day.  The average adult in America laughs 2 times a day.)    
Friends and Loved ones–  Spend more time and thought on them than you do on your work.
By the way you might want to take a look at Jackie Silver on line - aging backwards is her thing.  I have met her and she is a hoot, certainly looks great.