You are beautiful

Have you ever seen and ugly husband and wife couple together.  They found beauty in each other.  Have you ever had a crush and looked back years later to wonder what the heck were you thinking?  They stayed the same; it was your opinion that changed.  Did you ever see the movie “Shallow Hal,” where Hal’s fixation on external beauty is reversed by Tony Robbins, making him only able to see the inner beauty?  This really happens in a sense; inner beauty can impact how you are seen by others.  Internet beauty is the latest variety of fakery; it is all about camera angles and photo shopping. 

You are beautiful just the way you are.  You do not need everyone to think you are beautiful, because that never really happens to anyone, even to top A-list stars and models.  Someone will find them unattractive.

You are beautiful if you think you are.  How many people do you need to reinforce that fact?

You are beautiful.

You are smart

Did you make it through Kindergarten, learning your alphabet and counting to 10?  That makes you smarter than 99% of all mammals on this planet.  Are you able to carry on a conversation, hold down a job, and buy things with the cash in your wallet?  How much smarter do you need to be?  Do you have any one thing that you can do better than any other random person?  Congratulations, you are smarter than that person.  Maybe you think you are just a dumb jock, that just happens to have 50 different football plays memorized and you also have the ability to execute them.  That takes some brains.

You are smart enough.  We don’t all need to be geniuses.  Even geniuses are smart at some things and dumb at others.

Being smart is a combination of education and life experience.  You likely have a little of both.

You are smart.

You are lovable

Are you spending all your time looking for Mr. or Ms. Right, and are you starting to think you might not be lovable?  You just haven’t found the right person that will recognize all your lovable features.  Have you ever had a best friend?  They loved you.  Do you have a mother or a father?  They love you.  Not convinced?  Have you ever had a puppy?  Puppies love everyone, including you.

Being lovable is more a reflection of your love of self than it is an opinion of someone else.  Love yourself and others will love you.

You are lovable.

You are successful

Have you ever taken one single task from start to completion?  That is success.  Have you ever earned income by working for yourself or for others?  You have achieved financial success.  Success as a moniker for worth is a sliding scale.  As soon as you achieve success, you find someone else that is more successful.  Step away from the societal judgment and comparative thinking to judge your success on your own merits.  You are successful in your own right.

You define your own success.

You are successful.

You are valuable

Have you done anything or created anything that benefits others, or that benefit yourself.  You have created value.  Do you have a job?  By performing that job you are providing value.  The proof is that someone is willing to pay you for that value.  Have you ever purchased food from the grocery store?  Congratulations, you have provided value to the farmer that produces the food, the workers that harvest the food, the processing plant the preps the food, the truck driver that transports the food, the grocery store that sells the food, the stock person that stocks the store, the checkout person that scans the items and takes your money.  By purchasing food, the work you did to earn that money has provided value to a whole chain of people.

Do you breathe?  You are providing one of the most valuable services on this planet, by creating life giving carbon dioxide to all the surrounding plant life, which they in turn use to create oxygen.  You are part of a system that allows life to exist.

You have value. You are valuable

Do you have a “You are…” that you’d like to share.  Post in the comments to keep this going, and then share it with someone you love.

Photo Credit

I love seeing kids with incredible talent.  It’s fun to watch and imagine what it must be like to have an amazing talent at a young age.  Today I want to share a couple of videos from VazquezSounds.  VazquezSounds is a musical group consisting of three siblings, Gustavo, Abelardo and Angela Vazquez (ages 15, 13, and 10 respectively.)  They are very talented, with Gustavo and Abelardo playing multiple instruments and Angela singing like a pro.

The first video I’m going to share has been viewed over 14 million times on YouTube.  It’s a cover of Adele’s Rolling in the Deep.  [If you are reading in email or RSS, you may have to click through to view the video.]

It gives me chills to see young people perform at that level.  The next video was just released, and is just in time for Christmas.

Seeing talent and creativity in action often inspires me to create.  Let me know what you think of these talented kids.

Yesterday we saw an epic cello battle.  Today we are moving on to another stringed instrument in our YouTube creativity series, the violin.  Violin is one of my favorite instruments.  I just love the sound that little stringed instrument creates.

Today we are featuring the super talented Lindsey Stirling.  She is a classically trained violinist that adds a little kick to the classic sound.  I’m sure you’ll love the energy in her videos.  The upbeat sound and energetic dancing can really make you feel the good vibes emanating form Lindsey and her violin.

While there are no Star Wars videos in her repertoire, she does have a Legend of Zelda video that is equally as enjoyable. (you may have to click through to view the videos)

See, lots of fun, and great energy.  Here is another of her videos that I really like.

Like the Piano Guys, Lindsey is also living a fairly normal life and fitting in her violin performances between school and work.  She’s currently going to college at BYU, finishing up her degree in Therapeutic Recreation.  She offers this wonderful advice on her website, “The greatest Value comes from loving yourself for who you are.”

If you like Lindsey Stirling’s work, you can support her by purchasing a song or two from her website.  http://www.lindseystirlingviolin.com/category/music-downloads/

If you’d like to see more of Lindsey’s videos, check you her YouTube Channel: http://www.youtube.com/user/lindseystomp

Check back tomorrow when we’ll feature an amazing 10 year old singing sensation.

One of the best things about YouTube is the talent that tends to trickle to the top.  There is a constant stream of very talented individuals and groups that upload their creative works for the world to see.  Every once in a while I like to share some of my recent favorites and today is one of those days.  Actually, this week is one of those weeks.  Over the next three days, I’m going to share some of my recent favorites.

First up is a video that I found yesterday.  It features Steven Sharp Nelson, of the Piano Guys, playing an electric cello.  I didn’t even know there was such a thing.  Not only is the music rockin’, the performance features a very cool Star Wars theme.  Star Wars, electric cello, and visual effects… that’s a wining combination in my book.  Also, Vader makes a rather humorous cameo.

Pretty awesome, right?  Here’s another from the Piano Guys, not quite as epic, but it has a major feel good vibe.

The Piano Guys are really creating some fantastic music and videos.  The cool thing is that they are just regular people, like you and me.  Also, like most of us, they dream of something bigger.  They dream of being able to quite their day jobs to pursue their passion for creating music.

Right now they fill all their spare moments writing and creating fantastic music and videos.  Those spare moments come after work, and often after the family has gone to bed.

The Piano Guys Vision

Our vision is to create music and videos that inspire people. We want to take that music to the world and make a difference. We have something different to offer from any other YouTube channel. We like to put a new spin on classic stuff and a classic spin on new stuff. Whatever we do, we put our heart and souls into every note and frame.

I like to support these amazingly creative people when I get the chance, and I’m hoping you will too.  Right now they are looking for donations so that they can make the leap from doing this part time, to making it a full time gig.  I encourage everyone to help out if you can by donating here:  http://www.thepianoguys.com/music/

Be sure to check out their YouTube channel for more great videos.  http://www.youtube.com/user/ThePianoGuys

Check back tomorrow to see another great YouTube music sensation.

Have you ever wondered what your purpose in life was?  Yes, I said purpose.  Why were you born? There is a reason for everything that happens in life and sometimes we figure it out early and sometimes it takes a lifetime.

We choose a career to follow and sometimes find out years later if we had to do it over again, we may have taken a different route.

Is our purpose to procreate? thus ending our responsibility? Or do we need to do more? We are a society that is supposed to begin life, mold lives, protect life  and cherish life until the end.  BUT, how many of us go through the motions never giving thought to the consequences of our actions. Never considering anyone else but our own little space in this world. We marry and never really connect with our spouse, have children and expect them to grow without connection or interaction. We grow old and feel our job is done.

There is a purpose to every life and maybe it’s time to redefine what purpose means to us. Prioritize your life, and throw out the garbage.  Don’t just talk and hear your spouse, significant other, children, family, and friends, but listen to what they are saying.  Take better care of your health, both physically and emotionally – everyone will benefit and you will have less stress in your life.

Enjoy everyday,  and ever never underestimate your self-worth.  Love yourself, and be apathetic and empathetic to others.  Try to stay optimistic towards others and life situations.

I feel I have discovered my purpose in this life, and I will continue to spread my words through my books and writing.

Photo credit

Do you ever find yourself in conversation when someone starts complaining about something and then everyone jumps in?  I think this is a common occurrence for pretty much everyone.  I know it happens to me at some point almost daily.  Here is the big question for you: How do you respond when everyone starts complaining?  Do you jump in with gusto?  Do you listen politely?  Do you redirect the conversation to something more positive?  Do you take your leave and exit the conversation?

I’m sure the answer is often times situational.  Perhaps sometimes we need a good venting session.  Maybe sometimes we aren’t in the mood and we exit the conversation to talk to someone else or go find something else to do.  Other times we may listen politely while we wait for the tide of the conversation to drift in a different direction.

How does complaining affect you?

How do you feel after a complaint filled discussion?  Do you feel better?  Sometimes you might, since you’ll find that you aren’t the only one with problems.  We should already know this, but it is nice to have a reminder from time to time.  More often though, you likely feel a little irritable, a bit down, and possibly completely yucky.

The negativity in complaining tends to flow out and affect you and others around you.  If you start that negative conversation, you are bringing everyone else down.  If you perpetuate that conversation, you are bringing everyone else down.  If you listen politely, you might be brining yourself down.

According to the law of attraction, since the things you are complaining about remain in your thoughts, you will attract more of those things filling your complaints.  If you are complaining about the neighbors loud music, you may find it happing more often.  If you complain about not having enough money, you might find yourself with less.  If you complain about the world dealing you a bad hand, you could find yourself in more bad situations.

According to A Complaint Free World the average person complains about 15-30 times each day.  That is a lot of negativity being brought into your daily life.  They also mention that studies have shown that complaining about one’s health actually tends to make a person’s health worse, which lends some credence to the law of attraction effect.

How can we complain less?

The best thing you can do is to simply start paying attention to your conversations.  Be present while you are speaking and take responsibility for your words.  Some choose to use a bracelet or trinket, as popularized by A Complaint Free World, to remain cognizant of their complaints.   The key is to simply be aware of your complaining and make an effort to change.

That means making an effort to avoid starting complaint filled conversations.  It also means not participating in those conversations.  If you find yourself in a conversation like that, you should either exit the conversation or redirect it to something positive.  I think the redirection is best.

Have you complained today?  Do you think you complain too much?  What steps do you recommend to cut back on complaining?  Please share your thoughts in the comment section below.

I want to wish my U.S. readers a Happy Thanksgiving today.  No matter how you happen to celebrate the day, I hope you have a wonderful holiday.

If you happen to be heading out for any of the Black Friday sales after Thanksgiving, please be safe and try to remain calm and peaceful amongst the madness.

When my husband decided it was time to upgrade in the world of technology, he started by visiting the AT&T phone store, where he was convinced by a shrewd sales professional that he needed the iPhone3.

When he arrived home he explained detail by detail of all what it could do.

I thought about the 30-year business he ran with 40 employees, all without a cell phone that plays music, takes videos, pictures, e-mails, surfs the web and communicates with Facebook and Twitter. I figured he could handle something as simple as Twitter with only 140 characters of space. Besides all he had to do was touch an “app” and it automatically directed him to the proper place for whatever he wanted. 

Simple and uncomplicated right?

It  was… until one of our grand-kids hooked him up for Tweeter, Tweetree, Twhirl, Twitterfon, Tweetie, Twittererific Tweetdeck, Twitpix and something that sends every message to his cell phone and every other program within the texting world.

He was constantly hitting the wrong apps, e-mails were unreadable, and he had to keep switching glasses to read the words.  His phone was beeping every three minutes with the details of everything except the bowel movements of the entire next generation.  “I am not ready to live like this,” he said.

He now uses a flip phone that he can use to make and receive calls with VM as his “extra perk.”  Personally, I keep my cell phone in the drawer in my kitchen.

My family and I went to Legoland last week, and since it’s a brand new theme park, I wanted to share the experience.  Overall, it was a good experience. Our party consisted of my wife and I, our five year old daughter, our four year old nephew, our eleven year old niece, and the kids’ grandmother. All the kids had a fantastic time, and we rode almost everything we cared to ride.

Legoland is specifically geared towards kids under 12. This makes it quite unique in the realm of theme parks. That meant that my daughter, at 43 inches tall was able to ride almost everything in the park. The only ride she couldn’t go on was the Flight School which had a 44 inch height requirement. If you’ve ever been to a theme park with a child between 36 and 48 inches tall, you can relate to the frustration of not being able to go on the “cool” rides. The low height requirements for most of the rides makes Legoland very appealing to kids in that height range, and to their parents.

My daughter loves roller coasters. At Disney, the only real roller coaster she is tall enough for is Thunder Mountain. At Legoland, she was tall enough to ride every rollercoaster except for Flight School.

Roller Coasters of Legoland

The Dragon (40” minimum height, Under 48” must be accompanied by someone over 48”)

This was a fun roller coaster. It started with a short ride through an indoor area in a mediaeval theme. Full size Lego people in apparent merriment and then a mist breathing dragon before exiting to the outdoor roller coaster section. The roller coaster had one big dip a couple of tight turns and a corkscrew. It was a short but fun ride, and the kids asked to go again after riding it. This was our first ride of the day, and sine the lines were still short we jumped back in line for another go. As an adult roller coaster it would be called pretty tame, but as a kids roller coaster it was pretty extreme. You could definitely feel the G-forces pulling you down into the seat as you rounded the banked corners.

Coastersaurus (36” minimum height, Under 48” must be accompanied by someone over 48”)

Coastersaurus was built in the days of the Cypress Gardens Adventure park, between the time the park was simply known as “Cypress Gardens” and the time it became “Legoland.” It’s a pretty awesome wooden junior roller coaster. I’m assuming they did quite a bit of renovation to it, as much of the wood looked pretty new, and it was a really smooth ride for a wooden coaster. You get “air time” at four points during the ride, making it pretty exciting for the younger kids. Of course I enjoyed it as well.

The seats in this roller coaster are definitely kid sized. Kids under 48 inches use a seatbelt in addition to the lap bar to hold them in place. The cars have two seatbelts each, so the kids get their own seatbelt to hold them in; giving us parents a little piece of mind that our precious little ones won’t go flying out. Skinny adults can fit two to a car, but it’s a tight fit. If you are plus sized, it will be one adult per car.

Test Track (42” minimum height, Under 48” must be accompanied by someone over 48”)

Test Track consists of four person cars that zip along a roller coaster track. It starts with a 52 foot hill dropping down a 49 foot hill and reaching a speed of 35 mph. It then heads up another hill to a section of hair pin turns. These hair pin turns look tame from the ground, but my wife was screaming as we experienced them first hand, later saying she thought we were going to fly right off the track. The kids had smiles plastered to their faces for the entire ride. This was our last ride of the day, and was a great ending to our day of fun at the park.

Flight School (44” minimum height, Under 52” must be accompanied by someone over 52”)

This was the only coaster we didn’t get a chance to ride. My daughter was a hair too short at 43 inches tall. I would have gone with my niece, but we were short on time, so we opted for some other rides instead. The Legoland description of this roller coaster is: “a suspended steel coaster that lets kids experience the thrill of flight.” Sounds like it would have been fun, we’ll have to go back after my daughter grows another inch.

Rides, Playgrounds, and Fun

My little five year old is a thrill seeker, so the roller coasters were the highlight of our day, but there was plenty of fun to be had in the rest of the park as well. One cool feature of this park that we really liked was the number of playgrounds scattered throughout. We found four different play areas/playgrounds for the kids to run around in, burn off steam, and have some adventures. The biggest was in Lego Kingdom and featured a huge fort like structure with rope net bridges and a big slide.

One of the most popular areas of Legoland is Lego City. This area featured two driving schools, a boating school, the flight school roller coaster, and the rescue academy. The driving schools were unique in that the cars they drove were free from tracks or guides.

The Junior Driving School featured kid sized lego cars that could be driven around an oval track. The cars were kind of like really slow Power Wheels cars. My daughter has a power wheels Jeep and didn’t seem real impress with the cars, but they should prove fun with the under 5 crowd or those that don’t have any experience with Power Wheels type vehicles. Actually, their favorite part of the Junior driving school was after the drive was over, when they were issued their own driver’s licenses. The license is just a business sized card with a place to write their name and paste picture to, but the kids REALLY liked the idea of having a driver’s license.

The Driving School is for kids a little bit older, from 6 through 13. This area features a city block with more Power Wheels type cars. Like the junior course, these cars are not tethered to any track or rails. They are free to drive through a small simulated city area, complete with stop signs, traffic lights, and two way streets. Kids get to drive around and follow the rules of the road just like mom and dad. Our eleven year old niece seemed to enjoy herself, although she did say her car was too slow. Car speed really didn’t matter on this course, but I think she was used to other higher speed rides.

Also at the driving school, they take your picture before you go out for your drive, and for $15 you can purchase a more realistic driver’s license with a lanyard to display it. Seems a little pricey, but the kids throughout the park were wearing them proudly and they do make a good souvenir to show their friends back home.

While our niece was waiting in line for the driving academy, my wife, daughter, nephew and I headed for the Rescue Academy. This activity involved driving a fire truck, jumping out to put out a fire, and then driving the truck back. When I say drive, what I actually mean is pump. The fire truck moves by pumping up and down on two big levers. The water used to put out the fire is also powered by pumping two levers up and down. It was a fun activity, and left me a little winded and ready for lunch.

We ate lunch at the pizza buffet. Prices were about what you’d expect at a buffet place, at $10.99 for an adult, and I think $6.99 for kids. We didn’t really go for the buffet specifically, but this was the only pizza place in the park, and we didn’t feel like burgers or sandwiches. The pizza was average at best. The salad bar was decent, but selection was limited.

After lunch we hit the big playground in the Lego Kingdom, and then rode the Royal Joust. Actually, the kids rode it, this is one of the rides that adults are just too big to participate in. Each child rides a mechanical horse around a track that resembles a roller coaster track, but it doesn’t have any ups and downs, it’s just flat and curvy. The horses rock gently as they move around the course. The younger kids really enjoyed this one.

Next we rode the Lost Kingdom Adventure, which is a moving shooting gallery where four people ride in a car and shoot a laser beams at things along the walls. As you hit things on the wall, they move, wiggle, or spin. It’s similar to the Buzz Lightyear ride at Disney’s Magic Kingdom, except the car doesn’t spin but rather maintains a forward facing course.

Toward the end of the day we headed for the 4-D theater to watch a short Lego themed movie. The 3-D was pretty good, giving good depth and having a few parts that extended out into the audience. The extra D was for some bubbles and mist that fell from the ceiling. That part was kind of lame. Extra D aside, the movie was entertaining, and the kids seemed to like it.

Room for Improvement

Most of the day was filled with good experiences, but there were a few things that could have been better. First, the price. Tickets for an adult are $75. That is within the realm of average for theme park prices. The problem is their hours of operation. The park is open from 10am to 5pm, just seven hours. $75 for seven hours of fun is a little pricy on the dollars per hour scale. On the day we went the park was open an extra hour, which allowed us to hit one more roller coaster, so that was nice, but even so, those hours are very short for a Florida based them park. The short hours also make it hard to fit everything in.

The other are that there is much room for improvement is the long, slow lines. We are used to the efficiency of the Disney parks, and Legoland does not come close to matching that level of efficiency. The most glaring example was the Royal Joust. Riders entered the loading area three at a time. Those three kids got on their horses. Then the ride attendant had to buckle each child, as they were oddly positioned making it nearly impossible for this kids to buckle themselves. Then the attendant launched each horse by pushing a button. One horse went, then the attendant waited, launched the next horse, waited, and launched the final horse. After the final horse went, three more horses slid up and the process was repeated. There was a complete lack of any queuing system allowing children to load, buckle, and launch quickly. The result was over an hour wait that could have been much faster with a better loading/queuing design.

Roller coasters were similarly slow to process. The Dragon line probably moved the fastest with two coasters on the track at a time, but the Coastersaurus only had one coaster on the track at a time and was slow to load and unload. The test track ran much like the Royal Joust in that cars could not be queue or loaded very quickly. The wait for that ride was well over an hour. While in line at Test Track, I overheard one of the attendants state that 3300 people had ridden that day. They sounded impressed, but that seemed like a low number to me compared to what other theme parks in the area are likely capable of.

I’m hoping that as the park matures they will find ways to make the loading and unloading of some of these rides more efficient.

Price, hours, and long lines were my only real complaints, but that’s probably the main complaints for any theme park. Also of note is the fact that it’s about an hour’s drive past the Disney parks, so expect a long drive to get there.

On the whole it was a very fun an entertaining way to spend the day, and my daughter has already asked to go again sometime.

Have you been to Legoland?  I’d love to hear what you thought of it in the comments section.

Recently I sent love to a small herd of goats.  Sending love to goats sounds a little weird, right?  Maybe… but I wanted to experiment with sending out a vibe of unconditional love and acceptance.  I have been thinking about how often humans hold onto feelings of greed, anger, hatred, and jealousy.  It’s the kind of thing you see every day in the people around you, at work, on the highways, and in the news.  These feelings that people hold onto are sometimes seen in obvious manners when they make rude comments or say nasty things about someone.  More often, though, these feelings are seen in not so obvious ways, or may not even be seen at all, but rather just sensed.

It is a little depressing to look around and see how we treat each other on a daily basis.  I sometimes feel like life must be a constant state of competition, with a continual process of one-upmanship.  I think it’s something most of us struggle with, wanting better for ourselves, seeing others that “seem” to have better, and then feeling jealousy develop.  One trick to combat that is to understand that things are not always as they seem, but that’s a topic for another day.

Today we are talking about love.  As I thought about all the negativity that seems impossible to escape, I considered this: Is there anyone that lives in a state of love?  Love is the exact opposite of all these negative emotions and actions.  Love is pure positive energy, thus it should be able to counteract negative energy.

Living in a State of Love

I came up with a short list of people that live in a state of love.  Jesus, the Dalai Lama, Buddha, Mother Theresa.  It’s a pretty short list, and I don’t know for a fact that these people maintain a constant state of love, but I’d bet they live it more than not.  Of these, Jesus is the easiest for me to relate to.  I grew up hearing many stories of Jesus doing good things, and it’s easy for me to imagine him loving everyone he meets, and even loving those who hated him.

It’s not necessary to worship Jesus or to believe that he was the son of God for this exercise.  What is important is to see what can be gained from using him as a role model.  You can use any of the other people I listed or think of your own role model for living a love centered live.

One of the amazing things about the people I listed is that people feel different when they are in their presence.  They have an aura of love and peace.  Every time I have read an article or book about someone meeting the Dalai Lama or Mother Theresa, they always mention how peaceful they felt.  I always get the feeling the love just flows out of them and fills the room, washing over everyone in the area.

This is the feeling I wanted to experiment with – Filling myself with love and letting it wash over everyone around me.  This idea floated in and out of my mind for a few days.  The weekend came and we decided to spend the day at Disney’s Animal Kingdom.  The afternoon was beautiful and it had been a peaceful and fun filled day.  Late in the afternoon we made our way to the petting zoo.

Two Goats React to Love

The petting zoo has a wide open space where goats and sheep can mingle with people.  It also has some other animals in adjacent pens that are fenced off.  In the center of the goat and sheep petting area is a small roped off area that provides a sanctuary for the animals, where the goats and sheep can take a break from all the kids chasing them with brushes.  It also has a structure for the goats to climb on.

Most of the animals spend their time hanging out in the sanctuary, and every once in a while a goat or sheep will wander around the yard or get near to the rope where the kids can reach them and pet them.  They are mostly ambivalent towards the humans that enter their little domain.  They tolerate us, but they don’t seem to care for much attention the way a dog or cat might.

I hadn’t planned to do anything silly like sending love to goats, but the thought just popped into my head as I stood watching the goats play in their sanctuary.

I started thinking of love, and how love feels.  I thought of how I feel when first I see my daughter after being at work all day.  I thought of my wife and the love I feel when staring into her eyes.  I thought of big snuggle piles with my wife and my daughter.  I really tried to get the feeling of love rather than just the thought of it.  Then I imagined that feeling flowing out like an overflowing fountain.  I imagined it running out in all directions around me.  I walked around for a few minutes holding onto that feeling.

After three or four minutes of that I stopped focusing on the feeling of love.  The feeling was still there, it just didn’t require my attention.  This exercise actually made me feel very peaceful.  I started watching some of the goats butt heads as they tried to become king of the sanctuary.  I watched my daughter as she watched the goats and sheep mingle.

All of a sudden I felt something rub my leg.  Quite to my surprise a goat started rubbing the top of his head up and down my pant leg.  He was doing this quite vigorously as if he had an itch right on top of his head and the best way to sooth it was by rubbing his head on my jeans.  At nearly that same instant another goat walked up behind me and started nibbling on my shirttail.  A small crowd gathered rather quickly to view the spectacle, and I’m sure it was rather amusing to watch.

We’ve visited this petting zoo many times in the past and I’ve never seen the goats behave that way.  I chalked that up as a success for love, but I wanted to repeat the experiment to make sure it wasn’t a fluke.

A Second Test of a Love Meditation

It was a couple months later before we found ourselves at Animal Kingdom again.  We played in the park for a while before making it back to the petting zoo.  Once there I tried to resonate the same feeling of love as I had before.  One goat in particular seemed to feel it.  He stood in the sanctuary, but right by the edge of the roped off area, so he could still be reached.  He stood there for a really long time and let me pet him, much longer than most goats in the petting zoo typically stand still.  I knelt down and looked him in the eyes as I pet him, all while sending out feelings of unconditional love.  He even posed for some pictures when I asked him to.

At some point while kneeling and petting my new friend, another goat walked up behind me and started rubbing against my back.  My wife laughed and said I should maybe turn it down a notch.  Test number two of unconditional love was a success.

Cats Feel the Love Too

I got another confirmation on the affect of the love meditation a few nights later.  Late at night, just before we headed off to bed, my wife and I sat together.  We were both feeling content and having some good conversation.  The topic of my love meditation experiments came up and I described to her the process I used.  She gave it a try, and started thinking about love.  About all the people and pets she loved.  About the situations in which she felt love.

As she was doing this, our two cats came walking into the room.  Typically at this time of night, they are full swing into chasing each other, rolling around, and playing.  Tonight was much different.  They walked out and set nearby on the floor.  Then one cat started licking and grooming the other.  He did this for a full ten minutes at least.  Usually if there is some licking, it lasts about 30 seconds and ends in a chase across the house.  Tonight was much different.   They sat there grooming each other for a long time and looked quite content.

Applying Love in Life

The big question is how we can apply this with a wider perspective to include people instead of goats and cats, and how can we do this on a daily basis?  Can we follow the example set by Jesus, Buddha, The Dalai Lama, and Mother Theresa?  Can we feel love for everyone regardless of their thoughts, feelings, beliefs, and actions?  I don’t even know if we are even capable of this, but I do know that we can all start by feeling and sharing love in small chunks.

Practice by thinking of examples of love, and holding the feeling you get with those thoughts.  Then imagine that feeling flowing out and touching everything and everyone around you.

If you have a petting zoo nearby and want to replicate my experiments, I’d love to hear your results.  If not, then practice anywhere and see what changes you notice in those around you.  Let me know what you find.