It's love month...

While sitting in the hospital room waiting for Gary to come out of surgery I read this article about how love/relationships affect your health - for better or worse.  It said:

• Married people sleep better. On average they get the optimal time each night of 6.5 to 7.5 hours.
• The hormones released by your brain when you're in love also aid the body's healing process.  Anger or arguing can slow the healing process.
• When your partner is suffering, the best support is to create a diversion to take his/her mind off the pain, help recovery and keep sane yourself.  Pouring on TLC can prolong the pain, though being loving and considerate is good.
• After "I love you" the most important three little words in a relationship are "please," "thank you".  Hostile words have been linked to the likelihood of developing atherosclerosis, especially in women.

Romans 12

14 Bless them which persecute you: bless, and curse not. 15 Rejoice with them that do rejoice, and weep with them that weep. 16 Be of the same mind one toward another. Mind not high things, but condescend to men of low estate. Be not wise in your own conceits. 17 Recompense to no man evil for evil. Provide things honest in the sight of all men. 18 If it be possible, as much as lieth in you, live peaceably with all men. 19 Dearly beloved, avenge not yourselves, but rather give place unto wrath: for it is written, Vengeance is mine; I will repay, saith the Lord. 20 Therefore if thine enemy hunger, feed him; if he thirst, give him drink: for in so doing thou shalt heap coals of fire on his head. 21 Be not overcome of evil, but overcome evil with good.

Sharing someone else’s joy and celebrating their accomplishments will improve your relationships and bring more happiness into your life.  People are more likely to respond positively to you if they sense that you’re truly happy for them.  Healthy relationships involve sharing both ups and downs. - Everyday Truths

"May your happiness not leave you, may your good fortune not diminish, may your joy continue.' When people practice with these phrases, over time it helps them to recognize and be grateful for their own happiness, good fortune, and joy; it also contributes to them rejoicing at the happiness of others." - Martine Batchelor, a Buddhist meditation teacher

1 John 4

 7 Beloved, let us love one another: for love is of God; and every one that loveth is born of God, and knoweth God.

 8 He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love.

 9 In this was manifested the love of God toward us, because that God sent his only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through him.

 10 Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the  propitiation for our sins.

 11 Beloved, if God so loved us, we ought also to love one another.

 12 No man hath seen God at any time. If we love one another, God dwelleth in us, and his love is perfected in us.

 13 Hereby know we that we dwell in him, and he in us, because he hath given us of his Spirit.

 14 And we have seen and do testify that the Father sent the Son to be the Saviour of the world.

 15 Whosoever shall  confess that Jesus is the Son of God, God dwelleth in him, and he in God.

 16 And we have known and believed the love that God hath to us. God is love; and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and God in him.

 17 Herein is our love made perfect, that we may have boldness in the day of judgment: because as he is, so are we in this world.

 18 There is no fear in love; but perfect love casteth out fear: because fear hath torment. He that feareth is not made perfect in love.

 19 We love him, because he first loved us.

 20 If a man say, I love God, and hateth his brother, he is a liar: for he that loveth not his brother whom he hath seen, how can he love God whom he hath not seen?

 21 And this commandment have we from him, That he who loveth God love his brother also.

 

Thoughts for the day

From About.com's Bob and Sheri Stritof, marriage guides: "Don't put yourselves on hold, either personally or as a couple. Take care of yourself both emotionally and physically. Make time to take a walk, read a book, relax in a hot tub, laugh, listen to music you enjoy, get a good night's sleep."

I am definitely doing this - as soon as I get a chance:) Right now the priority is Jon's wedding, but then it's "me time" - really! I'm planning my future to head in a positive direction and decrease stress ASAP!

A sign I saw inside a mobile pizza by the slice/soup shop parked on Main Street at lunch time:  "If I had my life to do over again, I'd find you sooner so I could love you longer."  Amen - (and though none of us ever know exactly how much time we have, as I get older it's a given it will be shorter rather than longer).

Getting a second chance at happiness is a huge and rare blessing. This time I'm not letting anyone or anything get in the way.  That's a promise I'm making to myself.

I still believe...

More Lea and Love

A wonderful number that was cut from the Broadway, Miss Saigon.


One of my favorite Gershwin numbers, sung by my favorite Broadway singer:

This year's concert splurge

I treated myself to the Lea Salonga concert.  I was not disappointed!  She is amazing!  Her talent is incredible but her personality on stage was even better.  I loved her sincerity, humility, gratitude and love for people.  She also shared a longer version of Reflection from Mulan and she has recorded a cut song from Miss Saigon, Too Much for One Heart.  It fits so perfectly I'm sorry it was cut.





Lea is now 40 but she started her career as a child. She performed in theater in the Phillipines - King and I at age 7, Lead, Annie at age 9.  In this audition (below) for Miss Saigon she was 17-18. Age 18 when she moved to London (on Drury Lane) to perform opposite a male romantic lead 10 years her senior.  She tells how she had never had a boyfriend or been properly kissed when she played Kim and had to learn to do a passionate love scene, while singing.  She has a great story to go with this.  The first time I saw this, after falling in love with Miss Saigon, the video blew me away!



Final auditions:




Andrew Lloyd Webber medley:

God bless the broken road...

To Make You Feel My Love

My favorite version of this song by Mick McAuley.

Marry Me!

Nice music...

If I fell...

It's worth it

Julia Shumway, writing for Mormon Times writes about relationships - as a single.  Here's an excerpt from today's article:

"When searching for a spouse, you’re looking for someone with whom you can comfortably traverse the twists and turns of life — and eternal life. Sometimes the problems with a relationship are obvious from the beginning, but being caught up in the moment, you jump in and hang on, only to find that you can’t get very far without feeling crushed or off balance.

...To be honest, there’s a chance of an uncomfortable journey no matter how much research you do. And sometimes you do your research and weigh your options, and it turns out that a quirky, apparently precarious situation fits your needs perfectly.

I guess what I'm trying to say is you can’t really know how a relationship is going to turn out from the beginning, but after you’ve done your research, weighed your options with past experience, and have an idea that neither a motor vehicle collision nor heartbreak are imminent, all you can really do is try it out."

True joy!

Is it possible to be too happy?  I have witnessed miracles, blessings and love.  I feel like the windows of heaven have been opened and I can hardly contain my joy!  This doesn't mean I don't have challenges; I just realize how blessed I am. 

Dreams, Wild Horses, and Grace

Your Everything

Sometimes it has to be a country song...

On my own...

When I fall...

Probably my favorite line is "...love is ended before it's begun..."

Today's thought

If we must part forever,
Give me but one kind word to think upon,
And please myself with, while my heart's breaking.
 
~Thomas Otway

Rejection -> Physical Pain!

I've felt it; maybe you've felt it.  It's real...

The new research, published this week in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, shows that the part of the brain that turns on when someone is rejected romantically is the same one that registers physical pain. 

When '80s rock-n-rollers in the band Foreigner crooned, "In my life there's been heartache and pain, I don't know if I can face it again," in the hit song "I Wanna Know What Love Is," it appears they were documenting a physical phenomena.

The study, led by social psychologist Ethan Kross, an assistant professor at U. of Michigan, looked at functional magnetic resonance imaging scans of 40 people who had basically been "dumped" romantically within the past six months. While the scan was taking place, each one was touched on the arm with a probe hot enough to be somewhat painful, but not enough to do damage. It was, Kross said, the equivalent of holding a very hot drink without one of the little cardboard sleeves to insulate it. Then the study participant was scanned either looking at a photo of the former love interest and thinking about the breakup or thinking about good times with a friend. The scans were compared to scans taken in other circumstances in order to examine both physical and emotional pain.

"These results give new meaning to the idea that social rejection 'hurts'. On the surface, spilling a hot cup of coffee on yourself and thinking about how rejected you feel when you look at the picture of a person that you recently experienced an unwanted break-up with may seem to elicit very different types of pain," said Kross in the release announcing the research. "But this research shows that they may be even more similar than initially thought."

The regions of the brain that light up for both pain and heartbreak are the secondary somatosensory cortex and the dorsal posterior insula. And Kross noted that the two regions are "rarely activated in neuroimaging studies of emotion," Kross said. That would indicate it's pain, not emotion, that goes with the heartbreak of a breakup.

Breaking up is hard to do!