Being in love is so good for you. Often when people are newly in love, things that have been bothering them for a long time get better. Something wonderful is calling the majority of their attention, so they're holding themselves in a better vibrational place, so the stuff they've been wanting all along can now zoom in.

---Abraham

In My Life
Lennon-McCartney
There are places I'll remember
All my life, though some have changed
Some forever, not for better
Some have gone and some remain
All these places had their moments
With lovers and friends, I still can recall
Some are dead and some are living
In my life, I've loved them all 

But of all these friends and lovers
There is no one compares with you
And these memories lose their meaning
When I think of love as something new
Though I know I'll never lose affection
For people and things that went before
I know I'll often stop and think about them
In my life, I'll love you more 

image: http://www.etsy.com/people/achelmer

Celebrate
Celebrate anything you want. Celebrate the start of something, the end of something. If you're still going after five years or ten years or twenty-five years, celebrate. String paper chains and hand-deliver invitations and bake a cake and break out the good stuff. Celebrate! Dance and sing, give speeches, take pictures, finger paint, play word games, and cut out cookies with sprinkles. Unfurl flags and spread torn quilts on the lawn and squeeze your own lemonade and bake a pie. Celebrate  all the old holidays, and dream up a whole new batch of your own. Celebrate early, celebrate late, and celebrate often. Celebrate!

Thank
Always be grateful. Give thanks for all that you have, no matter how little or how much that may be. Thank your grandmother for wonderful cheekbones, than your fourth-grade teacher for getting you that special book on how bridges are built. When you get through another day, say Thank you to God or Goddess or whoever you believe is in charge. Be thankful for the music that leaves make when tickled by a warm breeze; be thankful for the rain. When your promotion comes through, say Thank you. When a friend lets you sleep on her sofa because you can't be anywhere else, say Thank you. Be thankful that you have two arms and legs that work. If you don't, be thankful you still have a heart with which to give thanks.

image: http://bit.ly/1fHHfel

Mend
When things are frayed and torn, mend them. Mend yourself when you've come apart at the seams. Put your pieces back together with a steady, patient stitch. Sit down in a comfy chair with that basket of clothes and mend them. Bring out your threads and needles and buttons. Listen to Lena Horne while you mend. Put the pieces back together. Mend a relationship that stretched until it couldn't stretch anymore. Mend your broken heart. Piece together all the beautiful squares and circles and diamonds that you are. Find how your mothering self and your child self, your business self and your artistic self can all fit together in a colorful, integrated whole. Like a patchwork quilt. Mend that ancient rift in your family. Make amends. Mend the hole where you let parts of yourself be sucked away time and time again. Amend your agreements with people as you change and they change. Before you reach and end, take time to mend.

Weave
Weave your life into a rich tapestry pf color and form. Weave a golden cloth and hang it on your front door. Weave a fine tale to share when the moon is full. With the steady, back-and-forth rhythm of the loom to guide you, weave your dreams into reality. Over, under, over, under. Pull together this loose end and that loose end. Tuck in the end that's threatening to fray. Weave your home life, into your work life into your inner life, blending them into a strong and lovely whole. Vary the strands. Weave together all that is strong and coarse, tender and delicate, straight and crinkled. Weave the expected and unexpected, the perfect and the imperfect, into a while cloth that is yours alone.

Surprise
Surprise yourself today. Say something you never dreamed of saying to someone you never dreamed you could speak to. Do something unpredictable. Have tea instead of coffee; eat dinner sitting on the floor; wear lipstick or leave the lipstick off. Let others be surprised. Smile when they ask What's going on? Go swimming at lunchtime, take a yoga class after work, make plans to take a bus to Kentucky. Call someone you know will be shocked and delighted to hear your voice. Wear red. Wear black. Don't wear anything. Give the doorman a rose. Give the bus driver some Gummi bears. Put your car up for sale. Better yet, give it away. Surprise!

Rest
Take five. Take a catnap. Take a break. Rest. Turn off the computer, turn of the lights, turn off the phone, and rest. Bring it all to a slow and quiet halt. For a little while, rest. Ask someone else to cover for you while you rest. Listen to soothing music while you rest. The children can occupy themselves while you rest. While you wait for the water to boil, rest your feet. While you wait for your date to show up, rest your eyes. No one is watching the clock, so just rest. When you're weary to the core, it's your soul that needs rest. When your energy flags, give your body some rest. The permission is there; now just take it and rest. The rest of the world will go on a rest while you rest.

Pamper
Pamper yourself and enjoy every minute. Spend an hour putting you favorite lotion on every bit of skim you can reach. Attend to your every whim. Have a facial, a tarot card reading, a massage, a soak. Believe you deserve it, and enjoy every minute. Make yourself fresh-squeezed juice and serve it to yourself in the most elegant glass you own. Stretch and lie and loll in the sun like a cat. Take all weekend to read the paper. Take a long nap. Take an even longer walk. Eat whatever you want, whenever you want. Cook something elegant and involved just for you, or skip the whole eating thing altogether. Go see a movie in the middle of the day (and don't you dare feel a bit of guilt!). Read something trashy. Learn how to treat yourself to indulgences large and small, and if you can't - find somebody who can.

Move
You address, your body, your bookshelf. Shake out anything in your life that's rusty, stiff, or stuck and get it into motion. Take a walk, take a hike, take a step away from stagnating jobs, relationships, and life patterns. Change perspective. Move closer to people who meet you with authenticity and who nourish your wildest dreams. Move away from everybody else. You don't have to move mountains; shifting a single pebble can work wonders. Make your move - any move - now. If you wait until you have more money, more security, more grace, more anything, you'll never move anywhere at all.

Sing
Open your mouth and let your song escape! Sing on-key, off-key, no-key-at-all. Sing when you're happy, when you're sad, when you're vacuuming, and when you're walking. Sing anything you want. Sing the song that wells up in your heart. Sing the directions to your doctors office. Sing your grocery list or the Old Testament or the names of all the women and men you know. Sing your anger - and make it as loud as you are angry! Sing a song of yesterday or of tomorrow. Sing your way into a different mood, or deeper into the one you're already in. Sing your life into existence. Every day, somehow, someway, however you can. Sing!

Free
Free yourself! Free yourself from habits that suppress you, people the depress you, rules that repress you. Get rid of clothing that pinches, binds, or leaves red designs on your skin - and free yourself to move in comfort. Free up some time every week - or every day - to express your creativity. Free your mind of negative thoughts and belittling beliefs. Sell your house and free yourself from the never-ending world of house maintenance. Free yourself from draining relationships with people who want only to take and never to give. Cut up your credit cards and free yourself from the vicious cycle of debt and interest that never goes away. Free the poet that's locked inside you. Free the athlete who never got to run, the ballerina who never got to dance, the diva who never had the freedom to sing. Free yourself to be the woman you were always meant to be. And be free.

Act
When it's time, get moving.
After you've reflected and meditated, waited, prayed, and reaffirmed, act. Act on your instincts. Act without delay. Send the letter. Make the call. Pack the box. Issue the invitation. Get on the plane. Act already! ct with your own best interests at heart. Act in accordance with your most closely held values. Act mindfully. Act on behalf of the very young or the very old or the very needy. Now and then, act half your age. Act out in your own living room, act up in public. Strut around and act as though you own the joint. Act like the woman you've always wanted to be - and don't act surprised when suddenly you are!

Pause
                                                           Wait a moment.
                                          Take a breath.
                                                            Pause.
Before you react, before you speak. Pause. Before it all comes spilling out, take a breath. Pause. Before you say something you're bound to regret later, pause. When someone says I love you, pause before saying I love you, too. After you've raced to your two o'clock appointment and raced to find a parking space and raced two blocks in the rain, before you open the door, pause. Breath out, breath in, breath out. Before the discussion escalates into an argument, pause. Before you raise a hand to strike a child, pause long and hard. Punctuate your day with pauses. Collect your thoughts. Pause. Feel the breeze on your face. Say a prayer. Pause. Take a breath. Pause.

image: http://www.manicmoonandmore.com/linda-malcom.html

Howl
In the dark of the night, howl at the moon. Howl in sync with the coyotes who line the ridge at dawn. Live your life like a wolf, and howl long and low, high and shrill, plaintive and wailing and ancient. Howl with laughter, roaring. Howl your grief. Howl your loneliness. Howl when you need help now. Sound a warning call that echoes through the canyons. Howl when the others are singing, howl when the others are weeping. Shriek and scream and growl and cry out when there are no words that touch deeply enough or sound wild enough. Howl a mournful, soulful, beautiful howl, You know how. Howl.

image: http://bit.ly/1aJdnWT

Read
Start reading when you're a young girl, and never stop. Read stories and poems and essays and limericks and greeting cards and pamphlets. Read things by rich and famous writers; read things by everyone else, too. Read your favorite words out loud to your favorite woman. Lie on a blanket at the shore just after the sun has dipped down, and read out loud to each other. Read signs and labels if they're useful. Read speeches and manifestos if they stir your passion. (If not, recycle them immediately.) Read along with the congregation. Read the fine print. Don't read it just because the New York Times told you to. (Consider reading it because Oprah told you to.) Read everything you've written yourself and save it. After fifteen years, go back and read it again. If anyone tries to stop you from reading, read them the riot act.

Dance
Get up and dance. Let the heartbeat of the Earth move up from the soles of your feet and set your body into motion. There's nothing to learn but freedom. Step, shuffle, sway, bend. Dance on the floor, dance in your wheelchair. Dance with yourself, dance with other women. Hold hands when you dance. Bump your behinds, bump your bellies. Let your eyes do the dancing. Dance everywhere, dance anywhere. Go to church and dance in the pews. Dance wherever you need to. Dance your anger, dance your joy, dance your indecision. Watch a belly dancer with a snake in sensual, fluid movements. Feel the energy crackle when a woman dances flamenco. Watch elders dance the old dances. Go to a play or a movie where everyone dances in perfect step with perfect legs and perfect precision. Go home, forget everything you saw, and dance your own dance.

Sparkle
Shine and glitter and fill up a room with your glow. Paint your toenails and your fingernails with sparkles that catch the light of the moon. Wear silver earrings that sparkle, crystal and bead necklaces that sparkle and catch the light of the sun. (Go ahead and get your teeth bleached, if you want!) Wear a shirt covered with tiny mirrors. Wear shoes that throw rainbows around the room when you dance. Let your eyes sparkle when you see someone you love. Or someone you don't. Wear glittering makeup - as much as you want. Wear strands of stones, glass or diamonds or paper covered with glitter - as many as you feel like! At the bank, sign your name with a pen that sparkles. Each day, look in a mirror that sparkles and remember it's a reflection of you.

Linger
Stop rushing. Just stop. Sip the last drops of tea instead of gulping them. Finish your conversation before running to the next item on your calendar. Pause and watch the woman who sings opera in the street, the woman who stir-fried the Chinese food, the young girl playing the violin as though she was born with it in her hand. Look at the sky for just a bit longer before you get into your car. Pick a leaf of mint or sage; before continuing on, rub it between your fingers and smell how delicious it smells. Look into someone's eyes just a bit longer than you thought you could. Linger over coffee, linger at the newsstand, linger over lunch. Linger longer in bed, in the park, on the river. Of course, linger longer at love.

Kerry, Denise, Marion, Renee (sitting), Me, Cara, Amy, Fran, Donna, Ilana, Candace, Debbie

Forgive
Experience the power of forgiveness. Say I forgive you, and mean it. Forgive everyone who has ever wronged you. Forgive him for breaking your heart. Forgive her for telling everyone your deepest secret. Forgive them both. Stop holding grudges, and forgive. Forgive yourself for being human, for not knowing all the answers all the time. Once and for all, for the sake of your own sanity, forgive. Let the sweet and simple rain of forgiveness wash over you.

Ask for forgiveness, offer forgiveness.
Somewhere, find the inner depth to
forgive the man who raped, to forgive
 the woman who killed, to forgive the
friend who betrayed a loving trust. For
life, for peace forever; for you, for them,
forgive.