So many great songs.

Remember The Greatest Love of All…

I actually loved The Bodyguard with Kevin Costner.

Need a little end of the week laugh? Check out this incredible series of underwater dog photos from photographer Seth Casteel. Many more at his website, Little Friends Photo.

Thanks to the Warholian for sharing!

Many of you are already very familiar with our friend Felicia Tomasko — Editor in Chief of LA Yoga Magazine and a very active member of the community here at Intent.com. In this video, Felicia speaks to the importance of committing to a “non-negotiable” daily practice. Whether it’s drinking lemon water every morning or having a hot bath every night, Felicia says setting an intent to take care of yourself each and everyday can definitely enhance your life (hint hint: #30dayintents!).

By the way, if you haven’t heard of BigHappyDay yet… definitely check out their YouTube channel. They post fun, engaging daily videos of teachers talking about yoga, spirituality, sustainability, and many other interesting topics. You can find more from Felicia, plus some other great ones: Suzanne Sterling on Singing as Pranayama, Bo Forbes on Neuroplasticity, Erica Shaw on Tantra, and Jenny Sauer-Klein on the Art of Communication are great to to start!

Is mercury in f’ing retrograde or something? Man has this been a tough week.

The low point was the starting point. A memorial service for Dr. David Simon, my father’s longtime collaborator and partner at the Chopra Center for Wellbeing. David’s 20-month battle with brain cancer came to an end almost ten days ago and the memorial service last Saturday was profoundly sad. I’m not particularly good with death, and contrary to the family mythology, not that much of a spiritual guy either…whatever that means. But throw a situation like this at me: a guy who does everything right – eats right, exercises right, speaks right, lives right and is the world’s leading authority on the brain – self diagnoses himself with terminal brain cancer and then suffers away with it in front of his family, including two young daughters, that shit will shake your faith. And mine is in a bit of shambles at the present moment. RIP David.

What would have taken the edge off was the Patriots winning the superbowl the following day. And, well, that didn’t happen. It’s a bit shameful to make the comparison I am about to, on account of what the prior paragraph was about, but I’ve felt all week that I lost something – or someone – very important to me. I’m not even going to explain it because, well it would just sound lame to everyone who doesn’t get it. And for those who do, I don’t really need to explain it, do I?

Then there were work issues. Err, there are work issues. End transmission.

The Celtics beating the Lakers in a meaningless regular season game would have been nice. Moving on.

About this whole Deepak Chopra/Demi Moore thing: lame. Don’t look to me for details because I don’t know them. Do have empathy for anyone battling substance issues and/or personal issues. Not that I’m saying that’s the case here. Or maybe I am. Or maybe I don’t know what the f I am talking about. Someone help me out of this house of mirrors. Or don’t. Do people really care about this? Apparently so.

I think I may have (further) popped my mcl thing morning running. Ugh.

Can someone please invite me on to pinterest?

Btw – I just joined stumbled upon.

And tumblr a few weeks before that.

I am this close to delivering the locked picture for ‘Decoding Deepak’…. again.

WTF Syria?!! Mr. Assad – we’ve seen this movie before in Pakistan, Egypt, Tunisia, and Libya. you’re days are numbered.

Well at least tonight should be good, right?

 CC Photo Credit: DJMcCrady

Was it true that Demi Moore was with my father seeking treatment?

Would he (Gotham) come on a show to talk about our dad’s relationship with Demi?

Luckily, I am not on the media list to chat about celebs, but even my email was flooded with FYIs and inquiries.  (Gotham is on the media list because of his close relationship with Michael Jackson, and his desire to speak with the media after Michael’s death about remembering the good times for Michael’s legacy).

In fact, I have to admit that after the onslaught of email, I too was curious if my dad was in touch with Demi.  Gotham and I had no idea if it was true or not…

Which got me thinking about why I wanted to know.  Demi has asked for privacy, but yet we (and I include myself) as a society feel the need to know about where she is, who she is talking to, etc. On one level, I yearn that she finds the space to heal, but how will she do that if we are all complicit in not giving her that space.  Despite being a celebrity, who has led such a public life, doesn’t she deserve that privacy when she is in pain?

The truth is if my dad was in touch with Demi, that’s between him and her.  He would not tell my brother and I — it’s none of our business.  In a world where Syrians are scared to leave their homes, where some children don’t feel safe at school or have to fight for an equal education, where equality for everyone is still not a reality, why are the most popular stories on HuffingtonPost are ones like Khloe Responds to OJ Simpson Rumors?

And despite my wanting to be the role model of integrity and goodness, I still couldn’t help but text my dad to see if the rumors were true…

(For the record, and for those who feel the need to know, she is not at the Chopra Center or with my dad.)

Sometimes, I wonder how many of us are doing the exact same thing – we listen to people speak, but don’t really hear what they say.  I hate to admit how often I catch myself just sitting there with a pleasant smile on my face, not hearing a god damn word. The other day, my kids were asking me 100 questions while I was making breakfast, packing lunches, and mentally preparing for the workshop I was about to lead on something ironic like Mindfulness.

“Mom, can you get strawberry jelly next time?”

“Mom, can I have a sleepover this weekend?’

“Mom, did you sign me up for dance?”

“Mom, did you know the dog just barfed?”

I nodded and gave them the cursory, “mmm-hmm.” Then my husband came down the stairs.

“Hon, can you get my shirts at the cleaners?”

“Are you sure they’ll be ready by 5 o’clock?”

“Is this recycling day or garbage day?”

“Did you notice the dog barf in living room?”

I was visualizing the sequence I had been working on the day before as I nodded again.

“Yep, got it. Have a great day. Love you.”

Later at the studio, a few students were lingering after class as I blew out candles, re-organized props, and contemplated whether the mat-cleaning spray would work on a dog barf stain. I heard snippets of their conversation and nodded my head every so often. Once they are gone, I found myself immersed in silence for the first time that day. I let myself settle into it as though it were a lazy boy recliner. I let my thoughts sink into the cushion of calm. I noticed how present I felt in that calm, quiet place. I reclined further and looked back over my day to realize that I had been absent for the majority of it. I had been physically there, but emotionally and mentally I had been deaf to all of it. I had turned off my hearing aid and put on a happy face. I hadn’t really heard a god damn word.

I didn’t hear my daughter’s doubt about asking her new friend over for a sleepover. She changed schools this year, and has been feeling lonely. I didn’t hear how nervous my husband was about his board meeting the next day, the one he needed the cleaned shirt for. I didn’t hear the need for connection beyond the mat that my students had. That realization made me feel like, well, dog barf.

I made a promise to myself to start living with my hearing aid turned on. It’s only been a few weeks, and it has already been a challenge. I frequently find myself answering an email while talking on the phone, listening to the news and my children at the same time, smiling, nodding. But like any challenge, I find the rewards worth the efforts. Yesterday, my teenage son wanted to talk to me about some of the kids in his class who are starting to get into trouble. He gave me a subtle cue to start the conversation. Had I missed it, I might have missed the opportunity to talk to him openly about the importance of staying true to your self when peer pressure kicks in.

Today, my daughter gave me some of the most important advice an 8-year old has probably ever shared with an adult. We were going to meet my web designer so I could sign off on a new project. Caroline wanted to walk to the meeting, but I was nervous that we were going to be late. Begrudgingly, I acquiesced. As we walked down the sidewalk hand in hand, I resisted the urge to check for a text from my web designer. I tried to be present as she talked to me about what color she wanted to paint her toenails. I did, however, gently remind her that we were in hurry.

“Mom, I know you do a lot of important, really awesome stuff, and I know my life is really easy cause I’m a kid and I don’t have to do that much. But sometimes, I wish you didn’t worry so much. I mean the world is not going to end if you’re a little late for a meeting.”

Had I been checking my text messages, I might have smiled and nodded, “mmm-hmm.” Thankfully, I had my hearing aid turned on and I heard her, I really heard her. I slowed my pace and asked her what color she thought I should paint my toenails.

“How about turquoise? That’d be so awesome. Not many moms can pull it off, but I think you can.”

I heard that.

How often do you go through your day smiling and nodding,  listening without really hearing? I’m here to tell you that you just might be missing something really awesome. As yogis, we are always talking about tuning in.

“Tune in to the breath.”

“Tune in to your body.”

“Tune in to your intuition.”

Sometimes, we get so tuned in to ourselves that we become tuned out to everyone else. Do you hear me?

 photo credit 1: faungg

 photo credit 2: Rochelle, just rochelle

After the Earthquake had subsided, rescuers reached the ruins of a young woman’s house. They saw her dead body through the cracks. But her pose was strange. She had knelt on her knees like a person was worshiping; her body was leaning forward, and her two hands were supporting by an object. The collapsed house had crashed her back and her head.

With so many difficulties, the leader of the rescuer team put his hand through a narrow gap on the wall to reach the woman’s body. He was hoping that this woman could be still alive. However, the cold and stiff body told him that she had passed away for sure.

He and the rest of the team left this house and were going to search the next collapsed building. But for some reason, the team leader felt compelled to go back to the ruin house of the dead woman. Again, he knelt down and used his had through the narrow cracks to search the little space under the dead body. Suddenly, he screamed with excitement, “A child! There is a child!”

The whole team worked together; carefully they removed the piles of ruined objects around the dead woman. There was a 3-month-old little boy wrapped in a flowery blanket under his mother’s dead body. The woman had made an ultimate sacrifice for saving her son. When her house was falling, she used her body to protect and cover the little boy, who was still sleeping peacefully when the team leader picked him up.

The medical doctor came quickly to examine the little boy. After he opened the blanket, he saw a cell phone inside the blanket. There was a text message on the screen. It said, “If you can survive, you must remember that I love you.” This cell phone was passing around from one hand to another. Every body that read the message wept.  ”If you can survive, you must remember that I love you.” Such is the mother’s love for her child!!

via Info For U

Wayne Harbert, a linguistics professor at Cornell University, states that “Venus and venom come from the same root, meaning love. In Latin, venenum from which venom comes, originally meant love potion, but over time came to mean poison.”

Are you lovesick, madly in love, blinded by love or reasonably happy?

Here are four tips for you be heart smart:

1. If you don’t love, respect and enjoy being alone with yourself, you will not find lasting love.

When you have a strong sense of self you don’t need to jump to conclusions because of insecurities, fears or doubts. You can discern a person’s motivation with a wide angle view.  Angry, stressed and critical people have a hard time loving and forgiving others, because they do a great deal of projecting their own personal faults onto the love object.

Loosen your approach. When you don’t love yourself, you tend to compete with your significant other to force them to do what you want in order to feel in control. However, when you realize that your real soul mate lives inside you, you are able to form a partnership which is true power.

2. Release your expectations.

The high of love eventually settles into boring and ordinary daily routines. While love is fueled by the imagination and novelty, having unrealistic, naïve and idealized notions of what another should be will create dissatisfaction, opening the door for a fairytale escape.

Clarissa Pinkola Estes in Women Who Run with the Wolves explains, “The desire to force love to live only in its most positive form is what causes love ultimately to fall over dead.”  Love has low points, problems and weaknesses.  If you have too high expectations for others, they will inevitably disappoint you.

3. Accept change.

Love has to change – it simply can’t stand still. Allow for more flexibility in your relationship. Everyone changes throughout the years and so does your lover. You need to be conscious of the change in yourself and your significant other to grow together instead of apart.

4. Listen more.

Active listening and positive communication nurtures relationships. Rather than telling someone how you want or think they should be, pausing for a moment and listening to their needs. Make sure to turn off technology when engaged in dialogue, and plug into the person you’re speaking with.

Dr. Markman, a well-known marriage and family researcher, was quoted in the Wall Street Journal as saying: “Nagging is the enemy of love.” The take home message here is that we all can learn to become better listeners and communicate their needs more kindly and without repetition. Listening is the doorway to love.

 photo credit: Synergy by Jasmine

With yesterday’s news about Proposition 8, today’s video is a timely follow-up that shines a light on the real-world effects of anti-gay legislation on America’s youth. Toan Lam, founder of Go Inspire Go and regular contributor at the Intent Blog, sent us over this inspiring video about a young high-school student and psychiatrist who are working together to spread a message of compassion.

More from Toan:

The impact – or ripple – can’t always be measured in time, money or any other metrics. However, you can witness change by meeting people he’s impacted – like the noticeable confidence you can see in Emerald, who is now a part of the Wayne State Pride group.

I wonder how many Emeralds are out there — with so much life and such a valuable story to tell. I also wonder how many people are out there who have been bullied and don’t ever get to share their stories.

I hope this story inspires people not to judge and to think before you act. If you or someone you know would like to support or collaborate with Dr. Holt’s mission, visit his website at www.audacityofpride.com.

Most people are aware of what is known as the placebo effect. This is a phenomenon that occurs when someone is told that a pill or a medication they are taking is a cure for a health condition even though it is just a simple sugar pill with no medicinal qualities. People that believe they are taking a “cure” actually have mild to extremely positive results from taking the placebo, leading to a partial to complete cure of the condition without any real medical intervention.

The placebo effect is, in reality, the medical proof that the Law of Attraction really works. The Law of Attraction simply says that what you focus in on in your life is what you will receive. In the medical case the patients taking the placebo focused in on becoming healthy and overcoming a medical condition, which is exactly what happened. Some people believed so strongly in the effectiveness of the placebo that they were completely cured. Some people were not “cured” but they no longer focused in on the negativity in their life and their ongoing health issues, instead they became happier and more mentally healthy. This in turn led to a better quality of life that significantly improved their environment and enjoyment of the world around them.

It is essential for us all to consider the placebo effect in our physical and mental health. If we see ourselves as healthy, happy and full of life that is exactly what we will be. If, on the other hand, we see ourselves as sick, aging and declining then we will become that person. Looking for laughter, joy and beauty in the world around us is an internal attitude that we can develop on our own. Not only will it bring us joy and pleasure but it will also impact the lives of those around us, increasing their positive experiences and making the world a brighter place for all.

Sherry Gaba LCSW, Psychotherapist, Life & Recovery Coach is featured Celebrity Rehab on VH1. Sherry is the author of “The Law of Sobriety” which uses the law of attraction to recover from any addiction. Please download your copy of“Manifest Holistic Health” from Sherry’s Enrich Your Life Series. Contact Sherry at sherry@sgabatherapy.com for webinars, teleseminars, coaching packages and speaking engagements. Listen to Sherry on “A Moment of Change with Sherry Gaba”on CBS Radio