Everyday Miracles

From my friend Nick...



The cool thing is we don't have to hope for a miracle... "Miracles occur naturally as expressions of Love." - ACIM We are moving into the holiest days of the year so let's be as loving as possible, let's be kind and extend appreciation to everyone we encounter!

lots of Love,

Melanie

The Perfect Gift from the Heart

Gift yourself peace and clarity and love.

Melanie Lutz is hosting a POWER SHOT of LOVING YOURSELF... 10 days. All Love. Delivered every morning to your inbox.

Purchase Love Infused Messages for you and your loved ones.


2/3 - 2/13
3/21 - 3/31

You will get daily love infused hits and media designed to break through past thinking and patterns and offer loving support through the holidays.

Think of it as a mini radical loving yourself fest offered to uplift and inspire.

If you are not waking up every morning in Joy. Why not explore a different approach to the day. Let your days be filled with possibility, to dance to the beat of your truest self, illuminating the steps forward in your soul's evolution, expanding your purpose and passion.

In Love.

All you need is an email and an open heart.

Be. Love. Repeat.

lots of love,

Melanie
brought to you by TheBareMelcessities.com and Your Loving Band of Angels.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Honoring the day... I'm 'reprinting' a post from last year. It gets me every time.

Melanie Lutz - official site: "Why Am I Here?": "'Each of You Who Know The Joy of Freedom are Winners.' The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has an active and ongoing schedule..."

Movin on Up!

Julie Andrews is one of my heroes. She possesses an artistry that transcends whatever art form she graces with her presence.

When Lerner and Lowe musicalized George Bernard Shaw's Pygmalion creating My Fair Lady Julie Andrews was the perfect Eliza Doolittle originating the role in the stage production.

When the film studio and producers opted for Audrey Hepburn for the movie version they brought an unstoppable spirit and elegance to the role...

All I want is a room somewhere,

Far away from the cold night air.

With one enormous chair,

Aow, wouldn't it be loverly?

Lots of choc'lates for me to eat,

Lots of coal makin' lots of 'eat.

Warm face, warm 'ands, warm feet,

Aow, wouldn't it be loverly?

Aow, so loverly sittin' abso-bloomin'-lutely still.

I would never budge 'till spring

Crept over me windowsill.

Someone's 'ead restin' on my knee,

Warm an' tender as 'e can be. 'ho takes good care of me,

Aow, wouldn't it be loverly?

Loverly, loverly, loverly, loverly

A new version of My Fair Lady is in the works with Kiera Knightly and Danial Day Lewis. Perfection is a tough act to follow.

The Statler Brothers

Influences are everywhere, in taking Gospel harmonies and translating them into Country gold The Statler Brothers in 1955 broke country from a rural tradition into a suburban reality and for five decades performed their poetic work.

Here's a sampling --- Bed of Roses --
She was called a scarlet woman by the people
Who would go to church but left me in the streets
This Bed of Roses where I'm living
is the only kind of life I understand."



The Band Perry - If I Die Young uses a Bed of Roses to embrace the "the sharp knife of a short life"

Don't be a Dream Crusher

By honoring other peoples dreams you give light to your own.

With your encouragement you give yourself and everyone you encounter a way up.

excerpted DREAMS chapter from the upcoming digital version of THE BARE MELCESSITIES Melanie Lutz's critically acclaimed self portrait of a year spent learning to love yourself after a divorce.

Is it the characteristics of consequence or the consequence of character that leads you into a relationship with an other.

As things fractured. I clung to the one detail that could have been my salvation or my crucifier. The one detail that could have taken me to heaven or hell if I had been able to see it correctly. If my perception wasn’t distorted. I never heard the sounds of self abuse that emanated from my partner… he merely amplified my own doubts and over active twisted self hatred and voice of “I’m not good enough.”

"How long are you going to pursue a dream that is never going to come true?"

So Much Happiness!?

Relationships are endlessly fascinating. In today's musical theater moment the opening scene to Stephen Sondheim's exploration of Love the musical PASSION based on the movie directed by Ettore Scola intense film Passione d'Amore lays bare the raw emotions sparked by  "...that day when two glanced at each other In the park" falling under the spell of connection, surging forth feelings of love and that intangible hard to put into words-- something else.

In his master work Sondheim offers a mature look at Love with all its complicated twists and turns.



Lyrics from the opening scene reveal the uncertainty, the questioning and the pain bubbling under the joy of union and recognition...

Clara

That we ever should have met

Is a miracle

Giorgio

No, inevitable -

Clara

Then inevitable, yes,

But I confess it was the look

Giorgio

The look?

Clara

The sadness in your eyes

That day when we glanced at each other

In the park.

Giorgio

We were both unhappy.

Clara

Unhappiness can be seductive.

Giorgio

You pitied me...

Both

How quickly pity leads to love.

Clara

All this happiness

Merely from a glance in the park

So much happiness, so much love... 

Giorgio

I thought I knew what love was.

Clara

I wish we might have met so much sooner

I could have given you -

Giorgio

I thought I knew what love was.

Clara

- my youth.

Giorgio

I thought I knew how much I could feel.

Clara

All the time we lost...

Giorgio

I didn't know what love was.

Clara

I've never known what love was.

Giorgio

But now -

Clara

And now -

Both

- I do.

It's what I feel with you,

The happiness I feel with you.

Clara

So much happiness -

Giorgio

You are so beautiful...

Clara

- happening by chance in a park.

Giorgio

Not by chance, by necessity -

Clara

Surely, this is happiness -

Giorgio

- by the sadness that we saw in each other.

Clara

- no one else has ever felt before!

Both

Just another love story, that's what they would claim.

Another simple love story - aren't all of them the same?

Clara

No, but this is more, we feel more!

Both

This is so much more!

(Smiling at each other)

Like every other love story.

Some say happiness comes and goes.

then this happiness is a kind of happiness

No one really knows.

Giorgio

I thought I knew what love was.

Clara

I'd only heard what love was.

Giorgio

I thought it was no more than a name for yearning.

Clara

I thought it was what kindness became.

Giorgio

I'm learning -

Clara

I thought where there was love there was shame.

Giorgio

- that with you -

Clara

But with you -

Both

- there's just happiness.

Clara

Endless happiness...

As always Sondheim's turn of words breaks open the truth, asks the questions and reveals the huge gap in the love manual most humans are operating under.

It brings to mind Sinatra singing How Little It Matters (How Little We Know)...

The clues are everywhere, the journey never ending with love remaining the constant and everything else just the imaginings of the dream which creates the anxieties and pain.

Hope you enjoyed Wednesday's musical theater moment. As Jewish lyricist Yip Harburg once commented, “A song is the pulse of a nation’s heart, a fever chart of its health. Are we at peace? Are we in trouble? Do we feel beautiful? Are we violent? Listen to our songs.” In recognizing the songs you are relating to, you understand your pulse. What songs are you hearing now? and on a different level what song is waiting to be born?

MEL BOOKS

a jolt of pure Love

MELANIE LUTZ'S 

"I AM" BOOKS

seek to inspire the deepest truth

of our collective humanity

 Two Books. One Heart.

I am a Magnificent Woman.

 I am a Great Man.

www.iamagnificentwoman.com

THE BARE MELCESSITIES:

Walking out. Waking up. Getting Bare

www.thebaremel.com

VANESSA BY THE SEA

The gift of change

COMING SOON

www.melanielutz.com

Rhythm of Love

The words "I Love You" spoken in moments of genuine appreciation, wonder or caring arise from something perfectly pure within us -- the capacity to open ourselves and say yes without reserve. Such moments of pure openheartedness bring us as close to natural perfection as we come in this life. The radiant yes of the heart is perfect like the sun in bringing all things to life nourishing all that is truly human. -- John Welwood

Love the Plain White T's!



My heart beats to the rhythm of Love.

Belle Amour peeps!!

Dream Big

What's next?!  The day of full freedom. The day for dreams.

 

For the first time since I was a kid I know what my goals and dreams are for the next decade. I have a light shining brightly in my being. It's simple and it's specific. To pursue excellence in expanding my expression. 

P.E.G.O.T here I come!!   What's yours?

May you feel connected, comforted and full of peace

Today. Now. Always.

May your dreams come true in ever expanding 
and delightfully unexpected ways.

lots of love,

Melanie 

for more information on Being Magnificent click here

Love Liberates

When you are thinking with Love, your ratio of joy over irritation increases exponentially. Enough said.

It's been an honor to share day 40 completing a 40 day cycle of love with all the people I love! Can't believe it started 10-1-10 for National Breast Cancer Awareness Month and can't believe it has completed... 

May you feel connected, comforted and full of peace

Today. Now. Always.

Love Well. 

In grace and appreciation. 

lots of love,

Melanie 

for more information on Being Magnificent click here

Feast on your Life

In full presence of yourself.

The time will come
when, with elation
you will greet yourself arriving
at your own door, in your own mirror
and each will smile at the other's welcome,
and say, sit here. Eat. 
You will love again, 
you will love again, 
the stranger who was your self.
Give wine. Give bread. 
Give back your heart
to itself, to the stranger 
who has loved you all your life, 
whom you ignored for another, 
who knows you by heart.
Take down the love letters from the bookshelf,
the photographs, the desperate notes,
peel your own image from the mirror.
Sit. Feast on your life.

--Derek Walcott

Today is the day.

Day Thirty Nine of a 40 day honoring cycle that started 10-1-10 for National Breast Cancer Awareness Month... it is a Mel movement of the heart, a cycle of gratitude in the light of remembrance.
 

May you feel connected, comforted and full of peace

Today. Now. Always.

May your heart open in ways never before possible
revealing the deepest truth of your fullest knowing.

In grace and appreciation. 

lots of love,

Melanie 

for more information on Being Magnificent click here

Celebrating Fabulously Realized Movie Moments

There are not enough words to describe how absolutely effortless Julia Roberts work is in carrying these classic archetypal moments on film.

For me this scene at the end of My Best Friend's Wedding perfectly encapsulates the entire arc of the characters and plot of the film...

Director PJ Hogan brought an air of elegance and timelessness to this musically influenced production utilizing one of my all time favorite songs the Academy Award winning The Way You Look Tonight to ride through the emotions of the film delivering the passing of the torch penultimate moment of discovery.

Composer Jerome Kern and lyricist Dorothy Fields knocked this song out of the park.



Bravo!

If you are interested in the original use of this song from the movie Swing Time performed by Fred Astaire to the always radiant Ginger Rogers. Here you go!



This song is one of the greats. It is purely a supreme a work of art.

Expand Your Breath

The song Pick Yourself Up written by Jerome Kern and Dorothy Fields from the movie Swing Time is the purest example of that simple truth.

"Take a deep breath.
Pick yourself up.
Dust yourself off.
And. Start all over again."

Words. to live by.

There's so much emphasis we place on what we 'think' happened. 'I fell down. better not do that again.' In reality we don't know. anything. falling down could be the best thing that every happened to us.

Whenever I see Fred Astaire performing... I have a smile on my face add Ginger Rogers and it is sheer heaven.


It's even in our words. right in front of us.

Take -

impossible.

with the use of punctuation and space.

It becomes:

I'm possible.

Take a new look, expand your breathing and see things differently.

Day Thirty Eight of a 40 day honoring cycle that started 10-1-10 for National Breast Cancer Awareness Month... it is a Mel movement of the heart, a cycle of gratitude in the light of remembrance.

May you feel connected, comforted and full of peace

Today. Now. Always.

May your heart open in ways never before possible
revealing the deepest truth of your fullest knowing.

In grace and appreciation. 

lots of love,

Melanie 

for more information on Being Magnificent click here

Don't Be Deceived by Appearances

A monk was meditating in the desert when a beggar came up to him and said:

“I need to eat.”

The monk – who was almost reaching the point of perfect harmony with the spiritual world – did not answer.

“I need to eat” insisted the beggar.

“Go to the town and ask someone else. Can’t you see that you are bothering me? I am trying to communicate with the angels.”

“God placed himself lower than men, washed their feet, gave His life, and no-one recognized Him,” the beggar replied. “He who says he loves God – who does not see – and forgets his brother – who does – is missing the juice of a life truly in harmony.”

And the beggar turned into an Angel.

“So close.” the Angel remarked before leaving.

This moment standing in front of you, that you may think is a nuisance, that you absolutely don't have time for, believe isn't your deal, not your responsibility. This moment, this thing, that's irritating, bothering, showing up in your path is exactly what is up for you and necessary to drop into the next deepening expression of yourself. Don't ignore it in your self initiated 'knowing' you are doing something more important. Don't let the moments of grace slip by.

Each of us is here to give and to receive love... That is it... whereby in every encounter we are blessed with an opportunity to extend kindness and compassion to a brother. Don't miss the possibilities in each moment.

Day Thirty Seven of a 40 day honoring cycle that started 10-1-10 for National Breast Cancer Awareness Month... it is a Mel movement of the heart, a cycle of gratitude in the light of remembrance.

May you feel connected, comforted and full of peace

Today. Now. Always.

May you see with your heart and be able to recognize
the truth in every situation you encounter.

In grace and appreciation.

lots of love,

Melanie 

for more information on Being Magnificent click here

Bare Witness

...to the Beauty Surrounding You

 

keep your eyes attune to the whispers on the wind

checking out what's around the bend.

Day Thirty Five of a 40 day honoring cycle that started 10-1-10 for National Breast Cancer Awareness Month... it is a Mel movement of the heart, a cycle of gratitude in the light of remembrance.

May you feel connected, comforted and full of peace

Today. Now. Always.

May your vision expand 

in ever increasing and delightfully unexpected ways.

In grace and appreciation

lots of love,

Melanie 

for more information on Being Magnificent click here

Awaken to the Truth!

"Do or Do Not... There is no try."  Yoda











Day Thirty  Four of a 40 day honoring cycle that started 10-1-10 for National Breast Cancer Awareness Month... it is a Mel movement of the heart, a cycle of gratitude in the light of remembrance.

May you feel connected, comforted and full of peace

Today. Now. Always.

May you open your heart in ways heretofore

thought by you to have been impossible.

In grace and appreciation.

lots of love,

Melanie 

for more information on Being Magnificent click here

The Word Democracy does not appear once in the Constitution

 It is a force of action by the people.



Vote!

Listen to your Self

It is time to own what you know.
You have the answer.
You know what to do.

It has been said that deep listening is the truest form of intimacy. That space where everything is heard gives us the opportunity to reach beyond our differences and to rise into our humanity.

Day Thirty Three of a 40 day honoring cycle that started 10-1-10 for National Breast Cancer Awareness Month... it is a Mel movement of the heart, a cycle of gratitude in the light of remembrance.

May you feel connected, comforted and full of peace

Today. Now. Always.

May you forgive yourself 

and those who you feel have wronged you

lots of love,

Melanie 

for more information on Being Magnificent click here

FALLING IN LOVE AGAIN

 "I was made this way... I can't help it."

Once you hear Dietrich sing Falling in Love Again you get why we are all made a certain way and how important it is to shine in our own delightful and unique way.

Marlene Dietrich's Falling in Love Again  is one of the standout songs and performers from my childhood viewings of the black and white library of old films that was available to watch on the weekends after I had delivered The Morning Call in my neighborhood in Macungie (which is Indian for "Bear Swamp") Pennsylvania. All credit for anything that I am or any service I can be rests squarely in the heart of those screenings.

Here's my homage to Falling in Love Again sung (yes by Mel) for my Best Friend's daughter Hannah's third Birthday... Imagine my surprise when I realized it is a song that can handle my one note vocal range...


Happy Birthday! from Melanie Lutz on Vimeo.

Belle Amour!

Let Your Truth Blossom!

The soul knows where it belongs. Not some of the time. All of the time. When you strip everything away and get bare this fact sings.

It doesn't matter what path you choose, what form the exploration, just that you remove any blocks and keep yourself open. Your life to date, the pain and wounds, joy, laughter and Love, ALL the Love... You can use as a road map of how to find your way back to the space that knows. That lives in eternal joy and peace. That flourishes in a warm embrace.

Like Dorothy at the end of The Wizard of Oz when she says "Why didn't you tell me all I needed to do was click my heals three times to go home?" to which the Good Witch responds "You never would have believed me." I remember thinking as a kid, "Mother F-er ... Would have been good to know."

How much easier would life be if we skipped the drama (and those harried flying rabid attack monkeys?)

Choose to see things differently and take any light bulb moment of truth to change the story you've created. To get help. To share yourself. To move from fear to love, from insecure to joyful, from ill will to well wishes. You can choose in this moment to open yourself up to the possibility of being happier today than you were yesterday, to be the change necessary so you are delivered from whatever your current circumstance into peace and Love. Simply by choosing to be awake.

Believe it. Have faith in the beautiful process of nature and the seasons in our lives.

Today. Right now. I'm giving you a free pass. A pass to forgive yourself and anyone you have been carrying a hate on for. As you read this -- allow forgiveness to be understood and accepted and make the "journey (without distance) from your head to your heart." Notice I'm saying without distance, not without resistance. I get that upsets will come, people will trigger you. Don't let it take you down to Chinatown around and around the yellow brick road. No matter what comes your way, you will always have access to your center, just as Dorothy did, you can click your heals three times, take a breath and go directly home.

Release the past. The future has no business today and be willing to have the truth, your truth Lovingly blossom. 

Day Thirty Two of a 40 day honoring cycle that started 10-1-10 for National Breast Cancer Awareness Month... it is a Mel movement of the heart, a cycle of gratitude in the light of remembrance.

May you feel connected, comforted and full of peace

Today. Now. Always.

May your days be free from strife and worry

and all your steps be light and bright.

lots of love,

Melanie 

for more information on Being Magnificent click here