Friendship Makes the World Go Round!

You've got to have friends, all kinds of friends.  Friends are how the world goes round.  Friends are the extension of our hearts, those individuals who are with us no matter what, giving us strength to rely on when we feel ours is gone, loving us when we need a boost and sharing in the sad and happy days that make up in equal parts the days of our lives.  

Friendship is forged not so much by time but through

understanding with compassion, 

laughter, tears, invitations, insights, hugs, 

heartaches, happiness and the joyfulness

of time spent in sharing our hearts with another.

Whether new friends or old, whether friends we see everyday or friends that live in our hearts across great distances.  Friends are the vessel through which we feel the wholeness of who we are, safe and sound and in complete connection to our insular Tahiti and that space of heaven on earth. -- Excerpted from The Bare Melcessities.

We are in a time where we have lost our sense of the breath of humanity. Globalization has widened our viewpoint but has not increased our connectedness. Instead, barriers have been established, freedoms have been undermined and blinders have grown and grown. Rabbit holes have sprung up along the way and millions have segmented into these holes.  Within this framework, our friends, whose experience brings us wisdom, whose intelligence and caring teach us the meaning of kindness, whose presence stand with us, connecting, coinciding, collaborating, and sharing in this adventure of life.

The Bible offers two notable examples of friendships. The first is that between Jonathan and David, in which Jonathan walks a slender tightrope between his loyalty to his friend David and his devotion to his father Saul. The second is that between Ruth and Naomi, which gives us the beautiful verse that has been adopted by lovers but in its spirit holds the heart of true friendship....

“Wither thus goest, I will go, and where though lodgest, I will lodge; thy people shall be my people, and thy God my God, where thou diest, will I die, and there will be buried: the Lord do so to me and more also, if ought but death part thee and me.”

Samuel Johnson, who knew the fragility of friendship and said that “life has no pleasure higher or nobler than friendship,” tended to place friendship on the same level of significance as marriage a joining with a brother in a space of safety and joy and peace.

Friends are the family we choose.

Here's to all our friends, our soul families and all the interconnections that nourish our spirit.

The Star Fish Thrower Story - AMP Experience Make History Event

At a recent gathering a dear friend shared this Starfish Thrower story as an answer to her own question and emotions around how, after this past years massive efforts where she gave everything she had, was tested beyond belief, risked everything, jumping off cliff after cliff without ceasing, only to realize more, then more, was required to move through her entrepreneurial world changing efforts and she had nothing left to give. When she finished her sharing, realization washed through the group, her frustration and insight finding balance, shifting the energies of action, lighting the way ahead. 

Inspired by The Star Thrower from natural science writer Loren Eiseley...

After quite a brutal ocean side storm a man stepped out for his morning walk along the shore.  As he looked down the beach, he saw a human figure moving like a dancer.  He smiled to himself to think of someone who would dance to the tides.  As he got closer, he noticed that it was a young girl and the young girl wasn't dancing, but instead she was reaching down to the shore, picking up what he now realized were starfish and very gently throwing them one at a time back into the ocean.

He called out, "Good morning!  What are you doing?" The young girl paused, looked up and replied "Throwing starfish into the ocean."

"I guess I should have asked, why are you throwing starfish into the ocean?"

"The sun is up and the tide is going out. And if I don't throw them in they'll die."

"But don't you realize that there are miles and miles of beach and starfish all along it. You can't possibly make a difference!"

The young girl listened politely. Then bent down, picked up another starfish and threw it into the sea, past the breaking waves.

"It made all the difference for that one!"

The old man looked at the girl inquisitively and thought about what she had done and said. Now inspired, he joined the young girl in throwing starfish back into the sea.  

Soon others joined, and the starfish found there way home.

Each of us is here to sing our song, to share who we are and to do what we came here to do, to act in kindness and take the steps we are called to make.  Every action taken within the space of your heart means the world to the individual whose life is changed in its wake.

“Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it's the only thing that ever has.” - AMP Make History Inspiration - Margaret Mead

It not only takes a village it takes each of us to stand in the truth of what our heart is telling us to do.  Inspiration comes in many forms, it is always our willingness to see with our hearts that enables the miraculous shift in perception to unfold bringing with it compassion.

AMP Experience will be at The Last Bookstore 9/29 at Noon for our Make History Event continuing our tradition of building communities with love.  Please join us for this event or one of our future events.  Don't hesitate to contact us if you would love to get involved.  Register here.

Thanks to Vintage Villager for providing uniquely inspirational fall treasures to celebrate our AMP Community.

  

"On a point of land, I found the star thrower...I spoke once briefly. "I understand," I said. "Call me another thrower." Only then I allowed myself to think, He is not alone any longer. After us, there will be others...We were part of the rainbow...Perhaps far outward on the rim of space a genuine star was similarly seized and flung...For a moment, we cast on an infinite beach together beside an unknown hurler of suns... We had lost our way, I thought, but we had kept, some of us, the memory of the perfect circle of compassion from life to death and back to life again - the completion of the rainbow of existence"  -- From The Star Thrower Loren Eiseley completed shortly before his death published in 1969 in The Unexpected Universe

Vintage Villager is a global, online marketplace for people seeking eclectic, unique and effortlessly stylish jewelry and accessories.

Lots of Love,

Melanie