lara simmons

"She truly loved herself and therefore had no reason to hate anyone else." --The Universe to me in an old blog post , reprinted below. December 17, 2010 "Emanate love to all in your sphere without distinction or prejudice."  --Sunyata Satchitananda from the website www.mythiclove.net I went to a Holiday concert this week that a friend of mine and her children were performing in. It was a lovely performance; the director was enthusiastic, the songs were uplifting and everyone seemed to be having a great time. There was one woman in the choir who particularly stood out for me. She was standing in the back, not doing anything special, but as she sang she just radiated love. I watched her closely throughout the whole concert, trying to figure out her secret. I studied her face to try and see what was different. Physically, there was nothing special about her face. It was more attractive then some, less attractive than others, but...

"Love really is all around." -- From the opening scene of Love Actually Have you ever had one of those days when love really is all around? For me it was Saturday. All day, everywhere I looked, the Universe was sending me reminders to love, love, love. At my yoga class I parked my mat in the first row (which I never do) and there in the floor was a little heart formed from the whorls and swirls of the wood. As I came inside the house after class, I stopped at our Little Free Library and there, staring out at me, was a small hardback volume of a book entitled How to Love . And later, when I sat down to relax with a cup of tea, I picked up a coffee table book we have had for years ( Monet: Water Lilies ) and came across this quote, "Everyone discusses [my art] and pretends to understand, as if it were necessary to understand, when it is simply necessary to love." (Claude Monet) This strikes me as a profound statement about life as well as art. It is...

"Love begins with yourself. The moment you accept what you are, you awaken your capacity to [give and to] receive love."   --Amrit Desai Kind of like all forgiveness is self-forgiveness , all love is self-love. If we don't love ourselves, how can we love others? After my first ten-day Vipassana meditation retreat , I came home and wrote these three rules on my fridge: Three Rules for Life 1) Be kind to yourself 2) Do not harm others 3) Purify your mind According to Vipassana teacher SN Goenka, being kind to yourself comes first because if you are not kind to yourself, you cannot be truly kind to others. You can try to be kind to others and you can pretend to be kind to others, but you cannot be truly kind to others if you are feeling angry, dissatisfied or stressed out. I think about this a lot when I am feeling tense or annoyed or angry. I try and ask myself: How can I be kind to myself? Which is kind of like asking: How can I love myself? So, ho...

"To love at all is to be vulnerable. Love anything, and your heart will certainly be wrung and possibly broken." CS Lewis My heart was broken tonight by seven kids with a basketball. I am the assistant coach of my son's basketball team and the head coach (my dad) was out of town which meant I was in the hot seat.  Let me interject here, in the interest of full disclosure, that I have never coached anything before and only played basketball in a very casually organized way on a club team in England. England! Where basketball is like cricket is to us. Most people have heard of it, but no one really knows the rules and certainly not the fundamentals. Because the kids are just finishing up mid-winter break and many families are out of town,  I knew we were going to be down a few players.  Earlier this afternoon I got an offer from a boy one grade above our league to sub for us tonight. I was torn - if we had this player we would have a much better chance of...

Me, looking foolish "I must learn to love the fool in me - the one who feels too much, talks to much, takes too many chances, wins sometimes and loses often, lacks self-control, loves and hates, hurts and gets hurt, promises and breaks promises, laughs and cries. It alone protects me against that utterly self-controlled masterful tyrant whom I also harbor and who would rob me of human aliveness, humility, and dignity but for my fool." ~ Theodore I. Rubin, M.D. The other day while swimming laps I made a complete and utter fool of myself. The pool was crowded that day, there were four people in my lane alone and our rhythm was totally off. As soon as one swimmer let someone go ahead of them, that person would switch to breast stroke and be holding everyone else up. Then someone else would drop out for a few minutes to adjust the timing and another swimmer would drop their kick board and start sprinting. It was a mess and a very frustrating way to get my e...

"Love is our essential nutrient. Without it, life has little meaning. It's the best thing we have to give and the most valuable thing we receive. It's worthy of all the hullabaloo." -- Cheryl Strayed from her book Tiny Beautiful Things I love this idea, that love is our essential nutrient. It implies that, like vitamins, we can do something about increasing our intake. We don't just wait around for the Universe to send food from the sky like in Cloudy, with a chance of Meatballs , we go out and get what our bodies need. And our bodies tell us, in the form of cravings, what nutrients it needs. So do our hearts if we listen. What does your heart need today? What essential nutrients are missing? Maybe some quiet alone time? Maybe a night out with your sweetie? Maybe a massage or other body work? Maybe some chocolate??? Whatever love you need, whether you need to give it or receive it, make the time to do it today. It's essential.