The cure for love!

[chocolate]

I find it strangely (un)appropriate(!) to post a few things about LOVE on a forum such as ours / yours. And I am sure everyone gets a few tickles and shivers these days only from the sound of it, but it hasn't given up on us yet, the hope for having some extra LOVE in our lives.


http://i.huffpost.com/gen/1611945/thumbs/o-VDAY-CARD-10-570.jpg

~~~

So Here we go, and
http://i.imgur.com/pu1gk3E.jpg

http://i.huffpost.com/gen/1611941/thumbs/o-VDAY-CARD-8-570.jpg

~~~

What Science Tells Us About Being in Love
from Neuronarrative by David DiSalvo
http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/neuronarrative/201402/what-science-tells-us-about-being-in-love


"How on earth are you ever going to explain in terms of chemistry and physics so important a biological phenomenon as first love?"
–Albert Einstein.

Einstein was correct—science will never clinically sterilize the wonderment of love (first or otherwise). But I think he’d also agree that it’s a mistake to confuse increased understanding with diminished meaning. No matter what we learn about love, it will continue to be one of the most meaningful and powerful forces on the planet, as it should be. With that disclaimer, let’s jump in.

Love is addictive.

Thinking about one’s beloved—particularly in new relationships—triggers activity in the ventral tegmental area (VTA) of the brain, which releases a flood of the neurotransmitter dopamine (the so-called "pleasure chemical") into the brain’s reward (or pleasure) centers, the caudate nucleus and nucleus accumbens. This gives the lover a high not unlike the effect of narcotics, and it’s mighty addictive.
At the same time, the brain in love experiences an increase in the stress hormone norephinephrine, which increases heart rate and blood pressure, effects similar to those experienced by people using potent addictive stimulants like methamphetamine.

Love is obsessive.

The brain in love experiences a drop in the neurotransmitter serotonin. Serotonin provides a sense of being in control; it guards against the anxiety of uncertainty and instability. When it drops, our sense of control decreases and we become obsessively fixated on things that rattle our certainty and stability cages—and since love is by definition unpredictable, it’s a prime target for obsession. This is also why the term "crazy in love" isn't too far off the truth.

Love is prone to recklessness.

The prefrontal cortex—our brain’s reasoning command and control center—drops into low gear when we’re in love. At the same time, the amygdala, a key component of the brain’s threat-response system, also revs down. The combination of these effects is a willingness to take more risks, even ones that would normally seem reckless to us in another state of mind. (For more on this, check out this PDF'd study.)

Love and lust can coexist in the brain—and not necessarily for the same person.

Love and lust appear to be separate but overlapping neural responses in the brain. They both produce a “high” and both are addictive, and they effect many of the same parts of the brain—but they are distinct enough that you can be in love with one person and in lust with another.

Over time, the differences become more significant. For example, the brains of people in long-term love relationships show increased activity in the ventral pallidum, a region of the brain rich with oxytocin and vasopressin receptors that facilitate long-term pair-bonding and attachment. (Check out researcher Helen Fisher's work in this area for more information.)

Men in love are extremely visual beasts.

The brains of men in love show greater activity in the visual cortex than women’s brains. Add this to the fact that men seem to be more visually stimulated than women in general.

Women in love remember the details.

The brains of women in love show greater activity in the hippocampus—a brain region associated with memory—than do men’s brains. Add to this that a woman's hippocampus takes up a larger percentage of her brain than does the male counterpart. (Another lesson here for men: women remember…brother, they remember.)

Eye contact is a lover’s magic.

Newborns and lovers have this in common—more than any other factor, eye contact is the main conduit for emotional connection. When those in love speak of the “entrancing gaze” of their lover, it’s not just a romantic notion—it’s a biological reality. Eye contact and a smile is an especially potent combination.

Only voice interaction comes anywhere close to eye contact in this regard. Our voice carries more information than we think, and it can help facilitate an emotional connection, but it’s still a distant second to eye contact. (Check out Barbara L. Fredrickson's book, Love 2.0, for more information on all of the above.)

Promiscuity and monogamy can be chemically influenced.

You’ve probably heard about our furry little friends, the prairie voles. Scientists who study monogamy and promiscuity love the critters because they provide an excellent mirror for human relationships. One type of vole is monogamous—it bonds with one mate for life. Another type of vole (the montane vole) is promiscuous. The key difference between the two kinds of voles appears to be genetic—an intriguing point when you consider that otherwise the voles are 99% genetically identical.

When researchers inject the promiscuous variety of vole with oxytocin and vasopressin—the neurochemicals that are linked to pair-bonding in humans (and in the monogamous voles)—the promiscuous voles become monogamous. It’s not entirely clear if the effect would hold true to the same degree in humans, but there’s pretty good evidence that it might, though for short periods of time. In two studies (described here) men who inhaled oxytocin became temporarily more empathetic, sensitive and cuddly.

Women and men can just be friends…(well, at least women think so).

Research suggests that when it comes to managing a platonic relationship, men really don't "get it" and are far more likely to want more than just friendship. Women, on the other hand, are able to keep friendship and romantic involvement separate in their minds. So the old question, "can men and women just be friends?" appears to depend entirely on who you're asking.



~~~

https://fbcdn-sphotos-d-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-prn2/t1/1782149_10152199941084589_29235098_n.jpg

and a few more:
Falling in Love with Life
http://kripalu.org/blog/thrive/2014/02/13/falling-in-love-with-life/?utm_source=Thrive&utm_medium=post&utm_campaign=021314Love

DRUG Treatment: Chemical for the lovesick
http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg22129564.600-cure-for-love-chemical-cures-for-the-lovesick.html#.Uv0yFIR_iPo

Cure for love: Should people be able to marry robots? ;)
http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg22129561.200-cure-for-love-should-people-be-able-to-marry-robots.html#.Uv0nSoR_iPo

GOJk0HW_hJw

[dianna]

Great post Chocolate … but I thought Chocolate was actually the cure for love … ;)

http://files.myopera.com/tdjmd1/blog/chocolate-love-1-02.jpg

[chocolate]

I forgot to say that this is an Open and Safe SPACE for anyone to post, share, admire, think about, :argue: ...
and everyone is :welcome: !
Let's just forget about the "real cure" for Love. I am (still) young at heart, even though I am also ancient.

My next video is a special treat for all my friends (they know who they are), Here and Now: ;)
9kp3N3wQPO0

[chocolate]

In fact, Psychologists have figured it all out, the cure for ... not having enough Love :

Distance Is the New Closeness


“Absence makes the heart grow fonder.”

Geographical proximity and frequent face-to-face contacts have long been considered as crucial for promoting romantic relationships. However, a growing body of research indicates otherwise: long-distance relationships often have equal or greater value in maintaining and promoting romantic relationships. Can we say then that (geographical) distance is the new (romantic) closeness? Is living apart together better than living together?

Closeness and romantic relationships

Closeness is a crucial element determining emotional intensity. Because emotions are highly personal, they are usually elicited by those who are close to us. When a person is detached from us, we are unlikely to have any emotional attitude toward her. Distance typically decreases emotional intensity, as it is contrary to the involved and intimate perspective typical of emotions. Love includes the wish to become as close as possible to the person we love.

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Geographical proximity has indeed been considered essential to romantic love, one reason being that sexual interaction, which is part of such love, involves behavior such as fondling, caressing, kissing, and making love that necessitate geographical proximity. Moreover, in the past, the seeker’s “one and only” was likely to be found not far from where the seeker lived, as this required considerably less resources and effort than in the case of distant relationships.

Despite the above considerations, there are now increasing numbers of romantic couples who live at a geographical distance from each other. Commuter marriage is one such example. A commuter marriage is a relationship between people who are married and intend to remain so, but nevertheless live apart, usually because of the locations of their jobs, educational demands, and dual-career pursuits. They travel regularly in order to be together, often on weekends but sometimes less frequently. Distant relationships are a growing form of romantic relationship. Thus, more than 3.5 million Americans live apart from their spouses for reasons other than divorce or discord, and their number is increasing. Technologies, such as phone calls, videos, instant messaging, texting, and e-mails, enable direct and immediate communication that sustains a continuous meaningful romantic relationship despite the geographical distance.

It should be noted that the sector of the population that conducts a distant relationship is not genuinely representative of the whole population. Thus, couples in a distant relationship are on average more affluent and more educated. This may affect the universality of the empirical findings concerning distant relationships.

The considerable increase in distant romantic relationships can be (at least partially) explained by referring to the increased value placed on personal flourishing in romantic relationships, as well as in marriage.

The importance of personal flourishing

In his book, Passionate marriage, David Schnarch proposes to distinguish between the other-validated model of intimacy and the self-validated model. The other-validated model leads to the expectation of acceptance, empathy, validation, and reciprocal disclosure from one’s partner. This prevailing model involves profound dependency, in which a significant part of one's identity is based upon the other. As an alternative to the other-validated model, Schnarch proposes the model of self-validated intimacy, which relies on each person maintaining his or her own autonomy and self-worth. In this model, the foundation of long-term marital intimacy is differentiation, which is the ability to maintain one's sense of self while in close contact with the partner.

In line with the above distinction, we may distinguish between other-validated and self-validated models of romantic relationships. In the prevailing model of other-validated relationship, the value of the relationship is measured by the partner's attitude toward you. In this model, the agent's personal flourishing is secondary in assessing the value of the relationship. In the self-validated model, personal flourishing as well as joint flourishing is at the basis of romantic profundity. Joint flourishing is at the center of the attitude of love, as love is concerned with being with the other in certain ways. The personal flourishing of each partner is implied in joint flourishing. Love is not merely, or even mainly, a crush, but rather the wish to flourish together with a flourishing partner for many years. In Aristotle's view, human flourishing is not a temporary state of superficial pleasure; it refers to a long period involving the fulfillment of the natural human capacities.

About two centuries ago when love began to be recognized as an essential element of marriage, the prevailing model of marriage accorded with the other-validated model. As the man was the main, and often the sole, provider, his satisfaction was essential for the continuation of the relationship. A century later, when a greater percentage of women began to work and earn outside the home, the rate of divorce increased by a similar percentage. For those women, the partner's validation was of lesser concern. When the percentage of women going to work continued to increase considerably, the issue of individual flourishing became more significant, and since then the self-validated model has become more widespread.

When personal flourishing is at the center of the romantic relationship and marriage, the geographical closeness to the partner becomes of less importance. Moreover, very close geographical proximity to the partner may in many circumstances impede, rather than nurture, personal flourishing. It certainly does so when love is not profound.

Personal flourishing is indeed more evident in commuter marriages. Thus, commuter couples with dual careers are more satisfied with their work than are dual-career, single-residence couples. Karla Mason Bergen (2006) argues that many commuter wives describe their marriage as "the best of all worlds"; others describe it as "torn between two worlds." It is the best of all worlds as the wives are both independent and interdependent; they take advantage of opportunities for personal fulfillment, while still keeping their marriages intact. They are torn between two worlds, as their life is actually taking place in these two different environments. It should be noted that these commuter wives did not describe their experience as "the worst of all worlds." They framed the commuting arrangement as either positive or unproblematic for their husbands.

The romantic value of distant relationships

“Relationship at a distance can do things for the heart that a closer, day-to-day companionship cannot.” Thomas Moore

Having established that distant relationships can enhance personal flourishing, I turn to examine whether they can also enhance the romantic value of the relationship. I will do so by referring to Sternberg's three basic components of romantic love: intimacy, commitment and passion.

Generally speaking, intimacy is greater in long-distance relationships than in geographically-close relationships. Results of several studies indicate that communication in long-distance dating is more intimate, more positive, and less contentious than in geographically close dating. Long-distance couples report more intimate talk and activities. Openness and positivity—two strategies that may involve intimate self-disclosure—are the most frequently observed strategies in their communication, and these significantly contribute to relationship stability and satisfaction. All these types of behavior ultimately lead to greater intimacy (Jiang & Hancock, 2013).

The higher-levels of intimacy mentioned here refer to an average measure and there are romantic circumstances in which intimacy is higher in geographically close relationships as they have more frequent face-to-face communication. This is particularly true in the case of profound love.

Commitment and trust are important in all romantic relationships, but in long-distance relationships they have greater significance as there are more opportunities for events to occur that could threaten the commitment. Indeed, Laura Stafford (2005) argues that long-distance romantic couples (including both dating and married couples) generally enjoy equal or even higher levels of stability, satisfaction, commitment and trust than in comparable geographically closer couples. Whereas in geographically close relationships co-residence is perceived essential to the romantic relationship, in commuter marriage it is commitment rather than co-residence that is more important. The greater personal space typical of distant relationships does not necessarily involve sexual freedom. Indeed, the romantic commitment in commuter marriage is high and accordingly the percentage of extramarital affairs is similar to that of standard marriages. Divorce rates also appear to be similar.

Laura, a divorcee in her early forties, said that when she and her former husband lived in a commuting marriage, “I felt good about having my own personal space so I did not have extramarital affairs. After eleven years of marriage, when we moved with our three girls to a house of our own and I stayed in the house every day, I felt that my personal space and freedom were being violated by my husband and as if I was in captivity; at that time I began to have affairs.”

There is no clear empirical evidence concerning whether passion, which is expressed in sexual desire, is more or less intense in distant relationships. There are conflicting considerations on this issue. On the one hand, such relationships often provide a kind of change that may stimulate greater sexual intensity within the relationship. On the other hand, the limited time frame in which the sexual activities occur can be a stressful factor, as there is less opportunity for the couple to relax together and take their time. Moreover, if the sex is unsatisfactory, there may not be a chance during that visit to take it easy and try again, and the partners may have to go their separate ways feeling frustrated or disappointed until their next visit. Generally, even if there are moments of greater sexual intensity, the overall satisfaction from sex is unlikely to be higher and it may in fact be lower in comparison to co-residing couples' sexual satisfaction.

There is then a general correlation between personal flourishing and the romantic value of the relationship. This is understandable in light of the central place that intimate romantic relationships have in our life. However, this correlation is not perfect. Sometimes when love is very intense it may hinder the person from concentrating on her work, thereby reducing her overall personal flourishing. Such a phenomenon, which is typical at the beginning of a relationship, does not usually last for a long time. In the long run, profound love increases positive emotions and the energies of the lover, who typically experiences a calm-energy state that is ideal for personal flourishing.

Concluding remarks

"Absence diminishes mediocre passions and increases great ones, as the wind extinguishes candles and fans fires." François de La Rochefoucauld

Determining the optimal geographical and temporal distance is crucial for personal and joint flourishing. In contrast to the romantic ideal of unity and fused identity, being too close to the beloved may, in some circumstances, decrease love. Some kind of distance, providing a greater personal space and enabling greater personal flourishing, is essential for profound love. Significant physical distance may harm the relationship; however, a more limited distance may be beneficial.

Personal flourishing is central to profound love, but there are various ways to achieve it. Distant relationships are one such manner, which for many couples suits their lifestyles and helps their relationships. Of course, it is not beneficial for all people in all circumstances. Thus, it may be good for a certain period in one's life, but when people get older and their relationship satisfaction derives more from calmness, rather than excitement, a distant relationship may be of lesser value. There are also other ways to achieve and ensure your personal space that are less expensive and more convenient.

Distant relationships involving profound love are a growing phenomenon that more and more people find useful. It seems then that (geographical) distance might indeed be the new (romantic) closeness, though it does not eliminate the value of other types of romantic closeness.


http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/tech-support/201402/five-questions-ask-yourself-you-quit

[Calz]

I love this song ... if I have to post it 50 times when it fits then so be it ...

(bearing in mind I have been happily married for ... 18 years next week)


MQcPB1WkISI

[gripreaper]

OK, I'm a sucker for love ballads. A good way to start off this thread.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Kqjqx9AZYY


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ktRsl2hAPhY


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cx-UP1Pa-Ao

[chocolate]

And a special treat for other friends, with kittens, all over the globe :),
24910
for, you know that Love has no boundaries/ ways of expression/ borders/ limits!

Next thing you know, I will start posting buildings here...
That is why ->
Thank you all for the music! :note:

24911

[Amysenthia]

I love you for bringing in up!! Love is that which will save us!!!???

[Wind]

How magnificent love is, it transcends all boundaries. Just let it flow ...

UNOPyUdLZPk
XpqqjU7u5Yc
http://www.desibucket.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/Love-Is-Like-The-Wind.jpg

Just my two cents... With love, as always.

[chocolate]

Here is a quick real-life story to reply to Amysenthia:

Some time ago I worked on a project with one very cool gentlemen. He had two daughters, whom he (probably) loves very much. They happened to visit him while he was still busy with the work.
Because he didn't want to wear glasses (sometimes even cool, sexy men go with their slight degrees of vanity), it could happen that when writing a text message on his phone, he would send it to the wrong person.
That is how one afternoon I received the following message:
'I love you so much!', than in about 5 minutes-> 'oops, sorry [Chocolate], wrong person' ...
hm...
But because Love knows no limits!, I replied soon after :
'No worries, I love you too!'
[have in mind he was my boss at the time].
(few days after he explained that the note was intended for one of his daughters)

:)


...love is one of the sweetest illusions...

[Agape]

There's no cure, no cure , no cure ... :cry::cry::cry: It goes like that : to tunes of 'London bridge is falling down ..' .

http://i290.photobucket.com/albums/ll256/PaldenLhamo/3276552993_4780fc6a49_z_zps43b1d1ab.jpg (http://s290.photobucket.com/user/PaldenLhamo/media/3276552993_4780fc6a49_z_zps43b1d1ab.jpg.html)

X'cept for M&Ms.

[sandy]

Forget about a cure for Love>>>>>>>I say bring it on and on and on and on, <3 you all :)

[giovonni]

Great post Chocolate … but I thought Chocolate was actually the cure for love … ;)

http://files.myopera.com/tdjmd1/blog/chocolate-love-1-02.jpg

i will second that ...

"My Alien Valentine"


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hdqrwNFh2G0

[Cristian]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UAOxCqSxRD0

[chocolate]

Cristian! Your video made me blush...
:grouphug:

!
WpmILPAcRQo

[chocolate]

So, as Agape and dianna already suggested, a very appropriate for today, the all new Mustang 2015 out of ... guess what:
TSAdjGGhfwo

:)

[Cristian]

Research suggests that when it comes to managing a platonic relationship, men really don't "get it" and are far more likely to want more than just friendship.



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gSqqQSxOVLM

:P

[Sérénité]

Love is Never inappropriate...and in my experience, neither is Chocolate ;)
Anyway, this is how it goes down in my house, I also dedicate this to Avalon too :)


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zsmUOdmm02A

[Cristian]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qwprrAEL9-E

[chocolate]

I also don't really get the 'platonic' relationships.
The idea of staying in one place all the time seems unnatural to me. But than I guess I am a rare bird in the flock.

rYEDA3JcQqw
:P

[chocolate]

dedicated to all gentle male souls out there:

My heart is her home
https://fbcdn-sphotos-e-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-frc3/t1/1922202_714874688552591_1966368438_n.jpg
art: Alexsey Usovich

[ulli]

https://fbcdn-sphotos-e-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-prn2/t1/1780906_719721771386437_1393593834_n.jpg

[Cristian]

The smoothest milk chocolate kiss :flame:

http://files.coloribus.com/files/adsarchive/part_1294/12949405/file/chocolate-kiss-small-17014.jpg

[chocolate]

Coffee Kiss
http://fc05.deviantart.net/fs70/f/2013/057/7/e/coffee_kiss_by_dreamarian-d5wbrpw.jpg

from http://dreamarian.deviantart.com/gallery/

[chocolate]

ON DANGEROUS GROUND
BWPwLHu5jEw

[Cristian]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fUis9yny_lI

[sirdipswitch]

HAPPY VALENTINES DAY!!! Bah hum bug... not... sad valentines day... for at one time, I did have one... for 21 years. yep.

Here is a sample of my thinking of the day...

Y8raabzZNqw

b6zZts7HPDg

Then along came womens lib, and someone told her I wasn't God. We parted. 22 years ago. I never remarried. Today I have my facebook account because my son is always posting pictures... sometimes he includes one or two... of Mom. Still as beautifull as the very first day we met. Yes... I had a Valentine.

[observer]

As many of the members are already aware, I'm no fan of the social networking threads.

I see them as diversions that tend to push the important threads off the main board so that those who are here to really get to the depths of the rabbit hole never really get a chance to see what is being offered.

Some of us have real jobs and have little time to search-through the endless pages of social networking to get to the real revelations.

With that said, I'm making this exception to make a social comment to a very special friend - she sees it all very much differently than I.

When speaking of a "cure for love", one must consult The Master Poet on the subject:


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Os0Wg7ATNFk

Sorry for the rant, chocolate, but we all have opinions that need expressing....

[chocolate]

I forgot to say that this is an Open and Safe SPACE for anyone to post

Observer, your point is well received.

It may appear, sometimes, that the real point may become obscured by the details down the road.
And being an 'owl'-type of a person, it may appear that the real message in my words is not what it seems.


With that said, I wish everyone a day full of LOVE!

[ulli]

https://fbcdn-sphotos-b-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-ash3/t1/1619190_617648504973970_1555127352_n.jpg

[ulli]

As many of the members are already aware, I'm no fan of the social networking threads.

I see them as diversions that tend to push the important threads off the main board so that those who are here to really get to the depths of the rabbit hole never really get a chance to see what is being offered.

Some of us have real jobs and have little time to search-through the endless pages of social networking to get to the real revelations.

With that said, I'm making this exception to make a social comment to a very special friend - she sees it all very much differently than I.

When speaking of a "cure for love", one must consult The Master Poet on the subject:


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Os0Wg7ATNFk

Sorry for the rant, chocolate, but we all have opinions that need expressing....

I honestly believe you ought to take this issue up with Bill Ryan, since he is the final authority on what this forum is all about.
Perhaps he can then reassure you that all others who are not using it for their "research" will soon be silenced by the moderator team.

FYI, some of us have been traveling through the vastness of space, including other dimensions,
met various ET races, and still found ourselves in 3D afterwards. Life goes on.

These social networking threads you find so distracting can also be put on "ignore",
if you don't see any use for them.
Which is a pity, by the way...

To lighten up and relax with like-minded souls is a valuable part of consciousness expansion
and who is to say that cosmic consciousness is not a worthy goal.

[chocolate]

http://powerofh.files.wordpress.com/2012/10/parablev4.jpg

[chocolate]

I will have to probably make my intention a bit more clear.

The thread was created for everyone to express what he or she feels, regarding LOVE or not. We have become all too focused, may be, on a final goal, or on a seemingly important looking side of the overall picture, and some may have decided that it is way too important to become accepted rather than to express what is inside of them.

I used the theme of LOVE, having in mind that during specific celebrations we tend to step back and fold away our feelings for various reasons.

I am really glad I created an opportunity for people to come and express something of importance, to them, mostly. People who usually avoid such expressions in their normal everyday life.

I, myself, am not willing to give away my right to be who I am. And I give everyone the opportunity to do the same, whenever and wherever I can.

I was preoccupied with something else and did not manage to tell observer that 'I see' his point of view.

Because life does not consist of pleasing/ condemning/ avoiding/ mocking/ ... others. It is a bit bigger than any single person. But what hold us all 'entangled' are the rare moments of "Feeling the love", literary and figuratively.

[chocolate]

http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Q_rkPh3cVZo/T2SeN0IlUBI/AAAAAAAAB14/uBwR1fF73P8/s1600/25351_10150139609210106_696315105_11488036_2235878_n.jpg
Art by Cameron Grey

[Camilo]

the trick is just to learn to feel it and let it be, instead of "wanting" something out of it.

[Cristian]

http://fc01.deviantart.net/fs71/f/2013/008/3/e/avatar___kiss_by_the_evil_legacy-d5qvj60.jpg

[dan33]

:)


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iLjyAkOrEfQ

[Milneman]

CpxQyLdCdik

[Mercedes]

Thank you for this thread, and a nice feeling good moment: <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3

[chocolate]

https://fbcdn-sphotos-a-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-prn1/t1/1620845_734848536535582_1013034417_n.jpg

[Cristian]

http://katarinavelika.files.wordpress.com/2011/05/eternal-sunshine-of-the-spotless-mind.jpg

[chocolate]

Love, no matter what A TED talk
http://www.ted.com/talks/andrew_solomon_love_no_matter_what.html

¤=[Post Update]=¤

Why Chocolate And Roses? The Origins And History Of Valentine’s Day
http://govtslaves.info/chocolate-roses-origins-history-valentines-day/

http://res.cloudinary.com/govtslaves-info/image/upload/v1392364513/Lupercalia-statue-by-Conrad-Dressler_ln4ofm.jpg


Valentine’s Day is here again. And, with it, come the ads for roses, chocolate and other goodies. Why do we celebrate love on the 14th of February? Why do we give our lovers flowers and candy? It’s a tradition that goes back to our pagan past but the modern world has added a lot of expectations to the holiday.

The origins of Valentine’s Day
While the holiday, as we now know it, is named for a Catholic saint, its origins go back much further than Catholicism. It’s important to understand the months of the year — and how they got their names– to find the roots of Valentine’s Day.

February was known, in ancient Rome, as Februatio. The name comes from Juno Februtis, an aspect of Juno as fertility goddess. It was the month of the purification festival, as it was the last month of the year on their calendar. This was deemed an apt time to shed the old, the bad, the stale in preparation for the new year that began with the spring. There were numerous festivals during the month, the most important of which was the Lupercalia.

Lupercalia was very popular. The 15th day was dedicated to the purification of Rome itself and the city’s fertility for the year. The festivities were held on the Palatine Hill, where Rome was said to have been founded by Romulus and Remus. In the cave where the she-wolf was said to have suckled the duo, a sacrifice was made of goats and a dog. The goat skins were made into loincloths and whips were made of them, as well. Young men would dress in the loincloths, then run around the city’s boundaries with the whips, whipping people who came near. This was believed to drive away ill luck and bring fertility. Women who hoped to get pregnant would make sure that they were struck. Of course, the whipping was gentle: no need to draw blood, as it was a symbolic strike.

Christianity finds a way to absorb the ancient festivals.
Who was St. Valentine? That’s not entirely clear. One story says that he lived during the time of Claudius II, who banned marriages to prevent so many young men avoiding the draft. A priest named Valentinus performed secret marriages and was sentenced to death. While he was awaiting execution, young lovers sent him notes of support. These were the first Valentines.

Or a Valentinus was jailed for the same offense and fell in love with the jailer’s daughter. He would write her notes from “your Valentine.” He was beheaded and buried on the Via Flaminia, where Pope Julius I later built a basilica. Or he was yet another Valentinus, a bishop of Terni, who was caught performing marriages and executed. Take your pick, they’re all likely apocryphal.

That didn’t matter to the emperor Gelasius who, in 469 CE, declared February 14th a holy day to honor one of the Valentinus’, in order to bury memories of the gods who had been honored onLupercalia. It worked, and Christianity absorbed yet another pagan holiday. Now the day was celebrated by honoring St. Valentine and choosing the names of martyred saints out of a box. That saint was then honored with votives and prayers.

A Renaissance for Valentine’s Day.
In the 14th century, Valentine’s Day became associated with love and romance, where before it had been about faith. The Renaissance brought a rebirth of humanistic thought which colored art and literature. It was not much of a leap to reconnect the spring to fertility, love and romance. Geoffrey Chaucer wrote in his Parliament of Foules:

For this was sent on Seynt Valentyne’s day
Whan every foul cometh ther to choose his mate.

So the 14th of February became the day for lovers rather than martyrs (though sometimes the two meet, but we won’t go there). It became common to send love letters and sing ballads to one’s beloved. The 15th century diarist, Samuel Pepys, described elaborate gift-giving among the London elite on Valentine’s Day.

¤=[Post Update]=¤

A Benign Indulgence: Rustic Mayan Chocolate Truffles :)

http://nourishedkitchen.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/mayan-chocolate-truffles-31.jpg


Mayan chocolate, bitter and sexy, with its resonant flavors of cinnamon and chili always reminds me not of Mexico, but of Amsterdam. It was in that cold and wet city that my husband and I tied the knot to the bells of the Oude Kerk six years ago. We’re not much for fanfare, we two. And while we’d planned the trip for months, it was only in the three days before we left that we decided to make the Valentine’s getaway a honeymoon. A trip to the county clerk for our $10 marriage license, $165 on eBay for our wedding rings, and we were set. No satin dresses, no expensive flowers, no wedding invitations. Just us, in love. We were young and poor and passionate (and, I imagine, you could say that not much has changed since then). We rented an apartment in de Wallen – one of the city’s oldest sections in which stunning architecture and history combine with Amsterdam’s most well-known indulgences: coffee shops and the red light district.

Read more: http://nourishedkitchen.com/mayan-chocolate-truffles/

[Cristian]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HAv7OiwqINc

[chocolate]

ZvU4avrnuGI

I would like for people to advance on their ways without fearing about how they are going to be perceived, or if they are going to be accepted.
I seriously thought about the situation, where at one point one can feel really not part of the forum as it stands right now.

I see people are still so afraid. They are afraid to speak, to like or dislike, to be part of social networking, whatever one might put in that whole internet agenda, to act with passion and with care; that they just don't do anything. Out of fear.

The whole term LOVE is overused and miss-interpreted so much that we don't even want to use the word anymore. Again, out of fear.

I definitely have felt that way.

There was a real person involved in the story I wrote on page 1, and that person was part of the forum at one point last year. But as with everyone, he had a clash with another's opinion, which made him withdraw. I am hoping this thread will do something to make him be not afraid of what or who he or she is, because we are all quite perfect and imperfect all at he the same time, and fear is just not leading us anywhere where it would be worth being.

I will leave the thread temporary until I start feeling the love for this forum again.

But! I hope people will start being less afraid and more 'In love". You can even use it, the thread, to come here and say 'I am sorry' to someone who you think you might have offended somewhere on the forum.

I will start with saying to blufire that I am sorry for one fiery post I did. She knows I do respect her, but sometimes fire takes over.
And a little bit to Carmody in one post I did some time ago.

I hope everyone will not be afraid to be-friend or un-friend me, if so inclined. Or to unsubscribe me, if that is the overview of the situation.
I don't identify myself with whatever and whomever, part or not of Project Avalon.

With time I hope we all will start feeling much less afraid. And that than all our actions will be so much more genuine and lead us forward to where we really want to go.

As Aragorn would put it,
Namaste, or I see the divinity in you!

Be in LOVE now!

:)

[chocolate]

This post is aimed at Tesla.
Be not afraid to come back! We need you. I need to read your posts!

:)

[chocolate]

VOWS of LOVE
Love on the Spectrum or Navigating Love and Autism
http://nyti.ms/1ficRC8


The first night they slept entwined on his futon, Jack Robison, 19, who had since childhood thought of himself as “not like the other humans,” regarded Kirsten Lindsmith with undisguised tenderness.

She was the only girl to have ever asked questions about his obsessive interests — chemistry, libertarian politics, the small drone aircraft he was building in his kitchen — as though she actually cared to hear his answer. To Jack, who has a form of autism called Asperger syndrome, her mind was uncannily like his. She was also, he thought, beautiful.

So far they had only cuddled; Jack, who had dropped out of high school but was acing organic chemistry in continuing education classes, had hopes for something more. Yet when she smiled at him the next morning, her lips seeking his, he turned away.

“I don’t really like kissing,” he said.

Kirsten, 18, a college freshman, drew back. If he knew she was disappointed, he showed no sign.

On that fall day in 2009, Kirsten did not know that someone as intelligent and articulate as Jack might be unable to read the feelings of others, or gauge the impact of his words. And only later would she recognize that her own lifelong troubles — bullying by students, anger from teachers and emotional meltdowns that she felt unable to control — were clues that she, too, occupied a spot on what is known as the autism spectrum.

But she found comfort in Jack’s forthrightness. If he did not always say what she wanted to hear, she knew that whatever he did say, he meant. As he dropped her off on campus that morning, she replayed in her head the e-mail he had sent the other day, describing their brief courtship with characteristic precision.

“Is this what love is, Kirsten?” he had asked.

Only since the mid-1990s have a group of socially impaired young people with otherwise normal intelligence and language development been recognized as the neurological cousins of nonverbal autistic children. Because they have a hard time grasping what another is feeling — a trait sometimes described as “mindblindness” — many assumed that those with such autism spectrum disorders were incapable of, or indifferent to, intimate relationships. Parents and teachers have focused instead on helping them with school, friendship and, more recently, the workplace.

Yet as they reach adulthood, the overarching quest of many in this first generation to be identified with Asperger syndrome is the same as many of their nonautistic peers: to find someone to love who will love them back.

The recent recognition that their social missteps arise from a neurological condition has lifted their romantic prospects, they say, allowing them to explain behavior once attributed to rudeness or a failure of character — and to ask for help. So has the recent proliferation of Web sites and forums where self-described “Aspies,” or “Aspergians,” trade dating tips and sometimes find actual dates. Lessons learned with the advent of social skills classes and therapies, typically intended to help them get jobs, are now being applied to the more treacherous work of forging intimacy.

The months that followed Jack and Kirsten’s first night together show how daunting it can be for the mindblind to achieve the kind of mutual understanding that so often eludes even nonautistic couples. But if the tendency to fixate on a narrow area of interest is sometimes considered a drawback, it may also explain one couple’s single-minded determination to keep trying.

A Meeting

Kirsten was first introduced to Jack in the fall of 2008 by her boyfriend at the time, who jumped up from their table at Rao’s Coffee in Amherst, Mass., to greet his friend, who was dressed uncharacteristically in a suit that hung from his lean frame.

Jack, it turned out, was on his way to court. A chemistry whiz, he had spent much of his adolescence teaching himself to make explosives and setting them off in the woods in experiments that he hoped would earn him a patent but that instead led the state police and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives to charge him with several counts of malicious explosion.

By the following spring, he would be cleared of all the charges and recruited by the director of the undergraduate chemistry program at the University of Massachusetts, who was impressed by a newspaper account of Jack’s home-built laboratory. Kirsten’s boyfriend, a popular Amherst High senior, had offered to serve as a character witness for his former classmate, and the three spent much time together that year.

The boyfriend told Kirsten that Jack had Asperger syndrome: his condition may have blinded him to the possibility that the explosions, which he recorded and posted on YouTube, could well be viewed by law enforcement authorities as anything other than the ambitious chemistry experiments he saw them.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/12/26/us/navigating-love-and-autism.html

[chocolate]

lEkJoMNFPEA

https://fbcdn-sphotos-c-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-prn2/t1/1896983_10151990950888721_1646058400_n.jpg

:)

[ulli]

If love needed a cure Im sure Pfizer or Novartis would have already come up with a pill by now.
As it is, they are coming up with cures for conditions which need everyone to learn to adapt to and make the most of...
Such as autism.
Love is the cure for autism...

[Cristian]

http://www.quotes99.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/Love-is-passion-obsession-someone-you.jpg

http://prayingforoneday.files.wordpress.com/2013/12/john-lennon-quote-on-hiding-love.jpg?w=549&h=337

http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-M2tXEmdwTRE/TyinClJrY9I/AAAAAAAABnM/5FZKLa9tklY/s1600/Susan%2Bconsiders%2BJoe.jpg

[chocolate]

https://fbcdn-sphotos-g-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-ash3/t31/1557415_642364405801536_1868267352_o.jpg

[chocolate]

You transform all who are touched by you.
https://fbcdn-sphotos-h-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-ash3/t1/1948002_10152290046743185_301558355_n.jpg

[chocolate]

"What is tenderness? To be tender is to accept the loved one's weaknesses."
Yann Dall'Aglio: Love -- you're doing it wrong
A TED talk
no wonder it is in French :) (with additional English subtitles)

http://www.ted.com/talks/yann_dall_aglio_love_you_re_doing_it_wrong.html?utm_medium=on.ted.com-static&utm_campaign=&utm_content=awesm-publisher&utm_source=facebook.com&awesm=on.ted.com_YannDallAglio

dJgiYBdD2VA

[chocolate]

Under the dog star sail
Over the reefs of moonshine
Under the skies of fall
North, north west, the Stones of Faroe

Under the Arctic fire
Over the seas of silence
Hauling on frozen ropes
For all my days remaining
But would north be true?

All colours bleed to red
Asleep on the ocean's bed
Drifting on empty seas
For all my days remaining

But would north be true?
Why should I?
Why should I cry for you?
Dark angels follow me
Over a godless sea
Mountains of endless falling,
For all my days remaining,

What would be true?

Sometimes I see your face,
The stars seem to lose their place
Why must I think of you?
Why must I?
Why should I?
Why should I cry for you?
Why would you want me to?
And what would it mean to say,
That, "I loved you in my fashion"?

What would be true?
Why should I?
Why should I cry for you?

8x3UV6o4TrY

[Cristian]

http://cutepicturesite.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/Cute_Picture_45.jpg

























:P

http://www.mediabistro.com/unbeige/files/2012/06/ILoveArchitecture.jpg

[dan33]

Years ago I met a woman who worked as a prostitute. I liked her so much that I decided to live with her. I thought ... "this situation is going to be HELLl. Did not I can take it." But I felt so much for her, that I take a step into the void. I was surprised not to be jealous while she worked. We were happy.
Later she flew away. We chat sometimes. ... and never forget her grey eyes.

Thanks Chocolate for the thread.

3T1c7GkzRQQ

[chocolate]

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51ISPaKVWeL.jpg
I just had this book flash across my eyes while reading dan33's post. There was a time when I needed to find that book, but instead it found me. I still have it in a paper format.

:)

dan, I always was able to recognize men with gentle spirit.

It is always worth it to make people go back to the time when we all have been young and innocent. In the best possible meaning of the word.

I will be around at least to feel that sense of touching people's hearts from time to time.
It is no fair to make me cry today! !!

[chocolate]

Love has no boundaries.
Today I felt like drinking some late coffee outside.
I got from the store a green coffee mug. It said it was made in Romania, and I just had to buy it.
I went outside with a tea mug full of coffee, and the wind blew softly, just enough to make the fragrance I sometimes put reach and battle its way with the aroma from the coffee in an attempt to be noticed.
While standing, back to the wall, inhaling deeply the air, I heard a strange loud 'meaw' coming from a strangely close distance. I looked around, but there was no cat to be seen. I stepped into the yard, and looked in the direction of the sound. I almost missed it.
One large black and white, I would assume male cat, was leisurely looking at me from the second level window.
And in the room inside our youngster lady cat was sleeping.

Love has no boundaries. Not even solid brick walls can stop it.

[chocolate]

44jUbUUOz0Y

[Cristian]

It's All Coming Back To Me Now...


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pDxoj-tDDIU

[Cristian]

http://www.classicalien.com/alien-love.jpg

[Wind]

The Tunnel of Love.

http://laughingsquid.com/wp-content/uploads/Beautiful-Train-Tree-Tunnel-1.jpg
http://laughingsquid.com/wp-content/uploads/tunnel2.jpg
http://laughingsquid.com/wp-content/uploads/tunnel3.jpg

[chocolate]

Thank you Wind!
You are also reading minds, because this morning I thought about posting exactly that sequence here.
I was not feeling very well and stayed out.

But, love is a very powerful thing :).

[chocolate]

Is Monogamy Natural to Us?
http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052702304104504579374872476645630?mod=e2fb


https://fbexternal-a.akamaihd.net/safe_image.php?d=AQDjfMzWOwbhVwEe&w=398&h=208&url=http%3A%2F%2Fsi.wsj.net%2Fpublic%2Fresources%2Fimages%2FBN-BN125_mindma_P_20140213134454.jpg&cfs=1


Are we humans actually monogamous by nature?

Our cultural landscape doesn't help much in answering that. We praise stable, devoted relationships, yet we are titillated and tempted by alternatives. A large percentage of marriages end in divorce, yet a far smaller percentage of married people get divorced—that is, our high divorce rate results disproportionately from serial divorcers.

Anthropology doesn't give a clear answer either. Historically, most cultures have allowed polygamy. But within such cultures, most people are monogamous. In the numerous cultures where polygamy is a function of wealth, there are no doubt many monogamous men who would be polygamous if they could buy more wives. And then, of course, there are the rare polyandrous cultures where one woman may have multiple husbands.

Other primates offer some insights into our human nature. Among the hundreds of primate species, some are polygamous (including our close relatives, chimps and baboons), and others monogamous (such as gibbons and marmosets). Each group has a different cluster of biological and behavioral traits.

Among polygamous primates, males typically spend much of their time competing for high rank in dominance hierarchies and for mating access to females. Males are far more aggressive, bigger, heavier and more muscular than females and have bigger canines—the better to slash an opponent with. Male baboons, for example, have twice the body weight and canine length of females. Such primates are often called, for good reason, "tournament" species.

Males in these species have higher metabolic rates and shorter life spans than females, and they basically put zero effort into caring for kids. In other words, all a female gets from a mate are his genes, and females select for males with good genes. This has led to the evolution of conspicuous, costly displays in males that advertise good genes. These features—flamboyant facial coloration, big capes of hair, silver backs—are the primate equivalents of the peacockery of peacocks (a classic polygamous species).


[...]


It turns out that we aren't monogamous or polygamous by nature. As everyone from poets to divorce attorneys can attest, we are by nature a profoundly confused species—somewhere in between.

[Journeyon]

Never a cure for love... How about the return to Love of the heart?

The return to love of the heart is a choice.
Love when your instinct is to defend.
Love when the other is projecting dark negatives at you.
Love when your feeling desperate.
Love when the world is falling apart beneath your feet.
Love when it's hard to choose love.

When one chooses to love when they are faced with an unloving situation a beautiful thing happens. I call it the strengthening of the love muscle.

I work in a middle school and am confronted by opinionated negative teenagers daily. As I started seeing each negative encounter as a call for love and acceptance it changed me and how I relate to the students. It is so much easier to love now.

Dropping judgment and surrendering your heart to love is the way to heal a wounded world.

Peace,
Journeyon

[chocolate]

[...]
Dropping judgment and surrendering your heart to love is the way to heal a wounded world.

Peace,
Journeyon

Thank you!

:)

I read sometime ago, that the world right now doesn't need more successful people, but more people who have love and understanding in their hearts to be able to restore the sense of love and understanding in others.

is3CPHzCg_w

[chocolate]

The Vibrational Way of Attracting Relationship Bliss
from http://www.loveorabove.com/blog/relatioship-bliss/?sr=21&cid=blog%2Frelatioship-bliss&aid=FB-SLS-blogpost&utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=FB-SLS-blogpost


Smile and laugh a lot
Learn to laugh at yourself, at the absurdities of life, at each others’ mistakes. So what if he backed the car into your bike? So what if she knocked your beer onto your laptop? Is it the end of the world? Is it worth fighting about? Really? Nobody is perfect so try not to let goof ups and blunders upset you.

Choose to see the best
Choose to see the best in each other, instead of settling into a pattern of seeing the worst. Why is it that people seem to focus in on each others’ quirky and annoying habits and traits? What happens is that once you zone in on one annoying habit, you unconsciously go on the lookout for other things that will annoy you – only because you've lowered your vibration. You can’t change people so don’t bother. Instead, change your perception of the habit or trait. Ask yourself why it bothers you. Ask yourself if there’s anything you can do about it. And if not, ask yourself why you feel you can’t accept it. You might just find that you CAN accept it after all. Add it to the list of things that make your partner interesting and unique!

Play
Too often we get caught up in work, kids and household chores and it’s easy to put the relationship on the back burner. Don’t do this! Make time to play together. Date each other. Make dates for sex, find a sport or hobby you both enjoy, go exploring together… just don’t get in the habit of plunking yourselves on the couch and watching TV every night. Boredom = relationship disaster. Play is fun, and fun is full of good feelings. Good feelings = high vibration!

Argue with respect
You’re both different, with different backgrounds and perspectives. Do your best to see things from your partner’s point of view so that you can more easily come to a happy resolution. To have productive arguments: no name-calling, no dredging up the past, no blaming, and no “you did” or “you should.” State your point calmly, lovingly, and with a resolution in mind, not the cheap thrill of revenge. Be sure not to “react” emotionally; give yourself a time out and when you’re calmer, “respond” with the goal in mind: happy resolution.

Be good partners
[...]
Respect and appreciate each other
[...]
Have your own life
[...]
Speak up
[...]
Don’t set expectations
[...]

You can always look to your body for answers if you don’t know what to do. Your mind/body/soul is one entity, not separate, and a lot of intuitive wisdom comes via physical cues. Listen to things like: insomnia, indigestion, cold sweats, pit in the stomach, tightness around the heart, lightness, heaviness, energy, fatigue… these can signal something else but they can also be directly related to your emotions.

Approach your relationship with the end result in mind – happiness and love – you’ll weather any storm and keep things humming along smoothly.


https://fbcdn-sphotos-g-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-ash3/t1/1907568_716298661743527_1168847585_n.jpg
:)

[chocolate]

For the most innocent among us (you know who you are!):
https://fbcdn-sphotos-d-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-frc1/t1/1959382_716211201752273_1312321215_n.jpg

[chocolate]

IlAD0FsfUyA

There is no place to be,
all places are filled
with Love.
Without Love would
anything have any savour?

Love is what joins
Love is what flows
Love is what counts
Love is what grows
Love is what's known.

Love is all around
Love is all about
Love is all we ask
Love is all we give
Love is all I have.

Love wants nothing
Love needs nothing
Love misses nothing
Love excludes nothing
Love is what this is all about.

Joining, flowing, counting,
growing, knowing
around, about
asking, giving, having
All is Love,
of that I have no doubt.

Love is like a dam. If you let that dripped through the gap of water trickle, then eventually it bursts the walls and comes a point where you can not control the elements. And when the walls will come tumbling down, love take possession of all. And then there is no worry about what is possible and what is not, and whether we can stop at a loved one. Love - it is to lose his temper.

[chocolate]

WiazGHg4Lyg

[chocolate]

Perhaps The Dreams Are Of Soulmates by Cameron Grey

http://ih0.redbubble.net/image.11330134.4148/flat,800x800,070,f.jpg

[Cristian]

http://designcollector.net/files/follow-me-to-11.jpg


Photographer Continues to Follow His Girlfriend Around The World (http://www.boredpanda.com/photographer-follows-his-girlfriend-around-the-world-murad-osmann-2/)

[dan33]

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51ISPaKVWeL.jpg
I just had this book flash across my eyes while reading dan33's post. There was a time when I needed to find that book, but instead it found me. I still have it in a paper format.

:)

dan, I always was able to recognize men with gentle spirit.

It is always worth it to make people go back to the time when we all have been young and innocent. In the best possible meaning of the word.

I will be around at least to feel that sense of touching people's hearts from time to time.
It is no fair to make me cry today! !!

I bought "Eleven Minutes" at that time. I had no strength to read it. So i gave to Victoria, my exgirlfriend, who understood my emotional situation. She liked very much.
Victoria is a master on Tarot, in all levels. She says the Most Important card is the High Priestess. But Jodorowsky is the MASTER.

http://www.biddytarot.com/cards/high_priestess.jpg

[Cristian]

http://serenitystreetnews.com/nov2012/twinflames1.jpg

[The Alley Cat]

Important thread chocolate.. you got a way of putting things on the table that impress in a real way.. or bring round what matters :)

Anyways a poem.. now 14 years laters.. somewhat bitter at the works behind the scene and an organic implant richer. It all matters not if you know what matters.. nothing is going to stop us finding a way !!

For you

There are nights here when an ancient light rules this landscape
when Ions seem to carry its light as if it was their sole purpose.
Afternoons when all goes lucid
and you'd swear the landscape had shifted axis,
and that something humming had entered the light.

Every year, come harvest moon, these nights return
each one more set to impress me, or it seems.
molecules brimmed until silly
yet strangely serene,
like emissaries, solemnly waiting for something to flat-line and
carry them home.
If there is anything here to define my being, this could be it, but then I might have lost it altogether.
It's uncertain.

Nights like these it is difficult to steer clear of you,
you seem inseparable from the light
and I get confused.

Maybe I am too impressionable.
Maybe it is this flat land and its generous sky that sends me to you.
Or maybe, it is that these ancient myths are carried so deep within us all
that it would be stranger yet, did I not.

[chocolate]

Thank you all for your love and kindness!

https://fbcdn-sphotos-g-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-ash3/t1/1604540_10152197702692731_1858048680_n.jpg https://fbcdn-sphotos-f-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-prn2/t1/1798444_717145424992184_300474625_n.jpg

[chocolate]

{Diary Free} Ice-Cream?
http://www.dailybitesblog.com/2013/05/21/snickerdoodle-ice-cream-dairy-free/
http://www.dailybitesblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/SnickerdoodleICE1.jpg

Is it the same as a {Love-Free} Marriage? :)

ZZZ6QB5TSfk

Yes, I think the cure for love should be a marriage!
:)

[Journeyon]

Thanks for this beautiful thread Chocolate and all the beautiful contributors.

This Is a perfect place to share one of my favorite musicians.

"Perhaps Love" by John Denver

Perhaps love is like a resting place
A shelter from the storm
It exists to give you comfort
It is there to keep you warm
And in those times of trouble
When you are most alone
The memory of love will bring you home

Perhaps love is like a window
Perhaps an open door
It invites you to come closer
It wants to show you more
And even if you lose yourself
And don't know what to do
The memory of love will see you through

Oh, love to some is like a cloud
To some as strong as steel
For some a way of living
For some a way to feel
And some say love is holding on
And some say letting go
And some say love is everything
And some say they don't know

Perhaps love is like the ocean
Full of conflict, full of pain
Like a fire when it's cold outside
Or thunder when it rains
If I should live forever
And all my dreams come true
My memories of love will be of you

c-5bMO4nMuk

Love to us all,
Journeyon

[Cristian]

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-zdjU8vmUjpM/TxleO3d1aMI/AAAAAAAAHCU/E_Sod4z3SIU/s1920/cats_sleeping_wallpaper.jpg

[Cristian]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=otAu5twqDpk

[chocolate]

http://trailers.apple.com/trailers/wb/thefountain/trailer1/images/trailer_bg.jpg

[budicca]

hSyM1WYZNVU
Spreading a lil love x

[chocolate]

:)

YLkkUfZ34BU
for Wind - Spirit of the Wind

[chocolate]

https://fbcdn-sphotos-f-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-frc1/t1/p370x247/1779851_10151866145051150_1515242866_n.png

[Wind]

:) for Wind - Spirit of the Wind

Thank you, I love it and this is for you.

http://oi61.tinypic.com/2n1yq0j.jpg

[chocolate]

:hungry:
I have some extra chocolate stashed somewhere around... <...searching...>

and soon after:

https://fbcdn-sphotos-e-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-frc1/t1/1960140_664859356904104_2065817532_n.jpg

[chocolate]

http://api.ning.com/files/8XZ9tNduvb1uFCH2iJxGkq1IQmgpQ3noG3AyfEWrwsWic8PmIsEzl0JLBt2sPIQklMztIOoEyzXAmSOHno2qrgr1kyc5PStF/kathykleindanmala9.jpg
https://www.danmala.com/samudra/

[chocolate]

The Road to Here (NOW!)
Qb1GbRgaWzY

http://static.dezeen.com/uploads/2014/02/SOM-completes-Mumbai-airport-terminal-with-coffered-concrete-canopy_dezeen_ss_1.jpg
http://www.dezeen.com/2014/02/20/chhatrapati-shivaji-airport-terminal-mumbai-som/

[chocolate]

http://i.huffpost.com/gen/1630547/original.jpg
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/02/20/ludovic-florent_n_4811155.html?utm_hp_ref=arts

[heyokah]

?

20th of February.

Oooops, I thought this was an off-topic Valentine thread.

But no, it's a thread in the General Discussion section. Discussing......?

[Cristian]

How can a thread about love ever be off topic?:wacko2:

http://lthomason.files.wordpress.com/2011/09/ocean-kisses.jpg

[chocolate]

?

20th of February.

Oooops, I thought this was an off-topic Valentine thread.

But no, it's a thread in the General Discussion section. Discussing......?

I don't remember mentioning Valentine's day as a topic of the thread, but all are welcome to translate it in whichever way they feel it to be! :)

[chocolate]

Heyokah and observer, :)!

As far as where this thread 'needs' to be or 'needs' to go, I will leave this to
Ilie Pandia,
Bill Ryan,
or anyone else who decides to take an executive action if they feel it serves no purpose.

I personally don't need the thread, but I do sense that everyone else does.

And make no mistake, this is not a dialog between me and Cristian. We seem to be getting along without the need of much words, written or otherwise.

The interesting bit is that I woke up this morning with a certain long post in mind that I feel will be quite valuable to read, if one is inclined to listen without the need to necessarily reply.

I'll save it for another time, may be.


I know how the story ends, at least my story which is the only thing we do have in common here.
I know who is in control of the hologram :)!, but you'll not like what I have to say.
And I know how to change this whole situation around, something that Bill has been trying to do, for he feels it is a responsibility we all have toward one-another and this existence we call life right now.


But of course I can't guarantee the answers that you will find here are going to satisfy your needs.

:)

I will use a quote which describes the situation with me quite nicely:

https://fbcdn-sphotos-c-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-prn2/t1/1377317_10152292525293185_353254646_n.jpg

Study me as much as you like, you will never know me, for I differ a hundred ways from what you see me to be. Put yourself behind my eyes, and see me as I see myself, for I have chosen to dwell in a place you cannot see.

Do as you will, that is your ultimate purpose.
Love as you will, for that is your only hope to move forward.

And when all understand that, than they can visit the HERE and NOW, where we will be waiting.

[chocolate]

And if you have made it thus far (they say when life gives you lemons... make yourself some lemonade), I have the excuse to post some more "Alan Watts" here:


WhOpuY8NO0A

"He sees everybody around looking dreadfully serious, looking as if they had a problem, looking as if the act of living were extremely difficult. But from his standpoint - the person's who had this experience - he feels that they look funny, that they don't understand that there isn't any problem at all. That he has seen, from where he stands, that the meaning of being alive is just being alive. That is to say, I look at the colour of your hair and the shape of your eyebrow, and I understand that that is the point. That's what we're all here for. And it's so plain, it's so obvious and so simple. And yet here is everybody rushing around in a great panic, as if it were necessary for them to achieve something beyond all that. And the funny thing is that they're not quite sure what it is, but they are devilishly intent upon it; after that thing. And so to the person in that state of consciousness, which I call mystical, that all seems very weird, very absurd. But it's not something that you criticize in an unkindly way. You don't say: 'Those damn fools! Those idiots!' You say: 'It's such a pity that they don't see it.'

:)

That was my last LOVE-related social-networking-post for today-> edited- for this thread!
[I sometimes wonder if we do indeed hear anyone, but our own 'thinking-s'.]

[chocolate]

A new day... with a different set of circumstances.

I'll keep adding here with the hope that someone will manage to find more pieces for his own puzzle.


Aren't we all hiding inside our own closets, some holding our hearts locked away:
uq83lU6nuS8

Yesterday, thanks to a new post on our social-networking space here ( :P ), I found a nice thread started, somehow related. I discovered it with a bit of a delay:
http://projectavalon.net/forum4/showthread.php?63207-Eros-Unredeemed


https://fbcdn-sphotos-a-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-prn2/t1/1897000_719329128107147_984997848_n.jpg

[chocolate]

I think it is worth a re-post:


I start to re-read Dieter Duhm's Eros Unredeemed again, and once again, it is like waking from sleep to recognize the true idiocy of our current situation when it comes to love, sex, and relationships. According to Duhm, our incapacity to bring our full consciousness and analytic intellect to this area imminently threatens our species and the biosphere with apocalyptic ruin -- and I agree with him. In New York City, full of so many incredibly brilliant and beautiful people, I feel like I am walking through a desert -- a wasteland of love, abandoned, forfeited, of puppets allowing themselves to be pulled on invisible strings...

"The progressive-dynamic sports shoe generation of today adorns itself with super-electronics and galactic hair styles, but in their hearts they still dream the same fairy-tale dreams of our grannies. The cars and the changes in fashion have become faster, but serious reflection on matters of love has not.

If today we want to create a transition from a period of violence to a new era of structural non-violence then we have to totally change our priorities. The same love and attention, the same conscientiousness and reliability, the same force of will and intelligence with which humans have thus far used to destroy each other must now be used to promote * love.

We can no longer confront the omnipotence of war with white doves and pious songs. Our latent fascination with war and destruction is too great, too sincere and too profound, whereas our ideas and images of peace have so far been much too weak, immature and half-hearted. Not until we have found something even much greater and more fascinating than warfare and power play will we be able to believe in the possibility of overcoming war on a global scale, and this something could well be sensual love based on friendship and solidarity and on a sincere, powerful, and erotic relationship between the sexes, in short, a true reunion of man and woman. The only kind of will power and intelligence which can enable us to thoroughly and permanently clear out the ancient martial nooks and crannies of the soul is one which is capable of creating the basic structures of a love-life without fear and violence. Human beings, who have sent space ships into outer space, will also be able to solve the problem of unredeemed Eros if they fully dedicate themselves to this task with all their will power and intelligence."

[...]

The same ideas that Duhm works through here are also discussed in another one of my favorite books, Pain, Sex, and Time by Gerald Heard -- though, writing in the 1940s, Heard was not able to fully perceive that the liberation of love, sexuality and Eros was also necessary for the evolutionary potential of humanity to be realized: He thought this energy needed to be channeled through new initiatory practices. "Modern man's incessant sexuality is not bestial: rather it is a psychic hemorrhage. He bleeds himself constantly because he fears mental apoplexy if he can find no way of releasing his huge store of nervous energy," Heard wrote. He noted that the tremendous force of the human sexual drive -- beyond anything we find in the animal kingdom -- suggested a surplus of extra evolutionary energy, which we will either consciously master, or it will destroy us.

[...]

The lack of trust that we find throughout our "civil"-ization has its source in the failure of men and women to be truthful with each other.[...]
"Faithfulness has nothing to do with a ban, with a vow, or with a contract. It is a concrete love relationship between two human beings. I am faithful to him because I love him. My love cannot depend on the condition that he should not go to bed with anyone else. If my partner is an attractive human specimen, then it is normal that others should desire him and that he should desire others.

[...]

"Humans will continue to butcher their environment, to destroy their fellow creatures, and vent their hatred on nature, as long as they do not achieve inner peace. And they will not find inner peace as long as they continue to rape love".

taken originally from here:
http://projectavalon.net/forum4/showthread.php?63207-Eros-Unredeemed&p=728233&viewfull=1#post728233

[Agape]

More Rumi quotes for you ...

http://www.higher-self-improvement.com/rumi-quotes.html#.UwjB-nmP5AM


“You think of yourself

as a citizen of the universe.

You think you belong

to this world of dust and matter.

Out of this dust

you have created a personal image,

and have forgotten

about the essence of your true origin.” --Hush, Don't Say Anything to God: Passionate Poems of Rumi



“People want you to be happy.

Don't keep serving them your pain!

If you could untie your wings

and free your soul of jealousy,

you and everyone around you

would fly up like doves.”



“Sit, be still, and listen,

because you're drunk

and we're at

the edge of the roof.”




;)

[chocolate]

Thank you, Agape!

I am trying to untie my wings. But after that I might fly away. I am taking you with me. :)

:kiss:

[Agape]

Thank you, Agape!

I am trying to untie my wings. But after that I might fly away. I am taking you with me. :)

:kiss:

Thanks Chocolate ...see you on the route to Quito ( or wherever in the clouds ). It may take some time .. but I miss the elevation..

:hug:

[chocolate]

https://fbcdn-sphotos-e-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-ash3/t1/1800242_10151877397866150_1615733140_n.jpg
I had a dream some time ago.
I was standing next to the house, and the air was very light. I inhaled the air deep in my body and I started to rise up. With time I noticed I was high above everything, and the feeling was amazing, as if I had become lighter than the air.
And because everyone gets to chuckle when there are dreams with people experiencing flying, ... no, not that type of a dream. chuckl chuckl

When I woke up I still had that feeling of lightness for a while.

:)

[chocolate]

"Stories can punch holes in our mental walls. And through those holes, we can get a glimpse of the other, and sometimes even like what we see."

And, probably, a word of warning (very appropriate for us here) :
Living in circles could be dangerous.

Zq7QPnqLoUk

:)

[chocolate]

This should be titled: I love you and dogs

https://fbcdn-sphotos-f-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-frc1/t1/1902783_667216143335092_501356391_n.jpg
H. Cartier Bresson
Casal em Paris, 1968

[chocolate]

"Come, let us all be friends for once
Let us make life easy on us,
Let us be lovers and loved ones,
The earth shall be left to no one."
Rumi

Edited to add (thank you Carmody) --
7-41xQ8ki1Y

[Cristian]

http://images2.layoutsparks.com/1/197782/angels-love-brown-finish.jpg

[dan33]

This should be titled: I love you and dogs

https://fbcdn-sphotos-f-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-frc1/t1/1902783_667216143335092_501356391_n.jpg
H. Cartier Bresson
Casal em Paris, 1968

http://i2.wp.com/news.usni.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/kissing.jpeg

...and the same picture in another time line

from 0:57 to 1:15

aVUDdQS2UxA

[Chester]

Various definitions of "love" can be put forth - here is one to chew on.

Love = the state that is 100% understanding of all and from which true compassion comes forth which subsequently enfolds all within one's ongoing experience.

A high form of expression of true love is when we allow another to walk out the door if they so desire or that we close the door when we see what we've got is harmful to the other and/or ourselves. That a situation could reach this point is an indication that what may have been perceived as love was actually possession.

Love and lust have zero to do with each other though... within the physical realm segment of the matrix, voraciously lustful sex with one you love is wonderfully incredible.

It is the possessive impulse that so often follows where all the trouble starts.

_5IVuN1N6-Y

[chocolate]

justone, I am chewing.
:) still chewing... :agree:

~~~

edited: I am searching still ... okay, found it.
Today LOVE looks like this:
https://fbcdn-sphotos-h-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-prn1/t1/1939848_713755165325389_1005987765_n.jpg

[chocolate]

The kissing sailor!!!
I think I may have read a book with that subject in mind.
Here are two articles:
World War II 'Kissing Sailor' visits giant 25-foot sculpture of iconic photo 68 years after going on Times Square kissing binge
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2508099/World-War-II-Kissing-Sailor-visits-giant-25-foot-sculpture-iconic-photo-68-years-going-Times-Square-kissing-binge.html
Unconditional Surrender! Quite appropriate :)
http://www.wtsp.com/news/topstories/article/344688/250/Famous-WWII-Kissing-Sailor-photo-reunites-sailors-from-the-photo

:)

[The Alley Cat]

http://images2.layoutsparks.com/1/197782/angels-love-brown-finish.jpg

Strong picture Cristian.. x

[The Alley Cat]

.. and chewing too justone :)

[The Alley Cat]

Hahaha.. for you chocolate.. owl wisperer.. thanks for bringing me lot's of smiles :) x


http://www.wimp.com/owlcat/

It's all in the brewing of it ;) x

[dan33]

Hahaha.. for you chocolate.. owl wisperer.. thanks for bringing me lot's of smiles :) x


http://www.wimp.com/owlcat/

It's all in the brewing of it ;) x

The Cat and the Owl speaks catalan.... ??? :)

Thanks, Alley Cat!!

[The Alley Cat]

Hahaha.. for you chocolate.. owl wisperer.. thanks for bringing me lot's of smiles :) x


http://www.wimp.com/owlcat/

It's all in the brewing of it ;) x

The Cat and the Owl speaks catalan.... ??? :)

Thanks, Alley Cat!!

Haha .. did actually think of you with the song being Spanish..

Found him in the original not as funny without them two but.. Catalan.. for sure :)


Oops bad link.. got you this instead.. for the brewing then ;)


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PQc8B2HvYkU



Lot's of love x

[The Alley Cat]

Needless to say I can't differentiate between Spanish and Catalan :) x

[chocolate]

I wanted to share with you:
http://statesofgrace.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/LOVE_TOMORROW.jpg
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1773554/?ref_=nv_sr_1

I am watching it online right now. You can find it here:
http://vodly.unblocked.co/watch-2744681-Love-Tomorrow

I know it sounds a bit cheesy considering..., but it is actually very naturally-paced story. English-made.

The Alley Cat, your cat-owl video was fantastic, thank you! I am with you with the Spanish-Catalan.

[The Alley Cat]

I wanted to share with you:
http://statesofgrace.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/LOVE_TOMORROW.jpg
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1773554/?ref_=nv_sr_1

I am watching it online right now. You can find it here:
http://vodly.unblocked.co/watch-2744681-Love-Tomorrow

I know it sounds a bit cheesy considering..., but it is actually very naturally-paced story. English-made.

The Alley Cat, your cat-owl video was fantastic, thank you! I am with you with the Spanish-Catalan.

:) Can't be worst than mine understanding of it.. actually thought I was on spot finding a video with tea.. mystical tea.. not so.. it means L'andreu has mystical powers at a closer look.. not far away though.. it still might be because of the tea.. :confused:

[chocolate]

This is how it feels today:
https://fbcdn-sphotos-d-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-ash3/t1/1969373_721501984556528_188288018_n.jpg
A different perspective

People should try it, it is quite refreshing.

Dan, as I have promised, I started learning Spanish.
I will leave it to you to explain the specifics of Catalan.
So far, both are as Chinese to me.

[chocolate]

https://fbcdn-sphotos-b-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-frc3/t1/1660763_714385118595727_976350665_n.jpg

[Cristian]

http://love.mopays.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/kiss-Couple-Couples-Love-Unique-pic-neck-NicePics-arena-pary-erotycznie-kisses-Neck-Kiss_large.jpg

:baby:

[chocolate]

Oh, good.
This made me laugh out loud. I can barely type. Thank you. :)

You killed everything innocent in me. I think we might be outed shortly, not that it would matter much, but too much truth can be dangerous.

:jester:

[chocolate]

https://fbcdn-sphotos-h-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-frc3/t1/1902727_819205298094798_1871324600_n.jpg
How about that for a love post!

the problem is I personally have no home, but I have a heart. It will have to do for now.

Dan33, share some vibes, I mean, share some music. We are the only ones left in the house.

[Cristian]

http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_mdkiakJMce1rgjzpto1_500.gif

[chocolate]

Hm... :o ...okay :)
I have to think of something wise and 'cooling' right now. Good think I just come back from a run, so don't have the necessary powers to get to tune in.

9jwuYoXTftM
you should listen to it while looking at your screen. :rolleyes:

[dan33]

LGs_vGt0MY8

[chocolate]

LGs_vGt0MY8

:note: This was AMAZING!!! Thank you! :note: :note: :note:

[Cristian]

Here and now...dreaming of building sand castles ...

http://www.aaagiclee.com/galleria/images/RT0165%20P1216%20sandcastleWEB.jpg

[chocolate]

:)

jz7IjXu0DfQ

[chocolate]

http://www.ohmy-creative.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/IMG_78451.jpg

[Cristian]

http://www.eucultra.gimn-popovo.com/traditions/legends/martenitsa.jpg

[giovonni]

... pain ...

Joe Hisaishi

Tunnel of Wind


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zlrwJjnkpSw

[chocolate]

https://fbcdn-sphotos-c-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-prn2/t1/1912097_676982315673871_944822419_n.jpg

[giovonni]

It has been said ...

That some doors are better left unopened ... But one often doesn't realize it until they're on the other side ...
For the door to real Love has no retreat ...

[chocolate]

I still love you Gio, because I know, but every once in a while things happen.

I am taking my attention off the forum for a while.
If anyone feels compelled to share here, please do. I will be reading. :)

I think I found the cure for love. It is called reality or life, whichever sounds tastier.

Thank you everyone who shared.

~~~

[dan33]

http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_Atz9BgFZUGs/TMUIG33FSOI/AAAAAAAAANg/D1G3B1vdQVI/s1600/3+Merry+Christmas+Mr+Lawrence.jpg

x1YkHJJi-tc

[giovonni]

Love Ya Dan :hug:

The Cure - Love Song


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fgjVrBatu2I

[The Alley Cat]

Love Ya Dan :hug:

The Cure - Love Song


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fgjVrBatu2I

Grinning cat now.. thanks for cure Gio.. here comes my favourite cure song :)


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=60SmXXb5NXg

Lots of love to all.. what a last few days.. phew!! x

[meeradas]

... considering the OP, and what this thread has turned into, wondering how no-one came up with this [or did i miss it]:

2zrYw8ZD7s0

[The Alley Cat]

.. the hunt.. this lady, Azam Ali, and one that I'm always returning to. Not sure but I think there's something similar in the melody setting of the old middle east songs she's keen on interpreting and Scandinavian tunes that always have a free passages in me.. no translation needed kind of. Anyways today I recieved a book about a Chinese instrument dating back some millennia called Qin, I haven't read it yet but it came with a cd reconstructing some of the old melodies and it literally blew my knickers off the way it had such a clear blues composition in melody, If you've heard Robert Johnsons work you'll know what I mean. Thinking about how universally sonic we are.. distance and time means not much x


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pEeUEntf3g0

Here she does an old Swedish folksong for bag pipes..


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R2XaJzKETxU

[The Alley Cat]

... considering the OP, and what this thread has turned into, wondering how no-one came up with this [or did i miss it]:

2zrYw8ZD7s0

How could I have forgotten tis ;) x

[chocolate]

Helen Fisher: Why we love ...
x-ewvCNguug

[chocolate]

http://images.elephantjournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/12/474px-The_Velveteen_Rabbit_pg_25.jpg

A children’s story about becoming real

The Velveteen Rabbit, written by Margery Williams, is about a stuffed rabbit who is neglected, then loved and then discarded by unavoidable pains of life. And just before the rabbit is to be burned and destroyed, he is instead made real because he has been loved.

The velveteen rabbit remained hopeful, a dreamer and sensitive to life.

Even though the rabbit was so well loved that he had holes, patches and a button to replace his missing eye, the wearing out was from being thoroughly loved. And when it comes to intimate relationships, the trials, tribulations and shadow side of love have the most powerful opportunities to alter who a person is.

When a heart is broken, one can permanently shatter like Humpty Dumpty, or become soft and more real, altered and not broken.

The irony of a intimate love is that the person who was once so beautiful and attractive becomes a source of pain. Yet only when we are cheated on, abandoned, taken advantage of, abused, betrayed, judged, blamed and neglected do we have the opportunity to become real, to see the full scope of life and the entire depth of love.

Ideally, the person we are with will treat us with love, but in reality most of us are still seeking and discovering what love is. People who do not know love, will not act or be loving, to others or themselves.

Every loving relationship has the full scope of life.

How people respond to painful events reveals their qualities of soul. And only when we are hurt is there the potential to deepen the sensitivities and understanding of the people we love—our own self included. It is rare for a person who loves us to be deliberate in causing pain. Normally, the people who we love and hurt us do so because they are dwelling in a personal hell and cause harm unintentionally.

Often times, the pain people inflict on the ones closest to them is the exact pain they inflict on themselves internally, at the deepest levels.

People communicate who they are, from where they are at.

There is a popular ideal in the new age culture that enlightenment is some state of always being happy and content, a bubble of upwelling bliss that giggles at every instance and takes nothing personally. Fortunately, the bliss-bubbles get burst, and reality always sets in. And the deeper truths of who and what we are, and what love is, present themselves. The incomplete surface level ideals of love can mature only in the presence of pain because then we understand compassion, forgiveness, tenderness and have respect for all that life has to offer.

Many religions preach love and most people claim love, but what is Love ?

The bible has a wonderful list of loving traits. Love is patient, kind, does not envy nor boast and is not proud. Love does not dishonor others, nor seek gain for oneself. Love is patient, not easily angered and keeps no record of wrongs. Love rejoices with truth. Love always protects, always trusts, always hopes, and always perseveres.

When we become a velveteen lover, we become real.

Just as the velveteen rabbit became real from being worn thin and discarded because of love, we also know what love is once we discover and embody loving traits. More than knowledge, love transcends thought and feeling and gives a state of understanding of oneself, others, and the world. Love gives us the ability to be real, to work with the emotional cycles of day and night and to see past superficial skin to the eternal beauty within.

Love allows us to be alive, and to endure, and be stronger for being worn thin.

http://www.elephantjournal.com/2013/12/the-velveteen-lover-keith-molyneaux/

~~~

http://digital.library.upenn.edu/women/williams/rabbit/rabbit.html

M_m054tLKvs

[Agape]

Hello Chocolate, that's a very truthful and beautiful story for every child and adult . Yes we all long to 'be real' at some point , we long for 'truth' , and call for it .. while we don't understand how much suffering is involved in this 'reality' .
But can we feel 'real sorry' for the brand new, beautiful, shiny, well fed rabbits in the shop windows who know nothing of life and who knows if they ever will ?

http://i290.photobucket.com/albums/ll256/PaldenLhamo/bunnynebulanamed-1.jpg (http://s290.photobucket.com/user/PaldenLhamo/media/bunnynebulanamed-1.jpg.html)

In Galaxy faraway from here .... there's another rabbit having good morning , looking out of his window and thinking of Life ...


http://i290.photobucket.com/albums/ll256/PaldenLhamo/Blue-Heart-With-Wings-1-1.jpg (http://s290.photobucket.com/user/PaldenLhamo/media/Blue-Heart-With-Wings-1-1.jpg.html)

Despite feeling so alone on his planet in distant Universe .. he's convinced he shall find us one day and firmly believes that Love has Wings .. and that Thoughts can Fly .

No one ever told him a word ..

http://i290.photobucket.com/albums/ll256/PaldenLhamo/cutebunny.jpg (http://s290.photobucket.com/user/PaldenLhamo/media/cutebunny.jpg.html)

[chocolate]

We are never alone, Agape! When I know you are here, together with everyone on the Here and Now, and a few others (they probably know who they are), I don't need much words, because I feel their presence. I hope you will/can/do feel that way, too.
https://scontent-a-fra.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ash3/t1.0-9/s600x600/1898035_10151909406571150_1709491163_n.jpg

[chocolate]

So while we search for the cure ... there are a few more things we still can learn along the way:

The Most Loving Thing ...

Teach me how to love you, and I will teach you how to love me

https://scontent-a-fra.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ash3/t1.0-9/1461486_10151916334746150_171535643_n.jpg

Learning how to love your partner, while teaching your partner how to love you, will surpass any kind of marriage counseling or self-help materials you might come across. Therapists and authors are better at telling you what doesn’t work in relationships than they are at illuminating what will work for you and your partner. They can tell you what works for them and their partners (although they are notorious for suffering high divorce rates), but that can do more harm than good for you and your partner, if held as a standard of love that you must contort yourselves to attain.

While there’s no question that modern intimate relationships require work and negotiation to be successful, the last thing we want to do is make it hard for our partners to love us. In fact, we want to make it as easy as possible.

Full article: http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/anger-in-the-age-entitlement/201403/the-most-loving-thing-you-can-say-your-partner

[chocolate]

The Kind of Love That Does Your Heart Good

Love is an universal human emotion that permeates all aspects of life. We love our families, our friends, our partners, and even our pets. We can also love our jobs, music, artwork, landscapes, and certain foods. Love can be defined as a strong emotional attachment toward another person or thing that can produce feelings of euphoria and joy—or sadness and despair. There is no doubt that love is one of the most powerful emotions a human being can experience, yet we spend so much time focusing on loving everything around us that we often forget the most important recipient of love: ourselves.

Although the connection may not seem obvious, love of self is directly related to heart health and well-being. When we love ourselves, we take better care of ourselves and are less likely to engage in harmful or unhealthy behavior like overeating, alcohol abuse, and neglecting the body. In addition, studies show that high self-esteem levels might even protect the heart by boosting your parasympathetic nervous system (PNS). Your PNS calms your heart by suppressing stress levels, lowering your heart rate, and fighting off inflammation, which in turn can protect your cardiovascular system. So when you love yourself, you nurture and revitalize both your spirit and your physical body.

5 Easy Ways to Love Yourself More:

1. Stop Beating Yourself Up and Start Being Kind to Yourself

2. Spend Time With Yourself

3. Do What You Love

4. Choose to Be Around Positive People -- > kind of the people around 'Here Now' ? :)

5. Be Your Own Caregiver

Loving yourself is not about being selfish. It’s about taking care of your own needs so that you can be the best person possible to yourself and others. When you truly start to love yourself, you will find that your health improves, you become happier and more balanced, and you are able to enjoy good people and good things in your life.

Find the full article from the same place as noted above.


If you ever lack the motivation to train then think what happens to your mind & body when you don't. Shifu Yan Lei

https://fbcdn-sphotos-a-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-prn1/t1.0-9/10003982_835707053122112_990115437_n.jpg

[chocolate]

0Iy2jjWYkRU

http://www.bonzasheila.com/stories/images/orpheuseurydice3.jpg

http://purefilmcreative.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/Orpheus-and-Eurydice.png

http://uploads6.wikipaintings.org/images/camille-corot/orpheus-leading-eurydice-from-the-underworld-1861.jpg

[Cristian]

We asked twenty strangers to kiss for the first time....


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IpbDHxCV29A


I don't want to judge
What's in your heart
But if you're not ready for love
How can you be ready for life?

[chocolate]

Don't judge me too hard, if I couldn't kiss a stranger, for it is an intimate thing...

[chocolate]

I thought the love was dead already.

Who kissed the sleeping beauty?! :)

I had a dream that day.

It probably had started round about the time when Bill had been probably busy writing his current hot #3 WW posts.
That day I was feeling so tired and groggy that went to just rest a bit at 5pm.
I ended up sleeping until 9pm.
So, the dream.

I was in a house, some house. I was walking around, or running, cannot quite remember. But what I remember was that there was a trap door on the floor. Pretty large metal cover of a pretty large opening.

The lid was on the side, and the void was obvious.
And I somehow knew I am going to run through it, wanting or not.
I was cautious, and probably scared.

And here I am, running over the void. But what happened all of a sudden was that while in mid-air I noticed I had gotten pretty light, as if someone was holding me from above the void, helping me go through it with ease. And when my left foot touched the void, there was something underneath it for support.
It was a rather odd that dream. I know what it meant, and I am happy I still can have some of those.

Thank you almighty creature above, I know now.

[chocolate]

For those who are still around and 'In the mood for love". :)

0jkDzLZ4r4k

[dan33]

Like X Movies :p


l40myDtyaoI

[chocolate]

The last ones in the house of love -- me, dan33 and Cristian.
And Wind.
And Agape!
:)

https://fbcdn-sphotos-a-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-frc3/t1.0-9/10154890_689335661123140_6598909327812625131_n.jpg

[Cristian]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cJZMTcyqsYk

[chocolate]

~~~

Why We All Need to Belong to Someone

The term "belonging" has various meanings. Two major meanings are "possession" and "acceptance as a natural part." If belonging is taken in its literal sense of possession, then it is obviously wrong in a relationship, since possessing your partner implies ownership and control. However, if it is understood in the sense of being accepted as a natural part, it makes romantic sense.

The need to belong

Roy Baumeister and Mark Leary (1995) argue that the need to belong is a fundamental human need to form and maintain at least a minimum amount of lasting, positive, and significant interpersonal relationships. Satisfying this need requires (a) frequent, positive interactions with the same individuals, and (b) engaging in these interactions within a framework of long-term, stable care and concern.

Despite the lure and excitement of changing romantic partners, the need for some stable caring interactions with a limited number of people is a greater imperative. Baumeister and Leary claim that human beings are "naturally driven toward establishing and sustaining belongingness." Hence, "people should generally be at least as reluctant to break social bonds as they are eager to form them in the first place." They further argue that in many cases, people are reluctant to dissolve even destructive relationships. The need to belong goes beyond the need for superficial social ties or sexual interactions; it is a need for meaningful, profound bonding. A sense of belonging-ness is crucial to our well-being.

If the need for belonging-ness carries such weight, then the claim, "You belong to me," cannot be dismissed as romantic nonsense. Creating this belonging-ness involves meaningful joint activities between lovers; it cannot be generated by each lover's isolated feeling. Belongingness is expressed not merely in the positive meaningful activities that the lovers engage in together, but also in the negative attitude toward the violation of belongingness, often expressed in jealousy. The fear of losing something that in some sense belongs to you is as significant as the hope of gaining some kind of meaningful togetherness.

Read the full article here (http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/in-the-name-love/201403/why-we-all-need-belong-someone).

~~~

COiIC3A0ROM

[heyokah]

****

“Let there be spaces in your togetherness and let the winds of the heavens dance between you.
Love one another but make not a bond of love: Let it rather be a moving sea between the shores of your souls.
Fill each other's cup but drink not from one cup. Give one another of your bread but eat not from the same loaf.
Sing and dance together and be joyous, but let each one of you be alone, even as the strings of a lute are alone, though they quiver with the same music.
Give your hearts, but not into each other's keeping. For only the hand of Life can contain your hearts.
And stand together, yet not too near together: For the pillars of the temple stand apart,
And the oak tree and the cypress grow not in each other's shadow.”

― Kahlil Gibran, The Prophet

****

p.s.

“If you love somebody, let them go, for if they return, they were always yours. If they don't, they never were.”

― Kahlil Gibran

[Wind]

Ah, Kahlil Gibran, one of my favorite poets out there. I'm just reading one his books. ;)

Also at the moment I'm reading the poems of Rumi (http://www.goodreads.com/work/quotes/1292839-the-love-poems-of-rumi)...


"Your task is not to seek for love, but merely to seek and find all the barriers within yourself that you have built against it."

"Love asks us to enjoy our life
For nothing good can come of death.
Who is alive? I ask.
Those who are born of love."

"Seek us in love itself,
Seek love in us ourselves.
Sometimes I venerate love,
Sometimes it venerates me."

http://static4.quoteswave.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/Love-is-the-bridge.jpg

http://www.openhandweb.org/files/openhand/images/Rumi%20lovers%20in%20each%20other%20quote_0.jpg

http://www.writespirit.net/wp-content/uploads/old-images/rumi-dead-then-alive-love-snowdrops.jpg

[chocolate]

http://theunboundedspirit.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/love-gandhi.jpg

[heyokah]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XG4kZjR7z_s

[Mini Flash]

http://images2.layoutsparks.com/1/197782/angels-love-brown-finish.jpg

Thank you for the picture! I like it very much and it means alot to me :)

[Cristian]

Lonely Teddy Bear ...

http://www.wallpapersma.com/wallpapers/2013/03/Road-Asphalt-Plush-Bear-Miscellaneous-1920x2560.jpg









http://www.notable-quotes.com/l/loneliness_quote_3.jpg

[Cristian]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HydvceA1PAI

[Cristian]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YS_FizPlHds

[dan33]

The Fascination of the SEA.
Great Script. I think Carlos Castaneda would like it. :)


78s7DO5eehQ

[chocolate]

sAboON0iyws

[dan33]

swOxKu80JpU

[dan33]

NICK CAVE the Poet. :)

http://www.keelinggallery.com/store/avactis-images/Nick-Cave-small-s.jpg

jQUaWY_klgk

[Cristian]

Love is the door, it is irrelevant with whom you have fallen in love. Love redeems, neither Jesus, nor Krishna. Love redeems. Fall in love. Love is the only redeeming force. Love is the savior.

-Osho-

https://cherokeebillie.files.wordpress.com/2012/05/twinflames-together.jpg

[chocolate]

Where's the love?
Just kidding. Very quiet in here.

Palau de la Musica Catalana - Barcelona, Spain
https://fbcdn-sphotos-e-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-xpa1/v/t1.0-9/13576_720017544702888_1811085997526762795_n.jpg?oh=957ce5b1e08e7ee49df47578413fccca&oe=547F1F76&__gda__=1416346123_3ccc64b05dd4ed4551a5a7f56c737d0d

[dan33]

Hi Chocolate. We are already friends :)

http://www.scaryforkids.com/pics/lady-of-the-lake.jpg

[Iarmhéid]

<3 This post. I've been alone a few years now... but feeling better than ever and sure only a matter of time before love finds me ;)

My favourite love song which this thread has reminded me to do a cover of.. :)

VU_2R1rjbD8

eo8vW_0H_Kg

84DrsZ2O5XU

muhahaha

[chocolate]

http://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/0186/7976/products/Electric_Love_Zoom01_1024x1024.jpg?v=1403720254
Art by Android Jones , Electric Love



To truly move beyond the ego/personality isn't to escape from it, or run from it, or deny it.... To transcend the ego is to accept it. By becoming aware of our emotional charges, our limitations, our thoughts.... we cease to identify with it and it has no hold over us....
We must love our personality... With compassion we can view the parts of us that get angry, frustrated, that are in fear.... We can treat those parts of us like child, that just wants to be heard. We can listen to the child, and use our wisdom to guide it.
The key to accepting our personality, and our humanness is transparency. When we communicate what we are feeling and experiencing with complete honesty and 100% transparency, we create room to grow. When we are completely honest, all the things that have remained hidden are brought into the light of awareness and instantly dissolve and integrate...
When we hide anything, it is usually out of shame or guilt. It means that we think we did something "wrong", or we did something unethical. When we express what we were hiding, forgiveness naturally ensues. Expression is a form of self forgiveness and acceptance. When we are honest with ourselves and allow what was hidden to come into the open we create healing. When we communicate and express we are taking responsibility for our actions and feelings which gives us greater freedom and peace.
As we pioneer the way for the New Earth and create a world based on love and acceptance, transparent communication is what will allow us to grow closer together. We are not alone, and by finding others in our lives who love and accept us whatever way we choose to show up, we can cultivate and pioneer a new way of being as a communal human.
As we expand in awareness and we embody the vastness of our soul in human form, we are evolving every aspect of culture, and redefining what it means to be human. We will birth from within us the restoration of purity socially, personally, environmentally, and technologically.
I am amazed and continually inspired by the incredible beauty that is emerging and blossoming on planet earth. I am grateful for each and every one of you, and I am SO grateful to be human on earth right now!

https://www.facebook.com/CellularEnlightenment/info

[Wind]

https://fbcdn-sphotos-h-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-xpf1/t31.0-8/p526x296/10644246_847552281951929_1260268245229938126_o.jpg

[transiten]

Wish i could post a recording i made of a love poem of Rabindranath Tagore translated and put to music by another Swedish singer/songwriter.

[Natalia]

beautiful <3


Love is the door, it is irrelevant with whom you have fallen in love. Love redeems, neither Jesus, nor Krishna. Love redeems. Fall in love. Love is the only redeeming force. Love is the savior.

-Osho-

https://cherokeebillie.files.wordpress.com/2012/05/twinflames-together.jpg

[gripreaper]

http://www.scaryforkids.com/pics/lady-of-the-lake.jpg

Wow, awesome painting Dan

[chocolate]

You will not believe me (that I did not know) there is a book with a very similar name like the one of this thread.

* Update:

the name of the book --

The Love Cure: Therapy Erotic and Sexual
by John Ryan Haule (http://www.jrhaule.net/index.html)

[Natalia]

MeW0Sl0tNS8

mxu2mONVjq0

[Natalia]

vyuYq7-9rlo

[dan33]

http://www.scaryforkids.com/pics/lady-of-the-lake.jpg

Wow, awesome painting Dan

Chocolate did the painting. :) She always sings while "on work".

http://media-cache-ec0.pinimg.com/736x/61/22/3c/61223c8ff0be1f87065bb53ee08ea542.jpg

http://pictures2.todocoleccion.net/tc/2014/07/03/12/44082593.jpg

[Cristian]

http://www.spwallpapers.com/var/albums/854x480/Romantic%20animal%20lovers%20wallpapers%20854x480/Romantic%20animal%20lovers%20wallpapers%20854x480%20(03).jpg?m=1360208897

[A Voice from the Mountains]

Just ask Leonard Cohen himself.

There Ain't No Cure for Love

ksRl6yZSLDw

[Cristian]

:bump2:






http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_IbxCDwKJGLA/TSSyH3x8PkI/AAAAAAAADYQ/8T35JUqISIQ/s1600/tumblr_lbgza4qphV1qzc00lo1_500.jpg










I find it strangely (un)appropriate(!) to post a few things about LOVE on a forum such as ours / yours. And I am sure everyone gets a few tickles and shivers these days only from the sound of it, but it hasn't given up on us yet, the hope for having some extra LOVE in our lives.


http://i.huffpost.com/gen/1611945/thumbs/o-VDAY-CARD-10-570.jpg

~~~

So Here we go, and
http://i.imgur.com/pu1gk3E.jpg

http://i.huffpost.com/gen/1611941/thumbs/o-VDAY-CARD-8-570.jpg

~~~

What Science Tells Us About Being in Love
from Neuronarrative by David DiSalvo
http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/neuronarrative/201402/what-science-tells-us-about-being-in-love


"How on earth are you ever going to explain in terms of chemistry and physics so important a biological phenomenon as first love?"
–Albert Einstein.

Einstein was correct—science will never clinically sterilize the wonderment of love (first or otherwise). But I think he’d also agree that it’s a mistake to confuse increased understanding with diminished meaning. No matter what we learn about love, it will continue to be one of the most meaningful and powerful forces on the planet, as it should be. With that disclaimer, let’s jump in.

Love is addictive.

Thinking about one’s beloved—particularly in new relationships—triggers activity in the ventral tegmental area (VTA) of the brain, which releases a flood of the neurotransmitter dopamine (the so-called "pleasure chemical") into the brain’s reward (or pleasure) centers, the caudate nucleus and nucleus accumbens. This gives the lover a high not unlike the effect of narcotics, and it’s mighty addictive.
At the same time, the brain in love experiences an increase in the stress hormone norephinephrine, which increases heart rate and blood pressure, effects similar to those experienced by people using potent addictive stimulants like methamphetamine.

Love is obsessive.

The brain in love experiences a drop in the neurotransmitter serotonin. Serotonin provides a sense of being in control; it guards against the anxiety of uncertainty and instability. When it drops, our sense of control decreases and we become obsessively fixated on things that rattle our certainty and stability cages—and since love is by definition unpredictable, it’s a prime target for obsession. This is also why the term "crazy in love" isn't too far off the truth.

Love is prone to recklessness.

The prefrontal cortex—our brain’s reasoning command and control center—drops into low gear when we’re in love. At the same time, the amygdala, a key component of the brain’s threat-response system, also revs down. The combination of these effects is a willingness to take more risks, even ones that would normally seem reckless to us in another state of mind. (For more on this, check out this PDF'd study.)

Love and lust can coexist in the brain—and not necessarily for the same person.

Love and lust appear to be separate but overlapping neural responses in the brain. They both produce a “high” and both are addictive, and they effect many of the same parts of the brain—but they are distinct enough that you can be in love with one person and in lust with another.

Over time, the differences become more significant. For example, the brains of people in long-term love relationships show increased activity in the ventral pallidum, a region of the brain rich with oxytocin and vasopressin receptors that facilitate long-term pair-bonding and attachment. (Check out researcher Helen Fisher's work in this area for more information.)

Men in love are extremely visual beasts.

The brains of men in love show greater activity in the visual cortex than women’s brains. Add this to the fact that men seem to be more visually stimulated than women in general.

Women in love remember the details.

The brains of women in love show greater activity in the hippocampus—a brain region associated with memory—than do men’s brains. Add to this that a woman's hippocampus takes up a larger percentage of her brain than does the male counterpart. (Another lesson here for men: women remember…brother, they remember.)

Eye contact is a lover’s magic.

Newborns and lovers have this in common—more than any other factor, eye contact is the main conduit for emotional connection. When those in love speak of the “entrancing gaze” of their lover, it’s not just a romantic notion—it’s a biological reality. Eye contact and a smile is an especially potent combination.

Only voice interaction comes anywhere close to eye contact in this regard. Our voice carries more information than we think, and it can help facilitate an emotional connection, but it’s still a distant second to eye contact. (Check out Barbara L. Fredrickson's book, Love 2.0, for more information on all of the above.)

Promiscuity and monogamy can be chemically influenced.

You’ve probably heard about our furry little friends, the prairie voles. Scientists who study monogamy and promiscuity love the critters because they provide an excellent mirror for human relationships. One type of vole is monogamous—it bonds with one mate for life. Another type of vole (the montane vole) is promiscuous. The key difference between the two kinds of voles appears to be genetic—an intriguing point when you consider that otherwise the voles are 99% genetically identical.

When researchers inject the promiscuous variety of vole with oxytocin and vasopressin—the neurochemicals that are linked to pair-bonding in humans (and in the monogamous voles)—the promiscuous voles become monogamous. It’s not entirely clear if the effect would hold true to the same degree in humans, but there’s pretty good evidence that it might, though for short periods of time. In two studies (described here) men who inhaled oxytocin became temporarily more empathetic, sensitive and cuddly.

Women and men can just be friends…(well, at least women think so).

Research suggests that when it comes to managing a platonic relationship, men really don't "get it" and are far more likely to want more than just friendship. Women, on the other hand, are able to keep friendship and romantic involvement separate in their minds. So the old question, "can men and women just be friends?" appears to depend entirely on who you're asking.



~~~

https://fbcdn-sphotos-d-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-prn2/t1/1782149_10152199941084589_29235098_n.jpg

and a few more:
Falling in Love with Life
http://kripalu.org/blog/thrive/2014/02/13/falling-in-love-with-life/?utm_source=Thrive&utm_medium=post&utm_campaign=021314Love

DRUG Treatment: Chemical for the lovesick
http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg22129564.600-cure-for-love-chemical-cures-for-the-lovesick.html#.Uv0yFIR_iPo

Cure for love: Should people be able to marry robots? ;)
http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg22129561.200-cure-for-love-should-people-be-able-to-marry-robots.html#.Uv0nSoR_iPo

GOJk0HW_hJw