Everybody says that LOVE is good, beautiful, magnificent... but SELF-LOVE? Some people have somehow negative connotations implanted in their heads about it. They think that it is some kind of selfishness, egoism or something like that. But it does not make any sense. Love is only one and it is similar to the LIGHT which radiates out of its source without any distinguishing, to all directions, it is unconditional and for everybody. It has it source and that source is inside of YOU, it radiates outside and it radiates inside too.

I listen every morning these beautiful meditative affirmations by Luise L. Hay. I have been listening them for years, so I memorized it. Hopefully some of them came also into my subconscious mind. I would like you to enjoy them too:

Deep at the center of my being,
there is an infinite well of love.
I now allow this love to flow to the surface.
It fills my heart, my body, my mind, my consciousness,
my very being, and radiates out from me in all directions
and returns to me multiplied.
The more love I use and give, the more I have to give.
The supply is endless.
The use of love makes me feel good,
it is an expression of my inner joy.

I love myself;
therefore, I take loving care of my body.
I lovingly feed it nourishing foods and beverages,
I lovingly groom it and dress it, and my body lovingly
responds to me with vibrant health and energy.

I love myself; therefore provide for myself
a comfortable home, one that fills
all my needs and is a pleasure to be in.
I fill the rooms with the vibration of love
so that all who enter, myself included,
will feel this love and be nourished by it.

I love myself; therefore I work at a job I truly enjoy
doing, one that uses my creative talents and abilities,
working with and for people I love and who love me,
and earning a good income.

I love myself; therefore, I behave and think in a loving
way to all people for I know that that which I give out
returns to me multiplied.
I only attract loving people in my world,
for they are a mirror of what I am.

I love myself; therefore I forgive and totally release
the past and all past experiences and I am free.

I love myself; therefore I live totally in the now,
experiencing each moment as good and knowing that
my future is bright and joyous and secure,
for I am a beloved child of the Universe
and the Universe lovingly takes care of me
now and forever more.

And so it is.
This is Luise Hay and I love you.

by Louise Hay, from "You Can Heal Your Life"

http://www.hayhouse.com


And here you can see my own version – me reciting by heart ;-)

As you could maybe noticed in my previous posts, I frequently say that the best teacher for languages is listening, and especially listening to native speakers. The native speakers can serve us as real role models - we can imitate and learn from them. Yes, who else could be better for this purpose?

The answer is paradoxical – a NON-NATIVE speaker! It is true that the perfect pronunciation, the right stress, the melody of voice, the nice fluency and the rich vocabulary... we can find usually in the speech of a native speaker. But keep in mind that the majority of users of English language in this world today are non-natives. You are also one of them (probably). The English we are learning is intended to be the mean of communication. You will use is with both natives and not-natives.

I found in some stage of my English journey (and my friends confirmed me my experience too) that in many cases is the listening to somebody who was not born in English speaking country quite demanding. In some cases more difficult than listening to any native Englishman or American or Australian. Sometimes it could be quite a challenge. We, language learners, usually complain that the natives talk too quickly. In my opinion it is not the biggest problem. Maybe the bigger is the slang and idioms. Of course, the listening needs some practice (like everything).

My point is that the listening to a non-native speaker could be a good practice, a good valuable exercise. Of course that the bulk of your study should be based on a “proper” English, especially in the beginning of your journey. But after while you do it I would suggest to incorporate non-natives too. I remember myself when I started to listen Osho for example. It was really a challenge for me. Fortunately there were transcripts available. After while I accustomed to his pronunciation, voice, vocabulary. By the way his vocabulary is quite rich. It is true that he does (maybe I should say DID – he passed away a long time ago) some mistakes while speaking. But is it a problem? Definitely not for him. Maybe even we, who are learning English, can gain from that - noticing them a learning from these errors. On the other hand, I would be careful to listen such materials too early. There is a possibility to learn this incorrect English (we usually do at school from our school mates anyway) By the way not to forgot to read my disclaimer :)

There is a lot interesting people on this planet and you can speak (read or write) with nearly all of them in English, there is a lot of materials in English available today. Some of them were created by not-native speakers and are worthy to listen or read (e.g. this blog :-) LOL)

One of another such people I like to listen is Deepak Chopra (born in India) Enjoy this short video (extract from Deepak Chopra - How to know God)

The transcript:

Around 1890 chief Crowfoot a Blackfoot Indian was dying
and he whispered into the ear of a missionary father:
What is life?
It is the flash of a firefly in the night.
It is the breath of a buffalo in the winter time.
It is the little shadow that runs across the grass and loses itself in the sunset.
Life as we know it flickers out all too fast In death we return to the light, the source where we all began
Then, all of reality has only one source
You are that source
God is our highest instinct to know ourselves.


The Persian mystic poet Rumi once said,
When I die I will soar with the angels,
And when I die to the angels,
What I shall become you cannot imagine.

Today was a beautiful sunny day here in the middle of Europe. I was in the garden, laying on a deck-chair, sunbathing. Doing “nothing” this way needs some courage and it needs some practice too :-) Try it on you own (in the middle of working day) and you will see. I had my new Google Nexus 7 with me, to test this my little toy, for the fist time, outside the house. And the result is this post.

I found this beautiful poem named “Please Hear What I'm Not Saying”. You are probably familiar with it. I have known it for years, actually this poem was the fist poem I had ever sent to a girl (RF). This poem is worth listening. I mean listening several times (you can download the mp3 of it down) I think that the meaning of this poem is deep and significant for us now more than ever before, even though it is from 1966 (the year of my birthday – just coincidence ;-) )

I was not able to memorize this poem, so I will not recite it by heart myself like the May or Rumi. I found a much better presentation on YouTube – see details here if you want.

You can find more about the poem itself  here

The transcript:

Please Hear What I'm Not Saying

Don't be fooled by me.
Don't be fooled by the face I wear
for I wear a mask, a thousand masks,
masks that I'm afraid to take off,
and none of them is me.

Pretending is an art that's second nature with me,
but don't be fooled,
for God's sake don't be fooled.
I give you the impression that I'm secure,
that all is sunny and unruffled with me, within as well
as without,
that confidence is my name and coolness my game,
that the water's calm and I'm in command
and that I need no one,
but don't believe me.
My surface may seem smooth but my surface is my mask,
ever-varying and ever-concealing.
Beneath lies no complacence.
Beneath lies confusion, and fear, and aloneness.
But I hide this. I don't want anybody to know it.
I panic at the thought of my weakness exposed.
That's why I frantically create a mask to hide behind,
a nonchalant sophisticated facade,
to help me pretend,
to shield me from the glance that knows.

But such a glance is precisely my salvation, my only hope,
and I know it.
That is, if it's followed by acceptance,
if it's followed by love.
It's the only thing that can liberate me from myself,
from my own self-built prison walls,
from the barriers I so painstakingly erect.
It's the only thing that will assure me
of what I can't assure myself,
that I'm really worth something.
But I don't tell you this. I don't dare to, I'm afraid to.
I'm afraid your glance will not be followed by acceptance,
will not be followed by love.
I'm afraid you'll think less of me,
that you'll laugh, and your laugh would kill me.
I'm afraid that deep-down I'm nothing
and that you will see this and reject me.

So I play my game, my desperate pretending game,
with a facade of assurance without
and a trembling child within.
So begins the glittering but empty parade of masks,
and my life becomes a front.
I idly chatter to you in the suave tones of surface talk.
I tell you everything that's really nothing,
and nothing of what's everything,
of what's crying within me.
So when I'm going through my routine
do not be fooled by what I'm saying.
Please listen carefully and try to hear what I'm not saying,
what I'd like to be able to say,
what for survival I need to say,
but what I can't say.

I don't like hiding.
I don't like playing superficial phony games.
I want to stop playing them.
I want to be genuine and spontaneous and me
but you've got to help me.
You've got to hold out your hand
even when that's the last thing I seem to want.
Only you can wipe away from my eyes
the blank stare of the breathing dead.
Only you can call me into aliveness.
Each time you're kind, and gentle, and encouraging,
each time you try to understand because you really care,
my heart begins to grow wings--
very small wings,
very feeble wings,
but wings!

With your power to touch me into feeling
you can breathe life into me.
I want you to know that.
I want you to know how important you are to me,
how you can be a creator--an honest-to-God creator--
of the person that is me
if you choose to.
You alone can break down the wall behind which I tremble,
you alone can remove my mask,
you alone can release me from my shadow-world of panic,
from my lonely prison,
if you choose to.
Please choose to.

Do not pass me by.
It will not be easy for you.
A long conviction of worthlessness builds strong walls.
The nearer you approach to me
the blinder I may strike back.
It's irrational, but despite what the books say about man
often I am irrational.
I fight against the very thing I cry out for.
But I am told that love is stronger than strong walls
and in this lies my hope.
Please try to beat down those walls
with firm hands but with gentle hands
for a child is very sensitive.

Who am I, you may wonder?
I am someone you know very well.
For I am every man you meet
and I am every woman you meet.

Charles C. Finn
September 1966



P.S. The listening is crucial for language learning. It goes without saying (meaning=obvious). But important is also what you are listening (for your life). Download the MP3, lay yourself in the garden and listen. Let the sun shine on your body, let English penetrate your being. The learning happens, let it happen.

May is here and it is "time of LOVE" :-) So, I would like to present you two poems - English transcript is included.

The first is a poem by Jalalludin Rumi named "Looking for your face". The one version is recited by me (by heart) - I wonder if you are able to recognize which on of them it is;-)

I marked some of the words which seem to me "difficult"

You can download the MP3 version of this beautiful poem below these videos.

LOOKING FOR YOUR FACE

From the beginning of my life
I have been looking for your face
but today I have seen it

Today I have seen
the charm, the beauty,
the unfathomable grace
of the face
that I was looking for

Today I have found you
and those who laughed
and scorned me yesterday
are sorry that they were not looking
as I did

I am bewildered by the magnificence
of your beauty
and wish to see you
with a hundred eyes

My heart has burned with passion
and has searched forever
for this wondrous beauty
that I now behold

I am ashamed
to call this love human
and afraid of God
to call it divine

Your fragrant breath
like the morning breeze
has come to the stillness of the garden
You have breathed new life into me
I have become your sunshine
and also your shadow

My soul is screaming in ecstacy
Every fiber of my being
is in love with you

Your efflugence
has lit a fire in my heart
and you have made radiant for me
the earth and sky

My arrow of love
has arrived at the target
I am in the house of mercy
and my heart
is a place of prayer



Another love poem is a poem by Czech poet Karel Hynek Mácha called "MAY". It is translated to English language by Edith Pargeter and is recited by me (this time the only one who was available)  Enjoy it! With love :-)

Note - This is only a small fragment of it.

Late evening, on the first of May--
The twilit May—the time of love.
Meltingly called the turtle-dove,
Where rich and sweet pinewoods lay.
Whispered of love the mosses frail,
The flowering tree as sweetly lied,
The rose's fragrant sigh replied
To love-songs of the nightingale.
In shadowy woods the burnished lake
Darkly complained a secret pain,
By circling shores embraced again;
And heaven's clear sun leaned down to take
A road astray in azure deeps,
Like burning tears the lover weeps.
.
.
.
Late evening, on the first of May--
The twilit May-the time of love--
Meltingly calls the turtle-dove:
“Hynek! Vilem! Ah, Jarmila!!!