Valentine’s Week with Style and Grace

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Love in Poems this Valentine Week, With Love, Style & Grace

Renaissance poets were especially fond of expressing love in sonnets, most notably Shakespeare who famously compared his love to a rose, a summer’s day, Perfume, snow, and various species of birds. Romantic era love poems have become some of the most enduring, and oft-repeated, poems ever written in English. Consider this Elizabeth Barret Browning Poem, one of my favorites of which has become as well-known as to be considered the classic love poem cliché:

How do I love thee? Let me count the ways.
I love thee to the depth and breadth and height.
My soul can reach, when feeling out of sight
For the ends of being and ideal grace.
I love thee to the level of every day’s.
Most quiet need, by sun and candle-light.
I love thee freely, as men strive for right.
I love thee purely, as they turn from praise.
I love thee with the passion put to use
In my old grief’s, and with my childhood’s faith.
I love thee with a love I seemed to lose
With my lost saints. I love thee with the breath,
Smiles, tears, of all my life; and, if God choose,
I shall but love thee better after death.

How better to express one’s feelings of love and passion than through reading and sharing a poem? Countless suitors have used verse to woo a love interest, expressing feelings of desire and longing. Which will you chose this Valentine’s Day.  Here are a few more to enjoy With Style & Grace

Thanksgiving

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This Thanksgiving lets all of us concentrate on the abundance of blessings we have been given and be sensitive and aware to the positive energy that is surrounding us. Our life these days seem to be frittered away by detail and stressful hectic days.

This Thanksgiving let’s all Simplify, simplify, simplify!” With the frantic pace and multiple tasks most of us face in juggling work and home responsibilities, you lose sight of what should make up your “real” life — the people and activities that matter to you, and a sense of who you are as a unique individual. Taking steps to simplify your life and count our blessings can go a long way towards restoring a sense of balance and easing stress.

In order to harvest the fruits of your blessings, be ready to move outside your comfort zone. Feel the love, happiness, and joys that are reaching out to you. Take moments during your daily routine to stop and notice what is going on – see and feel the warm beautiful sunshine, or experience the quiet of a gray, rainy day outside your window. Let the smile of a small child touch your heart.

Mentally send a blessing of love and abundance to everyone you meet during your day. This is an especially important step to do because whatever energy you give out to the world will be returned to you. You must be an active and willing participant in this dance of Life. You must become involved by reaching out so you can reap the abundance that the Universe is offering us now.