I was up late last night on the roof of the back building with my husband George. We were battening down the hatches for the end-of-the-week rain storms. He had been working all day putting in new rafters and everything was open to the sky.

I was out there until 11:30 pm and I woke up at 4:30 am this morning. So, I’ve been a little off today including not getting around to this email until now. So I’m going to keep this short.

I want to share one thing I did today because it makes me very happy. . .

I wrote a speech for my Toastmasters club that is not only funny and playful, it also acknowledges the valuable guidance of my spiritual teacher Adnan.

Last year, I competed in Toastmaster's International Speech contest, with a talk about how I learned to dance for myself rather than for Adnan's approval. This Saturday, I'm taking this subject further by talking about his lessons in true love.

For much of my life, I have sought love in the reactions and responses of others. I earned approval and appreciation through hard work, generosity, and always saying yes. I tried to do that with Adnan, but it didn't work. He seemed determined to break me of my love-seeking habit.

I won’t go into my whole speech here. If you want a link to the speech recording, send me an email.

The keys to true love are in Adnan's book When Life is Lovable and Love is Livable. Duh!!

This is what I shared in my speech:

The 3 keys to the complete and perfect human being are also the secret to self-love:

1.     Peace: not world peace, although it might help bring it about. Rather, he meant inner peace -- the place where the inner chatter of the critical mind stops and you can tap into the vast cosmic love of the universe.

2.     Faith: not in a religion or a guru. Faith in yourself, your passion, your purpose, and your desires. Also, faith in Life, that it will nudge you back on the right path whenever you go astray.

3.     Excellence: not perfection, or perfectly achieving the approval of others. Excellence is doing the best you can because it is who you are. Why would you want to do anything less? Whether it’s a great speech, a great soup, or washing the clothes, do it with excellence because it feels right.

4.     I would add one more key: Humor: the ability to laugh at yourself and life and not take anything too seriously because life is one grand adventure and you want to enjoy yourself.

Please join me tomorrow for another dip into that delicious state of peace and love and maybe even laughter. Friday, March 1st at 9 am PST and Sunday, March 3rd at 8 am PST. 

The Zoom link is:

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/89999494833?pwd=V2pOS28yYUdXM3hkaW1rVWIvSjBUdz09

Meeting ID: 899 9949 4833

Passcode: SUFI

Here's a time converter link to check the time in your location.

Be peaceful.

Michelle

Dr. Michelle Peticolas

Life Transformation Coach

Empowering Women to Reinvent Their Life After Loss

Secrets of Life and Death

https://www.facebook.com/secretsoflifeanddeath.com