Today I am sharing with you some of my favourite inspirational quotes about Love’s power,  beauty and grace.    I hope you enjoy them.

The power of love, a voice from above, cleaning my soul, flame on burn desire, love with tongues of fire, purge the soul, make love your goal”. (Frankie Goes To Hollywood)


My feet shall run because of you,

My feet shall dance because of you,

My heart shall beat because of you,

My eyes see because of you,

My mind thinks because of you and I shall love because of you.
(Eskimo Love Song)


I need your love as a touchstone of my existence.  It is the sun which breathes life into me. (Juliette Drouet 1883)

'Till all the seas gang dry and the rocks melt wi the sun, O I will love thee still my Dear while the sands o’ life shall run. (Robert Burns)

All these years I have found my pleasures in a thousand things - but now you open them anew for me. I see them through your eyes - as well as through my own, hear them with a new intensity.  The stage is bright, the dance more magical, the trees, the sea, the mountains, have taken on a new life. (Charlotte Grey)

I’ll love you; dear I’ll love you,

Till China and Africa meet,

And the river jumps over the mountain,

And the salmon sing in the street.

I’ll love you till the ocean,

Is folded and hung up to dry,

And the seven stars go squawking,

Like geese about the sky. (W.H Auden)


Thus it will be; slender arrows are lodged in my heart, and Love vexes the chest that it has seized. Shall I surrender or stir up the sudden flame by tightening it? I will surrender – a burden becomes light when it is carried willingly. (Ovid. Amores 1, 2)


Such is the power of Love, that it is eternally written and sung about, eulogised and personified. If these resonate with you please let us know and feel free to share them with your family and friends.

Enjoy your week.

Mary Jo xx

The celebration of honouring Mothers and Motherhood is worldwide and can be traced back to the ancient festivals of Greek and Roman Societies and the Christian Mothering Sunday.   In the United States of America on 8th of May 1914, President Woodrow Wilson signed a Joint Resolution designating the second Sunday of May as Mother’s Day.  But the manner, tradition and date of present day celebrations varies from country to country.   What is universal is the intention - It is a day that celebrates and acknowledges Mothers for all of their support and love. In honouring all Mothers this week; we either are or have one, I want to share with you a poem by Howard Johnson (1915) which describes his personal thoughts about what his mother meant to him.


M-O-T-H-E-R

M - is the million things she gave me,

O - means only that she’s growing old,

T - s for the tears she shed to save me,

H - is for her heart of purest gold;

E - is for her eyes, with love-light shining,

R - means right, and right she’ll always be,

Put them all together, they spell “Mother”, a word that means the world to me.




M ----------------------------------

O -----------------------------------

T -----------------------------------

H -----------------------------------

E -----------------------------------

R -----------------------------------

What are the words that you ascribe to your Mother?

Put them all together, and you have created your own poem which represents what your Mother means to you.

Enjoy your week and if you wish to share your thoughts with us, leave a comment in the box down below.




Mary Jo x

Mary Jo our regular blogger has an inspiring article on Writing.ie. 

Click the link below to read.  

The Write Inspiration: Starting a Writer's Group

Silence is golden, insightful to mind.

Peace, precious in tumultuous time.

Light, magnetic in eons of dark.

Be true to yourself, follow your spark.


<-------------oo~0~oo------------>


Your truth makes you lighter, your spirit soar.

A lie weighs heavy through to your core.

Feelings are guidance betwixt wrong or right.

Silence, Peace, Truth, Feelings - fan your spark into Light.


<-------------oo~0~oo------------>

Please post your comments to this or any of the posts
 in the comments box below 
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Find the joy in your week.

Mary Jo x x

This week I am discussing the importance and value of the skill of listening in our role as a friend. 
I love the quote of Lord Byron who likens friendship to love without wings. 
 Being a friend and having friends is a very special relationship. 
It is a gift of love that we can both give and receive. So how can listening help us in our special role?

1.  What are you hearing?

Listening is difficult. It takes patience, understanding, discernment and practice. Listening takes lots and lots of practice.

“If speaking is silver, then listening is gold”. Turkish proverb.

According to Ralph Nichols the most basic of all human needs is the need to understand and be understood. The best way to understand people is to listen to them. When we are speaking, in particular with our friends, we want and need them to listen to us. Do we actually hear what our friends are saying when they are speaking to us? Or is it the case that we often eagerly rush in, interrupting them with our own views, opinions, comments, judgements or news!

Are we really hearing what they are saying or merely what we thought they said? If we are truly listening we will have a deeper understanding of them, and of their situation.   Like all skills, listening takes practice, practice and more practice.

“There is a big difference between showing interest and really taking interest”.

M.P.Nichols (The lost Art of Listening).

Are you hearing what your friend is saying?



2.  How do you listen?

We can apply this good advice from Ernest Hemingway. “When people talk, listen completely.  Most people never listen”.  If there is a lesson in this, then the next step is to become aware of how we listen?

When you are with your friends take heed of their tone of voice and body language, both can speak volumes.  Often it is how something is said than what is expressed that conveys the most meaning.  These verbal and non verbal clues can give you a more accurate understanding of your friend’s feelings.  Being cognizant of these can help you empathise more accurately and effectively.

“One friend, one person who is truly understanding, who takes the trouble to listen to us as we consider a problem, can change our whole outlook on the world”. Dr. E. H. Mayo


3. Time to listen.


“It’s the friends you can call up at 4 a.m. that matter”. Marlene Dietrich


Do you make time for your friends? And do your friends make time for you?  To have good friends, you must also be a good friend, that means taking time, making time for them in your life.  Or is it a case that friends only appear when they want or need something? “You reap what you sow”.

Like a garden, you must plant the seeds of friendship; nourish them with your presence, and that means being present and involved. Then you look forward to enjoying the rewards of your efforts as they yield colour, abundance, joy and love in your life.

“Go often to the house of thy friend, for weeds choke the unused path”. R.W. Emerson.

This week enjoy the gift of friendship.

Mary Jo xx