As you may know if you've been reading this blog for a while, I started two blogs called the Love Train and the Peace Train this fall. Well, recently I also expanded this onto a Tumblr site, which I find is even easier, especially for other people to submit their posts (which you can do even if you are not a Tumblr user). So, you can now get a Whole Lotta Love and Peace on the Love Train and the Peace Train on Tumblr as well.
As we enter 2011, my hope is that it will be a year for you focused on love and peace. When we have love and peace in our hearts, we are happy ourselves and it also brings happiness to others. I hope that you enjoy these sites, will submit posts, and share them with your friends. I don't make money from these blogs and I'm not concerned about simply having a lot of followers; I am doing this because my desire is that there be more love and peace in the world. Perhaps you may think this is a naive goal, but I know that by simply reading the posts that others have written and by focusing my own heart on love and peace I have already gained a great deal of both for myself as well.
In my last post I announced the start of a new blog, A Love Train. I've been encouraged by all your feedback and the fact that two people have already written posts!
Yesterday was Tanya from a Taste of T, with her hilarious commentary on the things she loves... especially on boots!
Today, in order to keep up the momentum, I thought I'd post here what Iris Jaye wrote. She is only seventeen, but wrote an amazing post on love that I wanted to make sure you all saw.
Six Things I Know About Love
Iris Jaye from Metaphors joined A Love Train. Here is what she wrote:
I'm not the expert on love. But for my age, I believe I've seen and felt plenty. I don't want to write about myself and my stories. Instead, I've decided to write six things I know about love.
~
1. Love is everything.We live because of love; because we love, and because we want to be loved. It can be your family, your friends, your special one, your hobby, your work, that book you're reading, that chocolate you're eating.
We live simply because there is something we love which makes us happy. And while there is still something to love, there is still something to live for.
2. Love doesn't hurt.Most people think it does, what with all the heart-break and rejection we witness. But it isn't love that hurts, it's the absence of it. When someone lies or cheats, or when chooses someone else over you, it hurts not because there's love in your heart, but because there's less love in theirs.
Love isn't what breaks our hearts; the truth is, it's what heals our hearts.
Think chocolate.
3. Love isn't just romance.Romance is romance. Love is a phenomenon. Romance is what you do and how you feel; love becomes the very life that you live. It's not just the person you're going to marry someday, the person on your mind all the time, or the person you spent all night crying over.
Love is also the family and friends who are there on your wedding day, the ones who always listen when you're talking all about your crush, the ones who bring the ice cream and hugs over when you need it most.
4. Love changes everything.It changes the things you do, because you want your loved ones to be a part of it. Read a book everyday. Can't start the day without coffee. Texting goodnight before you sleep. It changes the person you are, because the people and things you love become a part of you.
Learning to love someone or something usually turns them into a priority: the most important thing in our lives.
5. Love is beautiful.It always is. If you don't find it beautiful, it's because you're not in the presence of that same love. Some love art, others don't give a second glance. Some couples share everything, others think that's suffocating. But if it's love, it's always beautiful.
It's always worth writing songs and stories about, painting pictures about, thinking about and talking about. Love is worth saving, because love is what saves the world every day.
6. Love is real.When they say that love is a fairy tale, we automatically think it's imaginary, unreal or non-existent. I believe that love being a fairy tale actually means that it happens, just not in the way we expect it to. It's not the things that we hear as children or see in the movies, because those things end. But real-life fairy tales, and real-life love, last.
And if you're even reading these words, I know you believe me.
To be included on A Love Train, just write a post and leave your url on either the comments of this blog or on A Love Train. You are not limited to only writing once, so don't feel like you have to write everything you love in one amazing blog. It could just be one or two things. This is a great way for you as a blogger to connect with other blogs and I'm sure it doesn't hurt your google rankings either to have more blogs link to yours :) Just a thought. Hope you'll join in!
Oh, and the winner of the signed first edition giveaway was Christine Taylor. Congratulations!
Today I am announcing the start of a new blog called A Love Train. The thought popped into my head one day when I heard the song, A Love Train by the O'Jays.
I'm sure you've heard it. 'People all over the world, join hands. Start a love train.'
The way it works is easy. Just write a blog about love... what it means to you, how to share love in your everyday life, one thing you want to do to bring more love to the world, something inspirational that you see someone or some other group doing, a list of ten things that you love, etc. Let me know you've written it by leaving a comment with your url and I will copy the full post with a link to your blog as well. Its kind of like a permanent linky party. Its fun and it can also increase your own blog exposure.
So here is the very first blog post and I've chosen to write a list of ten things that I love:
I LOVE POMEGRANATES. Even though I'm grown, my mom and dad are always surprising me with pomegranates at this time of year. They almost always have one for me when I go to their house. Pomegranates are the perfect snack. Instead of munching on something unhealthy when I have a snack attack, I love to go for a pomegranate because it takes so long to eat. When I was younger I actually used to be quite overweight. Then I found with just some exercise and switching some healthy foods for some unhealthy ones, the weight just dropped. And they make pretty decorations for the holiday season too :)
I LOVE PHOTOGRAPHY. I'm just an amateur, but anyone who has seen my blog, knows that I love photos and highlighting photography and photographers I like for my Favorite Foto Friday post. I just got a DSLR a year ago and I can't believe how much I'm in love.
I LOVE THE BEACH. One of my names means 'woman of the sea' and its a perfect name for me. Unfortunately I don't live near the beach now, but I have at many points in my life, in Costa Rica, Florida, California, and Massachusetts. There's nothing like the feel of sand in my toes...
I LOVE PEOPLE. Of course I love my friends and family, but I also just love people in general. Sometimes I have this overwhelming love for people I have never met... and I'm not talking hollywood celebs here. I'm talking about the old woman on the train, the grocery store attendant bagging my groceries, etc. There are so many wonderful people in this world, all with their gifts and peculiarities - and I think that is what makes this world such a lovely place.
I LOVE PAINTING. It doesn't matter what I'm painting. It can be on canvas (I like doing big abstract pieces) or it can be painting bookshelves, like I was doing today. There is something soothing about having a paintbrush in my hand. I guess I just get into the 'flow'. I actually painted the heart below when I was painting a closet earlier this year.
I LOVE BOOKS/ READING. I could seriously read all day if left to my own devices. Ok. Thats not totally true because I have too many other 'loves', but on certain cold winter days its definitely not uncommon to find me reading for a period of 12 hours at a time. I think my husband must think I've disappeared into the book (and in many ways I have). Anyway, it doesn't hurt that I'm a rare book dealer (although I can't really read those wonderful old first editions), as its a nice environment to spend my days. (By the way, there's still time to enter your name for the giveaway of a signed first edition, which I'll extend until November 9th).
I LOVE CEREAL. I know its weird, but I could seriously eat cereal at any time of the day. (Actually I just had some for dinner). I probably shouldn't be admitting that, but whatever. Love me or leave me. I remember my sister once did one of those 'about me' lists on facebook and she, too, mentioned her love of cereal. I hadn't realized that she was still such a cereal-fiend until then. We must have eaten a lot of cereal growing up.
I LOVE PLANTS. When I'm surrounded by those lovely green beauties with their occasional blessings of floral delights, I feel connected. I feel healthy. I feel alive. My home has plants everywhere... sometimes more than I can handle, but I love it. I used to work at a greenhouse at a science museum and I also used to be an outdoor education teacher, romping around the redwood forests. Although I love my work now, those were definitely some lovely-filled days.
I LOVE SCIENCE. I know its a bit geeky, but I got my first microscope when I was like 9. I remember the first time I saw all the things that were underneath that very un-powerful scope. It changed my life. I love all kinds of science. I got a degree in biology and then a masters focused on microbial disease. I've been a biology teacher and a chemistry teacher. (I think I've had too many varying careers... I just have too many loves, aka the name of my blog :) ). Now I'm into physics. Science is so amazing because it informs us about the world around us... and there is just so much to discover!
I LOVE BLOGGING. I never understood the whole thing about blogs and blogging until I started writing one myself less than a year ago. And then I started reading blogs. And then I started 'meeting' so many wonderful people in the blogging world. It has been such a lovely adventure. Since I live in a small town (pop. 12,000) and work from a home (a somewhat solitary endeavor), blogging has allowed me to meet people from all over the world that I wouldn't normally have the chance to ever know in my entire life. There are so many lovely people and blogs out there, and I hope that as this Love Train takes off, it will be a place for more people to meet, share their loves, and link up their blogs together. I hope you'll join me!
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