Álbum “True Blue”, 1986

Clássico absoluto dos anos 80!

“Open your heart to me, baby…”

“When you begin to touch your heart or let your heart be touched, you begin to discover that it’s bottomless.” -Pema Chodron

How can you open your heart a little more today than yesterday?

From www.TinyBuddha.com

Peace! If you’re in the Indianapolis area, stop by to check out InfeRed making an appearance at this open mic night.

Should be a good time, Red never fails to put on a ill live set. If you make it out, let us know what you think on here!

Peace, and open your heart, to love.

I read this tract recently: It’s Human to need God, and I realized that it is so true: as human beings, as men, we need God! It’s not mainly because we are sinners that we need Him – Adam, in the garden of Eden, was not a sinner yet, and still he needed God as the tree of life to come into Him! Simply because we are human, we need God! We don’t need “religion” (a man-made way to worship God and do things for God) – our inner being thirsts and desires for God! This is what makes us human, much superior and different than any other creature: we need God! Just like we need to eat, to drink, to breathe, to exercise, etc – we need God!

In Gen. 1:26 we see clearly that man was made in the image and likeness of God – and by reading the New Testament we see that we are vessels – vessels of mercy, even vessels unto honor and vessels of glory – to contain and express God! God the Creator, as the heavenly Potter, made us as vessels to be filled with God! I can testify from my own experience that when I enjoy the Lord, when I contact Him, I am filled and my life has a meaning!

God made a spirit in man – and God Himself is Spirit – so that He may come into our spirit and make us one spirit with Him(1 Cor 6:17)! When we don’t have God in our spirit, we feel empty and dead – there is a “void” in us (Pascal called this “a God-shaped vacuum“), something that nothing else but God can fill and satisfy. There’s a longing in us for eternal things, for things that are not earthly and perishable, but things that are even of God, divine, and eternal!

This hunger in us is met by God in the Lord Jesus Christ – He came to the earth and was incarnated(Christ brought God into man, the unlimited God into a limited man), lived a perfect human life(in which He expressed God in His human living, He didn’t do anything from or for Himself, but lived a normal human life by the Father/God), died an all-inclusive death on the cross(He died for our sins, removed our sins, and broke down the barrier of sins between us and God), and resurrected on the 3rd day(in resurrection He became the life-giving Spirit). Now as such a life-dispensing Spirit He is ready & available to come into us to quench our thirst, to fill our need! All we need to do is open our heart to Him and tell Him

Lord Jesus, I need You! Thank You for dying for my sins and for becoming the life-giving Spirit! I want to receive You right now – come into me and fill me! I feel I am so empty without You!

If we are honest with ourselves & with the Lord as we say this prayer, the Lord will come in. And He will fill our heart – our need for God will be met, and we receive Christ! This will give meaning to our human life!

Celebration released their last album in 2005 to mixed reviews. Afterward they began writing more tracks for a follow up album and ended up with 22 tracks that they were happy with. And in a recent blog post said this.

When we finally poked our head out into the light of the living, we had brought 22 songs in tow. On just a chance, when noting the oddity and seeming significance of the number 22, we remembered that the tarot had 22 major archana cards. So, when playing with the idea, listening to the songs and the lyrics, we noticed striking parallels. So much so, we feel it fated. Once this perspective hit us our next path on our journey became illuminated. We had already long decided that we wanted to embrace a new way of sharing our music. So we are weaving a web portal to share this idea as an unfolding experiment. Every month on our web site, http://celebrationelectrictarot.com, we will post new songs for free download.

We have made video’s for the first two songs/cards. “I Will Not Fall” is The Fool card and ‘What’s this magical” is The Shaman Magician card.

And that’s what they’ve done. So far we have three tracks that are all worthy of taking up space on your mp3 player of choice. They’re psychedelic and at times sound like a female fronted Mars Volta. The videos are all pretty trippy and get a little mundane about halfway through but are still worth watching at least once.

A donation is made by the Open Your Heart to Children Battling Cancer Foundation

Guy Moretti saw the devastating effects of childhood cancer when his friend’s four-year old son was diagnoseded with leukemia. A parent himself, he found the family’s anguish and financial hardship so unimaginable that he started a charity to help.

About six years ago, he and his co-workers at Century 21 Moretti Realty created the Open Your Heart to Children Foundation. So far they have raised over $500,000 to assist families stricken by the disease while supporting pediatric  oncology research and treatment.

“We wanted to embrace a cause that allowed us to give back to the  community,” stated Mr. Moretti. ” There are few resources available to families caring for sick children. They are under incredible stress… sometimes losing their jobs, their homes, their cars just to stay afloat. We’re trying to make their lives a little bit easier.”

In addition to helping families directly, the Foundation partners with organizations that  share its passion for fighting pediatric cancers and blood disorders. Since 2006, it  has donated over $100,000 to JFK Medical Center’s pediatric brain tumor program as well as the Haven Hospice Children’s Program and other Solaris Health System services related to childhood cancer.

The Open Your Heart to Children Battling Cancer Foundation garners money through individual donations and many community fundraisers, incluading walk-a-thons, Casino Nights, and the annual ” Old Timers Motorcycle Race and Community Picnic” to be held in South Plainfield, NJ this fall. ” our greatest hope is that they find a cure for childhood cancer” said Mr. Moretti. ” But in the meantime we can help ease the pain for affected families, whether its purchasing groceries, making mortgage payments or providing health service referrals.”

Without question, this very special foundation is enriching the care of 
pediatric patients at JFK Medical Center and throughout central New Jersey…one heart, and one child at a time.

This article was published in the Touching Lives Newsletter Summer 2009 edition by the Solaris Health System an JFK Medical Center 

Open Your Heart to Children Battling Cancer Foundation, Inc was founded by a group of  REALTORS from Century 21 Moretti

• To make a difference
• Provide non-medical services to families
• Support pediatric oncology research
• Enhance the quality of life and care for children with cancer and blood disorders

Phone: 908-755-5051 Ext 406   Email: openyourheart@morettirealty.com

OPEN vs. LOCK擬人化

眾所期盼的LOCK醬總算出周邊了!
畫個圖慶祝一下
因為種種原因, 只有亂亂的草稿XD

Open Chan

首先是很好畫(?)的OPEN醬
根據周邊商品的印象, 是交響樂團的指揮
金髮飄逸的可愛男孩

Lock chan

再來是讓我傷透腦筋的LOCK醬
周邊商品的印象當然是搖滾樂團的吉他手啦
LOCK醬的造型讓我很頭大,而且 彈吉他真的很難畫 (所以亂亂畫…)
是黑髮酷酷的帥哥哦(怎麼看還是太可愛了orz)

希望OPEN vs. LOCK的漫畫會出書
我一定會去買
將來說不定想畫同人呢XD

Open your heart 02

被困住的歐貝恩該如何脫困呢?

敵人的身份是什麼?

詳情請見下回揭曉!

There is much for you to see, open your eyes. Open your heart.

There are a lot of different ways to meditate.  If you haven’t tried it before, here is a simple way to start. Just smile to yourself, then image a point within you. (Your heart, between your eyes, the top of your head, there is no wrong place)  Smile outward from that point. That’s all. Practice it several times a day. Feel good. : )

....From my perspective....

Just an ordinary dog, with a unique way of seeing things….

I have been wondering for some time now, if there is an unusual bent to who I am? Of course if you ask my “Doozie” girlfriends, they would laugh in glee and say ” is she kidding, of course she’s extremely unusual, delightful,eclectic, unique in her perspectives and someone who lives every bit of life, in joy and hope….” Yeah, that’s what I would dream they would say….but perhaps it’s more like “she sure is unusual, why does she trust someone first and then find out they shouldn’t be trusted? She is definitely a “networking” kinda gal, with hundreds of ideas that run through her mind and roll off her tongue, yupper, she’s unusual all right, very”.

Well folks, it’s taken me my lifetime to become unusual, actually I think I was born that way and it’s taken my lifetime to let who I am out of Pandora’s Box. It can be a very good thing you know!!!!

As most of us do, I have strong moral standards and a polite, proper upbringing. Unlike “Vivian” in my favorite movie, “Pretty Woman”, I know etiquette and know which fork to use to dine. I have a decent vocabulary and a love of reading. I love to meet new people and converse with them, I seem to have a nac for building instant rapport and most open up freely, sometimes to the point that it’s way too much information (TMI) as my kids call it. But folks seem to react that way, hmmmmm why? Because I listen to them, I give them my full attention, I care about who they are, their stories and we all have them….different situations, same emotions. So I easily can feel those emotions and quickly imagine what it’s like to “walk in their shoes”. Chances are I have done so many times. So I “get them”….understand their disappointments ,frustrations, struggle,sadness, losses and joys. I make myself available to listen to them, to care about them, to get to know them.

I consider my self, transparent. When we meet, there is very little I would not openly share with you. I try to be honest and forthright and to let you know that others have also been where you might be at this moment in time. There is no use in my pretending to be someone I am not, it wastes time and is foolish because we all know, the “truth eventually comes out” in most situations. So why bother to be someone I am not.

I try hard not to pry into the life of another or not to overstep their boundaries or be invasive in their lives. I just try to be supportive, encouraging and what a friend means to me. I have weathered some storms within my life when God has been my only Alli, my only friend, my only companion….there has been no other human being available. I know the feeling of total loneliness, desperation, hopelessness and being on the edge of despair….I have felt it and with Him and I somehow I have managed to emotionally survive the situations, by His grace. I have learned incredible lessons and have met incredible people who have been instrumental in teaching me what I have needed to learn. I can now look back on the most difficult ones, and count them as blessings…..gifts to myself ….lessons that have brought me through to today to live with an optimistic attitude, in gratefulness for what I have, and a feeling of accomplishment from working so hard to discover who this unusual woman might be.

If I could recommend to everyone, just one thing….it would be to rip off the masks we wear in our culture and to risk being and thinking and behaving like the person inside, the person God made us to be. We are after all a reflection of His image, and God doesn’t make junk!

Take a deep breath, begin today, open your heart and let your own light shine….let the world see your creativeness, your talents, your skills, your compassion, your generosity, your willingness to discover, your love for who you are…..and pass it along to others as you meet them. Share whatever it is that makes you unique and unusual, we each are….I just confirmed I am very unusual and share so much joy, freedom and peace because I am, I simply want those feelings to be discovered by you as well.

Give it a try….make different choices, experiment with what you have always done or said and try something new, go different routes to work, get out of your routine and rut and soar with the eagles, fly with the angels and leave imprints on each heart of everyone you touch…..It’s genuine and a fabulous way to live life! I know, I experience the wonderment each and everyday, why not give it a try? Discover what’s so unusual and special within you and you may find it to be the most priceless gift you ever give yourself or those you love.

Synths aside, Dare (1981) has hardly aged a bit, even though it’s going on 30 years old.  The vague angst of Dare mirrors our own identity crises.

The opening track is a quintessential description of hyperreal modern pursuits:

Dream life the way you think it ought to be
See things you thought you’d never ever see

Everybody needs love and adventure
Everybody needs cash to spend
Everybody needs love and affection
Everybody needs two or three friends

These are the things
These are the things
The things that dreams are made of

Like fun and money and food and love
And things you never thought of… *

And Dare’s reflections on modern mentalities are not neutral descriptions but affirmations: modern life is empowering and dazzling and endlessly exciting.

I believe in me, I believe in you
And you know I believe in love **

Dare admits to complications in modern life — we can be certain that others will let us down — but this is all to be endured as part of the experience.  We may be tempted to cut ourselves off from others:

Being an island
Shying from trying
Seems the easy way
Such an easy way ^

We must still continue to seek the future — and yet there’s no future without tears.^  We still believe in love.**  Dare connects love with happiness, but rejection means that love will be shallow.  It makes sense to live fast:

Take a cruise to China or a train to Spain
Go round the world, again and again
Meet a girl on a boat, meet a boy on a train
And fall in love without the pain *

And when other people inevitably do fail us, we can always find security in the hyperreal image that we construct for ourselves:

Get around town
Get around town
Where the people look good
Where the music is loud ^^

Still, Dare finishes with a wail of angst and confusion:

Don’t you want me, baby?
Don’t you want me?  Oh-h! ***

Our society offers unlimited fascination and stimulation, and even the opportunity to construct your own reality, but where can we find love?

* ’The Things That Dreams Are Made Of’
** ‘Love Action’
^ ‘Open Your Heart’
^^ ‘The Sound of the Crowd’
*** ‘Don’t You Want Me’

The last few years have been challenging in so many ways. The decline of Dennis’ mental health and his death last fall; my own health issues which were exacerbated by the stress of caring for Dennis. Financial crash-and-burns, self-induced and otherwise. There’s been a deeply embedded sense of being overwhelmed, of just hanging on by my fingernails.

I claimed the old Zen story as my own — the man is being chased by a hungry tiger, and falls off the edge of a cliff, catching himself on a branch. He is dangling hundreds of feet above a raging river, the tiger swiping at him from above. The branch he clings to is fragile and will  break any moment. The man sees a berry growing just within reach. He plucks it, eats, and says “how delicious!”

I lived in the moment the best I could, but the past and the future gripped me, holding me immobilized. All I had was the berry, moment to moment. How delicious, indeed. Yet, how exhausting and frightening too. The man felt all that one would feel –  the terror, the pain, the pounding heart and straining muscles. His choice — to focus on the one piece of beauty and delight in his world — is so admirable; so perfect, and yet, so futile. Any second the tiger will pounce, or the branch will break, and he’ll perish. Will the taste of the berry linger past that doom? I always have chosen to believe that it would indeed remain, a burst of beauty and life carrying one into the next future, the next path. Kind of a divine pat on the back for not giving up the quest for joy.

Now, I am in a place of getting to choose. I’m choosing joy, and freedom from old patterns and fears. I’m choosing a third future, without the tiger or the river. Living from crisis to crisis is just too tiring, too draining, and no longer serves me.

As I transition to choosing from love, choosing for joy and for the deep pleasures of order and peace, I have a great deal to let go of. I wrote this short mantra, or prayer, to help me keep this new focus. To help me stay out of the tiger’s path of the past, and away from the terror of the coming torrent:

I honor the past – and release it
I honor the future – and embrace it
I honor the now – and experience it

And So It Is.

I was sick for several days last week and recovering has left me delighted with life. Colors are crisper and brighter, bird songs are sweeter, flavors more intense. I know the “real world” hasn’t changed since last weekend, only my perception, but exquisite perception!

The opportunity to change our view and absorb more joy from life around us is always present. What is it that prevents us from making that shift? Dennis would have immediately gone to his Buddhist thinking and said it was attachment, and he wouldn’t have been wrong. I don’t think it’s only that, however. Certainly we cling to the familiar, and to the desirable; but we also yearn for the new and potentially even more desirable. Lately, I’ve begun seeing the state of yearning as the thing to which we seem addicted. Once a goal, a dream, a thing, is obtained, it loses its luster, and becomes the known — and more important — the owned. We then turn our eyes to the next thing, in an endless quest for more. It’s not, for most of us, the acquisition, but getting that is juicy and addictive.

So what do we do? Get sick periodically to refresh our delight in the now and the accessible? Maybe. Maybe we try to recognize how fleeting the moments of contented bliss are, and turn our striving towards that state of being, of nonstriving. Turn our yearning to happiness and joy. They are always there, just ahead, just out of reach, just a stretch of a hand away.

Look! I’ve got it…. ahhhh.

Open your heart is a phrase that I have heard over and over again throughout my spiritual journey, beginning many years ago when I first began this intense journey with a dedicated and compassionate teacher, Chase Carter.  He helped me to understand so much more about myself and who I am, through his healing ability, using vibrations of both light and sound, shamanic practices and channeling to help me to open my heart to all that I am again and to humanity as well.  I had closed off for so long that I didn’t even realize how far I had taken my need to protect myself.  Over the years, there have been so many teachers that I am thankful to have crossed paths with of all variety, physical and purely spiritual in nature.  Thank you to all who have shared this journey with me.

Looking back now, that seems so long ago, both in time and in how I feel about myself and others.  Though still opening my heart to all that I can, it is not closed any longer to love and compassion for myself and others.  I can now stand in the place of love and hold it for others to heal and learn to open themselves to love.  It is an amazing realization to see within myself and one I never thought would happen.  This past year I truly felt myself open to all that I am and embrace it while helping others on their journey.  I have worked and helped others for many years and each year it continues to feel more genuine and easier to embrace all the work that I do without worrying about what others think or say.  I trust that I know what needs to be done, hear clearly the divine message to increase each clients healing and hold onto a loving and compassionate intention for their highest good. 

Over these last few weeks, I have been reading an awesome, amazing and insightful book titled Now is the Time to Open Your Heart by Alice Walker.  I hadn’t read anything by her since The Color Purple; and had not realized all that her journey has led her to discover.  This book captures the spiritual journey so many are on at this time and in such a graceful and compassionate way.  There is no condescension at others who are on different paths or any judgment on those who are at different stages of evolving.  There is acceptance that each one is beautiful and unfolding like a flower.  It has a gentle grace about it that is so hard to put into words for those who experience these soulful journeys.

I would recommend this book to anyone who is walking their spiritual journey, it spoke to my own experiences and helped me to also get a glimpse of others’ journeys and where I can continue to head.  I am going to post a few lines from the book — a random quote because there are too many good passages to pick one.

From Now is the Time to Open Your Heart by Alice Walker,

Page 165.

You Must Live: A Future Consequence

YOU MUST LIVE FOR AT LEAST TWO YEARS IN SPACE, SAID Grandmother.  It will take at least that long to make you positive that space is where you have always lived.  There are people who think they must travel through the air to reach space, but that is because they do not understand.  You are born into space, out of space, space is your home forever.  Earth is like a dust mote in the cosmos.  An interesting, even fascinating, dust mote.  But a dust mote.  It is like a raft on a river and the river is space. 

Page 166.

The ability to visit what is ugly and to transform into beauty anything you touch.

To me, it seems like all of healing and living is to turn something ugly into something beautiful and loved.  This can be done either by accepting the ugliness and loving it for what it is and that transcends it into something beautiful or by truly releasing the ugliness and filling it with something sparkling and beautiful.  All of life is a transformation in motion, never ending, always changing, and always spiraling higher and higher.  Allow yourself to spiral freely in love and peace.

How to Write Poetry and Live Poetically

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Chapter 11: Living Poetically
Case Studies in Poetic Living — Juliette

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Missing Juliette

Chakra Goddess (www.intotheheart.org, from www.karunaarts.com)

Adapted from Sister Alma Rose Has the Last Word: An Open Heart

Almost nothing matters except how much love I can give and how much love there is in the world…. I can rededicate myself each day to the intelligence, grace, and mystery of a truly open heart. —Susan Piver, How Not to Be Afraid of Your Own Life: Opening Your Heart to Confidence, Intimacy, and Joy

Fourth Chakra (heart): Located at the center of our chest in the heart region, this energy-center is focused on opening to love, including the Divine manifestation of Love. —intotheheart.org

♥

Me, Fanny McElroy

Sister Alma Rose and I had gone to visit our friend Juliette. “I am missing Juliette,” Sister Alma Rose had said, as if she had misplaced Juliette and we should do a thorough search of the house and grounds.

I knew what she meant, though, because I was missing Juliette too. Juliette is all heart and wit and honesty. Plus I have sort of a crush on Juliette’s son, Ry, who is easy on the eyes and is kind and good and takes care of his mother. They take care of each other and of anyone nearby who needs them, and sometimes people not-so-nearby, all of which is a minor miracle, as you will see.

The Brawl in Montreal

Sugar Ray Leonard

Sister Alma Rose has a guilty secret: She enjoys boxing — as a spectator, of course, though I think she could defeat an opponent in the first second of the first round with one of her “don’t y’all be messing with Sister Alma Rose” looks. In 1980, she went all the way to Canada to see the famous “Brawl in Montreal,” the World Welterweight Championship fight in which Roberto Durán beat Sugar Ray Leonard in a 15-round unanimous decision. (I Googled welterweight, and there are actually several definitions having to do with horses and things, but in the above context, welterweight refers to a professional boxer who weighs between 141 and 147 pounds, which is not very big, my tiny mama weighed more than that when she was pregnant with me.)

Actually, being a boxing fan is not Sister Alma Rose’s guilty secret, it’s mine, by which I mean, I feel guilty for her. She will tell anyone who cares to listen that she adores a well-matched fight and prefers a good, decisive knockout to a decision.

This astonishes me. I cannot understand why anyone, especially someone who exudes peace and serenity as Sister Alma Rose does, would actually enjoy watching two people trying to beat each other to a bloody pulp.

1st Lt. Alan Singleton lies in the ropes as team officials rush to his aid after his knockout by Lance Cpl. Charles Davis in the final fight of the 2000 All-Marine Boxing Trials (Wikipedia)

All Sister Alma Rose will say is this: “Fanny, y’all should watch a fight some time. It’s a lesson in the human condition. A fighter gets knocked down hard, and before y’all can say ‘Marquess of Queensbury rules,’ the fighter is back on his feet, a little weaker but still eager to fight. If he gets knocked down again pretty quick, he’s a little slower to get up, but if the fight ended right then he could probably go out for a few beers with his buddies, have a shower, maybe get a massage, go to bed, sleep twelve hours, wake up aching all over, take it easy for a couple days, bingo, he’s good as new.

“But if the fight hadn’t ended, if he keeps on getting knocked down before he regains his equilibrium, pretty soon he just can’t get up any more. He’s helpless, and if somebody don’t come in and take care of him, he’s still lying there on the mat. But maybe he makes a couple million dollars just for showing up, so he’s got folks on the payroll who’ll look out for him and probably see to it that he gets healed and gets his strength back so that he can show up for another fight down the road.”

Frontispiece of the 1605 printing (Q2) of *Hamlet*

To be, or not to be–that is the question:
Whether ’tis nobler in the mind to suffer
The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune
Or to take arms against a sea of troubles
And by opposing end them. To die, to sleep —
No more — and by a sleep to say we end
The heartache, and the thousand natural shocks
That flesh is heir to. ‘Tis a consummation
Devoutly to be wished. To die, to sleep–
To sleep–perchance to dream: ay, there’s the rub,
For in that sleep of death what dreams may come
When we have shuffled off this mortal coil,
Must give us pause.

—Shakespeare, Hamlet, Act III, scene i

Her heart shines like the sun

Sister Alma Rose says that “no mere mortal” can get punched in the gut over and over like Juliette, or be whomped repeatedly by “the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune,” and remain standing “with an open heart,” which is why she is sure that Juliette is an angel from heaven, and Ry, too, who is technically, she says, an “angelino,” which, I don’t know what that means except possibly Ry is an apprentice angel, I’m just guessing, or maybe there’s an age limit and he’s not old enough. As I said, I don’t know.

The front entrance of the Tomb of the Prophet Job in the Druze Mountain region of Lebanon (El-Chouf). It marks the place where God healed all Job's wounds (Wikipedia)

I will tell you one — just one — of the series of disasters that afflicted Juliette, the way God seemed to keep punishing Job according to the Bible. Juliette’s grown daughter, Adrienne, Ry’s sister, took her own life, something like ten years ago. Sister Alma Rose says that many people never heal from a blow like that. They turn inward, they get bitter, they protect themselves from other scary stuff that might be out there. Sister Alma Rose once knew a kind, gentle woman, a butterfly collector, whose husband, who was a county medical examiner, shot himself in the head, and his widow went home to her mama in Chicago and about a month later her mama found her dead in her car in the garage, of carbon monoxide poisoning, with a note that said she had gone to be with her husband.

From the Public Library of Science Journal, Oct. 17, 2006, published on Wikipedia

Juliette, after getting blindsided for about the fifth time, almost caved. She stopped eating, more or less, until she literally could not stand up, and Ry found her helpless in her living room and hauled her off to the hospital, where she got rehydrated and “stabilized,” and then she spent a couple of months at a rehab center learning to walk again, and that’s been a year and a half ago, and even though she’s still not what you might call robust, her heart shines like the sun. She actively looks for ways to help her friends. She says, “I might not be able to do THIS, but I can do THAT,” and then she does it.

More accurately, the Juliette-and-Ry team do it. He’s big and strong, she’s tiny and still a bit frail, though she’s getting stronger every day; so she scouts around for what people need and together they accomplish it.

Open your heart

Human heart with coronary arteries (Yale University School of Medicine, published on Wikipedia)

I asked Sister Alma Rose, when we were walking home from our visit with Juliette and Ry, what is meant by “an open heart” and where can I get one. She stopped and turned so that we were facing each other, and she said, “Look at how y’all are standing, Miss Fanny, with your shoulders back and your heart exposed, so to speak. People talk about ‘deep in my heart’ and ‘heartfelt admiration’ and they might not know it but opening their heart is a literal, physical thing.”

I’m thinking surgery and gore, and Sister Alma Rose seems to read my mind, because she says, as she has said many times before, quoting somebody-or-other, I can’t remember, “Things are metaphors for ideas, Fanny. If you want your heart to open up, and you gently ask it to, it will open up. If you ask it in the name of God to shine on the Somali pirates or on President Obama or on Jimmy Oakley, who has head lice, it will shine on them and the whole world will be that much brighter.”

Barry Manilow (2008 photo by Matt Becker, pub. on Wikipedia)

Sister Alma Rose has taught me to meditate on opening the heart and to pray by casting the heart’s love-beams, which sounds like a dreadful pop ballad by someone like Barry Manilow, but which is a real thing, because Sister Alma Rose can actually see, with her physical eyes, the light that shines from one person to another, which goes from you to the person you are praying for, though I can only feel it a little bit, like when I am going into a room full of people I don’t know and instead of feeling threatened and being shy and inward, I tell my heart to shine on them, one by one or all together, depending, and it always, always makes me feel friendly and open instead of afraid that nobody will talk to me or that my pants will suddenly decide to fall down. Although one time my pants did fall down; but that is another story….

♥

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♥

Hi, friends!

I’ve been taking some strong medicine to bring me back to full physical health and it’s been making me a little foggy.  Until I clear up, I send you this sincere and powerful reminder:

You are loved.  You are adored.  You’re cared for and looked after.  You’re precious — you’re a child of God, the Creator of all.

Please love yourself and open yourself up to the love of heaven.  Heaven wants to shine its unconditional love down on you, opening your heart and illuminating your face.  Visualize this.  Begin to feel it — and then go out and share it!

Be the love you are!  Blessings to you today.

There was a noticeable drop off in the quality of the music from 1986 to 1987.  Many more of the Billboard Top 100 from 1987 had a gimmicky quality to them, and as a result they were pushed off the list.  The style of music was obviously changing as power ballads with great melodies and lyrics were replaced with trite dance tunes from groups like Wang Chung and others.  I found this list much harder to compile because many of the songs with sing-able melodies were, for lack of a better term, gay.  I found myself forcing songs like, “Somewhere Out There”, “Only In My Dreams”, “Never Gonna Give You Up”, and “Lady In Red” off the list for this very reason.  I have to be honest, most of the songs on this list would not have even been considered for the 1983-1985 lists, but you have to go with what you have.

20. “Open Your Heart”, Madonna- Madonna was hitting her stride when she released True Blue.  This song typified the dance music style that dominated her music for the next four or five years.  It is upbeat and causes you to tap you feet when you listen to it.  I chose it over the title track from this album.

19. “Faith”, George Michael- Speaking of gay, coming in at number nineteen we have this little ditty by George Michael that was one of the most popular songs of the year.  It definitely had a strong melody, and you almost have to move when you hear it.  By this time, George Michael had realized that Wham was nothing without him, so he decided to destroy them by leaving the band and going out on his own.  I found his flamboyant arrogance to be off-putting.

18. “Mony Mony”, Billy Idol- I found Billy Idol’s act fairly off-putting also, but much less gay than George Michael’s.  Idol came across as the guy with the biggest case of short-man’s syndrome in the music business.  He was always taking a swing at the screen, and his music often reflected this quality.  I put this song on the list because of its staying power and popularity on movie soundtracks.  Idol shouted his vocals more often than he sang them, but his songs were catchy if also very gimmicky.

17. “We’ll Be Together”, Sting- I like sting, and his tenor vocals quite a bit, but this would probably not even make my top ten songs featuring him.  It is very upbeat and different from most of his other stuff.  It is definitely quirky, and the video reminds me of later Janet Jackson material.

16.  “Electric Blue”, Icehouse- It took an Australian group to carry on the tradition of bands like Naked Eyes, The Thompson Twins and Simple Minds in 1987.  The keyboard sound is very 1980s as is the whole tone on the tenor vocals.  The girl in the video is also Hot!

15. “Bad”, Michael Jackson- Again, I found myself trying to keep this song off the list because of the whole pedophilia thing, but it was simply too big of a song for me to do so.  The tune is unmistakable as it begins with the guitarist hammering out six heavily distorted notes before the drums kick in.  There is no other song that is more associated with Michael Jackson.

14. “Pour Some Sugar on Me”, Def Leppard- This is one of those songs that I had no idea what the lyrics were.  I don’t even remember what crazy words I substituted for the actually lyrics, but I am sure they were funny.  It is the epitome of the rock anthem, and almost forces the listener to stand up and clap his hands above his head (very ’80s).

13. “Little Lies”, Fleetwood Mac- This instrumentation in this song is very 1980s from the keyboard, to the drums and the guitar.  As I have said earlier, I did not start listening to Pop/Rock music until the 1980s, and as a result I did not know anything about Fleetwood Mac’s earlier work.  I also did not like hype, so when they had their comeback in the ’80s, I was taken aback by all of the hype that went along with it.  This set me against them early on.  As I have grown older, I have realized that their music was pretty good.  Linday Buckingham has a nice voice, and the melody of the song is easy to sing along with.  I always said back then, that Stevie Nicks must have sold her soul to the devil (yes, I heard the witch rumors) for good looks and fame, because ‘Lord knows she can’t sing.”  That may have been a little harsh too.  She was nice to look at, but her voice had a very different tone to it.  It sounded like she was a smoker, but she hit her notes, and her tone still had a full sound.

12. “Wanted Dead or Alive”, Bon Jovi- The acoustic guitar part on this song is what makes the song.  Even the lead guitar has a picked sound that conveys the old west sound that is the point of the song.  Jon Bon Jovi is very affected, but that is what you get with these guys, and you should not expect anything else.  The song is very commercial, and has been used for products as well as theme songs for television programs.

11. “Don’t Dream It’s Over”, Crowded House- For anyone who grew up in the ’80s, this is known as the “hey-now” song.  As far as being able to sing along with a memorable melody goes, it does not get much better than this.  The baritone/second tenor voice of the lead singer is also easy to sing along with (at least for me).  His vocal has a very good tone to it, and the chorus is well backed by other singers.

10. “The Finer Things”, Steve Winwood- This is my personal favorite song by Winwood.  The keyboard and sax set a mellow mood at the beginning of the song.  Winwood has a pretty high voice, but the chorus is still good to sing along with, even if you have to sing an octave below him.  It is bubbly and upbeat but he keeps it from going the way of a group like Wham, for instance.

9. “(I Just) Died In Your Arms”, Cutting Crew- The staccato keyboard with the cello at the beginning of the song set a good 80’s mood for the song.  When the guitar and drums come in, it becomes a standard 80’s power ballad, and that’s a good thing.  The vocal is good, but I was creeped out when I read the Wiki for this song.  It says, “The words ‘I just died in your arms tonight’ originally came to Van Eede while he was having sex with his girlfriend [I'll have to try that.  Usually I just think about baseball.], ‘death’ being an often-used metaphor for orgasm.”  This would be the lyrical equivalent of too much information.  However, I find his thought processes to be strange.  I know I’m not the one who usually thinks about death while I’m making love.

8. “Mandolin Rain”, Bruce Hornsby and the Range- Hornsby’s strong piano chops are highlighted throughout this song.  This song is cool and melow.  It in no way makes you want to do anything very active while you listen to it.  Hornsby’s vocals are excellent and easy to listen to.

I have a memory of this song associated with Six Flags Over Texas.  During my junior and senior years in high school, I had a car and a season pass to Six Flags ($44.00, greatness).  I would go all summer long, once or twice a week.  That year I remember that Six Flags had ponied-up and bought Bose speakers that piped music throughout the park, especially for those standing in line.  The only problem was that they only had about 25 minutes of music on the loop that they were playing, so you got to hear the same songs over and over as you stood in line all summer long.  “Mandolin Rain” was one of the songs, and I bet I heard it 1,000 times at the park that summer.  It says something that I still can listen to it and enjoy it today.

7. “In Too Deep”, Genesis- This was the second song released off their mega-album Invisible Touch, and it is clearly influenced by Collins’ extremely successful solo albums that were released prior to it.  The song is much slower and subdued than much of the older Genesis material.  It has a very nice acoustic quality that comes from dual acoustic guitars, and a grand paino.  It has one of my favorite vocals from Phil Collins, and I chose it over “Tonight, Tonight, Tonight”.

I went to the Invisible Touch concert when it came to Dallas.  Unfortunately, I was unimpressed.  “Mama” was dark and great, but, for the most part it was just a bunch of Abacab stuff, which I did not know at the time.  He did not even sing “Tonight, Tonight, Tonight” even though the concert was sponsored by Michelob.  He didn’t sing one Phil Collins’ song, and Mike and the Mechanics did not do any of their stuff.  I learned another thing that night.  You can have too many 10 minute drum solos in a concert.  There was no encore, and finally it was over.  I later heard that Collins’ was sporting a 102 degree temperature during the concert, but I still felt short-changed by the whole thing.

6. “(I’ve Had) The Time Of My Life”, Bill Medley and Jennifer Warnes- This is one of the best duets of the 1980s.  Bill Medley is better known as a Righteous Brother, and he can definitely bring the vocals.  The song’s popularity was increased by the fact that it was associated with the huge 80s chick flick Dirty Dancing.  The harmony is great, and the chorus builds to a point where the two singers sound enraptured.

5. “Alone”, Heart- Anne Wilson and Heart continued their dominance of the mid-eighties with another of their signature power ballads.  The soft start with the piano/keyboard at the beginning of the song with Anne Wilson’s softer voice sounds great.  Then, chorus the powers in and provides the signature Heart sound.   If you want to win American Idol, do a great version of this song (see Carrie Underwood).

4. “The Next Time I Fall”, Peter Cetera and Amy Grant- In the summer of 1986, I got very involved with a youth group at one of the local churches in my home town.  I also got into CCM (Christian Contemporary Music for the heathens out there), just as it was hitting its zenith.  Amy Grant was the biggest name in CCM at the time.  As her popularity continued to grow, she began to experiment with crossing-over into popular music.  First, her Unguarded album failed to mention God anywhere, and many CCM fans noted that the songs could be as much about a boyfriend as about God.  Then, she actually released a few songs onto the secular (not Christain, again for you heathens) market.

I remember that there was actually a debate on the local radio station (KOJO, later KLTY) in Dallas as to whether her music should be played at all on their station any more.  I knew that these ideas were wrong-headed even as a pompous high school kid.  Christianity can be very divisive and counter to its own goals a lot of the time.  Here we had a young woman who could have drawn more people to their station and the religion by crossing-over into mainstream music, but the first thought was to drive her away.

It’s funny to listen to CCM today.  As sad as it has become, one thing is easy to see.  They have reversed their attitudes, and any secular song that could be reinterpreted with a positive Godly message is re-recorded by Christian Artists (almost always not as well as the original).

As far as the duet mentioned above goes, it was one of my favorites of the decade.  Cetera definitely has the lead role in the song, but Grant’s harmonies are what make it great.  She also looks good in the video.  The original version with the heavily synthesized keyboard sound was good, but there is a live version with a full orchestra that sounds even better.

3. “Will You Still Love Me?”, Chicago- Fans of any successful group in the 80s would wait on pins and needles for the inevitable news that their favorite band had broken up (or a key member had died).  The worst part was that it was often career suicide for all involved.  This, however, was not the case for Peter Cetera and Chicago.  He left the band shortly after it finished recording Chicago 17 in 1985, but both he and the band experienced great success with their next albums.  Chicago replaced Cetera with Jerry Scheff and picked up right where they left off recording great love songs and power ballads.  “Will You Still Love Me” is a great example of one of these.  Scheff actually sounds a lot like Cetera on the vocal, and the keyboard/piano led instrumentation picks up right where Chicago 17 left off.  The orchestral backing on the song sounds great, but the strings and light horns do not deliver the standard “Tower of Power” horn sound that is expected from Chicago.

2. “Doing It All For My Baby”, Huey Lewis and The News- Once again, Lewis delivered the be-bop style that his fans looked for.  I love the horns and Hammond organ sound at the beginning and throughout the song.  Lewis’ vocal is as good as ever.  Topping out at #93 on the Billboard Top 100 for the year, this song is easily the most underrated song of his career.  I have a tip for anyone who wants to hear this song.  Download it from Itunes.  The video is 7:53 long, it is horrible, and you will never be able to get that part of your life or the part of you that died as you watched it back.

1. “With Or Without You”, U2- I explained on an earlier post that I was not a fan of U2 in the 80s, and I don’t even know why.  Let me say now, that if for no other reason than their two big songs of 1987, “With Or Without You” and “I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For”, they are a great band.  I committed at the start of this not to put more than one song from a given group on any year’s list, but either one of these two songs would have held the top spot in 1987.  I had a hard time choosing which one I like best, and it came down to popular culture and the inclusion of “With or Without You” in the seminal episode of Friends that made the decision for me.

Top 20 80s Pop/Rock Songs (Category)

Top 20 1980’s Pop/Rock Songs By Year (Criteria)

Top 20 Pop/Rock Songs from 1980

Top 20 Pop/Rock Songs from 1981

Top 20 Pop/Rock Songs from 1982

Top 20 Pop/Rock Songs from 1983

Top 20 Pop/Rock Songs from 1984

Top 20 Pop/Rock Songs from 1985

Top 20 Pop/Rock Songs from 1986

March – The Challenge of Change

*March 2^nd – Get Real With Yourself and Eliminate the Drain

What are you tolerating in your life that prevents you from living your best life? What is sucking away all of your energy and creativity? The time has come to step into awareness and choose something better for yourself. You deserve it!

*Standards (part 2)

March 9^th –  Continuing to eliminate the drain. Looking deeper into what is draining your energy and creating clutter in your thoughts and in your life.

March 16^th – Boundaries.

Identifying Boundaries. Now that you’ve upgraded your standards learn how to keep them intact with boundaries. Discover your healthy and unhealthy boundaries and how they impact your life.

March 23^rd – Creating Healthy Boundaries

Healthy boundaries are integral part of your personal foundation and one cannot live their best life without them. Boundaries can feel like prison or they can feel like freedom. Set yourself free tonight by creating and committing to healthy boundaries for yourself.

March 30^th – Take Responsibility for your Life and Simplify

*Needs vs. wants vs. desires.  Do you know the difference? We cannot prioritize what’s important in our lives and make changes until we can identify our needs, wants and desires.