from my journal…written a little over 1 year ago:

Many times in my life I have heard the saying “were all connected”, but this quote (along with many others) is thrown around with no meaning behind it. It is only now that I see how I am connected to the fire, the wind, the oceans, the stars, and the precious universe at large. I no longer see these forces of nature as something outside of me. I feel an overwhelming sense of LOVE for them, but this love didn’t develop overnight. As I began to love MYSELF, it seemed as if my love for nature and the world at large grew in unison to the love I felt for myself. If the love for my SELF and my love for the universe are equal…they must be ONE. This leads me to the conclusion that the universe can NOT possibly be something outside of myself, and therefore the universe must be withIN me.