Although the world is full of suffering, it is full also of the overcoming of it.
- Helen Keller

There has been a lot of overcoming and a lot of Love and support in San Diego this week. The fires are awful but out of the ashes come kisses from spirit and support from friends, old and new.

I took this picture Wednesday morning at sunrise. I was thinking about how such pain could create such beauty. There is only one answer. It must be God saying "I am still here with you."

Who ever you are -- Where ever you are -- let this be a sign that you are not alone. Have a beautiful day.

Never give up. Get the knack of getting other people to help you and also pitch in yourself.
-Ruth Gordon

So ... how does this apply to your love life right now? And, what are you going to do about it? Post it here and go-for-it!!!

Dating Dos and Do NOTS!
by Terry Hernon MacDonald, author, Marry Smart.

At my daughter's vision therapy appointment last week, I got to talking to a woman who has a good friend who's hoping to meet a good man on the Internet.

The woman is glad her friend is "getting out there," but she's concerned that this person is setting herself up for failure for one reason:

She's filled her profile with lies, exaggerations, and half-truths.

Fibbing on a profile (or on a date or in a relationship)is a disaster waiting to happen. Don't sabotage your happiness by fudging your age, your salary, or anything else.

Respect yourself and be yourself.

In my single days, I knew a woman who drew tons of responses to a personal ad in which she used the headline, HONEST, SINCERE WOMAN. Most people want to be dealt with honestly, whether it's in business or relationships.

But some people insist on making themselves "look better" on the page, to their own detriment.

Ask Ronnie Ann Ryan. She's the author of MANIFESTING MR. RIGHT, and apublicity writer, in addition to being a dating coach. Women and men ask her for help in writing their Internet profiles. One client stunned her by insisting she include all sorts of false information (she refused).


"Can't you see you're setting yourself up for failure?" She asked the guy. "No woman is going to want you once she finds out the truth."

Ronnie knows what she's talking about from personal experience. At age 40, with no prospects in sight, she set out to meet, fall in love with, and marry a good man who made her happy. (She succeeded and tells how she did it in MANIFESTING MR. RIGHT.)

Along the way, she met a guy who lied to her. She says:

"Before I my husband, I dated a nice guy named Jeff. I was 40 at the time and he said he was 39. We had great conversations, laughs and chemistry. Things were looking up until one night Jeff took out his driver's license to show me how bad the photo was. That's not what I noticed. I saw that he was younger than he said
- only 36. I asked Jeff why he lied about his age, and he said he was afraid I wouldn't date him because he was too young. After that, I couldn't help wondering what else he lied about. The relationship unraveled.

Turns out my husband is four years younger than me. I didn't care when Paul told me he was 37 to my 41 and better still, he didn't care either. Stop worrying about your age and stick with the truth. Honesty is a much better policy - and it's easier to remember, too."

Please resist the temptation to shave years off your age, inflate your salary, and so on. You're fine just the way you are.

Also, take a cue from Ronnie and turn away any man who lies to you. Relationships are built on trust, not lies.

To sign up for Ronnie's f*ree dating newsletter, check out:

www.nevertoolate.biz

To your happily ever after,

Terry
www.happygirlmusing.com Dating Advice (Almost) Daily
Author, How to Attract and Marry the Man of Your Dreams

Psssst. Terry is one on my love relationship mentors. She helped me get ready for love and get married. I highly recommend that you read her book - click on the link above. And, listen into her interview on the Get Ready for Love! Show. Topic is "Secrets of Attraction."

Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won't feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine, as children do. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It is not just in some of us; it is in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.
~ by Marianne Williamson

You know what else? The more you shine, the more you Love and accept yourself, the more Love you attract to yourself and have to share with others. Getting ready for Love? Start by shining your light ...

Click here if you would like to see a beautiful presentation of this quote: http://youtube.com/watch?v=jxRLhn188mI

Live and let live.

I finally understand what this means.

Live. Action verb as in "I live my life."

Let live. Action verb as in "Let him live his own life."

This came to me, the big "ah ha" as I was once again trying to live my husband's life for him. Sound crazy? I am great at living other people's lives (a little illusion eh?!), the challenge is in getting the focus and fun back on mine.

Fear makes me want to control others or control events. Do ya know what I mean? If you have a hint of this issue check out the information on the Root Chakra and learn how to get grounded as in back in your own skin and out of theirs.

Our hearts can beat as one but our Love can use a little space. Space, respect, trust.

Have you signed up to receive the Get Ready for Love Newsletter?

Just thought I'd ask.

It is going out this Thursday and I'll be talking about where to find Love.

Then next Thursday you'll be receiving Chapter One, Confessions of a Loser Magnet, from Terry Hernon MacDonald's best-selling, "Marry Smart." I howled when I read this. It is easy to laugh at the past when the present is hot. Terry is one of my mentor's - one the gang - who helped me find my Love.

Then the next Thursday ... well sign up and find out. Yes, this is a weekly adventure. If you want to get ready for love you do need to
f-o-c-u-s. I did. Terry did. It works.

So, where is Love? You tell me. Post a comment.

Then sign up for the newsletter and we'll compare answers soon ... hmmmmmm.

Relationship Advice from Terry Hernon MacDonald, Happy Girl Musing Founder.

Dear Terry:

I have really, really enjoyed and benefited from your emails since I signed up. It's great perspective.

I have a question to throw into the mix. While there are a number of potential candidates for dates at the moment, the man I think I like the bet is, unfortunately, deployed to Iraq. I've never met him; he's someone my Dad thought would be great for me, but we're both formerly married, so the conversation got going over email last January when it became clear we were both now divorced and available. Initially, I just treated it as a sort of a reach-out to a person in a war zone and therefore under considerable distress (my small part to help the troops...Yadda yadda yadda).

But we have a great deal in common (as it turns out), and my Dad may well have been right (wonderful man, my Dad) that this guy is a good match.

So what I'm wondering is this: Click here to read the rest of the letter and Terry's reply.

Then -- come back here and click on this link to send a letter of your own to A Million Thanks.
The song that plays when you pull up this site is shivers-down-my-spine awesome.

Love doesn't just sit there like a stone; it has to be made, like bread, remade all the time, made new.
-Ursula K. LeGuin

What can you do today to refresh , make new, a significant other relationship? Who FIRST comes to mind when I ask you this question?

Maybe that is a good place to start ...

THE FEAR OF REJECTION: A ONE-DAY CURE
By Harriet Lerner

Cured in a day? It happened like this:

I was surprised to get a call from Frank, a former therapy client who now lived in Tulsa, Oklahoma. His work was bringing him back to Kansas for a two-day seminar, and he wanted to know if I would meet with him. I hadn’t seen Frank since he and his wife, Ann, terminated marital therapy with me many years earlier. They appeared to be doing well, but Frank told me that shortly after they moved to Tulsa, Ann ended their marriage. Frank was devastated at the time, but he reported that he was now doing fine—“except for one thing.”

“What’s the problem?” I asked.

“Maybe I was traumatized by the divorce,” Frank replied, “but ever since Ann left me,

click here for the rest of the excerpt from Dr. Lerner's book: