The Universe Is Smiling: "Friendship"

On January 9th I had put up this drawing for a contest, asking for a title and a matching quote. The contest ended on February 13th. I got a lot of great quotes to chose from but left it to the voters on Facebook and an independent jury of friends that hadn't sent in any submissions. The first winner got the print of the drawing mounted on a 6"x6"x2" wood block with the winning quote on the back panel, while the second and third winner got a print of the drawing. It was a lot of fun, and we'll do another contest in the Fall.
The wood block is available on my ETSY store "TheUniverseIsSmiling".

1. winner: "Friendship" "There is a magnet in your heart that will attract true friends. That magnet is unselfishness, thinking of others first; when you learn to live for others, they will live for you."  - Paramahansa Yogananda

2. winner: "Sentience"  “Until one has loved an animal, a part of one's soul remains unawakened.” 
- Anatole France

3. winner: "Trust "You are Loved. All is Well." - Abraham-Hicks  

The Universe Is Smiling: "Love"

Happy VALENTINE'S week. Let's spread some love - with a smile :)

"Keep love in your heart. A life without it is like a sunless garden when the flowers are dead."
- Oscar Wilde
"I have decided to stick with love. Hate is too great a burden to bear."
 - Martin Luther King
"Where there is love there is life."
- Mahatma Gandhi

The Universe Is Smiling: "Love"

Monika's weekly inner voice drawings:
"All you need is Love. Love is all you need..."
- John Lennon & Paul McCartney

"A loving heart is the beginning of all knowledge."
- Thomas Carlyle
"I love you not because of who your are, but because who I am when I am with you."
- Roy Croft

The Universe Is Smiling: "Tenderness"

Monika's weekly inner voice drawings:
Q: What is today's wisdom?
A: "Tenderness of heart brings a smile to every situation."

"There is no charm equal to tenderness of heart."
- Jane Austen
"When I approach a child, he inspires in me two sentiments; tenderness for what he is, and respect for what he may become."
- Louis Pasteur 

The Universe Is Smiling: "Holding"

Monika's weekly inner voice drawings:
Q: What is today's wisdom?
Drawing's Answer: Who is holding whom? :)

"Some of us think holding on makes us strong, but sometimes it is letting go."
 - Hermann Hesse
"Love is always open arms. If you close your arms about love you will find that you are left holding only yourself."
- Leo F. Buscaglia 
 

The Universe Is Smiling: "Heart Matters"

Monika's weekly inner voice drawings:

Q: What is today's wisdom?

A: Let your heart speak with a smile :)

"What is true of the individual will be tomorrow true of the whole nation if individuals will but refuse to lose heart and hope."

- Mahatma Gandhi

"When you fish for love, bait with your heart, not your brain."

 - Mark Twain

"Tell your heart that the fear of suffering is worse than the suffering itself. And no heart has ever suffered when it goes in search of its dream."

- Paulo Coelho

The Universe Is Smiling: "Let your energy of love soar!"

Monika's weekly inner voice drawings:

Q: What is today's wisdom?

A: "Let your energy of love soar!"

"The energy of the mind is the essence of life."

- Aristotle

"To be awake is to be alive."

- Henry David Thoreau

"Energy and persistence conquer all things."

- Benjamin Franklin 

"Love one another and help others to rise to the higher levels, simply by pouring out love. Love is infectious and the greatest healing energy."

- Sai Baba 

The Universe Is Smiling: "Awakening"

Monika's weekly inner voice drawings:

Q: What is today's wisdom?

A: "Awaken to love with a smile :)"

"If every day is an awakening, you will never grow old. You will just keep growing."

- Gail Sheehy

"Creativity comes from awakening and directing men's higher natures, which originate in the primal depths of the universe and are appointed by Heaven."

 - I Ching

"A religious awakening which does not awaken the sleeper to love has roused him in vain." 

- Jessamyn West

The Universe Is Smiling: "Joy Bubbles"

Monika's weekly inner voice drawings:

Happy Valentine's Day to you, every day of the week! :)

I asked the question, "what is the message for Valentine?" and the answer that emerged on the paper came out as a bubble bath of joyful colors. My interpretation: Bring joy into your life, love yourself, and make someone else smile. And so it is :)

 

"Wisdom tells me I am nothing. Love tells me I am everything. And between the two my life flows."

- Nisargadatta Maharaj

"One of the sanest, surest, and most generous joys of life comes from being happy over the good fortune of others."

- Robert A. Heinlein  

The Universe Is Smiling: "Heart Energy = Love"

Monika's weekly inner voice drawings:

Q: What is today's wisdom?

A: "Heart Energy = Love"

"The most important thing is life is to learn how to give out love, and to let it come in."

 - Morrie Schwartz

"If you want to be loved, be lovable."

- Ovid 

The Universe Is Smiling: Dance

Monika's weekly inner voice drawings:

Q: What is today's wisdom?

A: "You've got to dance like nobody's watching and love like it's never going to hurt."

- William Purley  

The Universe Is Smiling: Dreaming

Monika's weekly inner voice drawings:

Q: What is today's wisdom?

A: "Dream and give yourself permission to envision a You that you choose to be."

- Joy Page 

"You know you're in love when you can't fall asleep because reality is finally better than your dreams."

- Dr. Seuss

The Universe Is Smiling: Enjoy Being You!

Monika's weekly inner voice drawings:

Q: What is today's wisdom?

A: "Be who you are and say what you feel, because those who mind don't matter and those who matter don't mind."

- Dr. Seuss

"You, yourself, as much as anybody in the entire universe, deserve your love and affection."

- Buddha    

The Universe Is Smiling: High-Wire Flirtation

Monika's weekly inner voice drawings:

Q: What is today's wisdom?

 
A:  "You can fall from the sky
You can fall from a tree
But the best way to fall
Is in love with me."

- Anonymous 
"I think I have discovered the secret of life - you just hang around until you get used to it."

- Charles Schulz

"Who will tell whether one happy moment of love or the joy of breathing or walking on a bright morning and smelling the fresh air, is not worth all the suffering and effort which life implies."

- Erich Fromm  

The Universe Is Smiling: Realization

Monika's weekly inner voice drawings:

This morning I was on the phone with a friend of mine, who is on a semi-retreat in Bodhgaya where the Buddha is believed to have attained enlightenment. While my friend described the quietude and meditative energy around him, I started this drawing, opening myself to the flow of positive energy and asking the question:

Q: What is the message from Bodhgaya?

A:"When at last, in a single flash, you attain full realization, you will only be realizing the Buddha-nature which has been with you all the time."
- Huang-Po 
"You can search throughout the entire universe for someone who is more deserving of your love and affection than you are yourself, and that person is not to be found anywhere. You yourself, as much as anybody in the entire universe deserve your love and affection."

- Buddha 

The Universe Is Smiling: Love forever!

Monika's weekly inner voice drawings:

I wanted to draw a "love message for a special someone". In good Inner Voice Drawing fashion I didn't plan the drawing but surrendered to my intuition and let it happen. I wasn't prepared to see a shaggy "kangaroo-dog" appear as a love messenger, but he made me smile. He clearly is from another planet, so the message must be universal :)

 "Love is the flower you've got to let grow."
- John Lennon   
"To love abundantly is to live abundantly, and to love forever is to live forever."
- Henry Drummond
"Being deeply loved by someone gives you strength, while loving someone deeply gives you courage."
- Lao Tzu 

The Universe Is Smiling: We are shaped and fashioned by what we love

Monika's weekly inner voice drawings:

Q: What's today's wisdom?

A: "We are shaped and fashioned by what we love."

- Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

"The most important thing in life is to learn how to give out love, and to let it come in."

- Morrie Schwartz    

The Universe Is Smiling: Self-Love

Monika's weekly inner voice drawings:

Q: Talking with friends and clients, the issue of "self-love" or the lack of it has come up as a frequent topic lately. How to love yourself if you don't recognize your divine beauty; and how to recognize your divine beauty, if you don't love yourself?  A perfect conundrum for an Inner Voice Drawing question, and so I asked:

"How to attain self-love?"

A: "Develop the inner vision and the habit of listening to the inner voice; and you are assured of unshakable peace and infinite joy."

- Atharva Veda

"God makes three requests of his children: Do the best you can, where you are, with what you have, now."

- African-American Proverb 

The Universe Is Smiling: Love Is The Bridge

Monika's weekly inner voice drawings:

Q: What is today's wisdom?

A:   "Go to the truth beyond the mind. Love is the bridge."

- Stephen Levine

The Universe Is Smiling: Gratitude

Monika's weekly inner voice drawings:

Having received so many signs of love on my birthday, I asked:

What is this day about?

A: Gratitude, of course!

Thank you, thank you. May those signs of love return to you manifold.