Today is my self declared Rumi day, all the quotes will be from one person, he is Jalāl ad-Dīn Muhammad Rūmī, also known as Jalāl ad-Dīn Muhammad Balkhī, Mevlânâ/Mawlānā and Mevlevî/Mawlawī, but in the western world simply known as Rumi.

Rumi’s poetry has been captured in a number of different collections. In all, one is exposed to the manner in which Rumi demonstrates the unbridled joy that comes from living life fully while urging us always to put aside our fears and take the risk required to do so.

Rumi believed passionately in the use of music, poetry and dance as a path for reaching God. For Rumi, music helped devotees to focus their whole being on the divine and to do this so intensely that the soul was both destroyed and resurrected. It was from these ideas that the practice of whirling Dervishes developed into a ritual form. His teachings became the base for the order of the Mevlevi, which his son Sultan Walad organised. Rumi encouraged Sama, listening to music and turning or doing the sacred dance. In the Mevlevi tradition, samāʿ represents a mystical journey of spiritual ascent through mind and love to the Perfect One. In this journey, the seeker symbolically turns towards the truth, grows through love, abandons the ego, finds the truth and arrives at the Perfect. The seeker then returns from this spiritual journey, with greater maturity, to love and to be of service to the whole of creation without discrimination with regard to beliefs, races, classes and nations. And as well as this he wrote possibly the most beautiful poetry ever written on this planet from which short vignettes are taken and turned into quotes, here are my favourites:

1. I must be in Love, I have felt like my body is disintegrating into the energy of the universe lately.

2. Can you even think this: Ocean of Love.

3. From the day I was born.

4. Time to turn the searchlight on: Find Yourself.

5. Quiet please, ah, there it is.

6. Find the others, but be responsible for your steps in life: A Road Song.

7. It’s just a perfect day, I’m so glad I spent it with you.

8. Only one song for this: Because the Night.

9. Remember those nights sitting watching the ocean reflect the stars and moon stoned out of your mind, I do.

10. I call him/her Gaia, what’s your name: Sacred Chant.

11. One of his best known.

12. Today we call it Social Media: The Sounds of Silence.

13. Starseed Y’all.

14. Remember to breath next time we meet, my beloved: Ring of Fire.

15. And finally from the great man, a simple request.

No mirror ever became iron again; No bread ever became wheat; No ripened grape ever became sour fruit. Mature yourself and be secure from a change for the worse. Become the light.” What a beautiful way to help us remember to appreciate each step we take in the self-actualizing process. Remember that once you‘ve evolved to a new stage of development, you simply cannot go back to the levels you were previously at! Rejoice in that fact and appreciate your growth. Become the light.

Today’s playlist sounds like it came out of the American mid-west and or sitting next to a river. We begin with Miten and Deva, Then to Brad Paisley and the Fountains of Wayne. Possibly the best song of 1976 by Patti Smith then to the river’s edge with Mama Gaia. Two gruff voices finish it off with Tempest and Johny Cash: The Garden of the World has no Limits.

As you bliss out on Rumi and the accompanying songs, remember to share Love and Respect for All, Everyone Included until next time we meet, my dear friends.