The idea of karma is that you
continually get the teachings
that you need
to open your heart.
~ Pema Chodron ~
Source: Precious World via Ute Lark
—
It often takes courage to love, but I believe love can win over fear, both within ourselves and others.
May I be brave and wise enough to choose love.
—
Writing Milestones Updates:
I began writing my first fiction short story for adults today. Until now, my books have all either been non-fiction for adults or fiction for children.
I plan to create a blog for my fiction short stories for adults and will let you know when it is online. The reason for a separate blog for it is that I want the blog you are reading now to be non-fiction so you will always know that what I write or share reflects my truth. I also believe that the readership base for each genre could be substantially different.
This month marks another major milestone in my writing adventure. Three more of my books are scheduled for release via Amazon.com and elsewhere over the next three weeks.
With Love,
Russ
Russ Towne's A Grateful Man 
Self-love. Critically important and a good reminder, your post. Thank you.
Thank you for your kind comment, Eric. May you always feel at home and welcome here.
Russ
You are going from strength to strength, Russ.
I agree if you cannot love yourself you have trouble showing love to others!
Sending you hugs from across the world!
Thank you for your kind comments and hugs. I feel them from across the world!
Warm hugs coming your way!
Russ
Wow, three more books. You are an inspiration. Have you been writing these for long (meaning have you compiled them from material you have previously written) or are they newly written? Whichever, you are amazing.
One word about the quote, sometimes fear actually propels us into action rather than hold us back. As examples: the fear of heart disease (by learning a sibling has it), may propel us into a healthy lifestyle; OR the fear of losing someone may propel us into being kinder to them.
Thank you for your kind and thought-provoking comment, Elizabeth. I believe we may be in agreement. For love of self may propel us into a healthy lifestyle if we learn a sibling has heart disease, and love of someone may inspire us into being kinder to them. Some folks who fear losing people, end up suffocating the relationships in their attempts to hang on so tight, and someone who feared heart disease but didn’t love themselves might well inadvertently speed up their own death by not changing the behaviors that lead to bad health and then being anxious and nervous about it.
Ah, good point. You are correct. You probably do need the love to propel you into action and the fear on its own probably would not work. Thanks.
Thank you for your gracious and kind reply, Elizabeth!
Russ
I realized I didn’t answer your question regarding how long I’ve been writing the books. I started writing books on May 29 of this year. The six children’s books were from-scratch endeavors. Many of the stories that were in my non-fiction books had been written prior to May 29 as individual blog posts, articles I’d written for a local newspaper, etc. I’d needed to select from a lot of material, and update or otherwise revise much of it, and add quite a bit more that was written from scratch after May 29, then sort it all out into something that I hope proves to be entertaining, enlightening, humorous, and useful books non-fiction books. The fiction short stories for adults effort is a brand-new project.
Wow! You certainly have a achieved quite a lot in a short space of time. I wish you every success with your books.
Thank you for your kind comment and good wishes, Elizabeth.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DWuwKgfNiDU
Thank you, Willow! I love it. Great messages!