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On the eve of December... I have five words. "Feels Like The First Time." Stay tuned! Enjoy this Foreigner classic.

The Bare Mel is going digital... Melanie Lutz's The Bare Melcessities: Walking Out. Waking Up. Getting Bare. arrives on Kindle January 15th! Kinda getting excited : ) Email us to be on the list for one of the first 50 downloads that includes an extra special something something... info@thebaremel.com. Check out the website for more information... TheBareMel.com If you don't have a Kindle get down with the number one most popular gift for the book lover in your life.

Wafting lavender and dropping mint into my ice cold S. Pellegrino . Now that's a Holiday survival diet! I love me some bubbly water. Photography by Louise Lutz Don't forget to buy Pellegrino early and often over the holidays!

Thanksgiving through the window Originally uploaded by Love Everyone Love waking up in the canyon. Fall in California is one of my favorite times of year and there's always one tree venturing into the red leaf zone.

Keeping in mind that objects in the rear view may be closer than they appear. Have a great holiday... we'll be back in action on Black Friday!

"Each of You Who Know The Joy of Freedom are Winners." The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has an active and ongoing schedule of events and on Monday wrapped their 2009 Oscar documentary winners screenings. As I went through their memorable Oscar moments collection, this clip from Gerda Weissmann Klein's Oscar acceptance speech for the documentary "One Survivor Remembers" chronicling her six years living with the horror of Nazi encampment jumped out at me. "In my minds eye I see those years and faces of those who never lived to see the magic of a boring evening at home. On their behalf I want to thank you for honoring their memory. And you can not do it in any better way than when you return to your homes tonight to realize that each of you who know the joy of freedom are winners. Thank you on their behalf with all my heart." The beauty in these stories and Gerda's sharing is that they remind us, in the face of surviving unimaginable h...

"I want in fact to borrow the language of the saints -- to live "in grace" as much of the time as possible... By grace I mean an inner harmony, essentially spiritual, which can be transformed into outward harmony. I am seeking perhaps what Socrates asked for in the prayer from the Phaedrus when he said, "May the outward and inward man be at one." I would like to achieve a state of inner spiritual grace from which I could function and give as I was meant in the eyes of God." From Anne Morrow Lindbergh's GIFT FROM THE SEA This moving and insightful book kicked off my journey through healing that would become my first book THE BARE MELCESSITIES:Walking Out. Waking Up. Getting Bare. It's interesting how history works, my knowledge of Anne Lindbergh would have ended with the wacky footnote of being the mother of the Lindbergh baby except for my Therapist's love of books and a deeply resonating fear of water that brought the book into my hands. A...

Nobody broke through the ground of their being like Martha Graham. She shared her story through movement, through expression, through psychology. Hers was majesty in action that never failed to enlighten. As choreographer Alonzo King shares "When I see a great dance, I see fearlessness and selflessness. I see Ghandi, Helen Keller, Harriet Tubman, I see sacrifice and unfailing generosity. I see intelligence and intuition. I see humor and joy. I hear a voice guiding me ‘when you fall down, get up. You are able to do more than you think. When you feel you’ve given all you’ve got - give more.’ I see how life can be lived.” As a tribute to all of us pursuing our passion, living in our light and expressing our being-ness. I 'reprint' an article written by Martha Graham. I am a Dancer By Martha Graham I am a dancer. I believe that we learn by practice. Whether it means to learn to dance by practicing dancing or to learn to live by practicing living, the principles are the same....

And that's how I handled my Divorce. The Bare Melcessities Originally uploaded by Love Everyone THE BARE MELCESSITIES is available at Amazon.com .

We are all speaking of the same human experience We couch it in our art forms and in all we do. It isn’t happenstance that we are drawn Where we are or where we live. It isn’t trauma and triumph That stamps our carriage It is the undeniable commonality That you and they and you and I Share and know and live It is why we weep as a nation It is why we pour out our hearts To our brothers For it is in that luminosity of our aching hearts that We Shine. Photography by Melanie Lutz Here's the soundtrack for today Johnny Cash covering Trent Reznor Nine Inch Nail's Hurt.... "I wear this crown of thorns upon my liars chair, full of broken thoughts, I can not repair. Beneath the stains of time, feelings disappear, you are someone else, I'm still right here." "If I could start again, a million miles away, I would keep myself, I would find a way." As sung by the legend Johnny Cash at the end of his life these words take on meaning and poignancy unintended by the ori...

The Gift of Frankles from Melanie Lutz on Vimeo . My neighbor died April 2nd of this year. We celebrated his birthday over the weekend. To teach is to demonstrate. He taught me to take life as you find it, to live in the adventure of being and in his dying he taught me the meaning of letting go. He road into his latest journey full and whole and complete. He had his family. He had his love. And he lives on. May possibility always be open for business and the spirit of the dreamer that Frank was flourish in his memory.

Been waking up to some amazing emails regarding how inspiring The Bare Melcessities has been in helping people make some changes in their lives. Thank you so much for sharing! If you're thinking "I need to get that book for my sister (or brother or friend) who's having a hard time." The answer is Yes! You do. They need it! Buy a copy, share the bare and let's move into sending the love and spreading healing energy as we head into Thanksgiving! It's time to Start Loving Yourself! Brought to you by Melanie Lutz's THE BARE MELCESSITIES: Walking Out. Waking Up. Getting Bare. Sometimes we need a wake up call and a little help from our friends.

Snapped this picture while taking a walk around the neighborhood. A single yellow rose, bursting forth next to its buddy the tree. It got me thinking about the meaning of flowers, a yellow rose stands for joy and happiness, and is heavily associated with true friendship. I've heard it said, a true friend is like a gift from God sent to help us experience heaven on earth. That's certainly how it feels for me, and if you get biblical it says "heaven is entered two by two." Thanks to all those true friends in our lives, for sharing, supporting and being with us as we journey through our days, making things lighter and happier and filling us with joy, bringing a little bit of heaven in the here and now. You are the best! Photography by Melanie Lutz

Why do we work so hard to get what we don’t want? And how do we get turned around to chasing something that was there all along? End of excerpt... Melanie Lutz's THE BARE MELCESSITIES available at Amazon . Get the support you need to go deeper. Check out the website www.thebaremelcessities.com

"I knew a strength that can only come from facing some hard truths. From seeing a mountain seemingly too high to climb and taking the steps to climb it anyway. The coolest part, reaching the top wasn’t the satisfaction point, it was living on the other side, making mistakes, and growing in the sunlight and sunset of that new day, living with the scars forever a part of who I was, with no fear of others seeing those scars. I had accepted the whole picture, no longer caught in recriminations and distress over some imagined picture of perfection that could never be achieved. Everything contributed to the person that I was. The total picture. Me. At last. When outer success no longer distracts from a deeper knowing, the Bare Melcessities will come to you. How does the story end? It doesn’t. It continues. It all awaits." Excerpt from Melanie Lutz's THE BARE MELCESSITIES: Walking Out. Waking Up. Getting Bare available at Amazon . Get the support you need to go deeper. Check out...

"Get Your Bare On" Campaign for THE BARE MELCESSITIES Coming Soon! Can't wait. Like night before Christmas. Oh, that's right, we'll be spreading the love. The "Get Your Bare On" Campaign will be taking over Valentine's Day 2010 as a full on love yourself day! Now that's something I can fall for. Get ready. Get set. Coming Soon. brought to you by thebaremel.com

Virility and chisled ornery-ness lived and breathed through Jack Palance's performances and his life. Today, as we celebrate his death anniversary, we tip our hats to a legend. The man himself, Jack Palance . Loved him in Shane, but thought this moment from City Slickers with Billy Crystal would do him justice! Check out our post on famed entertainment and trail lawyer Louis Nizer, who also died today, November 10th 1994 in New York City. Hope you sweet spirits are living large beyond the veil! And. Thanks to the fine folks at find a grave for the reference material.

"The mistake of accepting less than you need and convincing yourself you would be fine was the ultimate heartbreaker. I was left out on a limb of my own choosing. Good luck getting off the limb without the fire department, the S.W.A.T rescue team and every known form of coaxing you could find. I was young. I didn’t understand the bargain I had made. I didn’t understand the choice I had given up, and I didn’t understand how it would betray me. I was caught up in the youth and rapture of being in love. It took a long time to release the recriminations. So who needs roses." Excerpted from Melanie Lutz's THE BARE MELCESSITIES "So Who Needs Roses" chapter available at Amazon . Inspired by Jerry Herman's luscious words and music from Mack and Mabel , which beautifully tells the story of Mack Sennett and Mabel Normand's tragic relationship. Would have loved to have found Robert Preston singing it, however, to give you a flavor here's Michael Feinstein perfo...

“A beautiful lady is an accident of nature. A beautiful old lady is a work of art.” This quote by noted trial lawyer Louis Nizer exemplifies a truth. Beauty is an expression of our inner journey well fared. Laugh lines, love lines and life lines, all in. Let's definitely appreciate the accidents of nature, but strive to make our lives a work of art as we grow younger into our advancing ages. Cool footnote... "Nizer helped create the motion picture ratings system for the Motion Picture Association of America, which he served as general counsel."

"If there were more people who cared there would be fewer people to care for." Dorothy Fields is one of my inspirations, born into a theatrical family, she transcended feminine stereotypes and left behind a legacy of balls out, heart rendering, inspiring lyrics. So grateful for those moments when I can take a beat and enjoy her style and substance and the effortless way she made the connections. One of my favorite things is listening to composers and lyricists speak about and perform their own works. Lucky for us ASCAP honored Dorothy Fields with an intimate Evening with Dorothy Fields in 1972. Here's a shout out to Dorthy Fields. You are with us in song, and we'll always have "that laugh that wrinkles your nose, touches my foolish heart." ps. Don't get me started about Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers! Opening lyric excerpt from "If There Were More People Like You" lyrics by Dorothy Fields and music by Cy Coleman . A Class Act series brought...

Hulk Hogan opens his new book, Hulk Hogan: Life Beyond The Ring, with a gun in his hand and suicide on the brain. He describes sitting in an empty mansion filled with nothing but pictures of a family he was no longer connected to as his wake up call. Hogan talks about life, love, and bouncing back as he works through journeying into his new life. Check out his interview on the Today show. Check out his book at Amazon.com . Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News , World News , and News about the Economy The Waking Up Profiles are brought to you by Melanie Lutz's THE BARE MELCESSITIES: Walking Out. Waking Up. Getting Bare. Get the support you need to go deeper. THE BARE MELCESSITIES is available at Amazon . Check out the website www.thebaremelcessities.com

Thanks to Nicholas Pratley of intruessence for inspiring a day of spirit! :Bee landed on the hood: Founder, Nicholas Pratley explains his vision and offers up a meditation of epic proportions! ***Updated 11/7 Powerful meditation! See you in six months for the next Global Meditation Day! Nicholas Pratley of intruessence.com is starting a meditation revolution. ONE DAY - ONE MEDITATION - ONE WORLD Creating the energy of gratitude, essence and truth for mother earth to feel. Today we create peaceful change with our truest power, the power and the energy of our spirits. Join In. Take Part. Love Fully. Repeat.

Ta P tite Flamme by Amélie Les Crayons Discovering all kinds of French artists... viva la resitance!

***UPDATED with full meditation Join in this Saturday, November 7th for the meditation that will be felt around the globe. Nicholas Pratley, of intruessence.com is ground zero for the bi yearly event. Visit his site anytime on Saturday, and enjoy 20 minutes of recharging meditative bliss for you and the planet. As the story goes, a new student runs to the master after initiation, "How do I achieve inner peace?" without a beat, "Meditate, meditate, meditate." Spread the word if you know anyone in need of some inner peace. For further inquires email nicholaspratley@gmail.com or call 1-877-SPA-SOUL. brought to you by thebaremel.com For those of you who like a little more information, meditation is the movement from inner to outer, the connection between an individual person and the natural world, and the collective. Meditation allows us to get in pace with the unifying principles that bring the elements; Earth, Air, Fire, and Water, the four essences, the building bl...

Roxette sings Listen to your Heart. Why am I posting it? Well, why not. It's a good message and I heard it in the car on the way back to the tree house. Enjoy!

Join in this Saturday, November 7th for the meditation that will be felt around the globe. Nicholas Pratley, of intruessence.com is ground zero for the bi yearly event. Visit his site anytime on Saturday, and enjoy 20 minutes of recharging meditative bliss for you and the planet. As the story goes, a new student runs to the master after initiation, "How do I achieve inner peace?" without a beat, "Meditate, meditate, meditate." Spread the word if you know anyone in need of some inner peace. For further inquires email nicholaspratley@gmail.com or call 1-877-SPA-SOUL. brought to you by thebaremel.com For those of you who like a little more information, meditation is the movement from inner to outer, the connection between an individual person and the natural world, and the collective. Meditation allows us to get in pace with the unifying principles that bring the elements; Earth, Air, Fire, and Water, the four essences, the building blocks of the universe, in harmony....

This physical world is a lifetime of learning that you have come . . . and you will go. One of the fundamental laws of this world is the impermanence of the physical body; it displays the permanence of spirit and if you are upset by the impermanence of this world, you are constantly struggling against spirit. You are un-tuning your physical instrument and fighting what is. Each of us has a core melody and a core rhythm. It is our song of this life and we came into this world to play it. You didn't come into this world to copy mine, or play anyone else's. But if your instrument is out of tune — even if you know your song very well — you will not be able to play your song harmoniously. This is the importance of health and consciousness. When you begin to align with the harmonic convergence of your song, you become intuitive. Intuition is not good guessing . . . intuition knows beyond the rational. You know because you know and that is that. When your instrument is fully tuned, y...