Created by Stephanie Gunning and Richard Aronow, it features dozens of teachers who bring you insights on meditation and how to calm your mind and feed your soul.

Here's what Stephanie and Richard have to say about their project, which is circulating inspiration around the internet daily!

"A momentum is occurring. Growing numbers of people are interested in being peaceful. The action of peace is being peace. Since we began in June 2008 we've already reached people around the globe in 44 countries and in every U.S. state."

"Peace is fun. When people are peaceful, they laugh a lot. They take care of each other. They share resources and are open to new and diverse ideas. Peaceful life is good life. It's spontaneous, generous, and wildly creative. It's an art and skill."

"That's what The Great American Think Out is all about: inviting everyone in this country and throughout the world to be generous with their presence, to promise to spend a day basking in the intentions of peace and meditation all at once."

Check out 30 days of inspiration from The Great American Think Out at: www.stopthinkingnow.com/30hope

For some of us, one of our biggest challenges is loving ourselves! It is so important that we reguarly tune-up our self-esteem.

If you need a self-love boost or know anyone who might, check out my feature, 10 Ways to Honor Thyself, on the front page of Beliefnet.com today!

www.Beliefnet.com

Many Blessings, Laurie Sue

Marriage is a union of body, mind and soul.
A lifetime journey into the depths of love ...
And into the challenges of growth and evolution.
You have already traveled this road for __ years.
Will you continue to be a tender, faithful husband/wife?
Will you continue to love and cherish this woman/man,
in sickness and in health,
during times of lack, and times of prosperity
when things are not so good, and when they are great.
No matter what season, or what is happening in your lives,
Will you continue to be her/his best friend, always and forever?
Answer: I will

-- Rev Laurie Sue Brockway

“It takes years to marry completely two hearts …
even the most loving and well assorted.
A happy wedlock is a falling in love.
Young persons think love belongs to the brow-haired
and crimson cheeked.
So it does for its beginning.
But the golden marriage is part of love
which the bridal day knows nothing of...
Such a large and sweet fruit is marriage
that is needs a long summer to ripen,
and then a long winter to mellow and season it.”

-- Theodore Parker

Go directly to the Meditation for Stressed-Out Brides

Find out more about the Bridal Meditation Shawl

You have been blessed with the gift of love, and you are getting married. Congratulations!

There is nothing holier than two people uniting in the spirit of committed love. It increases the love that exists in the world. And it brings healing to our world.

So how is it that something so magnificent and meaningful can involve the planning of an event that can drive even the sanest and sweetest brides to be to the brink of despair?

It is not unusual to feel exhausted by the sheer amount of labor and emotional negotiating that goes on around planning a wedding. It’s supposed to be the happiest time of your life… and you want it to be … yet many brides and grooms feel confused and let down that they are not feeling happy all the time …

Sigh. Today’s wedding culture places the focus on the “event” rather than the “marriage “and many unsuspecting brides and grooms find themselves sucked into the vortex of wedding stress. You might find yourself buried in wedding tasks … overwhelmed rather than overjoyed!

The planning … the people-pleasing … the coordinating … the financing … the family dynamics … and then there are those very natural, yet ornery, fears and concerns about getting hitched. These can all become quite a challenge.

I remember them as such a kind, soulful, warm-hearted couple. What a thrill it is to know they have a little one of their own.

Proud Grandma Kay shared this wonderful photo of the beaming couple and their beautiful son, Hank.

Kay shared this: "Here's a special photo radiating abundant Love. Hank (Harris Zachariah Daly) is wearing a christening dress made by his maternal great, great grandmother (Elizabeth and I both wore it) and a coat made by her maternal great grandmother and the bonnet was worn by Matt. This Blessing was done at Sacred Heart Monastery in Cullman, AL. I have dear friends that are Sisters there. Because Elizabeth played these holy grounds as a child, she wanted to have Hank christened there."

I received an awesome gift recently. A beautifully crocheted prayer and meditation shawl created especially for me by Kay Moates of OnSlenderThreads.com. It's black with white edging, and has crystals attached at either end.

Kay is the mom of one my brides, Elizabeth, who married her beloved Matt on 5/5/05 at 5 PM in New York.

I remember her wedding so well. The Cherry Blossom leaves were gently pouring down upon us on this beautiful late afternoon in the Central Park Conservatory Garden.

It was the South Garden, also known as the Secret Garden or English Garden, where Matt and Elizabeth said their I dos.

The way they looked at each other... I cannot even put into words. They were so clearly meant to be, and their love radiated throughout Central Park. It was such a joyous experience! Magical, in many ways.

And the bride had a very cool Mom. I seem to remember Mom and the bridesmaids in special shawls that Kay had created. She told me they special spiritual qualities and blessings in them. I also remembered that Kay had bought copies of my book, A Goddess Is a Girl's Best Friend and asked me to sign them at the wedding, for all the bridesmaids.

A couple of years later, Kay reconnected with me through my colleague Cornelia Powell, who runs my column in her online magazine, Weddings Of Grace. She offered to make me one of her magical shawls. And what a gift it has been. Although she had meditation in mind, I often use it more for prayers and rituals.

Kay has created what she called "An Especially for Weddings Meditations Shawl." These make terrific and unique gifts for harried brides, bridesmaids and mothers of the bride.

She described it this way: "It is a tool for quieting one's self. Like a cocoon embracing the emerging butterfly,
this shawl will cloister the wearer as she ponders her self, her relationships, the wedding and the future. Clarity unfolds in this stillness to guide her through a rare, heart-infused Wedding Celebration of being true to herself and to those she loves."

Into each one-of-a-kind shawl are woven symbols of transformation that energize, enable and encourage the wearer will emerge radiant! Using earths fibers and stones, Kay mindfully creates tools for embodying change.

These one-of-a-kind wraps and shawls that enliven the senses and call one to quiet. In heartfull solitude, each design is knitted with intention to gentle, ground, balance, empower, refine, cocoon, or transform.

In these days of wedding craziness, it might be nice to have a little spiritual comfort from a very wise mother of the bride, Kay Moates!

And if you tossed all your cares, broken hearts and worries about love to the wind?

See this summer love and romance flash show for inspiration!

Sex and the City is one of the best, most powerful and most meaningful movies I've seen in a long time.

In addition to the many lessons it teaches about love and relationships, it says a lot about how a pricey wedding dress and huge guest list can sometimes take the joy out of planning a wedding (I see that all the time)!

And takes us through a journey of understanding human nature, male-female nature, and the whole Big and Carrie thing.

Valerie Reiss, an editor at Beliefnet.com, wrote an awesome article about what the SATC girls have taught us all, 15 Love Lessons From Sex and the City. Very inspiring piece!

There is buzz that a second Sex and the City movie will be coming our way!

"I want you to look in the mirror and say:
I accept myself unconditionally.
I am enough.
I do enough.
I have enough.'"

- Dr. Christiane Northrup

Looking for true love? Dreaming of meeting your soulmate? Or hoping to spruce up or heal your exisiting relationship?

Here's a special technique for letting the universe know you are ready for love:

Write a wish list of attributes that you look forward to experiencing in a relationship with your true love. Writing is a powerful way to turn dreams into reality. Written words make our goals clearer. They make our intentions firmer.

The list of relationship attributes can be anything you sincerely choose. For example:

* When we look at each other it feels like we are the only two people in the universe.

* My partner sincerely encourages my success.

* Together we create financial security and always have more than enough.

* We share the same or similar spiritual beliefs

* We love doing the same things.

* We have many spiritually aware friends.

Etc., etc. etc.....

Add to your list as new things come to you. Read it at least once a day for 30 days. This will reinforce these qualities and help you to write them across your heart.

To empower your own journey, do a good deed, and pray for others in search of love, or who seek healing for their relationships.

Angelina Jolie gave birth to twins last night with partner Brad Pitt by her side. The two bundles of joy join what has become the fastest growing, and most unique, family in celebitydom.

The new Brangelina babies are a boy and a girl, reportedly named Vivienne Marcheline and Knox Leon. The little girl is named for Angie's mom, actress Marcheline Bertrand, who died last year.

The babies were born by cesarean section at a hospital in southern France last night, about an hour and a half from the couple's new family home/retreat in France.

Rumor has it that these baby pictures will sell for a small fortune, to be donated to charity.

Local tabloid news shows were reporting that Jolie entered the hospital, on bed rest, a couple of days ago in preparation for the birth. It was said that the Jolie-Pitt clan had about three rooms in the guarded hospital suite. The kids were all there, as Mama prepared to birth the babies.

The superstars, known for their good looks, great acting, and intercultural family, now have six kids total.

The Hollywood-transplants and world travelers aim to stay in France for a spell.

" I realize my purpose is to console - to personally wipe away tears through selfless love, compassion, and service." - Amma

Every year since 1999 I have made it a point to see Ammachi (Mata Amritanandamayi) the awesome Hindu Saint who gives "darshan" by hugging people. We all call her Amma.

You can read more about her in the recent New York Times article, Tour of Embrace Makes a Stop in Manhattan.

It is said she was "born with a smile." When you see her smile you truly know how she can reach out and touch -- and bring healing -- to so many.

She welcomes people of all faiths and beliefs, and truly believes we are all one. I suspect the reason she does not tire of her work, or feel drained by it, is that she considers that we are all the same, not separate from one another.

Amma, which means mother, is spiritual mother to millions. Her ministry of love is one of the most profound expressions of giving I have ever seen. Her humanitarian efforts -- disaster relief, feeding the poor, orphanages, helping women reclaim their power -- is wide-reaching and grows with each year. Her motto is "Love and Serve."

Now in her fifties, Amma has become a Mother Teresa like personage, devoted to doing good works and shining the light of love on the world's problems. Speaking in her native tongue, she has addressed the United Nations General Assembly to the Cannes Films Festival. From her native India, to the the United States, Canada, the world, she tours for the purpose of touching people's lives.

When you visit Amma for a healing hug, you literally kneel before her and she pulls you to her chest, chanting a sacred sound or prayer in your ear. Many of those who visit her believe she is able to take our burdens and worries because she has a heart big enough to embrace us and all our human woes.

Anthropologist Jane Goodall called Amma "God in human form."

Since Carlin passed a way recently, a resurgence in interest brings this piece cirulating around the internet once again. Snopes says the material is more likely by comedian Larry Miller, who uses some of this in his act. Regardless, this is wisdom worth sharing.

Do you realize that the only time in our lives when we like to get old is when we're kids? If you're less than 10 years old, you're so excited about aging that you think in fractions.

"How old are you?" "I'm four and a half!" You're never thirty-six and a half. You're four and a half, going on five! That's the key!!

You get into your teens, now they can't hold you back.

You jump to the next number, or even a few ahead.

"How old are you?" "I'm gonna be 16!" You could be 13, but hey, you're gonna be 16! And then the greatest day of your life . . you BECOME 21. Even the words sound like a ceremony. YOU BECOME 21. YESSSS!!!

But then you turn 30. Oooohh, what happened there? Makes you sound like bad milk! He TURNED; we had to throw him out. There's no fun now, you're just a sour-dumpling. What's wrong? What's changed?

You BECOME 21, you TURN 30, then you're PUSHING 40. Whoa! Put on the brakes, it's all slipping away. Before you know it, youREACH 50 and your dreams are gone.

But wait!!! You MAKE IT to 60. You didn't think you would!

So you BECOME 21, TURN 30, PUSH 40, REACH 50 and MAKE IT to 60.

You've built up so much speed that you HIT 70! After that it's a day-by-day thing; you HIT Wednesday!

You get into your 80s and every day is a complete cycle; you HIT lunch; you TURN 4:30 ; you REACH bedtime and it doesn't end there. Into the 90s, you start going backwards; "I Was JUST 92."

Then a strange thing happens. If you make it over 100, you become a little kid again. "I'm 100 and a half!"

May you all make it to a healthy 100 and a half!!

I am so excited to share the good news that my guest column on Summer Love appears today in my favorite newsletter, The Three Tomatoes.

The Three Tomatoes was created and is edited by Cheryl Benton, and columnists include the awesome Valerie Smaldone, New York Queen of radio and Broadway, and Joan M. Stigliano, a talented designer and Feng Shui expert and dear person, who also happened to be one of my teachers at the Long Island Feng Shui Institute!

The Three Tomatoes is dedicated to boomer women of a certain age, wisdom and wherewithall, and focuses on the New York Market. Find out more on the publishers page.

Subscribe to The Three Tomatoes at www.thethreetomatoes.com.

Pictured above, The Three Tomatoes Founder and Editor, Cheryl Benton.