Are you passing on love or are you passing on pain? Heal your pain and pass on love.
Happy Memorial Day. Happy Start of Summer! I know that a lot of you northerners are opening up your pools today. Jump right in! I was always so excited about the opening up of pools when I was kid living in Pennsylvania.
This weekend has been deliciously lazy for me. I’ve slept in, all three days and I make no apologies for it. I’ve done very little in the way of chores, and I have done a ton of reading, which is one of my most favorite activities in life. I’ve read an interesting book, and half of another good book, and I am all caught up on my stack of magazines. Here are a few tidbits that I gleaned from my magazine reading over this weekend:
+ Avocadoes are berries. (No wonder why I like them so much!)
+ Crepuscular animals are animals that are most active at dawn and dusk. I was reading about red pandas at a zoo and the keeper mentioned that they were crepuscular, so she advised that it was best to view them in all of their glory, at dawn and at dusk. It then occurred to me, that squirrels are also crepuscular (they are – I looked it up) because every morning my dogs go nuts (dumb pun intended) at the squirrels hanging out on our fence, running along it and teasing our dogs mercilessly, as I am trying to write my blog. And then, once again, every evening, as I am starting to cook dinner, I noticed that my dogs also start whining like crazy at our back door, because the squirrels are doing wondrous Cirque du Solei acts on our bird feeder, without fail. So now you have a new word in your vocabulary – crepuscular. (and you also now know that avocadoes are berries. Jeopardy, here you come!)
+ And my final knowledge drop of the day, comes from an article by Kevin Anderson from Spirituality & Health magazine. He says that we do not heal and solve the problems which we ruminate on. Rumination just causes extra anxiety, stress and even depression. He recommends using the visual of a dog, wearing a cone. Dogs wear those cones on their heads after having surgery in order to avoid constantly licking and biting at their sutures. (I can still picture our adorable Josie, the collie puppy, after her spay surgery. She was such a good sport about wearing the cone, despite running and bumping into everyone and everything!) Anyway, any time that you find yourself stuck in agonizing rumination, put on your proverbial dog cone and do not allow yourself to “lick those scabs.” Anderson suggests actually putting your hands by your neck to symbolize “the cone” and bring your attention back to your breath and to the moment. Most of our problems are solved naturally and organically, after we have taken the steps which we are able to do about our problems. After taking the steps to do what you can, put on your “cone” and get into and stay in the flow of life!
I’ll end with these wise words that Rami Shapiro wrote to a reader who is overwhelmed by all of the sadness and atrocities in this world. Rami quoted the first century Rabbi Tarton, “While it is not up to you to complete the task of perfecting the world, neither are you free to abandon it.” This goes right along with a reader of Real Simple magazine who wrote in to answer the question, “What was your mom’s mantra during childhood?” Sallie Rupe answered, “Be a blessing.” I heard it every time I left the house.”