Good morning, soul mates. I hope that this Sunday finds you tranquil and at peace. Here at the blog, Sunday is devoted to poetry. Poetry is a pouring out of one’s heart, and the seeping out of one’s soul. Poetry always evokes mood, whether it be funny or sad or reflective or passionate. Poetry is a great way to get to know yourself. Write a poem today. Share it in my Comments section, if you like. You’ll be inspired by yourself. Here is my poem for today:
I love that all of the roads that we take, are well worn by experience.
Every twist and turn has a memory of you and me tied with it.
Our nights are filled with remembrances of different stages of you and me.
And we laugh and we smile and all of our looks between us, hold so much knowing.
We are the shared holders and keepers of a lovely urn,
A conjoint container full of stories of life, and brimming with living.
May we each hold our own handle carefully and reverently,
That the vessel of our ongoing adventure, may not be shattered nor destroyed.
When it is time for our shared potiche to be shelved,
May it be a relic that deserves a spotlight for posterity.
May it be a holder of the highest form of love and unity,
Inside of it, two eternal flames forming one fire.
Until then, we carry it on together down the road.
It is my lightest, and my easiest, and my most precious load,
the love that has created, and continues to fuel, our shared story.
Are you passing on love or are you passing on pain? Heal your pain and pass on love.
I saw this on Twitter from the Inner Practitioner’s feed. This “holding space for someone” is such a hard skill to learn, yet it is so valuable. I thought that I would “hold space” for these instructions, on my blog, so that it is something that we can all pull back up, and refer to, as a good reminder.
Thank you, readers, for your constant support. I am so grateful for the part you play in my blogging experience. Enjoy your day. Have some fun!
Are you passing on love or are you passing on pain? Heal your pain and pass on love.
Hi friends! Happy Weekend! Happy Friday!! Friday is, by far, my favorite day of the week. On Fridays, I am really, really good at leaving my worries at the door. Here on the blog, we call Fridays, “Favorite Things Friday” and I list three favorite things, songs, books, websites, apps, etc. of mine that have helped to make my own life, more FUN. I strongly encourage you to add your favorites to my Comments section. Also, please check out previous Friday posts for more favorites to try.
Today’s favorites:
Straw Bags– Summer is almost here and nothing says summer like a cute, eye-catching straw bag. Every year I buy a couple of fresh ones, because unfortunately, straw bags are typically not as durable as leather purses. (I do have a few vintage ones that have definitely withstood the test of time. You can find darling vintage straw bags on Etsy and eBay.) My most favorite straw bags and purses have been made by Monsac, Pulicati and Michael Kors.
Full Circle Green Little Sipper Bottle and Straw Detail Cleaning Brush Set– I love this little gadget found on Amazon. These stiff little brushes get into all of the grooves and crevices of water bottles and other dishes. It’s a wonderful tool to clean out any intricate or hard-to-reach places. The best part is that these brushes are kept on a ring and the set is dishwasher safe. So, like my dish brush, I keep this set in my dishwasher at all times, so they are always sanitized and easily located.
Coolhaus Ice Cream– I’ve mentioned before that I adore the Fresh Market grocery store. Every week, they offer up a delicious and complete dinner which feeds four people for $25. Each meal has five components to it. It’s a wonderful deal and a great way to try new food products. This week’s deal included a pint of Coolhaus Ice Cream. When you open the tub, the word G.O.A.T. (Greatest of All Time) is printed on the plastic protector label. I thought to myself, “That’s a tad presumptuous.” Then I had a bite of Street Cart Churro Dough ice cream. G.O.A.T. fits it perfectly. This is the best tasting, best textured ice cream that I have ever eaten in my life. If you want to have an extra special dessert, go get yourself some right now.
“Weekends don’t count unless you spend them doing something completely pointless.” – Bill Watterson
Have a wonderful weekend, friends! See you tomorrow. (BTW, I had a lot of readers yesterday. The need to have more fun, seemed to resonate with all of you. Make sure that you have a lot of FUN this weekend!!!)
Are you passing on love or are you passing on pain? Heal your pain and pass on love.
I’ve touched on this topic earlier this month in the blog, in a post entitled “Unstuck”, but I think the theme bears repeating. We need to have more fun. We need to allow ourselves to have fun, even before everything gets “done.” Because everything that needs to get “done” will never, ever be completely finished. I once read that we are all going to die with our inboxes full. Facts.
Last night, I was out to eat with some of my dearest friends (first time in long, long while) and we were all discussing this matter of allowing ourselves to have more lightness, and joy, and fun. Instead of resenting others for having their own fun, we have to take over the reins and make sure that we are putting enough leisure and relaxation into our own schedules. Unfortunately, around the time of this particular discussion, the evening got cut short, as one of my friends got an intense, scary and sudden case of indigestion. This put us all into a frantic tizzy. Fully realizing that we aren’t anywhere near our twenties anymore, we didn’t do the old, “roll her over on her side, kiss her on the cheek, tell her that she’ll be fine, and head back out for a nightcap” routine. Instead, we all camped out at her house, stared at her frantically, questioning her about her symptoms every six seconds, reassuring each other that we didn’t need to head to the ER, because at our ages, indigestion can sometimes mimic heart issues. (I am sure that my friend was more than ready for us to leave her alone, when we all finally felt reassured that she was fine, and bid her adieu for the evening. Thankfully, my friend feels much better this morning, kindly answering all of our frantic, thinly veiled “good morning” texts.)
It struck me that this incident actually put an exclamation point on our discussion which we had been having about allowing ourselves to have more fun. Lately, my aging has come into much more acute focus for me. I turned fifty in December. In these last few years, I have witnessed some of my more elderly relatives and friends, suffer some very serious health issues. If I am lucky, and I take good care of myself, I may have about 30-40 more years to really experience the free, exciting fullness of life. I don’t have any time to waste. Do I really want 90-95% of that time left in my life to be spent making sure all of the solemn chores, duties, and responsibilities are “done”? Does perhaps merrymaking and entertainment deserve a little bit more than a mere 5-10 percent of my daily life?
My friend, the one who is thankfully feeling better this morning, texted that the author, Glennon Doyle, was on Good Morning America today, promoting her podcasts. She said that her next podcast will be on the topic of “Fun.” Glennon Doyle said that so many of us are juggling so many different roles in our lives, trying to keep the machine of our lives fully functioning, that we are forgetting to add the element of “fun and enjoyment” to the equation, which really is what keeps the machine of our lives, all greased up.
Earlier this morning I was reading an article about “cave syndrome”, which is the name given to the new phenomenon of people being afraid to re-enter society and normalcy, after what we have gone through this past year with the pandemic, despite being fully vaccinated and well. “Cave Syndrome” seems to be a subset of agoraphobia, not based on rational thinking, but instead, it is a form of being stuck in our fears and our past trauma. And a fair amount of people seem to be suffering from it. Yikes. Cave Syndrome does not bode well for free-wheeling fun.
I read a quote this morning by Larry Eisenberg that says this: “For peace of mind, weneed to resign as general manager of the Universe.” I think a lot of us need this reminder, especially us women. A lot of us have the tendency to take on a lot of other people’s worries, duties, responsibilities, feelings, etc. to the detriment of ourselves, and to the detriment of others, and to the detriment of our relationships with ourselves and with others. We aren’t the general manager of the Universe. Some Being who is much more powerful and omniscient than us, has faithfully got the wheel. And that Some Being really enjoys experiencing, and seeing us at frolic and play, the most, out of all of everything that we do.
Are you passing on love or are you passing on pain? Heal your pain and pass on love.
Sometimes I look at some of my journals which are filled with thoughts that make me ponder, make me feel, make sense to me at a deeper level, and that’s all that is needed. I don’t need to expand on someone else’s genius. I’m just grateful that they shared what needed to be said. Here are some of my favorite latest thoughts, gathered from other brilliant sources:
“He who has peace of mind disturbs neither himself nor another.” – Epicurus
“What some people call stress, I believe is rebellion of the heart.” – Iyanla Vanzant
“Rejection is almost never personal. Though it comes naturally to treat it as though it is a barb aimed at our very being, that instinct is confused, mistaken and does absolutely no good to heed. That reason most rejection is not personal is that it can’t be. Most people don’t even know us well enough to reject us personally. They are usually saying no to a small sliver of what we offer the world. More often than not, the reason they say no is that the offer does not seem like a good fit for them and their needs.
If you are a size 10, you’ll have to pass on the size 3 jeans. Even if the size 3 jeans are the best in the entire world, the jeans are of no use to a person who cannot wear them.” – Holiday Mathis
“With a few flowers in my garden, half a dozen pictures, and some books, I live without envy.” – Lope De Vega
“You can’t use up creativity. The more you use, the more you have.” – Maya Angelou
Are you passing on love or are you passing on pain? Heal your pain and pass on love.
I spent some time over the weekend, reading through a pile of magazines that had grown to the size of a small toddler. I love how “skim-able” magazines are, you get tidbits here and there, a few photos that really catch your eye and imagination, and even the advertisements aren’t annoying. You can spend as much time on any content, in any one magazine, as you like, and then quickly turn the page. I love the tactile experience of magazines. I hope that magazines never go away, in their physical form.
I got through playing with my magazine toddler in the span of a couple of leisurely, relaxing hours, while sitting in the delicious sunshine. I ended up with a much teenier, baby pile of tear-outs for my decorating idea file, and also for my writing idea file. One page that I tore out came from one of my favorite features of HGTV magazine. Every month, HGTV magazine features 3-4 houses in a particular part of the country, in an article entitled “Copy the Curb Appeal”. This article shows houses which most of us would agree have an appealing, unique, “stop and stare” element to their outside veneer, making you almost yearn to go inside of the house, or at least to find a non-threatening, non-stalkerish reason to linger for a while, outside of it. The creators of the magazine break down the individual elements of the house’s facade (i.e. paint colors, house numbers, lighting, etc.) for you to try to get that same kind of look for your own home.
We all know these eye-candy houses, in our communities, that deserve to be featured in this type of article. I imagine that a lot of us hope that our own houses have that kind of curb appeal. When we try to sell our homes, the realtors always put a heavy emphasis on curb appeal, as it is the first impression anyone will have of our homes. I like what one set of owners said what happened when they spruced up their home’s outward appearance:
“Once we painted it vibrant colors and planted a lush garden, it stood out. Now neighbors tell us it’s a destination point on their walks!” – Brooke and Bob Nickman
Isn’t that a wonderful compliment? It means something to be “a destination point” in any form, doesn’t it?? Destination points are places where people make a point of going to, because the energy there is so good, so enticing, so moving . . . . We love being in places that are “feast for the eyes, and food for the soul.” I was thinking that destination points, are a good thing to ponder and to meditate on, at various stages of our lives. Where are my destination points on my walks, on my drives, where I go out to eat, where I shop, where and who I go to visit? Why are these my destination points? What feelings are evoked at these places? Does my home feel like a good destination point to me? Do my relationships? Does my self-talk feel like a good destination point? The word destination is really just a longer way of saying “destined”. Do the experiences, and places, and people in my life feel like they are my true destiny, or do I need to shake things up a bit? Is my outside facade still a good match for my inner workings? There are so many questions that can come from these two innocent words, “destination point”. And the questions can remain as light, and as flimsy as a one-dimensional Hollywood backdrop, or the questions can get as deep and intricate as understanding all of the different elements that make up just one brick, of just one home. And in the end, it never really is about any one destination, is it? It’s always more about the feelings, the anticipation, the experience of getting to, and then the feelings being felt at any one particular destination point, along the way of the precious journey of our lives.
Are you passing on love or are you passing on pain? Heal your pain and pass on love.
Happy New Week, friends! These past two weeks I have been completely off of my regular schedule and my regular routine. It feels good to feel like the reset button has been pressed. I like time periods that are full of a lot of everything (activity, food and drink, excursions, people, events and celebrations, etc.). These time periods are lively and fun, but they are certainly unsustainable for the long term. When you finally return to your old routine, you welcome it back, like a long lost friend or a well-worn pair of slippers. What had become dull and boring, all of the sudden becomes the normality that you crave. And it feels so peaceful and good and joyous to be back to the natural, regular rhythms of your own daily life. Today, instead of feeling like it’s just another agonizing, manic Monday, it feels more like a new starting gate to the beginning glimmers of a pleasant summer to come. And there is no need to start sprinting out of the gate. Summer is full of long, leisurely days. It’s okay to slowly amble out, taking time to smell the roses along the way . . . .
Are you passing on love or are you passing on pain? Heal your pain and pass on love.
Good morning! Happy Mother’s Day!!! Sundays are devoted to poetry here at the blog. On Sundays, I either write a poem or I share a poem written by another poet who has moved me. Write a poem today, friends. There are no rules. Poems tend to just be the natural outpouring of what’s in your heart, in the form of words.
Every female whom I have ever known (including all of our female dogs, over the years), has had a mothering way of relating to the others in her life, whether she has her own children or not. I used to think that every which way that I needed to be mothered had to come from one woman, which is an unfair expectation of my own mother. As a mother of four amazing people, I am thankful for the ways “the others” have mothered my children, in ways that I was unable to fill the void. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. What is mothering? Here is my poem for today:
Mothering is a force of nature,
Mothering, the purest force of nurture,
Mothering is taking responsibility for caring,
For all of creation, for seeing the gift of all that is,
like no one else can. Her eyes are as wide open as her heart.
Perhaps this overwhelming instinct of care,
is the result of being chosen by Creation,
As the vessel to bring forth more Love into physical form.
Mothering is perhaps the most vulnerable,
and yet also the most powerful action,
one can ever perform in life.
The strength of a mother, is the iron rod of a family,
the support beam of a country,
And it is the Love of a Mother,
A beautiful blue and green globe spinning in eternity,
that holds and feeds and nurtures all of the Life that we live.
Are you passing on love or are you passing on pain? Heal your pain and pass on love.
I was reading an article about how, as we climb out of this pandemic, we are realizing just how out of practice we are on things that used to be a regular part of our lives. The woman writing the article was talking about having to learn how to walk around in high heels again. I could totally relate. Wearing heels to the graduation celebrations last weekend felt very precarious, almost like walking on a tight rope. It’s funny to think that I used to not be able to walk in flats, without looking like a duck. It’s time to dust off the wedges.
Lately I’ve been contemplating a lot about how a deep level of heavy, heady seriousness has taken over our collective lives, since the pandemic started. Everything that we do feels more hushed, more judged, more precise, more responsible and thought out. I miss spontaneity. I miss lightness. I miss spontaneous, light fun! It occurred to me that I am going to have to reteach myself how to do this. I am going to have to teach myself again, that it is okay and wonderful, to just have fun and lots of it. It’s okay to swim back up to the surface and to be buoyant. It’s okay to float. The storm is subsiding. It’s good to look around to see all of the survivors. We all have to remember to smile again, and maybe even to playfully splash each other, as we all drift safely to the shore. I think we have to remind ourselves that life is mostly meant to be savored and enjoyed.
Are you passing on love or are you passing on pain? Heal your pain and pass on love.
Hi readers! The best day of the week has finally arrived! This was a “catch my breath” kind of a week for me. I’m breathing steady again. I hope that you are all breathing steady, too! My regular readers know that Fridays are devoted to the fun and frivolous stuff in life. On Fridays, I’m a material girl living in a material world. I call Fridays, “Favorite Things Friday” here at the blog, and I list three of my favorite books, products, songs, TV shows, experiences, etc. I strongly encourage you to list your favorites as well to help add to all of our shopping lists for the weekend. Without further ado, here are my favorites for this week:
American Leather Company Comfort Sleeper Sofa – We recently converted one of our bedrooms to a nice-sized home office for my husband. We did not want to lose any sleeping room capacity, so we went on a quest to find an actually comfortable, functional and stylish sleeper sofa. This sleeper sofa is revolutionary because it doesn’t have any metal bars or separate mattresses. It is easy to open up and it is unbelievably comfortable. We’ve tried it ourselves! When closed up, it’s a lovely comfortable couch to sit on, and to converse with the man behind the desk. Despite the name of the company (btw, made in the USA, right in Texas), there are many fabrics to chose from besides leather, and the couch comes in all different sizes and styles. If you are going to invest in a good sofa, with the versality of a sleeper sofa, you must check this brand out. American Leather Company has revolutionized sleeper sofas. This ain’t your cousin’s futon bed!
Integrityby Martha Beck – Martha Beck is a wonderful, engaging (often humorous writer) and her latest book, Integrity, is chock full of wisdom and food for thought. The book also includes several practical activities to help you get back to your own “integrity” which Martha defines this way, “Know what you really know, feel what your reallyfeel, say what you really mean, and do what you really want.” If you like the works of Byron Katie (who Ms. Beck quotes a lot in this book) and Anthony DeMello, you will love this book.
Kenberrys Cable Management Box Set – My husband’s gorgeous, handmade reclaimed wood desk was getting lost in distraction by all of the cables coming out of his computer and his monitors. This set, found on Amazon, neatly hides all of the unsightly cables away, so that the focus can remain where it should be – on the gorgeous polished wood rings of the desk, and all of the untold history those rings must hold. We found this wonderful, ingenious set on Amazon.
Friends, have a fabulous weekend! Spend your weekend in integrity: Do what you really want to do! See you tomorrow. Here’s a bonus quote from Integrity by Martha Beck: “Everything that truly makes us happy is limitless and multiplicative, not scarce and divisive.”
Are you passing on love or are you passing on pain? Heal your pain and pass on love.
