Tag: creation

Overlooked Superstars

“It happens all the time. Superstars get overlooked. The passersby rush past the musical genius playing on the sidewalk. The future bestseller sits at the bottom of a slush pile. Groundbreaking work is met with skepticism or ignored. It all presents an opportunity for the intuitive and aware. Be on the look-out for the good stuff. Be the one who sees it, senses it, lives it.” – Holiday Mathis

Whenever I’m in a quandary about what to write about on the blog, I go to Holiday Mathis’ daily horoscopes. She typically writes something profound (such as above) before she even gets to the individual astrological signs. Some of the best music that I have ever heard, some of the best artwork which I have ever seen, and some of the best words I have ever read, have come from obscure places such as street corners, graffiti walls and out-of-print books that I picked up at a garage sale.

When we were away last week, sitting in a swanky hotel, two extremely stylish women decked out in pricy, designer gear from head to toe, were gushing to me about a ring that I was wearing on my right hand. I had two rings on, one expensive, beautiful 14K gold ring bedazzled with diamonds and the other one, a hammered brass ring, holding a broken shell, that I had purchased from an artsy street fair in a local town a couple of years ago. I asked the regal looking women which ring they were inquiring about, and it was the street fair ring. They wanted to know the maker, and unfortunately, I had no idea. The artist had not put a maker’s mark on it. I do love the ring though. It is truly one-of-a-kind. It is special.

I love to support the underdog, especially in the arts. If someone’s creative work touches me, I do everything that I can to support it, whether that means a purchase, a compliment, a nice tip, a referral/promo, etc. It takes courage to put one’s creations out into the public. To do this opens a creator up to criticism, to ridicule, to rejection and creating takes a lot of time to do, without the likelihood of great reward in return for their time and effort. This is why I believe that we miss out on so much of what the world and all of its individual creators could offer to us. We often respect and worship all of the wrong people/places/stuff. We get a lot of copycats and a lot of same old/same old. And thus, we don’t get inspired to be more creative and imaginative, ourselves.

Go to Etsy and look up something you like, say perhaps, “turtles.” You won’t believe the offerings that you will find, in every kind of art form, at truly reasonable prices. Go to local hole-in-the-wall restaurants that aren’t chains. You might taste flavors like you have never experienced before in any kind of restaurant. Pause and listen to that saxophonist on the corner. Many famous stars today, including Justin Bieber, were originally street performers. And if you find a creator that really impresses you, support them, any way that you can. It means so much to them. And honestly, it means so much to the world.

Even if you don’t like astrology, go to Holiday Mathis’ website and just read her opening paragraph every day. In my opinion, she’s a writer and a thinker and a wise woman who deserves a whole lot more attention. She’s a star among those who write about the stars. And also, allow yourself to put your own creations “out there”. If nothing else, this will help you to appreciate, even more so, the bravery, the vulnerability, and the imaginative effort and sacrificial time, the creators whom you admire, have in spades, by the offerings which they give to all of us. Creators give us an intimate piece of themselves.

(It is my belief that WE are the vehicles of creations for our Creator. Do not withhold your gifts, and also, bring attention to other creators’ gifts. The world will be a much better place for it.)

Are you passing on love or are you passing on pain? Heal your pain and pass on love.

Here is the question of the day from 3000 Questions About Me:

2481. Would you join in a revolution?

Shared Loves

I saw this on Think Smarter (Twitter) today. I smiled. It reminded me of a conversation I had with my husband just the other day. We were sitting on the couch with our daughter, and of course, all three dogs decided that they should be close by, too. So there was the three of us, and all three of our canines, all squished together in one small space, of an entire house. We liked our shared energy, I guess.

Looking over at our daughter, and Trip, our spaniel, all cuddled up to my husband, I said to my husband that I think that a big part of every love story is your shared loves. A huge part of any close relationship (family, friends, lovers, etc.) is that you share a deep love and appreciation, for a lot of the same people, places, pets, homes, plants, neighborhood spots, schools, spiritual houses, restaurants, teams, vacation spots, activities etc. You share a profound love for a lot of the same memories. And it’s these two individual loves that are co-mingled to form this very strong and protective cloud of love, over you, and over the object(s) of your shared love.

When we were on vacation, all four of our mostly grown children were blessedly with us. Sometimes they would get into “teasing mode” and they would start laughing about little bedtime songs which I had sung to them when they were young, or goofy things that my husband and I said to get them “into line.” Not in a morose way (moreso in a reassured, peaceful way), when they were doing this, I thought to myself, “When I pass on, these are the things that they will laugh about together, when they are old and grey. These are the memories that will keep them intimately connected.” The great truth is that all four of my children all love, and yet, are also deeply, deeply loved, by the same mother. We all share a big, big love. And that love is extended with their father, and with each other, and with our shared family and friends, and with the houses we have lived in together, and with the pets who have shared our lives, and with the adventures we have shared together. This is how Love connects everything.

I love the Earth and creation. I know that you love the Earth and creation. This is how I know that we are all covered by a beautiful protective cloud of love, together, all around this Earth. We share a fathomless love for the miracle of life, and we are all loved by that same immeasurable force of Love. Sometimes I sit with this thought for a few minutes, and I just sigh into the peace of that thought, and I try to keep that wise, knowing peacefulness with me, all day long. Love’s got us covered.

Are you passing on love or are you passing on pain? Heal your pain and pass on love.

Creation

Happy Birthday, to my beautiful blue-eyed baby! I now have three children who are in their twenties. It doesn’t seem possible.

My son whose birthday is today, is still at his university, living in an apartment with three of his best friends. We tried calling him first thing this morning, around 8 o’clock, to be his first call of today, but it went to voicemail. This certainly isn’t unusual for a college student, but in this case, my stomach starts churning wildly. This is my child who has epilepsy and he has suffered three major seizures this year, after being completely seizure free for quite a few years. My son has agreed to text me every morning at 8 a.m. after he has taken his meds, and at 8 p.m. when he has taken his nightly dose. These daily texts gives him some accountability and me, a level of security and reassurance and some peace of mind. There was no text this morning (and he rarely misses these texts, especially after his last major seizure of the year).

My son is a deep, deep sleeper and his epilepsy medicine only adds to that well of tranquility. After several calls and texts, I put a time goal, of when I would start calling his roommates to check on him. In the meantime, my mind goes all around in circles, trying to quell my fears. I bounce from logic (he’s a college student who was up late last night, celebrating his birthday) and prayers, to fear thoughts that make me want to rip my hair out, and then back again to fervent prayers. I made 8:45 a.m. the time that I would embarrass him, by waking up his roommates. I hate to inconvenience his friends (who already have experienced one of his frightening seizures, and drive him all around, because my son can’t drive until these seizures are controlled by medicine again) and I hate to embarrass my son, but I have done it before and I will do it again, if need be. Having a child with epilepsy is quite a delicate balancing act. For their mental health and quality of life, you want to keep things as “normal” as possible, but for your own mental health and quality of life, you have a heightened need to control as many variables, as possible.

Luckily, my son finally picked up his phone at 8:25 this morning, apologetically assuring me that he had taken his meds at 7:50 and had just forgotten to text me. This is, thankfully, how these episodes usually end up . . . with a happy ending. May this always be the case. (hear my prayer)

Last night, my husband and I were talking about the charities we give to, and the things which we volunteer for in our community, currently, in this stage of our lives. We talked about the role we play in the charities relating to epilepsy. Sometimes, I wonder if epilepsy was brought into our lives, for us to help champion finding the cures, to bring attention to this ailment, and to help others to deal with the uncertainty that epilepsy brings to people’s lives. But honestly, none of us in our family, want to make epilepsy the focal point of our lives. Most of all, our son doesn’t want to be defined by it. None of us want to bring any more attention to epilepsy, which is possibly the most painful situation in any of our lives. So, we quietly steer money towards various epilepsy charities, but otherwise, we try to keep epilepsy out of our minds, as much as we can. On a personal level, I try to give compassion to anyone who lives with a chronic ailment or disease. I empathize with these courageous people, more than I ever have before. Is what we do, in regards to epilepsy, enough? I don’t know. But I have to listen to my heart speak. I have to understand my own limits, and to trust in my own purpose, which is firstly, the health and the sanity of me, and my immediate family.

In this crazy, confusing, unfathomable year, there are a lot of us out there who want to save the world. We want the pain to end. We want the uncertainty to go away, for everyone. We want all of the “right” answers to come, and to come quickly to fix everything back up to “normal.” There are a lot of us who are bewildered and scared and we empathetically recognize those same feelings from everyone we encounter. (even with everyone being all masked up). But let’s remember, these problems are too big for any one of us to overcome, on an individual basis. It’s okay to take care of yourself, and just do what you are able to do, on a daily basis. It’s okay to nurture yourself, and your people as best as you can, because that’s how major problems do get fixed. Everyone does the best that they can, with their own individual lives and their own individual purposes. We are droplets of the Ocean, that makes up life. We are trees and branches and leaves and roots of The Tree of Life. We are each cells of The Body. It’s not the job of a skin cell to pump the heart. It is not the job of the tree bark to make chlorophyll. It’s not the job of a water droplet to soak all of the farmlands, the world over. If everyone just does their best, to be their own individual best, The Body is healthy and thrives, The Tree stands tall and strong, and the Oceans of Water remain the source of replenishing saturation of Life all over. We are all doing our best, with what we can, and that is enough. We are enough. We don’t realize this, because we are each, just one teensy unit, in a major process of universal healing and growing and expansion, that is happening all of the time. This year of growing pains, has just brought an acute awareness to this fact. All that we have to do, on an individual basis, is to hang on, nurture ourselves and others in the capacity in which we are able to do, and to trust in this process. Then, we can look forward to the time when we can expand our vision, to greater, calmer heights, to be able to see the true beauty and perfection, of that which we call Creation. Creation has been made, and will always be made by every one of us, into eternity. We are each just tiny sparks of Creation and that is enough, to be a precious spark, lighting the world in our own special individual way.

No Grandchildren

“God has no grandchildren.” – Proverb

I read the above proverb yesterday in one of my meditations. I love it. I find it comforting. Currently the oldest person alive is a man in Germany who is 113 years old. Probably, as I sit here writing, there is at least one baby being born somewhere. So the Universe’s earth family has children in the age range of just being born to 113 years old. It would make for a beautiful family portrait.

I have four children who I love deeply with all of my heart. My oldest has eight years more experience in this world than my youngest child, but I am their Mom. Nothing has changed about me. I am not a different “Mom.” They are my children and I love them infinitely.

That’s how it goes with God/Creation/All-Loving Presence. Some of His/Her children are clergy. Some of His/Her children are outlaws. Some of the children of Earth are still learning to walk, and some are using walkers. The same God loves us all, infinitely. You cannot divide infinite love to see who is loved more. It is not possible. We are all God’s children and we are all loved infinitely.

The Same God loves us all. Clergy do not get a different, wiser, stronger God than the desperate, homeless, addict roaming the streets. The connection is there to all of us. The love is freely given in pure grace. We are all God’s children and we are all loved infinitely.