Ups and Down

It struck me the other day that I have lived long enough to see plenty of the amazing, fresh new things on the market, later become worn and tired relics. In other words, I am old enough to have experienced many whole life cycles of many, many ideas and products. This came to mind out of nowhere. For some reason I started remembering back in the early 1990s, when I was a textbook salesperson. (Yes, that position is a real thing. A textbook salesperson goes into professors’ offices and tries to convince the professor to adopt their publisher’s textbook, so that the 8000 kids taking Introduction to Biology, will have to purchase said textbook. Don’t hate me.) Anyway, back then, “email” was the new thing. Most of my professors whom I called on, still preferred receiving telephone calls and voicemail messages. They did not even look at their “emails.” A few “cutting edge” professors started insisting on emails only. Nowadays, it seems like email is only slightly more of an upgrade to snail mail. We all have a million examples of this. Technology is changing so quickly, even our twenty-something kids have experienced a few product lifecycles of something going from “latest and greatest” to graveyard in the wink of an eye.

In my readings this morning I was reminded that acceptance is not consenting and approving, but more so, an awareness of the way things are in a moment. Acceptance is a detached noticing of what is happening. Acceptance is being fully aware of “what is.” When I find myself getting curmudgeonly about they way things are changing in my lifetime, and I stubbornly start sticking my feet into the sand, I am reminded that nothing remains “the it” thing/person/way of being/way of doing things, for long, especially these days. Having been at a Disney amusement park recently, I was reminded of what it is like to be on their imaginative thrill rides. Entering into the ride car, you realize that the whole ride and experience is really just made-up, creative, imaginative fun, despite how realistic these rides now seem to be. You get on the ride, and you surrender to the experience, trying to soak it all in – the feelings, the sensations, the thrills, the fears, all the while, never taking the ride too seriously. In the end, you know that you will get off of the ride, and everything will be okay. You have the expectation that you will arrive safely back to normal. Perhaps there is an analogy here?

S A Roller Coaster Life Quotes. QuotesGram

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

Soul Sunday

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

Our prayers are with you, Louisiana. You are strong survivors!! You will prevail⚜.

Sundays are devoted to poetry here at Adulting – Second Half. Poetry is the song of the heart. Poetry is the line of communication between your heart and your deepest intuition. Despite sometimes being puzzling and relying on your own personal interpretation, you can discover so much about yourself by reading and by writing poetry. Write a poem today. Write a love poem to yourself. I think that you will treasure it. Poetry really helps you to hone in on what truly and deeply resonates with you. And that truly matters. It does matter.

credit: Vicki

Yesterday, my dear friend painted the above lovely picture of the koi. Isn’t it a beautiful watercolor? Do something creative today, whether it be writing, or cooking, or painting, or drawing, or singing or dancing or doodling. Savor the experience. Be in the moment. It will be a wonderful way to end your week, and to start a new one, afresh. Here is my poem for today:

“Inbox”

She opened her inbox,

The emails were piled on top of each other,

Like a giant block of meaningless letters,

All vying for her attention.

Unsolicited, automated, unnecessary distractions.

She checked them all off, except for a precious few,

And she decidedly deleted them,

Out of sight, out of mind.

Plunged them into the file called:

Trash.

She recently read that every single day,

she thinks 50,000 random thoughts.

Perhaps she should remember to sort her thoughts,

like she does her email inbox.

So that her attention can remain on the thoughts that matter.

And that the trash thoughts can be easily deleted,

with an easy click, like a blink of her eye.

So all that is left in the inbox of her mind,

Is insight, and mindful peace.

And all that remains is the file called:

Love.