Hi friends. We’re still standing here. There are no power outages yet, just steady rain. It’s probably too early to tell, but we may have dodged a bullet in our area. Still, we continue to pray for our friends and family all over Florida, who may not be faring so well. Hurricanes are scary, unpredictable monsters.
I really love this meme that I reposted above. When you go through scary, dangerous times, you are not always at your best. Sometimes some of the whole of you is “missing”. Fear and uncertainty do not always bring out the best in people. Too many of us are conditioned to believe that we are only loveable when we are perfect, and even, and helpful, and steady. But that’s not true. Yes, it is true that sometimes, when someone we love is really off-kilter, we have to put some space between ourselves and them, for the health of all involved, but the love never goes away. Things can go “missing” in a person and in a relationship, but love remains. Love is indestructible. Love is. Know that you are always loved, whether you are whole, or whether parts of you go “missing” from time to time. The part of any and each of us that never, ever goes missing, is love. Love is the material of our souls.
Are you passing on love or are you passing on pain? Heal your pain and pass on love.
It’s a super strange feeling, anticipating a hurricane. You get plenty of warning – almost too much warning. The anticipation is killer. I’m a “let’s just rip the band-aid off, already!” kind of a girl. And Mother Nature says, “No dear, we’re going to make you sit with your fearful what-ifs for a while. It’s good for you.” Ugh.
The last time a big hurricane directly affected our area was five years ago. And we evacuated, with four kids and two dogs in tow. We went to Atlanta and the people there could not have been kinder and more welcoming. Instead of price gouging, they gave us discounts, and extras, delicious heartwarming food and long, caring hugs. I will always have a warm spot in my heart, dedicated to the good, hospitable people of Atlanta, Georgia. But evacuating didn’t come without its challenges. The roads were filled with wall-to-wall, crawling, slowly inching along traffic. We ended up having to sleep one night at a rest stop (six stressed people, including sweaty, ornery male teenagers + two big dogs, in a cramped car = not good sleep), which was littered with cars of people, doing the same exact thing. There were cars everywhere, even on the grass and on the sides of the highway. Most gas stations along the way, were out of gas. And watching the news, wondering what kind of mess we were going to go back home to, was excruciatingly stressful. Media sensationalism is a terribly painful experience, when it affects the people and the places that you most love and care about. On the way home, after the hurricane, we were surrounded on the highway, by brigades of utility trucks from seemingly every state in the nation, heading down to help with our plight. I remember this bringing tears of patriotism and gratitude, to my weary eyes.
We had a pow-wow with our near-by neighbors last night, and most of us have decided to stay and weather this one out in our homes. (Including a doctor and his wife, who is a physician’s assistant, who live across the street. This helped seal the deal for me. We’ll look out for each other. That’s what neighbors do.) This experience will be a contrast to what we did the last time, and I am curious to compare, first-hand, which is the better way to handle these things. Our adult children are all in safe spots away from here, so that is what gives me my greatest peace of mind. Honestly, right now my husband and I find ourselves stressing mostly about inconsequential things, like how are we going to brew our coffee when the electricity is out?!
People often question why you would want to live in Florida, and other tropical spots when hurricanes are a seasonal concern. These perilous storms are the price we pay to live in paradise. Florida rarely has gray days. Sunshine is a given. I can go to the beach for lunch if I want to, and bury my feet in the sand, feeling the soothing gulf breezes, lulling my heartbeat to match the rhythms of the tides. We have gorgeous sunsets, and dolphins are as common as the deer, and the wild turkeys, and the herons and the hawks that we see almost daily. Florida is an inclusive, melting pot. No one feels like an “outsider” because everyone here is from somewhere else. There is something for everyone in Florida, even the kooky “Florida Man.” Our state makes loads of money from tourism. There are many good reasons for this fact. Florida is soothing to the soul.
This may be my last blog post this week before we lose power. I don’t know. Regardless, I’ll see you on the other side of the storm. One thing is for certain – you fully know and understand the people and the things that you truly treasure and mean the most in your life, when you are facing down a life-threatening storm. My dearest readers, I can’t wait to be with you again, after the storm.
Are you passing on love or are you passing on pain? Heal your pain and pass on love.
“Creativity is intelligence having fun.” – Albert Einstein
“An expert is someone who is humble and disciplined enough to explore deeply for a long time. An expert is someone who cares more.” -@ValaAfshar, Twitter
Saturdays are perfect days to hone in on our creativity. Many of us are experts at our jobs, by the time we reach middle age, but what else are you an expert in? Do you allow yourself to create some expertise in your favorite hobbies? Some of my friends and acquaintances are experts at quilting, and butterfly releasing, and gardening, and biking, and working out, and meditation, and running, and dancing, and fantasy football, and water colors, and photography. What is something that feeds your soul enough that you have inadvertently become somewhat of an “expert” in it? Being an expert at something, doesn’t even mean that you have to be particularly great at your favored hobby or vocation or interest. Being an expert just means that you happen to know a great deal about your activity, and how to do it, because the process of exploring the said project/pursuit, and the actual doing of it, feeds your soul, and stops time for you, like so few other activities in your life are capable of doing. Being an expert at something, means that you have taken the time to fuel your passions. That’s called living life! Add to your creative expertise today. You won’t regret it.
Are you passing on love or are you passing on pain? Heal your pain and pass on love.
Are you passing on love or are you passing on pain? Heal your pain and pass on love.
Good morning. Tranquility. Peacefulness. Wisdom. Acceptance. Deep knowing and appreciation. Awe. Gratefulness. Love. Unrelenting hope. Comfort. Health. Music in your heart. These are the things that I wish for you, on this lovely Sunday morning. Sundays are devoted to poetry on the blog. Sometimes I write a poem and sometimes I find poems which other writers have written that are just plain magical. Please witness the magic below:
taken in New MexicoTaken after a big storm in Florida, about a week after the New Mexico sunset
I have a couple of friends who are going through a lot of life changes that have been thrust upon them, suddenly, surprisingly and forcefully. By our ages, we’ve all been there – probably more than once. And the last thing that anyone wants to hear during one of these “tossed out of the nest” moments is, “Oh wow, this experience really is a gift. As the Narrator said in Fight Club, “It’s Only After We’ve Lost Everything That We’re Free To Do Anything.”
That is truly the beauty of any moment, when you feel like life as you knew it, is falling away. You are no longer sitting tight in that warm little cocoon of your carefully prepared nest, and instead you are out in wide open space, flapping your wings desperately, not sure what direction to head in, other than not wanting to plunge down to your lowest depths. You are so scared, flapping fiercely in place, that you fail to see the amazing, wide open horizon that is available for you to soar in, and to fly in, in so many possible, exciting directions. In the initial “push out”, you often fail to realize the wide open beauty of the free skies, and you often fail to realize that you are still flying high, with the natural ability of your own strong, capable, experienced wings.
The Universe knows what it is doing. We humans often aren’t good at taking risks, trying to step out of our own little paradigms which we have created as orderly safehouses for ourselves. Much like we mothers innately know that eventually, in order to be good mothers, and in order to fulfill our motherly duties, we have to urge our little hatchlings out of the nest, the Universe does the same for us, on a much larger scale. The Universe understands our potential better than anyone, certainly better than our rational selves.
The initial “push out” from our various “nests” throughout our lifetime (starting when we leave the safety of our own mothers’ wombs), feels like a gut punch. Every. Single. Time. It’s at these times when our inner child starts screaming, “This is not fair!” And our inner child is right, life isn’t fair. But what our inner child forgets is that we are equipped to deal with the unfairness of it all. We are equipped with the ability to take really lousy situations and alchemize them into some of the most vital moments that have defined us, in our own lifetimes. We are filled with the strength to carry on, and to become versions of ourselves whom we love and whom we trust and whom we admire, like we never have before. And with each push-out of the various nests of our lives, we become better equipped with the confidence and the strength, to soar to authentic heights higher than we have ever before imagined. And in doing this for ourselves, we inspire other little birds who have just been pushed out of their nests, to see and to experience the divinity of soaring.
Are you passing on love or are you passing on pain? Heal your pain and pass on love.
These are the memes that spoke to me from Twitter today. I read also on Twitter that Harry Styles is extremely upset about what people are putting out on social media about his girlfriend, Olivia Wilde. He said this about Twitter: “a s***storm of people trying to be awful to people.”
I think Harry is right. Social media can be extremely negative, harmful, mean and bullying. It can also be filled with inspiration, beauty, and wisdom. It’s what you look for in anything, that makes it so. Most people, places, and things are just neutral. We put the meaning and stories and attention into/on the item, or the person, or the relationship to these people, places and things. What is terrible for me, might be wonderful for you. The key is to put the focus on what is wonderful for you.
Are you letting yourself be loved, you grumpy little shit? Earlier this week, I got a root canal and honestly, I haven’t felt this good in quite some time. I realize I had been walking around, ignoring a growing, gnawing problem (literally in my head) that I was hoping would magically just disappear. Most of the time, life doesn’t work this way though, right? Our bodies, and our emotions send signals which grow louder and louder, for a purpose. They are saying, “Let yourself be loved, you grumpy little shit!”
Truthfully, I have more energy and vitality than I have felt in a while. I had the infection removed and my whole body is sighing with relief. My husband read that in the 1800s, people had a higher average body temperature than we have these days, because many people walked around with low-lying infections and diseases that could not be remedied. We have so many remedies these days for so many problems. Are you utilizing the remedies that are needed for your own mind, your own body, and your own spirit?
Today’s mantra is “Let yourself be loved, your grumpy little shit.” (and this means putting a big emphasis on showing love to yourself in your every waking moment, and in every decision that you make for yourself. Love and gratitude radiates outward from a healthy, loving heart. We will all benefit from your healing.)
Are you passing on love or are you passing on pain? Heal your pain and pass on love.
Yesterday I sent flowers to a loved one who has been through hell these last couple of months. I called a florist whom I do not know, in a state where I do not live, and I explained the nightmare our loved one has gone through with her health. I asked the florist to create something cheerful, bright and really special. He said to me confidently, “Don’t worry. I got you.”
And that fabulous florist delivered handsomely. Yes, those are even bananas in the arrangement!! Bananas! Our loved one is thrilled with the flowers, and I am thrilled with this florist. I absolutely adore people who are intimately involved and prideful and passionate about their work. It always shows. When people do what they love, the results are amazing. The love shines through.
On the topic of flowers, my friend told me about an organization in our town that delivers recycled flowers (or unsold flowers donated by our local grocery chain) to people in hospitals and care homes all over the country. Another friend of mine, who is downsizing, just donated a plethora of vases to this wonderful organization. As I did an online search, it turns out there are quite a few of these wonderful entities that do this lovely service for their communities. Below are three of them. They all need volunteers to make the arrangements, and to deliver the arrangements and they also happily accept donations such as the vases my friend just gave to them.
There is a garden of good in this world. And it is flowering with people who make a difference in the lives of others. The love shines through.
I always tell my family that none of us are even leaving this life with our bodies. And they groan, “Mom, you’re so morbid.” But I think that this is an important concept to fully understand and to grasp, in order to best savor your life. I love my stuff, but I get that what I really love, is the experiencing of “my stuff.” I love to play around with clothes and fashion and shoes and make-up, and I love to drive around in my car with the convertible top down, but I do these things with the full understanding that it is the experience of playing around with my stuff which actually enthralls me. Life is the experience for the spirit to enjoy. My body is the vehicle to get my spirit to all sorts of experiences. My physical home is a place that protects my body and comforts my spirit. But none of this is mine. My spirit (which is my peaceful awareness of all that it is experiencing) is the only eternal part of me, and the memories of all that my spirit has experienced in this life, is the only thing that I’ll be taking with me, when I leave this Mother Earth and journey on. I hope that I am collecting an incredible treasure trove of memories to take with me, because that is the only treasure I have amassed which truly has any real meaning and eternal value.
Are you passing on love or are you passing on pain? Heal your pain and pass on love.
Some things matter and some things don’t. The journey of life is about discovering the difference.
~ Alan Cohen
I love the story I read over the weekend in People magazine. A little girl was on a flight with her parents, and as they left the flight and were walking in the airport, in the wee hours of the morning (I think around 2 a.m.), the little girl panicked realizing that she had lost her first baby tooth and that she didn’t have it with her. It had probably fallen out on the plane. A pilot, seeing the little girl’s distress, promptly came over and wrote a note, vouching for the lost tooth, for the little girl to give to the Tooth Fairy. The note asked the Tooth Fairy to accept the note in lieu of the tooth. I am sure that the Tooth Fairy accepted the note.
Kindness matters.
I also read an excellent article by Paul Sutherland in Spirituality & Health magazine. The article was talking about perspective. He wrote this:
“I have been immersed in spirituality and religion my whole life. I met a few “repent or go to hell” fearmongering Christians, Muslims, and Jews along the way. Listening to the frown-lined devotee who is keen to save my soul, I ask: “Are you happy?”
I pause for their answer. I then ask: “Are you saved, or content that your life is reflective of Moses, Jesus, or Muhammed, or whoever guides your worship?”
I then listen and simply say, “Seems if I had a personal relationship with God, was feeling guided by God’s presence, and had faith, I would be so happy, optimistic, and joyful that I would hardly be able to contain myself. I certainly would not be running around judging people and tearing down those God created in God’s image.”
Paul also told the story about lamenting about all of the world’s ills to one of his teachers. His teacher let him go on and on and then said firmly, “Paul. Suffering exists so we have something to do.” Paul Sutherland ended his article with this statement:
“I realize that, actually, suffering can be our call to optimism, to act, to hope, and to work for a world where every person goes to bed feeling safe, happy, loved, full, connected, and optimistic about tomorrow.”
Perspective matters.
Masaru Emoto, a famous Japanese author and researcher, studied water crystals and what the effects of words and feelings have on water crystals. Here is an example of some of his findings:
Whether you believe these findings about water crystals to be true or not, we already know what Emoto was trying to convey:
Gratitude matters. Wisdom matters. Truth matters. Peace matters. Love matters.
It appears what really matters in this world, are those things which are eternal and recognizable to all of us, no matter our age, our country, our language, our backgrounds, our educations, and our beliefs.
Love matters. Love matters. Love matters.
Are you passing on love or are you passing on pain? Heal your pain and pass on love.
It is estimated that there are between 143 million and 210 million orphans worldwide
Everyday an estimated 5,760 more children become orphans worldwide
Approximately 250,000 children are adopted annually
Each day an estimated 38,493 orphans “age out” of the orphanage system and are put on the streets with no family and no home
10% to 15% of these children commit suicide before they reach 18 years old
All face highly challenging and uncertain futures without the support of a family
Credit: Project 143
If you do the math, 2,050,560 children become orphans every single year. And approximately 250,000 of children are adopted annually. Hmmmm. I’ve never been great at math, but it appears to me that there are plenty of children already in the world who would greatly benefit from being adopted. And sadly, we in America, all know the face of another precious orphan whose parents were gunned down at a Fourth of July parade, by a 21-year old man (with prior issues of violence), who legally bought high powered rifles in his own state.
I’m not trying to be political here. I am grateful for the new law that our Republican governor in Florida put into place recently, that would never restrict loved ones from being able to visit their loved ones in a hospital. No one should EVER have to die alone. Last fall, there was more than one time, when our son’s epileptic seizures were out of control, that we were denied access to visit him in his hospital room, and this was in Florida which was generally much less restricted than the rest of the country during the earliest times of the pandemic. I remember sobbing at the front of a hospital entrance in my husband’s arms, with the power to do nothing but to hope and to pray.
Can we stop with the party lines??? Can we start to come together with realism, common sense, and an agreement to compromise, for the good of our country and for the good of our country’s precious citizens??? These hard core, black/white, all or nothing, stubborn, defiant, righteous, hateful lines that both of our major parties are walking, are not doing us any good. We are not walking a straight path. We are walking in circles. And we are quickly circling down the drain, to the despair of the majority of us, who adore our country.
Are you passing on love or are you passing on pain? Heal your pain and pass on love.
