I have to get out early this morning for some appointments, so today, I am going to share some gems, from one of my treasure troves of other people’s thoughts which have sparked thought and reflection in me. I have always said that I wanted this blog to be a small museum of thoughts/ideas/reflections/perspectives. These might make for some good journal prompts for your own writing?! Here are some exhibits:
“You couldn’t heal because you kept pretending you weren’t hurt.” – Wise Connector, Twitter
“The saddest aspect of life now is that science gathers knowledge faster than society gathers wisdom.” – Isaac Asimov
“Whatever it is you are seeking, won’t come in the form you are expecting.” – Haruki Murakami
“If you are always trying to be normal, you will never know how amazing you can be.” – Maya Angelou
“A bird sitting on a tree is never afraid of the branch breaking, because its trust is not on the branch, but on its own wings.” – Native Red Cloud, Twitter
“Time you enjoyed wasting, was not wasted.” – John Lennon
“Raise your words, not voice. It is rain that grows flowers, not thunder.”– Rumi
Are you passing on love or are you passing on pain? Heal your pain and pass on love.
It’s Groundhog Day. I’m sitting in the same spot where I was sitting yesterday, writing my blog post, in a café right across from my gate. It’s wonderful to be back to travel, but it’s not so wonderful to be back to the snafus and complications and mess-ups that often come with traveling. You take the good with the bad, I suppose. I promise to get a little more wordy towards the end of the week. See you tomorrow where I hope to be writing this from my cozy little writing nook at home!
Are you passing on love or are you passing on pain? Heal your pain and pass on love.
From left: Paul Natkin/Getty Images; Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images
The picture above is Julian Lennon superimposed with Eddie Van Halen. Today would have been John Lennon’s 80th birthday and sadly, we lost a musical great this week, with the death of Eddie Van Halen. My friend mentioned that Eddie Van Halen never learned to read sheet music. If that isn’t proof of innate born purpose/genius/spiritual passion, I don’t know what is!
Happy Friday, my friends!! We made it to the weekend! On Fridays, we keep it light on the blog. I call it Favorite Things Friday, here at Adulting – Second Half. On Fridays, I list three favorite things, songs, beauty products, food items, etc. and I strongly encourage my readers to add your favorites to my Comments section. Here are my favorites for today:
Olive & Cocoa – If you are looking for an alternative from sending a standard flower arrangement, go to this website. This adorable company has a wide variety of flowers, food stuff, gift-y items that really are unique and lovely and more personalized than what you typically find from this genre of store. This is one catalog, which when I receive in the mail that I am actually happy to get, and to peruse its pages. Most of the items are sent to people, in these adorable little wooden crates that just make the whole gift seem that much more special to open.
Tagua Nut Jewelry – Tagua nuts are often referred to as vegetable ivory. They come from the seeds of certain palm trees. I recently purchased a tagua nut bracelet that has been dyed the most fabulous shade of aqua. (the dye inks seem to just seep right into this material) The jewelry made from tagua tends to be big and chunky and colorful and makes for the perfect statement piece of what could otherwise be a bland or plain outfit.
Putumayo Presents Paris Cafe CD – For those of you who are old-fashioned and tactile like me, go to the putumayo.com website and buy this CD that I was bragging about earlier this week. If you have more modern tastes, Putumayo also has playlists that you can stream on Apple Music or Spotify, which are also found on their website. The website also sells colorful, unique greeting cards and children’s books from all over the world. I highly recommend spending some time on their website. They know their stuff!!! And it’s the good stuff!
Have a happy weekend, my dear friends and readers!!! I am so grateful for you!!
“Acting is all about honesty. If you can fake that, you’ve got it made.” – George Burns
“When real music comes to me – the music of the spheres, the music that surpasses understanding – that has nothing to do with me, ’cause I’m just the channel. The joy for me is for it to be given to me, and to transcribe it like a medium… those moments are what I live for.” – John Lennon
Creative arts is all about authenticity, vulnerability, and channeling Greater Forces. That is why we all respond to these artistic outputs, in their highest form. A beautiful painting, a breath-catching photograph, a soul-searing poem, touch us and connect us to the deepest part of ourselves like nothing else can. And then, when we look around and catch a glimmer of that same awestruck feeling that we are feeling, also in the faces of the other observers/experiencers, that’s when we feel the least alone. That is when we feel the silver web of connection that we often forget is there, holding all of us together, creating an amazing, gorgeous tapestry of Life and Love. That’s when gratitude washes over us and cleanses us to our cores, reminding us of what we are all really made of, at our purest form of passionate energy.
My friend turned me on to Lizzo yesterday. Her college-aged daughter introduced her to Lizzo and I earned a lot of “cool mom points” when I picked up my daughter from the high school yesterday, playing Lizzo, at high volume. My daughter knew all of the words already. Lizzo is a female rapper and most of her songs speak of empowerment. Lizzo sings/says a song called “Truth Hurts.” When I looked the song up on Youtube, I saw this comment, about the song, that made me smile:
“this song makes me feel like a strong independent woman.. and i’m a guy.” – Foreign Warren
My favorite line in Lizzo’s “Truth Hurts” is this:
“Why men great ’til they gotta be great?”
If we’re going to talk about equality and empowerment, that line applies to all of us – male and female and everything else in between, doesn’t it? We lose the connection and the channel to our deepest, most creative inspirations, when we start focusing on the response to our output versus the joy of creating (an co-creating) the output. When we start aiming in on how many likes and views and notes of approval from others that we’re hoping to get, the connection to what the Universe is really trying to do with our lives, gets static-y and sometimes even gets disconnected. And we feel lost and confused and disappointed and sometimes, empty. We need to be refilled with what really keeps us connected. And the rub is, what keeps us connected is not anything applauding us on the outside, but moreso, what is deep, and profound, rising up inside of us, just wanting to burst through, in all of its glory.
John Lennon is arguably one of the greatest musicians of our lifetime and “those moments are what I live for” were the moments that he was gifted to “transcribe” what the Universe wanted the rest of us to enjoy, and to relate to and to sing along to, sometimes at the top of our lungs. He didn’t talk about sold-out concerts, or how many people were in his fan club, or his NYC penthouse. Lennon’s “live for moments” were during the creative process, with his juices flowing, and his open heart just taking in everything and transcribing the Love that was meant to touch all of our hearts, every time we listened to one of Lennon’s songs.
