THE LAW OF PHYSICS

"For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction."

~Newton's Third Law ~

 

Unsavory choices lead to unsavory situations. Indecision leads to a lack of clarity. Anger leads to resentment, courage leads to empowerment, exercise leads to fitness, and love leads to love.

 

I accept that connectivity exists in life, and I surrender to the reality of cause and effect.

PUSHING BEYOND REASON

"He has spent all his life in letting down empty buckets into empty wells; and he is fritting away his age in trying to draw them up again."

~Sydney Smith ~

I push beyond the threshold of reason on a regular basis. I pretend that I have no choice in the matter. But if I'm honest, that's not the truth. There's something that I'm trying to prove to myself daily... that, if I'm honest, doesn't really need proving at all.

I don't have to overdo things in order to establish my worth.

RHYTHM AND FLOW

"Everything in the universe has rhythm. Everything dances."

~Maya Angelou ~

Understanding and coordinating with the flow and the rhythm of things is a spiritual practice. Forcing ourselves against the flow is an act of arrogance and futility and results in unending stress. Paying attention to the way people and situations want to sway and shift, and learning to allow them to move how they will, is a refined skill, and a creative exercise.
     Let's use this as a reminder to stop setting ourselves up in cross-friction to life. Let's watch instead, and learn to listen and feel for the flow.

I surrender to the rhythm of life.

LOVE LIST

"Wherever I have knocked, a door has opened. Wherever I have wandered, a path has appeared."

~Alice Walker ~

I love getting in bed at the end of a long day and I love waking up without an alarm clock. I love fluffy-looking needles on big old pine trees, and being a witness to courage and grace and authentic feelings. I love sunshine and late afternoon light. I love the subtlety of early-changing-leaves and bright orange pumpkins growing on vines.
     I love to eat when I'm hungry and to stop eating when I'm full. I love good music and a toe-tapping beat. I love to dance! I love cool nights and bright stars and fresh mornings and hope. I love the way that life changes, and situations evolve, and that things we never see coming come anyway.

I notice and appreciate all of the things in life that I love.

THE WAY LIFE IS

"It's all part of the plan."

~The Dark Knight ~

 

I think we wait for life to be calm, and for all strain to leave us, and to leave for good. But truthfully, life without strain is not life. Our difficulties keep us from complacency, and give us the exact lessons that we need to evolve.

I accept that my life is not supposed to be easy. It is, in fact, the challenge of it that makes me grow.

FORWARD MOTION

"Time heals all wounds."

~Proverb~

In the olden days, when someone died, they used to stop the clocks in the house of the deceased, and I get that. Whenever extreme challenge or loss or upset occur, it always feels as if time should hold still for a bit until we can gather ourselves and establish our bearings.
     And yet, it is because life goes on, and because days cycle into nights and nights into new days again and again that we are able to carry on. It is, in fact, the very wheel of life moving that sustains us, and the momentum that keeps us going in spite of our grief.

Things always get better with time.

THE STRENGTH WE SEEK

"Faith is the bird that sings to the dawn while it is still dark."

~Rabindranath Tagore~

 

Faith is the only antidote to living in fear and uncertainty. We have to find a way to trust what we believe in and surrender to all the things in life that we cannot control or understand. We will know what we need to know when we need to know it, and understand things in the same way. Hindsight is 20/20, and so often, things work out better than planned.

I trust what I believe in. 

THE HARD WORK OF FEELINGS

"Without a single thought, two hands collide and the world finally makes sense again."

~Kayla Dawn~

The emotional stuff of life is exhausting. High-intensity situations involving conflicting feelings and uncertainties are draining, and energy sapping, and leave us depleted and raw. Having to handle our own internal roller-coaster and be responsive and considerate and understanding of the ones we love at the same time is hard work.
     But life is a process and communication is a process. And we are headed somewhere worth going if we will only remain willing to be understanding, and to travel the journey of our feelings, and to keep on sharing what's going on inside of us, no matter how challenging and overwhelming it all may seem.

I am willing to communicate honestly and without hostility no matter how upsetting any given situation may be.

QUIET LOVE

"Only in quiet waters do things mirror themselves undisturbed."

~Hans Margolius~

 

When my children come to me for help, I figure that they want my words and my wisdom and all of my thoughtful suggestions. But maybe they just want me to be there without words. Maybe they just want my presence, and my quiet loving, and not my problem solving capabilities and big ideas.
    

I don't have to take control to be supportive and loving.

EGO ON FIRE

"It wasn't until late in life that I discovered how easy it is to say, 'I don't know.'"

~W. Somerset Maughm~

 

I have been doing a lot of thinking I know things lately- thinking that I have an inside line to the future, and a gut sense like a crystal ball. And it's stressful to be preparing for challenges "in advance" like this, and entirely un-necessary.

     It's so hard for me to simply state things in my mind as they are. I want to embellish them, to give them innuendo and intrigue and drama and pizazz. I am ego on fire and a three-alarm blaze. And if I don't check myself, I know that life will come along in its way and do the job for me. Life will raise its ladders and put me out.

I catch myself being overly-dramatic and stop. Things are no more and no less than exactly what they are.

PRESENCE

"Before enlightenment- chop wood, carry water. After enlightenment- chop wood, carry water."

~Zen Proverb~

Bringing our full attention to where we are and what we are doing in every given moment is the secret to enlightenment. If we are able to appreciate every nuance and sensation of even the most ordinary things, we will live in a world of blessing and pleasure. Instead of being lost in reckless thinking and figuring and worrying, we can become aware of the present moment. And if we can do that, then we will experience a sense of well-being and satisfaction beyond our wildest dreams.

If I can fully experience exactly what I'm experiencing, my life will be rich and delicious and ripe with sensual delight.

THE GRASS IS NOT ALWAYS GREENER...

"I had the blues because I had no shoes until upon the street, I met a man who had no feet."

~Denis Waitley~

No matter what we're going through, it could always be worse than it is. Without a tremendous amount of imagination, we can understand this point, and yet, often, we don't.
     But life has a way of putting people in front of us who are facing bigger challenges than we are; who are happy in spite of their handicap and cheerful in spite of their challenge. We are given a reality-check opportunity, and if we take it, we will feel better, and feel grateful, and realize that what we have and who we are is ever and always absolutely enough.

I am who I am and I have what I have and I am grateful for my life.

PERSONAL RESPONSIBILITY

"If getting out of bed in the morning is a chore and you're not smiling on a regular basis, try another choice."

~Steven D. Woodhull~

We may be victims of abuse, trauma, poor genes, accidents, and a whole host of other things. But we are not victims of the consequences of our choices. Those are the result of cause and effect. If we want better effects- better conditions and better outcomes- then we have to make better choices. That's really the bottom line in the end.

I stop claiming victim status and get up and claim my life.

LIFE IS TOUGH

"We are one."
~Ziggy Marley~

We may compare ourselves to others and feel better or worse by comparison, but the truth is that we all have our challenges, no matter who we are. We all have difficulties as well as delights, and disappointments as well as victories. And that is not necessarily a bad thing. If life were easy for any of us, it would be a lot less interesting.

 

I am grateful for my hardships. They add intrigue and intricacy to my life story.

LOWERING THE BOOM

"Judge not lest ye be judged."

~Matthew 7:1~

Sometimes when we sit in judgment of other people's behavior, it might be a worthwhile exercise to consider if we have ever behaved in a similar fashion at any point in our lives. Likely we have, and if that is, in fact, the case, then perhaps we can find it within ourselves to be a little more forgiving, and a little more compassionate, and a little less quick to lower the boom.

I have often done myself what I condemn in others, so I allow for being human, and give us both a break.

MORE THAN ONE WAY...

"Flowers often grow more beautifully on dung-hills than in gardens that are beautifully kept."

~Saint Francis de Sales~

I can be happy no matter what if I keep an open mind. If I allow for additional ways of looking at the situation instead of insisting exclusively upon my own, I can see the good in everything, even that which challenges me. Other perspectives and viewpoints enrich my life and make it bigger. They do not detract.

I expand my existence by opening my mind.

"YOU KNOW" AND "LIKE"

"The words you choose are just as important as the decision to speak."

~ Author Unknown~

Our speech can become polluted with un-necessary words. "You know" and "like" are fillers and buffers. They keep our sentences moving along, but detract from our message and clarity and the point we are trying to make.

     Let's bring awareness to the way we articulate sentences. Let's slow down a bit if we need to, and choose each word that we utter with care.

 

I communicate clearly and refrain from using an excess of filler words.

THE LIMITS OF DRAMA

"Look both ways before entering the insanity."

~Terri Guillemets~

I used to live with high drama. Everything was an emergency and a catastrophe. And being in a frantic emotional panic was it's own kind of rush. I felt alive and buzzing with so much going on.
     But now, living in a calmer internal airspace, I see the insanity of drama for what it is. And I am grateful for the understanding that as we make better choices in life, we experience more peace, no matter the external circumstances of our lives.
    

I needn't engage in high drama to feel fully alive. I take great joy in simple pleasures.

CALM, COOL, AND COLLECTED

"Do everything quietly and in a calm spirit. Do not lose your inner peace for anything."

~St Francis de Sales~

 

It's so easy to measure success by material achievement. But perhaps, success can also be measured by our ability to stay calm when material achievement eludes us. Perhaps, in fact, our ability to keep cool when everything that's happening around us would completely justify our becoming disturbed and distraught, is the greatest achievement of all.

I keep my wits about me no matter what, and carry on with great faith in spite of disappointment.

DEPTH

"We acquire the strength we have overcome."

~Ralph Waldo Emerson~

I don't regret any of the suffering I've endured because what I've been through has given me depth. Challenges, infringements, betrayals, heartaches- all of these have grown me, and continue to grow me.
     And I would rather come through hardship and be the wiser and the stronger for it than to live a bland and shallow kind of existence. I like my depth, and I like it in others as well. Our wounds have made us beautiful, and our wounds have raised us to a higher plane.

I am grateful for all of the difficulty I have been through in my life. It has grown me roots and branches.

THE FEAR OF PAIN

"He who fears to suffer, suffers from fear."

~French Proverb~

I think what I'm afraid of is the idea of painful emotional stuff. And if it's coming, I seem to want it to hurry up and come, so I can get through it and be done with it and move on. But if I'm honest, I know that life is full of never-ending emotional stuff, and some part of it is always painful. So wanting to get it over with is really like saying I want to get my life over with, which I don't, so maybe it's better to let time and life and pain and hardship play out in their own way, and for me to simply resolve to experience the experience, whatever it may be.

I show up for life with an open mind and a loving heart and let whatever is coming my way simply come.

TRENDS IN THE GARDEN

"Gardens are a form of autobiography."

~Sydney Eddison~

Last year, the garden was overflowing with perfect tomatoes; so much so that I was giving them away by the armful. And the pumpkins were well-proportioned and beautifully orange, and two years ago, the kale was just right.
     But this year, the kale didn't grow, the tomatoes are cracked and almost bitter, and the pumpkins are growing green and oblong. This year, it's all about the sweet potatoes: a beautiful and idyllic crop.
     Different things thrive under different conditions. And what is a no-brainer at one time can become an impossible task under a different weather pattern. So instead of expecting things to repeat their greatness, I have to open to new trends. That's the nature of the garden, and that's the nature of life.

I open my eyes and let nature teach me.

LABOR DAY

"Take rest; a field that has rested gives a bountiful crop."

~Ovid~

Another summer winds to a close and another school year dawns. Labor day, like all holidays, is bitter-sweet: one part ending, one part beginning, one part serious, and one part fun.

     Let's remember to carry the lightening bugs and beach trips with us as we welcome cooler weather and the luminescent color of changing leaves.

 

I am grateful for the fall no less than the summer, and grateful for the summer no less than the fall.