PLAY

"There's enough fun in the world for everybody to have some."

~ The Saturday Evening Post ~

Allowing ourselves to play is important medicine

For optimal well being.

And that means sober play- getting drunk comes with it's own kind of stress.

Play for play's sake- being silly,

Or creative- building something with no reason other than because we want to-

Laughing with people,

Dancing lightly or pounding our feet like Flamenco.

And not having time is a poor excuse.

Be playful for a minute or less here and there as you travel through life,

Or suffer the consequences

Of taking yourself too darn seriously.

I allow myself to be child like.

GOODBYES

"Every shut-eye ain't sleep and every good-bye ain't gone."

~ African American Proverb ~

Goodbyes come in varying degrees.

Some are sudden and unexpected.

Some are lingering and sad.

Some are sharp,

Some easy,

Some necessary,

And some absolute. 

But the one thing all goodbyes have in common is the gateway feature,

That opens to whatever comes next.

I understand that goodbye here is hello there and that all of life is a continuum.

A QUIET PRESENCE

"I exist as I AM."

~ Walt Whitman ~

Perhaps God is at much there when we are desperate

As when we are filled with joy:

A quiet presence,

Serenely present.

How though, in all people at every moment?

Perhaps, the secret is too simple to grasp.

Could it be that God is on the inside,

And not up there in the sky at all?

Understanding who I really am feels juicy, and delicious. 

NICE VS SMART

"Says the rude child: 'No, I won't do it.' Says the courteous grown-up: 'Yes, I won't do it.'"

~ Mignon McLaughlin ~

In an effort to be "nice"

We sometimes undermine our power

And compromise beyond what's necessary

Or smart.

It's intelligent and sound to set boundaries.

OUT OF NOWHERE

"Life eludes logic, and everything that logic alone constructs remains artificial and forced."

~ Andre Gide ~

Imaginative thinking can be playful, and fun,
As long as we don't let it hook us
By becoming too heavily invested in any specific idea
About the way we want things to turn out.
What makes life enjoyable is the way unexpected delights come
Out of nowhere,
And they can't come
If we are holding the reins on our thoughts and our energy
Too tight.

I stop wanting anything too specific, and open to surprises instead. 

BE SURE

 "If it 'aint broke, don't fix it."

~ American Saying ~

When companies make changes to their packaging,

I'm sure the idea behind the change seems like just the thing

In the corporate meeting room,

But at the receiving end, it can be jarring and disruptive.

More often than not, when a brand I like makes such a change,

I change too,

And pick a different brand. 

In the arena of change, casualties occur. 

PARADOXICAL LOOPS

"Only when we are sick of our sickness shall we cease to be sick."

~ Tao Te Ching ~

Are we grounded by the earth?

By water?

By eating a meal with complex carbohydrates?

By talking to a friend, getting a hug, or having a good cry?

By all of the above, or something other than the above?

In the same way that grounding is not one thing only,

Life is vast,

And even nothing is something. 

What makes the most sense often doesn't make any sense at all.