MAKING IT FUN

"The great man is he who does not lose his child's heart." 

~ Mencius ~

Bringing a sense of play to life is essential for a good time. Being easy in our skins, relaxed, and ready to face anything with a sense of humor, a bit of compassion for ourselves and others, and an ability to see with joy, assures us, and those around us, that life can be a pleasure instead of a burden, unequivocally, and no matter what.

I let life be what it is, and bring my own kind of delight to the game.

DOORS THAT WON'T OPEN

"Faith is raising the sail of our little boat until it is caught up in the soft winds above and picks up speed, not from anything within itself, but from the vast resources of the universe around us." 

~ W. Ralph Ward ~

Doors don't always open for us, even if we knock loudly, and even if there's someone home. There's something so much bigger than our little plans and deigns at work, and something beyond our understanding that allows passage one place, and not another.

     So maybe one of the most important skills we can bring to this game of life is the art of acceptance, and instead of doubting and second-guessing everything, maybe we can trust in the higher good, and walk away from the door grateful, and understanding that whatever was there wasn't meant for us.

I stop pushing what doesn't want to budge.

PREPARATION TO A POINT

"Be empty of worrying... move outside the tangle of fear thinking." 

~ Rumi ~

Being prepared is always a good thing, and yet, we can only prepare so far. Unseen factors have their role, and a certain amount of flexibility and spontaneity is required in every situation. So part of being prepared is getting our heads in a space to be willing to accept and adapt to whatever shows up, and to get clear on our ultimate purpose, and what we stand for, and how we want to be in the world.

In anticipation of what's to come, I ground myself in my personal, immutable truth.

STAKING CLAIM TO FREEDOM

"Let freedom ring." 

~ Samuel Francis Smith ~

Freedom isn't about recklessness, and it's not about not caring. It's not about not having consequences, or responsibility, or even a job to do. It's something we have to fight for at times, and something we earn by doing the next right thing. It's about options and the privilege of having a choice. It's something we have to assert, and claim, and step up to on a daily basis. It's something to be grateful for, and something to be aware of. It's something we own.

I am the possibility of freedom.

WHAT GOOD IS BEING MISERABLE?

"We can destroy ourselves by cynicism and disillusion, just as effectively as by bombs." 

~ Kenneth Clark ~

What do we benefit by being bitter and critical? What good comes of it? None, that I can see. It makes us miserable, and spreads misery in the world.
     Surely, we can do better than that.

I think kindly of others, and spread joy! 

LOVING PEOPLE :)

"If there is a day to act on the Love in your soul it is today, it is this moment." 

~ Mike Dolan ~

I love people of all shapes and sizes, all backgrounds, cultures, religions, and inner longings. I love to watch them and interact with them and imagine what it's like to be them. And perhaps, most importantly, I love knowing that despite external appearances, deep down, we are all one and the same.

I recognize and celebrate my connectedness with people of all kinds.

THANKSGIVING AGAIN

"On Thanksgiving day, we acknowledge our dependence." 

~ William Jennings Bryan ~

I am grateful for courage, willingness, discipline, support, and ongoing learning.

I am grateful to get up everyday and have a fresh start, and be able to leave the past in the past.

I am grateful for family and friends and all the people I have yet to meet and connect with.

I am grateful for sunshine and wind and changing seasons.

I am grateful for good food and plenty to eat.

I am grateful for generosity and kindness

I am grateful for possibility and hope. 

I am grateful for love.

I am grateful.

I am.

😊

I enthusiastically express my gratitude for life!

SURPRISING KINDNESS

"Kindness is just love with its work boots on." 

~ Karen McCullah ~

When others are surprisingly kind and considerate, and generously seem to care about us, it softens the hard edges of life, tenderizes our experience, and opens our heart.
     Let's take it a step further and be the one who creates this good feeling in others- regularly, and with purpose, simply because we can.

I am thoughtful and considerate, and show others through my actions that I genuinely care.

NOTHING TO PROVE

"I will not ask that you nor you approve. The wild thyme is itself nor asks consent of rose nor reed." 

~ Muriel Strode ~

Why do we care so much about looking good and avoiding looking bad? And what do we really have to prove? My guess is, less than we think.
     It seems to me that our primary generosity to the world is in simply being who we are- not in posturing, or pretense, or appearing either more or less knowledgeable or sophisticated or put together than we are.
     Authenticity is inspiring and refreshing, and allows for so much more than maintaining ourselves safely behind walls of our own creation.

I show up authentically in the world.

RECONSTRUCTION

"If you can find a path with no obstacles, it probably doesn't lead anywhere." 

~ Frank A. Clark ~

Having to re-do things we have already done because of computer errors and other glitches is initially rather impossible to face. When we first realize the situation, we think, "No! It can't be!" and we check and re-check , and then re-check again. And sometimes, we actually recover our lost work, and other times we do not, and it's excruciating, but what can we do?
     It's as if a flood or a fire has wiped us out, and there's nothing for it but to build anew- to start over, and trust, that in re-building, something fresh will be born- something evolved in a new way, and even better than what was done before.

I patiently rebuild what collapses in my life.

FREEDOM!

"Freedom is the oxygen of the soul." 

~ Moshe Dayan ~

Resistance blocks us to possibility, to action, to transformation, and to love. Stubbornly insisting on our position, immovable, affects the flow of energy all around us.
     Let's be open-minded instead, and willing to explore all kinds of ideas and options. Let's be unrestricted, unresisted, and free!

I accept the possibility of possibility. 

LIFE AT WORK

"Why aren't you dancing with joy at this very moment is the only relevant spiritual question." 

~ Vilayat Khan ~

The desperation we feel having to keep jobs that deplete us is unhealthy. The power we hold over them is the power to either change our approach, or do something else. To stay and be miserable and complain away our days dishonoring our spirit, our purpose, and the very real contribution we are here to make is its own kind of insanity, and life is simply too short to play at that game.

I adjust my actions and attitude to enjoy my situation.

BEING SUCCESSFUL

"To freely bloom-"  

~ Gerry Spence ~

There's so much distinction in the world regarding what success looks like- a certain amount of money and status, or how respected we are in the community, or how our children have turned out, or maybe what our houses look like, or our clothes, or our car.
     It's endless, and all means less than we think it does, because what's success here is not success there, so ultimately, it's relative. Ultimately, in fact, our personal definition of success is entirely up to us. So let's take the lead and assert our personal power to define it.

I build a life of success based on my own definition of what that means.  

FALL IN SANTA FE

"A beauty lights the fading year." 

~ Phebe A. Holder ~

Fall in New Mexico is different from fall on the East Coast, and presumably different from falls all around the world. It's spots of luminescent Cottonwood yellow and tiny bright grasses on a drab background of tan and green scrub.
     And where humans have planted trees around their houses, occasional reds pop up beside adobe walls. It's not the whole world overhaul I am used to. It's random, and surprising- dashes of brightness here and there amid the earth tones of the Southwest.

I appreciate the unique landscape around me. 

SELF-OWNERSHIP

"Best be yourself, imperial, plain and true!" 

~ Robert Browning ~

It's odd that it requires such courage for us to be authentically ourselves, and yet, it does. We are so accustomed to living by standards and ideals that are not our own- that are cultural, or parental, or otherwise dictated by our experience in the world.
     To take ourselves back, to claim ourselves, is liberating and exhilarating, and yet, to stay there, in that place of self-ownership, requires everything we've got, and then some.

I have the courage to be who I am. 

LEAVING OUR BAGGAGE

"Try another way of looking." 

~ Rumi ~

I have spent too much of my life afraid, and I am tired of it.

I renounce my fear.

I give it to the winds and the leave it by the creek-side.

I walk away and am free. 

The path ahead is beautiful and clear. 

POSTPONEMENT

"Without the feeling of imminent it's easy to hide." 

~ Seth Godin ~

We resist and delay. We put off what we don't want to face or do. We are master excuse-makers and justify anything and everything. We convince ourselves and others of our rightness with our reasons.

     And all the time, the work is not honored, and the trail is not blazed, and we suffer for the lack of results.

     But all is takes is action- one small step forward and another out into the world with our seedling idea. We are afraid of people, and yet, they are the ones who will champion our cause. Alone in our heads is just that. Nothing happens there but monsters under the bed. 

I am willing to take a risk for the outcome I seek. 

THE POWER OF CONNECTION

"You are a fountain of the sun's light. I am a willow shadow on the ground. You make my raggedness silky." 

~ Rumi ~

It looks like two people laughing together.

It looks like a hug.

It looks like an audience clapping.

It looks like heartfelt communication.

It looks like a community project.

It looks like a dog and cat curled up together sleeping in the sunshine.

It looks like holding a door open for someone coming behind.

It looks like people smiling watching little children play.

It looks like people crying at the beauty of a bride walking down the aisle, or the procession of a casket with ushers bearing the weight on their shoulders.

It looks like wind blowing wisps of hair around a face.

It looks like beautiful humans from around the world.

It looks like sunshine feels on a cold winter day coming through the window.

It looks like an old couple walking down the street together holding hands.

I see and experience the joy of being human. 

THE RELIEF OF IMPERMANENCE

"Do not practice certainty. Practice faith." 

~ Robert Brault ~

I have been trapped recently in wanting to make the right decision. Truth be told, it's rather paralyzed me, and locked me in fear.
     And then, I realized that nothing is absolute, and that a decision is just a decision, and can, and likely will, be a new decision next week, next month, and next year. So there's no pressure- only choice given the information I have today, and the freedom that comes from releasing the straight-jacket of insistence and demand.

I accept that life is a flexible affair.

THE STORY WE TELL OURSELVES

"People don't like the true and simple; they like fairy tales and humbug." 

~ Edmond de Goncour ~

We tell ourselves a story that we're different from others, and that we already know everything about them on sight. The impact of this story is a sense of darkness and mistrust, isolated restlessness, and resignation about the way things are.
     The possibility is that we're not actually different after all, and that our intrinsic connection can launch us into the gracious effect of shared experience, and the joy of being alive.

I celebrate my connection with others.

PEOPLE PLEASING

"Give thanks for what you are now, and keep fighting for what you want to be tomorrow."

~ Fernanda Miramontes-Landeros ~

Foolproof is an impossibility because everything is relative and nothing is for everybody. All we can do is our best work, give our most authentic effort, and express the ideas that resonate deeply within; and trust that they will find a landing place in some or another sympathetic soul.
     I have struck out in the past to please everybody, with little success, because pleasing everybody is a losing proposition, and a dead end.

I live simply, speak my truth, and do the work I am called to do. Everything else, I leave up to the grace of God. 

BEING TOO CLOSE TO SEE

"A penny will hide the biggest star in the Universe if you hold it close enough to your eye.'"

~ Samuel Grafton ~

Learning to step back is, in some ways, as important as learning to step forward, so that we can re-evaluate, re-group, rest, and broaden or deepen our perspective. The wide view, the distant view, the view from above- these all give us insight, and clarify our purpose, and align us with our aim.

I stand back every so often to gain fresh perspective.