OPTIMISTIC VOICES
You're out of the woods, you're out of the dark, you're out of the night. Step into the sun, step into the light. Keep straight ahead for the most glorious place on the face of the earth or the sky. Hold onto your breath, hold onto your heart, hold onto your hope. March up to the gate and bid it open...
I seem to have gone MIA for the last 11 days. Everything's fine (better than fine, actually); no mullygrubs here. I just lost my concentration! Recap, then moving forward... 😍
I placed a Publix Liquors Instacart order last week, mainly for a bottle of Kahlua that my husband splashes into his coffee every morning. Hey, he's retired. Anyway, the minimum for free shipping is $35.00 and I needed another $10.00 to qualify. Looked around on the website and ended up choosing a bottle of Long Island Iced Tea, which was so random until I remembered that my mother's birthday was September 9 (a few days away) and that was the drink of tradition whenever she and her Besties went out to dinner. I told Sarah about it, and she and I will get together soon, whereupon we will toast Connie/Mom/Mimi. Hard to believe that this past July 19, it will be 11 years since her passing, and this would have been her 90th birthday.
Watched The Dedicated Concert, a livestreaming Dar Williams event last Thursday. It was so beautiful, with all the sweet dedications from her fans to friends, partners, etc., some delivered live, some via Dar, and others written in the comments and/or scrolled across the bottom of the screen. Lovely!
Finished cleaning out Reba's apartment, and showed up Friday (with my coffee, peanut butter and banana sandwich, and phone) to wait for the donations pick-up, with a 9:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. window of opportunity. Fortunately they showed up at 11:00 a.m., so now everything is out of there, the cleaning lady can come, and R can then turn it back over to the leasing office.
This past Saturday was my last visit to the chiropractor, the end of my one-month/12-week/three-times-a-week treatment plan. My sciatica, as well as my neck, has improved substantially since I first started going mid-August (according to x-rays and thermal scans at the beginning and again at the end), and the doctor recommended I continue, and they offered me a follow-up once-a-week, three-month plan, but it's hard to justify the money. I brought them a basket of wonderful vegan goodies with an effusive thank you card (under different circumstances, there would have been hugs)... and from here on out, I have committed to keep up with everything on my own: stretches, massage, cervical fulcrum, cordless massager (no, not a Rabbit... ;-), walking, Arnica/CBD cream or salve, better posture, hold phone up at eye level rather than looking down, etc. I can do this!
Lots of rain this past weekend (a precursor to what is now Hurricane Sally), and met up with Sarah and Colin at TreeTops Park for a puddle-jumping adventure (all of us wearing our galoshes), and Colin took it to mean total immersion. He was so waterlogged that Sarah had to strip him down completely to put him in the carseat... :-)
Tonight at 6:00 p.m. I am virtually attending a Grassroots Fundraiser with Kamala Harris, Hillary Clinton, Amy Poehler and Maya Rudolph. Go here for more info; registration is required.
SONG: Red Dress by Susan Werner BOOK: Danger in a Red Dress by Christina Dodd POEM: The Cure by Ginger Andrews Lying around all day with some strange new deep blue weekend funk, I'm not really asleep when my sister calls to say she's just hung up from talking with Aunt Bertha who is 89 and ill but managing to take care of Uncle Frank who is completely bed ridden. Aunt Bert says it's snowing there in Arkansas, on Catfish Lane, and she hasn't been able to walk out to their mailbox. She's been suffering from a bad case of the mulleygrubs. The cure for the mulleygrubs, she tells my sister, is to get up and bake a cake. If that doesn't do it, put on a red dress. QUOTE: "Gossip is just news running ahead of itself in a red satin dress." ~ Liz Smith
I am a long-time UU (Unitarian Universalist). Giving up the 14-year Labyrinth Cafe concert series allowed me new spiritual freedom, and I recently left the congregation I joined in March 2003 to begin attending one a little bit closer, not just for the proximity, but mainly because I've known the minister there for 20 years (even before she was a minister!). These new members are a bit of a younger demographic, lots of kids in their RE (Religious Education) program, and everyone so very vibrant and engaged! Obviously, with this pandemic, people are not gathering in person anymore, and this morning was our first online worship. It was already scheduled to be the Annual Poetry Service and, given that poems have the power to soothe and heal, they kept it on the agenda with, appropriately enough, the theme of Abundance.
I went up to the church this past Monday to record my selection (don't worry, the half-dozen of us practiced social distancing!), and prefaced my reading with this introduction:
"I have been a follower of Joy Harjo's poetry for decades. She was named U.S. Poet Laureate in June 2019, and it was a joy and an honor to see and hear her at the Miami Book Fair this past November. Little did I know, way back on February 1 when I submitted this poem for inclusion in the River of Grass Poetry Service, how relevant it would be."
I logged on through the Zoom platform, which I have never used before, about 30 minutes early, to make sure I figured out how (I did!), and at 10:30, the service began. It flowed so smoothly (kudos to Zena for coordinating, and Rebecca for her tech work), from one pre-recorded segment to another: piano pieces, the lighting of the chalice, our covenant reading, Rev. Amy's heartfelt transition prayers, and then readers of the poems. Amy ended with the Lynn Ungar (another UU minister) poem and, after the chalice extinguishing, the group was unmuted, and we were able to say hello to each other, wave, and speak. Also, there was a live chatbox throughout, where we could type our thoughts (Joys and Concerns, etc.). I cried through just about the whole thing. I do feel proud to have conquered my technoweenie self to participate, and I look forward to future Sundays, until the day we are able to gather... Together... again.
P.S. Also, this by author John Green. Wow! SONG:Together by Susan Werner BOOK:A Handbook for Badass Spiritual Warriors: Eleven Powerful Practices To Ignite your Spiritual Connection by Corinne Lebrun M.S. POEM(s): Perhaps the World Ends Here by Joy Harjo The world begins at a kitchen table. No matter what, we must eat to live. The gifts of earth are brought and prepared, set on the table. So it has been since creation, and it will go on. We chase chickens or dogs away from it. Babies teethe at the corners. They scrape their knees under it. It is here that children are given instructions on what it means to be human. We make men at it, we make women. At this table we gossip, recall enemies and the ghosts of lovers. Our dreams drink coffee with us as they put their arms around our children. They laugh with us at our poor falling-down selves and as we put ourselves back together once again at the table. This table has been a house in the rain, an umbrella in the sun. Wars have begun and ended at this table. It is a place to hide in the shadow of terror. A place to celebrate the terrible victory. We have given birth on this table, and have prepared our parents for burial here. At this table we sing with joy, with sorrow. We pray of suffering and remorse. We give thanks. Perhaps the world will end at the kitchen table, while we are laughing and crying, eating of the last sweet bite.
Pandemic by Lynn Ungar What if you thought of it as the Jews consider the Sabbath— the most sacred of times? Cease from travel. Cease from buying and selling. Give up, just for now, on trying to make the world different than it is. Sing. Pray. Touch only those to whom you commit your life. Center down. And when your body has become still, reach out with your heart. Know that we are connected in ways that are terrifying and beautiful. (You could hardly deny it now.) Know that our lives are in one another’s hands. (Surely, that has come clear.) Do not reach out your hands. Reach out your heart. Reach out your words. Reach out all the tendrils of compassion that move, invisibly, where we cannot touch. Promise this world your love– for better or for worse, in sickness and in health, so long as we all shall live. QUOTE: "Anybody can observe the Sabbath, but making it holy surely takes the rest of the week." ~ Alice Walker
[Tuesday] night Senator Obama locked up the nomination.
Amazing.
After years of DC insiders running the show, a progressive candidate who started in politics through community organizing, who unequivocally opposed the war in Iraq, who isn't afraid to stand up to the politics of fear, an African-American, became the Democratic nominee for president.
Are you paying any sort of attention to this moment in time? Are you reading bits and hints about the transformation, the shift, the unusual and slightly surreal energy coursing through the nation? Are you tattooing this seminal period on the sacrum of your sociopolitical consciousness? Are you under 50? Then there's been nothing else like this in your lifetime. And there probably never will be again.
You gotta take it all in, you know? Because it was no time at all ago, less than a year, and Hillary Clinton's presidential nomination was pretty much a given, and even I was relatively thrilled and gung-ho for her candidacy, especially given how she was so ahead in the polls and so ahead in fund raising and so ahead in public opinion her imminent nomination felt much like a slam dunk, a forgone conclusion, a sure thing.
And therefore it was all something rather otherworldly for progressives, a bit unprecedented, a Democratic race to watch only for the sheer historic value and for the surprising quality of the other candidates involved, and not because there was any doubt as to the eventual outcome.
Just a bit beyond incredible, then, what has happened since, in such a short time, in this, one of the more fascinating turning points in American history.
It almost cannot be understated: Barack Obama's steady, astounding, almost inexplicable rise to the top to not only become the presumptive Democratic nominee but also to overtake one of the strongest, smartest, most well-funded, tenacious rival candidates in American history — and also to out-poll his deeply connected Republican opponent — is both remarkable and historic on a number of fronts.
But the thing is, no matter how you crunch the data and try to logically analyze all the components that made Obamapalooza happen, there appears to be something just beyond the logic, just outside the normal machinery, that makes you shake your head in amazement, and perhaps remember this forever.
On one level, I suppose it's not all that unusual. There have been plenty of scrappy, outta-nowhere, come-from-behind victories in political races before. There are plenty of tales of one candidate holding an overwhelming lead early on, only to have his lunch eaten by some brilliant, whippersnapper upstart. JFK charmed the hell out of the planet and revealed the deep sourness of once-omnipotent Richard Nixon. Bill Clinton, the handsome, populist Arkansas governor with minimal big-stage experience but loads of effortless charisma, came from seemingly nowhere to build a phenomenal following and stomp all over the doddering, baffled, how-much-is-a-gallon-of-milk Bush 41.
But with Obama, as with just about everything about his campaign, something feels different, more historic, deeper and more profound and even a bit more, how do you say, intimate. It is not politics as usual. It is not just another smart, deeply intelligent upstart senator making a surprising play for The Show.
You have to take note. Because Obama has accomplished his astonishing rise without the normal weaponry of American politics. As of yet, there have been almost no dirty tricks. He has not really attacked Hillary, has not "gone negative" or run a nasty smear campaign or swiftboated her; he has not employed, in short, any of the disgusting tactics Karl Rove's Republican party notoriously used against Al Gore and John Kerry so as to lie themselves into a brutal and failed chokehold of power.
Verily, plethoric are the pundits who've been trying to parse just why, exactly, Obama has been so much more effective, so much more far-reaching and cross-cultural than the once-unstoppable Clinton, not to mention McCain or anyone else. What is it about him, exactly? What is it that draws such a broad circle of endorsements, from Ted Kennedy to Andrew Sullivan, John Edwards to former Labor Secretary Robert Reich?
It's the networking, they say. Obama is the first "Facebook candidate." He's the first to successfully leverage all the modern tech, the viral marketing, YouTube, Web 2.0, lovely videos by celebrity rappers who are nearly moved to tears by the man's speeches. Yes, that must be it.
Or maybe it's his remarkable, idealistic team of aides, his hotshot fresh-faced speechwriters, his wondrous oratory skill. Is it the cool campaign posters? Is it the game-altering speeches on race in America? Or is it what the terrified right-wing hatemongers are calling "liberal guilt," the feeling that we on the whiny tree-hugging ultra-PC left feel so gosh-darn guilty about how blacks, Hawaiians and Harvard-trained lawyers have been treated, lo, these many millennia — even more so than the oppressive treatment of women — that Obama gets our vote out of sheer nervous remorse?
Problem is, those explanations feel insufficient and inadequate and, in the case of that last one, exceedingly stupid. Is there not something else going on? Is there more to it than just a battle between old school/new school styles of campaigning?
Maybe the answer lies elsewhere. Maybe you need to look to the dark side for a hint, for a bit of proof that there's more to this moment in history than mere shifting times. It comes in the form of that very ugly and violent rumor that gets whispered among skeptics and conspiracy theorists and joked about by cretins on Fox News, and even sighed by many otherwise happy, progressive idealists, those who've had their dreams shattered and hopes pummeled enough times that a form of sinister cynicism creeps in.
It is this: Some feel Obama will not survive. There are those who think something violent and lethal is bound to happen to him and not merely because he's black, but because he's too revolutionary, too much a force for harmony and peace, and the forces of darkness and oppression in America, be they troglodytic Southern racists or anarchist radicals or insular BushCo die-hards, simply cannot have that.
There is no need to invite that repulsive idea in for long. It is too dark, disquieting, pointless, not to mention how it feels like it could create some sort of self-fulfilling prophecy by mentioning it too damn much in the media. But it is worth noting for one curious aspect: It is a fear borne of a truly rare historic circumstance, the amazing idea that someone like Obama is, to put it bluntly, too good for this particular role, a bit too conscious and enlightened for what is a brutal and soul-numbing and potentially deadly political machine.
Then again, maybe, in a morose way, this is how we know transformative change is arriving, perhaps quicker than expected, but arriving nonetheless. We're already deeply scared of losing it. Really, how long's it been since we've felt anything like that?
QUOTE: "If we are willing to work for it, and fight for it, and believe in it, then I am absolutely certain that generations from now, we will be able to look back and tell our children that this was the moment when we began to provide care for the sick and good jobs to the jobless; this was the moment when the rise of the oceans began to slow and our planet began to heal; this was the moment when we ended a war and secured our nation and restored our image as the last, best hope on Earth." ~ Senator Barack Obama
I love, love, love the new Susan Werner CD... having bought four copies so far because I keep giving them away - she's coming to South Florida in March... and I'm going to try to persuade her to do the music for the next day's Sunday service, drawing from these wonderful tunes (right up our UU alley... :-)
Susan Werner's "The Gospel Truth" is a socially conscious, contemporary gospel album that balances the faithful and the agnostic. The infectious joy of gospel music, with lyrics anybody - or, almost anybody - can agree with - and sing along to....
In the summer of 2006, as if the muse was tugging on her heartstrings, singer-songwriter Susan Werner attended the Chicago Gospel Music Festival in her adopted hometown for the first time. The overwhelming, ecstatic energy of the event prompted her friend Kenni to remark, "Wow, is there a way you can get all this joy, but without the Jesus?" This honest question sparked a remarkable creative odyssey that led Werner to pews in over 20 churches across the United States in search of The Gospel Truth, a groundbreaking independent collection that may just be the world's first agnostic gospel recording.
Tapping fearlessly into the zeitgeist of contemporary American religious culture, the eleven songs on The Gospel Truth are both heartfelt and incisive, biting yet optimistic, drawing from Werner's own personal spiritual questions to engage the Christian community at large. Addressing those tough universal doubts that fundamentalists surely have but wish to God they could verbalize; Werner seeks common ground with her traditional religious counterparts in finding solutions to the issues that divide America.
Fresh off the success of I Can't Be New, her critically acclaimed 2004 collection of all-original compositions done in the Great American Songbook style, Werner's road to truth is paved by both witty observations of Christian culture and, musically, an ongoing love for classic gospel, country and bluegrass traditions. Just as she immersed herself in the songs of Gershwin, Cole Porter, et al and the classic interpretations by Julie London as part of her creative process on I Can't Be New, Werner this time was tireless in mining inspiration from legendary and contemporary country, gospel and bluegrass artists, from familiar names like The Carter Family and The Stanley Brothers, to the lesser known Claire Lynch and Fern Jones (the co-called Patsy Cline of gospel).
"Someone suggested I do a blues album for my next project, and while toying with the idea, I came across the music of Blind Willie Johnson, a bluesman from the 1920's whose music went beyond 'my baby done left me' and into what you might call gospel blues. I liked his sense of transcendence, the spirit of conveying something beyond his own heartbreak. Then I attended the Chicago gospel festival and the energy of the music, the choirs was unlike anything I'd ever experienced."
A farm girl, raised in a large Catholic family in rural Iowa, Werner spent years caught in the spiritual middle between a healthy religious skepticism and a true appreciation for all that Christianity means to millions of people in the United States. "For me, The Gospel Truth is the most American of Americana projects," she says. "My personal doubts aside, religion gives us much of our energy as a nation, and is a source, I think, of the beautiful naiveté we have about truly being a force of good in the world. It's part of the American personality. And I don't necessarily feel I have to get right with God, but I figure we have to somehow get all right with God because God's not leaving American life anytime soon.
"People all over the world want to give meaning to their life's journey and engage in a larger sense of purpose," Werner adds. "Here, in the United States, it seems that churches are the default setting—the first place you look for that sense of purpose. Overall, these songs convey my belief that doubt and faith can reside side by side in a good person. And, I guess I'd reached a time in life where I wanted to have this conversation with myself; to keep what my church going parents got right while moving into what was true and right for me. And, while I'm not absolutely sure we encounter God through church music, I do know that church music is very revealing of us as human beings. And that's what The Gospel Truth is really all about."
Werner's first step in getting at that truth is "(Why Is Your) Heaven So Small," a pointed barb at the hypocrisy of narrow-minded "one way to heaven" religiosity. Producer Glenn Barratt sets Werner's Appalachian gospel melody amidst groove driven drums and sitars, which takes the song, as the singer sees it, "from Kentucky to Katmandu." Werner mines the Bible's important passages on social justice in the sing-along hand clapping rouser "Help Somebody," while on the soul searching, choir-backed ballad "Forgiveness," she questions loving one's enemies when they so cruelly use religion as justification for discrimination and oppression. And Werner's neo-traditional bluegrass composition "Did Trouble Me" affirms the importance of conscience in a well-lived life.
The introspective ballad "Sunday Mornings" takes Werner (and no doubt, thousands of listeners) back to their childhood memories of attending church with their families, and to a time, not necessarily a better time, when strict, church approved gender roles ruled the day. "Our Father, The New Revised Edition" offers comic relief in the form of a direct prayer to God to deliver us from self-righteous people who think they speak for Him. Werner then dishes up a New Orleans styled shuffle for "Lost My Religion," a kind of backslider's lament. Yet despite her doubts, Werner gives herself over to the evocative ballad "Don't Explain It Away" (a nod to the possibilities of mystical transcendence) and to the sing-along "I Will Have My Portion," a song that perfectly captures Werner's desire to have all the joy without the Jesus. The Gospel Truth closes with the truly "agnostic gospel" of the frank and humorous "Probably Not" and the hopeful "Together," which imagines the kind of peaceful world God would want (if there is a God – a question Werner leaves unanswered).
QUOTE: "There is no religion without love, and people may talk as much as they like about their religion, but if it does not teach them to be good and kind to man and beast, it is all a sham." ~ Anna Sewell
Today I found out a woman from church died during an operation - J's passing is still very much on my mind. I read this poem and thought of my friend T, who lost *two* sons to bizarre accidents, one a car crash and the other a lightning strike - we worked together and every time we heard an ambulance siren, she would begin to tremble. I can't even imagine - our children are supposed to bury us, and not the other way around. It's easy to get lost in the abyss... which is why we should embrace Gandhi's philosophy - otherwise, it would be too painful to put one foot in front of the other each day. As Todd Snider sings, "I've learned nothing but that there is another sunrise coming all but one of the times it sets" - words to live by (pun semi-intended... <3 )
[ I was working on this blog post last night when a horrendous lightning/thunder/rain storm came through, knocking out my DSL/router - I've called my computer consultant but, since it's a holiday, told him tomorrow was fine to fix it. In the meantime, I'm up at Kinko's publishing this and the next entry - I'm going to cheat a bit and postdate this one for yesterday, since I hate to ruin my consecutive streak! ]
Given the upcoming Fourth of July holiday (and I promise to write about the "pretty" side of it tomorrow), I had a discussion the other day with some friends - the question at hand was... can change occur without a revolution? I tend to think not - I was raised to believe "if you don't fight for what you want, you deserve what you get". Civil rights and women's rights and human rights have never been handed over on a silver platter - they (continue to) take time to unfold... with reminders and demonstrations and legislation. The only people happy with the status quo are the status privileged - since the personal is the political, it's our duty to speak up and act out because, until all of us are free/equal, none of us are...
Yesterday a little girl got slapped to death by her daddy, out of work, alcoholic, and estranged two towns down river. America, it's hard to get your attention politely. America, the beautiful night is about to blow up
and the cop who brought the man down with a shot to the chops is shaking hands, dribbling chaw across his sweaty shirt, and pointing cars across the courthouse grass to park. It's the Big One one more time, July the 4th,
our country's perfect holiday, so direct a metaphor for war, we shoot off bombs, launch rockets from Drano cans, spray the streets and neighbors' yards with the machine-gun crack of fireworks, with rebel yells and beer. In short, we celebrate.
It's hard to believe. But so help the soul of Thomas Paine, the entire county must be here--the acned faces of neglect, the halter-tops and ties, the bellies, badges, beehives, jacked-up cowboy boots, yes, the back-up singers of democracy
all gathered to brighten in unambiguous delight when we attack the calm and pointless sky. With terrifying vigor the whistle-stop across the river will lob its smaller arsenal halfway back again. Some may be moved to tears.
We'll clean up fast, drive home slow, and tomorrow get back to work, those of us with jobs, convicting the others in the back rooms of our courts and malls--yet what will be left of that one poor child, veteran of no war
but her family's own? The comfort of a welfare plot, a stalk of wilting prayers? Our fathers' dreams come true as nightmare. So the first bomb blasts and echoes through the streets and shrubs: red, white, and blue sparks shower down, a plague
of patriotic bugs. Our thousand eyeballs burn aglow like punks. America, I'd swear I don't believe in you, but here I am, and here you are, and here we stand again, agape.
QUOTE: "So keep fightin' for freedom and justice, beloveds, but don't you forget to have fun doin' it. Lord, let your laughter ring forth. Be outrageous, ridicule the fraidy-cats, rejoice in all the oddities that freedom can produce. And when you get through kickin' ass and celebratin' the sheer joy of a good fight, be sure to tell those who come after how much fun it was." ~ Molly Ivins
This afternoon I realized it's been a full month since I began blogging... and I've actually managed to post something every day - I don't always achieve my goals, deadlines and wishlists but it's comforting to know that when I set my mind to something, I have a greater chance of achieving. Hmmmm - no rocket science message there... :-)
What started out as a song/book/poem/quote cut-and-dried exercise has become fuller over time - I decided to add pictures to accompany each post and am quite pleased with the results. I'm "talking" more, injecting a bit of myself into the day's contributions - it feels comfortable, as I'm overcoming my technoweenie self to learn and grow in a cyber-environment.
Basically, though, I still consider it a journal - at this point, I've only shared the site with three people in my life... and others seem to have stumbled across it. Maybe I'll tell a few more - maybe not. I'm not actively searching for validation or applause or feedback (of course, it's always nice when they happen organically) - this ritual has become my mind/body/spirit meditation... and it feels good to slow down enough to do something daily with forethought, creativity and intention.
P.S. The picture will make sense when you read the song lyrics!
SONG: Movie of My Life by Susan Werner BOOK: Encyclopedia of an Ordinary Life by Amy Krouse Rosenthal POEM: What's in My Journal by William Stafford Odd things, like a button drawer. Mean Things, fishhooks, barbs in your hand. But marbles too. A genius for being agreeable. Junkyard crucifixes, voluptuous discards. Space for knickknacks, and for Alaska. Evidence to hang me, or to beatify. Clues that lead nowhere, that never connected anyway. Deliberate obfuscation, the kind that takes genius. Chasms in character. Loud omissions. Mornings that yawn above a new grave. Pages you know exist but you can't find them. Someone's terribly inevitable life story, maybe mine. QUOTE: "When we think of beauty, we often think of those things we cannot hold... the moments when we are loved, the distant rainbow, the sweet ordinariness of times when nothing exceptional happens, but we are aware of doors to other worlds and the shaft of light drenches the now with unspeakable joy." ~ Rita Gormley
"One ought, every day at least, to hear a little song, read a good poem, see a fine picture and, if it were possible, to speak a few reasonable words." ~ Goethe
"I arise in the morning torn between a desire to improve the world and a desire to enjoy the world. This makes it hard to plan the day." ~
E. B. White
"Every day I walk out into the world to be dazzled, then to be reflective." ~ Mary Oliver
"I still find each day too short for all the thoughts I want to think, all the walks I want to take, all the books I want to read, and all the friends I want to see." ~ John Burroughs
"So much working, reading, thinking, living to do! A lifetime is not long enough." ~ Sylvia Plath
“Every day I discover more and more beautiful things. It’s enough to drive one mad. I have such a desire to do everything, my head is bursting with it.” ~ Claude Monet>
"A woman whose mood improves with a book, a poem, a song or a cup of coffee is not defeated by anyone; even life loses with her." ~ Kahlil Gibran
Wife/mom/Lala, vegan, fanatical reader, music lover. I'm a committed-to-aging-well, unable-to-do-anything-in-25 words-or-less, ruby-slipper-wearing eternal optimist, attempting to figure out the circuitous journey I call my life: where I've been, where I am, where I'm going and who will be my traveling companions, continued or new.
In my 6+ decades on this planet, I've realized that change is not necessarily worse, just different; I've learned that saying "I don't know" has become incredibly liberating; I've intuited there is no such thing as perfection (whether it's a seashell or another person); I have become less demanding and more forgiving/flexible by the relaxation of my guidelines; and I've figured out that, even though I'll always be an Instant Gratification Leo, sometimes delaying the reward can heighten the pleasure, too.
I am more discerning to minimize the negative influences in my daily dealings (while still understanding the importance of moral obligations), and attempt to surround myself with people, activities and things that bring me joy. I want to make every glorious moment count, and I'm committed to making this world a better place, One Day At a Time... :-)
Beginnings (best first song lines ever - a work in progress... :-)
"I'm waitin' at the station, I can choose my destination, I'm a free soul, I got no chains, but it's a long time between trains" ~ Susan Werner, Time Between Trains
"Load the car and write the note, grab your bag and grab your coat, tell the ones that need to know, we are headed north" ~ The Avett Brothers, I and Love and You
"She was a level-headed dancer on the road to alcohol, and I was just a soldier on my way to Montreal" ~ John Prine, Spanish Pipedream
"When I die, let them judge me by my company of friends" ~ Danny Schmidt, Company of Friends
"Dad coaches baseball and I am on the team, Mom thinks she’s Jesus Christ the Nazarene." ~ Joe Crookston, The Nazarene
"I love North Dakota 'cause you have never been there." ~ Kris Delmhorst, North Dakota
"I am not in love, but I'm open to persuasion." ~ Joan Armatrading, Love and Affection
"I took time out to write to my old friend, I walked across that burning bridge." ~ Michelle Shocked, Anchorage
"When she was three, her Barbies always did it on the first date." ~ Barenaked Ladies, Life, in a Nutshell
"Step out the front door like a ghost into the fog where no one notices the contrast of white on white." ~ Counting Crows, Round Here
"I can't believe you, you bend your words like Uri Geller's spoons." ~ Toad the Wet Sprocket, Nanci
"I won't forget when Peter Pan came to my house, took my hand, I said I was a boy; I'm glad he didn't check." ~ Dar Williams, When I Was a Boy
"There's a Coke machine glowin' through the parking lot, call it a room with a view." ~ Todd Snider, Just Like Old Times
"There must be some kind of way out of here, said the joker to the thief." ~ Jimi Hendrix, All Along the Watchtower
"Hello, darkness, my old friend." ~ Simon and Garfunkel, The Sound of Silence
"The screen door slams, Mary's dress waves." ~ Bruce Springsteen, Thunder Road
"Common Cool, he was a proud young fool, in a kick*ss Wal-Mart tie." ~ Dave Carter, Ordinary Town
"Just before our love got lost, you said, 'I am as constant as a Northern Star', and I said, 'constantly in the darkness, where's that at? If you want me, I'll be in the bar.' " ~ Joni Mitchell, A Case of You
Eight Days a Week
What's So "Punny" 'bout Peace, Love and Understanding?
All You Need is Love
Across the Universe
Desiderata
Go placidly amid the noise and haste, and remember what peace there may be in silence. As far as possible without surrender be on good terms with all persons. Speak your truth quietly and clearly; and listen to others, even the dull and the ignorant; they too have their story.
Avoid loud and aggressive persons, they are vexations to the spirit. If you compare yourself with others, you may become vain and bitter; for always there will be greater and lesser persons than yourself. Enjoy your achievements as well as your plans.
Keep interested in your own career, however humble; it is a real possession in the changing fortunes of time. Exercise caution in your business affairs; for the world is full of trickery. But let this not blind you to what virtue there is; many persons strive for high ideals; and everywhere life is full of heroism.
Be yourself. Especially, do not feign affection. Neither be cynical about love; for in the face of all aridity and disenchantment it is as perennial as the grass.
Take kindly the counsel of the years, gracefully surrendering the things of youth. Nurture strength of spirit to shield you in sudden misfortune. But do not distress yourself with dark imaginings. Many fears are born of fatigue and loneliness. Beyond a wholesome discipline, be gentle with yourself.
You are a child of the universe, no less than the trees and the stars; you have a right to be here. And whether or not it is clear to you, no doubt the universe is unfolding as it should. Therefore be at peace with God, whatever you conceive Him to be, and whatever your labors and aspirations, in the noisy confusion of life keep peace with your soul.
With all its sham, drudgery, and broken dreams, it is still a beautiful world. Be cheerful. Strive to be happy.
Max Ehrmann, copyright 1952
Four Strong Winds
The Four Agreements
Everything we do is based on agreements we have made - agreements with ourselves, with other people, with God, with life. But the most important agreements are the ones we make with ourselves. In these agreements we tell ourselves who we are, how to behave, what is possible, what is impossible. One single agreement is not such a problem, but we have many agreements that come from fear, deplete our energy, and diminish our self-worth."
In this powerful book that has remained on The New York Times Bestseller List for over five years, don Miguel Ruiz reveals the source of self-limiting beliefs that rob us of joy and create needless suffering. When we are ready to change these agreements, there are four deceptively simple, yet powerful agreements that we can adopt as guiding principles. The Four Agreements offer a powerful code of conduct that can rapidly transform our lives to a new experience of freedom, true happiness, and love.
1. Be Impeccable With Your Word Speak with integrity. Say only what you mean. Avoid using the word to speak against yourself or to gossip about others. Use the power of your word in the direction of truth and love.
2. Don't Take Anything Personally Nothing others do is because of you. What others say and do is a projection of their own reality, their own dream. When you are immune to the opinions and actions of others, you won't be the victim of needless suffering.
3. Don't Make Assumptions Find the courage to ask questions and to express what you really want. Communicate with others as clearly as you can to avoid misunderstandings, sadness and drama. With just this one agreement, you can completely transform your life.
4. Always Do Your Best Your best is going to change from moment to moment; it will be different when you are healthy as opposed to sick. Under any circumstance, simply do your best, and you will avoid self-judgment, self-abuse and regret.
