"The wings of a mother, like those of Angels, have the capacity to spread across the sky; shelter from storms; radiate respite; provide peace; soothe the soul and lift one up again and again in love.
Florence Ondré
Sunday, May 09, 2010
Thursday, May 06, 2010
Quote For The Day
“Live a good life. If there are gods and they are just, they will not care how devout you have been, but will welcome you based on the virtues you have lived by. If there are gods, but unjust, then you should not want to worship them. If there are no gods, then you will be gone, but will have lived a noble life that will live on in the memories of your loved ones.”
Marcus Aurelius, philosopher and writer (121-180)
Marcus Aurelius, philosopher and writer (121-180)
Sunday, March 14, 2010
Wednesday, March 10, 2010
Quote For The Day
“Hope is the thing with feathers
That perches in the soul,
And sings the tune–without the words,
And never stops at all…”
Emily Dickenson
That perches in the soul,
And sings the tune–without the words,
And never stops at all…”
Emily Dickenson
Sunday, March 07, 2010
Quote For The Day
"Many demolitions are actually renovations."
Jalaluddin Rumi, poet and mystic (1207-1273)
Jalaluddin Rumi, poet and mystic (1207-1273)
Saturday, March 06, 2010
Of Mountains And MoleHills
by Florence Ondré
I was musing this morning about how we take everything so seriously and ponder our words and actions, weighing the effects and reactions, thinking along the lines of, ‘what will they think, feel or do?’ or ‘how will this impact my life or the lives of others?’
And then the Robert Green Ingersoll quote, “In the presence of eternity, the mountains are as transient as the clouds,” came into my email box.
I love the serendipitous connections that show up, reminding me that everything is connected and, in this case, ‘don’t sweat the small stuff; it’s all small stuff’ remains true. Life’s still best when taken with a grain of salt and a sense of humor to lighten our bad selves up.
These reminders made me smile and, minutes later, I guffawed as my dear Tom tried to reach ever so carefully over the doorsill for the large package of mail which had been held at the post office while we were away, now just delivered. He was serious in trying valiantly and creatively to avoid touching where the exterminator had applied new organic, springtail pest remedy (which smells worse than the chemical poisons. we’re for organic but pew!).
There was Tom, pirouetting one-legged on a green piece of paper some advertiser had left on the porch; working to avoid his feet contacting exterminator slick; arms stretched like lifelines forward to grab the batch of mail which was held together with rubber bands, when it all went awry.
The bands went boing! and mail flew out like a splayed popcorn eruption, splat all over the porch.
I couldn’t help it. I laughed out loud and thankfully so did he. We rolled, recognizing the humor of how careful attempts can become another of ’funniest home videos’ and land you like a cartoon character, kerplunk, in the mud anyway.
The whole event reminded me that much of our days’ occurrences are fodder for future comedy routines.
Life laughs at us so why not join in? What are the alternatives? Getting your knickers in a twist; your panties in a bunch? Or a face full of frown furrows?
I’m thinking, ‘I’m getting lines on my face as I go and grow so they might as well be laugh lines.’
Experiences can seem so large and important to us; every situation practically a U.N. decision maker or breaker, only to find months or years later you can barely remember what the big fuss was all about and you laugh to think about how you agonized over it at all when here you are all this time later in such a different space, energy or mind set that makes what loomed large into a tiny grain of sand.
Perhaps you think someone special who hurt your feelings by not even acknowledging your birthday just didn’t give a hoot about you anymore. They know you’re a birthday celebrating fool and here they are M.I.A. on your special day! WTF?
You tuck in, feel unloved, vow to never celebrate them from here on out and nurse that mountain silently and stoically until months later you find a funny card with lots of hand scribbled ‘love you’s’ all over it, buried in some stack of mail which you never opened.
There you go.
There’s your molehill.
Talking with Tom, about the serious turned silly, we laughed about how much time we’d spent over the years worrying and getting bent out of shape about stuff that either never occurred or never wound up being all that and a bag of chips in the long run.
How many arguments have we all gone through and gotten over, past or around and thought, looking back, “What was the big deal? Why couldn’t I have taken a breath, said my piece and let it go or been silent and allowed the universal flow to bring better outcomes than I could imagine into being for the best for all? Why couldn’t I hold onto remembering that we are puny humans on a large revolving and evolving orb in a cosmos within a cosmos or the knowing that even mountains are passing clouds in eternity?”
It is a good thing that, among our attributes, we were blessed with a sense of humor.
What better place to laugh, than at one’s own self as we find our individual and common balances and footholds on our individual Everests?
My sons have grown to be responsible men today with beautiful families full of love and all the challenges and lessons that come with.
I see their children; my grand children (& they are so grand!) happy and laughing; sweet, loving and loveable and I know my boys are doing a good job as parents and as partners of beautiful, strong, creative women.
Their work in the world may vary and they may be serious about providing for and nourishing their families well. Being responsible is a good quality they all have. And I’m hoping they can at the same time, always tap-in to the kids they were in my home, where there were a lot of serious times and challenges, and above the trials and errors of life, remember the silly; the falling down, sidesplitting laughter with each other; giggling over goofs and antics; getting over hurts and slights and going back to the roots of humor as days became years gone by; remembering that love is what lasts beyond seasons and laughter lightens the load.
I hope my sons and their children have the ability to laugh long and often at themselves and life as it impacts the fan of every day living.
Maybe we can all remember that sometimes you get cabbage and sometimes it becomes slaw.
I say throw some pineapple in there. Vary up the meal of the day with the ingredients that show up.
That fan might help produce a new recipe to share.
I was musing this morning about how we take everything so seriously and ponder our words and actions, weighing the effects and reactions, thinking along the lines of, ‘what will they think, feel or do?’ or ‘how will this impact my life or the lives of others?’
And then the Robert Green Ingersoll quote, “In the presence of eternity, the mountains are as transient as the clouds,” came into my email box.
I love the serendipitous connections that show up, reminding me that everything is connected and, in this case, ‘don’t sweat the small stuff; it’s all small stuff’ remains true. Life’s still best when taken with a grain of salt and a sense of humor to lighten our bad selves up.
These reminders made me smile and, minutes later, I guffawed as my dear Tom tried to reach ever so carefully over the doorsill for the large package of mail which had been held at the post office while we were away, now just delivered. He was serious in trying valiantly and creatively to avoid touching where the exterminator had applied new organic, springtail pest remedy (which smells worse than the chemical poisons. we’re for organic but pew!).
There was Tom, pirouetting one-legged on a green piece of paper some advertiser had left on the porch; working to avoid his feet contacting exterminator slick; arms stretched like lifelines forward to grab the batch of mail which was held together with rubber bands, when it all went awry.
The bands went boing! and mail flew out like a splayed popcorn eruption, splat all over the porch.
I couldn’t help it. I laughed out loud and thankfully so did he. We rolled, recognizing the humor of how careful attempts can become another of ’funniest home videos’ and land you like a cartoon character, kerplunk, in the mud anyway.
The whole event reminded me that much of our days’ occurrences are fodder for future comedy routines.
Life laughs at us so why not join in? What are the alternatives? Getting your knickers in a twist; your panties in a bunch? Or a face full of frown furrows?
I’m thinking, ‘I’m getting lines on my face as I go and grow so they might as well be laugh lines.’
Experiences can seem so large and important to us; every situation practically a U.N. decision maker or breaker, only to find months or years later you can barely remember what the big fuss was all about and you laugh to think about how you agonized over it at all when here you are all this time later in such a different space, energy or mind set that makes what loomed large into a tiny grain of sand.
Perhaps you think someone special who hurt your feelings by not even acknowledging your birthday just didn’t give a hoot about you anymore. They know you’re a birthday celebrating fool and here they are M.I.A. on your special day! WTF?
You tuck in, feel unloved, vow to never celebrate them from here on out and nurse that mountain silently and stoically until months later you find a funny card with lots of hand scribbled ‘love you’s’ all over it, buried in some stack of mail which you never opened.
There you go.
There’s your molehill.
Talking with Tom, about the serious turned silly, we laughed about how much time we’d spent over the years worrying and getting bent out of shape about stuff that either never occurred or never wound up being all that and a bag of chips in the long run.
How many arguments have we all gone through and gotten over, past or around and thought, looking back, “What was the big deal? Why couldn’t I have taken a breath, said my piece and let it go or been silent and allowed the universal flow to bring better outcomes than I could imagine into being for the best for all? Why couldn’t I hold onto remembering that we are puny humans on a large revolving and evolving orb in a cosmos within a cosmos or the knowing that even mountains are passing clouds in eternity?”
It is a good thing that, among our attributes, we were blessed with a sense of humor.
What better place to laugh, than at one’s own self as we find our individual and common balances and footholds on our individual Everests?
My sons have grown to be responsible men today with beautiful families full of love and all the challenges and lessons that come with.
I see their children; my grand children (& they are so grand!) happy and laughing; sweet, loving and loveable and I know my boys are doing a good job as parents and as partners of beautiful, strong, creative women.
Their work in the world may vary and they may be serious about providing for and nourishing their families well. Being responsible is a good quality they all have. And I’m hoping they can at the same time, always tap-in to the kids they were in my home, where there were a lot of serious times and challenges, and above the trials and errors of life, remember the silly; the falling down, sidesplitting laughter with each other; giggling over goofs and antics; getting over hurts and slights and going back to the roots of humor as days became years gone by; remembering that love is what lasts beyond seasons and laughter lightens the load.
I hope my sons and their children have the ability to laugh long and often at themselves and life as it impacts the fan of every day living.
Maybe we can all remember that sometimes you get cabbage and sometimes it becomes slaw.
I say throw some pineapple in there. Vary up the meal of the day with the ingredients that show up.
That fan might help produce a new recipe to share.
Quote For The Day
“In the presence of eternity, the mountains are as transient as the clouds.’
Robert Green Ingersoll, lawyer and orator (1833-1899)
Robert Green Ingersoll, lawyer and orator (1833-1899)
Saturday, January 02, 2010
Quote For The Day
"Human nature will not flourish, any more than a potato, if it be planted and replanted, for too long a series of generations, in the same worn-out soil. My children have had other birthplaces, and, so far as their fortunes may be within my control, shall strike their roots into unaccustomed earth."
Nathaniel Hawthorne, writer
Nathaniel Hawthorne, writer
Friday, January 01, 2010
The Gratitude Pool...once in a...
Hello 2010!
With gratitude for so many miracles that got pulled out of aught nine, like rabbits from magicians’ hats, a sigh of relief deep as oceans runs through my being like a freight train that has turned its corner tracks; chugging up steep inclines through snowy, crisp cold alpine passes, now rolling along smoother terrain to mid balance climes; unstoppable in its ahhhhhhhhhhh.
Yesssssss, my soul sings and ‘Thanks Angels !’ is at the heart of my ‘endzone dance.’
Not that I feel I’m anywhere near the fourth quarter end zone. It’s just one of many touchdowns I’ll look back on from Heaven’s vantage point, when I have better vision than these human windows of wide wonder, at how things can turn around just when you think you’re a goner; just when you are convinced that you’re at wits end and no thing will come your way.
I breathe in the wonder and ever green growing gratitude that springs from a well of unending opportunities to have better than I can imagine, when I am forced to spin on the spit of life’s twists until I give up and give in to allowing things to manifest in ways and times far better than I imagined; when I am spent from trying to do it my way or society’s or someone’s way.
It’s then that I get a chance to view everything in and around me from a completely different perspective-albeit that point of view may be flat on the floor.
And when the kicking and screaming stop and I’m wrung out from wrestling with how I see it; how I want it, the it is surprisingly eye-opening…if and, only when, I allow it to coalesce into cleared sight.
This New Year’s Eve, was a blue moon night said to be double the energy of completion and cleansing. The way I saw it written was about more light edging out darkness in this new year; this new decade. I liked the sound of those words especially in light of how much change was wrought and the familiar wrested from us.
It was a bitch of a roller coaster year.
I don’t know many who wouldn’t agree with that on some level.
Losses overwhelmed, grief was at a multi-layered all time high and people got down to just chucking it all. So many hands thrown up in the air made us look like the planet was waving at God. ”Yeah, Big Guy, it’s us down here doin’ the wave and signaling the biggest SOS from stadium Earth.”
Yet, here I sit at 6 in the morning of the first day of the new decade and hope has replaced despondency and feral fear in my heart.
Breathing room seems to be rolling in on an optimistic tide and change wears a new costume, the fabric of which is softer, a bit more flowing and better fitted to new styles of being and doing… a more balanced garment…a one size fits all yet fits each, with room to grow…good for lounging and play as well as appropriate for the office…both day and evening wear for all occasions. Why, it’s the little black dress of the 2-10’s! A must have for all closets.
Back to basics.
Yup. We had to key up our courage, take the hem up, nip in the waist of that sucker and remove the shoulder pads in the jacket …and oh, what a sigh of relief at the end of the refitting to find that we are lighter and more creative; able to move more easily and wear the world like a loose garment.
The I-don’t-wanna-change look became so unwieldy or tattered that wearing it for another season of life became impossible.
The rat race ran out and only the rats won…and even that was was a ‘maybe’ award.
Our human race company had to take on an entirely different mission statement and change its ways of doing business.
And though we’re still digging out, today I have hope. For I am lucky enough to have realized, caved in and changed and am willing to clean, clear, reshape and allow myself and how I am in the world to unfold.
When I’m not fighting the tsunami of change, I can float the currents and find safer haven in ports of call I’d never even dreamed of visiting.
My partnerships are plentiful too. There’s H.P. a power greater than the old company of ‘me, myself and I;’ a host of Angels, Earth and Celestial, who each add their perspectives and talents to the whole and, though there still is a ‘me, myself and I,’ we take a lighter approach to the business of living; allowing a variety of sub contractors to pitch in and bring their best to every endeavor.
In this way; this backing down, stopping cold and allowing room for better than I can imagine to come from what looks like sheer catastrophe, miracles rise up between my eyeballs and slug me like a kid with a gigantic ‘Ha ha!’
OMG! I’m still here after the blizzard of aught nine, after the wipe outs, the bail outs, the chaos, the near not being here at all and the wanting to chuck it all in for real and for good.
Looking back, I see that I got what I asked the Universe for last year…not in ways I thought I wanted; not in safe little boxes of sameness.
No. My greater good came out of the proverbial blue; each one leading and threading one to another; surprising the hell out of me.
I wanted abundance first and foremost – and I meant money.
I wanted healing and perfect health.
I wanted creative projects.
And I figured if I had the first item on that wish list, the rest would follow.
But nooooooo.
What I got was abundance of opportunities to self care, be silent, notice the little things around which brought me joy that didn’t cost a penny and the about face which gave me that scenic view…which led to mind, spirit and body healing…which led to better health, perfect enough for each day…which led to becoming able to consider some superbly creative projects which came my way…which led to actually doing work which makes my heart sing, touches others and gives joy into the world.
Hmmm. Who knows? Perhaps that saying is accurate….’Do what you love and the money will follow.”
What I’m seeing more clearly is that currency comes in many shapes, sizes and forms other than folding cash. Coin of the realm depends upon which realm I’m focusing.
I have abundance of good, nourishing, supportive, unconditionally loving relationships on planet family of choice. Unlimited imagination and a willingness to learn and grow are part of the fabric of my being. Creativity and a desire to be of service in the world stand inside a loving heart and generous spirit and I have faith in all sorts of good appearing at just the right time; in just the right way.
My good this year has come in the miracles of multilayered manifestations where everything is possible when I remove the frame from the picture.
Some listen to me as I process on the way to progress and say, “Miracles, ha.”
I say, “Well, you know when those come around.”
And here we are on the first day of a new decade, after a unique colored, New Year’s eve moon...
for which I'm grateful.
With gratitude for so many miracles that got pulled out of aught nine, like rabbits from magicians’ hats, a sigh of relief deep as oceans runs through my being like a freight train that has turned its corner tracks; chugging up steep inclines through snowy, crisp cold alpine passes, now rolling along smoother terrain to mid balance climes; unstoppable in its ahhhhhhhhhhh.
Yesssssss, my soul sings and ‘Thanks Angels !’ is at the heart of my ‘endzone dance.’
Not that I feel I’m anywhere near the fourth quarter end zone. It’s just one of many touchdowns I’ll look back on from Heaven’s vantage point, when I have better vision than these human windows of wide wonder, at how things can turn around just when you think you’re a goner; just when you are convinced that you’re at wits end and no thing will come your way.
I breathe in the wonder and ever green growing gratitude that springs from a well of unending opportunities to have better than I can imagine, when I am forced to spin on the spit of life’s twists until I give up and give in to allowing things to manifest in ways and times far better than I imagined; when I am spent from trying to do it my way or society’s or someone’s way.
It’s then that I get a chance to view everything in and around me from a completely different perspective-albeit that point of view may be flat on the floor.
And when the kicking and screaming stop and I’m wrung out from wrestling with how I see it; how I want it, the it is surprisingly eye-opening…if and, only when, I allow it to coalesce into cleared sight.
This New Year’s Eve, was a blue moon night said to be double the energy of completion and cleansing. The way I saw it written was about more light edging out darkness in this new year; this new decade. I liked the sound of those words especially in light of how much change was wrought and the familiar wrested from us.
It was a bitch of a roller coaster year.
I don’t know many who wouldn’t agree with that on some level.
Losses overwhelmed, grief was at a multi-layered all time high and people got down to just chucking it all. So many hands thrown up in the air made us look like the planet was waving at God. ”Yeah, Big Guy, it’s us down here doin’ the wave and signaling the biggest SOS from stadium Earth.”
Yet, here I sit at 6 in the morning of the first day of the new decade and hope has replaced despondency and feral fear in my heart.
Breathing room seems to be rolling in on an optimistic tide and change wears a new costume, the fabric of which is softer, a bit more flowing and better fitted to new styles of being and doing… a more balanced garment…a one size fits all yet fits each, with room to grow…good for lounging and play as well as appropriate for the office…both day and evening wear for all occasions. Why, it’s the little black dress of the 2-10’s! A must have for all closets.
Back to basics.
Yup. We had to key up our courage, take the hem up, nip in the waist of that sucker and remove the shoulder pads in the jacket …and oh, what a sigh of relief at the end of the refitting to find that we are lighter and more creative; able to move more easily and wear the world like a loose garment.
The I-don’t-wanna-change look became so unwieldy or tattered that wearing it for another season of life became impossible.
The rat race ran out and only the rats won…and even that was was a ‘maybe’ award.
Our human race company had to take on an entirely different mission statement and change its ways of doing business.
And though we’re still digging out, today I have hope. For I am lucky enough to have realized, caved in and changed and am willing to clean, clear, reshape and allow myself and how I am in the world to unfold.
When I’m not fighting the tsunami of change, I can float the currents and find safer haven in ports of call I’d never even dreamed of visiting.
My partnerships are plentiful too. There’s H.P. a power greater than the old company of ‘me, myself and I;’ a host of Angels, Earth and Celestial, who each add their perspectives and talents to the whole and, though there still is a ‘me, myself and I,’ we take a lighter approach to the business of living; allowing a variety of sub contractors to pitch in and bring their best to every endeavor.
In this way; this backing down, stopping cold and allowing room for better than I can imagine to come from what looks like sheer catastrophe, miracles rise up between my eyeballs and slug me like a kid with a gigantic ‘Ha ha!’
OMG! I’m still here after the blizzard of aught nine, after the wipe outs, the bail outs, the chaos, the near not being here at all and the wanting to chuck it all in for real and for good.
Looking back, I see that I got what I asked the Universe for last year…not in ways I thought I wanted; not in safe little boxes of sameness.
No. My greater good came out of the proverbial blue; each one leading and threading one to another; surprising the hell out of me.
I wanted abundance first and foremost – and I meant money.
I wanted healing and perfect health.
I wanted creative projects.
And I figured if I had the first item on that wish list, the rest would follow.
But nooooooo.
What I got was abundance of opportunities to self care, be silent, notice the little things around which brought me joy that didn’t cost a penny and the about face which gave me that scenic view…which led to mind, spirit and body healing…which led to better health, perfect enough for each day…which led to becoming able to consider some superbly creative projects which came my way…which led to actually doing work which makes my heart sing, touches others and gives joy into the world.
Hmmm. Who knows? Perhaps that saying is accurate….’Do what you love and the money will follow.”
What I’m seeing more clearly is that currency comes in many shapes, sizes and forms other than folding cash. Coin of the realm depends upon which realm I’m focusing.
I have abundance of good, nourishing, supportive, unconditionally loving relationships on planet family of choice. Unlimited imagination and a willingness to learn and grow are part of the fabric of my being. Creativity and a desire to be of service in the world stand inside a loving heart and generous spirit and I have faith in all sorts of good appearing at just the right time; in just the right way.
My good this year has come in the miracles of multilayered manifestations where everything is possible when I remove the frame from the picture.
Some listen to me as I process on the way to progress and say, “Miracles, ha.”
I say, “Well, you know when those come around.”
And here we are on the first day of a new decade, after a unique colored, New Year’s eve moon...
for which I'm grateful.
Thursday, December 31, 2009
Quote For The Day
"The weakest living creature, by concentrating his powers on a single object, can accomplish something. The strongest, by dispensing his over many, may fail to accomplish anything. The drop, by continually falling, bores its passage through the hardest rock. The hasty torrent rushes over it with hideous uproar, and leaves no trace behind."
Thomas Carlyle, essayist and historian
Thomas Carlyle, essayist and historian
Wednesday, July 01, 2009
Quote For The Day
"As you go about your day, notice the mirror faces around you and feel the muscles of your own face. When you feel a bit of stress or tension, allow the ends of your mouth to curve up, lightening heaviness; softening the energy within and around you as you share the gift of your smile.
A smile can carry you lightly through an entire day."
Florence Ondré
A smile can carry you lightly through an entire day."
Florence Ondré
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)