"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
Showing posts with label Florence Ondré. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Florence Ondré. Show all posts
Sunday, May 09, 2010
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.
Saturday, January 02, 2010
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.
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
Wednesday, June 03, 2009
Sunday, May 31, 2009
The Edge Of Seasons
Sunny Sunday
Beach breezes blowing coolness off the Atlantic
New roses, pink and petals fluttering
Riotous red Cardinals brightening georgeousness of greens hedges and tree leaves;
Trilling exciting new summer songs
People parading with surfboards under wetsuited arms
Bicyclers pedaling by; leaving trails of sunshine smiles as they speed along
Strollers taking in the sun on a pleasant constitutional
Babies happily babbling to the tune of perambulation
Neighborhood dogs calling bow wow hellos to each other
Dining al fresco, a mid day highlight
Enjoyment afoot
And then they roll in, sweeping sun from view
At once, in a moment's time span, it is grey and misty
And all cools.
Goodbye May
Hello June
Nap time is nigh
Beach breezes blowing coolness off the Atlantic
New roses, pink and petals fluttering
Riotous red Cardinals brightening georgeousness of greens hedges and tree leaves;
Trilling exciting new summer songs
People parading with surfboards under wetsuited arms
Bicyclers pedaling by; leaving trails of sunshine smiles as they speed along
Strollers taking in the sun on a pleasant constitutional
Babies happily babbling to the tune of perambulation
Neighborhood dogs calling bow wow hellos to each other
Dining al fresco, a mid day highlight
Enjoyment afoot
And then they roll in, sweeping sun from view
At once, in a moment's time span, it is grey and misty
And all cools.
Goodbye May
Hello June
Nap time is nigh
Quote For The Day
"We are all wanderers in the desert; at heart,
searching for the oasis of companions in kindness."
florence ondré
searching for the oasis of companions in kindness."
florence ondré
Saturday, May 30, 2009
Quote For The Day
"It's not where you start. It's not even where you finish. It's the journey along the way!"
Florence Ondré
Florence Ondré
Friday, May 29, 2009
E.T. Phone home...
It's one of those days today.
Fuzzy brained and feeling covered with a big blanket of velour, I know I'm awake yet half of me is asleep somewhere in the cosmos..
What is in retrograde today?
No matter how well I've worded or worked, whatever is done winds up having to be redone.
A red sock finds it's way into a load of carefully sorted whites; buttons pushed to answer phones disconnect instead; in the best of intentions of recycling, checks wind up in the shredder with the envelopes in which they came and books with intriguing titles are begun which seem to have a familiar ring as you delve into the second or third chapter only to find yourself realizing, "My God. I've read this one already!"
Yes. Today was one of those days.
An email sent to me by my friend, Carol, made me think enough to want to share with others.
So, I cut, pasted, eliminated the naggy part at the bottom which usually attempts to guilt you into sending to '10 of your best friends' and threatens with some kind of negative reprisals from the Gods of Bad Luck if you don't. Then I added a personal note, a quote of my own and, after making sure it was all in order, sent with Light & Love.
Minutes later, I get a reply from my friend, Ben, thanking me for the lovely thoughts and discreetly pointing out a small error in my own quote. "I think you meant to type it differently... not sure," writes he ever so lovingly giving me a heads up. He knows I'll go crazy over the mistake if left uncorrected.
I'm a stickler for spelling and live in fear of looking like an uneducated schmuck for 'putting i before e after c,' leaving out any of what should be double letters or writing 'there' when i mean 'their.'
You get the picture.
Perfectionism is one of my challenges in many things and the rules in English class still ring in my head.
Yet, as diligent as I may try to be, electronic components of energy zip in and zap my best efforts, sending out half words crunched together, missing first letters of words and a nice word picture of me as either lunatic, space cadet or unintelligent.
"A writer?" I can hear people whisper in my head full of critiques. "Is she delusional?"
'Tsk tsks' slip across the ethernet and I cringe thinking, "I can't believe I just sent that out! Yeah, great. Nice to be quoted as the poet who can't spell...or spellcheck!"
I can't believe that my perfectly worded AND SPELLED missive wound up with a glaring word crunch- in red no less-size 20 type!
What is left to do?
Of course. Out goes the follow up e in which I edit the quote, spell the offending word correctly and fix the wordbotch glitch.
And then thank AOL once again for an oops which gave me yet another opportunity to grow in humility, let go of perfection and practice of patience with the wonderfully flawed process of being human...in an electronic age.
Fuzzy brained and feeling covered with a big blanket of velour, I know I'm awake yet half of me is asleep somewhere in the cosmos..
What is in retrograde today?
No matter how well I've worded or worked, whatever is done winds up having to be redone.
A red sock finds it's way into a load of carefully sorted whites; buttons pushed to answer phones disconnect instead; in the best of intentions of recycling, checks wind up in the shredder with the envelopes in which they came and books with intriguing titles are begun which seem to have a familiar ring as you delve into the second or third chapter only to find yourself realizing, "My God. I've read this one already!"
Yes. Today was one of those days.
An email sent to me by my friend, Carol, made me think enough to want to share with others.
So, I cut, pasted, eliminated the naggy part at the bottom which usually attempts to guilt you into sending to '10 of your best friends' and threatens with some kind of negative reprisals from the Gods of Bad Luck if you don't. Then I added a personal note, a quote of my own and, after making sure it was all in order, sent with Light & Love.
Minutes later, I get a reply from my friend, Ben, thanking me for the lovely thoughts and discreetly pointing out a small error in my own quote. "I think you meant to type it differently... not sure," writes he ever so lovingly giving me a heads up. He knows I'll go crazy over the mistake if left uncorrected.
I'm a stickler for spelling and live in fear of looking like an uneducated schmuck for 'putting i before e after c,' leaving out any of what should be double letters or writing 'there' when i mean 'their.'
You get the picture.
Perfectionism is one of my challenges in many things and the rules in English class still ring in my head.
Yet, as diligent as I may try to be, electronic components of energy zip in and zap my best efforts, sending out half words crunched together, missing first letters of words and a nice word picture of me as either lunatic, space cadet or unintelligent.
"A writer?" I can hear people whisper in my head full of critiques. "Is she delusional?"
'Tsk tsks' slip across the ethernet and I cringe thinking, "I can't believe I just sent that out! Yeah, great. Nice to be quoted as the poet who can't spell...or spellcheck!"
I can't believe that my perfectly worded AND SPELLED missive wound up with a glaring word crunch- in red no less-size 20 type!
What is left to do?
Of course. Out goes the follow up e in which I edit the quote, spell the offending word correctly and fix the wordbotch glitch.
And then thank AOL once again for an oops which gave me yet another opportunity to grow in humility, let go of perfection and practice of patience with the wonderfully flawed process of being human...in an electronic age.
Friday, March 20, 2009
Tuesday, March 17, 2009
Branching Out
It is said that we are all one; a part of one another; unique, individual yet the same; like limbs of a tree.
Pondering this thought over the years has taken many twists and turns as with each life experience, I’ve faced gnarls and windbends, whorls and snapping breaks of the branches of my own tree.
It never ceases to amaze me how varied human leaves look, sound, act, react or cease in the storms that this tree of life weathers.
Bending in sweetness to birdsong as a winged one alights in softness on a sturdy shoulder; swinging low with bountiful harvest of luscious ripening of the seasons, holding fast in the face of fierce storms, arms held akimbo reaching for light in the darkness and growing into fantastical shapes with aching, arching of years of survival in all life’s gales and gasps show the simplicity and intricacy of patterning on which one comes to depend for framework. A how-the-world-should-look-and-be in what is named normalcy.
Yet where one might suspect sapling flexibility there may arise oaken solidity unbending; fertile fruit bearing females may fail, male monoliths may moss, and where willows weeping-wend low they may wildly wail warning and warring while weathering the world.
How can it be that if we are all indeed one, there is such diversity, intensity and perversity on the tree of life?
One is tempted to be lulled into a false sense of illusion that leads to expectations of drops of kindness falling gently on leaves being met with kindness of receiving; joy shining in sunshine returning bright, reflective joy; compassion greeted green with whispering breezes empathetically enfolding and satin sadness shaded by the underside of understanding of silver soft leaves.
It is not always so, this vision of how things which seem to have always been will always be.
Therefore questions crop up as behaviors metamorphosis in conditions of global warming, economic explosions and scorched earth wars wreak havoc on the roots of our foresty home.
Chaos of color collapses into challenge to change beyond accustomed seasonal sensations.
Where green at its worst, was envy, it is now greed. Riotous Autumnal ruby reds are flames of fury; buttery yellows of golden years turn into fears for future and burnt browns and siennas represent shades of balefulness.
How can our roots hold fast while limbs have been arched in agony, twisted beyond recognition and broken in breach of faith while the trunk of our tree of life is interminably tested?
Can we, arms of this essential elm, embrace each other and weave together a tapestry of stronger support so that we all may live long and well enough to see other bebranched beeches benefit; palms together play; willows whisper wonder and gingkos give the gold of memory for hickory heirs yet to spring forth?
Will we want to wake up enough to branch out in saner directions; to bring our best to the borrowed time in which we’ find our firred and furrowed forest and are we willing to look deeply inside the bark of ourselves to become aware of and acknowledge our shortcomings and see the lunatic in limbs gone gaga?
Can we manifest peace and perfection without courage for a good look at our family tree and, in the middle of madness all around us, when found to be outrageously out of control; whacked out in our own wilder-ness, can we honestly own our own behavior, see our common roots in "out of my tree' behaviors and answer, without shame or blame, with perhaps a shower of light, the tree trimming question, “From what branch of the Crazy Tree did you fall?”
Pondering this thought over the years has taken many twists and turns as with each life experience, I’ve faced gnarls and windbends, whorls and snapping breaks of the branches of my own tree.
It never ceases to amaze me how varied human leaves look, sound, act, react or cease in the storms that this tree of life weathers.
Bending in sweetness to birdsong as a winged one alights in softness on a sturdy shoulder; swinging low with bountiful harvest of luscious ripening of the seasons, holding fast in the face of fierce storms, arms held akimbo reaching for light in the darkness and growing into fantastical shapes with aching, arching of years of survival in all life’s gales and gasps show the simplicity and intricacy of patterning on which one comes to depend for framework. A how-the-world-should-look-and-be in what is named normalcy.
Yet where one might suspect sapling flexibility there may arise oaken solidity unbending; fertile fruit bearing females may fail, male monoliths may moss, and where willows weeping-wend low they may wildly wail warning and warring while weathering the world.
How can it be that if we are all indeed one, there is such diversity, intensity and perversity on the tree of life?
One is tempted to be lulled into a false sense of illusion that leads to expectations of drops of kindness falling gently on leaves being met with kindness of receiving; joy shining in sunshine returning bright, reflective joy; compassion greeted green with whispering breezes empathetically enfolding and satin sadness shaded by the underside of understanding of silver soft leaves.
It is not always so, this vision of how things which seem to have always been will always be.
Therefore questions crop up as behaviors metamorphosis in conditions of global warming, economic explosions and scorched earth wars wreak havoc on the roots of our foresty home.
Chaos of color collapses into challenge to change beyond accustomed seasonal sensations.
Where green at its worst, was envy, it is now greed. Riotous Autumnal ruby reds are flames of fury; buttery yellows of golden years turn into fears for future and burnt browns and siennas represent shades of balefulness.
How can our roots hold fast while limbs have been arched in agony, twisted beyond recognition and broken in breach of faith while the trunk of our tree of life is interminably tested?
Can we, arms of this essential elm, embrace each other and weave together a tapestry of stronger support so that we all may live long and well enough to see other bebranched beeches benefit; palms together play; willows whisper wonder and gingkos give the gold of memory for hickory heirs yet to spring forth?
Will we want to wake up enough to branch out in saner directions; to bring our best to the borrowed time in which we’ find our firred and furrowed forest and are we willing to look deeply inside the bark of ourselves to become aware of and acknowledge our shortcomings and see the lunatic in limbs gone gaga?
Can we manifest peace and perfection without courage for a good look at our family tree and, in the middle of madness all around us, when found to be outrageously out of control; whacked out in our own wilder-ness, can we honestly own our own behavior, see our common roots in "out of my tree' behaviors and answer, without shame or blame, with perhaps a shower of light, the tree trimming question, “From what branch of the Crazy Tree did you fall?”
Thursday, March 12, 2009
Monday, March 09, 2009
Quote For The Day & The Gratitude Pool
"There are some days (or some moments in the day) when I'm not feeling grateful for either what i have or what I have escaped.
So sorry to say it -yet it's the truth.
I'm reminded that there's gratitude deep down inside me somewhere and it will appear again.
I have the funny feeling it's going to pop out in feeling funny."
Florence Ondré
So sorry to say it -yet it's the truth.
I'm reminded that there's gratitude deep down inside me somewhere and it will appear again.
I have the funny feeling it's going to pop out in feeling funny."
Florence Ondré
Friday, March 06, 2009
Insult To Injury
Why is it that, when you go to the doctor's office, you are asked to wait while they take calls.
"We'll be right with you. Excuse me but I must take this call. This is an important call, just give me a minute here."
Any of the above statements are generally made while you are standing in some degree of discomfort or doubled over in pain with your head slumped on their desk or counter, which may be the only thing holding you upright.
Well, you think to yourself, it's probably a really important phone call and after all, you are already there. They certainly wouldn't keep you waiting if it weren't important.
And then you think, really this is a good thing, because when you call, you most certainly will want them to take your call and deal with your needs right away too.
You go home feeling safe in the knowledge that you will be treated as well with that kind of attention when you need to call in.
A smile eases across your face and a sigh escapes your lips.
Then the day comes when you are the one calling in.
And what do you get?
"Dr Gotchacovered3waysfromsunday's office. Hold please?"
You get out, "Hi this is..." before
Bang. They're off the phone and you are left listening to muzak at loud decibels or advertisements touting the praises of the doc's many swell services.
Bing! They're back on the line, "Hi, Can you hold please."
Wham! Gone again before you can say yea or nay.
You find yourself fighting the urge to reach through the phone to commit a bit of mayhem while la la la la’s run through your brain trying to drown out the tunes you never wanted to hear shrilling out of the earpiece.
They’re back, “Who is this? Hold on. I have to finish the patient in front of me.”
Click.
WTF?
And here you are in the quagmire of thoughtlessness at the intersection of “Rudeness and Whine.”
You sit stunned, wondering if is it just you, did your deodorant fail or was your breath offensive.
Ultimately arriving at the corners of “Conclusion and Don’ttakethispersonally.”
It is them.
Their system of multitasking doesn’t work. Trying to be all things to all people does not work.
It makes for an arena of folks becoming cluttered, incapable and non efficient when thinking they’re perfectly so.
A thought dear physicians and your office people:
“Put one person at the desk and one on the phones, puleeeez.”
They just don’t get that finishing with one person at a time and giving your full attention to that patient will get things done more efficiently and effectively with everyone feeling cared for.
And isn’t that why we go to the doctor in the first place?
Nu?.
"We'll be right with you. Excuse me but I must take this call. This is an important call, just give me a minute here."
Any of the above statements are generally made while you are standing in some degree of discomfort or doubled over in pain with your head slumped on their desk or counter, which may be the only thing holding you upright.
Well, you think to yourself, it's probably a really important phone call and after all, you are already there. They certainly wouldn't keep you waiting if it weren't important.
And then you think, really this is a good thing, because when you call, you most certainly will want them to take your call and deal with your needs right away too.
You go home feeling safe in the knowledge that you will be treated as well with that kind of attention when you need to call in.
A smile eases across your face and a sigh escapes your lips.
Then the day comes when you are the one calling in.
And what do you get?
"Dr Gotchacovered3waysfromsunday's office. Hold please?"
You get out, "Hi this is..." before
Bang. They're off the phone and you are left listening to muzak at loud decibels or advertisements touting the praises of the doc's many swell services.
Bing! They're back on the line, "Hi, Can you hold please."
Wham! Gone again before you can say yea or nay.
You find yourself fighting the urge to reach through the phone to commit a bit of mayhem while la la la la’s run through your brain trying to drown out the tunes you never wanted to hear shrilling out of the earpiece.
They’re back, “Who is this? Hold on. I have to finish the patient in front of me.”
Click.
WTF?
And here you are in the quagmire of thoughtlessness at the intersection of “Rudeness and Whine.”
You sit stunned, wondering if is it just you, did your deodorant fail or was your breath offensive.
Ultimately arriving at the corners of “Conclusion and Don’ttakethispersonally.”
It is them.
Their system of multitasking doesn’t work. Trying to be all things to all people does not work.
It makes for an arena of folks becoming cluttered, incapable and non efficient when thinking they’re perfectly so.
A thought dear physicians and your office people:
“Put one person at the desk and one on the phones, puleeeez.”
They just don’t get that finishing with one person at a time and giving your full attention to that patient will get things done more efficiently and effectively with everyone feeling cared for.
And isn’t that why we go to the doctor in the first place?
Nu?.
Wednesday, March 04, 2009
"A Little Goes A Long Way"
By Florence Ondré
This attribute; this commodity; this vaporous substance; ever seeming in short supply could go for big bucks and have a street value higher than pain pills.
This illusive energy flits away like a firefly in July. Now you see it; now you don’t.
Just think of the daily commute; hours in traffic and, no matter how much you know that this is a process and it’s going to take some time to get to your destination, you’re tired; worn thin from the day. You’re looking forward to getting in your domicile, closing the door on the world, taking a nice long shower or tub, eating and dropping into bed. All without other people and their energies crashing in on you like uninvited party guests.
Ahhh, would that all your kindness, compassion and understanding could stay present all the time to keep your basest. grubby, forgetfulness of niceties at bay.
You are, after all really a very nice person. You know it; others have said so and doggone it, people like you.
Having stated the obvious, you might just begin to discern a smidge of foam at the side of your mouth and notice that your jaws are clenched tighter than a noose around a prisoner’s neck at the lynching. Your shoulders have pinned your ears up about an inch and a half at the very least and there are already itsy bitsy trenches between your eyebrows, which are closer than you remember from the morning mirror look-see.
It’s official. You are at the very least…cranky; verging on an slippy slidey path to agitated and irate.
Reasonable has left the building and willingly follows you like a growing shadow that Peter Pan could not possibly fit to your shoe no matter how much fairy dust Tinker Bell sprinkles on.
You’re exhausted and overloaded with whatever giant economy (ha) size big gulp of fear you bought on sale today.
The mere thought of having to wait cheerfully while the world goes to hell in its horrible little handbasket -or ,at the very least, wait without shrieking or seizing someone by the throat as they slow up traffic, make dumb mistakes, cut you off, walk in front of you like you didn’t exist or have the right to take up room on the pavement or give you the finger or a less than kind word is beyond ability.
You, dear soul, have reached your wits end.
And wasn’t that a shorter trip than you ever dreamed it would be?
You have run out of that preciousness called patience.
What could you have been thinking? How did you lose it and where did it disapear along the way?
It’s a stunner, isn’t it, when you think back on the train wrecks which follow the slip this energy gives you?
Even a kind word can send you over the edge into a tantrum.
“What could that dimwit been thinking when she said, ‘Have a nice day’? Did she forget that payroll was short, we didn’t get lunch and now it’s traffic snarls to match my mood in the stretched to over 3 hour commute home! What is she? Some kind of vicious hobgoblin? Nice day, my ass!”
This about one of your favorite colleagues, friends or neighbors.
Well, you might just want to take in a breath, release those shoulders from their perch as fleshy earirngs and remember that everything is gonna take as long as it takes and there’s a divine timing in flow that is bringing things about in ways better than you can imagine.
Might as well, put on some music, notice one good thing, feel the release and a smoother heart rate as you settle into change and, once again, practice patience.
Even one small moment when you have patience counts and when you have it for yourself, you can have it with others and situations over which you probably have minute (if any) control.
Then you could just think on how you didn’t throttle anyone today-even if you thought about it.
That’s gratitude following patience… and self restraint.
As Martin Luther King Jr said, “I may not get there with you……”
Just for today, it’s possible I’m right behind you, flying my crankyflag high until the process brings me that little bit which goes a long way home.
This attribute; this commodity; this vaporous substance; ever seeming in short supply could go for big bucks and have a street value higher than pain pills.
This illusive energy flits away like a firefly in July. Now you see it; now you don’t.
Just think of the daily commute; hours in traffic and, no matter how much you know that this is a process and it’s going to take some time to get to your destination, you’re tired; worn thin from the day. You’re looking forward to getting in your domicile, closing the door on the world, taking a nice long shower or tub, eating and dropping into bed. All without other people and their energies crashing in on you like uninvited party guests.
Ahhh, would that all your kindness, compassion and understanding could stay present all the time to keep your basest. grubby, forgetfulness of niceties at bay.
You are, after all really a very nice person. You know it; others have said so and doggone it, people like you.
Having stated the obvious, you might just begin to discern a smidge of foam at the side of your mouth and notice that your jaws are clenched tighter than a noose around a prisoner’s neck at the lynching. Your shoulders have pinned your ears up about an inch and a half at the very least and there are already itsy bitsy trenches between your eyebrows, which are closer than you remember from the morning mirror look-see.
It’s official. You are at the very least…cranky; verging on an slippy slidey path to agitated and irate.
Reasonable has left the building and willingly follows you like a growing shadow that Peter Pan could not possibly fit to your shoe no matter how much fairy dust Tinker Bell sprinkles on.
You’re exhausted and overloaded with whatever giant economy (ha) size big gulp of fear you bought on sale today.
The mere thought of having to wait cheerfully while the world goes to hell in its horrible little handbasket -or ,at the very least, wait without shrieking or seizing someone by the throat as they slow up traffic, make dumb mistakes, cut you off, walk in front of you like you didn’t exist or have the right to take up room on the pavement or give you the finger or a less than kind word is beyond ability.
You, dear soul, have reached your wits end.
And wasn’t that a shorter trip than you ever dreamed it would be?
You have run out of that preciousness called patience.
What could you have been thinking? How did you lose it and where did it disapear along the way?
It’s a stunner, isn’t it, when you think back on the train wrecks which follow the slip this energy gives you?
Even a kind word can send you over the edge into a tantrum.
“What could that dimwit been thinking when she said, ‘Have a nice day’? Did she forget that payroll was short, we didn’t get lunch and now it’s traffic snarls to match my mood in the stretched to over 3 hour commute home! What is she? Some kind of vicious hobgoblin? Nice day, my ass!”
This about one of your favorite colleagues, friends or neighbors.
Well, you might just want to take in a breath, release those shoulders from their perch as fleshy earirngs and remember that everything is gonna take as long as it takes and there’s a divine timing in flow that is bringing things about in ways better than you can imagine.
Might as well, put on some music, notice one good thing, feel the release and a smoother heart rate as you settle into change and, once again, practice patience.
Even one small moment when you have patience counts and when you have it for yourself, you can have it with others and situations over which you probably have minute (if any) control.
Then you could just think on how you didn’t throttle anyone today-even if you thought about it.
That’s gratitude following patience… and self restraint.
As Martin Luther King Jr said, “I may not get there with you……”
Just for today, it’s possible I’m right behind you, flying my crankyflag high until the process brings me that little bit which goes a long way home.
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