Bits & Pieces of This & That

Just Payment
Some things are sad in the extreme, and finding the meaning for them impossible. I let myself feel fully the sadness such events earn, not as punishment, but as the cost we are sometimes asked to pay for the delight of loving someone. My mind was made up long ago about the importance of letting my feelings matter, so even the most painful emotions are embraced as relevent to my wholeness.

If the price I have to pay is, from time-to-time, more than seems quite fair, holding the delight of the rewards close to my heart only serves as a reminder of why the pain is so intense. The pain becomes less of a burden and more of an honor when viewed as just payment for real love.

Believe!!!
Our ability as a species to overcome adversity is what legends are made of. Pick up any history book, and you will find portraits of people who started with nothing and changed the course of human history. A common thread runs through every tale. None of them were content to settle for traveling the easy road. So do not simply settle for less than what life offers. You may not change the world at large, but your personal space will certainly alter in ways never imagined in your wildest dreams.

Draw your own lines. Set your own limits. Do not just stumble blindly when the crossroads of life appear on your horizon. Look without fear down all possible avenues, choosing the one that leads to success no matter how treacherous the road appears to be. In life the easiest paths often lead straight to dead end destinations. I would climb endless mountains to reach happiness, before I would be satisfied to walk even a short distance over smooth roads to arrive at nowhere.

I have been there before, and have no wish to revisit. If a life of circles is enough to amuse you then circle on alone, but I seek a broader path to follow. When I am a very old woman, I want to remember the battles waged to become who I am. Every time I face a fear or heal a pain I grow stronger. I believe in the eternal strength of the human spirit to survive not only in spite of adversity, but also because of it. I beleive in my own ability to face and deal with any situation that really living my life brings. I believe! Believe!

Bootstraps
Finding your bootstraps is a long process, learning to use them takes tons of practice and attention to detail. Any encouragement received oils the wheels, which drive that train, so my gift is the oil of my experience to make your journey smoother.

Like snowflakes we are each different in nature, appearance, and experience. Our struggles follow suit, cut in assorted shapes then stretched to a pattern made unique by the way we wear them. Struggling without hope is a sure road to life's dead-ends, where even turning around is impossible, so I offer what hope I possess as a way to light your way.

Finding your true potential as a human being is a never ending battle to be free of the things, which try to slow us down, but teach us nothing useful in the process. Sometimes we fight others for control, but the hardest battles are often waged against ourselves. Recognizing whom you are struggling with lets you arm yourself with the proper weapons necessary to make all battles fair fights that you have an even chance of winning.

Any life worth living is rich in both pleasure and pain; the real trick is in learning how to avoid letting the pain of today steal the pleasure of tomorrow. Embracing pain when it comes is not the same thing as wallowing in it. Sadness is not banished once you master your bootstraps, but it does not remain an enemy when it is used as a tool to broaden your self awareness. I do not pretend to know all the answers; hell, I am not even sure I ask all the right questions, but I am certain that it is much more important how you face your problems than what face they wear.

Create

TODAY'S QUOTE:
"I do believe it is possible to create, even without ever writing a word or painting a picture, by simply molding one's inner life. And that too is a deed."... Etty Hillesum

Acceptance of the status quo is a kind of zombie walk through life, where you just act upon whatever facts are presented to you. Everyone has an agenda and buying into everyone else's without even knowing what your own is, means you are forever doomed to failure. So many of us have no clue about what we really think or believe. I know because I was once like that in the extreme.

Nowadays, I know more about myself than I often want to, but good or bad at least I have a clue. I have strong opinions about things that affect my soul. Many brutal lessons have taught me to give special honor to the voice that screams when I get too close to the edge of losing self, but I refuse to sweat the small shit.

Ask me where I want to go and I will most often not have a real opinion on that. I am satisfied inside my three feet of personal space. If I am secure linking it to another persons, where I rest at any given time really matters not all that much. I never get bored when I am alone, either. I am excellent company for myself and an undemanding guest inside of the space others invite me into.

Long ago, I erased the graffiti other people had written inside of me. Back then I was not ever at ease. It is truly impossible to find peace when the people you love demand you be a certain pattern to please them and change its style every time you get close to achieving their goal. Shadow boxing is a pain in the ass when the shadow is you and your punches are directed by others. Creation comes from the inside out. The sky is the limit, when you paint your own masterpiece, using colors you create on a canvas that belongs to you alone.

There comes a time when you admit that the flaws are a part of the picture. There comes a point where you learn to like yourself enough to say to the people viewing what you have become... "Take it or leave it, but do not paint your own design over mine." Try creating your own picture. Life is not a paint by numbers experience. Coloring in someone else's book does not make it your creation.

I received the following as an email. Sharing its message here is my delight. Enjoy and pass it on. Pay it forward, folks.

The Daffodil Principle

Several times my daughter had telephoned to say, "Mother, you must come to see the daffodils before they are over." I wanted to go, but it was a two-hour drive from Laguna to Lake Arrowhead.

"I will come next Tuesday," I promised a little reluctantly on herthird call. Next Tuesday dawned cold and rainy. Still, I had promised, and reluctantly I drove there. When I finally walked into Carolyn's house I was welcomed by the joyful sounds of happy children. I delightedly hugged and greeted my grand children.

"Forget the daffodils, Carolyn! The road is invisible in these clouds and fog, and there is nothing in the world except you and these children that I want to see badly enough to drive another inch!"

My daughter smiled calmly and said, "We drive in this all the time, Mother."

"Well, you won't get me back on the road until it clears, and then I'm heading for home!" I assured her.

"I was hoping you'd take me over to the garage to pick up my car."

"How far will we have to drive?"

"Oh...just a few blocks," Carolyn said. "But I'll drive. I'm used to this."

After several minutes, I had to ask, "Where are we going? This isn't the way to the garage!"

"We're going to my garage the long way," Carolyn smiled, "by wayof the daffodils."

"Carolyn," I said sternly, "please turn around."

"It's all right, Mother, I promise. You will never forgive yourself if you miss this experience." After about twenty minutes, we turned onto a small gravel road and I saw a small church. On the far side of the Church, I saw a hand lettered sign with an arrow that read, "Daffodil Garden."

We got out of the car, each took a child's hand, and I followed Carolyn down the path. Then, as we turned a corner, I looked up and gasped. Before me lay the most glorious sight. It looked as though someone had taken a great vat of gold and poured it over the mountain peak and it's surrounding slopes. The flowers were planted in majestic, swirling patterns, great ribbons and swaths of deep orange, creamy white, lemon yellow, salmon pink, and saffron and butter yellow. Each different-colored variety was planted in large groups so that it swirled and flowed like its own river with its own unique hue. There were five acres of flowers.

"Who did this?" I asked Carolyn.

"Just one woman," Carolyn answered. "She lives on the property. That's her home." Carolyn pointed to a well-kept A-frame house, small and modestly sitting in the midst of all that glory. We walked up to the house. On the patio, we saw a poster. "Answers to the Questions I Know You Are Asking" was the headline.

The first answer was a simple one. "50,000 bulbs," it read.

Thesecond answer was, "One at a time, by one woman. Two hands, two feet, and one brain."

The third answer was, "Began in 1958."

For me, that moment was a life-changing experience. I thought of this woman whom I had never met, who, more than forty years before, had begun, one bulb at a time, to bring her vision of beauty and joy to an obscure mountaintop. Planting one bulb at a time, year after year, this unknown woman had forever changed the world in which she lived. One day at a time, she had created something of extraordinary magnificence, beauty, and inspiration.

The principle her daffodil garden taught is one of the greatest principles of celebration. That is, learning to move toward our goals and desires one step at a time--often just one baby-step at time--and learning to love the doing, learning to use the accumulation of time.

When we multiply tiny pieces of time with small increments of daily effort, we too will find we can accomplish magnificent things. We can change the world.

"It makes me sad in a way," I admitted to Carolyn. "What might I have accomplished if I had thought of a wonderful goal thirty-five or forty years ago and had worked away at it 'one bulb at a time' through all those years? Just think what I might have been able to achieve!"

My daughter summed up the message of the day in her usual directway. "Start today," she said. She was right. It's so pointless to think of the lost hours of yesterdays. The way to make learning a lesson of celebration instead of a cause for regret is to only ask, "How can I put this to use today?"

Use the Daffodil Principle. Stop waiting;

Until your car or home is paid off;

Until you get a new car or home;

Until your kids leave the house;

Until you go back to school;

Until you finish school;

Until you clean the house;

Until you organize the garage;

Until you clean off your desk;

Until you lose 10 lbs;

Until you gain 10 lbs;

Until you get married;

Until you get a divorce;

Until you have kids;

Until the kids go to school;

Until you retire;

Until summer;

Until spring;

Until winter;

Until fall;

Until you die...There is no better time than right now to be happy.THINK ABOUT IT ... LET IT RIDE ... THEN DECIDE ... BUT BEFORE YOU GO CLICK ON THE LINK BELOW AND FINISH THIS MOMENT WITH A WONDERFUL MESSAGE SET TO A SNAPPY TUNE.

http://ca.youtube.com/watch?v=JHKQECOX8PI

The Very Least

TODAY'S QUOTE:
"The very least you can do in your life is to figure out what you hope for. And the most you can do is live inside that hope. Not admire it from a distance but live right in it, under its roof."... Barbara Kingsolver

Hope feeds the soul in such a satisfying way. Like music, it has a tempo that keeps our feet marching, even through the most brutal terrain. A dash of hope cures listlessness and strengthens backbones. Life is irritating in the extreme sometimes... but it is also precious enough to treasure by wrapping it with hope, especially when things are less than perfect.

And...face it folks...less than perfect is reality for us all, no matter our situation in life. But hope smooth's the bumpy patches. It gives breath to the winded. It straightens crooked backs and winding thoughts. It is all we have sometimes, but it is always enough to get us across even the widest of chasms if we allow it to lift us up.

I always hope for a better tomorrow, and see the best in even the darkest today. I view hardship as a challenge and sorrow as a lesson that I must master before I can move on. Opportunities are not all dressed in party clothes, some are ragged and tattered. When doubts try to steal my rhythm, I simply wrap myself with hope and dance forward at whatever pace is possible. Think about it... Let it ride... Then decide---what you hope for... cause that truly is the very least a person ought to know about themselves!!!

Important Shoes

I wore important shoes today, even though I went no place of any import. I just needed a friendly reminder that I’m fully capable of striding anywhere in shoes that appear to own any space they inhabit. You know the ones I mean, girls… they tap with authority no matter what speed we travel.

Sassy shoes full of attitude have a habit of transforming the wearer in the most delightful ways. Hell, just gazing at them standing all alone was enough to straighten my back and lift my chin. Once they caught my eye, I instantly started looking for a skirt. By the time I slipped my feet into them I was some kind of reborn.

All dressed up and no place to go? Hardly seems reason to rejoice, but don’t waste any time feeling sorry for me. In the short space it took me to dress my outside I gathered my insides securly together too. I didn’t only alter my costume… I also changed my focus and studied all my options. I discovered true balance somewhere between my skirt and my shoes.

It proved very liberating. Empowerment begins with the most ordinary steps. Change is in the air and I wish to be the wind beneath my own wings. I may take small steps with pauses now and again, but if I wear important shoes likely nobody else will even notice any hesitation.

Putting on a different costume altered my point of view just enough to be of valuable service. In life it’s often the simplest things that do the most to bring clarity to mind and direction to purpose. Sometimes maps are drawn with hearts blood and other times we just use crayons. Today I made strides toward the future, and I wore important shoes that boldly tapped every footstep with a rhythm that made my soul sing along. Think about it... let it ride... then decide!!!

A Real Masterpiece

TODAY'S QUOTE:
"All of us invent ourselves. Some of us just have more imagination than others."... Cher

The wise never settle for what is as being an acceptable stopping spot in life. They always reach for what could be, and it becomes their reality if the proper pressure is applied. The swing toward the next branch of possibilities is almost effortless. Just a firm lean and their momentum does the hardest part. They create, re-create then tweak all settings until best is a solid reality. Sometime they rest there, letting strength rebuild before slowly climbing up a step and beginning again. The speed of ascent is up to each climber to decide.

The wisest among us know this staircase goes on forever, even though some travelers clearly see nothing but a dead-end ahead. I believe if no steps leading upward are visible you must be looking in the wrong direction. In life, if you cannot go forward then you are really going nowhere worth being anyway. Why stand against any obstacle as if you're in time out, waiting for someone to tell you its okay to leave the corner? Listen closely any of you reading this from the corner… turn around… it's truly okay… flip the script… try forward for a bit.

Self-development really should not be left up to chance to decide. Positive alterations may be more costly, yet they are made of material guaranteed to last a lifetime. Whoever or whatever you believe created heaven and earth is not even an issue here. Evolution is universal in the fashion I describe. Adapting to survive is something we can find examples of most anywhere we turn our attention. And nothing is quite as breathtaking as a human who not only knows how to survive, but has also learned how to thrive. I just firmly believe that if we are busy creating something anyway, why not make the extra effort necessary to shape a real masterpiece? Think about it… let it ride… then decide!!!

Grand Obstacles

TODAY'S QUOTE:
"Let a person rejoice when he is confronted with obstacles, for it means that he has reached the end of some particular line of indifference or folly, and is now called upon to summon up all his energy and intelligence in order to extricate himself, and to find a better way; that the powers within him are crying out for greater freedom, for enlarged exercise and scope."... James Allen

Viewing any trouble as treasure is such a difficult task. Even with practice it never becomes a totally automatic response… easier yes… but auto pilot is just too much to expect. Adjusting to whatever is seen from a distance comes closest to being made up of programmable responses.

Tracking its progress gives set boundaries to work within, allowing us to foam the runway to soften its landing. It’s the shit we don’t see coming that tests our real aptitude as well as stretching our fortitude to its outer limits.

Aptitude is defined as an inherent ability. We all have built in power that even the most enlightened often underestimate, and the clueless totally ignore its reality. Aptitude has a lot to do with attitude. I certainly don’t think any of us should search out grief just to prove who is master and who is slave.

I simply know that it isn’t what we carry… but how we balance it that matters most. The right mind set eases even the worst aches and makes some kind of sense out of any suffering. I’ve had plenty in my life to make me bitter, yet I refuse to put that kind of garbage into my system.

I may panic for a time when I get blindsided, but I never stay on wobble for long. I just take my own advice and think about it, let it ride, then decide… and I always choose to keep the price as low as possible and the profit as steep as I can possibly manage.