Peace and Good Things

Oh! The learning curve! I think i'd like to start doing some youtube videos. But I'm definitely going to need a tutorial. I used to work in computers but now...it appears google is integrated into everything but I don't know who I am where across all these platforms! However! Here's a video of me checking in on my plant babies this past Equinox! My hard cuts appear to not have accidentally killed anything and my new plantings from last fall might just have made it! Looking forward to a good stretch of 50 degree nights so that I can start the spring clean up!

ostara garden walk Walked my garden the other day to check on my babies...My hard cuts didn't kill anything and my new plantings from last year seem to be coming back. Oh, and...

I’m a life long healer open to organically growing my tribe and life experience.

Ran across this today and it struck a cord. I've grown less wild over the years, that's for sure. And I prize the spoils of the civilized me. But I do have this niggling suspicion that I've lost something too. This bears some thinking on. What does it mean to you?

I wonder how old the people who wrote these were when they wrote them. And I've been wondering on that for a while now. I saved the Bukowski quote ages ago and it kept popping up to post when I randomly clicked into the list in my "content folder" and I'd have to delete it and choose again because I had THOUGHTS and likely needed to write a blog post on it. And then my sissy sent me this other one last night and it is gorgeous and still...I have thoughts. These seem, to me, the dying wishes of young people.

A dear client is gently passing as I type. Maybe today, maybe next week. She is going to sleep for longer and longer and will not wake up from one of them. She is surrounded by love and being tenderly taken care of. Death will not tremble to take her. And she has aged so gracefully that when she goes it will be with a whisper and a kind word.

I have raged through the world. And Death must have trembled at the thought of taking me because otherwise I should be dead, significantly maimed or famous. I could have written those words. But this, quite honestly, has now become my dying wish. The dying wish of middle age. The living wish of a person who wants nothing more than to sip coffee in the morning, floss every evening, chew slowly, explore the world around her and work on building their compassion for self and others. Now I am grateful for the gentleness of my life. And I could wish for nothing more than to go out with a whisper and a kind word.

All potentials are there. Your gaze matters.

Happy New Moon Spring Equinox! That's a glorious bit of awesomeness rolled up into a couple few days. What do you want to accomplish this Spring? Dream big with small goals...

How to Make the Moon and the Sun Your Accountability Partners Happy Ostara! Are you looking for a system to help reach your goals? Maybe the moon and sun can help.

Taking yin yoga classes at Balancing Owl Yoga helps me with pretty much all of the below...Give them a follow. She posts delightful memes.

So, I struggle to eat breakfast. And I think eating SOMETHING before I start work is a good idea. I bought a box of Kodiak Frozen Protein Waffles. They were edible but not great. Saw this mix at Aldi's and decided to make my own. They are much tastier. It's hard to compare nutrition apples to apples but they look fairly comparable. Also, 10 waffles in the kodiak box for $5.66-$6.49 and 14 waffles in the Aldi box for $3.49 so that's nice. Also: I believe there are 3 cups of mix in the box, not 4.5 as you would think from the nutritional label. So I made the whole box at: 3c mix with 2c water. And added a healthy glug of vanilla. Also, they aren't lying when they tell you to spray cooking spray on your griddle. :D Oh! And if you let the batter sit for a hot minute it aerates itself.

Probably should have googled how to properly store these guys in the freezer but, well, fingers crossed there!

Is there actually some secret wisdom here? You decide!

I saw a big fat mamma the other day sitting saucily outside my window on the honeysuckle. But I got to wondering...I never thought of robins as migratory birds. And yet they do herald the Spring. So I googled. And the answer was delightful. Imma plant them some fruiting trees...

Ask Kenn: Are American Robins Really a Sign of Spring? Long considered a harbinger of warmer weather, the robin's seasonal movements are surprisingly complex, writes bird expert Kenn Kaufman.

I have, imperfectly (always imperfectly), taken to not bothering to talk about all the stupid s**t that goes wrong in my day. Makes it a lot easier for those little problems to not get any bigger than they already feel. We also know that a gratitude practice is powerful medicine for the brain. But also, when you talk about your blessings more than your problems, you often discover that your blessings are your problem solvers. And that's a neat thing.

I'm working on doing my share on the group project! Join me!

Living is such a broad word. More than paying the bills, for sure. Though we spend a lot of hours at just that pursuit. But it doesn't really matter if you're paying the bills or loving your neighbor or maintaining close relationships or making art or cooking or sitting in the sunshine or walking through the woods or improving your health or or or. Do your best. Your best is enough.

So I bought two of these cards...two of my friends will be getting them at some point, not when they are ill, but when they need to be reminded that it's okay to rest. But how telling of deeper, unhealthy thinking in our current society and culture that we'd need to remind someone that resting when they are sick is okay. Sigh. SIGH SIGH SIGH.

That said...I am grateful that my first massage of the day isn't until 2pm because I had a bad allergic reaction and HAD to take anti-histamines. And this makes me HIGH AS A KITE. WHich I am not enjoying and is totally ruining my plans for my morning.

And so I post this card to myself because I need to find the grace in this situation. Also, I need someone to come and make me breakfast. I am hungry. But I canna move from this couch. :D

Ah, but what does it mean to live?

Want to make this easier to do? Lay on your back and rest your fingers on your sternum. That's the bone that your ribs attach into. Feel them sink in and then picture them sliding towards the ribs. Add a little actual movement to that picturing. Work up and down the length of it slowly. Which side they move to will depend on which hand you are using :D

It's likely to be tender. Be gentle, but do not worry. Lean into that vulnerability.

You could also try this in the chair you are sitting in RIGHT NOW. But it won't be quite as nice and peaceful. But it will be useful.

Pablo Picasso didn't say this. Which isn't surprising. He was generally a horrid man.

But Ralph Waldo Emerson said something super compelling along these lines:
Rings and jewels are not gifts, but apologies for gifts. The only gift is a portion of thyself. Thou must bleed for me. Therefore the poet brings his poem; the shepherd, his lamb; the farmer, corn; the miner, a stone; the painter, his picture; the girl, a handkerchief of her own sewing.

It seems this quote was actually "stolen" by a bunch of people in various articles and speeches when it was actually written by a psychiatrist, David Viscott, in a volume of meditations that he published. But, as is often the case, they watered it down into a more comfortable version. The quote really reads:

The purpose of life is to discover your gift.
The work of life is to develop it.
The meaning of life is to give your gift away.

And now you know...the rest of the story.

I love this a lot. I am a big fan of companionable silence. And on top of gifting silence I will make you a beverage, make certain your seat is comfy and that snacks are at hand.

Minus that first line...life coaches are designed to help get you here, I'd say...therapists too...but minus that first line I love this SO very much. If you really take the time to read it and think about what it means...gorgeous. Truly gorgeous.

Today is not the day for this....today is a day for raking up the gazillion sweet gum balls from my front yard...now, before the grass starts growing and it becomes impossible. But I DO have a walk in the woods with two of my favorite walkings companions on my schedule...and that is a good thing. And I WILL commune with my tree matriarch as I'm raking this afternoon. I love her. Deeply.

I truly don't understand why people hoard wealth. But I sure do understand valuing food and cheer.

Been working on cataloging my crystals and why I bought them. Finished another page in my this morning. It’s a nice growing collection of all sorts of things I want to remember and be able to revisit

Death, taxes and clutter, my friends. You can count on all three...

There IS such a thing as creative chaos, for sure. One needs only to look at the ever changing array of project parts on my dining table to know that. But clutter, a tide of things that have no place and/or no purpose is not peaceful. Be it in your home or your head. There are no absolutes, that is true. And exceptions exist for everything. But for the vast majority of people, handling their clutter will lead to increased happiness, peacefulness and productivity. It's a never ending mission, you can never stop fightin the good fight...which can make it seem like a "why bother" goal. But...as they say in Galaxy Quest..."Never give up. Never surrender." And if you work at it long enough...it does get easier. I'm oh...35 or so years into the process...and I think I've started to get somewhere. Heh.

February is a month of grief in my world and for those I love. Grief has many faces. This...this speaks eloquently to one of them.

What are you doing with your weekend to make it feel like a mini retreat?