DONKEYS AND ELEPHANTS POUND ON MY HEAD

So glad that was the last of the debates.  Head hurts. Tried to keep up with staccato speech on the one hand and fact check on the other and just overwhelmed. Kristen Welker did a great job though of keeping on track. Kudos to her.

Now it is just a waiting game. Art play will hopefully work for sanity through it all.

Fingers crossed, anger in check for now, breathing.

Calm

SEVEN BREATHS

 

Seven breaths.

Reading the book Air Mail by Pam Houston and Amy Irvine, just out today. It is made up of letters between these two wonderful writers from March through May of this year of Covid and deals with not only the pandemic, but politics, environment and more.

At one point Irvine speaks of a video that deals with brain changes that take place when anger or fear or anxiety are triggered. "...the reptilian brain takes over...we cannot resolve conflict, cannot feel compassion, cannot create solutions." It goes on to state that taking seven deep breaths can put one back in the frontal cortex--area of reasoning, calm and empathy.

Wow! Knowing this in the past didn't matter. Reading it in the moment stopped me in my tracks. Too often of late I and so many others have been thrown into that reptilian goo by the daily news updates. Seven breaths. Could it really be this simple? Can the heart pumping upset be stilled so easily? Can I really let go of comments that send me into orbit?

This election year has seen an increase in that heart pounding angst like never before. Sure, it's tripled and then some by dealing with a pandemic, but.... OK. Seven breaths. Seven more, if needed. And even seven more. Would that others around the nation could follow this example...PLEASE

MAKE IT GO AWAY!!!

One of the problems with observing social distancing, it seems to me, is that we get antsy. Wanting, wanting, wanting...to see friends and family, to go out to dinner easily, to take a road trip and feel the freedom of the road, to not need to always have at the edge of things all the "worry."

So many of the days start to feel as if there is a sameness to them that we push against. Still, change does not need to be measured in big ways to still be change.  

If you want something different,

do something different.

"Same crap every day"

doesn't describe the day, 

it describes your attitude toward it.

Steve Marshall

For me, taking a different direction to a different place on a daily walk makes for a variety I like. Looking for new ways to cook things grown in the garden certainly calls for a change of attitude. I always thought my thumb was way too brown for this gardening stuff. Exploring to find new and often exciting authors to read has been a real pleasure. Reading back through old, old journals allows for seeing things in a new light. Trying my hand at new or even sometimes languishing art forms has been fun.

It just seems there is always some way to move away from that "same crap." And, while there is still a wanting, a longing for this pandemic to be past, there has to be for me an attitude adjustment of sorts. I try...and that's the step to doing it for me.

And too good not to share:

baby owls

NEED I SAY MORE?

IS THERE A ROAD MAP?

Is there a road map?

Coyotes howl in the too near distance as nighttime descends here in the canyon. Busy mind wrestles with the cares of the day even as some small creature is probably losing its last hold on life.

On my mind: Our parents lived to be 90 and 104 so people tend to say things about the long life my siblings and I should expect. But, even without a pandemic, that isn't necessarily so. As I worked on things related to our mother's trust earlier in the day, the fact that my brother had passed not long after mother even though he was just 75 was on my mind. No guarantees.

And so, no guarantees? Then shouldn't we rightly grab onto all of life that we can while we can, living it to what is fullness for each of us? I say yes. Grab onto the mane of that horse called Life and ride for all you are worth.

Sure, there's Covid-19 and I am not advocating tossing your mask, foregoing social distancing, or any other foolhardy actions. But what can you do to live fully within the confines of what is given? Find it. We do not have to live in fear, negativity, and anger. Seek the joy in each day that fulfills you. As that slogan says, "Just do it!" 

Ride with the wind at your back and a smile on your face.

WHAT MATTERS MOST

Essential playtime

"Is your life organized around what matters most to you?" In my earlier counseling/coaching days this was a staple question asked of clients. It popped into my head again today as I commiserated with myself about the many things that seem near impossible these Covid days.

As the question and the commiserations rambled around in my mind I realized that, while there are so many things like time with family and friends and road trips and teaching workshops--things that matter A LOT to me--other things have begun to show up that still feed my soul. 

My brown-thumb gardening attempts are challenging and yet showing signs of success. Finding ways to stay in touch with friends and family calls on creativity at times. Enjoying the time for reading, watching webinars of unfamiliar, often intriguing authors reading their work and talking about the process of writing for them. Taking ever longer walks and exploring new pathways. These things have begun to fill the time in fascinating ways that have begun to "matter" too.

We humans are really pretty adaptive so perhaps what matters most can adapt and evolve as well.

The sun shines not on us, but in us. The rivers flow not past, but through us, thrilling, tingling, vibrating every fiber and cell of the substance of our bodies, making them glide and sing. (John Muir)

LEST WE FORGET

Low tide

Feet mooshing in sand

Sun kissing skin

Breeze ruffling hair

Sanderlings skittering

Gulls squatting together

Waves lapping onshore

Glorious

Blessings

Gratitude

Joys of being alive in the moment