Blushing

TFTD

We are changed through loving and being loved. Our attitudes are profoundly and positively affected by the presence of love in our lives. Each time we offer a loving response to a friend, co-worker, even a stranger, we powerfully influence the dynamics of the interaction between us.

Every response we make to someone changes us while it informs him or her. When we treat others with disdain, we invite the same. When we express only criticism of others, our self-assessment is equally negative. The beauty of a loving posture is that it calls forth love in response. The more love we give away, the more we receive.

Any task before us is lessened when we carry love in our hearts. Love is more powerful than fear. Love helps to open the channel, assuring us of the strength, the understanding, and the patience needed to complete any assignment confronting us.

Another Fairy Reminder

Replenish Yourself

Some of us don’t know how tired we are until we try to relax. Then we realize we’re exhausted.

We may have lived with exhaustion and stress so long it’s become habitual. That doesn’t mean we’re bad or wrong, or even off track. Many of us are deeply involved in activities, work, projects, and relationships we enjoy. We like our lives and the things we’re doing. But sometimes we’ve pushed too hard or too long. Sometimes we haven’t given our bodies adequate time to relax, to rest, to really let go.

It’s all right to take time out. Relax. Refresh. Regroup. It’s all right to rest even if we’re busy, rest often enough to keep ourselves replenished. Get in touch with your body, then stay in touch with yourself.

Lunch out

TFTD

Even the best of us get tricked from time to time. Someone comes along and impresses us with magic. Later we discover it wasn’t magic, just illusions.

Sometimes the issue isn’t that people were trying to trick us. We tricked ourselves. We saw what we wanted to see, regardless of what reality was. Then, when reality started to creep in, we told ourselves if we held our breath and didn’t feel our feelings and hoped long and hard enough, reality would change.

We don’t have to get mad at ourselves when we get tricked, even if we’ve fooled ourselves. We need to see and acknowledge the truth and become aware of what reality is.

Don’t let your embarrassment over finding yourself in a bad situation cloud your view of yourself. Sometimes all we need to do is acknowledge the truth, including the truth about how we feel. In a few days or a few months, the solution will become clear.

When all the illusions drop away, that’s when real magic begins. You’ll be guided along your path.

Listen worthy

Happy OnlyCuzHeLikesTurkey Day

Yup....happens every year.  At least he's consistent?

What time will the kids be here?

Well, you said 3 so I told them 2 and they'll be here noonish.  :-)

What part of that doesn't make sense to a reasonably intelligent human being.  :-/
 You always tell 'em an hour earlier -- that way you have squiggle room, and they have squiggle room.
And if they arrive promptly, you wanna rip coats off, tear off boots and mittens, shove 'em in chairs and toss napkins in their general direction without even so much as a "Happy Thanksgiving!!" cuz 3 in HIS world means outta the oven, rested, carved, stuff is on the table, drinks are poured, fork IN hand 3?!!

And the "noonish"....cuz they're coming early?

Why that has to equate to a sudden flurry of activity, I'll never know.
It's not like they changed his 3.  They'll just be here earlier.  I'm not sure he's figured that out yet.....
It's all good, though.  I like watching him race around like a crazed man, trying to get three things done at once when he's a 'one thing at a time' kinda fella.  It's good fun!  Cheap entertainment!!  LOL
So....I'm just gonna sip my coffee, enjoy my blueberry muffin......and watch.
I'll stop him before he actually shoves anything on the oven.  :-)

Captured Memory 27

Reading for the Day

When people start on a spiritual path, they are anxious to learn all the rules. This is understandable, even necessary. Often we need stern measures to set ourselves right.

But dogmatism is not spirituality. Sometimes, it is necessary to break rules. The task is to know how to go against doctrine in a way that actually fulfills the spirit of that doctrine. It is only at this point that one matures as a follower of Tao.

The next stage is complete creativity. You have so internalized doctrine that you need not think of it, yet everything you do will be spontaneously correct. There are many stages after that, stages not documented but there for you to explore on your own.

Those who follow Tao recognize that all people go through stages of development. Many people leave their spiritual communities when they outgrow them. The path of Tao has been conceived so that one never outgrows it. One can outgrow a particular stage, but when that happens, there is another one to be entered. In this way, following Tao is always vital.

Captured Memory 26

Captured Memory 25

Daily Reminder

The specter of change builds dread in most of us. We fear the effects on our personal lives. We lack faith that the impending change will benefit us. Only time can assure us of that. And it will, just as every change we’ve survived up to now has done.

Changes are gifts, really. They come as hallmarks to our present attainments. They signify successful growth. How we struggle to understand this, and how quickly we forget it once we have adapted to the change. The struggle is then repeated the next time change visits us.

We long for permanence, believing it guarantees security.  Therein lies the delusion.  If we were to experience total lack of change, we’d find death. Life is challenge, continued change, always endurable and growth-enhancing. We can reflect on what’s gone before, and trust that which faces us now.

Nuts, more snow

Daily Reading

We’re striving for acceptance – acceptance of our past, other people, our present circumstances, and ourselves. Acceptance brings peace, healing, and freedom – the freedom to take care of ourselves.

Acceptance is not a one step process. Before we achieve acceptance, we go toward it in stages of denial, anger, negotiating, and sadness. We call these stages the grief process. Grief can be frustrating. It can be confusing. We may vacillate between sadness and denial. Our behaviors may vacillate. Others may not understand us. We may neither understand our own behavior nor ourselves while we’re grieving our losses. Then one day, things become clear. The fog lifts, and we see that we have been struggling to face and accept a particular reality.

Don’t worry. If we are taking steps to take care of ourselves, we will move through this process at exactly the right pace. Be understanding with yourself and others for the very human way we go through transition.

Captured Memory 24

Fairy Reminder

Open Up to Your Connection

Many religions teach about interconnectedness, the subtle effect each person and each movement in the universe has on all the others. I was profoundly reminded of this teaching at Chaco Canyon in New Mexico. In the remnants of the Anasazi culture can be found symbols for the connections the people believed in, taught, and lived. One dwelling was a structure in which over eight hundred rooms were built in a connected circle. Each room touched the next, and the structure contained all the areas the people needed to work, to live, to play, and to worship.

An exhibit in the visitor’s center describes the spiritual philosophy of the descendants of the Anasazi. The Pueblo people live at the center of their universe, all things are interconnected and form a part of the whole. Where the sky and the earth touch are the boundaries for all things to live. All things share in the essence of life through cycles of birth and death.” Although the walls of the circular structure have crumbled and the Anasazi themselves have disappeared, the Pueblo philosophy still symbolizes the way we’re connected to each other today.

Take time to remember how connected you are. You are connected not just to the people you’ve met and know, but to all who live, past and present, in this world. You are part of a dance, the magical dance of the universe taking place each moment in time.

Even if you live alone, you’re part of a large family. Even if you work alone, you’re really part of a team. Take time to honor your connections, and the impact of each person you’ve met. See how people have helped shape you; see how you’ve touched and shaped them. Each interaction creates a ripple affect; each encounter helps shape destiny.

Captured Memory 23

Holding On To The Intangile

Sometimes the unexpected things that manifest are better than what we can imagine or see.

I'm trying, really I am.  But I'm one of those visual and experiential learners.  Letting go of what I can't see, holding on to the intangible isn't one of my areas of expertise.....and is that even possible.  I mean, seriously.
"Tangible" is something one can grasp.  
So how do you hang on to something you can't grasp?!

I know I overthink stuff, that I tend to complicate the simple.
And I can hear WPIML telling me "LET GO!".

So I try to just do "right" with whatever gets handed to me...buy time and try to have fun in the present circumstances.  Keep track of the JOYS and be of service whenever there's opportunity.

*sigh*
Certainly this can't be "it".
Hang on to the intangible cuz it very well could manifest into something wilder than I could conjur up in this creative brain!!

Holy cow.....

Hahaha.....maybe my FEAR isn't unfounded after all!

Daily Reading

Let go of what you can’t see,too

Let life unfold, even if you can’t see the good that you want coming your way. Are you worried about what’s going to happen next? Has there been a shift in your job or relationship that makes you tense?

Let life unfold. Don’t limit it by the past or even by what you see and visualize. Don’t deny that you feel discouraged or anxious. Let today unfold. Then tomorrow, do the same. If you’ve been worrying about something and you can’t see how it could possibly work out and there’s nothing to do now, then relax and let things unfold.

Sometimes the unexpected things that manifest are better than what we can imagine or see. 

Winter touched

Fairy Material

I’m learning that for a variety of reasons, I’ve spent much of my life focusing on form rather than substance. My focus has been on having my hair done perfectly, wearing the right clothes, having my makeup applied perfectly, living in the right place, furnishing it with the right furniture, working at the right job, and having the right man. Form, rather than substance, has controlled my behavior in many areas of my life. Now, I’m finally getting to the truth. It’s substance that counts.

–Anonymous

There is nothing wrong in wanting to look our best. Whether we are striving to create a self, a relationship, or a life, we need to have some solid ideas about what we want that to look like.

Form gives us a place to begin. But for many of us, form has been a substitute for substance. We may have focused on form to compensate for feeling afraid or feeling inferior. We may have focused on form because we didn’t know how to focus on substance.

Form is the outline; substance is what fills it in. We fill in the outline of ourselves by being authentic; we fill in the outline of our life by showing up for life and participating to the best of our ability.

Now we’re learning to pay attention to how things work and feel, not just to what they look like.

Captured Memory 22

Fairy Reminder

You Are on Time

Quit wondering, worrying, and blaming yourself for being late. Or worse yet, missing the boat.

“Nothing else in the universe frets about being late. Does the moon ask itself if it’s where it should be? Does the sun say, “I must hurry, else I’ll be late?” a friend asked one evening when I was worrying about not being on time.

Stare up into the sky on a beautiful moonlit night. Feel the quiet, timeless rhythm of the planets, the moon, the stars, the universe. Know that you’re connected, tuned into a rhythm deeper and more secure than all your wondering could imagine. Breathe deeply. Relax. Let your pace spring from knowing that inside your heart.

Trust the rhythm of the universe. You are right where you need to be. You’ll get where you need to go. You have all the time you need.

Vacancy

Feelin' the love

Well, I thought it was funny you weren't here when I got here at 6a.m.--

6a.m?....let's be honest here...

Yeah, well....AS I WAS SAYIN' ... I thought it was funny you weren't here at six thirtySEVEN in the mornin' to greet me with your usual happy greeting.

Ummmm....honesty?

Right....I said six thityseven.

I was referring to the phrase "your usual happy greeting".

Oh, THAT.  Your usual grumpy grumbling then.

Better!  G'head....

But then I figured you were off some place doin' what it is that you do....whatever it is that you do do....  But then you weren't here the NEXT mornin' and I thought "Huh....she musta took some time off without tellin'us little folk."

Hold on..."little folk"?  LITTLE folk?!

Well.....ya know....us folks who're shorter than you.

Ah.....I see....so on the THIRD morning when I wasn't here to grumble at your short little self FINALLY showing up for work AT SIX FOURTYFIVE-let's be rigorously honest here--you concluded what?

*insert a lengthy, thoughtful pause*


You were playin hide and seek with us .........and weren't none of us lookin' for ya.  Wonder why?


OMG....How can you NOT love smartarsed IT fellas like that?!

Fairy Dust

“I am the inferior of any man whose rights I trample underfoot.”

– Horace Greeley

Now I can see my feelings of inferiority in the assumed arrogance of my past behavior. Now I see that behind the pride was the need to prove myself. The manipulation was a cover for my insecurity.

At some point years ago I accepted the idea that I was not good enough and needed to pretend to be something different.

 Money, friends, fast cars and debts were all drawn into the delusion.

Today I am learning to accept me. I am not a millionaire, I will probably never be a millionaire and so I do not need to adopt the lifestyle of a millionaire! I work in an office. I drive a Ford. But today I am happy. Today I can pay my bills. Today I have friends who are involved in my life. Today I do not have to put people down to feel important. Today I have discovered that the people I treated with disdain are just like me.

Captured Memory 21

ppffftttt.....

Well, I've graduated from a spike through the eye to.....sandpaper.  In both eyes....
*sigh*

Why is it I can't just get whatever like normal people?
Oh wait...I can answer that.

No worries.  There's another appointment for tomorrow.
And for the record, I like using a week of paid leave for this crap.
:-/

Ah well...I put some beads together for decorating my work station...IF I ever get back there.  I'm keeping it simple.  Blue and white withe snowflakes and snowmen.  And the guest station I'm putting together is all about "brown paper packages tied up with string" *humming!* so that'll take us well into winter with more snowflakes and wee mittens.

The gals keep joking that I oughta go "professional".  LOL. They couldn't pay me enough.  I have fun doing it now....don't spoil a good thing!

The good news is I'm no longer contagious....the bad news is I can't convince himself who walks around with his canister of disinfectant wipes at ready.

Good thing they were "Buy one get one free"!!

Thought for Today

Never turn down a job because you think it’s too small; you don’t know where it can lead.

How short is our vision of where an invitation might take us! Any invitation. Of one thing we can be certain, it offers an opportunity for making a choice, which means taking responsibility for who we’re becoming. Choice making is growth enhancing because it strengthens our awareness of personal power.

Our lives unfold in small measures, just as small as they need to be for our personal comfort. It’s doubtful that we could handle everything the future has in store, today; however, we will be prepared for it, measure by measure, choice by choice, day by day. We need not fear; what is meted out to us in the invitations offered is for our benefit. We are on a pathway to goodness.

The thrill of making choices is new to many of us. We’d opted for the passive life, all too often, and we became increasingly aware of, and often depressed by, our self-imposed powerlessness. Free at last! We are free at last to fully participate in our lives.

Fairy Diddy

Sometimes we get stuck in our own way of seeing things. We may feel as if everything that happens, happens to us or for us. 

If it rains, we may think about our ruined picnic and not about the dry fields that need the rain. We need to focus on the big picture. 

This keeps us from becoming self-centered. 

If it rains, we’ll gather indoors and be glad for the farmers. 

When we do our part, things go well. When we don’t we feel it. Every else feels it too. Self pity keeps us from doing our part.

....rawrr and grrrr....

Conjunctivitis, she says.  And you've got it good.
Really, I said.

24-48 hour on some eyedrops.
Been here before, I told her....it took some "kick-ass" expensive eyedrops and some greasy eyeball ointment cuz apparently I'm difficult to treat.

She was nice enough when she told me if it wasn't better in 2 days to come back.
I don't wanna "come back".

*sigh*  I don't like when my normal doc can't see me and I have to deal with doctors that I've not known long enough to train.

24-48 hours.....sheesh.
I just want the "someone shoved a spike in my eyeball" sensation to go away.

Wisdom from the fairy

“Words cannot describe the sense of spiritual awareness that we receive when we have given something, no matter how small, to another person.”

Basic Text p. 100

Sometimes it seems as though there is so much wrong with the world that we might as well forget trying to make a difference. “After all,” we think, “what in the world can I do? I’m just one person.” Whether our concerns are so broad that we desire global peace or so personal that we simply want help made available to every person who wants it, the task seems overwhelming. “So much work to do, so little time,” we sigh, sometimes wondering how we’ll ever do any good.

Amazingly enough, the smallest contributions can make the biggest difference. To gain more from life than an ordinary, plodding existence requires very little effort on our parts. We ourselves are transformed by the deep satisfaction we experience when we lift the spirits of just one person. When we smile at someone who is frowning, when we let someone in front of us on the freeway, when we call someone just to say we care, we enter the realm of the extraordinary.

Want to change the world? Start with the person sitting next to you tonight, and then imagine your act of kindness multiplied. One person at a time, each one of us makes a difference.

Bridging the season

Today's Reading from the Reading Fairy

Today I will be honest with myself and with others where appropriate. At least, I will no hide from the truth of my own life and inner being. I have the strength to live with the truth and the wisdom to know that the truth can set me free. 

Keeping secrets is a foolish attempt to stay safe from the truth. We tell ourselves we are sparing another person or protecting ourselves, but all too often the secrets that we keep actually keep us. What people need from me in order to make sense of me is the truth. 

When I withhold that truth, I withhold myself. I am creating distance that no one can cross because the way across the divide is the way of honesty. I can not make something better by lying, and I cannot be fully understood if I won ‘t give the benefit of the truth. I can live my life in a web of lies without ever uttering a falsehood. 

The web of lies is composed of not just what I say, but the vast amount of honesty that I withhold. There is a difference between considerate honesty and aggressive frankness. Honesty recognizes the personhood of both people and is an act of trust; but too much frankness can border on mean.

Snow on the pumpkins

Summer clothes got packed up and drug downstairs.
Another tote was gone through and stuff tossed out.  (It's good to take advantage of himself being out of the house for the morning...)
Back flowerboxes got brought in.
Front flowerboxes got brought in.
Air conditioner got covered up.
Garage got swept out.
Milkcans got brought in.
Flowerpot and bricks from the patio got brought in.
Local shop got visited and I snagged some holiday pretties.
Walked around the pond and picked up more honey locut pods.
Went to the park and picked up more pine cones.
Went to Walmart after himself got home for brussel sprouts.  LOL
Baked pinecones and curly pods.
Stuffed pinecones into a few mason jars....one which he toted down to his work room.

And now we have snow.
LOL
White stuff....I'm thinkin' snow angel!!

Fairy Diddy

Courage is what it takes to stand up and speak; 

courage is also what it takes to sit down and listen.

–Winston Churchill

Fairy Dust

I search for silver linings, for the deeper meaning of the events in my life. Life is my teacher if I can learn to read the subtle messages that are laced into the circumstances that I co-create around me. I will look for the lesson. When life offers up its inevitable challenges, I will try to understand what I am meant to see that I am not seeing, what I am meant to hear that I am not hearing, what I am meant to know that I am not knowing. 
There is always a silver lining if I look for it. Even if I don’t see it readily, I trust that it is there and that it will reveal itself to me over time. Life isn’t simple. One of the ways that I can grow from life’s adversities, is to see what is positive about a difficult situation, to look for the silver lining. I can grow in joy and in pain. It doesn’t need to be one or the other because pain can transform into joy. It can be the fire that clears the field for new and tender growth.

– Tian Dayton PhD

The Closed Door

Tomorrow

I'll go tomorrow.

I waited three days to check the obituaries.
And even then I checked late in the day....I was going to check Tuesday, but I was sick.....so I was going to check "tomorrow".

And then Wednesday happened.
And I worked, but I was so flipping tired that I collapsed on the couch until I pried myself off to fall into bed....one more time I mumbled that I'd check "tomorrow".


Today I checked, too late to be responsive...so I'll go tomorrow.   Or....if I don't,  I'll miss the opportunity  to "pay my respects", whatever that means.... I respected the man in real life...and he knew that.
If there's anything that I know I do well, it's letting people know that they MATTER.
*sigh*

This is where I get pissy and start an argument-- I must say, I avoid and do denial well.
I don't want to go.  Funerals always jerk me back to that "five year old" place.  That blurred place of darkness mixed with confusion and sheer terror....
I'm not five years old.
I know more today.


I'll go tomorrow.

Fairy Reading

Things derive their being and nature from mutual dependence and are nothing by themselves.

–Nagarjuna

We are dependent on much around us, not just for our survival, but for our joy. We need food, water, and the comapny of our fellow travelers on this great journey.

We can be self-sufficient in our attitude to take care of ourselves, yet we need the world around us in order to live and to be fully alive.

We are one part of a whole. We are a complete part, but nonetheless, a part. We need the other parts. The other parts need us.

Just as we’re influenced and impacted by those who touch us, we influence and impact them with our thoughts, words, and behaviors. We cannot control others. Look at the difference in our relationships when we speak gently and lovingly, and when we scream.

While it is great to revel in the blessing of existence, the world becomes more interesting and alive when we recognize everyone and everything else in it,too. This body cannot be without the sustenance of food, and our soul’s experience here would be greatly reduced were it not for the company of other spirits we have met.

While we do not need to live up to anyone’s expectations of us, we need to remember that our actions will impact those around us. Yes, we have the liberty to think, feel, and behave however we choose. But what we do will touch the lives of others.

We are not responsible for other people. But we have responsibilities to them.

Revel in your freedom. But revere and honor your connection to the world around you. Take responsibility for how you touch and connect with everything and everyone in your life today.

Live reverently, compassionately, and respectfully toward yourself and all else in the world.

Fairy Alert!

You don’t have to fear change. What you need to fear, a friend once told me, is things remaining the same. When that happens, life has stopped.

Life is an evolution. Your life is constantly, quietly evolving each moment into something new, something different, something that adds gracefully, beautifully, and perfectly to what was. You can trust that process with all its insights, clarity, confusion, and emotions. You can trust that process with its peace, joy, laughter, and its side trips.

Learn to honor and love the process of continual evolution and transformation. It’s how things grow. It’s how you grow. It’s how life is.

TFTD

We are not meant to be just like anyone else. Comparison will leave us uncomfortable, either on the side of pride or of inadequacy.

You are you. The wonder of life comes in finding your own rhythm to the dance, your own way of seeing the world, your own brush stroke, phrase, or special combination.

There is an old story about a writer who goes to his teacher and says, “Teacher, all the stories have already been told. There is no need for me to write. Everything that needs to be said has already been written.”

“It’s true that there are no new stories,” the teacher said. “The universal lessons have been taking place for a long, long time. And the same themes have influenced humanity since time began. But no one sees that story through your eyes. And no one else in the world will tell that story exactly the way you will. Now return to your desk, pick up your pen, and tell the world what you see.”

The beauty of the world lies both in our differences and in our similarities. Allow the beauty that is channeled through you to be flavored with your own special perspective on the world.

There’s a difference between ego and personality. Drop the ego. Let your personality, in all its glories and foibles and eccentricities, come shining through.

Respect how much you have in common with other people.

Then be uniquely you.

Captured Memory 20

Fairy Thoughts

Love, a thousand, thousand voices,

From night to dawn,

from dawn to night,

Have cried the passion

of their choices

To orb your name and keep it bright.

–William Rose Benet

We are each in the midst of unique lives, and our choices are based on our own experiences, so it’s only natural that they all be different. One of us may choose to go to jail for protesting nuclear weapons; another may choose to pray for peace. Both are working for the same goal.

It is a sign of our love to respect others’ right to choose for themselves, even to make choices we may not agree with. Perhaps a brother or sister likes music we hate, or a son or daughter wants to wear an unusual style of clothing. How often do we, in the name of love, try to force our choices on others? When we give the gift of letting loved ones choose what is right for them, it strengthens our ability to choose what is right for us.

Whose choices can I honor today, even if I disagree?

Legos and a new toothbrush

Yup.

It's happened.
She wants to play teacher.
She wants to go through a whole pad of sticky notes, hiding notes she scribbles out with words she sounds out--and no she doesn't want help so they're spelled correctly, thank you.
She wants to watch "Alice in Wonderland" and tells you "Dumbo doesn't keep my attention".
She wants to know, constantly, what we're going to do next.
She wants to create and make and DO.
She wants a new toothbrush, but not one with Elmo on it.
She wants to do it herself and against your direction to wait for help, she forges ahead, watching you the whole time, giving you her "see, I can do it" when she succeeds and her quiet"sorry....." when she does not.
She wants to play with Legos and make cars and spaceships....and she wants to go through the toys and take out the "baby toys".

She wants to sleep by herself....but can't quite do it......yet.
That'll happen, too.


So savor the knees in the back, the hug to the head and the stealing of the covers....the "read Llama Llama Red Pajama again".
As many times as she wanted.....both nights...

Captured Memory 19

Fairy Reminder

To live a creative life, we must lose our fear of being wrong.

–Joseph Chilton Pearce

Creativity isn’t just something we do.

Being creative doesn’t mean just drawing pictures, writing books, or sculpting statues out of clay. There’s not a limited pot of creativity available only to the artists.

Creativity is a vital living force in the universe that is available to each of us, to assist us in living our lives. All we need to do to align ourselves with that force is let go of our fears.

Need a new idea on how to fix that room, that thesis, that relationship? Need an idea about how to fix your life? Let yourself be creative. Encourage your ideas to flow. Listen to your intuition, to your spirit.

Listen to that small idea you have, the one you have so much passion for. Let go of your rational thought process just for a moment. Let creativity help you live your life. 

Another Reading....

There’s a “refresh” button you can click on the computer when you’re on-line. It makes the computer operate more efficiently.

Sometimes we get a little sluggish,too. We’ve been pushing too hard. Mulling the same thoughts over and over. Doing the same things over and over. Sometimes we need a change of scenery. Sometimes we need to refresh our thoughts with prayer, meditation, a few words from a friend, or spending some time with a good book.

Maybe it’s our bodies that need refreshing. We need a cold beverage, a brisk walk, a nap, or a hot shower.

Maybe we need a bigger refreshment, a weekend at a spa, a vacation. Even if our budget is low, we can pitch a tent in a park and take in the refreshing beauty of the world around us.

Look around. The world abounds with refreshments. The next time you get bogged down, stop pushing so hard. Do what you need to do to become efficient and operate with ease.

Refresh yourself.

Evaporation

Joys

 

Friday—woohoo!!

Pink Ribbon Sunrises

The Cinderella Pumpkin on my desk

The Mason Jar with Sunflowers in it

Watching the IT fella combat static cling

The work stations that are awaiting fall decorations

STUFF I collected for decorating purposes

Excellent coffee made by yours truly

The gourdy guys and lights and leaves on the  top of my work station

 

 

Whoda thought showing up for work could give you a good start on the list for the day.  And I arrived at 6am—the lights came on at 8.  Something about working without fluorescent lights is appealing to me.

 

This evening we’ll pick up the Bug and have a whole weekend of one Joy after another.  Hewholovesherhugely has plans—they’re  raking leaves (which oughta be a hoot!).

I think I’ll be in charge of the hot cocoa one they’re done.  Or, maybe I’ll be in charge of instigating a leaf fight (doubt that’ll be my job—pretty sure granddad has one on his agenda……)

 

They’re all over, those Joys.  It’s just a matter of hanging on to them and not letting the little things in life take up space in your head.

Yeahyeah……I say that knowing they’ll evaporate into thin air once something stupid gets my attention.

*sigh*  Maybe I need to put that “Joys” list around my neck.

 

WHY do I continue to let go of things I need to hang on to and hang on to things I need to let go of.
Oy......

Fairy Reading

Don’t worry and fuss about what you’re going to do tomorrow, or how tomorrow’s answers will come. The way to get through a task, a day, a life is to stay in the present moment.

Racing, pushing, trying to force things forward doesn’t work. Not anymore. Hurrying will not speed up the process, or the journey. In fact, if you race ahead of yourself, you may find you need to go back, return to the parts you skipped over, and go through it again fully present.

Yes, there are times we need to press on, times we need tp push a bit more. But hurrying won’t speed up the process. It will just keep us tense, out of step. To speed up the process, we need to fully immerse ourselves in the moment and then focus our energy, our presence, our emotions, our thoughts, and our heart.

Stay in the present moment. Listen to your heart right now. Be gentle and loving with yourself right now. Be open to the guidance around you right now, guidance that will make the present moment come alive.

The NoIdidn'tbutIshoulda pumpkin

TFTD

Fight one more round.  When your feet are so tired you have to shuffle back to the center of the ring, fight one more round.

–  James J. Corbett

One of the problems we most frequently hear about when a person is ill, whether it be mentally or physically, is exhaustion.  We tell our doctors, our friends, anyone who will lend a willing ear, “I’m just so very tired.”

To live in the fullest sense of the word, we have to, first of all, take care of ourselves.  If what we feel is physical exhaustion, then we must allow ourselves the needed rest.  We don’t have to take on additional projects or commitments to prove ourselves.   If, however, our tiredness has an emotional base, we may have to push ourselves — for just one more hour, for just one more day — trusting that the energy will come.

Captured Memory (...yikes!!) 18

Yup....Mel's baking!!

 

.....Baking pine cones and honey locus pods....  :-/

I'm blaming Diane.

The intent was to teach the young, single, penny pinching new home owner who shares some of my work space that you CAN do decorating on a shoestring budget.

But dang.....they're too cute and I wanna keep 'em all!!

I won't, of course.

Might keep a couple of each though.

They'd be cute with the gourds left over from Halloween.  :-)

Empty chairs...

I go into the meeting and make small talk.  It's more like several of us giving each other grief than it is about "making nice" and saying righ, polite things.
There's a hint of truth in there as someone laughs and calls another a "selfish puke".  We tend to do that, stick the truth in there with a good coat of sarsasm....it's a bitter pill sometimes hard to swallow.
I note he's not in his usual chair and I sidle up to a buddy of his to ask the question that has an obvious answer.

How is he?
"Not feeling the best....in need of prayers and good thoughts."
Of course he's already in mine.
I thank G-d every day for taking such good care of him but damn.....He knows what I want....give it to me already.

His chair will be empty again this evening.  I know cuz I talked to his wife this evening.
He won't be there.

I'm sad.
Angry even...
But here's another fine example of me thinking I know better than G-d.
*sigh*

Just another TFTD

As you change, what works for you may change.

The purpose of the journey is to open up. But with it comes the responsibility of watching how we feel, how our bodies feel in certain circumstances. With it comes the responsibility of knowing that certain things that used to work for us, certain things we used to be able to handle, may not work as well any longer.

As we change, we will want and need the energy around us to change,too. We’ll want it to feel better, energize us, be good for us. At first we may say, This never bothered me before. I don’t know why I’m so sensitive now. Then we may wait for our bodies and lives to return to normal, to return to how they used to be.

You are becoming more sensitive, more open than you’ve ever been. When you were closed, you didn’t feel as much, didn’t respond as much. Sometimes you weren’t aware of what you were feeling or how your body reacted. Now that you are more open, your body, mind, spirit, and soul will be far more effected by what you take in– whether it is food, drink, or the energy of a person or situation. You will feel more intensely. You may want different foods, different people, different places, different clothing, different activities. As your energy changes, you will likely want different energy around you.

Listen to your body and emotions when they tell you something no longer works for you. Let the old fall away. Listen to your inner guidance as your heart leads you to someplace new.

The "No-see-me" kind

Things that make me happy....

....the Bug with her Spider Girl 'web spray' (aka silly string that she sprayed herself in the face with...LOL!!)

....mom's taking photos of Stanley hugging kiddos.

....the tiny monkey in the stroller.   He was sooooo cute!!

....the extra jack-o-lantern cuz himself was worried mine was "too small for a candle"....it was not!  Ha!!!  SCORE on one more!!!

"Pleasant, helpful and kind"....words the auditor used to describe me.....ME!  ROFL

....PASSING the audit....holy cow, my first one in this new job position!  Wooohoo!!

....decorating with the youngster who works two wrork stations in front of me.  She's a good one,  that gal!

....another gal to work with!  Holy cow.... there won't be enough time in the day if the Big Guy keeps this up.  :-)

More from the fairy...

“I walk in and out of many worlds.”

–Joy Harjo, CREEK/CHEROKEE

In my mind are many dwellings. Each of the dwellings we create ourselves – the house of anger, the house of despair, the house of self pity, the house of indifference, the house of negative, the house of positive, the house of hope, the house of joy, the house of peace, the house of enthusiasm, the house of cooperation, the house of giving. Each of these houses we visit each day. We can stay in any house for as long as we want. We can leave these mental houses any time we wish. We create the dwelling, we stay in the dwelling, we leave the dwelling whenever we wish. We can create new rooms, new houses. Whenever we enter these dwellings, this becomes our world until we leave for another. What world will we live in today?

AND hot cider with cinnamon sticks

We go through this every freaking year.....

Yes, turkey.
Yes, roasted potatoes.
Yes, brussel sprouts.
Yes, cranberries.
Yes, green bean casserole......k....wrong answer---NO, absolutely NO green bean casserole.  Never, ever.
No, I don't know if we're having guests.
Buy big and we'll either have plenty if guests happen OR we'll be eating turkey til Christmas when we'll do it all over again.

Oh.....and YES to pumpkin pie and those pickles rolled up in dried beef and cream cheese, and those sausages wrapped in bacon (even though...) and YES to whip cream and waldorf salad and olives and pickles and---

He really needs to write faster.... and have a bigger list!!
Or... Maybe we oughta put the list through the copier and make half a dozen copies!
Nah.
Where's the fun in THAT....

Captured Memory 17