Friday, December 31, 2010

good night 2010

(end of december 2009)


(end of december 2010)

I like living. I have sometimes been wildly, despairingly, acutely miserable, racked with sorrow. But through it all I still know quite certainly that just to be alive is a grand thing.

~ Agatha Christie ~

I don't make new year's resolutions, so I don't know if I kept any or not. Regardless, it was a full year.

I lost my father and his brother, my Uncle Don. I lost two friends. I published a book that I wrote and illustrated it with photos I took. I put new strings on my guitar--but haven't played it yet. I went to Arizona, Hawaii, and Idaho. I built a worm bin, cold frames, and valve box.

2010, I can't say I am sorry to see you go. I hope your brother, 2011, is a little kinder and gentler--but at least as much fun as you were.

The end.

Thursday, December 30, 2010

love thursday 12.30.10 ~ grace...still

I do not understand the mystery of grace -- only that it meets us where we are and does not leave us where it found us.

Anne Lamott

2010 brought me the word "Grace." It is still 2010 and I am still enjoying the fruits of that focus. This has been a grace-filled year. I continue to heal and to have all I need right now.

Tomorrow is a new right now. So is the day after that and the one after that and so on. I don't know what each of those right nows will hold. All I know is this one. In this one, I am held in grace and enough.

Even though this year has one more calendar day to it, I expect that knowing grace will stay with me. What a legacy Grace shall have!

There's a new word coming--and oh, please God, may there also be a new world coming along with it.

Happy Love Thursday, y'all.

Wednesday, December 29, 2010

peace


Ultimately, humanity is one, and this small planet is our only home. If we are to protect this home of ours, each of us needs to feel a vivid sense of universal altruism. It is only this feeling that can remove the self-centered motives that cause people to deceive and misuse one another. If you have a sincere and open heart, you naturally feel self-worth and confidence, and there is no need to be fearful of others.

HH Dalai Lama

My Ordinary friend, Kathryn, told me about this site.

"Only Love Prevails."

Their idea is that it takes a small number of us (proportionally) to effect a shift in attitude, consciousness, direction. They are making it easy for those of us who are wanting to create the paradigm shift to be known to each other.

I am already doing many of their suggestions. I stopped watching TV about 10 years ago. I stopped reading the newspaper several years ago. Now I skim the headlines of an online headline email and read only what calls to me--not much negativity gets through. I can't tolerate listening to the news on the radio.

I am working toward changing my thinking and my speaking. While I have not arrived where I hope to be ultimately, I eliminate some negativity daily. Yay me. Yay us. Yay for the planet.

My latest challenge is finding movies that I want to watch. Violence, sexual assault, drugs, violence, crudity, poor production values, unintelligent and unintelligible dialog, dysfunction, mean people, crime, war, violence--did I mention violence?

Watching movies in the evening is my major form of entertainment. I am unwilling to subject myself to a continual onslaught of traumatic images. Not. Entertaining. (May the movie industry find this site soon, too...please.)

So, join me, please. Let's make peace. Together we can.

Tuesday, December 28, 2010

snake oil

(zippy, age 51)

In allopathic medicine, however, we tend to not be open to other treatment modalities. If a treatment doesn’t fit our guidelines of thought, we criticize it and five or ten years down the road, we suddenly learn that it has merit. This sort of thing happened with snake oil. People today call remedies that don’t work ‘snake oil,’ but most people don’t know that real snake oil happens to have the highest concentration of omega-3 fatty acids of any substance! So snake oil really was a valid treatment; it lowered inflammation, because of its high EPA/DHA content.

Peter J Muran, MD

Even better still is the chimpanzee treatment. It always worked for what ailed me. Still does.

Take some EPA/DHA and cuddle with your favorite animal. Doctor's orders.

Monday, December 27, 2010

electro-carols

Yes, I am almost done with Christmas, but this one is too good to pass up. It's worth a watch and listen.




And for those of you who couldn't see the post on Christmas day, I edited in the link so you can go to the site and watch the video. It's worth it.

Sunday, December 26, 2010

i learn a lot from my cats


True happiness comes from having a sense of inner peace and contentment, which in turn must be achieved by cultivating altruism, love and compassion, and by eliminating anger, selfishness and greed.

HH Dalai Lama

This is post #900 on this blog. Thanks for coming back, my friends. Hope your holiday season continues to be full of peace, contentment, and love.


Saturday, December 25, 2010

jesus has two daddies OR the nativity: the remake



For some reason, this is not showing properly on Internet Explorer and I can't seem to find the appropriate link to send you directly to the page...so, please go to www.godtube.com and look for "The Christmas Story - as told by the cutest kids." They are. It is.

Friday, December 24, 2010

peace on earth

(the stockings were hung by the chimney with care)
I think that people want peace so much that one of these days government had better get out of their way and let them have it.

Dwight D. Eisenhower

I got a fortune cookie with no fortune.

Is that anything like a lump of coal?

Thursday, December 23, 2010

love thursday 12.23.10 ~ love and well-being



Even our physical structure seems more suited to feelings of love and compassion. We can see how a calm, affectionate, wholesome state of mind benefits our health and physical well-being. Conversely, feelings of frustration, fear, agitation, and anger can be destructive to our health. This is why we are impelled to seek happiness.

HH Dalai Lama

May you feel enough love and compassion that you feel safe and comfortable lying on your back, sleeping with your paw over your eyes while someone takes your pictures.

Happy Love Thursday.

Wednesday, December 22, 2010

7th day of the galactic cycle

We do not think ourselves into a new way of living as much as we live ourselves into new ways of thinking.

Richard Rohr

And now we are in the 7th day of the Galactic Cycle of the Mayan calendar. The 7th day is the day that God rested. It is the time of reseeding and the completion of the cycle, as we get ready to start an even greater cycle: The Time of the New Heaven and the New Earth.

Starting February 11, 2011 we enter The Universal Cycle. Still in the 7th day of the Galactic Cycle, we now enter the next level of the calendar--a new stage of evolution for humankind. Here each day and each night lasts 20 days. In essence, every 3 weeks, the energy and focus shifts.

Will we really transform into a world of peace and forgiveness?

One can hope.

Tuesday, December 21, 2010

truth

During times of universal deceit, telling the truth becomes a revolutionary act.

George Orwell

According to the Mayan calendar, the 6th Night (from which we just emerged) is all about honesty--bringing forth the truth that has been hidden...making the truth known in place of lies.

Let the revolution begin! At home. At work. In politics. In religion. Let it be.

Sunday, December 19, 2010

prayer

(st. damien @ painted church in hawaii)

I pray every single second of my life; not on my knees, but with my work. My prayer is to lift woman to equality with man. Work and worship are one with me. I can not imagine a God of the universe made happy by my getting down on my knees.


Susan B. Anthony

There is more than one way to pray. Susan B. Anthony with her work to lift woman to equality with man...St. Damien to care for and minister to the lepers.

I pray with my eyes open and with them closed. I pray standing, sitting, lying down, and--yes, kneeling sometimes. I don't think it matters how we pray, but that we pray. And I don't think it matters how we worship, but that we do.

May your worship be deep and sweet today.

Saturday, December 18, 2010

Friday, December 17, 2010

insomnia

When I am with you, we stay up all night.
When you’re not here, I can’t go to sleep.
Praise God for those two insomnias!
And the difference between them.


Rumi

I know which one I would rather have.

Thursday, December 16, 2010

love thursday 12.16.10 ~ barriers to love

(two years ago)

Your task is not to seek for love, but merely to seek and find all the barriers within yourself that you have built against it.

Rumi

Some days it's not a pretty sight. Love is. Love permeates everything. It's there for the taking, sharing, giving.

Lately, I see that I am the barrier. My mood, my thoughts, my attitude, my level of energy or well-being--any of those (and all of them at one time or another) get in the way of my choosing to be...to behave in a loving way.

Maybe--just maybe I'll figure it out before my time here is done.

Live like Jesus did, and the world will listen.

Mahatma Gandhi

Oh, yeah. That one.

Happy Love Thursday!

Wednesday, December 15, 2010

here she comes


Not only is another world possible, she is on her way. On a quiet day, I can hear her breathing.

Arundhati Roy

And on a not so quiet day, sometimes it is all I can do to keep from getting bucked off before the buzzer.

Monday, December 13, 2010

monday morning list

1. Drink coffee.

2. Plan my day.

3. Feed felines.

4. Feed rodents (i.e., squirrels).

5. Be grateful for the peaceable kingdom.

6. Feed myself.

7. Be grateful for enough. Right now.

8. Try to think of something witty to say.

9. Regroup.

10. Simply. Be. Grateful.

Sunday, December 12, 2010

a christmas gift

Here's a little gift for you. If you have been to preview the book on blurb.com, you have noticed that only the first 15 pages were available for viewing. Now you can read the rest of the story...




If you'd like to give this as a Christmas gift, you still have time!

Happy Sunday!

Friday, December 10, 2010

apologetics

A man went to trim his hair and beard. As always happens, he and the barber chatted about this and that, until--commenting on a newspaper article about street kids--the barber stated:

- As you can see, this tragedy shows that God doesn’t exist. Don’t you read the papers? So many people suffer, abandoned children, there’s so much crime. If God existed, there wouldn’t be so much suffering.

- You know something? Barbers don’t exist.

- What do you mean, don’t exist? I’m here, and I’m a barber.

- They don’t exist! – insisted the man. – Because if they did, there wouldn’t be people with such long beards and such tangled hair.

- I can guarantee that barbers do exist. But these people never come in here.

- Exactly! So, in answer to your question, God exists, too. It just so happens that people don’t go to Him. If they did, they would be more giving, and there wouldn’t be so much misery in the world.


from Paulo Coelho's blog

Thursday, December 09, 2010

love thursday 12.09.10 ~ love in action

As long as we observe love for others and respect for their rights and dignity in our daily lives, then whether we are learned or unlearned, whether we believe in the Buddha or God, follow some religion or none at all, as long as we have compassion for others and conduct ourselves with restraint out of a sense of responsibility, there is no doubt we will be happy.

HH Dalai Lama

Love is action based in attitude. It isn't a feeling or even a belief. It is a decision to rise to the highest possible level--to interact with integrity, respect, and compassion. Being loving toward others--whether they agree with us or not--brings good. To us. To them. To those around us.

And good is...well...good.

Happy Love Thursday!

Wednesday, December 08, 2010

uncle don and dad

(uncle don & dad...in that order)

"Enjoy your memories," says the old man. "But don’t forget that memory is like salt: the right amount brings out the flavour in food, too much ruins it. If you live in the past all the time, you’ll find yourself with no present to remember."

from Paulo Coelho's blog

Today would have been my dad's 88th birthday. He left this life in January of this year.

This picture is of the last time Dad and Uncle Don were together. Uncle Don had taken a tumble the night before and had a shiner, as you can see, but he was determined to visit his little brother. Oh, how happy he was to be there!

Yesterday, Uncle Don left this life. He would have been 90 next month. How sad to see him go! He was a good man.

So now, these two brothers are together again.

Good night, you princes of Oregon.


Tuesday, December 07, 2010

ponder this: poverty

We often see poverty as an economic and social issue, but we must have a deeper understanding. In the ultimate analysis, poverty is death. It is unjust and early death. It is the destruction of persons, of people, and nations.

Gustavo Gutierrez

Quick post today. I am on the road. More tomorrow...I hope.

Be well, my friends.

Monday, December 06, 2010

i am what i am


Too many people overvalue what they are not and undervalue what they are.

Malcolm Forbes

I am. I am learning.

Oh, how painful it is to see what a shaming culture we are. If we are not like everybody else, we are shamed--with a view to being shamed into compliance and conformity.

That's our reptile brain at work. There is research showing that if one of a group of reptiles is somehow made to look different (for example paint a red spot on its head), the others will attack it.

"Look...it's not us! Kill it."

Truly, we do have the capacity to choose the high road. We can learn to manage our reptile urges and appreciate our differences. Sometimes, accepting our own differences is the best place to start.

Believe it or not, diversity makes us stronger.

Sunday, December 05, 2010

change the world one interaction at a time

Too much of a self-centered attitude creates mistrust and suspicion in others, which can in turn lead to fear. But if you have more of an open mind, and you cultivate a sense of concern for others' well-being, then, no matter what others' attitudes are, you can keep your inner peace.

HH Dalai Lama


Today at the post office, I pulled into my parking space unfettered on either side by other cars and threw open the door as one does when preparing to disembark. Then I heard a horn honk. Someone was pulling into the space next to my door. I pulled the door close and finished gathering what I needed to mail my package before getting out of the car.

It so happens, the other driver got out of her car at the same time, so I smiled at her and said, "Sorry about that. I didn't see you coming."

She grunted. "Close." No smile. No engagement.

Her reaction bothered me. Yet, I chose to take the high road. I was pleasant. I apologized for my obliviousness to her arrival. Truth be told, I wanted her to share that interaction with me. I wanted her to acknowledge that she was behind me in my blind spot. I wanted her to engage with me and smile back, letting the whole thing roll off both of our backs. I wanted her to meet me half way.

She didn't.

Sigh.

All any of us can do is our part.

Saturday, December 04, 2010

Friday, December 03, 2010

jackass what?

Don't try to win over the haters. You're not the jackass whisperer.

Scott Stratten

Happy Friday! Have a great weekend.

Thursday, December 02, 2010

love thursday 12.02.10 ~ things that amused me on wednesday when i thought it was love thursday

If you want to see the Love Thursday post, go here.

'Tis catalog season at my house. I look through them even though I rarely order anything any more. Even at Christmas--due to extenuating circumstances--I'm not spending much this year, but sometimes it is fun to look:

T-shirts...

"In Dog Beers I've Only Had One"

"Think Outside The Quadrilateral Parallelogram"

"With Enough Thrust Pigs Fly Just Fine"

"I have parenting down to a science. (every day's an experiment)"

"After Monday & Tuesday even the calendar says W.T.F."

"Meddle Not In The Affairs Of Dragons, For You Are Crunchy And Good With Ketchup"

"Never Moon A Werewolf"

"I used to think beer was bad for me--so I gave up thinking"


And on another note:

The Salvation Army bell ringer at my local Fred Meyer is a very pleasant man with a wonderful voice. He was singing Christmas songs a capella and on my way out of the store I joined him for a few lines with harmony. He gave me a smile and a thumbs up.

As life would have it, I had to go back to Fred's for a second trip today. When I entered, he was singing and I smiled at him as I passed. When I left the store, he was waiting for me and asked me to sing with him. What a joy that was! I might just have to go back and hang out with him.

Happy Holidays!

Wednesday, December 01, 2010

love thursday 12.01.10 ~ fundamental need for love


Our life depends on others so much that at the root of our existence is a fundamental need for love. That is why it is good to cultivate an authentic sense of responsibility and concern for the welfare of others.

HH Dalai Lama

We all need to be loved, but we also need to love. Both are fundamental needs. That's why businesses that do good also do well.

As we evolve, we see that profit isn't enough. Our work has to have meaning to keep us engaged and one thing all businesses have in common is relationships--within the company, with customers, with vendors.

I want to work with businesses of all sizes to help them bring their values to the forefront of their enterprise. Treating all of these relationships with respect and love and compassion will bring success...for all parties involved.

Happy Love Thursday, Everyone!