Take Back Your Life!

Always fascinating how column/blog topics enter the psyche.

Was listening to one of my singing idols — Julie London — do her sultry rendition of The Door’s Light My Fire. It’s terrific. Listen to it here on You Tube.

The time to hesitate is through
No time to wallow in the mire

(Lyrics to live by.)

Just my kind of karaoke song. Unfortunately for my higher vocal range, they only seem to offer the original by The Doors. So, I re-listened to The Door’s version and learned from the CD jacket how the band got its name. (more…)

Hey rebellious friends,

I bought a bargain book about a month ago. Something about the title, “Too Soon Old, Too Late Smart” prompted me to pick it up and thumb through it. I share most of author Gordon Livingstone’s philosophy on life and have blogged often about similar topics. I love all his chapter titles, especially the one I borrowed for today’s post: We Are Afraid of The Wrong Things. (more…)

I have a tendency to lean towards the hysterical, the passionate, the out-of-control. It took me many decades to get there and I’m proud of it.

Why?

Because I feel alive. (more…)

I don’t pretend to be a diehard or even a diesoft Bruins fan. Before the Stanley Cup series, I couldn’t have named one player on the team. That changed when Jimmy started to share the unconventional story of the Bruin’s goalie Tim Thomas.

His contradictions drew me in. (more…)

I’m constantly dreaming up new life shops. It’s in my creative blood. Sometimes I offer the same life awakening experience twice. More often, I take the “best of” material along with me to a new gig and give it a twist of creative lime or lemon.(Interestingly enough, I do the same thing at karaoke. The thrill of doing a new song, get’s my adrenaline pumping. And travel. Like to keep going to new villages and sites. Almost like I’m a modern day Lewisitta and Clarkitta). (more…)

I got my weekly Zen Habits e-note yesterday. The topic?  Finally, The Truth About Soy. The blogger had gotten some negative reactions from folks when he mentioned drinking soy milk, so he decided to investigate Soy himself.

In it, the blogger talked about how he found no scientific evidence linking soy with any harm and traced the soy danger rumors back to the Weston A. Price Foundation (Dr. Mercola is a board member). “They are not scientists, and have conducted no actual peer-reviewed studies of their own (that I know about).” He says they use quack science to promote their agenda and most people cannot distinguish between good and bad science. (more…)

I got the idea for this Musepiration from a comment I left on a friend’s post (thanks Jenna) and from a comment someone left on one of mine (thanks Patty). A good reason to leave comments — it gets everyone’s creative juices flowing.

Adults seem to have a fear of beginning, even activities they desperately want to do. Conversely, children usually have the confidence to leap into new things. If you’ve been reading my blog lately, then you know I talk semi-ad nauseam about the creativity restraints many school and work environments put on folks.

“Here, put on this mind-body-soul strait jacket. It’s GOOD for you.” (more…)

Valentino, my cat, has been after me to do a guest post on Take Back Your Life. He’s one of the most fearless creatures I know. Thought you might enjoy his life philosophy. Please welcome him.

Hello humans!

Finally, Giulietta lets me speak. Now I can stop meowing into her ear 24/7.

Here’s my approach to life: I want to have a good time. We cats live way shorter life spans than most humans do so I don’t have a lot of time to waste on things I don’t care about. (more…)

Dear rebellious ones,

It takes a bit of living to figure out that the life you’re living looks remarkably similar to the life everyone else seems to be living. Many of us are dancing to the same beat and it may not be a song we even like.

After a few carefree childhood years, most of us are slowly molded into a semi-generic person that’s conditioned to believe she or he needs to keep jumping through an endless series of conformist hoops (while teetering on the treadmill) to find happiness and success. The problem? As soon as you jump through one hoop, a new one appears in front of you, often higher. It’s always the next hoop you’re promised that will bring you the life you desire. (more…)

Hey friends,

I first became aware of mountain top removal in Appalachia a few years ago. But I didn’t give it much thought. Hey, that’s down in Appalachia. That’s their problem. They can fight for themselves. I’m working hard to save the beauty in my own backyard.

A documentary I watched in December called “Burning the Future: Coal in America,” helped me see that I was wrong.

It’s all my backyard and yours, too.

We’re in this “thing” called life together and the sooner we realize that, the sooner it may dawn on us that Earth is Heaven and we’ve been turning it into hell by not speaking up. (more…)