Take Back Your Life!

Hey folks breaking out of your moldy molds,

I just responded to a tweet on twitter with the above sentence. And it hit me like a giant idea log, “good blog post title.”

Way too much of life is backwards. It makes no sense.

Are you carving time out of your must do life to actually do something you’d like? Seriously, who made up this script we’re all following? If it were a movie, no one would venture into the theaters to see it, the screenwriter would be out of work and there wouldn’t be any sequels. (more…)

Hey folks who want to feel alive,

It’s that time of the current year when folks talk about setting goals for the upcoming year. The problem with goals is that once you slap things you want (or someone else wants you) to do with the word goals, you’re even less likely to do them. It’s got to be one of the ugliest words in the English language. And backwards it spells “slaog,” which is way too close to slog and slag. It reminds me of the sludge produced by “clean coal” in a great documentary I saw last night called, “Burning Our Future.” Will be talking about Mountain Top Removal soon. The movie got me so worked up I started writing my next newspaper column on it. See, if something moves me, I take action – I don’t need to “slaogify” it. (more…)

Hey feisty folks,

I’ll get right to the point.

NOTHING IS WRONG WITH YOU.

Yes, that’s right. We come into this world genuine and adventurous and loving. Those qualities get hidden under cloaks of “must do isms.” At first others put these cloaks on us, then we willingly put them on ourselves long after the cloak-putter-onners no longer have the power to do so. Sometimes the cloaks get so heavy people collapse under the burden of trying to wear them, suffocated by the weight. You’ve seen these folks or, perhaps, even been one yourself, crawling through life, feeling unbelievably heavy. (more…)

Hey wild things,

I’m curious how it came to be seen as normal for adult humans to be held captive in itty bitty work cubicles for eight+ hours a day. Do such bizarre conditions really promote workscapes conducive to thoughtful or innovative work?

Hardly. (more…)

Hi folks!

I wonder if there’s a boredom epidemic out “there.”

Why? I see such little life enthusiasm. Yes, folks are busy, busy, busy running around, but do the activities shrouded in this busyness truly make them feel alive? And it’s not just the parents who are bored, the children seem to be bored as well. It all seems to be fueling a rise in depression among people of all ages. A January 2010 article in Psychology Today said that the mental health and happiness of children has been declining since the 1950’s. Even more interesting, people were less depressed during the Great Depression, World War II and the Cold War. The state of the world seems to have little to do with depression rates. (more…)

I’m so tired of reading in the paper that consumers have to “hit the malls and shop more” to get this economy going that I’ve decided to write my next newspaper column on that topic. This article will be a warm-up.

One of the reasons the economy tanked before was because we all shopped until we dropped. Only we couldn’t get up this time. We’d hit the shopping wall. In all my years of being a consumer trained to buy stuff I didn’t need, I’ve never seen such a shopping frenzy as I did during the years leading up to the crash. People maxing out on 5 credit cards and borrowing against the equity in their homes to buy endless amounts of stuff. Or getting a raise/promotion and running out and buying a new, more expensive home — thus, negating the raise and then some. (Saw this many times.)

I’m sure many of you know that buying junk we don’t need is an addiction. The “high” doesn’t last very long and it’s always followed by the scary and depressing realization that you have to pay for it by prolonging your stint as an indentured servant to a corporation, a credit card company or someone else. (Not to mention it all ends up in the landfills and/or the oceans.) (more…)

Hey daring readers!

It’s interesting how we come into this world adventurous. Yet, over time become fearful due to societal conditioning. What’s the point of taking pretty fearless humans and fearasizing them? How does that make the world a better place?

I spent most of my childhood exploring the world within walking/biking distance. I waded in streams, climbed mountains, danced whenever I pleased, performed back flips of the diving board, galloped my horse through the woods, wrote creative stories, paddled down rivers, laughed constantly. My life was a daring adventure. I wanted to learn about everything. I wanted to experience everything. I wanted to wake up every morning and do something new. (more…)

Dear rebels,

One of my good friends is a poetry evangelist so I’ve really gotten into poetry in the last few years. Attended a lot of open mic poetry events, took a poetry class and make it a point to read a least two new poems a week. Yesterday, I stumbled on the fantastic Now I Become Myself by May Sarton. For those of you unfamiliar with it, let me share the first four lines:

Now I become myself. It’s taken
Time, many years and places;
I have been dissolved and shaken,
Worn other people’s faces,

The line “worn other people’s faces” stopped me in my dare-to-live-your-own-life tracks. (more…)

Contrarians Hey,

I’ve been enamored with Leonardo da Vinci since I found him in the encylopedia set my parents bought from the saleswoman who came knocking on our front door back in the 70’s. So much so that I named one of my cats after him. Furry Leonardo has long since gone to puddy heaven, but my love for da Vinci remains. Take this quote of his, “Blinding ignorance does mislead us. O! Wretched mortals, open your eyes!”

Do you go through life with your eyes open? (more…)

Hey fun-loving folks,

If you’ve got 5 minutes, please check out The Rebel You Haven’t Met my guest post at ex-patharem.com. It’s fun and so are the links in blue. Would love some rebellious comments!

Savor your long, luscious weekend!

Giulietta, always musing