Take Back Your Life!

Hey upbeat friends!

I could look out the window today and say, “ugh, it’s a blizzard. how awful.” But, that’s not what I’m choosing to see.

I see pristine, soft shimmering snow everywhere. It reminds me of childhood when we used to make these igloo homes with various twisting, narrow rooms. My mother dressed me in a one piece, waterproof snowsuit that I used to smooth the inside of my snow home. Now maybe I was just shorter, but as I recall the snow stayed quite deep throughout the winter. I recall the roads being covered with snow rather than plowed down to the pavement. (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 inspirational ones,

I got this “musestorm” in the wee hours of the night several months ago to have an “encouragement booth” at my town’s annual celebrate the town day. Vendors, non-profits and community groups set up stalls/booths along these grassy aisles. People drifted in, out and around the booths as well as attended lots of other familyish events. This is the first year I did this. Of course, I had to do something really DIFFERENT or I would have felt off rebel kilter. So, the encouragement booth was born.

I’ve got a pic of me at the “booth,” but can’t seem to load it into WP media at the moment. Will work on it later and add so you can see it. The front of the table had the same poster as the back fence. I never realized until I looked at my newly installed sign that day that the word enCOURAGEment had the word courage embedded in it. Honestly, it took courage for folks to come to the booth and get encouragement. Did I find myself shouting, “Want some FREE enCOURAGEment?” Hell, yes! It felt right. (more…)

Hey complex thinkers!

I intended to write about the Late, Great Penn Station. Then I picked up a greeting card with the quote, “Life is messy, wear a smock.” Can’t find attribution for it, so I’ll thank the company that designed the card for their genius: Seltzer Goods.

My childhood friend A. and I spent many summer days exploring the large stream in our neighborhood. I’ve mentioned it several times in essays. Although I was not familiar with the term “rebirth” as a small child, something about the clean, flowing water kept me coming back day after summer day. It fed my spirit, that’s all I can tell you. The other thing I can tell you is that I never left that river without falling in and getting my clothes “dirty.” Something about leaving dripping wet, covered in sand and dirt completed this rebirth process. If I didn’t fall in, I didn’t feel reinvigorated. (more…)

Hey cerebral readers,

The other night, I happened to watch a movie called, “My Life In Ruins.” Georgia, a college professor with man troubles, comes to Greece to be a tour guide when she loses her teaching job back in the states. Her tourists find her Greek history talks to be dull and boring, so they consistently give her bad evaluations. She doesn’t learn from her bad evaluations and continues to be out of touch with her tourists and herself.  She complains that all the Greeks do is dance! If their lives are going well — they dance. If their lives are going badly — they dance.

Then she gets assigned a bedraggled bus driver named Poupi who doesn’t speak English. (more…)

Dear great thinkers,

Am I crazy or are more and more of us experiencing distraction overload?

About five years ago, I was in a Whole Foods parking lot unloading my groceries. Then my mind started to drift. When I “came to” my cart with a few bags still in it had rolled down the slight grade into the hands of a twenty something young man who caught it before, presumably, it dented his car.

I have never forgotten what he said as he returned the cart to me, “You weren’t in the moment.”

Until he said that, I’d never given any thought to being in the moment. Now, I’m aware how easily we can be distracted and the consequences it has for our safety, for our emotional health, for the direction of our government and for the quality of our lives. (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…)

Hey folks who want to live while you are alive,

I love the greeting cards that marry quotes and pictures. The latest one I bought showcases a woman wearing white heels sailing off the curb into a muddy, watery mess. You know her shoes will not survive this gooey “crossing” and she’ll be calf-deep in mud. Yet from the bounce in her step, I can tell she’s going to enjoy ruining those shoes. The following quote accompanied the picture, “Ever notice that ‘what the hell’ is always the right decision?” ~ Unknown Hollywood script writer.

From my own experiences, I’d have to agree with the script writer, sometimes you need to throw caution to the wind and just do it, whatever the it challenging you is. (more…)

Dear Status Quo Changers,

Recently, a friend asked where I get my blog post ideas. Honestly? They find me. I pick up a greeting card, overhear a conversation, visit someone else’s blog, open a book. Sometimes I have more than two posts that want to be written at the same time. The one yelling “pick me” the loudest usually wins.

Two days ago, I looked out my upstairs bathroom window around 6:30 am to see three cottontail bunnies chasing each other all over the yard. (I thought it was three but it’s probably more like 33. They just look similar.) Up and over our small hill, through the giant hemlock grove, under the blue spruces. Round and round they went. It looked like they were having a grand time. (more…)