kindredSwell

“Though you have known someone for more than forty years, though you have worked with them and lived with them, you do not know everything. I do not know everything — but a few things, which I will tell. M. had will and wit and probably too much empathy for others; she was quick in speech and she did not suffer fools. When you knew her she was unconditionally kind. But also, as our friend the Bishop Tom Shaw said at her memorial service, you had to be brave to get to know her.

[…]

She was style, and she was an old loneliness that nothing could quite wipe away; she was vastly knowledgeable about people, about books, about the mind’s emotions and the heart’s. She lived sometimes in a black box of memories and unanswerable questions, and then would come out and frolic — be feisty, and bold.”

I don’t pretend to know the secrets, but I’d be thrilled to try to figure them out together!

Do you have questions?

• what Dust DO I buy?  how do I stay bright when the news is so dark?  i haven’t run in years, how do I even contemplate starting?

Do you have comments?

• you said you listened to country – where are the links woman?!

Did you find something beautiful today and want to share it with us?

Did you just want to reach out and say “Hi”?

Have you been struggling?

• i just can’t get on this plant train.  how the heck do i make kombucha?  i need some levity in this world, what book shall i read next?

THEN LET’S CONNECT!

I dare you to leave a comment you beast you.

I’ve been “off my game” for the past couple weeks.

Easily distracted by life’s little gremlins.

No, I’m not referring to my children.

I’m talking about the subtle creep of, let’s call it, “things that don’t help”.  I can’t think of a better term right now.   It’s hard to capture in one word.  It’s the opposite of stillness and love and peace and joy and spirit.

I’m not quite sure how it happened.  Perhaps it was the start of September and all the change in routine that follows.  The darker days of Fall.  Working a little too much.  Maybe, running a little too much.  Maybe, it was just the natural ebb to life’s flow.  I did also happen to be running very low on dusts this past month ….  LOL!

The creep is subtle and cunning.  It starts with an espresso instead of a quiet tea.  A flip through your phone instead of opening your book.  Getting tied up in email while your dog sits un-walked beside you.  Then before you know it, you are watching the news, ranting about this or that, and fuming over an article on Facebook.  Nasty!

It is so easy to fall prey to the creep.  Our world is very good at fueling it.  And if you get yourself in the right frame of mind, it is all you see.  But that’s when you know it’s got you and, good news my friends, that’s when you have an alternative.

Choose to see good.  Choose love.  Shake it off and let yourself fly instead.

This is not the same as throwing your hands in the air or burying your head in the sand.  This is not “soft” or “weak” or “flighty” or “naïve”.  This is brave and strong and it takes practice.  I am by no means the queen of this (In fact, I’ve oft been a loyal servant to the kingdom of creep.)  But, more and more, I am certain this is what needs to happen.  I don’t think we should all just merrily dust away in our kitchens, singing and soaking goji berries while not being aware of what is going on the world.  But there is indeed a balance.  We can choose to sit in our kitchens and rant about the inanity of our public officials, wring our hands at the latest article that warns of crisis, scoff at choices others around us make, and complain about this and that and everything.  Or we can choose to see that, holy fuck, there are people out there doing amazing things.  There are people risking their lives to better the environment.  There are organizations who are giving water to people, who are working to improve our soil, who are clearing the ocean of plastic, who are teaching communities how to help themselves.  There are artists who see love and beauty everywhere they look, even if they are “just” looking at YOU, and they have the most wonderful way of sharing it with the rest of us.  There are people who outwardly look like they have nothing, who look you in the eye, smile, and wish you well.   Hell, I thought I had a pretty frickin’ cool idea with the goal for my blog here, but you know what?  About 100 other people are probably already trying to do the same thing!!  A-MAZE-ING!!

If you are going to flip through your phone or turn on the TV – you be the boss.  Kindly dismiss what doesn’t serve you; delete, block, unfollow, whatever.  And then go search out something that does.  And after that, get outside, crank some music, lie on the floor and read, put on a candle and sit in silence, expose your kids to something new, give something of yourself to someone else, receive something from someone you don’t know.  Don’t you dare let the creep get you because it doesn’t serve you which doesn’t serve us.  If you can shake it off you will do so much more.  You will search and actually see the good and you will chase it.  You will find yourself helping this world far more and loving every fucking minute of it.

Bye, bye creep.

Hello, beautiful.

https://www.lovebutton.org/live-love-laugh/