Dear Ego,
I am consistently amazed at your unique ability to look a blessing in the face and call it ugly names. I am admitting this to the world because it strikes a swift and accurate blow to your nuts, which I believe you not only deserve but will find helpful in the long run. Having something to bitch about is your favorite hobby. Makes you feel important, better, smarter. You love to complain. But you have a problem now.
I see you there! Pretending to be me, trapping me with thoughts that distract me from the truth. But I'll admit, you were good! For years I believed I WAS you. Brilliant, your constant chattering so that I couldn't hear my own voice. The way you would keep me in chains with your constant self crucifying tone or your overblown self grandeosity.
But now I see that you're only a clown, a mime. You're humorous the way you pull those flowers from your jacket. Flowers that squirt acid words that say I am not good enough. Or maybe they squirt false bravado and awesomeness. And your mime act is equally amusing now that I am not mistaking it for my own identity, swallowing words instead of speaking the truth. Patting the inside of the box in which you said the world has had me stored.
Now, I laugh when you do those things you do. The things that used to make me cry or feel far more powerful than the ones around me. Pretty soon you will get tired, your arms are already becoming exhausted from your fruitless white gloved antics. Your clown makeup will run with your sweat. You will lay down and sleep and I will only notice you on occasion when you muster enough strength for a weak honk of your red bulbous nose for old time's sake.
Until then I will continue to be slightly amused at your attempts at trickery. But you should no longer expect my cooperation nor my identification. Good Day.
Tuesday, September 25, 2012
Friday, June 22, 2012
**Spoilers** What I learned from Madagascar 3
As you probably know, the first two Madagascar movies depict a group of comical animal friends trying to get back home to the New York Zoo. Stranded in an unfamiliar and untame Madagascar, they all remember the zoo as a place of perfection, provision and safety. Through a myriad of unfortunate events, they are ever prevented from reaching their only goal in life, getting home. Throughout the first 2 movies the animals had experienced wild adventure, near death experiences, open wilderness and treachery of all kinds. Madagascar 3 is a continuation of their efforts to reach the destination that in their minds is ideal.
After succeeding in purchasing a dying circus, inspiring its tired members and transforming it into an amazing show, the animals finally made it home to their New York Zoo. Standing at the metal bars of the zoo gate, they gazed in shock at the smallness of the painted African mural and hard brick walls between their cages. Although the zoo had not changed, it was not what they remembered. Idealized for so long, the zoo fell short of each of their imaginations. It was not the open plains of Africa or the thrill of the circus high wire. The animals had grown too much to go back there. The dream was empty. All at once, they realized that the thing that was a mere vehicle to the dream of getting home, was the real source of their joy. They return to the circus, everyone is happy and the movie is over. Polka Dot Afro!
What does this have to do with anything? Well, what I took home from the movie was that its ok to change the dream, shift gears, admit its not what you want anymore and look for the joy. Evaluate what you're doing and why you are doing it. Wig out if you need to. Nothing else matters at the end of your life except whether you had any joy and whether or not you had any joyous effect on other people. We all belong where the joy is. Joy is a clue to your destiny. If you don't have any, that's your first clue!
After succeeding in purchasing a dying circus, inspiring its tired members and transforming it into an amazing show, the animals finally made it home to their New York Zoo. Standing at the metal bars of the zoo gate, they gazed in shock at the smallness of the painted African mural and hard brick walls between their cages. Although the zoo had not changed, it was not what they remembered. Idealized for so long, the zoo fell short of each of their imaginations. It was not the open plains of Africa or the thrill of the circus high wire. The animals had grown too much to go back there. The dream was empty. All at once, they realized that the thing that was a mere vehicle to the dream of getting home, was the real source of their joy. They return to the circus, everyone is happy and the movie is over. Polka Dot Afro!
What does this have to do with anything? Well, what I took home from the movie was that its ok to change the dream, shift gears, admit its not what you want anymore and look for the joy. Evaluate what you're doing and why you are doing it. Wig out if you need to. Nothing else matters at the end of your life except whether you had any joy and whether or not you had any joyous effect on other people. We all belong where the joy is. Joy is a clue to your destiny. If you don't have any, that's your first clue!
Tuesday, May 29, 2012
Midnight again...but its different now
I'm supposed to be in bed, fast asleep right now. I tried, I truly did. But alas, I am back up after 2 hours of flipping and flopping in the bed. I stumbled upon my blog in which I have posted nothing for over 6 months now. Reading back through all of the entries, one word kept coming to my mind. "Pretentious." Everythng I had written up to this point was so pretentious, as if I were writing merely to get a reaction or to try and impress you guys. I realized how far I had come in the last 6 months and I had to write about it, even at the risk of losing some of you as friends (you might think I'm dangerous!)
Getting real with myself, a very painful thing to do if you haven't tried it, has left me kind of bitter toward that stupid me who thought she was the bomb, writing about "The Now" and broken coffee cups. Writing about "The Now" would have been interesting to read over the last 6 months if I had kept that up. You would have seen entries like, "Right Now...I have no religion, no support network, no means of self support, no talent, no job, no purpose, no peace, no balance and no self control", all in that old pretentious tone and with the expected sniveling and carrying on. Good thing I'm too flaky to keep up the blog, right?
Today, because I am still struggling with the circadian thing, I am frustrated, to say the least, with my inability to function during the day. Mostly, I sleep during the day. But that is small potatoes, and anyway, sleeping all day has its benefits. Being partially asleep and partially lucid lets one in on a few secrets that are otherwise locked away. Such as, the fact that I was a very angry person. Over the last year I have felt as if I were losing my mind. Losing my ability to come up with any rational plan or method of coping with every day stuff. Things I see you all do with ease were getting hard for me, like getting dressed everyday or showing up for things. Not to mention the fact that I no longer knew what I believed anymore. When people know you're going through something that they can't solve, they tend to disappear, and I don't blame them. In fact, its good. Without the aloneness and rock bottom hitting, I doubt I would have ever made it out with what I needed.
Over the last 6 months, I filled 2 journals with whining, bitching commentary on how crappy everything was and how life had screwed me over. I realized that I was very angry. With what or whom I had no idea, specifically, and still don't really. It felt like I hated everything and everyone. Everywhere I looked I saw stupidity, inequality, dishonesty (even in the places I trusted the most), cruelty, suffering and pain. It became unbearable to be awake at times. I was angry because I had to be here, tethered to this sucky planet with no way out. Looking around at the "Stepford People" bopping through life happy to be alive, pretending (I thought they must be) to be thrilled to have the privelege of being moms and wives made me completely resentful and threw into sharp relief that which I was wasn't. Happy.
Why am I sharing this? I'm not sure. Maybe some of you are struggling with something too and need to know that you are not alone and that it can get better. (Or maybe I just need to write it for myself.)
How it got better: I started reading alot, searching for some ideas that would pull me out of the funk. What I found out, after reading The Tao, The Bhagavad Gita, The Golden Present and many other writings, yes, including the bible, I realized that no one knows anything for certain. There is so much freedom in admitting that you don't know anything and in realizing that no one else does either (and if they say they do, they are either delusional or they are lying). Freedom was what I lacked, it's absence was why I was so angry. I began dropping the idea that I had to believe something. I dropped the idea that I had to BE this or BE that.
Who was to blame for this lack of freedom? Me.
My imprisonment was self-inflicted. The bars were made out of my own ideas (and those pressed upon me over the years), the ideas that I had about what others expected of me. I began to think, "What is the worst thing that can happen if I just be who I really am, say what I know in my heart is right, do what I know in my heart is right to do, wear what I want to wear and help people in the way that I think is the right way to help people, treat people the way that I know in my heart is the right way to treat people". Free from the worry that comes with not measuring up to what others want you to be. Free from the fear of being sent to hell by a god who supposedly loved me, that was a big one. Free from the cookie baking mom syndrome. Free from the comparisons. Freedom to be honest about my disagreement with issues that Christianity condemns, such as homosexuality and religious equality or free to simply love without condemnation.
Once I dropped the ideas, what was left was love, truth and yes, surprisingly, joy. It feels like I am a different person entirely. One with no agenda other than to love everyone and everything, one with no expectations other than to be fully aware of the moment. One who does not pretend to know the truth about god, whatever that may be. Saving spiders instead of squashing them. Rescuing dogs even though its inconvenient and expensive. Saving drowning beetles from the pool filter. Its not stupid, its right, and compassionate and its me. Showing compassion when I feel it toward everything, whether society thinks its worth it or not.
What I learned:
Freedom is the cure, Love is the the same as god and joy comes from the freedom to love. Now if I can just get some sleep!
Getting real with myself, a very painful thing to do if you haven't tried it, has left me kind of bitter toward that stupid me who thought she was the bomb, writing about "The Now" and broken coffee cups. Writing about "The Now" would have been interesting to read over the last 6 months if I had kept that up. You would have seen entries like, "Right Now...I have no religion, no support network, no means of self support, no talent, no job, no purpose, no peace, no balance and no self control", all in that old pretentious tone and with the expected sniveling and carrying on. Good thing I'm too flaky to keep up the blog, right?
Today, because I am still struggling with the circadian thing, I am frustrated, to say the least, with my inability to function during the day. Mostly, I sleep during the day. But that is small potatoes, and anyway, sleeping all day has its benefits. Being partially asleep and partially lucid lets one in on a few secrets that are otherwise locked away. Such as, the fact that I was a very angry person. Over the last year I have felt as if I were losing my mind. Losing my ability to come up with any rational plan or method of coping with every day stuff. Things I see you all do with ease were getting hard for me, like getting dressed everyday or showing up for things. Not to mention the fact that I no longer knew what I believed anymore. When people know you're going through something that they can't solve, they tend to disappear, and I don't blame them. In fact, its good. Without the aloneness and rock bottom hitting, I doubt I would have ever made it out with what I needed.
Over the last 6 months, I filled 2 journals with whining, bitching commentary on how crappy everything was and how life had screwed me over. I realized that I was very angry. With what or whom I had no idea, specifically, and still don't really. It felt like I hated everything and everyone. Everywhere I looked I saw stupidity, inequality, dishonesty (even in the places I trusted the most), cruelty, suffering and pain. It became unbearable to be awake at times. I was angry because I had to be here, tethered to this sucky planet with no way out. Looking around at the "Stepford People" bopping through life happy to be alive, pretending (I thought they must be) to be thrilled to have the privelege of being moms and wives made me completely resentful and threw into sharp relief that which I was wasn't. Happy.
Why am I sharing this? I'm not sure. Maybe some of you are struggling with something too and need to know that you are not alone and that it can get better. (Or maybe I just need to write it for myself.)
How it got better: I started reading alot, searching for some ideas that would pull me out of the funk. What I found out, after reading The Tao, The Bhagavad Gita, The Golden Present and many other writings, yes, including the bible, I realized that no one knows anything for certain. There is so much freedom in admitting that you don't know anything and in realizing that no one else does either (and if they say they do, they are either delusional or they are lying). Freedom was what I lacked, it's absence was why I was so angry. I began dropping the idea that I had to believe something. I dropped the idea that I had to BE this or BE that.
Who was to blame for this lack of freedom? Me.
My imprisonment was self-inflicted. The bars were made out of my own ideas (and those pressed upon me over the years), the ideas that I had about what others expected of me. I began to think, "What is the worst thing that can happen if I just be who I really am, say what I know in my heart is right, do what I know in my heart is right to do, wear what I want to wear and help people in the way that I think is the right way to help people, treat people the way that I know in my heart is the right way to treat people". Free from the worry that comes with not measuring up to what others want you to be. Free from the fear of being sent to hell by a god who supposedly loved me, that was a big one. Free from the cookie baking mom syndrome. Free from the comparisons. Freedom to be honest about my disagreement with issues that Christianity condemns, such as homosexuality and religious equality or free to simply love without condemnation.
Once I dropped the ideas, what was left was love, truth and yes, surprisingly, joy. It feels like I am a different person entirely. One with no agenda other than to love everyone and everything, one with no expectations other than to be fully aware of the moment. One who does not pretend to know the truth about god, whatever that may be. Saving spiders instead of squashing them. Rescuing dogs even though its inconvenient and expensive. Saving drowning beetles from the pool filter. Its not stupid, its right, and compassionate and its me. Showing compassion when I feel it toward everything, whether society thinks its worth it or not.
What I learned:
Freedom is the cure, Love is the the same as god and joy comes from the freedom to love. Now if I can just get some sleep!
Sunday, September 4, 2011
Breaking Hard Ground: A Commentary on the Writing Process
As I work on my first novel to be shared with the public in October, I am surprised that the writing process has very little to do with my own "effort" and so much more do to with just being willing to notice the truth when it appears in subtle ways.
Sometimes I hear people say that they get an idea so complete that it pours into this world like a waterfall from somewhere unseen and unknown. Mostly for me, an idea pours into this world more like tar; slow, sticky, messy and requiring much labor to force it into a form that will eventually lead to something worthwhile.
It is these tar ideas that are the most exciting and the most able to spark a shift in perspective both for myself and those who read them. These tar stories, however demanding and laborious, are the ones that grow me personally and spiritually during the writing process. Hardly ever do these ideas end up telling the stories I thought they wanted to tell in the beginning. Instead there is some larger truth that wants to be known through them; a truth that doesn't care what I started out to write about.
To be honest, tar is probably the wrong analogy because tar is man-made, lifeless matter. Perhaps tar ideas have to begin dead because of my own tendency not to recognize that ideas are, in themselves, living things. But once the tar is mixed with the gravel of my own experience a road can be paved that actually leads to something semi important even if it isn't alive.
But for the real truth, the life itself to appear, I have to wait. Just like wildflowers, real truth grows without actually being planted by any"body". In fact, this process has nothing to do with my own efforts whatsoever, except that I am open to seeing them. Not creating them. Not planting them or growing them, but merely noticing them there and then pointing to them so others can see them too.
Friday, July 8, 2011
Being In The Now VI
After the wonderful time we had on vacation, it is difficult to narrow my thoughts down to this moment. I want to talk about the last week and the great time we all had or about the next few weeks. That's always the focus... What "was" or what "will be". What "is" gets the shaft. So, let's see what "is"...
Right NOW...
The ingredients for my famous homemade Chicken and Sausage Gumbo are waiting patiently on the counter
The entire family is asleep and the house is quiet
I hear licking and realize that Nico (big dog) is licking Subby (little kitten) who is curled up against him
Subby's fur is soaking wet
The "new to me" refrigerator hums next to me, complete with produce drawers that don't fall out when you open them
My desk is completely clean (even if it is because I stuffed everything in a box)
My "writing callous" on my left forefinger is going away, which tells me I need to write a new story (so I can bite on it and keep it alive)
Our new pool is sparkling in the dark, ready for kids at daybreak
The laundry is already starting to multiply
I wonder why I'm staying up late again
I realize that sometimes THE NOW is deliciously boring...
There are so many NOWs that I could be experiencing. Painful, uncomfortable, stressful NOWs. But this NOW is peaceful...quiet. Boring even. And how thankful I am that it "is"!
Wisdom comes with the ability to be still. Just look and just listen. No more is needed. ~ Eckhart Tolle
 |
| Peace is never boring. |
After the wonderful time we had on vacation, it is difficult to narrow my thoughts down to this moment. I want to talk about the last week and the great time we all had or about the next few weeks. That's always the focus... What "was" or what "will be". What "is" gets the shaft. So, let's see what "is"...
Right NOW...
The ingredients for my famous homemade Chicken and Sausage Gumbo are waiting patiently on the counter
The entire family is asleep and the house is quiet
I hear licking and realize that Nico (big dog) is licking Subby (little kitten) who is curled up against him
Subby's fur is soaking wet
The "new to me" refrigerator hums next to me, complete with produce drawers that don't fall out when you open them
My desk is completely clean (even if it is because I stuffed everything in a box)
My "writing callous" on my left forefinger is going away, which tells me I need to write a new story (so I can bite on it and keep it alive)
Our new pool is sparkling in the dark, ready for kids at daybreak
The laundry is already starting to multiply
I wonder why I'm staying up late again
I realize that sometimes THE NOW is deliciously boring...
There are so many NOWs that I could be experiencing. Painful, uncomfortable, stressful NOWs. But this NOW is peaceful...quiet. Boring even. And how thankful I am that it "is"!
Wisdom comes with the ability to be still. Just look and just listen. No more is needed. ~ Eckhart Tolle
Friday, June 17, 2011
Life of a Door
Is it happy to be here with me as simple rugged furniture,
Watching as I read or write or sleep?
Before, for a hundred years or more,
It served as barrier between rooms, between people, complete
With locks that none could pass without a skeleton.
Was it happy then? preferring to be opened or closed?
What tragedies or triumphs did it witness in its home as silent door
To bedroom, bathroom, study, cellar
Who were the many, glad for its selfless committment
To protect from sound and eyes
Or was it happier as a stack of boards
Or as logs ripped from their sedentary majesty
As trees
Or was it as seeds that fullfilled it most,
Tiny flesh, full of life inside their hard shells,
Or as their mother flowers, perhaps.
Or as light or soil or water or air.
I was there, too, at its birth and mine.
As light, and soil, water and air
And I will always be
As it will always be
A door to something, somewhere.
For Now, though, we will enjoy only
This kindred moment together.
Monday, May 23, 2011
Being in the Now V
Right NOW...
I am sitting at a desk with papers stacked up so high they will no longer stay upright
The breakfast table is smattered with books, clothes, wal-mart bags and sunscreen from the weekend, waiting to be put away
The bar is covered with bathroom cleaner, windex and febreeze (that did not see the light of day today)
The living room floor is covered with toys, kid's pajamas and an occasional piece of dog food that was not up to Mojo's standards
It's 2:17, almost time to pick up the kids from school even though it seems like I just dropped them off
Nico is barking to get back inside because the cicadas are so numerous in our woods that it hurts his ears to be out there
There are two cute little kittens squeezed against the front of the refrigerator, asleep in the warm air that's coming out
I have calluses on my left hand that I have finally developed over 2 weeks of excruciating "playing through the pain"
I have nothing to cook for dinner and no gas in the car
I feel completely behind on everything, yet completely at peace
Right NOW, I refuse to let what I did not do dictate the success of today. What I did do was productive, just not as visibly productive as what I had planned. I rested. That's right, I said it! REST is a four letter word in this house. My partner was never allowed it growing up. I was allowed too much of it. To much dream time. The world continues to spin, I continue to breathe in and out and the wind blows, the sun rises and sets. What matters is not that which I fail to do. What matters is who I love, how I love and how much energy I have to love. Everything else will fall into the place where it belongs...eventually!
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