Monthly Archives: November 2013

A Few True Things

photo-18 copy 20Heaven has shined on me recently. Or perhaps it’s more accurate to say I visited heaven recently. Perhaps both are true. Either way I’ve had a few thoughts without any details. Maybe I’ll elaborate on some of them in the coming weeks.

A few things I’ve learned this weekend:

  • Time can and often does slow down when you’re with someone you love.
  • Serendipity happens when you least expect it.
  • Being open to those thoughts that have been pushing on a locked door inside your head just might take you somewhere surprising.
  • Being cold can feel exhilarating or miserable depending on the circumstances and even more so, on your attitude.
  • Breathing very cold air in a very warm bed produces happy dreams.
  • Just because something makes you nervous doesn’t mean it’s going to feel bad, you might even experience sheer bliss.
  • The stars look brighter and appear closer from inside a bubbling hot tub.
  • The best recommendation for a great place to eat always comes from a local resident.
  • photo-18 copy 21There’s no such thing as too much hot chocolate or too much whipped cream on your hot chocolate.
  • Saying goodbye never feels good.
  • Saying hello outshines saying goodbye like sunlight outshines a starless night.
  • Chocolate goes with everything.
  • I’m a mountain girl at heart and will probably always feel restless living in the desert.
  • Say yes to trying something different, the chances for joy lean in your favor.
  • Blue comes in more shades than any other color of the rainbow, and I pretty sure I saw most of them in the past three days. Green comes in a at a close second.
  • Taking a different path downhill from the one you take uphill can make all the difference.

photo-20 copy 6

Hoping none of this comes across as too vague or too pie-in-the-sky. But, if it does I’m not too worried about it. I’m feeling saturated with love, joy, relaxation and warmth.

Hoping you’re able to find similar things in your days.

Categories: Joy, Nature, Outdoors, People | Tags: , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Self-Explanatory Vacation Humor

Airport-Spa-Massage

vacak cartoon 2

vaca cartoon 1

chickenvacation2

Summer-Vacation-cartoon

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Got My New Shoes On

My cool cousin introduced me to this song. It’s pretty kicky. (Ha, notice the pun? Shoes-kicky?) I dare you not to feel like dancing while this song plays.

Some things in life elicit an automatic response. No thought required.

  • For me, a new pair of comfy shoes makes me want to dance.
  • Something fun to look forward to can kickstart my endorphins.
  • Breathing the scent of mountain air relaxes me all the way to the molecular level.
  • Those smile wrinkles at the edges of MSH’s eyes melt my heart.
  • Happy laughter makes me want to join in and laugh along.

Of course, not all automatic responses are good feelings.

  • a cop running into a store I’m just walking out of makes me want to run to my car
  • a baby crying makes my heart flip-flop
  • feeling cold and not able to warm up sets my nerves on edge
  • hearing someone yell at someone else skyrockets my blood pressure and discomfort level
  • a near miss in traffic instantly triples my heart rate
  • the phone ringing late at night or early in the morning sets off the panic system in me

Neither of those lists begin to touch the depth and breadth of possible autonomic responses we humans come programmed with.

English: Mountain Combat Boots

What I don’t get is why some people purposely expose themselves to those triggers. Haunted houses, for one small example. Why is the Sam Hill would anyone want to feel terrified for an extended length of time? I don’t get it.

Or jumping out of an airplane? Never, ever, not even for a million bucks. No way. I’d die of a heart attack on the way down if not the instant I leaned out of the plane. Can’t, won’t.

I’m glad some people can overcome natural responses. Firefighters for one. Police officers for another. Doctors, nurses, teachers.  (Okay, maybe I exaggerate with the teachers, but only a little. Have you been in a classroom lately?) Military people.

I suppose some people don’t have a reaction to the sight of blood and such. And some love the sound of shelling and gunfire. And it’s possible that danger just feels great, like a new pair of shoes maybe, to others. I can’t imagine it, but it’s possible, right? How else to explain people who take on risky, scary, nauseating, crazy jobs.

My new Naturalizers! Mmm, so comfy!

My new Naturalizers! Mmm, so comfy!

I just meant to write about how great my new shoes feel on my feet. Like a little hug, supportive, warm, snug, protective.

Who knew I’d end up being grateful for people who are okay with the uncomfortable, cold, lonely, not-so-safe, daring pairs of shoes or boots.

Well, why not? If you’re one of those people who make sure I’m safe  and can walk around protected in this crazy world, this “THANK YOU” is for you!

Categories: Gratitude, People, Wondering | Tags: , , , , , , , , | 6 Comments

Is It Just Me?

Is it just me or have things gotten a bit foggy?

Fog

Maybe I’m not getting enough sleep, but I don’t think that’s it. I just seem slightly off kilter, kind of how you feel during those first few stumbling minutes after extricating yourself from the tangle of sheets and the magnetism of the pillow. Except I’m that way all day long.

In fact, my personal dialog after regaining some form of consciousness in the morning usually goes something like this:

“Can I work a nap into my day? How soon? Can it start now? Maybe I can call in sick today? Is there anything in my life more important than sleep?”

Even after a shower and all the getting ready for the day, including fluffing my hair and getting my game face on, I just want to fall face first into the pillow and pass out.

I don’t think I can blame it on a seasonal change thing, or a time change thing, because A) we don’t do the time zone change thing here in Arizona and B) it’s now the glorious weather season when being outdoors isn’t toxic to our health. If anything I’m getting outdoors more now than in the past eight months.

The days are shorter, I’ll grant you that. Sunrise at 6:40ish and sunset at 5:30ish. That’s ony eleven hours, less than half a day of full on sunshine. And I’m not a fan of darkness. Not a fan at all. I sleep with at least four lights on in the house, that’s how much a fan I’m not.

A Charlie Brown Christmas

Maybe it’s the onslaught of the shopping season. Notice I didn’t say Holidays, or site any other holiday at all. I walked into several stores yesterday and found myself immediately and definitively assaulted by REDandGREENandSPARKLEandCINNAMONandHOLIDAYMUSIC. For Pete’s sake it’s only November! I felt like Charlie Brown walking past Snoopy’s dog house decked out in ridiculous, nonsensical outlandish overkill.

“Oh, brother,” I said, shaking my head and leaving the store as quickly as possible. I did not want to shop, I did not want to find a sale, I did not want to spend my money there. I know, you think I’m a Scrooge. Maybe I am. Bah.

But I don’t think that explains the foggy brain either.

Yes, the month is busy, but it’s a happy busy.

Maybe it’s a good thing I’m taking a much needed, but very rare, break this weekend. Yup, I’m getting my vacation on. Living la vida loca!  Becoming a wild woman.

Well, probably not all that wild. If you define wild as going for a hike, walking the rocky shore of a lake, sitting on the patio watching the sunset, simmering in a hot tub watching the steam rise into the below freezing air, then yeah, I’ll be a wild woman. Maybe I’ll return all “bright-eyed and bushy-tailed” as my Dad used to say.

Hammock - Polynesia.

If that doesn’t do the trick at lifting this fog then I’m in deep trouble.

Maybe I should just give in to that siren call of a nap. What harm could twenty or thirty minutes do? It’d probably be just what I need. Maybe it’s as simple as that.

I think I’ll book myself a little trip to dreamland and see what happens.

Categories: Mental Health, Wondering | Tags: , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Flexible, Spontaneous or Just Simply Chaotic

It’s Gratituesday! Today I’m grateful for a plans and goals and lists. I’m sure that sounds odd to most people.

Windswept

Windswept (Photo credit: Kathrin & Stefan)

You see, I’m not normally a goal setting sort of person. I prefer to be flexible and goals seem to get in the way of that flexibility. I do, however, have a wide assortment of lists, which aren’t quite the same as goals.

I suppose I see plans as a happy medium between goals and lists. It falls right in the middle of inflexible and flexible.

“You can devise all the plans in the world, but if you don’t welcome spontaneity; you will just disappoint yourself.” ~ Abigail Biddinger

I’d have missed out on some of the greatest things in my life if I weren’t willing to let go of plans and goals and just ride the current I found myself in.

Of course, a person can’t always just be all “whatever.” I guess there needs to be a sense of order and control and sanity as a foundation in order to be able to be spontaneous. May be that’s where I fall short and why goals don’t work so well for me, not enough of a foundation of order.

Hmmm.

Well, so far, I’ve managed to get by fairly well with my many lists, my few goals and the plans I make.

I’ve always liked this saying because I think it justifies or proves my somewhat hectic life of flexibility mixed with chaos.

“Life is what happens to you while you’re busy making other plans.” ~Allan Saunders

I’m always on a quest for balance in my life. If I ever achieve it the planets may cease spinning.

Well at least, I’m fairly certain, I keep God laughing.

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My Own Personal News Hour

English: Canary Wharf stock ticker

Canary Wharf stock ticker (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Life could use a ticker tape. You know that scrolling thing across the bottom of the screen during the news that has stock numbers, brief headlines and weather for major cities? Yes, that thing. I need something like that for my daily life.

Why? Doesn’t Facebook already sort of serve that purpose, you ask? No, thank goodness, I reply.

No, I’m talking about a quick update about what’s going on in my body and brain and heart that might explain the why’s behind what I’m doing.

Like a little news blip that pops up about a traffic accident on the interstate, you’d know before you left the house to take a different route in to the office. If something like that let me know that there’s a psychic fender bender that’s not even in the clearing stages yet, I could reroute myself around the mess and avoid some tears or heartache.

Delays at airports over two thousand miles away make sense when explained by a little news note about heavy storms in a city with a major airline hub. In like manner, if a little news scroll reminded me of what I ate just before bedtime, mixed with the not so wise choice of dinner condiments, I’d be better informed about the reason behind the morning headache or the sluggishness I’m feeling.

As interconnected as the world works there’s no need to register surprise when something in Eastern Europe affects the stock market in the U.S.

Brains and bodies work together in even more intimate ways than the world operates. A little heads up that the worries I’ve stuffed into the dark closet in the back of my head are contributing to some sleeplessness might change how I deal with both issues.

Maybe more than the news ticker, I also need a couple of analysts in the background, my own personal Gergen and Shields, debating the merits, causes and results of various choices and events. They’d be way better than a shoulder angel and a shoulder devil because they’re unbiased. Well, maybe not completely unbiased, but they wouldn’t get emotionally involved. Imagine how intelligent, efficient and effective I could become with such well-informed people weighing in on my life.

I suppose that’s not really practical or affordable for an ordinary person like myself who’s isn’t trying to run a country or a large corporation or anything like that.

And the ticker tape thingy would get annoying pretty quickly, to the point that I’d ignore it, or resent that it’s covering up part of the screen.

I probably just need to pay attention to my life a bit better. Maybe it’d help if I were more mindful of what I eat, how early (or late) I get to bed, whether I’m thinking things through or just rushing in without much thought.

“Life moves fast,” as Ferris Bueller says.

I guess I need to “stop and look around once in a while” so I don’t miss what’s really going on.

But wait. Does that mean I need to speed up? Or do I need to slow down? I guess that’s the problem with taking advice from a fictional teenage character. Not really the most solid place to get life coaching from.

Where are Gergen and Shields when I need them?

Categories: Mental Health, People, Wondering | Tags: , , , , , , | 2 Comments

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