Thoughtful Thursday

" The body itself is a screen
to shield and partially reveal the light
that's blazing inside your presence."
Rumi

One of the elements of this blog that I hold very dear to my heart is Thoughtful Thursdays.

Oftentimes, the quote will jump out and make it presence known. Things I've read a million times before, songs from the soundtrack of life - there is some sort of weird cosmic confluence that makes them shout out to be heard. It is quite an electrifying moment, and I am only too happy to oblige.

Sometimes, though, I have to search. I came to realize today, as I was poring over textbooks and reference books, that this mere act of searching is in and of itself also electrifying. It's like searching for treasure. There's the anticipation, there's the turning over & examination of the turn of phrase or well-placed word, and then there's that joy of discovery.

Today - the word that sparkled and glistened in the light of day was 'blazing'.

What an amazing and powerful word.

Show of hands - how many of us truly think that inside of us is a blazing magnificence?

I believe we all have it.

And I also believe that it is, indeed, blazing.

But why are we shielding it? Why are we obscuring it from sight?

And what do we need to do to share it? Is action required? Or merely a choice?

I, for one, am all about the shiny.

Tell me one thing about how brilliant you are - I really want to see behind that screen.

Thoughtful Thursday

In my yoga teaching training, we've been honing our verbal cues to give our students: ground your feet to the earth; raise the crown of your head towards the heavens.

I gotta tell ya, I'm a sucker for all that imagery. I can envision myself as a mountain. I can imagine that I'm a brave warrior.

So when I came across this piece in one of my reference manuals - and it speaks of four of the elements, it seemed apropos to share it.

Meditation
by Laurie Beth Jones

I am earth -
the soil that supports
and nurtures living things
I give solid footing
to those around me.

I am wind -
the power that
sweeps away old fears
and carries new ideas
like springtime.

I am fire -
igniting the power
and passion in others.
I give warmth
on cold, wintry nights,
and clear the way
for new beginnings.

I am water -
irresistible.
No obstacle can stop me.
I go over, under,
around and through.
I change forms
to steam or ice
or rain.
I bring life
wherever I go.
I touch everyone
I meet.

And now that I've shared, it's up to each of you who read it to own all the magnificence that is you.

You are supporting, powerful, passionate and transformative - and so very much more.

Thoughtful Thursday

Now normally, I'm not too big into obligations.

As I've gotten older, I realize that there is a real distinction between your garden-variety obligations and their more foundational cousin, commitment.

As I start to really acknowledge the enormity of what I went through during my time with cancer, I feel committed to bringing awareness and tools to others, so that they may not ever have to experience such suffering.

A couple of weeks ago, all three major U.S. networks aired a special called "Stand Up to Cancer". Not only do I always find this broadcast inspirational, I also find that the up-to-the-minute research they present is enpowering and hopeful.

Like most shows of this kind, the buzz is there the first day; it dissipates pretty quickly thereafter. I encourage you to visit the site,

SU2C.org

and to read the following - a piece that they started the show with - a piece that calls out cancer for the tenacious, apathetic, unwavering, body terrorist that it really is:

"Cancer doesn't care if you've won the Olympic gold medal.

Cancer doesn't care if you're beautiful, or brilliant, or just got into college, or just bought your first car.

Cancer doesn't care if your song is number one with a bullet.

Cancer doesn't care if you have your whole life in front of you.

Cancer doesn't care how many Oscars you've won, or how many tough guys you've played.

Cancer doesn't care that you have young children who need their mother.

Cancer doesn't care how well you sling a sledgehammer.

Cancer doesn't care that it just took your father.

Cancer doesn't care what time you have to get up in the morning, every morning.

Cancer, schmancer...

Cancer only cares if you sit still and do nothing. Cancer loves that...

Cancer doesn't care where you came from, or where you're going.

It just.

Doesn't.

Care. "

Thoughtful Thursday

"All people wish to be happy. This seemingly simple desire appears to elude the best-intentioned efforts of even the most intelligent among us. Yet almost everyone has had glimpses of deep peacefulness when they have felt connected both to themselves, to others, and to nature. Curiously, the state of feeling good and whole does not seem to be something we can order up on demand but rather appears to happen spontaneously. In such moments we experience a sense of translucence such that that which we see, feel, sense, hear, or touch no longer feel separate from us but is experienced as a part of our own totality. When our hand resting over the heart of the beloved merges and becomes one with his or her body, when we become the same midnight sky that fills us with awe, we remember, however briefly, our place in the scheme of things. These brief flickers of remembrance imbue our vision with freshness and innocence so that we can see things as they truly are. Because these moments of lucidity are so blissful, we wish that they may become the base state of our lives rather than the brief and often-times tenuous experience to which such happiness is usually assigned. These moments of clarity have nothing to do with the caricatures of happiness presented to us through the media or popular culture. These moments have always been there. The beloved's heartbeat and the sky have always been there. These moments are simply waiting for our arrival."
Donna Farhi, Yoga Body, Mind and Spirit

Thoughtful Thursday

There are times when, just when I think I've got my shit together, just when I think that I've re-discovered my sassy, just when I am under the delusion that everything is organized the way it should be...I end up taking two steps back.

It is then, on those days like the floor feels like it's dropped out from below me, that - more than ever - I need to remember these wise words from a long-forgotten source:

"Sometimes it may seem as if you're going backward, but truly,
if you look at a spiral,
it goes up, back, and around; reaching upward,
although it may seem for a time that you are not.
You are indeed progressing.
Trust the Mystery and keep going!"

Thoughtful Thursday

Today's Thoughtful Thursday comes as a confluence of events - at first glance, unrelated.

But these things - summer, gatherings, gardens, friends; under the effortless effort of reflection, seem to all belong together.

Not unlike eggplants and corn.

Garden Meditation
by Reverend Max Coots

Let us give thanks for a bounty of people.

For children who are our second planting, and though they
grow like weeds and the wind soon blows them away, may
they forgive us our cultivation and fondly remember where
their roots are.

Let us give thanks:

For generous friends...with hearts...and smiles as bright
as their blossoms;

For feisty friends, as tart as apples;

For continuous friends, who, like scallions and cucumbers,
keep reminding us that we've had them;

For crotchety friends, sour as rhubarb and as indestructible;

For handsome friends, who are as gorgeous as eggplants and
as elegant as a row of corn, and the others, as plain as
potatoes and so good for you;

For funny friends, who are as silly as Brussels sprouts and
as amusing as Jerusalem artichokes;

And serious friends, as unpretentious as cabbages, as subtle
as summer squash, as persistent as parsley, as delightful as
dill, as endless as zucchini and who, like parsnips, can be
counted on to see you through the winter;

For old friends, nodding like sunflowers in the evening-time,
and young friends coming on as fast as radishes;

For loving friends, who wind around us like tendrils and hold
us, despite our blights, wilts and witherings;

And finally, for those friends now gone, like gardens past
that have been harvested, but who fed us in their times that
we might have life thereafter.

For all these we give thanks.

Thoughtful Thursday

"...I've been up,
down,
Tryin' to get the feeling again
All around,
Tryin' to get the feeling again
The one that made me shiver
Made my knees start to quiver
Every time it* walked in

And I've looked high ,
low
Everywhere I possibly can
But there's no
tryin' to get the feelin' again
It seemed to disappear
as fast as it came..."
Barry Manilow

Boy, I feel ya, Barry.

I have been lookin'. And lookin'.

For what, you may well ask.

Well... for my sassy.

I've been looking, waiting, hoping, beseeching my sassy to come back.

And I gotta tell you - it is an elusive bitch, this sassy.

It takes some hunting around for. At least, say, 4 months' worth of time.

I would be lying if I told you that I finally have it firmly back in my grasp.

It is like gripping hopefully onto a palmful of sand - it's solid one moment, trickley and vanishing the next.

I would also be lying to you if I told you that I loved, Loved, LOVED my self-imposed hiatus.

Truth be told, I hated every moment that I wasn't clickety-clacking away at a keyboard. The self-withholding set my fillings on edge, and the squelched desire made me want to crawl out of my skin some days.

Posts by the hundreds scrolled through my head, fully-realized, rich and entertaining.

Here, then gone.

Just like the sassy.

I ached to write.

I ached to be funny again.

But something intangible - some eerie self-preservation - always stopped me from planting my butt down and having at'er.

Here's the thing, dear reader of mine - the cold hard fact. There are many, many times when this bon vivant does not feel the least bit bon.

Nor vivant.

My sassy tank has been running on fumes for about, oh, 6 months or so.

But, thanks to the sons who both keep asking 'When are you going to write again?'; thanks to the ever-supportive husband who listens to me forever sigh and writhe and battle my inner demons; thanks to my trusted cousel who appreciates me for who I am and wherever I may be going; thanks to a bunch of infectious high-spirited hijinxers, I am just willing to baby- step my way back here.

For a time, it was all about the response. The validation. The numbers.

But, hey? I'm not a number person. I'm a word person.

And I'm back.

****

There is a Yin to the Yang of B von B: "Compulsions, Neuroses, and all my Other Charming Qualities". When I'm feeling blue or blah or downright bleak, this is where I might be found.

Thoughtful Thursday

Sometimes, my source of the quote I want to share with you on Thoughtful Thursdays is written word; it leaps out at me from the page.

Sometimes, it's the once-neglected lyric of a song - it will lazily meander through the air and tug at my ears.

And sometimes, it's a bumper sticker.

A seemingly trivial adornment - but in this case, as in many of my discoveries, it opens yet another door to yet another place that I had no idea existed, up until that very moment.

It is synchronicity at its finest.

I caught this at first, just as a glimpse in my peripheral vision. But its words were enough to trigger something quite visceral, and I had to have the Baron edge up towards the car in the next lane, like some cliched 70's TV cop show, as I practically hung halfways out the open passenger window.

"A little closer!"

"Hurry, the light's turned green - they're getting away!"

"I can almost see the author - HURRRRRR-YYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY".

With a vroom and a sweet puff of gasoline, away they went, lost in the downtown traffic.

But I found it.

And at a time when I'm starting to finish what seems a lifetime of suppression, here it is.

In all its simplicity and its profundity:

"Your silence will not protect you."
Audre Lorde

[go here for more]

Thoughtful Thursday

From a new poet I recently discovered:

Clean
I stand
grounded
in the shower
for what seems an eternity

Comforted by the foggy glass

It is the perfect mirror
for my foggy reflection.

Fascinated by the rivulets
some pooling, collecting
some flowing down
trickling, really

I breathe my life into them
unconvinced
as to whether it's cathartic
or damaging -

bleeding away my oxygen
my spirit
my hopes
my sorrow

feeding this pure water
as it gracefully
wends its way

Towards the drain.

Elle MacDonald

Thoughtful Thursday

I mentioned yesterday how She-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named has taken over at least one of our local Olympic venues.

I say 'at least' because she is subversive. We all know this. All is quiet on the Western Front and then BAM! She's singlehandedly financing healthcare and adopting entire countries. She's simultaneously redecorating women's shelters while grafting 25 new hybrid roses in her California compound. Who knows how far-reaching her tentacles spread? (Immediately the giant squid from '10,000 Leagues Under the Sea' springs to mind. Except for the part about killing sea men. Or maybe not.)

Anyhoo...

While one celeb may be subversive, there is another out and about here who is anything but. A certain Monsieur Stephen Colbert is at it - loud and proud.

From his claim on the cover of Sports Illustrated...

'Saving' the Olympics?
(harumph)
(one snow truck at a time?)

...to inciting his Northern faction of the ColbertNation to festoon our city with his posters ...

... I think that in his heart of hearts, he really likes us. He really, really likes us.

Broadcasting his 'Colbert Report' from a venue yesterday in Vancouver, he lovingly pandered to the crowd and summed up our charm with one of his always-keen observations:

"It doesn't matter whether you are Canadian, Indian or Asian. What unites us is you are not American."

Thoughtful Thursday

Late last week, The Baroness was in the throes of medically making herself, ummmm....hollow. All in the name of -ologies and -oscopies. (I'll let you fill in the gaps here)(because thanks to this, there are many, many gaps)(still)

Needless to say (so I won't)(too much), I could not really stray far from the confines of my home. Setting foot outside would be akin to releasing a helium balloon into the air. And, although I love to travel, this is not my method of choice.

What to do? What to do? What to do?

Few things say discomfort to me more than confinement and the ensuing mopey-ness. And what, pray tell, is the cure-all for reality? Escapism.

So I decided to have a mini-movie marathon.

And somewhere, in the middle of "Shall We Dance", there was just such a lovely conversation crafted by writer Audrey Wells between the beautiful Susan Sarandon (Bev) and the wry Richard Jenkins (Mr. Devine), that I had to share it for today's TT.

Enjoy.

Bev: Why is it, do you think, that people get married?

Mr. Devine: Passion.

Bev: No.

Mr. Devine: That's interesting. Because I would have taken you for a romantic. Why, then?

Bev: Because we need a witness to our lives.

There's a billion people on this planet. I mean, what does any one life really mean?

But in a marriage, you're promising to care about everything...the good things, the bad things, the terrible things, the mundane things...

All of it, all the time, every day.

You're saying, 'Your life will not go unnoticed, because I will notice it."

"Your life will not be unwitnessed, because I will be your witness."

Thoughtful Thursday

There is a saying: Once the student is ready, the teacher will present themself.

So while I continue to meander endlessly down a myriad of paths - to seek out those teachers that will start me on my ways - I am certain that I have found one.

An integral one; a foundational one.

My Yoga Teacher.

She is local phenomenon, and I knew from the very moment that I was in her class, she was the shizznit. Her method of teaching speaks to me, and taps into and lets flow an enthusiasm in me that I thought was gone forever.

Here is a woman who does not rest on her laurels. She's been at this a very long time. She teaches 4 days a week, to a variety of groups that her son refers to as "her people". She could very easily phone it in; just stick with what has worked in the past, keep everything routine.

But she doesn't. And she won't.

Every single class, without exception, she brings something new. Every class is fresh and shiny and exciting, and like the first one ever. She is constantly reading. Constantly learning. And she is always - ALWAYS - ready to take us along with her on her journey. For, she has told us, it is for us that she does all of this. It is we who inform her soul to keep going, to keep growing.

I can say, with certainty, it is she whom I was meant to learn from. She is grace, she is wisdom, she is perseverance; she is a cherished treasure.

On Monday, before one of our more challenging poses, she cited a poem about the pose from a book she brought along, "Yoga Poses: Lines to Unfold By".

And, although it was indeed inspirational at the time, it is something that is equally soothing to share 'off the mat'.

Padangustha Dhanurasana - The Bow Pose

For woman
bow is both
noun and verb.

How to bend
without breaking?

How to tie a ribbon
around a life
without constriction?

How to stretch
and not snap

How to love?

How to live?

Leza Lowitz

May you have a happy Thursday, my lovelies, unfolding, bending, stretching, being ...

Thoughtful Thursday

photo source here

In yoga, one of the components of our practise is something called a mudra. This encompasses a positioning of the hands and/or fingers. Each variety of mudra is rife with symbolism and purpose.

One of my favorites, the Lotus Mudra (read more here) has the yogi shaping their hands like the petals of a lotus flower. This mudra 'belongs to the heart chakra' and helps us to be aware of keeping our heart pure and unconditional , as 'love, goodwill, affection and communication reside together in there.'

I especially like it, as I feel its openness is a conduit for both receiving all the good energy which will surround one in a yoga class and for offering up any prana (life energy) back to the class. Because, as we practise individually, we are still just one part of a singular living, breathing being.

Today's TT comes to you via me via one of my brother-in-laws. A fellow, who, I can assure you is cringing right alongside Duke #1 at all of the hippy dippy voodoo bullshit that I just touched upon above.

Like most of my out-laws, my BIL is a mystery wrapped up in an enigma, with a pocket full of happiness and medicinal lint.

During one of our oh-so-witty repartees back and forth on facebook, in reaction to something I said, he said he was Aghast.

That's funny, said I.

I thought you were Agnostic.

He then informed me that he is now Acrostic.

I must say (yes, I really must) - this is quite puzzling.

An-n-n-yways...

Despite his religious and crytological leanings, he sent along this lovely piece of enlightenment specifically targetted to the JewBu population, but equally applicable to all. It immediately resonated with me purely because of the reference to the flower:

Deep inside you are ten thousand flowers
Each flower blossoms ten thousand times
Each blossom has ten thousand petals
You might want to see a specialist.

Namaste. Go in peace.

Right to the internist.

Thoughtful Thursday

photo source here

" There is a vitality, a life force, a quickening that is translated through you into action, and because there is only one of you in all time, this expression is unique. If you block it, it will never exist through any other medium. It will be lost. The world will not have it. It is not your business to determine how good it is, nor how valuable it is, nor how it compares with other expressions. It is your business to keep it yours clearly and directly, to keep the channel open.

You do not even have to believe in yourself or your work. You have to keep open and aware directly to the urges that motivate you. Keep the channel open. There is no satisfaction whatever at any time. There is only a queer, divine dissatisfaction, a blessed unrest that keeps us marching and makes us more alive."
Martha Graham

What a highly freeing passage - inspirational, motivational with a graceful jette to the derriere - but oh, so very real.

To know that what we're struggling and grasping and stretching for may not result in pure, unadulterated bliss.

Ahhhh. Because that 'blessed unrest' I'm sure we all know is all we need to acheive.

Ahhhh. Because a lot of us are already there, but we didn't know it.

Ahhhh. Because it's time to luxuriate in our uniqueness, and how that uniqueness feeds the world around you.

Happy Thursday, everyone.

Thoughtful Thursday

"All human beings have occasional glimpses of enlightenment,
moments of clarity in which
suffering drops away and
love overtakes us"
Judith Hanson Lasater

My wish for you today?

For the suffering, that brief respite to set down your troubles.

For the seeking, that bright glimpse of what might be.

For the open heart, an overwhelming warmth of the love that is there.

Thoughtful Thursday

(photo source here)

"All I have to do is be,
and all I have to be is who I am"

I encountered this potent phrase during a yoga retreat this past summer. It had a lot of resonance with me, as every waking moment of my day is usually consumed with attempts at over-achieving.

Please note that I say 'attempts' now, because I'm starting to realize that the intention behind an action is sometimes just as important as the action itself.

So, on the brink of an eve where a lot of people will make lengthy lists that intend to completely revolutionize their lives, I urge them - and you - to take a baby step back. While still remaining optimistic, be realistic.

Be kind to yourself.

Because, with a little self-reflection - the truth of who you are?

Probably pretty amazing already.

Just be.

Thoughtful Thursday

"Ya. Meat."

The quote above is one of the most oft-quoted vonB family phrases.

Yet I cannot lay claim to it - it is from a Nepali friend of our friend Brian.

The story goes that. . .

(with a few omissions, inaccuracies and minor embellishments)
(for which I will never be asked to submit work to the Oprah book club)
(and I can live with that)
(Really)

. . .Brian decided, as his 50th birthday present to himself, he would join a group and hike to the base camp of Mount Everest, something he had long wanted to do.

The group was quite a mishmash of characters: leaders, a veritable UN of hikers, and assorted sherpas. As is Brian's way, he quickly befriended the sherpas - these were the guys doing the lion's share of the duties, and Brian seems to be drawn towards the honest, humble and hardworking.

There was once particular fellow that Brian seemed to spend a lot of time with, and between them, they developed a method of broken-English/pantomime/point-and-make-faces communication that served both of them quite well.

Without fail, every meal everyone ate was rice and some sort of vegetable.

Rice for breakfast.

Rice for lunch.

Rice for dinner.

On about the 5th day, though, there was an added bonus at dinnertime. Something vaguely protein-ish in nature was perched atop their rice.

Brian went over to his sherpa buddy, pointed at the food in the bowl, and said "Dude, what's up with this?" Questioning look on face, shoulders shrugged.

Sherpa smiled beatifically and kept on keeping on.

Brian continued, "So is it goat?"

No response.

"Is is some sort of field animal you found while we were hiking?"

Nothing.

"What kind of meat is this?"

Finally, the sherpa's eyes lit up; acknowledgment.

The magic word had been articulated.

Sherpa looked at Brian, pointed to the bowl and said, "Ya."

"Meat."

'Nuff said.

Maybe sometimes it's better not to know the specifics.

After hearing this anecdote, the vonB's began to incorporate it into any meal where we sat around the table, silent; totally focussed on the food we were digging into like cavemen around the fire. (or hyenas on the velt.)

Amid the smicking and gnawing and smacking, one of us will look up and at each other, and grunt out, "Ya. Meat."

It truly is a phrase of perfection; succinct yet speaking volumes.

So, as you dear readers tuck into your holiday feast either tonight or tomorrow, surrounded by the warmth of family drawn near and the bounty that you are fortunate enough to have placed before you, may you all have your own "Ya. Meat." moment: A time of gratitude for whatever we may be given, with our best interests the only intention.

Thoughtful Thursday

Beware this woman.

No, she is neither a spammer nor a flamer.

Not a troll and definitely not a defamer.

(Nor a joker, or a smoker)

(and I'm not sure if some people call her Maurice)

She is the Earworm Queen.

Her latest facebook trend - which I adore, by the dubs, is to insert snippets of 80's songs into her status.

I end up humming old (obscure) favorites all day.

As I was driving around today, merrily humming The Sweet's "Love is Like Oxygen" (see, she's got you doing it, too...) I wondered what else could inflict such amusement on the ear.

Not quite as insiduous and slurmy as a worm. Something more delicate.

An ear tickler, as it were.

And then I thought of George Carlin.

Now, I have to say, in past years, Mr. Dude had fallen out of my favour. I had watched one of his specials where he clumsily forayed into the (perceived) humour surrounding some questionable behaviour. I'm hardly a prude, and I can't (and don't really want to) remember all the reprehensible details, but to say I was appalled was an understatement of epic proportion.

But then, not too long ago, an e-mail from Very Short List reminded me of the genius I had chosen to ignore.

On that long-ago HBO special I had witnessed the nadir of his stage routine; but this 'hunk' was truly the virtuoso at his finest, doing what he did best - conveying his observational love of language and beating out a rhythm of words worthy of a Buddy Rich drum solo.

Here's a little side dish to enjoy with the turkey and stuffing. Happy Thanksgiving Thursday, my fellow (North) Americans!

Modern Man by George Carlin
"I'm a modern man, a man for the millenium. Digital and smoke free. A diversified multi-cultural, post-modern deconstruction that is anatomically and ecologically incorrect. I've been up linked and downloaded, I've been inputted and outsourced, I know the upside of downsizing, I know the downside of upgrading. I'm a high-tech low-life. A cutting edge, state-of-the-art bi-coastal multi-tasker and I can give you a gigabyte in a nanosecond!

I'm new wave, but I'm old school and my inner child in outward bound. I'm a hot-wired, warm-hearted cool customer, voice activated and bio-degradable. I interface with my database, my database is in cyberspace, so I'm interactive, I'm hyperactive and from time to time I'm radioactive.

Behind the eight ball, ahead of the curve, ridin' the wave, dodgin' the bullet and pushin' the envelope. I'm on-point, on-task, on-message and off drugs. I've got no need for coke and speed. I've got no urge to binge and purge. I'm in-the-moment, on-the-edge, over-the-top and under-the-radar. A high-concept, low-profile, medium-range ballistic missionary. A street-wise smart bomb. A top-gun bottom feeder. I wear power ties, I tell power lies, I take power naps and run victory laps. I'm a totally ongoing big-foot, slam-dunk, rainmaker with a pro-active outreach. A raging workaholic. A working rageaholic. Out of rehab and in denial!

I've got a personal trainer, a personal shopper, a personal assistant and a personal agenda. You can't shut me up. You can't dumb me down because I'm tireless and I'm wireless, I'm an alpha male on beta-blockers.

I'm a non-believer and an over-acheiver, laid-back but fashion-forward. Up-front, down-home, low-rent, high-maintenance. Super-sized, long-lasting, high-definition, fast-acting, oven-ready and built-to-last! I'm a hands-on, foot-loose, knee-jerk head case pretty maturely post-traumatic and I've got a love-child that sends me hate mail.

But, I'm feeling, I'm caring, I'm healing, I'm sharing - a supportive, bonding, nurturing primary care-giver. My output is down, but my income is up. I took a short position on the long bond and my revenue stream has its own cash-flow. I read junk mail, I eat junk food, I buy junk bonds and I watch trash sports! I'm gender specific, capital intensive, user-friendly and lactose intolerant...

...I bought a microwave at a mini-mall; I bought a mini-van at a mega-store. I eat fast-food in the slow lane. I'm toll-free, bite-sized, ready-to-wear and I come in all sizes. A fully-equipped, factory-authorized, hospital-tested, clinically-proven, scientifically-formulated medical miracle. I've been pre-washed, pre-cooked, pre-heated, pre-screened, pre-approved, pre-packaged, post-dated, freeze-dried, double-wrapped, vacuum-packed and I have an unlimited broadband capacity.

I'm a rude dude, but I'm the real deal. Lean and mean! Cocked, locked and ready-to-rock. Rough, tough, and hard to bluff. I take it slow, I go with the flow, I ride with the tide. I've got glide in my stride. Drivin' and movin', sailin' and spinnin', jiving and groovin', wailin' and winnin'. I don't snooze, so I don't lose. I keep the pedal to the metal and the rubber to the road. I party hearty and lunch time is crunch time. I'm hangin' in, there ain't no doubt and I'm hangin' tough, over and out!"

Thoughtful Thursday

"I hate rules."

"Rules were made to be broken."

"Who listens to rules anyways?"

Well, I do.

I may be taking an unpopular stance (like that's never happened before), but I really believe in rules. Without these imposing boundaries, chaos is only steps away from setting up shop.

I think that rules have a valuable place in our lives. I may not always understand the rationale behind them, but I have to respect that somewhere along the line, a precedent was set that caused these rules to need to be created.

I like the fact that I had no input into most rules that exist. It reminds me that I am not always the Tzarina and Absolute Controller of my universe; it is humbling.

Needless to say, any document that talks about rules I find absolutely fascinating. Cherie Carter-Scott wrote a book called, "If Life is a Game, These are the Rules" - its ten-point framework and related sub-topics are today's TT:

"Rule #1: You will receive a Body. [Acceptance, Self-Esteem, Respect, Pleasure]

Rule #2: You will be presented with Lessons. [Openness, Choice, Fairness, Grace]

Rule #3: There are no mistakes, only Lessons. [Compassion, Forgiveness, Ethics, Humour]

Rule #4: A Lesson is Repeated Until Learned. [Awareness, Willingness, Causality, Patience]

Rule #5: Learning Does Not End. [Surrender, Commitment, Humility, Flexibility]

Rule #6: 'There' is no better than 'Here'. [Gratitude, Unattachment, Abundance, Peace]

Rule #7: Others are Only Mirrors of You. [Tolerance, Clarity, Healing, Support]

Rule #8: What You Make of Your Life is Up To You. [Responsibility, Release, Courage, Power, Adventure]

Rule #9: All Your Answers Lie Inside of You. [Listening, Trust, Inspiration]

Rule #10: You Will Forget All of This at Birth." [Faith, Wisdom, Limitlessness]

And I guess this is why I find these types of limitations so interesting. It all distills down to the exploration of the fundamental why.

Lest you begin to think that I'm an insufferable suck up, know this. I may follow all the rules, but only to a point. Once I have scoured their blueprints, once I learned them so well I can divine the intricacy of their infrastructure, once I know with complete certainty where they are pliable, I will expertly manipulate them.

I just don't feel the urge to immediately dismiss them nor snap them like a twig; bending will suffice quite nicely.

I think that might just be a lesson learned.

Thoughtful Thursday

Today's Thoughtful Thursday comes from one of my newer readers, Titanium.

She's all kind of eloquent, with a little kick-assery thrown in for good measure. I so admire her strength and am thankful she can open my eyes - and in turn yours - to such fine imagery as this:

On the day when
the weight deadens
on your shoulders
and you stumble,
may the clay dance
to balance you.

And when your eyes
freeze behind
the grey window
and the ghost of loss
gets in to you,
may a flock of colors,
indigo, red, green,
and azure blue
come to awaken in you
a meadow of delight.

When the canvas frays
in the currach of thought
and a stain of ocean
blackens beneath you,
may there come across the waters
a path of yellow moonlight
to bring you safely home.

May the nourishment of the earth be yours,
may the clarity of light be yours,
may the fluency of the ocean be yours,
may the protection of the ancestors be yours.

And so may a slow
wind work these words
of love around you,
an invisible cloak
to mind your life.

John O' Donohue

And may you be able to, on this Thursday, brush aside that windblown scattering of scarlet and amber leaves to find that pathway leading to your personal meadow of delight.