Top 10 Ways I Support Your Dream

Top 10 Ways I Support Your Dream 

1.  I listen to you when you talk about your dream...even if I don't understand it.  I want to hear the big picture and the details... as wild and wonderful or small and simple as they may be.

2.  I ask questions that help you dream more... "when will you take the next step?", "who is going to be there", "where will you go first?",  "how will you get from A to B... a unicycle perhaps?".  I can also help you brainstorm if you get stuck on an answer... I love that part.  Dreaming together is fun.

3.  I check in to see how your dream is unfolding....more than once because it sometimes take a while to get the dream rolling.

4.  I remind you of your dream when you forget it and feel dreamless.

5.  I share my dream with you so you know that you are not alone in being dreamy.

6.  I send you encouragement notes... tucked into a book, scribbled on a sticky note, posted on facebook, typed out in an email message or sent with care in a hand written card.

7.  I am mindful of events, people, situations and information that may help you connect to your dream... then share my discoveries with you so you can link up as you see fit. 

8.  I ask you to lay on the grass beside me and watch the clouds go by... let's find dragons, giraffes, clowns and eagles in the movement of the vaporous masses floating by.  Let's have fun imagining and playing.

9.  I take steps to live my dream  too so I walk my talk. 

10.  I ask you to make a list of how I can support you... because these are my ideas... I want yours... that's part of my dream.

I'm rethinking politics...

I'm rethinking politics or more specifically one politician, Michael Ignatieff.  I know him as the author of the book I'm currently reading called "The Lesser Evil.  Political Ethics in an Age of Terror."

Today my son said, "hey that guy who wrote that book is running for Prime Minister."  Wow! I have so disconnected myself from current events that I didn't even know this fact.  I've been on a multi-year media fast that for the most part has really cleansed my system of the garbage of the world.  I learn what I need to learn when I need it.  I've become accustomed to a new process where information comes to me.  Like today. 

Now I want to know.... now I want to find out who this man is who would write such a compelling book and who is interested to lead this country.  What's the connection?  Could someone so seemingly conscious of the humanity within events and people also be a politician?  Ahh...shake up my world...perhaps the answer is yes!  hmmmm...

He's a master journalist, educator, researcher and writer.  Before I knew he was a politician I was underlining important thoughts in his book.  He's not just a writer of opinion but a one who questions the underlying philosophies, the thoughts behind the actions...the thoughts behind the thoughts.... yes, now we're getting somewhere different.

I'm not sold on him yet... actually I don't want to be sold.  I want to be inspired.  I want to believe again in the nobility of a leader who blends action with heart and mind.  To feel even a shimmer of that would expand my limits of what I believe is possible.  Possible not just for individuals but for bigger and bigger groups of people. 

I am reawakening something deep inside me that I once felt very passionate about; the larger collective good.  My journey for some time now has been one of moving inwards getting my own house in order.  Now perhaps, if this leader is who I see he may be, then it is time to start moving from within to without.  It's time perhaps to loose the layers of cynicism that adds negative energy to the world and step forward into a different experience of governance.   

From the pages of  a dark and heavy book I may have found some light in a positive politician.  Possible?  Perhaps.  I'm willing to open my mind and do some rethinking.

limitless...

According to the movie "Limitless" 100% mental clarity can be accessed by taking a pill called NZT.  A drug that skyrockets every synapse into activity allowing the user to enjoy an abundance of money, power, sex and fast cars. 
Briefly, until the pills run out.  Then one crashes and burns into sickness with a short attention span, rapid aging, with a bitter end result of a sad and tragic death. 

I get the idea...I like the idea... increased brain activity and unlimited potential... I have books on the shelf, the coffee table and pretty much everywhere in the apartment that speak directly to this idea.  But none of them promote taking short cuts. It's a process...it's work...it's continuous effort that takes time. The results have lasting impact with permanence and significance that go far beyond adrenalin rushes and quick cash.

Clarity, if you want clarity uncluttter your life, physically, emotionally and spiritually.  Take the time to let go of what no longer serves you.  This is best done in layers.  My move to a new city and a new life was a drastic way to shift a lot of material belongings.  This was just the first of many layers. Nine months later the emotional and spiritual layers of uncluttering is just settling into my bones. 

Hey, nine months...just the same amount of time as a full term pregnancy.  Coincidence...hmmmm...not to a symbolic seeker such as myself :-) 
Growing life takes time to incubate and take form.  I couldnt' rush the process.  Our culture would have us believe otherwise...here take a pill and find enlightenment.  But in 30 seconds we're not ready for what comes next.  Our minds and hearts have not grown to take in what is happening.  Thus we feel the rush of openings and closing rather than the calmer transition into expansion.  Our life is thus a scattered, cluttered cycle.  It's like only being happy when it's sunny and warm outside rather than being happy even when it's raining, snowing or cold and cloudy.

I am expanding now into keeping my heart open as I learn to let go with more grace rather than fear.  The potential in this is limitless.  It's not a stock market algorithm eureka moment.  It's looking around me and seeing my apartment as a palace rather than a failure; it's allowing people to do what they need to do even when it doesn't include me; it's encouraging my kids to be free even when it means they'll move away; it's about accepting myself even when I feel the pangs of rejection.

For me the process includes walking my dog, writing blogs, swimming in poetry, losing myself in movies, reading inspired texts, zombies watching and gazing at Christmas lights that sparkle from sun up to sun down.  There is no one thing that is getting me to this new place of being.  No short cut.  Just practice, practice, practice.

Yes, this takes me back to the skating blog.... I am reminded again of the importance of practicing even though the ice has melted and the "rink closed for the season" sign is posted.  Skating was only one medium.  Life gives me many and it's up to me to use them to their maximum, limitless potential. 

When I step back and put life situations in to this perspective...wow, does I feel better than getting all twisted up, like the junkie who is crashing from a synthetic high. I'd rather feel the Awesomeness of life through life's natural highs and lows than filling myself with the false reality that something outside of me,  be it a person, place or pill, will help me be myself. 

Moving is not required to unclutter.  Nor is rushing.  Slow down.  Look around wherever you are and start there, one room, one thought, one belief at a time. Don't rush. Be gentle yet encouraging to keep going as the new life on the other side of release is worth the effort...it's a feeling that NZT will never come close to giving you....peace...the beautiful peace that manifests when the limitless power of love becomes bigger than fear.

Have a

day!



Hand made...hand written deliciousness

Mmmmmmm.... delicious!  I wish you could taste what I'm enjoying at this moment...a warm and fresh made from scratch pumpkin harvest muffin.  Crispy on the outside, moist on the inside with a golden finish that reminds me how precious it is.

Earlier this week I received a beautiful card from a friend in Ontario.  Written in her own penmanship were words of appreciation and kindness.  As I opened the envelope at my desk the chaos of the world instantly disappeared into a quiet stillness.  A personal connection showing me that goodness is alive and real.  As real as the paper that was in my hands. 

Knowing that this person with a very busy life had taken the time to choose a card, write out her thoughts and send it to me by post was so special.  Email is convenient and orderly; texting is short and sweet; facebooking is fun and friendly but there is just nothing like receiving something written by hand.  It's personal, we are personal ...we are more than binary code.   

In a fast paced world understanding that someone slowed down enough to connect "old school" expands my heart.  I love to see how life flows through another as I see a glimpse of their personality inked in loops, swirls, lines and dots.  In the computer age an intimate part of our being is disappearing in the name of efficiency.  When do we, if ever, dare to share this personal slowed down part of ourselves rather than opting for easy and fast? 

Thank you Mandy for your thoughtful card that didn't come via computer but by good old Canada Post  reminding me of the humanity that connects us across the miles.  Like the muffins, made with each ingredient chosen from the cupboard instead of a premade dozen from the grocer's shelf,  the card and the hand written words add an abundance of deliciousness, health and joy to my life. 

Splashed... a perspective on perspective

Perspective #1 - Spring temperatures today brought lots of smiles to faces, lots of people out from under their winter parkas and lots of puddles to roadways.   Most drivers are awesome at driving around puddles so they don't splash pedestrians.  Most.  Today I had the experience of meeting up with one who didn't  purposefully switch lanes.  One whom I'm quite sure drove faster to make a bigger splash.  I saw the speeding vehicle coming but with no where to jump and only seconds to make a bolt in any direction I went into protection mode and simple turned my back and covered my head.  Swwwooooosssshhhh.... SOAKED!! 

He got me good.  One minute I was basking in the sunshine the next I was dripping wet as if I just stepped out of the shower.  Nutty!  And so funny.  I turned to Joy, my dog, who I managed to shelter from the bulk of the deluge, and started laughing.  What a sight that must have been!!  I was drenched but still happy to be out walking in above zero weather.  No injuries only road pebbles in my hair and some clothing requiring a good washing. 

Perspective #2 - Last summer in Warman I was out biking, again with Joy, and we got caught in a hail storm.  A wicked, vicious outburst of  ice plummeting from the sky at what felt like a million miles per hour causing bruises and welts all over my arms and legs.  Soaked to the core, shaking like a leaf and in a surreal state of shock we finally made our way home.  I was rattled and sore but nothing that didn't heal within a couple of days.

Perspective #3 - A early morning email message:  My sister and her family are vacationing in Hawaii.  They have been up all night on alert just in case the after shock of the tsunami forces them to move to higher ground.  They are scared and tired but safe; no need to worry.   For a brief moment the whole family felt the shock wave of a catastrophic world event becoming personal with the flash of her words on the screen.  But the shock subside as we learn that they are now simply tourists in a tropical paradise kept from the beach. 

Perspective #4 - Across the Pacific a tsunami leaves parents childless while other children are now utterly alone in an epic wasteland.  Communities vanished in the mighty power of a wave.  Gone.  Gone.  Not hurt, not lost, but gone!  My mind has no paradigm to feel the level of this loss.  People enduring physical and emotional devastation unlike anything I have experienced. 

Water.  Each scenario a story of water, different yet connected in this essential element of life.  I am humbled tonight by the lesson within the water that reminds me to hold perspective; to remember what is important and let go of what is not.  In my mind a puddle can become a tsunami, or a tsunami a puddle, as I allow it.  My choice. 

Peace is my gift when I know the difference in perspective. 

Cradled

Cradled

Along the trail I witness

how the snow is cradled

in the nooks and crannies of trees

where the branches meet the trunk

outstretched limbs

offering places for cities of snowflakes

to rest

a reprieve from

f

      a

           l

               l

                                                                                            i
                                                                                               n
                                                                                                   g

before the melt

when ice transforms

to water

drop

by

drop

nourishing the roots deep within

the forest floor

leaves cradled

in cocooned shells

pulsing

in the energy of rebirth

poised to open in light and warmth

waiting

             waiting

                         waiting

to cradle the earth

in textured layers of greenery

releasing the shades of grey

that mirror winter's hibernation

into the tender embrace

of the Mystery that

cradles us all.

klh

the chocolate chip cookie

This is it.  The gooder than good, greater than great, bester than best chocolate chip recipe, direct from my cupboard to your screen. 

It's the recipe that my son uses when it's just one of those perfect days to stir up some delicious goodness. A Cat in the Hat kinda day like this past Saturday when the temperatures dropped again, the snow swirled as the winds whipped it all into a winter frenzy that kept us indoors bundled up looking for something to do.   

I'm well beyond the point of having to help Tyson bake.  At 16 he's made his own culinary creations for quite some time.  My job is loyal assistant;  making sure all the ingredients are in the cupboard, finding the mixing tools and doing the dishes. Yes, he could do all these things as a solitary endeavour, we know that, but we both relax into our respective duties like clockwork.  We have a routine in our hanging out in the kitchen time.  Beyond the baking we chat, we listen to music, discuss current events, share ideas and joke about funny bits and pieces of who we are and the adventures we've had. 

It's simple.  We didn't have to travel to get to this place.  It didn't cost us a zillion dollars.  No time off work.  Just time. Time together, relaxed and unhurried.   Time that builds a foundation for conversations that are necessary when life is not going so smoothly.  Time that locks in memories for when we're not together and we need a comforting thought to hold onto.  Tyson shared with me that when he was sick last week all he wanted was cookies...our homemade cookies, an affirmation that these chocolate chip cookies are more than what they appear to be... in their essence they are love... delicious, fun and simple.  If we just wanted the cookies we could buy them at the store.  But that's it's more than that. 

Mary Oliver, in her poem, "Mindfulness" speaks so eloquently about how we find beauty and wisdom in the "ordinary, the common, the very drab...".  This precious time of baking with my son using the same recipe, following the same process, playing the same roles, resulting in the same common cookie is far from ordinary.  It is the "untrimmable light" that shines brightly in my heart long after the last morel is devoured. 

Where can you find light in the greyness of life?  Where can you find joy in the common?  With whom can you find beauty in the every day?   The answers are as close as your next breath...in the rhythm of your  beating heart.  They are as delicate as the opening of the tulips on the kitchen table and as quiet as the sound of the whispering winds on a peaceful summer's eve.  Are you listening?  What does it say?  What do you need to do to feel this soft world? 

Mindful by Mary Oliver

Every day

     I see or hear

           something

                  that more or less

kills me

       with delight,

            that leaves me

                   like a needle

in the haystack

     of light.

          It was what I was born for -

                to look, to listen,

to lose myself

     inside this soft world-

         to instruct myself

             over and over

in joy,

   and acclamation.

       Nor am I talking

              about the exceptional,

the fearful, the dreadful,

     the very extravagant -

           but of the ordinary,

                 the common, the very drab,

the daily presentations.

      Oh, good scholar,

           I say to myself,

                how can you help

but grow wise

      with such teachings

           as these-

               the untrimmable light

of the world,

    the ocean's shine,

         the prayers that are made

             out of grass?