Life

"Go now, while you can ... sail away ... enjoy the rope burn on your hands, and the occsasional splash of cold water in your face ... put your tired back muscles into the rudder and throw your face up to the sky and yell at the top of your lungs. "
-- JN

Thank you Shel Silverstein!

Perfect for a Saturday morning! : )

I will not play at tug o' war.
I'd rather play at hug o' war,
Where everyone hugs
Instead of tugs,
Where everyone giggles
And rolls on the rug,
Where everyone kisses,
And everyone grins,
And everyone cuddles,
And everyone wins.

--shel silverstein

great ideas

I had all these grandiose ideas of coming up with a powerful creative blog entry. I felt inspired. I wanted to write something witty and provocative and thought-provoking. But I am completely empty.

Instead I thought I'd just comment about how gorgeous the snowflakes look right now, as they fall from the sky. Life is good, even when it's blustery. Sometimes I forget that.

Thinking about love

I saw these lyrics from a John Lennon song. I am not sure if I agree with them.
What do you think? Do you agree? On one hand, I see the value in loving. I think it's a gift to be able to love, and I think that it is a gift to receive love. I think it is fundamentally what all people want in their lives.

But are all loves equal? Does it matter if they are?

Happy Love Day!

It matters not
who you love,
where you love,
why you love,
when you love,
or how you love,
It matters only
that You love.

~ John Lennon

Pause for thought

Here's an excerpt from "The Feeling Buddha", a lovely gift I got from Sue.

"Many of the important things we learn the hard way. Looking back, I can see that the times of adversity have each taught me something which has given my life extra quality and depth, even though, at the time I did not always welcome these challenges.

...

Often what we learn from the experience of a less than comfortable life is compassion and kindness.

...

When we experience obstacles and hardship, it can go either way with us. We may become bitter and alienated or we may grow as people. Experience broadens us. Difficult experiences challenge us. A person who has always lived in their own country, for instance, may not know what it is like to be a refugee or a member of an ethnic minority.

...

I believe that the Buddha's intention was to show us how to be enlightened rather than defeated by all the various situations of life. Affliction we will assuredly meet. He wanted us to meet it well. "

I think that last sentence sums things up quite vividly for me. We will meet affliction/adversity along this journey of life. You can't escape from that. But you can choose HOW you want to meet it.

I keep thinking that I would like to meet it well, that I would like to find that strength and enlightenment inside of myself. I am learning now that it's not so easy. But it is there. : )

Ouch! and Ahh!

I get migraines. I've been getting them since I've been about 11. I went through periods of time where I would have sometimes up to 20-25 migraines a month.
They are usually triggered by stress. Often during times of emotional struggling.

Migraines are different for everyone. Mine start off with this feeling like something isn't quite right. Sometimes my thinking becomes fuzzy, my mood changes, or it's like a sixth sense of sorts, I just feel off. Then I'll catch a glimpse of something in my field of vision. A small speck. A pulsating movement. It's an aura. The small circle, jagged lines, sharp edges, bold geometric shapes, and vibrant colors begins to expand outward. The circle opens up and widens, expanding, pulsating, vibrating intensely, until it covers my entire field of vision on one side of my head.

For example, if I were to look at you when my aura is full-on, half of you would disappear in a blurry, fuzzy, opaque cloud. Oftentimes with the aura comes intense nausea. It takes about a half an hour for the aura to disappear, and then, on the opposite side of my head to where the aura occurred, I get the headache, sensitivity to light and noise, pain, and a desire to sink into a deep dark sleep for a long while.

I am so fascinated by my auras. They are immensely beautiful! The most brilliant colors and designs and shapes. Vibrant blues and yellows and reds. Most of my abstract art fascination stems from what I've seen in my own mind. I have always wished that some day I would be able to draw what I experience.

While I was doing some reading online, I found this cool site - finally someone was able to capture what it looks like to get an aura - how it affects your field of vision, and how cool it is to see one.

Take a peek, if you are interested!

http://www.migraine-aura.org/EN/Delia_Malchert.html

the fourth picture on her site shows an aura that moves... that's probably the most realistic depiction that describes what I see. Except mine are in color and have more geometric shapes like triangles and squares embedded in the lines.

Snowboarding

I’ve had only 2 snowboarding lessons so far. The third one is tonight.
There seems to be a life lesson imbedded in learning how to turn. Last week, I had such difficulties making turns. I’d start to turn, feel terrified of picking up too much speed, face away from the bottom of the hill, and then have a terrible time forcing my body to move in a direction it didn’t want to go. It took everything I had to swing myself around to change directions. I had to force every muscle in my stomach and back to respond in a way that they didn’t want to. I'd end up riding straight into the treeline of the slope, or I'd crash. Again and again. Resisting.

It wasn’t until I totally committed to going down the hill. Let myself accept that it was the direction that I had to go in, and enjoy the thrill of the speed that I picked up, that I was able to turn effortlessly. I just remember flinging my arms wide open as I started speeding down the hill, and I felt my body ease naturally into a sloping turn.

Snowboarding and life lessons? Maybe a bit of a stretch... but I am enjoying the ride. : )