Pixie and Funny Nose

I wrote this note on my birthday last year on my facebook page.  I wanted to write something for my birthday this year, but this actually says it all.  I have so enjoyed having Pixie and Funny Nose with me all year…no being packed away for them anymore!!  It has been another challenging year, but one in which I have learned so much.  Most of all, I have learned how to change the way in which I think…and that is no easy thing to learn!  It is still a work in progress, as am I, but I am happier and more content than I’ve ever been in my life.  Again, I wish to thank and honor my dear friends, whether you’ve been with me since day one or we’ve just met!  Maybe you’re on my facebook page and we connect in that way.  Regardless, I’m thankful and blessed to have each of you as a part of me.  Now for the post from last year (this year, I’m 59….really?)!! 

Happy Birthday to ME!!  I am so thankful to have lived through one of the toughest yet!  Yesterday while unpacking Christmas decorations, I came across a box of items which I had misplaced when I moved 2 1/2 years ago!  Oddly enough, they were in a decorative box right in my living room!  Though I couldn't see them, they were with me as they had been for so many years! 

 Among the items was this figurine which was given to me by my Godmother, Ima Murphy (RIP) when I was about 4 years old.  It graced her coffee table and when I visited, as I often did, I would run right to it and hold it and play with it.  I named the two "Pixie and Funny Nose" and felt I knew them from some long ago and far away place where Pixies/Faeries/Magical Beings lived with their various animal friends to whom they could talk.  Eventually, Ima gave me the figurine and I have had it with me ever since.  Of all the items I have had and lost in this life, this is one that has remained.

 Today as I celebrate 58 years of life, I use Pixie and Funny Nose as a symbol of the essence of myself.  I remember the feeling this little duo brought me then and the feeling still arises when I look at them now.  I honor that part of myself and know it is the best part of me. 

 I want to thank everyone who has been with me over my life whether from the beginning or just having joined in.  You are all connected to me and "I am he as you are he as you are me and we are all together"!  (Goo goo g'joob!)  I love and honor each of you.

 In keeping with my theme of poems, here is another on of my favs....perfect for this day...enjoy...

Barter

Life has loveliness to sell,

All beautiful and splendid things,

Blue waves whitened on a cliff,

Soaring fire that sways and sings,

And children's faces looking up,

Holding wonder like a cup.

Life has loveliness to sell,

Music like a curve of gold,

Scent of pine trees in the rain,

Eyes that love you, arms that hold,

And for your spirit's still delight,

Holy thoughts that star the night.

Spend all you have for loveliness,

Buy it and never count the cost;

For one white singing hour of peace

Count many a year of strife well lost,

And for a breath of ecstasy

Give all you have been, or could be.

-Sara Teasdale (1884-1933)

The Darkling Thrush

I have been an avid poetry lover all of my life.  When I was a student at UNC Greensboro, our textbook, “Sound and Sense” had many poems both familiar and unfamiliar.  I still have the original book to this day and it is a constant companion.  It still bears my maiden name along with my dorm name and room number…”Nancy Mills, 303 Hinshaw”.  The pages are worn and dog eared with notations made in the margins.  I still remember the young professor I had that was actually the older brother of one of my high school friends.  He certainly facilitated unraveling the meaning of some of those poems.  Thank you, Bob Gingrich. 

Now, as winter is closing in, it's time for one of my favorite poems to be read once again, "The Darkling Thrush".  It is by Thomas Hardy and was written in December of 1900.  I like to pretend it was written on my birthday!  It is about hope vs. despair....so many are feeling these emotions at this time.  I dedicate this to my former student, Melissa Martin Glick.

 The Darkling Thrush by Thomas Hardy

 December 1900

I leant upon a coppice gate

 When frost was specter-grey,

And Winter's dregs made desolate

 The weakening eye of day. 

The tangled bine-stems scored the sky

 Like strings of broken lyres,

And all mankind that haunted nigh

 Had sought their household fires.

The land's sharp features seemed to be

 The Century's corpse outleant,

His crypt the cloudy canopy,

 The wind his death lament.

The ancient pulse of germ and birth

 Was shrunken hard and dry,

And every spirit upon earth

 Seemed fervorless as I.

At once a voice arose among

 The bleak twigs overhead

In a full-hearted evensong

 Of joy illimited;

An aged thrush, frail, gaunt, and small,

 In blast beruffled plume,

Had chosen thus to fling his soul

 Upon the growing gloom.

So little cause for carolings

 Of such ecstatic sound

Was written on terrestrial things

 Afar or nigh around.

That I could think there trembled through

 His happy good-night air

Some blessed Hope, whereof he knew

 And I was unaware.

 And no matter how many times I read this poem, at the end, my eyes are always wet.  Thank you Mr. Hardy for being able to stir my soul over and over through the 40 or so years since first I read this poem.

Occupy

Occupy Wall Street.  We are the 99%.  Class war.  No middle class.  Change.  These are the buzzwords circulating today.  I have been thinking about our society, our government, and our world for a long time.  I have wondered if the 1% know they are the 1%.  I wonder if they want change as badly as the rest of us…maybe many of them don’t mind paying higher taxes.  Maybe many of them are using their money to initiate innovations in our world and give large amounts to help others less fortunate.  I know we need change.  I support change and can see this “Occupy” movement is a step.  For the majority of us, “enough is enough”.  Yet, this method is bothering me a bit.  It is creating a separation of “us and them” which I remember from the 60’s and 70’s.  In some ways, it seems to create more separation than unity.

In my opinion, what we need is cooperation.  We need for each one of us to go within ourselves and connect to our deeper selves.  We need to take responsibility for our own thoughts and actions, and always question if what we are doing is for the good of all.  Allow other opinions and points of view.  If they don’t line up with yours, find a space for compromise.  In doing so, true change and peace would be possible.  Rather than being part of the 99% or the 1%, we should strive to be part of the 100%.  So here is my take on “occupy”:

Love 100%

Serve 100%

Cooperate 100%

Inspire 100%

Share 100%

Think positive 100%

Take responsibility 100%

Respect each other 100%

Allow 100%

Occupy your life 100%

I know…”you may say I’m a dreamer (but I’m not the only one)”.  Let it be.

Note:  Thanks to my cousin, Mamie Lewis Potter for sharing a quote from the Daily Om on facebook this morning.  It contained the seeds of inspiration for this blog.

Change

While driving around town over the past couple of days, I have begun to notice the first blush of color on the trees, reminding me that change is in the air!  Autumn is my favorite time of year…I love the cool, crispness of the air, the color of the light, the finger-like shadows that begin to form….all in anticipation of winter.  Crops are harvested, birds fly south, squirrels gather their nuts and we bring out our sweatshirts, jackets and boots.  I feel so blessed to live in an area that has true seasons.  They remind me that change is our most constant companion.  I have quoted my dear mother many times as she has observed, “Change is the only thing you can take to the bank.”!!

As I have been pondering the consistency of change in our world, I asked myself if there is anything – anything at all – that does NOT change.  The answer that came to me was Love.  Love is the one thing that is constant, my head told me, but I wondered if that was true.  So began my latest ambling down a path of discovery.

What I discovered was both simple and amazing.  I feel that unqualified Love does indeed remain the same.  It is always and readily available to all.  What does change, however, is US…and as we change, so does the meaning we assign to Love change.  The greater our capacity to love and accept ourselves, the greater our capacity to love and accept others.  As we begin to lift our judgments and expectations of ourselves, so we lift the judgments and expectations of others.  The result is a more pure and unconditional type of love that, prior to our self discovery, we just were not capable of attaining. 

Love does not change.  Yet our ability to define love and demonstrate love changes as we ourselves change.  Let the changing of the leaves, the changing of the light, the changing of the season remind us to be ever ready to change so that we may have a greater capacity to generate and demonstrate the steadfastness of LOVE.

RIP Steve Jobs

Yesterday, October 5, 2011, the news came that Steve Jobs had passed.  He was only 56 years old.  Yet, this visionary man touched almost every life in our 21^st Century world with his innovative thinking.  The co-founder of Apple, Inc. and Pixar clearly loved what he did and did what he loved.  His words to the world were to always go after what it is you want in life…to love what you do…to think outside the box. 

When I was young, along with Steve, technology was just in the process of being born.  I remember as a child, my mother worked for a large insurance company.  She worked in the “computer room”…an office which was probably 30 or 40 feet squared.  In the middle of the room, was another glass room probably 15X15 feet which housed the actual IBM computer.  It was a HUGE machine and the people (mother included) sat around outside of it and “punched keycards” which held binary codes of information.  At least that is my understanding of something I really never understood at all.  But, I do know that the computer held all the information of the company, run out in long reports on wide, green lined paper and that those cards were how the information got into the computer.  Oh, and the reason the computer was housed in its own glass room was to control the temperature which had to be very cool.

From this contraption, the PC was born.  Steve Jobs, Bill Gates and others pioneered our modern day version of a computer…small, wireless, user friendly.  Every year or two, these devices have been made more and more efficient, more manageable, and more accessible to all.  Our grandchildren have never lived in a time when they did not exist.  And, of course, this story isn’t over yet!  What the next wave will be and the persons to create it are on the horizon waiting for their time.

Yet, I cannot help but think that all the money, all the intellect, all the fame that Steve Jobs created could not grant him one day longer on this earth.  Fifty-six is so young, especially from my own point of view!  He grabbed life by the horns and kept on creating, innovating, and expanding until the end.  What an example for each of us to follow.  We may not have as large of a contribution to make to society as Steve Jobs, yet ours is none the less important.  Maybe our contribution is to just smile at strangers each day and lift someone’s spirit.  Maybe our job is to raise children.  Maybe our job is to teach (for the most part) thankless teenagers.  Each job, no matter how large or small it seems, is ultimately important to the turning of the world.  Each of us is charged to give our all in whatever field we find ourselves.  And no matter what else we may be doing, each of us is required to do our work with kindness, love, and acceptance of all.

Apple, Inc. is a household word.  When we hear this name, we think of innovation and probably something we would like to own such as an iPad, iPhone, or Mac.  What do people in your world think of when they hear your name?  Does it bring a smile and a feeling of well being, or is it something others want to avoid?  Granted, you can’t please everyone, but does your world light up at the thought of you?  If the answer is no, you can change it.  The first place to look is in your own mirror…do you light up when you look at yourself and think of who and what you are?  Think about this…time is short…what can you contribute with the time you have?

Here are some of my favorite quotes from Steve Jobs…may he rest in peace knowing that he made a difference in our world:

“Here’s to the crazy ones, the misfits, the rebels, the troublemakers, the round pegs in the square holes… the ones who see things differently — they’re not fond of rules… You can quote them, disagree with them, glorify or vilify them, but the only thing you can’t do is ignore them because they change things… they push the human race forward, and while some may see them as the crazy ones, we see genius, because the ones who are crazy enough to think that they can change the world, are the ones who do.” Steve Jobs (My research says that Mr. Jobs did not say this, but it was used as an Apple ad and several people donated the words.)

“The only way to do great work is to LOVE what you do. If you haven’t found it yet, keep looking. Don’t settle. As with all matters of the heart, you’ll know when you find it. And, like any great relationship, it just gets better and better as the years roll on. So keep looking until you find it. Don’t settle.”

“Your time is limited, so don't waste it living someone else's life.
Don't be trapped by dogma - which is living with the results of other people's thinking. Don't let the noise of other's opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary.”

"You have to trust in something -- your gut, destiny, life, karma, whatever. This approach has never let me down, and it has made all the difference in my life."

"That's been one of my mantras -- focus and simplicity. Simple can be harder than complex: You have to work hard to get your thinking clean to make it simple. But it's worth it in the end because once you get there, you can move mountains."

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UF8uR6Z6KLc

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cFEarBzelBs&feature=related

Write It On Your Heart

Ralph Waldo Emerson is one of my favorite poets.  So often he expresses just what I am feeling in any given moment.  Today I came across his poem, “Write on Your Heart” and it described perfectly what I had been feeling all day:  that every day is the best day whether it’s a birthday, a holiday, or just a Tuesday!  That at the end of each day, just know you did your best and will be given another chance tomorrow to again do your best...even if you can recognize aspects that could have been done better.  After all, “hindsight is 20/20”!  Just recognize your mistakes, fears and doubts, and forget them...let them disappear with the day.  And when tomorrow presents itself, don’t pick up that old baggage of yesterday!  Leave it in the past, and write a new page for today.  Write a page with less fear, less doubt, more love, more kindness, more beauty.  And when that day passes, follow the same procedure. 

After all, we are works in progress.  No matter how we strive for perfection, it is always out of our reach.  So why even go there?  Instead, live in each moment fully aware and do your best with what you know at this time. Why choose worry, fear and chaos when happiness, love and peace are just as readily available? Just write it on your heart...

 WRITE IT ON YOUR HEART
Write it on your heart
that every day is the best day in the year.
He is rich who owns the day,
and no one owns the day
who allows it to be invaded with fret and anxiety.
Finish every day and be done with it.
You have done what you could.
Some blunders and absurdities, no doubt, crept in.
Forget them as soon as you can, tomorrow is a
new day;

begin it well and serenely,

with too high a spirit to be cumbered with your old nonsense.

This new day is too dear, with its hopes and invitations,

to waste a moment on the yesterdays...

~Ralph Waldo Emerson

Hurricanes

Hurricane Irene has just made its way up our coastline this past weekend, and I, too, feel a hurricane in my life right now.  Everything is swirling and blowing around me, threatening me with floods of tears, stirring up my very living space and causing my head to spin out of control. 

In order to find peace, do I look for the center of this storm and settle into the eye where all is calm while the storm continues to whip around me?  Or do I just plow through head first, knowing I will be battered about until I get to the other side?  If I ride it out in the center, surely it will fall apart as hurricanes always do.

Until this storm passes…and all storms do pass…I guess I need to hunker down and batten down the hatches!!  Just as the weather turned beautiful, bright and calm when Irene passed, so the prediction of my life must be a beautiful turn for the better when my own hurricane passes.

These are the difficult times of life.  These are the times that while we are going through them seem to make no sense.  We ask “why?” and know the answers are never revealed until later on.  On a day when our life is once again like a sunny day on the beach, we suddenly realize why the hurricane had to come.  We may be changed and rearranged, but in a positive way….a way we created even. 

Maya Angelou said, “I can be changed by what happens to me, but I refuse to be reduced by it”.  So, bring it on!!  I look forward to the day when my personal hurricane has blown by and fallen apart!