Potpourri
Its a snow day and I am on day 9 with a spotty kid and a house bound doggy so please -send help! Just kidding!!
One thing I know for sure is that if I don't write today, my world will certainly not be "right". Without a creative fix, I can feel my fire morphing into irritation and restlessness. So while my son creates a mosaic of paint, glitter glue and stickers on his 8x11 paper and the surrounding 3 square feet of table, I'm snatching a few minutes to grab hold of the dust bunny-like thoughts swirling around in my brain.
The first dust bunny turns out to be a fiery little critter: I'm through with apologizing for my life!
Whew, that feels better! Let me explain, if you have read "Mommy Wars" and "A Woman's Worth" on my blogs, then you know that stay at home vs. work outside the home is a topic I've been wrestling with for awhile now. At the heart of the matter is my realization that I have spent far too much time and energy apologizing, most often where no apology is required!
I apologized for my time away from home when I would find myself negotiating with my husband's busy schedule or relying on my extended family for support when my child was sick. Often, I ended up simply apologizing to my clients and staff as I opted to stay home.
Now that I have created the opportunity to stay home while I work with a highly flexible schedule, I find myself sensitive to remarks made by harried working mothers. I feel like I owe them an apology for my freedom - that is until last night.
After mulling over a conversation with another Mom that left me stinging, I realized that I'm not special at all. I started with the same raw materials as most of the women I know and from those materials I have created a life I love. I worked hard in my life as a business owner and have opted for a slower start on my latest venture to create space in my life. My husband and I work at our relationship and hammer out our priorities and throw our full support behind each other when it comes to building our individual and collective dreams.
Nope, I'm not special - but I am very creative. I see opportunity. I'm willing to take risks because I know the world is an abundant place. I'm willing to be passionate about what I take on in my life and most recently, I discovered the courage to walk away from my creations when my passion has faded.
In fact, I'm done apologizing for still being in love with my husband 15 years later, for having a healthy child and expecting another, for how I look, for what's in my bank account, for being excited by life and displaying it for all to see. There is probably more to put on this list but you get the point. What a profound waste of energy! What are you apologizing for? Is it worth it?
Imagine what else you could do with all that energy and focus. Imagine what it is possible to create in you want life when you stop apologizing and get on with it. If you are someone walking around expecting apologies from those who are living the life you desire, then I bet your potential to create a great life of your own is limitless once you stop focusing on what you don't have and begin creating what you would like. Whether you believe it or not, there is some pretty compelling evidence that shows once you take the first step in the direction of your desires, the universe rushes to meet you. The result of co-creating with the universe in this way always seems to exceed expectations.
My final thought on this topic is that now that I'm done apologizing, I can get over myself and hear the longing behind the remarks I heard yesterday as sarcasm. A new space opens up into it can flow opportunity and possibility for a very different conversation.
The next dust bunny of swirling thoughts in this potpourri was inspired by the comment Anne left on my last posting. I've recently begun reading Lynn Mc Taggart's latest book, The Intention Experiment. In it, as in her previous book, The Field, she has gathered some amazing and compelling research into how thought and intention interact with the universe to create our experiences. This is something I think many of us intuitively know and it certainly supports my own experience and what I have discovered through a WEL-Systems(R) Perspective.
The ah- ha came for me just a few pages into the book as I considered the fact that the very essence of the world we live in is a rich field of possibility, only coalescing into something once observed. What an amazing act of creativity! My participation with the universe doesn't necessarily require me to acquire a long list of credentials or kudos. It simply requires my focused attention. As someone choosing to write and observe after a long history of needing to prove myself with tangible steps and actions, this is freedom indeed. It simply fills my soul to know that I am always in the dance of creation, even when there is nothing concrete to show for it in the moment. The pages may not always be piling up, but I am creating nevertheless, just by being awake and aware.
This discovery doesn't free me from participating and engaging, but it does free me to choose when. What I mean is that I don't have to rush willy nilly into creating shot gun-style, hoping that if I just scatter in enough directions, I'll hit something worthwhile. And I don't have to jump on every opportunity whether it calls to me or not. This discovery reinforces much of what I have seen working in my life and further debunks some tenacious beliefs about how I have been measuring my value as a creative being.
My final swirling thought comes courtesy of reading Lori's blog posting from yesterday. The profound mindlessness of command and control parenting using physical force, emotional battering and plain old indifference leaves me feeling filled with anger and despair. Its such a big problem and it seems that the busier we get, the less resourceful we become as parents. Our children are left to raise themselves and we grasp for what feels like "quick fix" parenting strategies when we feel that indifference isn't working. These strategies often being the same ones we vowed we would never resort to. We've become mindless and robotic.
What's the solution? I believe that Lori is going to make a profound difference with her parenting workshop and through her willingness to stay awake and engaged. I also believe that this issue, like so many others we are facing in the world will not be altered until we all WAKE UP!
We are a world of people asleep at the wheel while children are sold into slavery in African fishing camps, wars continue to fulfill religious and political agendas in spite of massive loss of life and destruction, the sea level rises as we try to fill up the empty spaces in us with more stuff creating more waste, poverty climbs taking its toll on those who live in our local communities and as well as abroad. I could go on and on.
When all is said and done, I believe that the answer ultimately lies within each us. Until we are willing to wake up and take a good look at ourselves and what we are creating in our own lives and by extention, in the lives of our children, our communities and our world - nothing can change.
One thing I know for sure is that if I don't write today, my world will certainly not be "right". Without a creative fix, I can feel my fire morphing into irritation and restlessness. So while my son creates a mosaic of paint, glitter glue and stickers on his 8x11 paper and the surrounding 3 square feet of table, I'm snatching a few minutes to grab hold of the dust bunny-like thoughts swirling around in my brain.
The first dust bunny turns out to be a fiery little critter: I'm through with apologizing for my life!
Whew, that feels better! Let me explain, if you have read "Mommy Wars" and "A Woman's Worth" on my blogs, then you know that stay at home vs. work outside the home is a topic I've been wrestling with for awhile now. At the heart of the matter is my realization that I have spent far too much time and energy apologizing, most often where no apology is required!
I apologized for my time away from home when I would find myself negotiating with my husband's busy schedule or relying on my extended family for support when my child was sick. Often, I ended up simply apologizing to my clients and staff as I opted to stay home.
Now that I have created the opportunity to stay home while I work with a highly flexible schedule, I find myself sensitive to remarks made by harried working mothers. I feel like I owe them an apology for my freedom - that is until last night.
After mulling over a conversation with another Mom that left me stinging, I realized that I'm not special at all. I started with the same raw materials as most of the women I know and from those materials I have created a life I love. I worked hard in my life as a business owner and have opted for a slower start on my latest venture to create space in my life. My husband and I work at our relationship and hammer out our priorities and throw our full support behind each other when it comes to building our individual and collective dreams.
Nope, I'm not special - but I am very creative. I see opportunity. I'm willing to take risks because I know the world is an abundant place. I'm willing to be passionate about what I take on in my life and most recently, I discovered the courage to walk away from my creations when my passion has faded.
In fact, I'm done apologizing for still being in love with my husband 15 years later, for having a healthy child and expecting another, for how I look, for what's in my bank account, for being excited by life and displaying it for all to see. There is probably more to put on this list but you get the point. What a profound waste of energy! What are you apologizing for? Is it worth it?
Imagine what else you could do with all that energy and focus. Imagine what it is possible to create in you want life when you stop apologizing and get on with it. If you are someone walking around expecting apologies from those who are living the life you desire, then I bet your potential to create a great life of your own is limitless once you stop focusing on what you don't have and begin creating what you would like. Whether you believe it or not, there is some pretty compelling evidence that shows once you take the first step in the direction of your desires, the universe rushes to meet you. The result of co-creating with the universe in this way always seems to exceed expectations.
My final thought on this topic is that now that I'm done apologizing, I can get over myself and hear the longing behind the remarks I heard yesterday as sarcasm. A new space opens up into it can flow opportunity and possibility for a very different conversation.
The next dust bunny of swirling thoughts in this potpourri was inspired by the comment Anne left on my last posting. I've recently begun reading Lynn Mc Taggart's latest book, The Intention Experiment. In it, as in her previous book, The Field, she has gathered some amazing and compelling research into how thought and intention interact with the universe to create our experiences. This is something I think many of us intuitively know and it certainly supports my own experience and what I have discovered through a WEL-Systems(R) Perspective.
The ah- ha came for me just a few pages into the book as I considered the fact that the very essence of the world we live in is a rich field of possibility, only coalescing into something once observed. What an amazing act of creativity! My participation with the universe doesn't necessarily require me to acquire a long list of credentials or kudos. It simply requires my focused attention. As someone choosing to write and observe after a long history of needing to prove myself with tangible steps and actions, this is freedom indeed. It simply fills my soul to know that I am always in the dance of creation, even when there is nothing concrete to show for it in the moment. The pages may not always be piling up, but I am creating nevertheless, just by being awake and aware.
This discovery doesn't free me from participating and engaging, but it does free me to choose when. What I mean is that I don't have to rush willy nilly into creating shot gun-style, hoping that if I just scatter in enough directions, I'll hit something worthwhile. And I don't have to jump on every opportunity whether it calls to me or not. This discovery reinforces much of what I have seen working in my life and further debunks some tenacious beliefs about how I have been measuring my value as a creative being.
My final swirling thought comes courtesy of reading Lori's blog posting from yesterday. The profound mindlessness of command and control parenting using physical force, emotional battering and plain old indifference leaves me feeling filled with anger and despair. Its such a big problem and it seems that the busier we get, the less resourceful we become as parents. Our children are left to raise themselves and we grasp for what feels like "quick fix" parenting strategies when we feel that indifference isn't working. These strategies often being the same ones we vowed we would never resort to. We've become mindless and robotic.
What's the solution? I believe that Lori is going to make a profound difference with her parenting workshop and through her willingness to stay awake and engaged. I also believe that this issue, like so many others we are facing in the world will not be altered until we all WAKE UP!
We are a world of people asleep at the wheel while children are sold into slavery in African fishing camps, wars continue to fulfill religious and political agendas in spite of massive loss of life and destruction, the sea level rises as we try to fill up the empty spaces in us with more stuff creating more waste, poverty climbs taking its toll on those who live in our local communities and as well as abroad. I could go on and on.
When all is said and done, I believe that the answer ultimately lies within each us. Until we are willing to wake up and take a good look at ourselves and what we are creating in our own lives and by extention, in the lives of our children, our communities and our world - nothing can change.
Notice that I believe it begins inside us. When we change how we think, how we live our lives begins to change and the effect is like a ripple on the surface on a pond. Remember, we are constantly in co-creation with the Universe and the possibilities are endless.
Wake up, and you will know what to engage and how. Wake up, and you will create a life you love. Wake up and the world changes. I don't know about you, but I am committed to staying awake.
And there ends my simmering potpourri for today. Hope you didn't get singed - and if you did, then at least you know you are awake!
Wake up, and you will know what to engage and how. Wake up, and you will create a life you love. Wake up and the world changes. I don't know about you, but I am committed to staying awake.
And there ends my simmering potpourri for today. Hope you didn't get singed - and if you did, then at least you know you are awake!
1 comment:
This entry brought up feelings of hope and a huge "Who Else".
It also makes me thing of Louise's blog entry "Ramblings of an Ugly Duckling".
So many people in the world are asleep and bopping along as per status quo, never stopping to consider... Can I be more? Who says I have to? What if I stop and be still for a moment... will I still act or feel the same way?
And what if in a instant the "world" woke up to their godforce?
There would be no conflict, no child abuse, no war. There would be no hunger, famine, dis-ease. We would all be resonating to the same vibration, cohesive to each other and the earth, living in perfect harmony.
No need to "feel" you must apologize to anyone ever... for just living your life authentically. We are so culturally conditioned to be small and make apologies and excuses; that when we begin to spread our wings it is with conscious effort we must remind ourselves... the cocoon no longer holds me.
Life is good.
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