Then You Put the Words on the Page

 #1 - Laying beneath my bedroom window watching the snow fall and a return to winter with legs over the radiator and a blanket across my lap.  It's not the same as forced air heat under a blanket, but I still feel wealthy.

#2 - Listening to the Against the Odds podcast "Schoolchildren's Blizzard" while I worked and watched the snow fall.

#3 - I picked up a family from a co-worker who resigned. She had given out some books/toys ahead of time.  (Usually halfway thru an hour visit I'd have a new book or toy to pull out.)  This made me concerned that those visits were going to seem really long, but I think today we caught up and it ended up being, not ideal, but fine.

#4 - Emailing a friend to ask if we could shift a plan (made back in Nov) so I could take part in another friend's birthday event. I don't like changing plans myself and I especially don't like asking other people to change plans, and this friend is traveling internationally so I hate to bother her.  However I am trying to remember that sometimes a change of plans is better for everyone, and to just ask, which I did.

#5 - "Writing is practice also. It's not enough to want to write, you have to start writing...You have to start writing and then do it everyday, even if it is just 20 minutes, a half hour. Just write something and see if the flow is able to use your mind and create the words. Then you put the words on the page." Eckhart Tolle

Quote of the Day

 "I find it very hard to call God 'he'. 

Because you are limited already. 

'It' is also difficult. 

And 'she' also limits it. 

So, maybe one day I'm going to ask God,

 'What are your pronouns?'"

Eckhart Tolle

Minneapolis

#1 -  "Is ICE starting to leave Minneapolis? | Marianne Williamson" 

"The citizens of Minneapolis have created a template, God bless them, did an extraordinary job. and I'll tell you something, when, not if, when the history of all this is written, the citizens of Minneapolis at this time are going to be seen as real heroes." Marianne Williamson

It's true and I've been inspired by surprising heroes.

#2 - "I'm always reminded of the Churchill line, 'You can always count on the Americans to do the right thing after they have exhausted every other option.'" - Marianne Williamson

#3 - I sent out emails to almost everyone I know in Minnesota asking them to attend precinct caucuses next week.  It's the basis of the democratic process in this state, and good timing for people that want to take tangible action.

#4 - All this makes me wonder when people will be ready for a new type of leadership. I suppose we will have a new type of leadership, when that leadership reflects us becoming a new type of people.

#5 - "If we want to save the world we must have a plan, but no plan will work unless we meditate." Dalai Lama XIV

We Need Everything

 #1 - When I was putting on my ice skates for the first class of my intermediate lesson, I watched the adult beginners. They all looked wobbly. One in particular appeared the least steady, to possibly never have been on ice before.  Not only that, but she was a dark skinned woman, in a hijab, in a sea of white. I admired them all, and especially wanted to encourage her.  One moment she caught herself from a wobbly moment, caught my eye and I smiled and we laughed together.

#2 - I thought to myself, "This is my last ice skating lessons" (meaning in my life).  That was before the class started.  During the class I realized...I took one session last winter - when I was one of the worst in the intermediate class. This is my 2nd intermediate session this winter and I am definitely at the head of the class.  When the teacher was impressed by my stops and my crossovers I thought, "I couldn't do any of this before my session last winter."

I still don't think I'll ever take advanced, I have zero interest in spins and the other things that classes focuses on,

but maybe it isn't my last skating lesson either.

#3 - After some beautiful nudges from life, I signed up for one of Eckhart Tolle's online courses last month. It couldn't have been better timing. Tonight as I was listening to Challenges as Catalysts for Growth I started to feel a bit restless, so I paused and turned on some music and did a little dancing.  And then I was reminded how when I lose face in humanity, music reminds me of what we are capable of.

#4 - Will Evans - Bridge with No Name 

(song I was listening to on repeat as I wrote #5)

#5 - We Need Everything

We need it all

We need it now

We need your pain

We need your power

We need your dance

We need your tears

We need your hope

We need your fears

We need your reach and your contractions in vain

We need your desperation

We need your pain

We need your questions

We need your space

We need your suggestions

We need your grace

We need you

We need you now

Whether that means sitting in silence

or reaching out somehow

We need what is inside you

we need the voice that wants to care

We need what guides you

We need

We need what's there

What's there is an arrow

What's there is a path

What's there is a question

What's there is the aftermath

of centuries of struggle

centuries of fear

we hold it inside us

we hold it right here

right here in my palm

right here in my heart

right here in the surrounding silence

right here

Please don't run from this darkness

please don't shut down this pain

find the space just around it

find the space that remains

when the mind drops its story

when the emotions just flow

when what is is everything

when now is all you know