#1 - A little over a year ago I attended my first support group, on the recommendation of a counselor - a mysterious new world. Actually it wasn't that mysterious, it was pretty ordinary and real. Today someone I loved made a similar step.
#2 - The two block walk home from my community ed fitness class, which this time of year happens right around sunset. There was a break in the clouds to the NW for a splash of orangish-yellow.
#3 - I packed a yummi salad for lunch tomorrow - lettuce, red pepper, hard-boiled eggs, Parmesan and carrots. I'll add avocado and dressing tomorrow.
#4 - Some place where I have a small amount of money was bought by another company. I've had an email to log on and verify my info for a few weeks which I kept ignoring. I finally got around to it today.
#5 - Beautiful
https://www.instagram.com/p/Bg2LaYyHylu/?hl=en&taken-by=lewishowes
Wednesday, March 28, 2018
Tuesday, March 20, 2018
Spring Equinox
*Usually I try to find an event to attend (or create) to honor the Solstices and Equinoxes. Today I'm not going to fit that in, but I am still going to acknowledge the day in a few ways.
First of all I started my day with four sun salutations.
Second of all I made a smoothie for breakfast which is a treat.
Third I plan to honor the day as an intention in a hot yoga class tonight.
*I finally filled out the check in questionaire for my annual physical this week. I've had the email in my mailbox for a while and been meaning to get around to it. I do think they need another option besides - "None at All, Several Days, More Days Than Not, Every Day". A few of the questions I'd be lying if I said, "None at all" but "Several Days" was not accurate either. For example, feeling anxiety, I can't say I felt "None at all" for anxiety or worry in the last two weeks, but several days was an exaggeration.
*Someone I care about had his first appointment with a naturopath today. I'm grateful for his openness to try something outside the mainstream medical model
*After dinner my eyes felt a bit googly from looking at screens, I wanted to finish a couple things up, and I also knew it would be better to take a break. In the living room the guitar was sitting beside a Bebe CD I'd been accompanying. Because it was ready and accessible I sat down and played a song.
*Duolingo says I'm 51% fluent in Spanish. I think that actually sounds about right.
First of all I started my day with four sun salutations.
Second of all I made a smoothie for breakfast which is a treat.
Third I plan to honor the day as an intention in a hot yoga class tonight.
*I finally filled out the check in questionaire for my annual physical this week. I've had the email in my mailbox for a while and been meaning to get around to it. I do think they need another option besides - "None at All, Several Days, More Days Than Not, Every Day". A few of the questions I'd be lying if I said, "None at all" but "Several Days" was not accurate either. For example, feeling anxiety, I can't say I felt "None at all" for anxiety or worry in the last two weeks, but several days was an exaggeration.
*Someone I care about had his first appointment with a naturopath today. I'm grateful for his openness to try something outside the mainstream medical model
*After dinner my eyes felt a bit googly from looking at screens, I wanted to finish a couple things up, and I also knew it would be better to take a break. In the living room the guitar was sitting beside a Bebe CD I'd been accompanying. Because it was ready and accessible I sat down and played a song.
*Duolingo says I'm 51% fluent in Spanish. I think that actually sounds about right.
Monday, March 12, 2018
You Can't Rush Your Healing
#1 - During lunch I had a question for a friend about a march at the capitol in a couple weeks in response to gun violence. She is coming from out of town and instead of emailing her to coordinate, I just made a quick call and ended up talking for a half hour or so. It was a welcome addition to my lunch break.
#2 - The most animated I became during our conversation was when I told her about the escape/puzzle room I did with friends for my birthday. It was almost two months ago, but I could still hear the excitement in my voice. She was surprised I enjoyed it and seemed interested herself. I told her, "There's a good chance I'll organize it again next year, you are welcome to come if you'd like."
#3 - Speaking of which, I'm trying to arrange one in the near future for a 13 year old I care about. Today my sister-in-law said they'd contribute which would make it possible for her to bring an additional friend.
#4 - I listened to a new Esther Perel podcast episode, I'm continually in awe of her compassion and empathy. She is a shining example of strong spine and open heart.
https://www.estherperel.com/podcast
#2 - The most animated I became during our conversation was when I told her about the escape/puzzle room I did with friends for my birthday. It was almost two months ago, but I could still hear the excitement in my voice. She was surprised I enjoyed it and seemed interested herself. I told her, "There's a good chance I'll organize it again next year, you are welcome to come if you'd like."
#3 - Speaking of which, I'm trying to arrange one in the near future for a 13 year old I care about. Today my sister-in-law said they'd contribute which would make it possible for her to bring an additional friend.
#4 - I listened to a new Esther Perel podcast episode, I'm continually in awe of her compassion and empathy. She is a shining example of strong spine and open heart.
S2 Ep. 1: You Need Help to Help Her
https://www.estherperel.com/podcast
#5 - I was having a hard time digging for #5 today. So I decided to break and grabbed the guitar to play Wish Man by Trevor Hall, a new song I really enjoy the strum pattern for. I played along with Youtube and along the side I saw the song I most connected with when I saw him in concert recently. "You Can't Rush Your Healing". I looked up the tab for that and it says it is for novice but I'd need to practice that a while. I still really appreciate the chorus
"You can't rush your healing
Darkness has it's teachings
Love is never leaving
You can't rush your healing
You're healing"
Sunday, March 4, 2018
A Wrinkle in Time
My niece wanted to go to the top of
the fire tower (we were at an environmental education center for the weekend). The other kids wanted to go snowshoeing. We ran out of time to do both. I explained
this to my niece and she agreed to snowshoe.
She didn’t actually know what snowshoeing was though and after walking
for a few minutes she yelled back good naturedly, “What is fun about this?!”
As we walked, we just happened to
end up within sight of the fire tower and the group headed there walked right
by. So we joined them. It worked out way better than if we had tried to plan it, and it’s such a good
reminder to me that sometimes letting go allows things to happen, even ones
that don’t seem possible. (Kind of like a tesseract*.)
On the way back down from the fire
tower the instructor said there
was a snowshoe trail around back we could take to the building.
“Is it longer or shorter?” I asked.
“Shorter.”
Great! It was a fun and steep descent.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Earlier in the morning I led an
informal yoga class for other people on the weekend trip. One woman came up afterwards and said, “You
have such a nice voice for this, so soothing.” No one has ever told me this before.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
On the drive home I continued
reading out loud, a Wrinkle in Time. We got within 20 pages of finishing the book.
The movie comes out on Friday, if it lives up to its preview, I highly recommend it.
====================================================
*The tesseract is a Wrinkle in Time reference.
Saturday, February 24, 2018
Round One, Round Two, Round Three
#1 - I haven't played guitar since my last post a bit over a week ago. But today I printed more Bebe songs and played them along with the CD's in between cleaning tasks. It is so fun to practice both guitar and Spanish at the same time.
#2 - I did round one of shoveling, I plan to go out and do round two after writing this, and maybe one more round before bed. It's nice to enjoy the snow and not have anywhere I need to go. It has been so wonderful to be able to cross-country ski this year. I know it's going to be melting this week, but if enough could hold out one more week I'd be especially grateful as I'm taking my niece on a family friendly cross-country ski weekend.
I plan on reading A Wrinkle in Time out loud during the drive. I already love the book, and have you seen the preview for the movie? It gives me chills.
#3 - I had some leftover tahini sauce from a meal last week that was scrumptious on steamed green beans.
#4 - I think I finished my taxes. That is really enough for me to be grateful, but I also thought I had a big (to me) payment. I started my taxes a while ago and was surprised, but accepting, at what it seemed I owed. Then I got the retirement contribution credit and it looked much better.
#5 - I finished up #4 with a feeling of relaxation instead of pressure. I'm starting to feel pressure/impatient now to get off the computer, but my taxes were done in a state of relaxation.
#2 - I did round one of shoveling, I plan to go out and do round two after writing this, and maybe one more round before bed. It's nice to enjoy the snow and not have anywhere I need to go. It has been so wonderful to be able to cross-country ski this year. I know it's going to be melting this week, but if enough could hold out one more week I'd be especially grateful as I'm taking my niece on a family friendly cross-country ski weekend.
I plan on reading A Wrinkle in Time out loud during the drive. I already love the book, and have you seen the preview for the movie? It gives me chills.
#3 - I had some leftover tahini sauce from a meal last week that was scrumptious on steamed green beans.
#4 - I think I finished my taxes. That is really enough for me to be grateful, but I also thought I had a big (to me) payment. I started my taxes a while ago and was surprised, but accepting, at what it seemed I owed. Then I got the retirement contribution credit and it looked much better.
#5 - I finished up #4 with a feeling of relaxation instead of pressure. I'm starting to feel pressure/impatient now to get off the computer, but my taxes were done in a state of relaxation.
Friday, February 16, 2018
Respirar
I haven't been listening to much music lately, but conveniently yesterday I found a new favorite song,
because the next prompt in my poetry book was to write a few lines of a favorite song and then continue writing beyond that.
Cada uno en su universo
siente su dolor
como algo inmenso
Tristeza y sufriendo
me da silencio que no comprendo
It's only two lines (of my own), but I wrote them in Spanish.
Bebe's Pafuera Teleranas (over 10 years old) is a favorite album that my brother exposed me to. I didn't enjoy the next album as much so I lost track of her, but this new one (to me), I can't get enough of. I looked up the words and saw there are chords online. So I printed them out. It hurt because I haven't been playing and I don't have callouses on my fingers. But I saw there were the chords for her old songs that I really like too, so I printed those out too and can't wait to play them! I just need to get off the computer and get a couple things done. It's been a while since I've felt that way.
Not only that, but to continue the Spanish theme, I only have 5 pages left to read in "Rascal mi tremendo mapache" a children's chapter book I picked up used somewhere because it is a Newbery Award winner, and in Spanish and I have aspirations to practice my Spanish. It's been in my closet for multiple years, but once I finally got into it I've really enjoyed it.
And for the 4th day in the row I spent some time on https://www.duolingo.com/. A website a friend recommended to me earlier this week. The stories are really fun and I was on the bus this morning and I saw someone else using it on her phone.
because the next prompt in my poetry book was to write a few lines of a favorite song and then continue writing beyond that.
Cada uno en su universo
siente su dolor
como algo inmenso
Tristeza y sufriendo
me da silencio que no comprendo
It's only two lines (of my own), but I wrote them in Spanish.
Bebe's Pafuera Teleranas (over 10 years old) is a favorite album that my brother exposed me to. I didn't enjoy the next album as much so I lost track of her, but this new one (to me), I can't get enough of. I looked up the words and saw there are chords online. So I printed them out. It hurt because I haven't been playing and I don't have callouses on my fingers. But I saw there were the chords for her old songs that I really like too, so I printed those out too and can't wait to play them! I just need to get off the computer and get a couple things done. It's been a while since I've felt that way.
Not only that, but to continue the Spanish theme, I only have 5 pages left to read in "Rascal mi tremendo mapache" a children's chapter book I picked up used somewhere because it is a Newbery Award winner, and in Spanish and I have aspirations to practice my Spanish. It's been in my closet for multiple years, but once I finally got into it I've really enjoyed it.
And for the 4th day in the row I spent some time on https://www.duolingo.com/. A website a friend recommended to me earlier this week. The stories are really fun and I was on the bus this morning and I saw someone else using it on her phone.
Thursday, February 8, 2018
A Prayer to Life
#1 - Someone in my life got the pause she's been needing.
#2 - Now there is space for her to take care of herself. I said a prayer to life about this Tuesday night and asked for ways I could support her. Now I have some possibilities.
#3 - My niece making a strange voice on the phone. I asked if there was a ghost there. Then she was a ghost for a while. Then she switched to another voice which was some sort of rat. It was an entertaining conversation.
#4 - I went to the dentist and practiced relaxing. It is a challenge even though there is nothing wrong with my teeth. I love having clean and healthy teeth, but while I'm sitting in the dentist chair I certainly don't enjoy being there. The hygienist asked about cross-country skiing. Clearly she must take notes as I haven't gone to this dentist that many years, and just seeing me twice a year I can't imagine how she would possibly recall I enjoy skiing. I much preferred chatting about this over a topic I don't care about.
#5 - My father helped me get a ski holder, which I could not figure out, to function. I am going to try and take my cross-country skis on the bus tomorrow. I'm so happy that we finally have good ski conditions at locations that do not make snow.
#2 - Now there is space for her to take care of herself. I said a prayer to life about this Tuesday night and asked for ways I could support her. Now I have some possibilities.
#3 - My niece making a strange voice on the phone. I asked if there was a ghost there. Then she was a ghost for a while. Then she switched to another voice which was some sort of rat. It was an entertaining conversation.
#4 - I went to the dentist and practiced relaxing. It is a challenge even though there is nothing wrong with my teeth. I love having clean and healthy teeth, but while I'm sitting in the dentist chair I certainly don't enjoy being there. The hygienist asked about cross-country skiing. Clearly she must take notes as I haven't gone to this dentist that many years, and just seeing me twice a year I can't imagine how she would possibly recall I enjoy skiing. I much preferred chatting about this over a topic I don't care about.
#5 - My father helped me get a ski holder, which I could not figure out, to function. I am going to try and take my cross-country skis on the bus tomorrow. I'm so happy that we finally have good ski conditions at locations that do not make snow.
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