ElBaradei

#1666 - Winter photography is challenging for me. When I brought my camera to take this I was surrounded by beauty, but I couldn't find any color to add contrast to the shot. Finally I crouched down and tried to get my ski. I really like this shot and have been waiting for a day when I went skiing to post it.

#1667 - Last January I went to a Cabaret with a few friends that really impressed me. I decided to check if it was happening again this year, and it is. So I sent an email inviting people and using my birthday as an excuse to motivate. A friend called today and asked if I was excited (it is tonight). I said, "Not right now." She (Lisa) was excited though and her excitement started wearing off on me. Thanks Lisa.

#1668 - Then I got another call and another email of people coming and this helped too.

#1669 - And for my Egyptian political comment of the day - Apparently you are not a dictator if you are an important ally of the United States. How can I make this into a gratitude?... I just had to look a little. The 2005 Winner of the Nobel Peace Prize, ElBaradei, went to Cairo from Austria to join the protests. GO ELBARADEI!!!

#1670 - "In 2005 ElBaradei was awarded the prize for his efforts to prevent nuclear energy from being used for military purposes. He donated his winnings to building orphanages in Cairo and he was the fourth Egyptian to win the Nobel Peace Prize.ElBaradei has also been awarded The Franklin D. Roosevelt Four Freedom Award, The Human Security award, The Golden Dove of Peace..."

Why I'm Grateful For

The five, "Why I'm grateful for Tammy," Jill wrote. They were specific and meaningful and greatly appreciated. I'll share my favorite -

"You are an expressive dancer. I remember first thinking that when we were in college and you showed us your Ice, Ice Baby and Enya interpretive dances. And I was so pleasantly reminded of this at the Brothers concert this year when you bolted up front to jam out to We Are Family."

Set List

#1646 - When I was becoming quite frustrated the power went out - for an hour. I was trying to figure out something on the computer asking my brother to help. He has many wonderful qualities, and teaching in general is not one of them. He was telling me, as he often does "google it," even though he was sitting right there and knew the answer.

#1647 - So then I played guitar and called my friend Laura. I don't like to rant/complain, and yet discussing my frustrations with Laura was very calming and helpful.

#1648 - Receiving confirmation for audience availability for my second guitar concert. Like the first - the audience will consist of one person. And I am grateful for the excuse to work on my set list (I have two new songs to add) and practice.

#1649 - I might be doing some part-time data entry from home. I spoke to a woman today who would train me and she was really cool/interesting.

#1650 - My sister-in-law tried my experiment to find a word-of-the-year. It worked.

Henna

#1636 - A Henna Tattoo which includes my Word of the Year

#1637 - The 13 year old girl who painted my hand

#1638 - Visiting the home of the owner of the Yoga Studio for the staff party. It was cool or course.

#1639 - The energy experiment she did on me where I thought of something I disliked - television - and she showed my blocked energy, and then something I enjoyed - playing guitar - where it flowed.

#1640 - My stomach was bothering me a little (so I am writing these up a day late, though I will put the date as Sat so you probably didn't know that). I thought it was psychological, but then I remembered my brother seemed to not want to eat much earlier in the week. I asked him and yes he too, had a little stomach thing. Somehow this is reassuring, validating, which is weird but true.

Gratitude Grows

I am grateful that when there was a lot of complaining going on in my head this morning:
A. I was well aware of the fact that the complaining was there, so I was able to separate myself from it a little.
B. That another voice in my head told the complaining voice to, "Shut up!"
C. That the argument between the two, though not fun, also slightly amused me.

***

Energy saving action of the day - I usually wait for food to cool to put it in the fridge. However since this soup had fish in it I didn't want to let it sit out a long time. Instead of putting it in the fridge hot, I just set it outside for a little bit. Presto!

***

When I used to make lists of things I wanted to accomplish in my life - becoming fluent in Spanish was one of them. But I just don't use it much. A couple months ago, two women downtown were trying to get into Macy's, but the doors were locked. They looked like tourists trying to act like they knew what they were doing, but obviously confused, cold and speaking Spanish. I ran up to the door and saw on most days it would be open, but it was Sunday so it wasn't until noon. Then I ran up to them and haltingly said in Spanish, "Es Domingo. Es cerrada hasta doce." This simple interaction brought me such joy, and was certainly a gratitude that day. So I shouldn't be surprised, but I was, that I started to cry when I read and understood an email in Spanish today. I've never had a native Spanish speaker as a friend and I seem to be acquiring one and for that I am truly grateful.

***

Finally these gratitudes are getting better as I write. When I started out writing all I had was the complaining situation and cooling soup! My friend Patrick just me a message. I met Patrick 8 years ago when we both worked at the Omega Institute in NY. I am grateful for experiences such as that, because I met many people who chart their own pathways through life so to speak. Patrick's email made me happy because:
A. He just recorded his first acoustic guitar CD which he will send me.
B. He is working on a novel which he send part of
C. He has had the same job for at least three years, but soon he is going to Columbia and then much of South America for 6 months to a year. Right now I have no desire to travel, but I would love someday to spend some time in Latin America with a man. Patrick is older than me and so a living example that it is possible I would find someone whom would still want to do this when the time is right. AMEN!

61 Points

I just thoroughly enjoyed Jill's post on her Word-of-the-Year, so I'll share a little on mine too. Like Jill, I have really enjoyed having a word of the year for the last 5(?) years. Last year I had a difficult time finding a word, but when it eventually arrived, "impulsive," I knew exactly what it meant and how to honor it. Follow my impulses.

This year my word came to me really easily. Sometime in early December it came in my mind and then it didn't go away. By New Year's Day when I went to Yoga class I was breathing in and out the word during practice. It had clearly chosen me. However, it is not so clear to me what it will look like in my life or how exactly to honor it yet.

Jill gave me a little booklet to use with my word-of-the-year and this photo is what I've done with it so far.

***

In yoga today during savasana the instructor led us through 61 points. In this exercise she names a part of the body and you place your attention there. The idea is to keep your mind from wandering while you relax. I love 61 points. An interesting thing today is that when I focused on points in my upper-body I could feel energy running there. However once I got to my knees and below I didn't feel anything.

***

"Now, I did learn an important life-skill over these past 7 or so years: how to be my own best friend and enjoy spending time with myself." - my favorite part of Jill's post

Amazing Grapefruit
didn't look too good outside and it had a lot of seeds, but looks can be deceiving.

MLK

As I sat down to play Dominoes, a game I initiated with my brother and his friend's 10 yr old child, I realized once again, how I am a completely different around children. Different in the way that instead of retreating around strangers, with children I automatically reach out and connect.

This 10 year old sat down to play the piano. I expected some loud banging. However, the music he played was Incredibly Gentle. I could hardly believe it. I asked when he finished to take a photo of his hands.

I am so grateful to have caught most of King's Last March on NPR this evening. Towards the end of the show I sat still completely riveted by it. Here is the premise of the program -

"Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated on April 4, 1968. Four decades later, King remains one of the most vivid symbols of hope for racial unity in America. But that’s not the way he was viewed in the last year of his life." American Public Media


Vincent Harding: Martin was one of these "crazy" members of the Christian community who really took Jesus seriously.

It was EXACTLY (to the day - isn't that amazing?) one year before his death that King made his first major policy speech criticizing the Vietnam War. This was well before the country turned against the war so it wasn't a popular thing to do.

King: We spend approximately $500,000 to kill every enemy soldier in Vietnam, while we spend only $53 per person in the so-called "War Against Poverty."