Rhythmical flow,
movement of rolled stone,
rocking my world.
Waves crashing,
ocean gifts of stones and shells
rocking my world.
Peaceful waves
pounding, resounding,
rocking my world.
Searching shoreline,
plucking treasures from warm sand,
rocking my world.
Reconnecting stones,
nature’s pattern reinvented,
rocking my world.
Susie’s Rock Mosaic January 2016
Susie’s Wave Mosaic January 2013
Recently a dear friend of mine passed on a book to me entitled, Four Word Self Help, Simple Wisdom for Complex Lives. Don’t get me wrong. My life isn’t all that complex anymore, but this is a sweet book. I have chosen the four words: JUMP UP AND DOWN as my four words today.
Life has provided many opportunities for jumping up and down. I was a cheerleader in high school and did a fair amount of it. Don’t laugh. It was the only “sport” that girls were allowed back in my day. Title IX came long after I graduated from high school. Congratulations to all the girls and women who have been entitled to play sports since then. I’m jumping up and down for you.
It’s funny, but even as a 69 year old woman, I still jump for joy often. I’ve never stopped doing it and I highly recommend it to you. Let go! Show your happiness.
Here’s a photo of my 48 year old son and his 36 year old wife when they went on the whale shark trip in November last year with us. I didn’t ask them to jump up and down. They just did it.
Happiness is catching.
Makes you want to jump up and down, doesn’t it?
A friend of mine posted “I AM” on Facebook today.
It got me to thinking about what I am, but more importantly,
what I want to be.
How we see ourselves is important, no doubt. I’m no philosopher. Not even close. So I’m not going to get all philosophical on you. I do believe that we can create ourselves. We have options. I do love options.
What am I? Just like you, I am many things. Just like you, I may not always like the “me”I am in a given moment.
Two days ago I was angry with a capital A. Pissed off is more like it. Hurt. Confused. Disillusioned. I don’t want those things to define me.
So what does define me? Right now I think I would like to see myself as transforming, vivacious and strong.
I think I’ll choose those three things for my mantra today.
I am transforming, vivacious and strong.
Who knows what I’ll choose tomorrow.
The key is to choose wisely.
This can be a metaphor for life, even though it pertains to baseball. Don’t put the cart before the horse, don’t count your chickens…blah, blah, blah.
Timing is everything and while I’ve known this for a long while, today I was given a smack upside my head as a nice little reminder.
The story: We sold our beautiful VW van to a friend. She said she wanted it. We trusted that she did. On her word we felt it was a done deal and we considered it sold. She drove it, we showed her everything about how to care for it, gave her our bazillion extra parts, and she was excited. She went home with the plan to get us our down payment by tomorrow (Tuesday) and we would keep the car till it was paid for.
At this point, I deleted the ads I’d run and told two other prospective buyers that it was sold. A gentleman in Seattle had offered to buy the van for its full asking price, as well as give us $1,000 more if we delivered it to San Diego, but yesterday I told him we had it sold. So sorry, I told him.
We bought another vehicle for $10,000 with the idea that we had sold the van. We’re all set now, right?
Apparently not. Our friend, who will remain nameless, just called and said she changed her mind. “It’s just not a good idea for me right now,” she tells me.
“What? What?” I exclaim. “I already told the other people it was sold.”
“I know, I’m sorry. But I couldn’t sleep last night and I don’t think this is a good idea for me right now.”
You have to catch the ball before you can throw the ball. Don’t put the cart before the horse and don’t count your chickens until they hatch.
Don’t buy a new car until you have the money for the one you sold.
And don’t trust ANYBODY.
I don’t want to be bitter. So I’ll work at getting over it. In the meantime, I have learned:
I.
When I come to you
with tears that fall and
splatter to the ground,
you hold me close
and declare to my sorrow
“Devotion is your armor.”
When I come to you
with worries that break
the spell of our love,
you whisper love’s remedies
and declare to my concerned heart
“Imagination is your armor.”
When I come to you
with panic that resounds
in your world miles away,
you calm my fears
and declare to my faraway heart
“Stillness is your armor.”
When I come to you
with hopes and dreams of us
together for eternity,
you hold me close revealing
intimate secrets of assurance
“My love is your armor.”
II.
The poetry of your love
its sonorous effects
tied with a string or
set free on the windowsill
Like any moment in a dream
provoking questions of love or
transferring definitions to seek
alignment as a signal to my heart
Your intimate approach
a shape emerging gently
as a stroke of your fingers
touching the skin of my skin
The density of expression
its lyric energy singing
a rhetorical rhythm
revealed to mine ears alone
Neither kindness of a compliment
or heat of sexual pleasure
supply the magic ointment
as does the poetry of your love