2nd Chances and Loving Out Loud

So, can anyone find the love in this picture?

   (Hint: look everywhere)

UNIQUE PICTURE: Earth as seen from the outer Solar System (Photo credit: Icarus Kuwait)

 

 

Today I was inspired by another blogger/writer Suzie Carr - Enjoying Life. I love that thanks to the internet I get to connect with so many people who "get it." There have been days that I've felt like I was alone on Earth. I was an invisible dreamer. I'm happy to report that I haven't felt alone or invisible in years. I'm here to tell you that it is possible.

Years ago, before I came to Earth, I was ill and came a little too close to dying. Physically, I was treated and cured with no further problems. But, something deeper than my body had to heal. That bright, shining fire of creativity and passion had dimmed. I came to Earth with every intention of bettering myself, but I had no clue how I was going to do it. The universe took over and did what I couldn't even dream of. One day, someone I knew invited me to her choir. Then, I mentioned the writing I had set aside (on a back burner with no flame underneath) to someone I didn't yet know, and got invited to a writer's group. Everything turned around. The impossible became possible. For the first time in my life, I was complemented on my smile. I brought to my writing a sense of humor that I didn't think I had.

What happened? Love. I had read The Universe is a Green Dragon by Brian Swimme, but I didn't get it so I tried again. The force of gravity (yes the thing that made an apple fall on Newton's head) is love. Huh? What people usually think of as "love" is only a very small piece of what's out there. Everything in the universe, from the largest star to the smallest subatomic particle, moves together and apart in this amazingly intricate dance that science just barely understands. I was always connected to everything and everyone else; I just didn't realize it.

Now, I love everyone and everything. Doesn't that sound so weird and impossible? Sure, I still get pissed off at the traffic jams of life, but I don't wave my fist at the person who cut me off. I see strangers as friends I haven't yet met, even if they turn out to be total a$$hats. As much as I would like to always be right and have the last word, I usually don't waste much energy on that. I gave the love I always wanted to others and realized I already have all the love I ever needed. I may still want someone to act a certain way, but I let go of the expectation that they will. Oh yes, I can still be hurt and even shed tears, but I never completely lose sight of the good that still surrounds me.

Loving out loud exposes you to a lot of unknowns, but not knowing is actually not such a bad thing. I have insufficient data to declare my dreams impossible; therefore, my only reasonable option is to follow my passions and then decide what I want to do with them. I have no idea where the universe ends, so I guess that means the possibilities are endless.

How do we treat our elders?

I think this applies to friends as well.

 

I was at the library and I met a homeless man. He was there to hide out from the 100+ degree heat. How was he supposed to even read properly when one of his eyes was clouded over by cataracts (very easily treatable)? My heart was broken. Is this how you treat your elders? Really?

I wasn't up to blogging about it until a facebook friend shared this picture and poem with me today:

Cranky Old Man.....
What do you see nurses? . . .. . .What do you see?
What are you thinking .. . when you're looking at me?
A cranky old man, . . . . . .not very wise,
Uncertain of habit .. . . . . . . .. with faraway eyes?
Who dribbles his food .. . ... . . and makes no reply.
When you say in a loud voice . .'I do wish you'd try!'
Who seems not to notice . . .the things that you do.
And forever is losing . . . . . .. . . A sock or shoe?
Who, resisting or not . . . ... lets you do as you will,
With bathing and feeding . . . .The long day to fill?
Is that what you're thinking?. .Is that what you see?
Then open your eyes, nurse .you're not looking at me.
I'll tell you who I am . . . . .. As I sit here so still,
As I do at your bidding, .. . . . as I eat at your will.
I'm a small child of Ten . .with a father and mother,
Brothers and sisters .. . . .. . who love one another
A young boy of Sixteen . . . .. with wings on his feet
Dreaming that soon now . . .. . . a lover he'll meet.
A groom soon at Twenty . . . ..my heart gives a leap.
Remembering, the vows .. .. .that I promised to keep.
At Twenty-Five, now . . . . .I have young of my own.
Who need me to guide . . . And a secure happy home.
A man of Thirty . .. . . . . My young now grown fast,
Bound to each other . . .. With ties that should last.
At Forty, my young sons .. .have grown and are gone,
But my woman is beside me . . to see I don't mourn.
At Fifty, once more, .. ...Babies play 'round my knee,
Again, we know children . . . . My loved one and me.
Dark days are upon me . . . . My wife is now dead.
I look at the future ... . . . . I shudder with dread.
For my young are all rearing .. . . young of their own.
And I think of the years . . . And the love that I've known.
I'm now an old man . . . . . . .. and nature is cruel.
It's jest to make old age . . . . . . . look like a fool.
The body, it crumbles .. .. . grace and vigour, depart.
There is now a stone . . . where I once had a heart.
But inside this old carcass . A young man still dwells,
And now and again . . . . . my battered heart swells
I remember the joys . . . . .. . I remember the pain.
And I'm loving and living . . . . . . . life over again.
I think of the years, all too few . . .. gone too fast.
And accept the stark fact . . . that nothing can last.
So open your eyes, people .. . . . .. . . open and see.
Not a cranky old man .
Look closer . . . . see .. .. . .. .... . ME!!




Oftentimes, we don't see past the current physical body. We forget that every wrinkle is earned. 


Remember to look for the soul inside.


Namaste (The soul in me acknowledges the soul in you)

Freiya's day in pictures

Zucchini picked in the morning will go in stir fry for dinner. 

Fairytale eggplant in the afternoon

Writing muse asleep in the hay with the guinea pigs.

At my desk

Under my desk