With Only a Few Minutes Left

Weekend Rain Delight

Saturday night football LSU / Georgia - With only a few minutes left in the game and down by 4 points, Georgia takes the ball on their 25, and after six plays covering 75 yards, and only 1:47 remaining, a pass leads to a 25-yard touchdown, and Georgia takes the game 44-41.  Friday, I taught two workshops entitled Recharge and Heal through Engaged Wellness at the MD Anderson Survivorship Conference.  Each workshop had 40 survivors and in my first there were 5 stage IV cancer survivors; one described how at times they felt like there are too few minutes left in life.  We shared stories about whole person living, and how each day when we are fully engaged in lives of happiness and meaning the clock turns off, and we get back to living.    

Addicted to Early Mornings

In my boyhood home, the back hallway wrapped around and held the washer/dryer, a small desk, storage closet, and emptied into the den. If I got up early enough, I would find my mom sitting at the space heater in the den working on her lesson plans. I loved that time of the morning with her for there was a calmness mixed with her passion and creativity. She’d show me what she was working on and I can still feel her electrical excitement in life that makes each of us who we are. Maybe this is why I am addicted to early mornings and sunrises? // sunrise / what memories it awakes / danced in morning colors / brushed with gentleness and passion / feelings softly wrapped in love

Double Clutch Downshift

Csikskentmihalyi on Lfie Flow

Yesterday evening I was taking my skates to the Montrose Skate Shop, and I got behind a big truck. The road dipped as it went under I-10, and he double-clutched as he downshifted. I remember my dad taught me how to double-clutch through downshifts to reduce wear on the transmission. It got me thinking about my workday, no my life days and how some days I’m better at adjusting my life flow. I like what Csikskentmihalyi (Positive Psychologists) says about happiness and how adjusting our life flow can help us reclaim ownership of our lives. Today, double-clutch and downshift to reduce stress and better focus on the task of a joy filled day.

Hunger Struggle in America

One of my favorite lunchtime activities is to eat lunch with my son and his two young boys. Usually I bring lunch for all, but my son is doing the SNAP challenge, eating on $3 a day. Yesterday, he was eating beans and rice for all three meals, with a little bread and fruit. Last night, as a board member of CAN DO (Children and Neighbors Defeat Obesity) I participated in the showing of the documentary, A Place at the Table. 50 million Americans – 1 in 4 children don’t know where their next meal is coming from, and 1 in 2 children will be on food assistance at some point in their lives. This generation will live sicker and die younger than their parents’ generation. “If another nation was doing this to our children, we’d be at war.”, Jeff Bridges, Founder of the End Hunger Network. We must do better! A Place at the Table

Late 60's Hitchhiking

My first serious hitchhiking was the summer I worked in and around Dixie Washington. I had a job at the Green Giant Pea Factory, where I was a cooker during weekdays, and drove forklift on the weekends. But driving field trucks paid more money, so I quit my factory job and began following the pea and wheat crops. At the end of the summer I headed to California hitchhiking down the coast, surfing till my dad caught up with me and told me I needed to come home. I wrote all summer on a yellow pad that is now showing its 40+ years, but the words still feel like they were experienced yesterday. // A coral sea of colors / Washed by the waves of an anxious morning / Frees my soul to wander / To span the worlds majestic lands / An inner search for me

Fall Leaves

A friend from Baton Rouge recalled the beautiful spray of fall colored leaves draping my mother’s casket.  I had asked my uncle from Pennsylvania to bring the leaves from the town where she was born to help her find her way home.  My mother taught me that life is a journey within ourselves, shared with others through love, as we experience that which is us.  Step lightly today, listen to those internal steps, which at times stop, and let you catch up with yourself.  Memories of fall winds / softly wrap around my day / waking deep feelings / colored leaves caught deep within my soul

Hologram of Peace

Tuesday, I changed my computer password and immediately forgot it, so I had to have it reset.  Verification requires three challenge questions and the first two were easy, but the third, “what color was my first bike”, really stumped me.  I didn’t remember setting up the question, but it got me thinking about how important colors are in my life.  Colors are waves of light energy surrounding us with distinct vibrations that research shows have direct physiological and psychological effects.  On my walk last night the colors surrounding me, like soft brush strokes, painted the hologram of my soul with peace and calm.  Today, find peace in the calming colors that make up your life hologram.