Escalator of life...

Let's face it, sometimes we all have days like this...where we can't see our way out of a problem.

But try to look for what's possible outside your current thinking. And above all, keep moving...

If a tree falls in the forest...

I can't remember where I heard it... but love this bit...

"If a man makes an argument in a forest but his wife isn't there to hear it, is he still wrong?"

Expected/Unexpected: White van

I have to admit, there is something about a white van that really creeps me out. Any time there is a crime involving an abduction, it seems a white van is always involved. That said, I recognize a lot of businesses have white work vechicles...

Expected: A standard white truck with black lettering to identify the company name - located in Manhattan's Greenmarket. Nothing suspect here.

Unexpected: This "Homeland Security" white van in West Village is totally suspect. Seriously, c'mon, if someone pulled me over and told me to get into this van, I'd run for my life (no doubt they get this a lot even if they are legit). It looks as though they hand-drew the name with black magic marker. Is it just me or does this vehicle look ridiculous without any kind of real government identification?

Just sayin'...

Earth Hour is tomorrow. March 31st, 8:30pm.

Don't forget to switch off your lights for climate change!!

Path with a heart

A young person just starting her career spoke to me recently about feeling as though she was not "on her right path". I hear this a lot. I wish I could have shared this passage with her. Perhaps it might have eased her discomfort in knowing that by asking one simple question, the path to take can become a little clearer...

“Does this path have a heart? If it does, the path is good; if it doesn’t, it is of no use. Both paths lead nowhere; but one has a heart, the other doesn’t. One makes for a joyful journey, as long as you follow it, you are one with it. The other will make you curse your life. One makes you strong; the other weakens you.”

Don Juan to Carlos Casteneda:

“But how do you know when a path has no heart don Juan?”

“Before you embark on it you ask the question: ‘Does this path have a heart?’ If the answer is no, you will know it, and then you must choose another path.”

“But how will I know for sure whether a path has a heart or not?”

“Anybody would know that. The trouble is nobody asks the question; and when someone finally realizes that they have taken a path without a heart, the path is ready to kill them. At that point very few people can stop to deliberate, and leave the path.”

“How should I ask the question properly don Juan, . . . so I would not lie to myself and believe the answer is yes when it really is no?”

“Why would you lie?”

“Perhaps because at the moment the path is pleasant and enjoyable.”

“That is nonsense. A path without a heart is never enjoyable. You have to work hard even to take it. On the other hand, a path with a heart is easy; it does not make you work at liking it.”

- The Teachings of Don Juan: A Yaqui Way of Knowledge, Carlos Castaneda, 1968

"A holy silence"

"Listening is the oldest and perhaps the most powerful tool of healing.
It is often through the quality of our listening and not the wisdom of
our words that we are able to affect the most profound changes in
the people around us.

When we listen, we offer with our attention
an opportunity for wholeness.

Our listening creates sanctuary for
the homeless parts within the other person. That which has been denied,
unloved, devalued by themselves and others. That which is hidden.
In this culture the soul and the heart too often go homeless.
Listening creates a holy silence. When you listen generously to people,
they can hear the truth in themselves, often for the first time. And in
the silence of listening, you can know yourself in everyone. Eventually
you may be able to hear, in everyone and beyond everyone,
the unseen singing softly to itself and to you." ~Rachel Naomi Remen

A dancer = someone who has to move to think

"People who couldn't sit still. People who had to move to think."

In the clip, below, TEDster Sir Ken Robinson explains how education risks killing creativity. He beautifully describes how the talent of Gillian Lynne, today a famous choreographer, was discovered - and encouraged.

What do you need to do to think clearly? To feel calm? To feel a sense of belonging in the world? Find out what that is. And do it.

Fight = Joy

I heard an actor describe an acting lesson she never forgot.

Her acting teacher held a quarter in his hand and asked every student in the class to try and get it from him.

Each student tried. Not one succeeded.

The teacher then handed the quarter to one of his students with the same goal of trying to get it from him.

He nearly knocked the student sideways in his desire for the quarter.

The teacher got the quarter within seconds. He then turned to the class and said:

This is the level of intensity you need to bring to each scene.

The same can be said of anything we truly, truly, truly want.

What are you willing to fight for?

Now is not the time to be subtle. Or polite. Life awaits. Grab it.

Good misty morning

I am a blessed girl. This was my view walking along the Ottawa river yesterday morning. Mist rising over the water with the Parliament buildings shrouded in mystery straight ahead. No wonder MoneySense named us the best place to live in Canada.

Blessed indeed...

Expected/Unexpected: Ice cream truck

Expected: Remember the bell-ringing ice cream truck that comes around your neighbourhood as you do a mad-dash out of the house to get some ice-y goodness? Me, too.

Unexpected: An organic-only-soy-based-gluten-free-dairy-free ice cream truck. Only in NYC. This truck sits just below the Highline along the Hudson. Times are a changin'...

Just sayin'...

Poetry tea: David Whyte

Self Portrait

It doesn't interest me if there is one God

or many gods.

I want to know if you belong or feel

abandoned.

If you know despair or can see it in others.

I want to know

if you are prepared to live in the world

with its harsh need

to change you. If you can look back

with firm eyes

saying this is where I stand. I want to know

if you know

how to melt into that fierce heat of living

falling toward

the center of your longing. I want to know

if you are willing

to live, day by day, with the consequence of love

and the bitter

unwanted passion of your sure defeat.

I have heard, in that fierce embrace, even

the gods speak of God.

- David Whyte

Happy bubbly Friday all...

"There comes a time in every woman's life when the only thing that helps is a glass of champagne."

- Bette Davis

Love him!

I love, love, love this man.

"We human beings gotta learn how to love one another."

Johnny Barnes has got it right.

Watch him when you have a moment. He's astounding.

Mr. Happy Man from Matt Morris Films on Vimeo.

Incomplete

This is by far the best description I have ever heard about a marriage ending. Why a relationship fails is based entirely on an inability to be truly intimate and instead buffering from that truth...

"Metaphorically, there was always someone else in bed with us, our teacher, our work, our colleagues and later on, our children. We made sure of that. To have been alone with each other would have exposed our uneasiness with an intimacy that neither of us knew how to nurture. And so we continued with our busy lives, as if we were the bread and the rest of life was the center of the sandwich. As we added more filling, we grew further and further apart."

- Elizabeth Lesser

Just sayin'...

Ode to a friend

For my best friend,

Here are the lyrics to Jann Arden's "Ode to a friend". Adore.

I don't mind if you stay longer

You have not been any trouble

I don't want you to go home yet

can you stay just stay ten more minutes

You are my best friend

I don't know how I'd live

How I love you

every square inch

Love your brown eyes

your forgiveness

Don't go home now

It's past midnight

You can sleep here

we'll have breakfast

Yes

You are my greatest gift

I don't know how I'd live

You are my saving grace

You are by heart my true friend

Insecurities

Insecurity is merely a reflection of what you are least proud of that you have already done and are afraid will be done to you (instead of by you).

You can't conceive of anything without having thought it, done it or believed it was possible for yourself first.

Insecurity is quite simply a projection of your own fears about yourself onto someone else to prove otherwise.

Care. A whole awful lot.

Figure out what you care about. And then do that.

In the wise words of Dr. Seuss:

Unless someone like you cares a whole awful lot,

nothing is going to get better.

It's not.

Just sayin'...

A little hard to read, but loved this quote engraved into a Harvard campus statue:

"My country is the world - my countrymen are all mankind."

Expected/Unexpected: 7eleven

Expected: Standard 7 Eleven convenience store fare...

Unexpected: How swank-ified 7 Eleven can get in one of the fanciest (read: richest) neighbourhoods in Boston. Kinda irks me a little. I like tradition. And I don't care for this random reappropriation of 7Eleven signage.

Job opening: Translators required

Every person's gift allows them to see the divine and then translate it for those who can't see exactly what they do.

We are all translators of the divine.

We all see things in a way no one else quite does.

And it is our job to translate that inspiration.

So get to work, people. It's some of the most important work we'll ever do.

Bath time for Woody Allen

I recently saw the PBS Woody Allen documentary. An interesting watch if you get a chance. There were a few clips of his stand-up comedy days (from waaayyyy back when) including this joke:

So, my wife and I divorced.

The reason is she was just too immature.

I mean, really immature.

Like the time I got home from a long day.

I was in the bath.

She barged right into the bathroom.

And sank all my battleships.

Had to share. I like silly and this stand-up bit made me laugh out loud.

Just sayin'...

We are family

The problem with the world

is that we draw the circle of our family too small.

- Mother Theresa

Poetry tea: Spring is coming (soon-ish...)

Green life doused still by the

pale rainswollen clouds

- Margaret Avison

Extraordinary Ducati

Dozens of restaurant patrons were spilling out onto the sidewalk of a biker bar near the West Village awhile back. My friend and I wandered down to see what was going on and a particularly ardent motorcycle enthusiast tried to convince me that this (vintage?) Vincent bike was special (I swear, he would not leave me alone until I took a picture - so I did). I know little to nothing about bikes and I admit the Vincent is pretty...but I don't think motorcycles should be pretty.

Enter the Ducati. This is one sex-y bike. I've never been on a motorcycle and I don't know that I ever will be. But manalive, I may just have to buy the I HEART MY BIKE bell for the person that would take me. And we could laugh about the Vincent. And that is all I would be able to say about motorcycles. No one said it would be a long or informed discussion, people. I have little to contribute other than the bell.

Deepy-deep thought for your day...

All financial debt is self-punishment.

- Edwene Gaines

Just sayin'...

* This blurry shot was taken awhile ago with my old camera. Love the message.

Expected/Unexpected: I go out walking...

Expected: People walking and jogging around Central Park's Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis Reservoir.

Unexpected: Strict instructions advising which direction folks MUST walk or jog around said reservoir...

I wonder what would happen if I had dared yellow-turtleneck-lady to turn around and walk clockwise. Seriously. You can only wear a turtleneck and walk counter clockwise for so long.

Vive la révolution.

Poetry tea: Prayer

"May I never not be frisky,

May I never not be risqué.

May my ashes, when you have them, friend,

and give them to the ocean,

leap in the froth of the waves,

still loving movement,

still ready, beyond all else,

to dance for the world."

- Mary Oliver

How to decide?

A friend came to me the other day with the infamous question about whether to stay with the man she was with. Or leave him. I'm sure we've all had people we care about come to us with a significant question like this.

And to be honest, there is no perfect answer. But one passage written by Martha Beck eases me whenever I have to make a big decision. Here's hoping this may help you, too...

"The Buddha often said that wherever you find water, you can tell if it's the ocean because the ocean always tastes of salt. By the same token, anywhere you find enlightenment - you can tell it's enlightenment because enlightenment always tastes of freedom. Not comfort. Not ease. Freedom.

The way you can tell you're following fear away from your North Star is that while this course may feel safe, it will also feel imprisoning. The way you can tell that something lies true north, even when inner-lizard fear says to run from it, is that it feels liberating.

If you pay even basic attention to your own reactions, you can identify what I call a "shackles on" sensation and distinguish it from a "shackles off" sensation. This difference will be perceptible to you whether or not you are afraid to take a certain course of action."

-Martha Beck

Expected/Unexpected: Book storage

Expected: When not reading a book, one often leaves it on a table for easy retrieval at a later date.

Unexpected: For even easier access, one could store a book in, well, one's pants...

True love endures

This is the most beautiful expression of love I have ever seen.

I took this picture years ago in a cemetery in Ireland.

There is no name on the headstone. No date of life or death.

Just love.

True love does endure. Of this I am sure.

Happy Valentine's Day.

No armour required...

Why is it in the face of the most horrifying pain and difficulty we no longer cry?

We have learned to buffer. To manage. To expect it and get by.

We can now bear it all and barely flinch.

But when an unexpected kindness, a simple kind word or warm gesture is offered?

That's when we dissolve. Caught in the back of the throat, the making of a small wail begins.

We try to shake it off. But in genuine caring, the tears come without permission.

No buffering. No bearing.

Just a seeping in of warmth.

Poetry tea: you...

So every day

I was surrounded by the beautiful crying forth

of the ideas of God,

one of which was you.

- Mary Oliver

Manhattan awaits...

"For however inhospitable the wind, from this vantage point Manhattan was simply so improbable, so wonderful, so obviously full of promise - that you wanted to approach it for the rest of your life without ever quite arriving."

- Amor Towles, Rules of Civility

Just sayin'...

What do you commit to?

Commit to beauty. Not glamour.

Commit to affection. Not attention.

Commit to craft. Not work.

Commit to process. Not outcome.

Commit to love. Not duty.

Commit to do. Not try.

Commit. Commit. Commit.

My wish for the week.

Just sayin'...

Poetry Tea: Beannacht

Beannacht

On the day when

the weight deadens

on your shoulders

and you stumble,

may the clay dance

to balance you.

And when your eyes

freeze behind

the grey window

and the ghost of loss

gets in to you,

may a flock of colours,

indigo, red, green,

and azure blue

come to awaken in you

a meadow of delight.

When the canvas frays

in the currach of thought

and a stain of ocean

blackens beneath you,

may there come across the waters

a path of yellow moonlight

to bring you safely home.

May the nourishment of the earth be yours,

may the clarity of light be yours,

may the protection of the ancestors be yours.

And so may a slow

wind work these words

of love around you,

an invisible cloak

to mind your life.

- John O'Donohue, Irish poet & philosopher, wrote this poem for his mother upon his father's passing ("Beannacht" in Gaelic translates to "Blessing").

Expected/Unexpected: Garbage

Expected: A standard, run-of-the-mill NYC garbage bin filled to the brim with, well, garbage, naturally...

Unexpected: A standard, run-of-the-mill garbage bin in Italy filled right to the brim entirely with wine bottles...oh, Italia, you even know how to do garbage better than anyone else...

Sink-in moment: I got to say your name

It was like any other conversation. Any other day.

Drinks. Food. Friends.

And then I said your name.

I liked the way your name felt safe in my mouth.

Shaping my voice around you - sharing you.

I wasn't expecting it.

But he knew you.

He knew you.

He spoke of you with such appreciation.

And for that brief moment, you were with me.

Sitting beside me with the corners of your bright eyes crinkling and your warm heart shying from the praise.

I got to say your name.

And with it, you became real again.

Until the conversation passed.

And you evaporated.

He could not have known I wanted him to keep speaking of you. So you could have stayed with me a little while longer. In the middle of the restaurant.

But you were there. Briefly. With me.

You were there.

I got to say your name.