aka Amelie

While procrastinating, I mean working really hard reviewing Facebook posts, I came across one that said "Freedom from Worry" and a young lady is standing under a ginormous ray of sunshine that is probably burning her retina, with her arms flung high in the sky.... Really?  This is driving me crazy.... No worries. Happiness all the time. Get rid of anxiety all the time. Financial freedom working 4 hours a week. Live your life your way, all the time. Crush it! Killing it! I think I have a little puke in my mouth.  This is selling snake oil.  Life is about good and bad.  We all have joys.  We all take our lumps.  We all have to figure out how to manage the challenges. Sometimes we are quietly comfortable with how it went. Sometimes we wanna crawl under a rock. Sometimes we beg for help whether we're screaming or holing up in our caves. Take the time to learn about you.  Watch yourself.  Write about it. Make a video about it. Write...

When I lived in the Caribbean, a much bigger species of a millipede ran through my living room when I flipped on the light.  I was able to pin it with the big dog food dish while someone else fetched a glass jar and lid. I could hardly breathe. The beast that day was 5 inches long and 1/2 inch diameter.  Looked like something you'd see in a museum!  Plus they are venomous, like bees!  And one this big, well that's a bite that I was sure I'd not want to experience. The next day, I went to work and shared my life-threatening experience with the ladies I worked with. One asked me if I touched it. WHAT?  ARE YOU CRAZY?  NO! Well, I was told that if I touched it, it would bring me money. I quickly responded, You touch it.  You keep the money! And ever since then, I always think of this story when I see a millipede of any size.  This lil' fella came out to greet me on Sunday.

So.... this is what my weekend looked like... Come Monday morning, my body was exhausted, but my brain was craving more...  Sitting at my desk was pure torture. First weeding, the little annoying pine saplings that litter my lawn.... Yes, I pull each one by hand because I don't want to use chemicals on my lawn.  If you mow them, they only grow back stronger.  You have to remove them by the root.   Don't believe me?  Walk barefoot in my neighbor's lawn.... Then, I headed here to prepare the space for tiger lilies that I scrounged for free on Craigslist. This area used to have 2 dead cedar stumps, 5 over grown mulberry bushes (2 of which I finally dug up this past weekend) and 6 other green blobs that blossom in fall. And a bunch of other overgrown stuff.    What remains are iris that need to be moved, and my chives and oregano.  And a very odd shape... The green blobs were moved here against the house, but this whole area needs t...

Today's reading was about constancy... of change, of devotion, of practice, of what's in your heart. It spoke of the world like a wheel. I have so many visual ideas on how to represent this but limited talent and time to create the picture I had in my head. So this is what I present, in all it's juvenile representation, yet complex message.

I am often asked about how I meditate. I would comfortably say that I am too restless to just sit and do nothing, I mean meditate. Being around horses is definitely a luxury. Horses amaze me with their grace and power. Horses can scare the shit out of me because I am still learning how to interact with them and understand their behavior. There are lots of critical tools with keep their hair and nails done.  And you thought humans were bad! Sheesh.... Happy feet, happy horse. Only organic carrots and apples. Only after all their work is done. Only in the grain bin otherwise you teach them to look for treats in your hands or pockets.  Which really means you teach them bad manners because they're always poking around, with their teeth! Yikes! Spring time means their woolly mammoth coat falls out. See!!!  This is just from a short time holding our grey while getting one hoof trimmed! Oh how he loves a rub, and massage from high on his ne...

Yard work is my kind of meditation! Spring time means yard clean-up and prep for a new growing season.  I will gladly be the one in the house to go outside and dig, cut, rake, pile, and dump. This is WAY more fun than dusting or vacuuming.  And always better than cleaning a toilet! I can't tell you what I think about while I'm out there, but it's soothing. I pull weeds individually when I can to avoid using chemicals, aka poison that seeps into our ground water. I happily pick up more stuff from multiple neighbors when there's room.  My way of saying thanks for their help with the snow in winter. I'm a bit of a half pint, with a truck-bed full of stuff, got my gloves and hat on.... So what if I can hardly see over the steering wheel!  ok, I'm not that short, LOL.... It's fun to do all this physical work and have a powerful truck to haul it all around, and get me where I need and want to go. I LOVE driving the truck and confusing the he...

Wowsers, today's reading was very powerful.  I find it particularly interesting because it does not come from a current "self-help" thought leader from the US, but instead a student of Tao and it was published in 1992. The topic is "ACCURACY". The message was kind of standard: Life is short. Make the best of it. BUT, then it pokes us between the eyes and says: WAKE UP! It reminds us that we loose time with each day that passes.  That time is really opportunity to take action. It addresses that some people may doubt this desire or need or action.  But it reminds us that our well-being and life satisfaction depends on it. It reminds us that "All that matters is accomplishing what you envision with the greatest dispatch. ... [W]e must identify our inner longings to dispatch them with a hunter's accuracy." So, what are your 1 or 2 things that you want to accomplish before you die that require a hunter's accuracy?  Maybe it's a bu...