Sunday, October 31, 2010

Daily Reminder # 153


It has been a strange day for me. I woke up tired and have felt very sad all day. Tomorrow (as I type this) is Halloween. For some reason I'm dreading it this year. I just want to crawl into bed and hide under the covers for a few days. No idea why.

I watched the Rally to Restore Sanity and found it wonderful, but spent much of the time - much of the day - on the edge of tears. But the rally was wonderful - good music, funny, witty humor - and a profound closing statement by Jon Stewart that I share below.  I think this, along with my gratitude list, will be the total of today's daily reminder.



Some things I'm grateful for today:

  • my furnace
  • my home
  • Jon Stewart
  • Stephen Colbert
  • the 250,000 or so people who attended his rally
  • people with good sense and good hearts
  • My great niece who's turned 10 yesterday
  • YouTube
  • television
  • water
  • blankets
  • my fuzzy robe
  • legs that hold me up (sort of)
  • my microwave
  • bombs that don't go off
  • the right to vote
  • hope



Happy Halloween!

Saturday, October 30, 2010

Daily Reminder # 152


It's getting wintery out there. It was a gloomy, chilly day today after a couple of unusually Spring-like days earlier in the week. Lots of luscious clouds though, behind bare branches.  I struggled to get myself to do wordzzles tonight and I'm going to let Neale Donald Walsh do tonight's heavy work for me since I liked today's message. It's very much what I am working on with myself right now as I mentioned a few days back. I'm trying to convince myself that it would be ok for me to be rich and happy. The message doesn't seem to have gotten thought old patterns yet, but I'm really looking to change my thoughts and beliefs. I remain determined to win the Publisher's Clearinghouse Sweepstakes, even if I'm on my death bed when I do it. I would rather, however, win next week or whenever the next big check goes out. But anyway, here's what Mr. Walsh thinks God wants us to know today:


On this day of your life, dear friend, I believe God wants you to know...
....that you should never be content with so little when you can reach out for something big.

Charles L. Allen asked a question about that, wondering why so many people settle for so little. You do not have to place yourself among them. The world is an abundant place. Abundant with opportunity, abundant with good fortune, abundant with ideas, and abundant with love.

Reach into that abundance and take what is rightfully yours. It is your inheritance, gifted to you by God. Let yourself have it. Do not fail to reach for it for fear that it will not come to you. How can it come to you if you do not reach for it?

Do not be content with so little. Reach, stretch, for something big.

Love, Your Friend....
neale


Tara Grace is a good reminder of the power
of faith and belief. She is 5 tiny pounds of
skinny determination. She went from a life out
in the bitter cold, scrounging for food to
one in which she dermands - in no undertain
terms - her nightly allotment of crunchies.
She knows she deserves a good life.

Some things I'm grateful for today:

  • clouds
  • dramatic skies
  • a snug house
  • my fuzzy robe
  • angels
  • reiki
  • Tara's voice - she's got new speeches
  • Angel's hugs
  • orange pineapple smoothies
  • good movies (watched Agora yesterday)
  • netflix
  • Janet, the mail lady
  • laughter
  • eyes to see
  • music
  • finished wordzzles
  • life


HAVE A GREAT DAY
and if you're in the US don't forget to watch
12:00 - 3:00 pm today

Friday, October 29, 2010

Weekly Wordzzle Challenge #133

  

It's week 133 of the Weekly (formerly known as "Saturday") Wordzzle Challenge.  Well, I got it in before midnight, at least. Looking forward to seeing what others have done.


This week's 10-word challenge was:  defensive, volume, masterpiece, category, momentarily, advisor, public radio, charter, eleven days, ostrich   And for the mini:  gargoyle, flounder, screech, Saturday evening, locked up


My 10-word:

Maggie felt momentarily defensive about hiding in her house. She wasn't proud to admit that this was her version of an ostrich with its head in the sand, she knew, but it was the best she could do right now. Her therapist, her chief advisor in maintaining emotional balance, had gotten her to sign an agreement - the Political Withdrawal Charter he had laughingly called it - because he knew she would live the name.Anyway, she had signed on the dotted line: eleven days with no CNN, no public radio, no newspapers, no politics. None. Total withdrawal from who said what about who and who might win what election and whether the Democrats or Republicans would win the day. Even thinking about it - six days in now - started her thoughts racing. Time, she thought to turn up the volume on the stereo and get back to work on her masterpiece. The painting of Obama was coming turning out to be amazing.... She knew her therapist wouldn't approve, but total withdrawal... well, that was just too much to ask. Really.


My mini:

Franklin didn't know what day it was any more. He had been locked up since Saturday evening. It had all started when he heard the screech and saw the gargoyle land on the parapet with a flounder in its mouth. He was sure he had heard that screech again more than once in his restless dreams. Where was everyone he wondered? And suddenly he felt very frightened indeed.


And the mega:

Max Martinson was cold and wet and tired and he really missed the calming voices of his friends at National Public Radio. The volume of the screech last night had been ear-splitting and left him momentarily floundering for cover in the bushes. Who would have thought an ostrich could make a noise like that? It had sounded more like the noise a gargoyle or Godzilla might make and not just some large bird. Three of the female contestants had seen his shameful fright and now he felt stripped, so to speak, of his manhood. The original plan had been to play a defensive game but now he felt a need to redeem himself with a more aggressive approach. He couldn't believe it was only eleven days into the contest and he was already feeling a depth of exhaustion and panic worse than anything he had anticipated when he had climbed blithely onto the chartered plane on Saturday evening and headed for the "parts unknown" of the world. He hadn't thought Survivor would be so hard even though his friend and advisor Sam - who had done an earlier season of the show - had tried to warn him otherwise. He had thought he would have the game locked up by now and had expected to be in that category of contestants who stood out and ruled from day one. He was humbled, to say the least. He really wanted to go home, but he wanted that million dollars even more. He had his movie masterpiece to produce and he needed the money so he could do it his way... and also because he couldn't find any backers.



***********


Words for next week's 10-word challenge: charity, clouds, empty bottles, Give me Liberty or Give me Death, medicine, shrimp, clear as a bell, credible, hole, Aunt Sally

And for the mini:  just like you, leaves, everything in the store, continuing, dramatic,


Thank you for playing.  Newcomers to wordzzles can check here for guidelines (there are no rules) to make the challenge easier and more fun.




Daily Reminder # 151


Voting matters!

My reminder tonight is political, I'm afraid. It's one word. VOTE. Especially if you are a Democrat. Republicans and Tea Party folks and Libertarians are free to stay home, especially since Republicans have such big leads almost everywhere.... no need to waste your energy getting dressed and waiting on line.  Democrats, though. Get out there and save your future. Save health care, save the tax base, save social services, save medicare and Social Security from people who want to eliminate it or privatize it. PLEASE vote. Keith Olbermann offers some good reasons as to why it's so very important this year in particular.





Some things I'm grateful for today:

  • my microwave
  • Schwans
  • Shannon
  • Angel and Tara Grace
  • laughter
  • joy
  • music
  • my home
  • electricity
  • computers
  • Crocs
  • grapes
  • orange pineapple smoothies
  • cinnamon
  • coffee
  • passion
  • Keith Olbermann
  • Fall colors
  • sun through the leaves
  • blue skies
  • tree branches
  • friends
  • the smell of white sage
  • television
  • my SSD
  • the right to vote
  • The Rally to Restore Sanity
  • The Blog Blast for Peace
  • angels
  • reiki
  • life

Have a Wonderful Day!

Thursday, October 28, 2010

Daily Reminder # 150


Reality of our own making... it is mostly in our heads...   But, boy.... some days it's really hard to remember that.


Both of my cats are kind of grouchy today, which makes us a fairly cranky household. I'm not sure what's bugging Tara. Crunchy madness probably.  She lives for bedtime and the beloved scoop of crunchies. I did the garbage and litter late this evening so I think she thought we were going for crunchies and now she's extra hyper.  It's good to have something you are passionate about, though. For Angel, it's toys... though she is more in love with the idea of play in some ways, than actually playing.  She sits on the coffee table and I throw toys I've collected and she sits and watches them go by and once in a while deigns to chase one. 




I'm increasingly aware that Angel and I are very much alike in a lot of ways. I too often love the idea of things more than the reality of them. Angel is very curious - to the point of folly at times (well, I don't share her dare devil qualities), but she also sometimes struggles to jump up onto the crunchy trunk. I can see that it's in her head on those nights that she can't do it... and she'll make a series of false, aborted twitches before she finally jumps up. Other nights she just pops up without thinking about it.  So much in life has to do with the voices in our heads. Even with my new walk-in shower, I have struggled with a psychological conviction that it's hard for me to get in and out because there's a small step down. I know it's in my head. It's not that hard. I figured out that if I put a rug folded up, that it changed the visual and now I'm doing much better.


Sorry to be rambling mindlessly here. 




Some things I'm grateful for today:

  • laughter
  • Fall colors
  • my computer
  • my friends
  • the internet
  • angels
  • reiki
  • music
  • Pandora
  • ear phones
  • mail
  • apples
  • Schwans
  • water
  • my excellent mattress
  • electricity
  • eyes to see
  • open windows
  • teeth
  • hope
  • sunlight through autumn leaves
  • garbage out, litter box changed
  • 150 Daily Reminders!!! Wow!



A friend told me she has a new mantra and I thought I'd use it here.... 

Today's challenges are preparation for tomorrows Possibilities.

 May you be challenged 
(but not too much).

Wednesday, October 27, 2010

Daily Reminder #149

Well, I finally made my first try at this year's peace globe.  I wanted to put my reiki hands behind it so that it will (in theory) radiate love/reiki to and behind the globe. In order to do this, I had to make it a little out-sized which I'm not sure is "legal," so I may do something different, but I thought I'd use this as a reminder that the Mimi's Blog Blast for Peace is now only 9 days away.


So here's my first globe idea for this year's event.  If you haven't already done so, check out Mimi's event, pick up a template and make your own globe. It's fun.







Also... don't forget that this Saturday is Jon Stewart's Rally to Restore Sanity in Washington, D.C.  For those who can't attend, Comedy Central is broadcasting the 3-hour event live. I can't prove this, but if you don't have access to Comedy Central, I'll bet that Huffington Post will live stream it on their site.

click on the photo to get information
on the rally and how to participate
or view it.

Some things I'm grateful for today:

  • Tara sleeping on my desk
  • my microwave
  • being able to open the windows
  • ice cream
  • water
  • rocks
  • mail
  • friends
  • refrigerators
  • my new desk chair
  • reiki
  • blog blast for peace
  • Life

I thought I'd share the hands.... Hope you can feel the
energy coming from them and that it lightens your day.
Peace Be With You!

Tuesday, October 26, 2010

Daily Reminder # 148


I'm letting Neale Donald Walsh do the work again tonight, but this one is particularly interesting to me because it's something I've been thinking about quite a bit of late.  How do you open your heart/self to abundance?  I'm a big fan of the teaching of Abraham on this subject.  Abraham is a channeled being (channelled by a woman named Esther Hicks) whose teaching were at the core of The Secret. 


I have read some other things which are similar including this fascinating free book called The Science of Getting Rich, which I found delightful when I read it about 10 years back. Obviously, I haven't really mastered all these teachings or I wouldn't be struggling to pay my bills every month, but they have had a good impact on me, I think... and what they say resonates with me in a very visceral way. I do have to say that last Spring, I read one of the Abraham Books - Ask and It is Given - and did one of the exercises at the end of the book. I completely forgot about it, but at the end of the summer, when all the work gifted to my through Delaware Opportunities was done, I found the exercise.  Almost every item I had written on my wish list had been granted. Not bad. I'm still trying to get myself to manifest the Publisher's Clearinghouse Sweepstakes. In this - and in general - I know there is a part of me that feels (no matter how much wisdom I read) that I don't deserve to be rich or feel financially safe. I know there's a degree to which this was bred into me by my mother, who started when I was very very young telling me how horrible her childhood had been and how lucky I was to have all that I had and how ungrateful I was and so on and so forth. In other words anything I had was sort of like a crime I was committing against her pain. I still struggle with doing anything good for myself or with guilt and having anything. I'm better than I was 15 years ago, but I haven't climbed out of that pit yet. But I want to.

Which brings us to Neale Donald Walsh's message from God for today.  


On this day of your life, dear friend, I believe God wants you to know...
...that you should never be content with so little when you can reach out for something big.

Charles L. Allen asked a question about that, wondering why so many people settle for so little. You do not have to place yourself among them. The world is an abundant place. Abundant with opportunity, abundant with good fortune, abundant with ideas, and abundant with love.

Reach into that abundance and take what is rightfully yours. It is your inheritance, gifted to you by God. Let yourself have it. Do not fail to reach for it for fear that it will not come to you. How can it come to you if you do not reach for it?

Do not be content with so little. Reach, stretch, for something big.

Love, Your Friend....
neale


Some things I'm grateful for today:
  • the world's abundance
  • beauty
  • humor
  • Dr. Jim
  • food
  • computers
  • my red chair
  • laughter
  • my camera
  • beauty
  • Angel and Tara Grace
  • reiki
  • the internet
  • creativity
  • the capacity to dream
  • life


Have an Abundant and Joyful Day!

Monday, October 25, 2010

Daily Reminder # 147


Just gratitude again today.  It was a quiet day here. Both kitties are sleeping as I type this and they have been very well behaved all day long. Ahhh.. Peace.






Some things I'm grateful for today:

  • sleeping kitties
  • running water
  • a nice warm shower
  • cheese
  • clean drinking water
  • my nice warm fuzzy robe
  • cucumbers
  • yogurt & Cool Whip (really good combo... not nutritious, but tasty)
  • my rock collection
  • electricity
  • netflix
  • computer games
  • Beauty
  • ears to hear
  • eyes to see
  • music
  • light and shadow
  • reiki
  • life
  • change


Have a Great Day!

Sunday, October 24, 2010

Daily Reminder # 146

Today's daily reminder is a musical political video of sorts.  It made me laugh... and I think it's brilliant.




Some things I'm grateful for today:
humor
laughter
music
Barack Obama
my home
reiki
Angel and Tara Grace
angels
movies
the right to vote
kitties who only play at fighting
Life


May Your Day be Full of Laughter and Music

Saturday, October 23, 2010

Daily Reminder # 145

(Please scroll down for the Weekly Wordzzle Challenge.)


Just gratitude this evening. I seem to be submerged in the blahs. Took me FOREVER to do my wordzzle exercises this week and they are snore-ably bad. I just didn't have the energy of imagination to come up with anything better so I certainly don't have it in me to come up with any original thoughts for the daily reminder. It  is only October and already a 3 layer day here... In fact I think I have 4 layers on. Sigh. I'm not ready for winter, but I guess I had better get ready.




Some things I'm grateful for today:

  • sweaters
  • my fuzzy robes
  • thermal shirts
  • my furnace
  • thermal windows
  • electricity
  • running water
  • apple cider
  • Sam-e
  • television
  • Netflix
  • my home
  • wordzzles participants
  • yogurt mixed with Cool Whip
  • My rock collection
  • life



HAVE A GREAT DAY!

Friday, October 22, 2010

Weekly Wordzzle Challenge # 132


It's week 132 of the Weekly (formerly known as "Saturday") Wordzzle Challenge.  Sorry to be posting so late. In the grips of the blahs. The blahs and then some. I don't think these were really such difficult words but I just had an awful time with them and I hate what I came up with. Be prepared to doze off when you read them. Sorry. Hope others had better results than I do.

This week's 10-word challenge was: cranes, bananas, red-headed woman, hunger, parachute, scratch, sanity, microphone, long distance, you've got mail  and for the mini: popular, pregnant, turtle, basket, present



My mega:

I face the daily "you've got mail" message with some trepidation these days.  Today there were 50 new ones. Of course I don't mind the daily reminder from The Hunger Site or Care2, but some just leave me scratching my head and wondering what about people's sanity. Today there was one with a link to a video for a popular phone company. It featured a pregnant red-headed woman wearing a dress decorated with cranes  and turtles and attached to a parachute. She was holding a microphone and talking about long distance phone service. If you signed up for their service, you would get a basket of bananas as a present. I crossed that company off my list, though I do have to admit, I'll probably never forget that particular video.


My 10-word:

At the talent show, the worst performer - my uncle would say "she was from hunger" - was a red headed woman who came on stage with a pet monkey. She grabbed the microphone and went on to tell a long, rambling joke about a crane wearing a parachute. She wasn't even a little funny but seemed blissfully unaware that nobody was laughing. She had a couple of catch phrases that she would repeat randomly throughout her act. "Long distance," (I later found out that this was the monkey's name) she would shout,  "You've got mail." and the monkey would scratch his head and hand her a banana. She had kind of a glazed look on her face through the whole awful performance and I really thought someone should have questioned her sanity. The monkey, on the other hand, was pretty clever and might have won the show if he had been a solo act.


My  mini:

One year instead of giving me baby chicks or a bunny, my Aunt Matilida - the family eccentric - gave me a pregnant turtle in a basket as my Easter present. She told me having a pet turtle would make me popular. I loved her and carried my turtle with me everywhere for a while but the plan backfired and I ended up being known as Turtle Boy, a name which stuck to me throughout my school years. It was not only terribly disappointing, but the end of that innocent time in which I thought Aunt Matilda knew everything there was to know. I still loved her, though. She meant well and she always made me laugh.












*************************



Words for next week's 10-word challenge are: defensive, volume, masterpiece, category, momentarily, advisor, public radio, charter, eleven days, ostrich

And for the mini: gargoyle, flounder, screech, Saturday evening, locked up

Thank you for playing! Newcomers can check here for some guidelines (and they are only guidelines, not rules) to make the process more fun.


Enjoy! See you next week!








Daily Reminder # 144


I'm going with Neale Donald Walsh again tonight.  God wanted us to know this 4 days ago, but I am only getting to it now.  It's a good lesson, I think... one I struggle with still. My self hate has diminished with therapy and time, but it is still pretty strong.  That said, I think there must be some self love at my core or I would not have been able to survive my childhood and I would not be capable of loving others as much as I do. Perhaps it's because I am empathic. I don't know. 




I think this message from God is so simple and so profoundly complex and difficult at the same time. The thing I find trickiest, the place where I fall of cliffs between what I believe and what I DO - is loving people whose behavior I find abhorrent, people whose actions seem motivated by selfishness and hate. Yet aren't they the ones who need our love the most. I always used to ponder that in my church going days as we all intoned The Lord's Prayer without (by and large) giving a thought to what we were actually saying. Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us. (I always thought... Really? If I'm going to ask that, I really need to change my ways.)  But I digress. I will let Neale Walsh and God speak for themselves....





On this day of your life, dear friend, 
I believe God wants you to know...
....that love is not what you want, it is what you are. 
It is very important to not get these two confused.
 
If you think that love is what you want, you will go searching for it all over the place. If you think love is what you are, you will go sharing it all over the place. The second approach will cause you to find what the searching will never reveal.
 
Yet you cannot give love in order to get it. Doing that is as much as saying you do not now have it. And that statement will, of course, be your reality. No, you must give love because you have it to give. In this will you experience your own possession of it.








Some things I'm grateful for today:

  • a cleaner house
  • Margaret
    My new chair.  Feels good to not wonder
    if what I'm sitting on will continue to hold me.
  • groceries
  • hummus and potato chips
  • Fall colors
  • my camera
  • my wonderful mattress
  • netflix
  • Angel and Tara Grace
  • apple cider
  • the smell of white sage
  • tears/the capacity for emotion
  • my new chair
  • ideas
  • Neale Donald Walsh
  • love
  • the possibility of self love
  • compassion
  • my home




Have a Great Day!
Be Love 
and know that you are Loved

Thursday, October 21, 2010

Daily Reminder # 143


Thriftiness is a virtue, but sometimes you can overdo it.  I've kind of spent my life overdoing it and so when I spend money, I always feel terribly guilty about it as though in caring for my needs I have done something wrong. Old habits die hard. At least I occasionally over-rule myself. That, I guess (I hope) is progress of a sort.


I mention all this because I finally unboxed and assembled my new desk chair. The chair I've been using is pretty old and I've been afraid for about 4 years that it would collapse under me. So last week I splurged on a new one (on sale!) from Brylane.com. The box got here on Monday and it took me until today to work up the courage to try and unpack it and screw all the pieces together. This one is made for the over-sized among us and is guaranteed to hold up to 500 pounds so I can let go of my fear of my chair caving under my weight. Whew. Still, I'm anxious about having spent the money. But I since I will sit in this chair pretty much all day every day, it is probably money well spent. So far except for some creaky noises that make me worry I didn't put it together right, it feels more comfortable than my old one - and definitely more solid. So....  I didn't get around to taking a picture and I don't have the energy to get up and do it now, so I'll post one tomorrow. Besides chair assembly (took me about an hour, I think, mostly because of my lack of flexibility. Came with good instructions and was pretty easy to assemble if you are reasonably agile), I had to do litter box and garbage today and that always stresses me out. I'm so pathetic....




Anyway...


Some things I'm grateful for today:

  • my new chair
  • that my old chair never did collapse
  • my furnace
  • my home
  • my telephone
  • my niece Cindy whose birthday was yesterday
  • that I got the garbage out
  • clean litter box (the girls are happy too)
  • my friends
  • reiki
  • angels
  • life
  • ice cream



HAVE A WONDERFUL DAY!
May every chair you sit on 
hold you in comfort.

Wednesday, October 20, 2010

Daily Reminder # 142



No matter what your life situation may be, new and interesting experiences can still find you. Open your heart to them.


Well I had an exciting adventure that began today.  I got interviewed by a writer for the New York Times, named Penelope Green. How cool am I, I ask you.  Well, not very, really.  She was interviewing me for an article about someone else - a very interesting and talented photographer named Corinne Botz who began a series on agoraphobics back about 5 or six years ago when I was writing my column on Agoraphobia at Suite101.com.  I was Corinne's first subject for the study and used my column to connect her to quite a few other volunteers.  So maybe there will be a sentence about me in the article if I'm lucky. But it's still kind of cool to be interviewed. And Ms. Green complimented me on my writing, so she's on my list of good people. I starve for compliments. I love them. Compliments are good. (There are times when I may doubt the sanity of the complimenter, but I still love the compliment.) There's nothing a writer wanna be (at least this writer wanna be) loves more than to have a real writer say something nice about her ability to write. Resisting the temptation to bury the poor woman in reams of words is a bit of a challenge, but I imagine that since she works for the New York Times, she's pretty capable of dealing with lonely writers.




Of course our conversation - which will continue tomorrow - stirred up some things. Old memories of when I first injured my legs, the dreaded spectre of my brother, thoughts about my last days in New York City and of days when for no reason I would find myself unable to breathe, of days when stepping out my front door (which I still did then) caused a kind of physical paralysis that was humiliating and terrifying and exquisitely physically painful.  But even so. I got interviewed by a very good writer from the New York Times. I am cool. At least for today. And it was a nice change of pace to "meet" someone new.... 




Some things I'm grateful for today:

  • compliments
  • sweaters
  • Dr. Jim
  • new experiences
  • friends
  • water
  • my microwave
  • my home
  • mail
  • email
  • laughter
  • curiosity
  • interesting experiences
  • Corinne Botz
  • photography
  • people who care about the struggles of their fellow humans
  • orange-pineapple smoothies


Have a Great Day!
May the Day Offer You 
an Interesting and Rewarding Experience

Tuesday, October 19, 2010

Daily Reminder # 141



Well, lazy again, I'm afraid. I was going to do Ruby Tuesday but I don't think I'm quite up to it today, so just gratitude. I do have a couple of things on my mind for the future but they require more energy and thought than I have tonight, so....

This tree fascinates me.... it starts fall turning the
dark, dark red shown in the photo above and slowly
turns this wonderful orange. I wish I could really catch how
it glows in the sun. It's incredible.


Some things I'm grateful for today:

  • Angel and Tara Grace
  • my home
  • didn't have to run the furnace today
  • electricity
  • running water
  • my therapist
  • my SSD
  • the right to vote
  • orange pineapple smoothies
  • my red chair
  • my cane
  • the internet
  • my friends
  • reiki
  • eyes to see
  • ears to hear
  • taste buds
  • my mattress
  • Fall colors
  • all colors



May Your Day Be Colored 
with Beautiful Moments!