Transferable Skills ~ 1

Transfers ~

strips of paper allowing transfer 

bus to bus

decals that transfer a picture from 

paper to skin

Skills ~

abilities to 

think

be 

do

In our compartmentalized world

there seems to be a misguided belief that 

when we leave one area of life for another

there is a 

separation

there should be 

dismissal

Leaving school ~

book learning comes with us.

But what about

how we studied

how well we played with others

Leaving home and family for

the adult world with different responsibilities, 

we take family rules and mores with us.

but what about

how we ate and slept

how we participated in community

Leaving one job for another job

our resumes precede us.

But what about 

our personally crafted work ethic

how well we worked with others

Our experiences may be 

compartments or chapters

but each individual is filled with 

outcomes of trial and error.

A veritable tool shed of 

transferable skills that can

support us in any phase of our life.

“If animals play, this is because play is useful in 

the struggle for survival; because play practices 

and so perfects the skills needed in adult life”

~ Susanna Miller

Integrity

Musing about the quality of integrity all day, beginning with this morning’s journal entry ~

‘Hmmmm ~  what is the right thing to do when personal opinion, and actions, differ from another on the same issue.’

A search began for

a picture that shows an image of integrity in action

meanings offered in dictionaries

The closest picture found was a bird in flight ~

wholeness of being 

attention to the moment 

maintaining momentum against gravity 

all over a roiling sea of controversy.

A personal description, 

a bit wordier than a dictionary allows:

Integrity ~

wholeness of character

built from family history

deep in our genes

lessons learned from

any family member 

by word and deed.

Integrity ~

woven into daylight hours with

each interaction in 

school

community

new friendships

by word and deed

Integrity ~

in each moment

shaping our

responses

reactions

outcomes

Integrity ~

incredibly personal

solid and dependable

a quality of the soul that guides us 

through rough and roiling waters of 

whatever life has to hand us.

“Before I can live with other folks I've got to live with myself.  The 

one thing that doesn't abide by majority rule is a person's conscience.”

 ~ Harper Lee, To Kill a Mockingbird

Circles

Souls gently rain from Source,
settle on water’s surface in 

ever widening ripples.

Lives lived ~ hurried or slow.

Mortal frame slowing ~ sinking,

joining silt of ancestors to softly 

support deep and flowing water.

Souls rise once more to join Source.

“Behind your image, below your words, above 

your thoughts, the silence of another world waits.”

~ John O’Donohue: Anam Cara: A Book of Celtic Wisdom

Mind, Body, Spirit

Mind ~

Filled with details

Designing plans

Setting up goals

Looking into past and future

Hoarding experience

Shelving emotions

Body ~

Chemistry and electricity in

muscles and tissues

constantly churning out actions

responding to the minds directions

reacting to emotions ~

joyous or terrible

shelved or not.

Spirit ~

Waiting to

alter pace and peace

bring in air and light

open the junction

between mind and body.

The voice of the newborn

waiting to be called.

“The secret of genius is to carry the spirit of the child into 

old age, which means never losing your enthusiasm.”

~ Aldous Huxley

A Real Spring Day!

The Summer Solstice soon ambles in, but ‘til that day,
it is still spring.

Spring, with

sun beautifully warm

shadows long

supper on the deck overlooking the alley.

But Ms. Atwood said 

‘one should be dirty 

at the end of a spring day’.

I bow to her wisdom.

My knees soiled,

fingernails black filled,

I fling weeds into the old wheelbarrow, 

while a drummer punches the evening air

from a neighbouring yard.

Rat-a-tat.....rat-a-tat..rat-a-tat-tat.....

A practicing drummer?

Then music practice.

Electric guitar riffs with no melody echo along sunbeams 

brightening the back alley

woven among branches of windless trees.

A real spring day!

I love it!

“I love spring anywhere, but if I could choose 

I would always greet it in a garden.”

~ Ruth Stout

Frost and Flowers

Springtime brings flowers and frost

edging winter away with 
hopes of warm days to come.

Colours brighten in cold suspension, 
then wilt and fade in 
warm rays of early spring  sunshine.

"In spring at the end of the day,

you should smell like dirt."

~ Margaret Atwood

Father’s Day Muse

Fathers

plant the seed of life and

cultivate the seeds for living.

If these two roles split apart by

circumstance or 

choice

others step in and step up

many times into deep  and uncertain waters.

To be commended are

Single mothers

Uncles

Step-fathers

Older brothers

Cousins

I am certain there are many more...

“It doesn't matter who my father was:

it matters who I remember he was.”

~  Anne Sexton