Thinking about Boxes

Boxes
Stacked and ordered
Cubby walls sketched in blueprinted patterns
Interior walls covered in words and protocols
Shoe boxes
Banker’s boxes
Appliance boxes
Looking for an opening in the corridors between boxes
Wandering between carefully crafted outsides
Hooked together with measured ideas and concern
Hidden in the midst of the boxes
A common goal lost in jumbles of words
Thinking between the boxes unthinkable.

“People have different reasons for the way they live

their lives. You cannot put everyone’s reason in the same box.”

~ Kevin Spacey

I Like My Life!!

Liking my life is something that I don’t think about that often. 
But.......it sure is fun.
Should’s and shouldn’ts - there is no opening in that and they play no part in whether I like my life or not.
I got what I got and 
I like what I like

I like clean stuff
I like ironed stuff
I like order from chaos but nothing too bland
Colours jump out from surroundings
Music adds texture to home.
Cooking adds warmth and aroma
I like Brahms
I like Beethoven
I like Mozart

I like the Beatles.

Sadness sometimes interferes with recognizing this ‘liking’ stuff
But if I sit still,
paint a picture
write a story
sadness crumples up in a ball and 
whoosh, lands in the garbage can.

Finding my colours in paints, crayons and pens is exciting
Spreading colours all over a blank page without using rules and structure is fun
Flipping through family pictures, seeing babies born and grown is fun

I like my life
I have liked all my life ~ some moments more than others
but if any of those moments hadn’t existed,
would the moment I’m in right now be the same?

The things that are around me do not make my spirit, 
but they may make my spirit glad.  
I like to believe the things that I believe 
because they come from my spirit and from the life that I like.

“Constant repetition carries conviction.”

~ Robert Collier

Watch Jessica’s Affirmations at the link below:

http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=qR3rK0kZFkg&desktop_uri=/watch? 

Tension Shatters

Interrupting an ordinary day,

jagged fragments of energy

scittered and scattered 

from glittering shards and flakes of a glass jar

crashing on cold barren tiles

sparking and sparkling needles

opening expansive fingers of tension

intruding into rooms and hallways

like popping an amazing invisible balloon

“Tension, in the long run, is a more dangerous force 

than any feud known to man.”

~ Criss Jami

Open Dialogue

There seemed to be no opening.
No opening to take a breath,
to organize thoughts and plans

But...
on the other hand...
tiny openings with each request, chinks in carefully designed armour, loose brick in a wall of angry defense

Peeling back a seal of silence
long enough to hear and be heard,
long enough for dialogue to begin.............

“In true dialogue, both sides are willing to change.”

~ Thich Nhat Hanh

What Defines You?

What defines you?

Not your life - you.

I’m not sure there is one answer to this question introduced so clearly by Lizzie Velasquez,

a 25 year old young woman with an obvious health condition.  A victim of bullying and to some, an object,not a person, of fear as a child. She took these difficulties and in her words, created ‘a ladder’ on which to climb.

Definition suggests shape. We are all born open to the world that, fortunately for most, is not a hostile world. Unfortunately for too many, the world is a very hostile place. That opening time begins our shaping ~ learning what value we hold to the rest of the world. Then come influences of family, community, education, and employment. Achievements and losses, joys and sadnesses continue to shape us as we grow through life. More shaping is done when employment is ended, whether due to age or other circumstance. Awareness of ourselves and our world can provide us openings not dependent on a grade, or a job, or our life's emotional content.

So, as Lizzie Velasquez asked in her TED talk - What defines you?

“There’s no one defining moment that kills you or makes you.”

~ Sinbad (David Adkins, comedian)

Packed up Intuition

Christmas decorations boxed up and waiting to be stored away for another year. Well almost all of them. The little Christmas tree will be the last to be taken down.

Winking lights and remaining decorations will stay until tomorrow for one more early morning glow of the Christmas tree.

Storing things away is something I often do, and sometimes too well. Leaving them packed in a box, under the bed, up in a closet for when ‘they’ll come in handy someday’.

At least, Christmas decorations have a specific time of year to be displayed for a few weeks, scrambling back to safety when the season is over. Christmas decorations, or decorations for any season, come with some excitement and sense of anticipation, a sense of play and fun (but then that’s just for the kids).

All that excitement and anticipation, playfulness seems to get packed away with the decorations. Each day is ‘back to the grind’.  Up in the morning, pack lunches for the kids, off to work, home again, make supper, go to bed, up in the morning...lunches, off to work, .......... Need I say more?

And along with putting those sensory openings away, we also put away our intuition, our gut feelings, our hunches about what opportunities may come along. Intuition, gut feelings and hunches come in handy everyday.

“Intuition will tell the thinking mind where to look next.”

~ Jonas Salk

Escaping the Net

Active addiction - a fine seine catching lives

tossing them in deceitful waves of brightly colored glitter

blending real time with frosting and curl 

that dries and crumbles as years pass

body and mind morphing to fit chemical demands.

Searching to feel real once more, yet clinging to the familiar, shares risk.

Becoming entangled in the great net of active addiction

a real danger while swimming away from the trap.

When will and determination slip through

openings in the seine in even the deepest ocean

there is another chance to kick free 

swim through currents and rapids

wash the faded glitter away

find joy surfacing in a strange new world.

“Death is not the biggest fear we have; our biggest fear is taking 

the risk to be alive - the risk to be alive and express who we are.”

~ Miguel Angel Ruiz