Reality Glows in the Dark

How do you take a picture of the dark?

Stepping away from a store late this evening the light suddenly changed.

Up and down Oak Bay Avenue stores and banks, street lights and Christmas decor went dark.

Synchronized and in unison, the street rolled up with customers still in motion.

How do you follow the reality of darkness?

Driving home, expectations for street light guidance were unfulfilled.

No magic lines of a power grid, with lights in houses, along streets and in businesses, showed the way ~

Darkness from Oak Bay, through Fairfield to Beacon Hill Park.

When the lights finally came back on 

when electricity flowed once more

news of Nelson Mandela’s death flooded through radio waves.

Darkness for a moment in time in a Victoria winter?

Acting on the darkness of a country and culture

Imprisoned for 27 years

Family fractured and torn

Nelson Mandela humbly shared many moments in time with his nation and the world despite the reality of his political and personal darkness.

“What counts in life is not the mere fact that we have lived. 

It is what difference we have made to the lives of others 

that will determine the significance of the life we lead.”

~ Nelson Mandela

Chocolate Reality

From my Birthday Surprise on Nov. 30, 2013

There is chocolate and then.....

there is dark chocolate!

Delicious, deep brown bars, bonbons or syrups.

Milky browns bars and bonbons are ok.

White, not quite chalky white, well - in my reality, is not real chocolate.

Yes, they are all made from cocoa beans.

And yes, they are all loved by someone.

These, dare I say, pale imitations of real chocolate seem sadly devoid of the real richness and opulence of dark chocolate ~

(70% or more is much preferred)

However.....

those of us that like ~ prefer ~ absolutely adore dark chocolate

are an especial breed, although not all are purists!

.....I do sample the others to be certain....

“One cannot develop taste from what is of 

average quality but only from the very best.”

~ Johann Wofgang von Goethe

Information Overload

Listening to the radio today, but not quite as much as usual.

So many, many stories personal and across the land pulled quite legitmately at heart strings, challenging ‘need’ for more stuff.

Hearts sore from the deluge of stories at this time of year, always with the message, ‘it’s too bad especially at holiday time’. (Is there a better time?)

Finding the off switch is a challenge because the deluge becomes white noise, snow fuzzy and picture unfocussed, the actual reality of someone else’s life hidden. Being told everyday by someone, whether in conversation, through social media, or in a news report, becomes painful. Turn the radio off, change the channel, listen to the silence.

The many hard realities that some folks are facing at this time of year

should not be for general consumption - or should it - unless help is truly in hand and on the way. Unexpected changes catch cities, towns and individuals unaware and unprepared. Large global issues mean little when a small house has no food or fire.

And yet ~ ignorance of hard realities is not meant as a general attitude.

Bit by bit, a hand up - not a hand out - may be all that’s necessary.

“...a wealth of informations creates a poverty of attention...”

~ Herbert A. Simon

Today's Reality

What! What is the theme?

Reality?

What is that!?

To deal with reality when sad, mad or even sometimes glad is not necessarily a favorite task...

Unless of course, it’s a good hot cup of coffee after a busy day.

Two hands warmed against a favourite mug;

sweet coffee, almost too hot, warming mouth and throat.

(I just about said ‘innards’ but thought that might sound crass.)

And then there’s comfortable ‘wear around the house’ clothes and slippers.

Now that’s a manageable reality.

Reality shifts and slows, anchoring today’s world.

Someone once said that reality is always hard,

but softness created in one’s own world is just as real.

Reality forever plays at fingertips and footsteps.

The hard realities of life may always be hard and may always be difficult to accept, but can be softened around the edges with kindness, laughter and tears.

Hard heart shells erode and crumble making room for new growth.

“Reality is one of the possibitiies I cannot afford to ignore.”

~ Leonard Cohen, Beautiful Losers

Reality Presents: Opportunity

December 22, 2008
Off Leash Dog Park - Dallas Road, Victoria

Reality ~ a moment in time.

Reality ~ an odd theme for the month leading up to Christmas.

So much unreality and fantasy throughout this month with it's magical images decorated in tinsel and coloured lights.

A cherished time for many ~ childhoods filled with wonder and fun.

For some, frightening and scary - suicide, heightened depression and active addiction filled with grief and rage.

When remembered realities of the past rudely elbow their way into the joys that are expected, life can blacken and slow dramatically.

In this stasis ~ goals for the future face imminent danger of getting lost in the ‘stress' of Christmas.

There is much in reality that can be made good ~

reality is full of opportunity whether fearful or not.

Opportunities 

to stop amid the rush and expectation of a season born in religious rite; 

to reaffirm stories of honour and humility that become tangled and lost in the commercial world of buying and selling.

to stretch back into the core meaning of Christmas using messages of acceptance and love to soften rough, cracking edges.

Today’s reality is a challenge and opportunity for everyone

to reach out and welcome folks into shared comfort,

to re-connect to life and living ~ definitely not an easy task ~ but so very worth it.

to honour all those that have gone before.

“Healing is a matter of time, but it is

sometimes also a matter of opportunity.”

~ Hippocrates