Sometimes

Sometimes I wonder who is trying to send me the message I didn't know I needed.

#ihadtolaugh
#muchneededworkplacesigns
#thisisthecaptiontomycartoonlife
#getoveryourself

Settle.

Sits. Stills. Stares. All verbs.

Settle: to calm, relieve, relax, quiet, soothe, still.

There's always so much life swirling around with work and family and projects and commitments and so on.

I wait for life to settle. And I love it when it does. Like these last few days.

And then I realized something. Settle is a verb. I keep waiting for things to settle but then I remember: it's me. I have to settle them. I have to settle myself.

"Creep in our ears soft stillness." ~Shakespeare

5 Things

(My idea book overfloweth.)

Why write?
I believe that writing

1. heals, yourself first (then others).
2. builds: words, phrases, sentences, paragraphs, prose and poetry but moreover, it architects ideas, ideas upon which people can stand and speak and change the world.
3. reveals the wizard operating the wizard behind the curtain.
4. creates & preserves & even damages (be careful: it's powerful).
5. echoes (it's a kind of alchemy time travel too).

Wordfuse (Deny, Deny, Deny Edition)

pacifibs (noun): pacify + fibs = the lies we tell ourselves and others to cope, to placate, to smooth over, to take the edge off but mostly because the truth is just too scary. 




Comments indicative of this behavior range from the mild/moderate:
~"Pshaw. It can wait until tomorrow."
~"I don't weigh that much."
~"I can pay for this next month."

More extreme cases make remarks such as the following:
~"I'm not a hoarder; I'm a collector."
~"I can so rock this Speedo."
~Or if you're OJ Simpson, "I'm still looking for the killer, seriously."
~Or pretty much anything Lindsay Lohan says.
~Or all those enablers/parents of American Idol wannabes.
~Or especially those trying to justify their participation in this train-wreck.
~Or if you're me, "I totally look like Russell Crowe."

Recalibrate

Recalibrate (verb): to readjust, alter, change, correct, fine-tune, fix, mend, modify, repair, revamp, shape up, transform, turn over a new leaf, turn things around.

     I love recalibrating my life. I always have. But mostly just on the outside.

     When I was a kid, my parents would leave home for the evening and I would use the opportunity to rearrange the furniture. Soon after though, I wanted to change everything again. Even now. I have this list. It itemizes a variety of renovations but much of it is probably not as necessary as I sometimes think. Like I sort of have this compulsion to paint. Get this. Last Christmas I repainted all the inside trim around my bathroom and bedroom doors. On vacation! And I have oiled my kitchen cupboards at one o’clock in the morning. But it’s more than painting. I can’t get rid of my list and as soon as one item is checked, I add another.

     I know how this sounds. I sound like someone who is never satisfied. Or maybe I sound materialistic. Or that I’m not happy unless I’m not happy. But I’m not any of those things. It’s just a nagging need to maintain or improve things, magnified by an inability to live in the moment.

     Despite my urge to change my surroundings, I find it so, so hard to recalibrate me. And I need some. I want recalibration. I want to shape up, make corrections, modify, fix, polish and transform myself. Yet even though I am motivated to continually alter and improve my environment, I’m never that successful at revamping and improving myself. Why is that so much harder?

Hard (adjective): bothersome, burdensome, irksome, onerous, strenuous, tiring, tough, troublesome, uphill battle, wearying.

     I’ve been told that things are neither hard nor easy. They just are. It’s only interpretation. Is that the answer?  

One Simple Powerful Word

Okay. I just did something I can’t believe I didn’t discover long ago. It feels really good. Seriously good. Anyone can do this. And it’s simple. And I want to share it. And that’s why I broke it down into ten easy steps.

1. Sit down at your computer.
2. Open a word file.
3. Put your head in your hands and think about all the things you have to do. Then write it down. Think of every single suck-the-life-out-of-you depressing thing you really do not want to do or deal with. All of it.
4. Make the list look professional. Use bullets or highlight certain items in colours.
5. Then prioritize the items.
6. Leave for a few moments, then return to add a few more items. Complete the list.
7. (At this point I had a momentary panic attack followed by a handful of chocolate chips which seemed to alleviate the pain but you can skip this step if you want.)
8. Take a deep breath; this is almost over.
9. Delete the least important items on the list followed by the important items followed by the really important items. Edit your list down to one item. Only one. ONE!
10. Delete that too. (If you can't laugh maniacally at this point an untroubled "tee hee" will suffice.)

It’s simple but genius. At least I think so and I highly recommend it.

And that brings me to my new mantra: delete. One simple powerful word: delete. Because when you think about it—how much of that stuff is truly important?