I’m not lazy or slow. I’m just HOT.

Growing up in the South, I remember long, very hot, sticky days.  The kind of days when you stepped outside, a sheen of sweat would embrace you like a second skin.  You’d give up after awhile of trying to wipe it off.  Instead, you’d accept it and it’d slow you down.  Maybe that’s why the South has a reputation for being laid back, in our actions and words.  When it’s that hot, you slow-w-w down.  You just don’t have the energy.  You get the reputation of being slow, languid, maybe dull sometimes.  We’re not, we’re just hot.

I don’t want to talk to you. Nothing personal. I’m just COLD.

The Northern winters tense the body up.  Speech comes out short and clipped.  You  keep your head down and get to where you’re going — quickly.  You don’t speak to many people.  The cold takes your breath away sometimes and your breath comes out like puffs of smoke.  You don’t have the energy or desire to slow down.  You gotta get somewhere to get out of that cold.  You don’t dilly-dally (yeah, I said dilly-dally), your stride is strong, purposeful, quick.  You get the reputation of being rude, insensitive, perhaps angry.  We’re not, we’re just cold.

Then, there’s that time of year wherever you are, that’s the sweet spot.  Those days that are damn near perfect.  People are out enjoying the weather.  Eating outside.  Playing.  Your energy is just at the right level.  You’re not slowed down from the heat or tensed up from the cold.

Life — It’s Like Seasons

It’s like life, isn’t it?  It’s that feeling that we all want.  Where things are just humming along perfectly.  An even keel of not too much this and just the right amount of that.

Sometimes that “weather” lasts for awhile and then wham, a heat wave reduces you to stagnation or the mother of a blizzard or hurricane or tornado or something harsh comes out of nowhere that just rocks your world.  It’ll slow you down or take your breath away and you’re left there, blinking in disbelief thinking, “I didn’t see that coming.”

But you weather those extremes, and then after the shock, when things settle down and you get back on track, you regain your hope and start looking forward to that sweet spot again.  You know it’ll come around again, it always does.

During those extremes, you either slow down and embrace or speed up and go at a clipped, non-stop pace to get through it — to the other side, depending on how you deal with those circumstances.

And every one of those extreme “storms” make you long for and appreciate those sweet spots so much more.  Just when you think you can’t take anymore, it comes — that even-keeled, blue-skied, just right feeling.

What do you do when things aren’t quite right?  Do you speed up or slow down?  Do you hate weather analogies?  What season are you in right now — literally and metaphorically?

Do tell and listen to some good tunes.  Happy weekend.

I’m just now getting to the point where I feel positive so now I’m writing again.  Life is good.

I’m a nomad by heart so as much as I think I want to settle in one place, God/Universe listens to my meandering thoughts and it/she/he answers and we go.  I’ve done this since I’ve been 18 years old so I know that all is as it should be.

I’ve noticed something about myself….that when I get too comfortable, Life will step in and make sure I’m not too comfortable.  I love traveling and exploring.  I’ve moved around for over 30 years now, so I get that it’s part of the process.

Life is good.

I’ve been through some of those big life stressors over the past year.  I know this:  Whatever Life hands you, it’s solely up to you how you deal with it. You lick your wounds and you get on with things.  As long as you’re living and breathing and you’re in a country where you can do what you want, be who you want, celebrate whatever religion you are or are not, life is good.

Sometimes it seems as if life is chaotic.  Other times we think to ourselves how mundane or humdrum or boring it is.  It’s just life — with all it’s ups and downs.

But for the most part, life is good, isn’t it?  Whether I live here or there — through the good and bad, there I am.  I think someone said that once — Wherever you go, there you are.  Simple really, but so often we get caught up in what we think is the enormity of it and it seems overwhelming.

Wherever I live or go, I will find those like-minded people who believe in the goodness of humanity and things will work out exactly as they’re meant to.  It always does.

It’s not some overly-positive, Mary-sunshine kind of thing, it’s a state of mind and it just makes the most sense.  To me, anyway.

Life is good.

Thank you Margarita, Carly, Honie and Audra who helped inspire this post and thank you for writing me.

I plan to blog more in the future, maybe not as often as in the past few months, but I’m still here and when I can, I’ll visit you.  Life is good here.

And how are you??

Have a great weekend and enjoy some really good, fine tunes.

If wishes were fishes, the sea would be full. That’s a lotta wishes.

The above quotes indicate that making wishes is useless.  Of course, I disagree.

Peace y’all.

To me, wishes are your soul’s way of giving voice to what you really, really want.  At the time you’re making them, at that point in your life.

Okay, I’m going to take my peace and love beads off, set my bongo drums down, straighten the flowers in my hair and get on with this post.

Still, for ambiance press here:

You may want to light some incense and/or a candle and sing this:

I lit these. They’re on my bookshelves.

It may get deep up in here.

I Wish I May I Wish I Might…

Remember when you’d make a wish as a child?  You really thought it would come true because you still believed in magic and it just didn’t occur to you that you wouldn’t get what you wished for.

“There wouldn’t be a sky full of stars if we were all meant to wish on the same one.” — Frances Clark.
(Painting: Starry Night, Vincent Van Gogh).

I don’t remember what all my wishes were, but I do remember looking up at the stars and making some.  Or if my sister and I or a friend and I said something at the same time, it’d be a “pinky” wish.  We’d hook our pinky fingers together, close our eyes, make a wish, let go, kiss the tips of our fingers and touch them together.

Make a wish and blow.

An eyelash on someone’s face — you retrieve it and tell her/him, make a wish and blow.  Or dandelions — blow all the fuzzy stuff off and your wish would come true.  Candles on a birthday cake — blow them all out, but don’t tell anyone what your wish is or it won’t come true.

All those wishes just floating around out there with everyone else’s.

Wishes, Prayers, Dreams, Goals, Aspirations — It’s All the Same 

When I was about nine or ten, I wanted a record player so much.  I don’t remember if I prayed or wished or hoped or what, but I got it.  As I grew through my awkwardness as a young girl/woman, I wished that I didn’t have to wear glasses or that I was taller or had dark hair and no freckles.

I managed the glasses part but no amount of wishing could change the other stuff.  So I changed my wish and became okay with all that other stuff.

I read a lot of books in high school.  They were usually about some faraway place, faraway to me — Nantucket, New York, Los Angeles, Boston, Chicago, tropical islands and I wished that I could travel.  The thought of me ever getting to those places seemed impossible.  But I kept wishing and setting my sights on them and I think it sets things in motion when you do that.  The Universe finally says, Okay, here you go.

Those wishes came true, not in the order or the way I thought they would, but they did come true.

Me too George Bailey.

Careful What You Wish For….

Remember in the movie, It’s a Wonderful Life when George Bailey contemplates his life?  He believes it’s just such a mess and he wishes he’d never been born.  His guardian angel, Clarence grants him that wish and George finds how just how many of his real wishes, the important ones, had already come true.

Yeah, I’m sucker for stories like that.  Maybe we’ve all had those George Bailey moments.  I know I have.

Strange, isn’t it? Each man’s life touches so many other lives. When he isn’t around he leaves an awful hole, doesn’t he? — Clarence, from It’s a Wonderful Life. (We all need a Clarence to go over our wish lists with.)

I try to remember Clarence’s words to George (see to the left there) whenever I start feeling sorry for myself or I start wishing my life was this way instead of that way.

When I’m faced with tough challenges or decisions, I’ll wish for peace and clarity.  It make take a while, but that’s a wish that always comes true.

Or, maybe wishing is useless.  Or maybe:

Fate is kind
She brings to those to love
The sweet fulfillment of
Their secret longing

Yeah, I’m going to go with that.  Happy Monday everyone and I hope all your wishes come true.  And, enjoy some fine music this morning.

* * * 

What wishes did you make as a child and how did you make them? Did they come true?  Have you ever received what you wished for but it didn’t turn out the way you thought it would?  Do you have a wish now?  Leave it in the comment section — maybe it’ll float around in cyperspace and come back.  It could happen.  

I like to be around this kind of energy. Whee!

As always what goes down must come back up.  It always does, sometimes it takes longer than others.  Sometimes it’s because of external things, situations, life changes.  That’s normal through tough times, if you didn’t feel low on energy, well that’d be strange.

Other times it’s the company you keep.  Have you ever noticed how you can be around someone and you feel energized, happy, hopeful?  Then you can be around someone and feel the complete opposite — drained, sad, angry.  As one gets older and wiser, one learns to become very attuned to that and honor it.  You learn that you must guard your precious energy because when it’s depleted, all kinds of malaise ensues — mentally, emotionally and physically.   It’s all connected, yo.  (I’ve been watching Breaking Bad episodes lately — hence the “yo.”)

You get away from those people or places that rob your life energy.  That’s all we are, really — energy.  Souls of energy.  And as far as I’m concerned, I might as well be around those that feed the good stuff.  Life’s way too short to be around the other kind.

Sometimes you have to leave home to get some — good energy.

Waiting for a Train….

Yo-ho and a bottle of rum. And a mop. This was lying on the platform of the train station. I think it looks quite artsy, don’t you? I’m calling it Rum on a Mop.

Before getting on the train. You need a hazmat suit to go into the train station bathrooms but they will remind you, with concern, to WATCH THE GAP.

Who Knew the Good Stuff Would be in Queens?

Yesterday, I had a good energy day.  My writerly friend and I met in Queens.  We met at Cafe Marlene in Sunnyside for the Queens Writes Weekend.  This tiny little cafe had a wonderful ambiance, a sliver of a building with tiny, round decoupaged tables inside and an elaborate bar with a lots of good, friendly energy running the place.

A nice guy with green shorts and hair to match and a dark-haired lady with a lovely accent served us cappuccino (me) and chamomile tea (Carly).  By the way, Carly just started a blog.  Go visit her — she’s funny, cool and just a great person (and writer).

We go downstairs for the writing thing and it was in this dark room that looked as if Bob Dylan or some poet would be there singing or reciting poetry.  More tiny round tables, vinyl, leopard print chairs and square ottomans scattered here and there.  The crowd was wonderful, friendly open.  Very good energy.  We were given prompts and had some silent time to write.  That’s what we did.  Some got up and read their writing.  I didn’t but the whole time I was wishing I had.

Maybe next time.

Good writerly energy at Cafe Marlene

More writers and good energy. Check out that wallpaper.

Pass It Around

The whole point of my post today complete with pictures is to entertain you on this beautiful Monday morning and send you some good energy.  When you get your energy back, you realize just how precious it is and how much you missed it.

Manhattan, thatta way. Waiting at the train station in Queens…

Waiting for a train. Home…this way.

How good it feels, well to just feel kind of good again.  I did yesterday and as I rode the train home, I was thinking about the past year — the trying times, the days I had no energy and the days that I didn’t think I ever would again.

On the train, almost home.

Then you get around some good, groovy inspiring energy with a friend and a sunny day in a new place and that friend says to you before you leave her, “It’s good to see you smile again.”

Happy Monday everyone and I hope your week is starting out with some good, constructive energy.  Here’s to feeling good and enjoy some fine tunage. 

Sometimes a girl just gotta rest.

re·pose; /riˈpōz/:  Temporary rest from activity, excitement, or exertion, esp. sleep or the rest given by sleep.

I’ve always loved that word, repose.  It sounds elegant, comforting and inviting to me.  That’s what I’ve been doing for some time now.  Stress caught up with me and it literally caused me to come to a standstill.  I rarely get colds or get sick, but I’ve been that way lately and I’m finally beginning to feel better.

I’ve felt uninspired, unable to write or really read many blogs.  Have you ever been in a place where you just want to be?  You don’t want to feel or think.  Just be.

That’s what I’ve been doing.

Rationally, I know why I’m feeling this way plus it’s been an usually long winter but (fingers crossed) temps are going to be in the 60s this week and we’re in for plenty of sunshine before the weather dips back down into the 50s by late this week.

The Reason for This Post — Thank You and Stay Tuned…

This is my kind of repose. Yes.

Obviously, I’m not at my best here and I’m hoping this will pass soon.  I’ve gained some new followers — thank you!  I plan to visit you and give you the attention your wonderful blogs deserve.  I don’t know how you stumbled across my blog but I’m so glad you did — welcome.

As I climb out of this low mood and get well, I’m going to leave you with some words from a woman/author/motivator that I admire.  It’s Brene Brown’s “Wholehearted Parenting Manifesto.”

I’m not a parent but I know many of you are and there are all kinds of families, right?  I think this could apply to anyone you love and a really nice way to treat yourself and others — all the time.  And hey, it’s a nice way to start the week.

Happy Monday everyone and enjoy a song that lifts me up whenever I hear it.  Maybe it’ll make you move around, get up and oh baby, listen to those horns and background singers….that’s some saucy soul, y’all.

The Wholehearted Parenting Manifesto by Brene Brown

Above all else, I want you to know that you are loved and lovable. You will learn this from my words and actions–the lessons on love are in how I treat you and how I treat myself.

I want you to engage with the world from a place of worthiness. You will learn that you are worthy of love, belonging, and joy every time you see me practice self-compassion and embrace my own imperfections.

We will practice courage in our family by showing up, letting ourselves be seen, and honoring vulnerability. We will share our stories of struggle and strength. There will always be room in our home for both.

We will teach you compassion by practicing compassion with ourselves first; then with each other. We will set and respect boundaries; we will honor hard work, hope, and perseverance. Rest and play will be family values, as well as family practices.

You will learn accountability and respect by watching me make mistakes and make amends, and by watching how I ask for what I need and talk about how I feel.

I want you to know joy, so together we will practice gratitude.

I want you to feel joy, so together we will learn how to be vulnerable.

When uncertainty and scarcity visit, you will be able to draw from the spirit that is a part of our everyday life.

Together we will cry and face fear and grief. I will want to take away your pain, but instead I will sit with you and teach you how to feel it.

We will laugh and sing and dance and create. We will always have permission to be ourselves with each other. No matter what, you will always belong here.

As you begin your Wholehearted journey, the greatest gift that I can give to you is to live and love with my whole heart and to dare greatly.

I will not teach or love or show you anything perfectly, but I will let you see me, and I will always hold sacred the gift of seeing you. Truly, deeply, seeing you.

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Addendum:  Thanks to JM (she’s a great writer/archaeologist — I know, right??) and Allan (he’s an great photographer/electrical engineer that stands on big scary bridges — yeah) for giving me awards last week.   Please go visit them — I’ve been following them for a long time now and they are talented, gracious, kind and just good people. Thank you, JM and Allan.

Reblogged from ROAM ABOUT MIKE:

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From Mike:

Brigitte was one of my first followers, and has been a constant source of inspiration since. She's one of the sweetest bloggers out there, a tremendous writer, and not a Monday goes by where I don't head over to her site Brigitte's Banter to read her Monday's Musings. These habitual Monday stops provide perspective, reflection, and a sense of zen.

Read more… 679 more words