A LOVE LETTER TO MYSELF

For Reverb14 – Day 12

Today’s prompt comes from the beautiful Amy Taylor-Kabbaz.

It all starts with kindness. Everything I have learnt, everyone I have interviewed, every word I have studied has guided me to this simple but profound conclusion: true happiness begins and ends with self-kindness.

No more guilt. No more shoulds. No more comparison.

And the very best way to give your weary soul some kindness at the end of this year? A love note.

Write a letter from you to you… filled with forgiveness, love, and a big bear hug.

 

morn chai

Dear Me:

It has been some year!  So many happenings, so many changes.  Four seasons have come and gone.  There have been comings and goings – weddings, births and funerals.  Even in the last week,  two dear souls have passed on to a better place for themselves.  It is hard for some of us to say goodbye, though that is what life is – helloes and farewells.

Go ahead my dear heart.  Go ahead.  Shed your tears of sadness.  Rejoice in your triumphs. Rest your head on my shoulder.  Take your comfort from me.  Tomorrow is another day. The sun will surely rise as always in the east.  The moon will light your path through the dark.  You may feel it’s a lonely road, but you are not travelling alone.  Take comfort in that knowledge.  You have many companions sharing your experience.

My dear heart, you have done the best you knew how.  That is enough.  Do not doubt yourself.  Do not berate yourself, thinking you could do more.  If you could, you would have.  Love yourself to the sun and moon and back.  And always respect what you have accomplished.  Otherwise no one else will.

From Me

Reverb BB

 

REVERB14 – DAY 11 RITUALS

Today’s prompt:  What tiny rituals: signal that your day is starting; help you ease into a creative project; give you closure from an intensive task; or mark other significant milestones in your day? What new rituals would you like to create in the new year?

IMG_6927For me everything begins and ends with a cup of tea – be it a cup of rich spicy Chai or the smooth woodsiness of Rooibos in the morning.  In the afternoon I enjoy a cup of Orange Pekoe for a pick-me-up.  Nothing soothes like chamomile with a bit of honey in the evening.  I would be in trouble if there is a prohibition on tea!

I have wondered what is it about this simple beverage that gives me such comfort and pleasure.  Having grown up mostly in Canada, I am not familar with the Chinese tea culture or ceremony.  I must have developed and perfected my own tea ceremony over the years.  It has served me well, giving me time and pause to breathe – to inhale and exhale, to rest, rejuvenate and to re-evaluate what road I need to go down next.

IMG_6929Taking time to rise and put the kettle on changes my perspective of many things besides my surrounding.  I am no longer inert and staring helpless and stuck at my keyboard.  Moving and filling the kettle stirs my brain and memory.  A word, an idea and sometimes a whole new sentence comes to me.  I sigh inside, my body whispering, ahhhh.  A conversation starts in my head.  I do not feel stuck anymore.

IMG_6931The water boils.  Steam comes in a steady stream from the spout.  I turn the burner off.  I open the cupboard door and finds my favourite mug.  I look through my array of teas to chooses one for my mood of the moment.  Do I need smoothing out, or do I want to step it up?  How about something in the middle to keep the flow of words coming?

My tea ceremony works well in easing me in and out of the day. In recent days, I have rediscovered my love of swimming laps.  The warmth of the water and the rhythm of my strokes smooth and sooth me.  I am caressed by the water as in a mother’s womb.  I am once again held by everlasting and unconditional love. My arms are reaching through the water, slicing away the worry and stress of an ordinary life.  It is a good routine and ritual to keep for the upcoming year.  I am feeling blessed.

IMPERMANENCE

IMPERMANENCE according to wikipedia means:

Impermanence[1] is one of the essential doctrines or three marks of existence in Buddhism. The term expresses the Buddhist notion that all of conditioned existence, without exception, is transient, or in a constant state of flux.

I’ve been thinking about that transient state lately.  It is very true about: Here today, gone tomorrow.  Life is that vulnerable.  I am feeling that fragile.  Things are turning faster and faster – like coming close to the end of  the toilet paper roll.  All of a sudden the paper ends up a puddle on the floor.  The puddle is me.

IMG_1983That is how I am feeling on this warm balmy December day in Saskatoon.  I watch the snow melting in slow drips off the roof.  I hear Richard Harris singing MacArthur’s Park melting in the dark and someone left a cake in the rain.  I’m feeling languid, coming undone in its wake.

Quick!  Someone throw me a life line, a fuel injection, anything.  Wait.  I’m all right for I know that this, too, shall pass.  I will sing like Richard Harris and his MacArthur’s Park.  Nothing stays the same – ever.  There’s a reason and a season for everything.

IMG_1965There would be another song for me
For I will sing it
There would be another dream for me
Someone will bring it

I will take my life into my hands and I will use it
I will win the worship in their eyes and I will lose it
I will have the things that I desire
And my passion flow like rivers through the sky

(Richard Harris – Macarthur Park Lyrics | MetroLyrics)

 

DEFINING LAZY

Once laziness sets in, it is difficult oust.  I need a sledge hammer, crow bar or some other heavy duty tool.  I find myself going back to wikiHOW for help.  This is how it defines laziness:

Call it laziness, sloth, ineptitude, idleness, or whatever you like but the idea of doing nothing when things needs to be done is often considered to be a sign of weakness or shirking. Sometimes laziness happens when you don’t want to face something, like a boring chore or a difficult confrontation with someone. Other times, it might be because you feel overwhelmed and think the task needs a whole team rather than just you. And then there are those times where you really just can’t be bothered. In any case. it’s simply not a desirable trait.

I would say my case is all of the above.  I certainly have many things that need doing, but I haven’t done them.  There are 2 garbage bags of summer tee shirts I removed from the closet to make room for my winter sweaters.  I finally got them out of 2 years of storage in the basement.    I was so happy to see and wear them again.  It was like finding old friends.  Now what and where to do with the tee shirts?

I do feel tired and overwhelmed by all my years of should have’s but not done’s.  I still have boxes of unopened bills lurking somewhere in the house.  Don’t worry.  They are paid – automatic withdrawals from my account.  At least I am not totally irresponsible.  I have been hit with a sledge hammer or two recently.  The Universe has ways of making you listen – eventually.  There’s lessons to be learned around every corner, it seems.

I am also exhausted by confrontations I’ve had to face.  Sometimes even when they’re not of your making, difficulties arise and you cannot evade them, much as you would like to. They take a toll on your energy and spirit.  You can crash after the elation of solving them. There’s no help for it.  You start doubting yourself, berating yourself for the awful, unkind person you think you are for standing up for yourself.  At least I do.

I have analyzed and rationalized some reasons for my laziness.  I really should just give it and myself a rest.  I deserve and have earned it.  I really have worked hard all my life.  I have some bad habit because of fatigue but they are not fatal.  I have time now to develop better habits.  Let me not put myself down.  Let me not harm myself.

My weekend of laziness was spent reading a wonderful book called Instructions for a Heatwave by Maggie O”Farrell.  It is a story about a family and their dynamics.  It was time well spent.  I guess I am not lazy after all.

COLD MOUNTAIN

 

It is almost Friday and time for Friday Fictioneers and their stories of 100 words.  We are hosted by Rochelle Wisoff-Fields of Addicted to Purple.  And here is my story of 100 words.  Here is a little explanation for my story.  If you don’t know already, I am Chinese. My ancestors dream of a better life in America.  They refer to Canada as Gold Mountain and United States as Beautiful Country.

flowers-with-ice-janet-webb-2

PHOTO PROMPT – Copyright Janet Webb

 

Sally pressed her nose against the window.  She breathed onto the glass, then wiped it clear with her sleeve.

She looked out into her garden. The branches bared their arms to the sky.  A fine layer of snow covered the creeping juniper.  The little blue pergoda stood cold and lonely underneath a cluster of frozen golden petals.

She rested her cheek on the cool pane, sighing softly.  She was remembering her dream of coming to Gold Mountain.  Her dream had come true.  She has been here in Gold Mountain for 30 some years.  She didn’t find any gold, only the cold.

LAZINESS & HOW TO OVERCOME IT

It is the middle of the afternoon.  My tea is interrupted by a fit of coughing.  Will it never stop?  Ah, yes, finally.  Lord love a duck!  Where do all these silly sayings come from?  However silly they are, they do express my present state of being.  It is like, oh well, what can I do?  It is a benign sense of helplessness, if there is such a thing.

IMG_6925The sun has retreated, but the snow reflects its whiteness, casting out shadows.  Where has the day gone?  My get up and go have not gotten up at all today.  I can’t account for much aside from going to the dog park with Sheba this morning.

I was feeling such a sense of laziness and uselessness.  It was a bit disconcerting.  I squirmed with discomfort.  Luckily help was close at hand.  With a search on Google, I found the definition and reasons for laziness and how to overcome it wikiHOW.

WikiHOW even have a Facebook page with many how-to’s, even one on dealing with ridding of phlegm from colds and respiratory infection.  It’s a problem I’ve been struggling with. What a find!  All the help seem quite in depth.  Laziness has its own reward.  I will not eliminate it altogether.  I wonder if they got help for how to write a novel in a month.

STANDING BACK

IMG_6830I’ve been absent for a few days, taking time off for living.  My keyboards sit silent, waiting. This business of breathing in and out correctly and rhythmically takes time, care and energy.  You cannot press the ENTER button and business is taken care of.  No, you cannot but you can try.

I did try.  I thought if I followed the formula, the rules and put the round and square pegs in their respective holes, everything would be hunky-dory.  Not so, my lads and lasses! There was this thing called unpredictability that reared its unwanted head at me.  My Leggo life crumbled in piles before me.  I had to stand back, take stock and restart.

I did not lose all.  I did not run back to the starting line.  I restarted where I left off.  Yup, I did learn a thing or two.  No backtracking for me.  I leave that to the scouts and hounds.  I have no time for regrets over wrong roads taken.  I can only go forward down the next best road.

Standing back, I see that I did the best I could at the time.  I see that it was not for me to fix everything.  I am not all that powerful.  I am so glad for that.  It’s a terrible burden to feel responsible for everything and everyone.  And what ego!  Really, I have to give myself a shake or two.

Not all idle time is a waste.  It’s good to stop my tap, tapping so that I can hear what my heart was trying to tell me.  Stop your bitching, complaining and blaming!  Take responsibility!  Live your life!  I hear you, dear heart.  Thank you.

SWEET DREAMS

 

So it is almost Friday and time for Friday Fictioneers and their stories of 100 words or so. We are hosted by Rochelle Wisoff-Fields of Addicted to Purple.  And here is this week’s photo prompt and my tale of 100 words.

bike_detour_at_library_randy_mazie

PHOTO PROMPT – Copyright – Randy Mazie

 

“Oh my gosh!” Alice gasped.  “The book is here.  MY book is here.”

She stood in the middle of aisle C.  She walked closer to the  shelf in front of her.  Slowly and lovingly she ran her hand down the spine of the book.

“The Devil in the Blue Dress by Alice Craig,” She mouthed silently.  “That would be me!  It’s real.  I’m published!  It’s already in the library.”

She gave a whoop and a leap in the air.  She came down with a crash.  “Ouch!”

What happened?  She opened her eyes.  She had fallen asleep on the library lawn.

RE-WRITING, RE-WIRING

I am trying get back up to speed.  I am trying to pick up where I have left off.  I hope my words come back.  It is an exercise, you know – this tapping out my thoughts, my angst, my loves and hates.  The feel of the keys beneath my fingertips is rhythmic and soothing.  It’s like a drumming, like a song and dance coaxing the letters and words onto the page.

How am I doing with my shoe boxes and drawers of dread?  Today I am braving my fears. I am daring enough to open Pandora’s Box to look inside.  I have survived the first round. The shoe have dropped and nothing catastrophic has happened – no explosions nor Jack coming out of his box.  It is like waking up from a dream.  There is no destruction.  It’s the hurricane that never happened.

Image-1Life is like a dream in my head.  I have to live and just stop thinking and analyzing so much.  The stuff in my head can lead me astray.  They are falsehoods and impostors posing as the real meal deal.  I will not follow them down the yellow brick road.  My heart is my true North Star.  I know it will not lead me astray.  When I am lost and in doubt, I always listen to my heart and that gut feeling.

This month of November has been long and gruelling. I am not too proud to ask for help.  So I send out my smoke signals and SOS.  I haven’t been a good girl guide nor sailor in the past, choosing instead to suffer in silent pride.  I have fallen many times.  It is a testimony to the saying pride goeth before fall.

I sip my Chai, tapping out my words.  I am listening to the beat of my heart and the whisper of the Universe.  I am re-writing through a different picture frame, wanting to see my glass half full instead of half empty. Tap, tap, tap.  The letters and words come painstakingly slow onto my page.  I feel the keys beneath my fingertips.  I hear the tap, tap in my head, clearing debris, making space for ideas and good thoughts.  December is going to be an awesome month.

 

BOXES AND DRAWERS FULL OF DREAD

IMG_0706

I wish I could understand the chemistry underlying inertia and procrastination.  Why is it that we delay and delay in doing.  Why is it so hard to move?  Have you ever experience this phenomenon?  I confess I experience it on a regular basis.  To move, even just to blink requires supreme effort.  Is there a psychological reason for this malady?  What am I dreading that I am so frozen in action?

******

It’s a day later.  I am finally able to move on from yesterday.  I am going to starting to stare at the monster head on.  There is nothing to dread.  The dread comes from evading, delaying, procrastinating.  I have shoe boxes and drawers full of dread – unopened and un- dealt with ‘issues’.  I have shoved them in there and closed the door.  They are out of sight, but not out of mind.  They wiggle and niggle at me when I am sleeping.  They interrupt my dreams.  They crop up time and time again to haunt and taunt me.

I am now taking the time to know and understand them.  What are they all about?  Can I put them to rest forever and ever?  If not, how we can live with each other in peace?  There’s no quick fixes, I know.  There’s no going back to the very beginning.  I have to start right here and in this moment.  Have I told you the story of a this friend when we were in nursing school?

She was from a very small town.  Saskatoon was a big city and it was new to her.  We were crossing the street.  Halfway across, the DON’T WALK sign came on.  She turned back and tried again.  Halfway across, the DON’T WALK sign came on again.  She realized that she won’t ever get across if she kept going back.  She kept on going and got across.

I haven’t been as smart as she was.  I haven’t learned my lesson as quickly.  I keep on going back to square one each time.  And each time I reach the snag point, I would retreat.  I have been very much like Bill Murray in Groundhog Day.  I keep waking up to the same old, same old in my own way.

I would like to say, NO MORE! and mean it this time, but I know that I’m a human being with many frailties.  I mean everything I say at the time but when the tough gets going, my resolve sags and then I lose heart.  I’m not justifying but sometimes it’s better to give it a rest.  Things come up.  Life happens.  It is not always wise to be inflexible no matter what. Sometimes I have to give up to continue.  I give myself a grace period – to rest, recoup my strength and resolve, to clear my vision and mark my progress.

I am doing the best I can.  My boxes and drawers are getting less and less – ever so slowly.