WHO HAS SEEN THE WIND

Posted on May 7, 2014 by hafong

Today is one of those incredibly beautiful looking days with the sky so blue and the sun so bright. Even though it is windy, cool and no green visible, you JUST know that spring is around the corner.

Today is also one of those hair-raising days. There is really nothing wrong, but then you feel that nothing is right either. I can’t even take a proper ‘selfie’ where I come out looking dead gorgeous. I look like myself. It’s what one wants, right? Yea, right!

Maybe it is just the wind making me restless. We are famous for that, the wind, that is. There’s a book written about the wind on the prairies, W. O. Mitchell’s Who Has Seen the Wind. There’s even a movie made based on the book. The wind certainly can unsettle me. There’s nothing to do except bear with this restlessness and remember that, this, too shall pass.

In the meantime I have put this restless energy into motion. I transplanted the kohlrabi seedings into bigger pots and fertilized the other bedding plants. I will be ready when the weather warms up. I will not be behind. Then I took myself for a walk. Sheba watched me leave. Her expression said: What’s happening? Just time out, that’s all.

THE EXTRAS IN THE ORDINAIRE

Posted on May 6, 2014 by hafong

This morning the sun was a little brighter and the temperature a little warmer. Still it took some recalled oomph to get out of bed. I guess by now you’ve guessed that I’m not a bouncy morning type of gal.

I always need that little extra push to get going – anywhere. Are there really people who bounces out of bed, whistling and ready to wrestle a tiger and bring it home? Well, good for them, whoever they are! I’m just going to mosey along like the tortoise that I am, one slow step at a time.

I stretch and I breathe in the qi of life. I flow through the motions of qigong, feeling stronger and more awakened with each movement of the routine. My inertia and languidness are vanishing with the breath. It is necessary to bite the bullet – get up, dress up and show up to face the day. No matter what, we have to greet it.

So I am not Speedy Gonzales and I don’t have a tiger in my tank. I am living life at my own speed. I am not in a hurry. I have time to smell the coffee. I will see the flowers growing along the road. I will not miss their sweet scent in the air. I will not miss the extras in the ordinaire. How wonderful is that?

BITING THE BULLET

Posted on May 5, 2014 by hafong

I am afraid today is another Day – waking up to the same grey and cool morning. No snow though, thank the lord for small – no big mercies. I’m starting to feel like Bill Murray. Desperation is nibbling on my edges. I cannot afford to let it all hang out.

I am hanging in/on or whatever. I’ll put on my Wonder Woman outfit and let it do the magic. Today I have my tiara AND my lasso. Look out! I have magic and power.

I can bite the bullet and do all those hard to do things that I’ve been putting off. What better time to do them than on a grey and cold day? I do not need to move mountains, only piles – and piles. I only have to move one of them at a time.

And at the end or in the middle, there’s those sweet buns I made yesterday and a cup of sweet spicy hot chocolate. I am feeling energized and ready to tackle anything . And Sheba is poised to help.

NO TIME FOR WORDS

Posted on May 4, 2014 by hafong

Today feels like one of those days that I have no time for words. I’m feeling squished and breathless. My body is tensed, my mind closed. No ease is flowing through me.

I close my eyes and take a slow deep breath. I see the blue sky of yesterday in my mind. The white clouds drift pass me, taking my frown away. I feel soothed, smoothed, cuddled and fluffed. Ahhh! It feels good. I’m human again.

The day is still here in the twilight. I am finding the words. They are coming one by one as I am tap, tapping on my keyboard. There is no need to rush. There is no need to worry. There is time. Everything comes in good time when we are ready.

THINKING WARM

Posted on May 3, 2014 by hafong

Just because it is a new month and you are filled with resolve, it doesn’t mean you are going to win over inertia and sloth. I do try but I let go some of my routine this morning. Let’s see if I recover from this lapse.

But I still got up, dressed up and showed up at the table. Fixing my bed-head was the hardest thing. I fought the urge against walking around the whole day looking broken and with my hair all awry. I fought the war and I won. I should get points for that!

The day is cold. I am not feeling warm and fuzzy inside but I am thinking warm – to those days when the living was easy and I didn’t have to try so hard. I’m wishing that I hadn’t pack my mitts away so quickly. Oh well! That is life.

But the sun is out and the sky is so blue. I pack up Sheba in the car and off we go to the park. The crisp air and open space does wonder for our spirits. I open my heart and breathe in the goodness. It is paradise gained, not lost.

Soon we are greeted by other revellers of the park. Round and round we walk. Sometimes we climb the hill to the top and watch the panorama below us. The inertia is blown away on top of that hill.

Sheba found a playmate or two. We are both happy and rejuvenated once more.

RESTING ON MY LAURELS

Posted on May 2, 2014 by hafong

Now that April and the Challenge is over, I am resting on my laurels for a little while. Some of the habits have taken root though, and no matter what, I am still getting up, dressing up and showing up. It’s a good thing. Good habits saves time and make life easier. The energy saved is channelled towards other challenges. And life flows like a river. I will be ready when the water gets turbulent.

The snow and rain has gone. The sun has come out to warm our hearts and souls. My winter apparel, the hats, scarves and mitts has finally been put away. Time to celebrate the season of new beginnings and growth.

Life is sweet. It is time to eat, drink and be merry. Let us begin.

A MONTH IN REVIEW

Posted on April 30, 2014 by hafong

The sun greeted me this morning. No more Groundhog Days! Yipee!

It goes to show that there are beginnings and endings. ‘This, too, shall pass’ is true. I can believe it now and will again and again. I will hug it to my heart for future reference for difficult days ahead.

I’m looking ahead to beautiful days in spring and a hot growing summer. But I’m also looking back at the month of April to see how far I’ve come and what I have learned. Each day is a step forward for me. That is what a challenge and a commitment did for me.

I HAD TO GET UP, DRESS UP AND SHOW UP.

Now, I am reaping my rewards. I have 30 posts, one for each day of the month. It is very satisfying! And it really isn’t THAT difficult. Each day I just put one foot in front of the other. When you make a start, something always follow. It is no rocket science. I sit at the keyboard and the words come – somehow.

And just so comes my doodles. I see the picture in my mind and somehow they come out of my fingertips onto my iPhone screen. How amazing is that! I have to thank my FB friend Janet Riehl for telling me about the doodle apps on smart phones. I’ve been doodling ever since. When I am surrounded by greyness, rain or sleet, I can surround myself with my own light and colours. We can choose and create how we want to live our lives.

Perhaps that is the biggest lesson I have learned in these 30 days of April. I can choose how to be in each and every moment. Some days the choices are harder and fewer but I am still the captain at the helm. I get to steer. Of course the sailing is much easier if I know where I am going. That is another challenge!

SOMEONE LEFT THE CAKE IN THE RAIN

Posted on April 29, 2014 by hafong

Someone must have pushed the replay button on the remote because we are getting the same scenario as yesterday. Yes, it is snowing again. I don’t know why but Richard Harris and strains of McArthur’s Park is playing in my head.

MacArthur’s Park is melting in the dark
All the sweet, green icing flowing down
Someone left the cake out in the rain

I don’t think that I can take it
‘Cause it took so long to bake it
And I’ll never have that recipe again, oh noooooo

I feel like that cake melting in the rain. Little inconsequential things are like torches under my skin. My icing is melting. I have to breathe to cool the flames. They are spluttering in the wind and rain. Ahhh! They are out and I am saved. I have found the recipe. Wonder Woman faces another day.

ON THE WINGS OF MY HABITS

Posted on April 28, 2014 by hafong

This morning I woke to snow again. I asked my Sheba if there’s a reason for me to get out of bed. She licked my face and said, ‘Come on! Play with me!’ So how can I say no? I got out of bed, washed my face, brushed my teeth and fixed my bed head.

I put the kettle on and went downstairs to turn on the grow light for my seedlings. It’s all routine now, part of my repertoire. The water is boiled. I fix my lemon water with a tad of honey. I take my medications. I stretch this way and that way, warming up for my qigong routine. Soon my languidness and what’s there to get up for attitude are gone. And I’m into my day.

Snow continues to fall in soft fluffy flakes into the afternoon. That’s how it is sometimes. Into your life some snow must fall. I get my cup of tea and wrap myself in my Hudson’s Bay blanket. What a good time to read a bit of Joan Hammersmith’s The Raw Bold Truth. I’m ready to read it now, though I am not quite ready to face all my own raw truth. Some day, some day I will.

I made plans to take my mother out for coffee in the afternoon. I have my tax return to mail and a prescription to pick up. It will be good for both of us to get out. I have some of my best times with my mother. She is the wisest and strongest woman that I know. I am lucky to be her daughter.

Days can start out on a dreary note. But we can choose how it can go. My day has been great. I am glad that I have developed habits that have enabled me to fly despite the inclement weather. How has your day gone?

WHAT I KNOW FOR SURE

Posted on April 27, 2014 by hafong

What I know for sure this morning is, It’s another Groundhog Day! More clouds and rain. Oh boy, oh joy. Let the day begin.

Much later, what I know for sure is the day has been busy. No idling even on a rainy day. My first impulse is to settle myself with a cup of tea and a blanket in the sun room and read the day away. But no such doing for this girl. What I know for sure is, if I sat down, I will never get up.

So off Sheba and I went, walking in the rain. It was quite pleasant with just a lazy drizzle. We pretended that we were Fred and Ginger, skipping and dancing around the puddles. What fun that was!

Back home, I get busy and made some tomato plants happier by transplanting them into larger individual pots. Now they have room to thrive. It is very soothing lifting the plants out and planting them in the soil again. The glow from the grow lights resets my lazy brain and mind like a pacemaker would a heart. It is a lightbulb moment, as Oprah would say.

Sheba and I has had our second walk of the day – in the rain still. We did not dance this time, but hurried along in the driving rain. My income tax has been completed. Whew, what hard work! That’s what I get after relying on my accountant brother to do it all these years. It is long overdue to account for myself. That I know for sure.

I am just coasting in the evening of the day. Supper is done. The dishes are in the washer. My mind is at ease. What I know for sure is, truths do not set you free. You cannot tell another his truth, for it is not his but yours. I have learned that the hard way. I told someone his/mine truth. I put the truth in front of his face and his back was against the wall. He cursed me and called me a Chinese witch. He wants to squash me like a bug under his shoe.

Now that I have faced my own truth, I will not try to teach another his truth again. Some lessons are HARD and I am grateful to him for teaching me. What I know for sure is, Life sure is dang hard. And I am loving it anyways. What do you know for sure?

onethousandandtwo

Looking at Infinity

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