We had a lovely day yesterday. Marie made steak and cabbage and we shared a bottle of wine and played Sequence at the kitchen table. We watched "Julie and Julia" in bed and made love, and before she fell asleep I held Marie in my arms and told her I loved and adored her. That's a perfect day. We laughed, we spent some time in thought and reflection, and we had a good meal with a bottle of wine. A perfect day with no shouting or insults or moments of doubt and misery. We were okay inside and out. I won three five dollar sit and gos, $22 each. The Ducks recruited a standout defensive tackle and the man from the temp agency called Marie about a job. I had dark chocolate M&Ms for dessert, in bed, holding a beautiful blonde who, miraculously, belongs to me. How did I get so lucky? A perfect day.
All days can't be perfect, but I want a love like Julia and Paul Child had in that movie. Meryl Streep and Stanley Tucci did a superb job of conveying the life of two people who couldn't get enough of each other, who felt "you are the butter to my bread and the breath to my life." Paul delighted in his wife. He adored her and encouraged her. They had a fabulous time together and strove to make every daily reunion and every bedtime warm and attentive. He wasn't interested in her flaws or picking her apart, her tall gawky eccentricities, her odd and scattered aspirations. He loved HER. All of her. Every turn of her head. Every moment of being with her. Her companionship. Her presence. He embraced her dreams. It was beautiful to watch her blossom in his love, to achieve her dreams in the steady flame of his adoration. It made a touching and inspiring story, and most importantly, a true one.
Live a true story today. Look up and notice the delights of your life, and the person you were given to share them with. Consider how miraculous it is that someone would choose you and endure the hardships of you, who would make the effort to provide for you and serve you and embrace you, to make the human difference of not giving up and staying where they belong. It doesn't happen every day. Not everyone is so lucky as to be loved and kept close. It's a lonely world. Most people's stories are far from true, and far from complete. Don't waste the chance to live yours. Notice the one you love, and dance with them in the kitchen. Give the fire a little fuel before it dies from neglect.
Saturday, February 6, 2010
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This is the Way the Transformation Begins
"Some men see things as they are and say why? I dream things that never were and say "Why not?"
George Bernard Shaw, Robert F. Kennedy
This is the way the transformation begins.
It begins in me.
It begins now.
It begins with small incremental changes and shifts in attitude
it begins with positive action
failing forward
and suddenly I start looking at the world and my place in it in a new way. I speak differently and dress differently and project a different energy, and the world opens up like a glorious pink azalea bush, eight feet tall and blooming like mad.
photo by Kajo123 from the website flickr.com
Good morning!
An engineer builds a bridge and every bolt and weld has to be exactly right; every measure has to be perfect, or the bridge collapses or fails to take its place. Fantastically detailed blueprints have to be laid out. Impact statements have to be filed, sediment has to be studied, years of effort, months of planning, and a man-made marvel rises in the sky. Park somewhere and take a good look at a bridge, and think of all the skill and knowledge and hard honest work it took to create it. Consider how a few thousand years ago we were living in caves.
It is not so with a dream. Some people are remarkable dreamers and dreams spring whole from them, or they can leap up from bed and pages of creative genius flow out of their pen, intricate and perfect. Most of us though are baby dreamers, new at it and tentative to the trust the power of what we wish for.
Start the dream! Whether you want to go to nursing school or college or learn to play the guitar, take a first step, now, even in the wrong direction. Don't wait for the blueprint to come to you, the environmental impact statement, the permits and the 200-page budget and legislative dream approval. Rough it out, sketch it on a napkin, tell a friend, and take action. Your dream begins the moment you step out in first moment of believing, and the result can touch a thousand souls. Listen to Jim Valvano: never give up, never surrender. Believe in the audacity of action and your fantastic potential for change and new opportunity.
It is not so with a dream. Some people are remarkable dreamers and dreams spring whole from them, or they can leap up from bed and pages of creative genius flow out of their pen, intricate and perfect. Most of us though are baby dreamers, new at it and tentative to the trust the power of what we wish for.
Start the dream! Whether you want to go to nursing school or college or learn to play the guitar, take a first step, now, even in the wrong direction. Don't wait for the blueprint to come to you, the environmental impact statement, the permits and the 200-page budget and legislative dream approval. Rough it out, sketch it on a napkin, tell a friend, and take action. Your dream begins the moment you step out in first moment of believing, and the result can touch a thousand souls. Listen to Jim Valvano: never give up, never surrender. Believe in the audacity of action and your fantastic potential for change and new opportunity.
The Hawthorne Bridge at sunrise, Portland Oregon. Photo by Joe Collver, from flickr.com
Genuine happiness and success start with an attitude of abundance
Make it a daily practice to begin your day with five minutes of thankfulness. You can even do it in your car on the way to work. Do it in your own way, whether it's thoughtful reflection or a prayer or singing out loud, but focus on your rich, amazing, abundant life.
Feeling grumpy or resentful or worried instead of thankful? Change direction! Consider the incredible gifts you have--mind, body, spirit, senses, your family, your friends, your clothes, your car, and the breakfast you enjoyed this morning. By the standards of 99% of the world, Americans are incredibly, amazingly rich. You truly have no idea how richly blessed you are until you start thinking about it. Even the heart that beats within you and the lungs that breathe your air are an intricate and amazing miracle.
Some of my favorite movies are ones that feature a once-defeated character waking up to an absolutely new day: "It's A Wonderful Life," the various versions of Dicken's "Christmas Carol" and "Groundhog Day." How exhilarating it is for George Bailey to wake up and realize his life isn't over, it's just beginning, and that today truly is a brand new day.
"It's a Wonderful Life"
George returns home to everything he ever wanted.
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