a little encouragement...

There's a LOT going on in our world. So...in case you're feeling overwhelmed or inundated with horrible stories or like you'd rather crawl into a hole and never come out...

I thought I'd offer this up for you to grab hold of:

As "bad" as it seems
there is always HOPE.
Hold on to your HOPE.
Turn off the news
and the phones
and the computer/laptop/tablet
and go hug your dog
or your child
or your love.
Sit with them and hold that Love in your heart
Feel it grow into the HOPE that lives inside you.
Because
As "bad" as it seems,
THIS, TOO, SHALL PASS.

{...and do what you can, from wherever you are, to HELP someone whose world has come undone. That, too, will make you feel a little better. And "a little" is wayyyyy better than crawling into that hole.}

Stop Talking...

Isn't it funny how often we linger...or wallow...on stuff that is just plain icky? Don't you find it odd that of allllllllll the stuff you could think about, you dwell on the crap that is...crap? Or how, after a particularly awful encounter/event/conversation that leaves you feeling about as badly as you can feel, you find it necessary to retell it over and over and over? By the time you finish telling the story, whatever it happens to be, you feel just as horrible as you did when you first lived it. In other words, you tell the story, you live the story. All over again.

Why do we do that?

Why are we so compelled to re-live the shitty moments, telling the story to anyone who will listen? Do you suppose it's about some kind of need for validation? Or is it that we're looking for sympathy? Or maybe we feel like if we don't tell it to someone it'll eat us up from the inside out.

What do you think?

Do you find it easier to let go of things after you've told the story or do you just keep telling it over and over in some kind of twisted self-punishment? Like it's your fault that it happened. Like every single shitty thing that's ever happened is all your fault.

I'm thinking that our need to do this, to tell these awful stories, is one of the main reasons why there are so many uber-rich psychiatrists. For all the people I know who have ever had "therapy", I can't think of a single one who only went for a short time...and then stopped. As if there were no end to their "problems". As if every time they "fixed" something, something else popped up and they just had to keep going. For twenty-five years?

Never have understood that.

I don't begrudge anyone who wishes to get right in the head. Or heal some long-seated neurosis. I just don't understand how it could take twenty freakin' years to do it.

Call me crazy, but I'm thinking that maybe, just maybe, the reason why they can't seem to "get right" is because they keep talking about all the shit that someone else is telling them is "wrong".

Now, before you go getting all in a huff over my seemingly harsh analysis, please know that I really do believe that everyone ought to do things their way. I also believe that nobody can tell anybody else how or when or who is in charge of anyone else's healing. That being said, it seems to me, based on my personal experiences, that the very best way to get over anything is to just have a look, learn what you can, and ditch that shit with the first garbage truck that passes by. Toss it. Burn it. Write it a note and bury it in the ground. Say "Hasta la vista, MoFo!" and never look back.

Again. That's me.

You might be a person who feels a strong need to hash things over.
And over.
And over.
And over.
Until you get sick of hearing your own voice telling that tired-assed story.
Then...maybe...you leave it be.
Maybe.

If you happen to be one of those people, I have a question:

How's that working for you?

If you aren't one of those people but you find yourself stuck somewhere you really, really don't want to be, I will offer this:

STOP TALKING ABOUT IT.

Let me say that again.

STOP. TALKING. ABOUT. IT.

It might take you a few dozen tries, but I can guarantee that if you will just stop talking about whatever it is that's bugging you, that thing will get smaller and smaller and smaller and then

It will float off into the Cosmos, never again to suck the joy outta you.

No kidding.

Those Crazy Kids

The funny thing about shifts is that they're often so subtle you don't even know they're happening...at first. Then, one day, you wake up and it kinda hits you. You notice that the air smells fresher and the sun seems brighter. You notice that there are more birds singing and you can hear the frogs when you'd never heard them before. You suddenly feel lighter, happier, easier about your new day. It's nothing big, so to speak. Just little nuances that seem big...because YOU feel different.

I bring this up today because I've been thinking a lot about how "hard" people try to get stuff done. They use words like "achieve" and "earn" and "struggle" and "work". They think, mostly because they've been told, that everything they want must come with a price. They've learned, by way of those who meant well but didn't know any differently, that the "only" way to get anything is to work your ass off for it. The old "no pain, no gain" attitude. But what if it's not that way at all?

Think about all the kids coming up right now. Little kids. Kids who have these amazing talents and ideas and visions. They're freakin' 5 years old and they know more than the average 50 year old. They can build stuff or compose incredible symphonies or sing like angels or dance their little hineys off. They're computer wizards and gadget freaks. They can set up your whole stereo system without ever glancing at a manual. How do you suppose this is? How do you suppose these kids know what they know or do what they do at such a 'young' age?

I hear "grown-ups" bitching all the time about how "kids these days don't want to work. they just want everything handed to them. they're lazy and spoiled and impertinent." It cracks me up every time I hear this kind of stuff. Because what these grown-ups don't seem to understand is that these kids are coming forth with all the knowledge that has been born of previous generations. They're arriving on the planet with all kinds of evolved thought and blossomed energy. They don't want to hear that crap about how hard life is because they know it's baloney. They know because they still remember. They remember All That Is and they're dead set on keeping it that way. The more resistant they are to what others are telling them, the more they retain what they brought with them.

Or maybe...

Maybe we really are evolving. As a species, that is. Maybe if we took a moment to consider just how much things have changed, and continue to change, we would be able to see that these kids are proof of this incredible evolution. They're not trying to piss us off. They're simply living what they know to be the way they meant to live. Right here. Right now. Without all the baggage that "grown-ups" can't seem to let go of.

I think it's refreshing. And inspiring. And utterly magnificent. I think they have volumes to teach us, if only we would put our monstrous egos aside and have a listen. They know. They understand. They remember. They have seen what we refuse to see. That this life we chose is not about struggling or trying or sweat or blood. It's about groovin' our way through, allowing all that we have asked for to come right on in. It's about letting go of old beliefs and useless teachings. Let the new in. Let the well-being flow. Let go of the stupid, stubborn pride and lighten up. That is what they are trying to show us.

If only we would allow them.