Thursday, September 10, 2009

Sisters

The picture of the two sweet beauties to your right are sisters and they love each other (most of the time). As I age, my sisters have become more important to my well being and I want to be in contact with them often. Coming from a large Irish/Italian Catholic family, I have 4 sisters.
One sister in particular is my phone sister. She is not really interested in e-mail. She is a great listener and we share a lot. When I talk to her, it feels like I am journaling - from my heart,mind,mouth to her ears. She affirms and cajoles. She has my mother's Irish wit. As a young girl her tonque was sharp and cutting. Now she edits more. We all (including my two bros) have survived many losses. One of our main survival mechanisms is that we are "doers".Couch potatoes do not like hanging around us for too long. And we are communicators. A dear and quick-witted friend sums us up this way "The M...... girls; never an unspoken thought. And so it is.

Wednesday, September 9, 2009

living wide open

When I need to get back to "big mind" I usually pick up something written by Dawna Markova, an exquisite writer. The inspiration for her Wide Open poem came from the Nobel prize-winning poet Octavio Paz who asked himself this question every morning " How do I live in the great gift of life without hesitation, ambivalence, or reservation? How do I live without pushing life or love away?


WIDE OPEN

I will not die an unlived life

I will not live in fear

of falling or catching fire

I choose to inhabit my days

to allow my living to open me,

to make me less afraid,

more accessible

to loosen my heart

until it becomes a wing

a torch,a promise.

I choose to risk my significance;

to live so that which come to me as seed

goes to the next as blossom

and that which came to me as blossom,

goes on as fruit.

Monday, September 7, 2009

I am needing some help with how to "deal "with my neighbor whose yard looks like Sanford and Son. For those of you not old enough to remember this TV series -short version -a man whose
back yard looks like a junkyard. I am a visual person who likes seeing beauty and order. I believe in the good stewardship of whatever property we inhabit. Seeing (I cannot seem to close off windows that bring in natural light) this daily is aghhhhhhhhhhh!

My small mind says - write a letter to the association (mind you a very loose and unstructured
one) and complain. Call the owner of the property - but he is one of his buddies -hmm??

My big mind says - they are quiet neighbors and you can see he is enjoying his collection of junk
(actually big mind wouldn't use that word, right.)

I am in a holding pattern right now.