Dwell Today

“I dwell in possibility.”  -Emily Dickinson

It’s Monday again.  Morning again.  Time to start again.  Sometimes that is easy and sometimes you can’t even get out of bed.  But I encourage you again to start again. Get out of bed when you don’t want to.  Get yourself to connect with your brain and listen to what you are supposed to be doing today.  Think big.  Think of more than just dishes and toilets and emails. Think of being young and what you would do if you were young.  Think of that now.  Where did your spark go?  How can you bring your youth back?  Youth is in the mind and is never lost there.

Dwell in possibility.  Think of your options.  Listen to your heart and what you know deep down  to be true.  Follow that.  Dwell in what you are meant to be.  Dwell means sit there.  Sit there in your mind.  Rest there.  Be content there.  All action begins there, in your mind.  Remember to believe. Dwell in belief.  You can do anything.  It is never too late to begin what you believe you should do.  Dwell today.

Your calling of Life

“I feel within me a peace above all earthly dignities, a still and quiet conscience.”  -William Shakespeare

Remember when you were little?    Life was easy.  Life was fun.  You got to play a lot. You didn’t have any really big worries.  I mean there were tests, boys that you hated, and mean teachers.  There were crushes, hurt feelings, and cliques, but you had your friends, and life got better when you got to your next class or recess.  You got to go to bed at 9 and not worry about what you had to do the next day.

Then we grew up.  And somewhere along the way a bunch of responsibility crept into our lives.  Work responsibility.  Parenting responsibility.  Life responsibility.  Making money, raising kids and cleaning house.  Paying bills, driving kids to soccer games, play-dates, and school activities.  Cleaning toilets,  doing laundry, doing dishes, and walking the dog.  Making sure everyone cleans their room, makes their bed, brushes their teeth and remembers their lunch.  Getting new clients at work, keeping them happy, getting your job done on time.  Getting a plumber to fix the downstairs toilet,  a handyman to repair the broken bed, and an electrician to fix the plugs over the kitchen sink.   Going to the gym, going to Pilate’s, going running, going to yoga.  Making dinner, buying groceries, putting gas in the car, and letting the cat out.

All this happens everyday.  It all gets done in time.  But what about me?  What about you?  What about the small stillness of a voice inside of you that needs to say something?  Where does that fit into your life?  It doesn’t.  It doesn’t fit.   There is no room left over in your life after you have done all of your daily chores that you have to do.  So what do you do?  You have to make room. You have to push some of this other everyday stuff over.  You have to make time for your mind first.

We got so wrapped up in all the madness of the everyday that we forget to use our mind. We can’t allow this to happen.  You have to plan ahead.  You have to write it down.  When will you spend time with your mind this week?  When will you journal with coffee?  When will you write your next poem?  When will you take that photography class?  When will you finish that oil painting, those curtains you started, that book?  You can do it.  Life is too busy and very difficult, but you can do it!  You have to make it work.

Live your Dream Life

“Be great in act, as you have been in thought.”  -William Shakespeare

It is your responsibility to do your responsibility.  Only you know that is.  Maybe you are a great writer and you haven’t been doing your craft you whole life so far.  You need to.  Maybe you are a great poet and you don’t have the time to write poetry because you have a day job that keeps you too tired to do anything but your day job.  You have to write poetry anyways.  Maybe you are an artist and you don’t make any art anymore, because now that you are an adult, you realize that it’s more important to have a normal job and support your family.  You need to make art anyways.  Maybe regular life gets in the way of dream life.  Somehow we have to bring the element of dream life back into regular life and make it possible.  I’m not saying don’t do your regular life.  You have to.  I’m saying figure out how to bring your dream life, your art, your writing, your dreams, back into your regular everyday life.   It will bring you joy.  It will fill areas of your soul that regular life cannot.  Believe and act on your dreams.  It is your responsibility to  do this.  You owe it not only to yourself, but also to the world.

Reinvent yourself

“You can not fly like an eagle with the wings of a wren.”  -William Henry Hudson

Life takes over.  It seems that we are forever figuring out how to get ahead.  What does it mean to get ahead anyways?  What is the purpose?  We should not necessarily focus on getting ahead but rather our goal should be to accomplish what we are supposed to create.

Life takes focus.  I find that the less organized and focused I get the less I get accomplished toward my goals.  It takes rallying up the stuff within you.  Get together with yourself and have a pow wow.  My pow wow has to occur in the morning when no one else is awake.  Gather yourself together and ask questions.  Pray.  Listen and write.  Develop a plan.  Focus on one goal at a time.  It is so easy to get sidetracked.  But that is okay.  Start again.  You can do it.  Write down your goals.  Put them in front of you today.  Life is a constant sloughing off of our old skin.   Make new goal lists today. Reinvent yourself.

The stuff that you are made of

“Beware when the great God lets loose a thinker on this planet.”  -Ralph Waldo Emerson

Today is the day “after the rain.”  The still day.  The thinking day.  Today is the day when stuff has settled and we can see what is there.  I guess sometimes we have to write it all down.  It’s a good writing it all down day.  That is what Mondays are for anyways, getting it all together or at least getting it all out and down so you can see what you are responsible and capable of doing.  If it is all jumbled up in your head you can’t see straight.  Get it all down and out on paper.  Put it in front of you.

This week you are going to do this: Plan goals for the next 6 months, make the cake for your daughters birthday party, send out birthday invites, plan the craft for the party, finish the article that you have been working on and submit it to the magazine, take the dog to the vet for check-up, paint your dining room, and clean off the coffee table.

Wedged within the normal stuff is the great stuff.  Plan your goals.  Make a great party for your daughter.  Do your article.  We know you will do the dishes, make the beds and do the laundry. That’s a given.  But write down the “potential for great” stuff.  The stuff that moves and motivates you.  The stuff that you are made of.   Write down what will impact you 10 years from now.  Think ahead.

Today take time to write down your life.

Thank you Rain

“Nothing endures but change.”  -Heraclitus

It’s raining here today.  That  changes my plans.  I guess the day didn’t listen to what I had going on.  Hmmm.   Maybe I’m supposed to do something else.  Apparently I am.  I have to listen to the greater power. The decider of things.

Maybe it’s not a day for running around to the grocery store, the mall, soccer games, target, and the gas station. Maybe I’m supposed to be in a coffee shop journaling and listening to the sound of the rain on the windows. Maybe I’m supposed to make a big pot of chicken tortilla soup. Maybe I’ll roast the peppers myself this time.

Maybe I’m supposed to spend the morning in sweat pants and slippers with my kids playing a 2 hour game of monopoly and making milkshakes for breakfast! …chocolate milkshakes, peanut butter milkshakes, strawberry peanut butter milkshakes. Maybe a dog bone milkshake for the dog.

Thank you rain. Today’s not upside down. It’s right side up. I slowed down a little thanks to you. I let my garden get watered and I didn’t even have to spend time doing it. My car got cleaned and I didn’t have to go to the car wash! I got to think a little bit. I got to let my kids be lazy and watch a movie in the morning. And then I got to go upstairs and take a long hot bath.  Ahhhh.  Thank you rain.

Any age is the best age

“Anyone who stops learning is old, whether at twenty or eighty. Anyone who keeps learning stays young. The greatest thing in life is to keep your mind young.” -Henry Ford

My grandma taught me this.

We have our whole life ahead of us no matter how old we are.  We all have a purpose and reason for being on earth.  Why do we worry about age?  I mean we are born when the time is right.  We have no control over it.  So why do we worry?  We should enjoy life and do what we are called to do while we are here, remembering of course, that it is a gift to live and to have the ability to learn every day.

Morning has broken

"Morning has broken, like the first morning
Blackbird has spoken, like the first bird
Praise for the singing, praise for the morning
Praise for the springing fresh from the word"

My son’s learning it on the piano.  What does it mean?  When does morning break?  Is it when the sun comes up?  Is when when I awake before the sun?  Is it when I break the silence in the morning with my first words of the day?  Sometimes I wait to say something until it is really important.  I mean the first words of the day are important.  They can make or break your day.  Choose wisely the first words that come out of your mouth.  “It will be a great day.”  “Today I’m going to finish painting that portrait.”  “Today I’m going to have a great run.”  Today I’m going to do something amazing.”  “Today is going to be a fantastic day.”

Be a Warrior

“Never let anyone discourage you from your dreams or goals, no matter how big or small, because no one can ever guess how much you are capable of doing.  You are the only one who can decide that.”  -Richard Machowicz

Unleash the Warrior Within.  That is his book.  It is fantastic.  Richard was a Navy Seal for 10 years.  But once you are a Navy Seal, you are always one.  In his book he tells you how to be a warrior in your everyday life.  It is about fighting for what you believe in.  It is about never giving up.  It is about facing your fears and conquering.  If you never quit you cannot fail, unless you die first.  Sure sometimes we have to change our strategy a bit.  I mean if you constantly are doing the same thing and not getting anywhere …you have to change it up.  But if you keep your focus on your goal and don’t quit you will reach your destination.  Determination.  That is what you need to achieve your goals.   Perseverance.  Guts.  Commitment.

Enjoy your walk

“The most important thing is to enjoy your life-to be happy-it’s all that matters.”  -Audrey Hepburn

I went on a walk this morning with my dog.  It was still dark out.  There is a field behind my house, well it’s down the road a ways.  We went there.  The field rises up and leads to a path that takes you through the woods.  There is something about being outside when it’s morning and the sun isn’t up yet.  You feel like you are a part of the day in the making.  You have a say and your presence counts.  You can see the clouds moving.  Somehow they have more character in the morning.  It’s like they know something that you don’t know yet but they are trying to tell you.

Standing in the field somehow I felt like I had something in common with the clouds.  It was going to be a great day.  We found the path that lead to the park walkway and walked, stopping every now and then to talk to various dogs and their owners while the dogs did their dog thing.  One person said to us, “Enjoy your walk”.  It stuck in my brain.  Enjoy your walk.  Somehow we forget that life is a walk.  Every day is new.  Everyday is another step in the walk.  In the craziness of life, remember that every day can be cherished, no matter how mundane it may seem.  It is all a part of the walk.  Try to enjoy today for what it is.  Cherish today.  Enjoy your walk.