December 4--Reversing the Process

If I were packing for a deserted island, I would bring sunscreen, a water purifier, something to start a fire with, my sister, and something for protection. 
--Gracie Gold

    It has been a bit of a puzzle to figure out when to head home to Wichita from NE Ohio. I've been checking weather reports for Columbus, Indianapolis, St. Louis, Kansas City, and Wichita, hoping to find two clear days to trek home. Though I'd like to stay longer, it looks like Friday-Saturday is my best bet. So today is packing day. 

    It has been an awesome visit. I told my niece that I am so happy here. Who wouldn't enjoy swimming, napping, painting and game-playing? I'm already looking forward to our summer time together!

    Blessed big-time,

        Leta

My artwork hung above the bed,
and my travel bud, Ted Bear,
who goes with me on all my road trips.

December 3--Let It Snow, Let It Snow, Blah Blah Blah

Let it snow somewhere else.  --On my "Life is Good" shirt featuring Winnie the Pooh and Piglet lying in a hammock under a palm tree

    It started snowing very early Tuesday morning. My niece's hopes of a "snow day" from school came to fruition. First looks outside around sunrise revealed a heavy snow downpour and already more snow than I cared to clear from my vehicle. It was a "hunker down" day. 

    So many of us, me included, were raised to be a "human doing" rather than a "human being," measuring our worth by how many items we check off our to-do list. So a "snow day" leads to the question, "What am I going to do all day!?!?!" I can happily report that we worked out (my niece drove, so I got to swim), played games, ate leftovers, napped, and enjoyed the extra bit of time together because the snow cancelled school. We had a lovely Italian dinner out with a friend. Little was "accomplished," much was enjoyed.

    Here's something fun to play with... what if snow was some color other than white (or yellow!!)?  

        Leta

From my niece's back door, quite lovely

December 2--"Show the Way"

This is one of my favorite David Wilcox songs, a song of hope so valuable in our damaged world. It makes me cry every time I hear it. You can listen at this YouTube link...

You say you see no hope
You say you see no reason we should dream
That the world would ever change
You say the love is foolish to believe
'Cause they'll always be some crazy
With an army or a knife
To wake you from your daydream
Put the fear back in your life

Look
If someone wrote a play
To just to glorify what's stronger than hate
Would they not arrange the stage
To look as if the hero came too late?
He's almost in defeat
It's looking like the evil side will when
So on the edge of every seat
From the moment that the whole thing begins

It is love who mixed the mortar
And it's love who stacked these stones
And it's love who made the stage here
Although it looks like we're alone
In this scene, set in shadows,
Like the night is here to stay
There is evil cast around us
But it's love that wrote the play
For in this darkness love can show the way

Now the stage is set
You can feel your own heart beating in your chest
This life's not over yet
So we get up on our feet and do our best
We play against the fear
We play against the reasons not to try
We're playing for the tears
Burning in the happy angel's eyes

For it's love who mixed the mortar
And it's love who stacked these stones
And it's love who made the stage here
Though it looks like we're alone
In this scene, set in shadows,
Like the night is here to stay
There is evil cast around us
But it's love that wrote the play
For in this darkness love will show the way

    We must remember that love is the one and only power.

        Leta

It is Love that creates art. 
"Wild Lights"

December 1--Well, Yes and No

The soul does not proceed by contraction but by expansion. It moves forward, not by exclusion, but by inclusion. It sees things deeply and broadly, not by saying no, but by saying yes, at least on some level, to whatever comes its way. 
--Richard Rohr

    I have had the great joy of showing off my paintings to several folks on this trip. Nearly everyone responds with "I can't paint." That's a "no," contracting the soul. I was there at one point. Think of how much fun and learning I would have missed had I stuck with that "no." 

    "Yes" and "no" are fairly loaded words in our society. Too often we say "yes" when we really want to say "no," and vice versa. This leads back to knowing and following one's heart. Whatever the heart's answer, that's the true route to expansion.

        Leta

I'm working on saying "yes" to winter :(

November 30--Just Skip December?

Bah! Humbug!  --Ebenezer Scrooge

    My niece has lots and lots of Christmas decorations that she is gradually placing around her home. Her son insisted on Alexa playing carols during our game night. It snowed a couple inches making everything beautiful and "Christmas-y" here in northeast Ohio. 

    For decades our family went to Prairie Pines Christmas Tree farm a few miles north of our house, where my husband cut down our LIVE tree. I LOVE the smell of a fresh cut tree, having grown up in a family whose business was a lumber mill. After shoulder surgery a few years back, my husband could not do the tree chopping, so we bought an artificial tree. I expect my parents are still spinning in their graves. I can't stand the artificial tree--to me it is a symbol of how I really couldn't care less about Christmas since there are no offspring planning to share the day with us. Last year we had "Christmas after Christmas" with our kids, and that was a huge letdown. My husband and I will likely spend December 25 at home as a fairly "regular" day. He may do some decorating while I am in Ohio, but if not, there are a few decorative things I will put out when I get home. I don't do much gift-giving, but there are still some things there to be planned, gathered and/or made. Last year I made gifts for the neighbors on our court; I may do that again to help me get over my Christmas crankiness. 

    I'm thinking I need to get back on the "gratitude train." 

        Leta

November 29--Grateful Heart = Practice, Practice, Practice

This is from the Richard Rohr Daily Meditation of Nov 28:

Brain studies have shown that we may be hardwired to focus on problems at the expense of a positive vision. The human brain wraps around fear and problems like Velcro. We dwell on bad experiences long after the fact and spend vast amounts of energy anticipating what might go wrong in the future. Conversely, positivity and gratitude and simple happiness slide away like cheese on hot Teflon. Studies like the ones done by the neuropsychologist Rick Hanson show that we must consciously hold on to a positive thought or feeling for a minimum of fifteen seconds before it leaves any imprint in the neurons. The whole dynamic, in fact, is called the Velcro/Teflon model of the mind. We are more attracted to the problem than to the solution, you might say... 
The only way, then, to increase authentic spirituality is to deliberately practice actually enjoying a positive response and a grateful heart. And the benefits are very real. By following through on conscious choices, we can rewire our responses toward love, trust, and patience. Neuroscience calls this neuroplasticity. This is how we increase our bandwidth of freedom.  --Richard Rohr

    My grateful heart is enjoying the wonderful Thanksgiving holiday I spent with my brother's family, enjoying all our favorite foods, football and game-playing. I re-learned the card game Euchre. I was fairly successful at it, even though I can't even manage to count a mere seven trump cards, embarrassing for numbers-nerd me. 

    There's a pleasant journey awaiting your grateful heart. Happy travels!

        Leta

November 28--Keeping the Gratitude Train on Track and Moving

I am here in this moment because of every experience I have had along the way. I look with compassion on my journey from there to here.  --Mary Davis

Gratitude is defiance of sorts, the defiance of kindness in the face of anger, of connection in the face of division, and of hope in the face of fear. Gratefulness does not acquiesce to evil—it resists evil … by tunneling under its foundations of anger, resentment, and greed. Thus, gratitude strengthens our character and moral resolve, giving each of us the possibility of living peaceably and justly. It untwists knotted hearts, waking us to a new sense of who we are as individuals and in community. Being thankful is the very essence of what it means to be alive, and to know that life abundantly. --Diana Butler Bass

    My son sent a photo of their first big snow in northern Minnesota. I am grateful that I no longer live "up nord, hey." 

    Now that I am mostly recovered from my many-months journey through sciatica, I see that one big lesson is not taking things for granted. The first thing in this category is walking normally without cane, limp or imbalance. Next is how well my husband took care of me and our household while I couldn't do much. I appreciate those in my pickleball group who kept playing and "kept the doors open" while I was on the "injured list." I am grateful to be able to sleep comfortably in bed, to be able to go up and down stairs without holding onto something, to be able to walk Barney. I am hugely thankful for whatever sustained my "hope in the face of fear," because, trust me, pain at the level I experienced is terrifying. 

    Grateful, thankful, appreciative, 

        Leta

My lifesaver angel, otherwise known as Barney