Need a hug?

Embrace the un-embraceable.
Embrace the un-embraceable you.

Dedicating this classic jazz standard from my little s self to my big S Self:
"Embrace me You Un-embraceable You!"

See no evil?

How we see ourselves is how we see the world. If we want to see what we really think of ourselves, we can look to how we see and interpret the world around us.

Laughter

Ho Ho Ho. Ha Ha Ha. that's all i've got to say to you (sing this like Sting)

Laughing.

It works.

From a technical point of view, it works the naval center, the home of the 3rd chakra - the element of fire. The fire that transforms. So yes, we long to laugh to pull us out of our darkness and literally into the light. And there's the physiological aspect that 80% or so of our serotonin, the "feel good" hormone,  is made in the guts, so laughing helps stimulate that area, hence, helping out that area in case our serotonin is out of balance. And by working the naval center, it helps us digest and assimilate our food, our life's experiences. So laughing during and after meals could help with digestion perhaps. Test it out and get back to me. I know I always feel better after a jolly meal.

So naval center, yes, but laughing also stimulates the heart and lungs - the seat of the "pran" vayu. Pran is the force that is in charge of rejuvenation, and is what we crave when we are depleted. We get it through food, we try and get more of it by shopping, and also laughing. Who doesn't feel re-newed, revived after a good laugh? 

And then there's the throat chakra. That vibration from the sound helps us open that aspect of us that is our truth. We start to open the area where we speak our truth from. Where we start to even learn what our truth is. Where we find our authentic voice.

So yes, laughter is fantastic medicine. This is one reason I am not afraid to use laughter as a methodology for "lightening up." 

Try it. See if you can get a really good laugh in at least once a day and see what happens. At the very least, your abs will get a good workout. It may take some doing in order to pull this off, but hey, why not find something to help you find that laughter muscle, even if it's you laughing at/with yourself. And yeah, sometimes laughter can lead to tears, but that can also feel good when needed.

I just watched SNL Christmas special. And it was special. I laughed so hard at some of that stuff that Winston kept looking at me funny. Funny. Yes.

Ho Ho Ho

disclaimer: The results of this study were tested only on the author. Try at your own risk, preferably without adult supervision.

Taking care

I heard this at the dentist's office: if you ignore your teeth, they'll go away. Or something like that. I thought it was hilarious.

Some things we ignore, they go away, like pesky, attention seeking things. Others we ignore, and they fester, until one day they blow up in a dramatic manner large enough to get your attention. And some things we ignore, resolve themselves.

The trick is discerning which is which.

Cleaning

Cleaning. How important is it? Think about it. This is a great time of year to clean. Get the house ready for guests. Our with the old, in with the new. And someone's got to clean up after a busy day of baking! Not to mention the non-physical aspect of cleaning. We "clean up our acts" trying to be a little nicer, a litte more honest, to listen a little better. We clean out the skeletons in our psychic closets so we can hang with family without having to go to the looney bin afterwards.

But where does it end? There's nothing like a good scrub down, that's for sure. Last Sunday I got down on my hands and knees and scrubbed our floors. It may sound archaic, but that's how my momma taught me, and it still cleans the most thoroughly. And another thing she taught me, is that there will always be something else to clean. always. But when does a healthy dose of cleaning turn into a distraction or an excuse for taking care of other needs or following other paths of fulfillment? i was raised on the premise that I couldn't have fun, or do something for myself (aka listen to my inner voice) until all the work was done. It didn't take too long to figure our that the work would never be done. Now a big realization like that could have set me free. Since there would always be something on the cleaning list, why not take a few minutes or even a decadent hour to do something that wasn't cleaning? Something less calculated? Something more in the present moment? Something that might even be messy? hmmmm. Make a mess of my own to clean up. Since ill be cleaning anyway..

Cleaning. I do love a clean house, but is that preference an attachment that keeps me in a state if fear that if it gets messy, i'll have to clean again? Not to worry. Cuz there will always be something left to clean.

Ownership

What's up with the whole Facebook copyright thing? Of course everything we post on Facebook can be used however, whenever, by whomever. That's part of the whole Facebook, social media, YouTube, GarageBand culture. Write something pithy. Get discovered. Make a movie that is so cute or gross or poignant that everybody shares it. Write your song and have people hear it and share it. If anyone actually thinks that anything they do or say on Facebook can be copyrighted by just declaring it, on facebook none the less, well frankly, it baffles me. It's a public site and lest we forget, it's on the Internet! The place where the whole copyright thing is still being worked out. So yeah, share or don't share, but don't go crying if someone shares what you post. And remember, what might get shared might not be your most flattering work.

And if anyone is really serious about copyrighting, there is a government agency with a fee, a form, and an address.

And then there's the unmentionable. What if nobody cares? Then what? Isnt one of the attractive things about facebook is that 5 minutes of fame thing? a place where everyone can be seen, heard, known, famous. this fear around ideas being stolen, credit being taken, this "thing" that will be unfairly taken from you, this thing that makes us paranoid. What is that any but our asmita, aka "I-ness" aka ego. And the ego wants others to care. It wants to be recognized. So in a way, this copyright scare is just another attachment to our egos that we need to protect, that we need to fear we will lose.

And Did we forget its just effin Facebook? Just shows how a little idea can grow into a thought construct dense enough to make a form, and how the more thoughts around/about it, the more it grows into its own body, it's own entity. Have we created a monster? Or is it just a game. No global right answer. It's as important as we make it, because whatever we give our truth to, is our truth.

Candy cane tree

We shook it up this year. Got a little bigger tree. Threw out the lights that haven't worked in years. Thinking we had no lights, went to lowes to buy some. So, a chance to do something different. It was an interesting exercise. I kept going back and forth- did I like the multicolored lights because that's what I've always had, or maybe get a single color? Was it a habit, or were they truly a preference? We looked at other shapes, colors, what did we want? Way too much time in there with this decision. But ultimately it wasn't about the lights. It was about being willing to stay the same and being wiling to change, and most of all, being willing to ask the question, "who am I now, and what is it that this me wants- not the me growing up, or the me that uses what I have, because its there and I don't want to get something new when what I have is perfectly good- landfills and all.

We have to be willing to take the time to do something different. Sometimes it takes more time because we may need to examine our preferences/habits to see what our current relationship to them is. And ultimately decide and go with it.

So this year, we got red and white lights and we made a candy cane tree. Do I love it? I don't know and it doesn't matter, but I do love the Whole and all that comes wir it. So here it is- candy cane tree 2012. Perfect for this moment.