magic happens

Magic occurs when time ceases to exist. For me, as a member of a band, a piece of the mix that melds instruments and voices, rhythm and movement, harmonies and memories, into an experience to be shared...we set the stage for magic to happen. For us, the enchantment does happen when harmonies swirl around the room, bouncing off walls, reverberating back to us. And for a time, we are transported.

And magic happens when we look out into the darkened room and we see someone listening to a slow, sweet song, their eyes closed, face relaxed and smiling. And magic happens when, during a vigorously dynamic song, with steady, driving rhythm and closely knit vocals, we look out and see dancers lost in the moment. Animated, arms swinging and feet swiftly moving, there's a look: eyes seeing but not seeing, movements made easily and perfectly in sync with the music...that's magic too. Time ceases to exist for them and for us too. It's the perfect moment and one that we're always chasing. Enveloped in this moment, there is no desire for something more, nothing more than what this perfect moment has to offer. Time ceases to exist...and it's magic.

corner view: poem

Corner View is a weekly appointment - each Wednesday - created by Jane (Spain) and curated by Francesca (Italy), where bloggers from all corners of the world share their view on a pre-arranged theme.  The theme this week is " poem" and comes from Joanne (Japan) and Ibabe (Basque Country).

Shel Silverstein was an American poet, singer-songwriter, cartoonist, screenwriter, peace-activist and author of children's books. After listening to the news this morning of escalating hatred, unthinkably barbaric acts and retaliation, this poem seems appropriate.  Peace...

things worth sharing: 2/2/15

Some things I thought were worth sharing today. Grab a cup of coffee and enjoy!

1. Elephants roaming the hills of Tennessee!  The Elephant Sanctuary is designed specifically for old, sick, or needy female elephants who have been retired from zoos and circuses. Spanning more than 2700 acres, it provides three separate and protected, natural-habitat environments for Asian and African elephants. Their residents are not required to perform or entertain for the public: instead, they are encouraged to live like elephants. Why only females? It is not natural for adult female and male Asian elephants to live together. Asian elephants are matriarchal by nature. In the wild, the female herds are made of up related females: the grandmother, mothers, aunts, sisters, and nieces. They are truly a family led by the oldest, wisest females. visit their website for lots more information about this remarkable sanctuary! 

photo source: Elephant Sanctuary Facebook page

2.  Struggling to find what you're looking for on Google? Try NCKnows! You can connect to a librarian through your computer at any time. By typing messages back and forth in a chat box, they will be able to give you answers, articles and more. It's really easy. They are open 24/7 except for Sat/Sun midnight-8am.

3.  We watched a beautiful movie this week. Beautiful in its photography, soundtrack, story and acting. The movie is Ladies in Lavender and stars Dames Judy Dench and Maggie Smith, two women that I adore. Dench and Smith play two elderly sisters, living in a tiny, secluded hamlet on the English coast. After a violent storm, they find a young man washed up on shore and from there, their lives are remarkably changed. 

4.  Do you know about pygmy seahorses? They are some of the smallest seahorse species in the world, typically measuring less than 2 cm (smaller than a pencil eraser!) They camouflage themselves among coral and were first discovered in a lab as scientists were examining a certain type of coral. Interesting fact: male pygmy seahorses brood their young in their trunks, rather than in a pouch on their tail, as other seahorses do.

 5.  Watching this short film will be the best 16 minutes you spend this week. 8 1/2+ million people can't be wrong. You just never know when a kind word from you will turn a day/week/life around. Enjoy Validation.  (and yes, that's Jack Hodgins from Bones)

on riding the wave

Let's face it, life is sometimes hard, love sometimes hurts, people can be unkind, things aren't always fair. Sometimes it seems like the universe is clobbering you, day after day. You face an endless stream of things going wrong and you get to the point that you want to scream "UNCLE!" out to the cosmos. Some lasting life lessons can emerge out of the worst circumstances and out of our biggest mistakes too. You just have to ride that wave to arrive at something better.
 

It's hard to remember during these tough times that you are tougher. Dig deep to find something to be grateful for every day, to find something beautiful every day. Pull up the courage to be different (it's not only ok, it's great!), and to do something nice for someone else. Realize there are things you just can't change so give yourself a break, do things that help you let go of stress, simplify where you can, love generously, play hard, sing loud, dance wildly and hug often. Remember to take care of yourself. Nothing lasts forever. Wounds heal, night turns to morning, rain gives way to sunshine, and Winter gives way to Spring.
 

Last year I was healing from a deep betrayal when I was suddenly confronted with a subpoena to appear in court as a witness in a nasty lawsuit. The summoner was threatening, the pre-trial deposition was horrifying and reduced me to tears, lawyers were cruel and manipulative and the whole deal was a disgusting show of human greed.
 

Just a few days before I was to appear in court as a witness, a couple of friends invited me to a party at their house. I was so stressed I could barely take a full breath or unclench my jaw, but I went anyway. We shared food, sang songs, played games and ended the evening in their backyard. We circled a bonfire where piles of dried Christmas trees blazed, filling the night with dancing sparks and pungent, lovely aroma. It was exactly what I needed in that moment and I didn't even know it. I silently gave thanks for these good friends and for those brief hours that allowed me to escape the nightmare I'd be facing when the sun came up again.

And the sun did come up and with my husband by my side, I walked up the courthouse steps and faced the ordeal. The point of that tale is that the nightmare did end and the unexpected good that came out of it was a new-found strength in myself, an even tighter connection to my husband, the answers I needed to understand the cause of the heart-wrenching betrayals of the previous year, and a truly memorable evening with good friends.
 

The lesson here is that even though life may be really hard at the moment, there is still some good that can be discovered. Your ordeal isn't going to last forever so you can take a deep breath and know that you're going to get through this. You get a second chance and you get to begin again. And if you're really lucky, you'll get to watch your miseries float away in a blaze of glowing Christmas trees.

 

corner view: experience

Corner View is a weekly appointment - each Wednesday - created by Jane (Spain) and curated by Francesca (Italy), where bloggers from all corners of the world share their view on a pre-arranged theme.  The theme this week is "walk of my dreams" and comes from  Kristin (Germany).

Oh these faces, these people. The places they've been, the things they've seen...oh the stories they could tell if we just take the time to listen.

 

 

things worth sharing: 1/25/15

Some things I thought were worth sharing today. Grab a cup of coffee and enjoy!

1. This Old Man (life in the nineties) by Roger Angell    

Funny, wise, poetic and completely honest. Here is one of my favorite parts: 

“I’ve endured a few knocks but missed worse. I know how lucky I am, and secretly tap wood, greet the day, and grab a sneaky pleasure from my survival at long odds. The pains and insults are bearable. My conversation may be full of holes and pauses, but I’ve learned to dispatch a private Apache scout ahead into the next sentence, the one coming up, to see if there are any vacant names or verbs in the landscape up there. If he sends back a warning, I’ll pause meaningfully, duh, until something else comes to mind……On the other hand, I’ve not yet forgotten Keats or Dick Cheney or what’s waiting for me at the dry cleaner’s today. As of right now, I’m not Christopher Hitchens or Tony Judt or Nora Ephron; I’m not dead and not yet mindless in a reliable upstate facility. Decline and disaster impend, but my thoughts don’t linger there. It shouldn’t surprise me if at this time next week I’m surrounded by family, gathered on short notice—they’re sad and shocked but also a little pissed off to be here—to help decide, after what’s happened, what’s to be done with me now. It must be this hovering knowledge, that two-ton safe swaying on a frayed rope just over my head, that makes everyone so glad to see me again. “How great you’re looking! Wow, tell me your secret!” they kindly cry when they happen upon me crossing the street or exiting a dinghy or departing an X-ray room, while the little balloon over their heads reads, “Holy shit—he’s still vertical!”

 

2. Favorite quote  I came upon recently:  “Reading is socially accepted disassociation. You flip a switch and you’re not there anymore. It’s better than heroin. More effective and cheaper and legal”.  ~ Mary Karr 

3. Recent book release... John Lennon: The Collected Artwork 

 

4. Turn off your TV and watch this instead...Firefly:  Think Robin Hood leaning space cowboys, traveling the universe, under the radar of the corrupt Government Alliance. Set 500 years in the future, this series by Josh Whedon ran just one season on Fox, who unfortunately ran the episodes out of order and with long lapses between segments, so the TV viewing audience was thoroughly confused. Now, however, Firefly has become a cult hit. Starring Nathan Fillion ( think Richard Castle, from Castle or Joey Buchanan, from One Life to Live), and a cast of characters you’ll really enjoy. Turn off your TV and watch this instead this week. I picked it up at the library…you can’t beat free!  

 

5. What the critics wrote about the Beatles in 1964:  “Visually they are a nightmare, tight, dandified Edwardian-Beatnik suits and great pudding bowls of hair. Musically they are a near disaster, guitars and drums slamming out a merciless beat that does away with secondary rhythms, harmony and melody. Their lyrics (punctuated by nutty shouts of "yeah, yeah, yeah") are a catastrophe, a preposterous farrago of Valentine-card romantic sentiments…. “(Newsweek,  Feb 24, 1964)  You can read even more here for a really good laugh. 

 

 

chipping away at your demons

For me, the biggest limitations in my life are all in my head. They’re pretend, make-believe, figments of my imagination. I bet that the same goes for you.

If you pay attention, you’re probably going to find that you have distorted, maybe even completely incorrect, beliefs in your head. Ideas planted there by others when you were young, or by unthinking and insensitive people as an adult. I find that for myself, those false ideas created some mighty walls in my psyche, but I’m learning to spot them.

The really stubborn ones are those comments and criticisms that are foisted upon us as a child by some adult in your life. Those get planted deep. The barbs you receive as an adult are different, in part because they’re newer and create a new, fresh wound. Once you recognize them though, you can start to chip away at those demons that stand in your way.
 
We’re not meant to sit on the edge of our dreams and we’re doing ourselves a disservice if we let someone else’s ideas about us stand in our way. So pay attention to those fleeting thoughts. Observe when you get anxious about trying something new or pushing outside of your comfort zone.  When you recognize that thought that makes your heart pound a little harder or causes you to break out in a sweat, vocalize out loud: “There it is!” or “There’s one!” The very act of saying the words out loud will halt the negative thought that’s rearing its ugly self. Do that enough times and you’ll find that the frequency of that particular message will begin to slowly dissipate from your inner dialogue. In any case, in that moment, you take away its power. Then what? Well, then you push yourself forward. You are in no way alone in this. We all have these inner struggles.    

One I’m working on now is dealing with some hurtful words that were said to me after doing something that was really tough for me…on a stage…in public. Hurtful words said not once, not twice, but multiple times by someone who selfishly, wasn’t thinking about their impact. Ouch!  Certainly it's not all about that moment but that insensitivity was more than enough to jar me. So what am I doing now? I’m recognizing the words and feelings when they pop up and I’m chipping away at the demons that were planted that day. I’m working to take away their power.

My hope for you, is that you can chip away at your own personal demons and begin to take your power back too. 

 

 

corner view: walk of my dreams

Corner View is a weekly appointment - each Wednesday - created by Jane (Spain) and curated by Francesca (Italy), where bloggers from all corners of the world share their view on a pre-arranged theme.  The theme this week is "walk of my dreams" and comes from Nadine (Belgium).

Though they're just 2 1/2 hours from where I live,

 I can't take the walk of my dreams as often as I'd like to.

But in times of stress, when I need a bit of an escape,

I close my eyes and in my mind I go here...

 ...to the beautiful NC mountains.

I walk the paths I've walked so many times before...

...and I can breathe a little easier.

those shiny resolutions beginning to fade?

So, it's January 16th. The excitement and promise of the New Year has likely begun to wane a bit. The shiny resolutions and promise to turn over a new leaf have probably begun to fade. You've probably slipped off course a time or two. Forgive yourself. No excuses, no explanations, no regrets, no guilt needed. Decide that you Can Do and just begin again!

Every little success breeds more success and every bit of growth changes you for the better, so if the goal you set turned out to be a bit too big, push on! Set up small challenges and push yourself to accomplish it. Little by little, one step at a time, you're going to get there. If you stumble on your path (and you will), just pick yourself up and move on. When all is said and done, at the end of 2015 and it's time for self-reflection again, you'll recognize that you've blazed a new trail for yourself...so keep on!

a circle of love, now complete

Remember the amazing “Corner to Corner” project that I was included in, and posted about just over a year ago?  You can read about it in my original post from December 2013 here. 

Well the Corner to Corner journey has finally ended. During the last three+ years, the tenugui has traveled from participant to participant, holding small gifts for the receiver and wrapped with a growing string of notes from each receiver along the way. The final gift has been delivered and now the string of notes has been sent back to the originator of the project, Joanne in Japan.

According to Francesca in Italy, who has been tracking the package and organizing the project, the tenugui has traveled as far north as the Arctic Circle and south to New Zealand. The beautiful cloth, tiny gifts, hand-written cards and home-made notes traveled to Spain, Netherlands, Italy, Faroe islands, Switzerland, UK, US, Canada, Belgium, France, Basque Country, Poland, New Zealand, Germany, Norway and Japan. What an amazing journey!

 It’s been so much fun to get to know the participants of the “Corner to Corner” project and “Corner View” participants just a little bit better and to read their posts as they received their gifts and notes, and then sent the tender package onto the next person. It’s a creative circle of love, now completed.


Corner to Corner illustration by Susanna in Netherlands, whose art I just adore!