Growing and Purging

What I keep.

I don't know whether to laugh at my stupid mistake or be pissed at my son for not communicating.  He and his friends come here every Sunday at 11:00 to record their radio theater podcast.  I knew he had a performance today in Santa Barbara at 3:00, but since he didn't tell me the recording session had been cancelled, I dutifully took the dog back into the studio so that he wouldn't be a freak as the cast arrived and recorded.  After about a half-hour, though, it was pretty quiet for a session, so I wandered out.

Must have been cancelled.  House empty.  Car gone.

Oh, well.  I got a little chore done.

Over the last couple of years there's been a lot of shifting around and the result is that the Happy Room - my studio - is a cluttered mess.  One of my goals for the summer is to get the surfaces cleared, the excess supplies stored and some projects completed before school starts.  To accomplish this, all the Stuff that is stacked here and there on the floor and on every flat surface must be dealt with.  For today's session I grabbed a pink binder that was sitting on top of something on top of something on top of something.

I recognized it.  As I've toddled along through these last  - now - six years of personal growth and transformation, I've run across articles and posters, poems and songs that have touched a deep belief and brought it to the surface, usually to be embraced.  As I've found the items, mostly on the internet, I've printed them off, slipped them into a page protector and stored them.  Some of the earliest I stored in this pink binder, thinking they might inspire me later in this project of self-acceptance and self-celebration.

As I suspected, most of the pieces I saved five years ago I have now grown beyond.  While I smile and feel appreciation for the wisdom they brought, the reflection that resulted, they are no longer relevant.  And so I pulled them from their plastic and set them aside for recycling.

I have to smile at what I kept.  A few examples...

This quote from Nathaniel Hawthorne, my favorite early American author:

Happiness is a butterfly, which when pursued, is always just beyond your grasp but which, if you will sit down quietly, may alight upon you.

Considering I was the delighted recipient of a REAL butterfly kiss this week, it seems appropriate to run across the quote again today.


The lyrics of an a cappella piece by the fabulous UK band, The Poozies.

The first short poem I read by Em Claire

"You see,
sometimes we are emptied.
We are emptied 
because
Life wants us to know
...so
much
more
Light."

Sometimes when I sit down to write, what I write wants to be a poem.  I found this one - written probably about 2011-2012 -  in the pink binder:

Precipice

I tremble on the edge,
terrified.
When I take the next step
will I soar with the birds
or end my days a pile of crumbled bones?

Are my wings strong enough
to take the leap?

Terrified.
Because either way,
I'm better off than I am here
on the edge.

I've always been afraid of heights.

2011 was kind of a rough year.


"The Magnetism of Kindness" a wonderful article by Daniel Childiac.  http://www.radiolive.co.nz/The-Magnetism-of-Kindness/tabid/498/articleID/27616/Default.aspx.

Kindness.
Spread it around.


The Disney Service Basic:

I project a positive image and energy.
Smile
Look approachable
Look happy and interested
Model the Disney Look
Keep conversations positive

I am courteous and respectful to all guests, including children.

Make eye contact and smile
Engage in guest interaction
Treat guests as individuals
Greet and welcome each guest
Thank all guests and invite them back.


That's just the first two elements, but I thought if I replaced the word "guest" with "student," they are pretty good "basics" for a teacher, too.


Harrison Ford's "Got Milk" ad.

Because Harrison Ford.  (Proof that men get photoshopped, too.)


And the lyrics to this.  I don't think I've ever had a song touch so deeply into everywhere I live.

It's the heart afraid of breaking
That never learns to dance
It's the dream afraid of waking
That never takes the chance
It's the one who won't be taken
Who cannot seem to give
And the soul afraid of dying 
That never learns to live ...

Reaching out in love.