The Morning After

Yesterday it rained, like it has for most of May.  We had the kind of rain that just down poured; it splashed against the windows and onto the porch.  No thunder or lightning, though, which for me, was disappointing.  Thunder and lightning are fascinating to me.

It was definitely a soggy night.

This morning is sparkling, though.  The ground is soaked.  I put on my slogs to go take a few pictures, and as I walked in my back yard, the ground sucked at my shoes, as if to say, "you can't go forward".  I stooped down to photograph the tall grasses in my back yard, and water splashed up against my legs.  The droplets felt cool on my skin, and as I savored the wet earth scent.

The sunshine is really warm this morning, and so I decided that I wanted to remember what it's like to see the sunshine through the leaves of the tree in my backyard.

I feel like this is symbolic of what we, as a world, are going through with COVID-19.  The rain spraying everywhere represented the ability that (any) virus has of being everywhere with no actual direction.  The sogginess represents the illness.  The wet ground sucking at my shoes represents all of the negativity that social media and the MSM have been throwing out there, keeping us stuck in a place of misery and discontent.  The tall grasses represent new growth, new thoughts, new discoveries.  The cool droplets represent healing, and the wet earth scent represents hope.

These photographs represent how I see the world now, as we come out of this shutdown, and start reopening our world.

Bee in love with the heartwork of your life.

The Quarantine 15

What did that title make you think?

Fifteen pounds?  Yup... that's what I think, too, when I say it, hear it, or read it.

But what are some other things that you've learned about from these past 65-ish days, either about yourself, that you've learned to do, or that you've discovered in your relationships?

Here are mine.

1.  I finished 3 classes online in this past semester.  I'm on my way to earning my marketing degree.

2.  I definitely need to lose weight because school has been so smushed together.  I've done a lot of sitting down to study.
3.  I've started doing photo restoration again.  I really love doing it, because I feel like I get to know the person on whose photograph I'm working. 

4.  I've expanded to slide and negative transfer to digital.
5.  I really love answering essay questions in homework assignments.
6.  I'm much stronger than I thought I was.
7.  When someone asks for prayers, or has told me they are going through a hard time, I actually do something different.  I place them in my heart and light a candle for them.  I feel like the energy from that helps that person, and me.
8.  I miss my friends, but I'm so grateful for modern technology.  It makes social distancing a little easier to handle.
9.  My mom is still my rock.  I got to see her for the first time in 3 months last week and I hadn't been so emotional like that in years.

10.  I've reconnected with a few friends and caught up with them over Facebook.
11.  My son turned 22 and we couldn't celebrate together.  I took him my older Kitchen-Aide mixer and baking supplies and ingredients for his birthday, as he has his own apartment now.  His photos of bread have been amazing.
12.  My cats really really love me.  Especially Bonnie.  She has been especially snuggley these past few weeks.  She keeps me on my toes, and herds me back into my office to work some more.

13.  Learning how to manifest things in my life, like abundance and prosperity, have been life-changing.  I've had many good lessons in this.
14.  Networking has taken on new meaning with learning how to navigate on Zoom.  That has been a lot of fun, and interesting.
15.  I'm looking forward to seeing how others have turned things around for them to make these new unprecedented times work for them.

From My Mom's House

My mom, my sister, and I are at the two-year mark of moving my mom from her home of twenty years with my stepdad, to Oak Crest Retirement Community. 

Have you ever had to help your parent clean out their house and decide, from all of the comfortable and cherished items, what's good for her to keep, for you and your sister to keep, and what to sell and donate and toss?

I'm talking multiple generations of collections.

Pink and gold china.  Blue and silver china.  Cooking utensils.  Glass dishes and cake platters and decorations and furniture.  These are all things that you associate with growing up.

Since our world situation happened, I've been finding new uses for the things that I received from my mom, to actually USE.  She gave me several silver plated platters and dishes.  I've put my glass jar candles on them, and it looks so pretty with my crystals.  An antique wooden thread box now houses office supplies.  Crystal sugar bowls contain every day items such as individual lens cleaning packets for our glasses, and other sundry items.  I have a cute little glass bowl on my desk that has memory cards and bobby pins. 

Here's the thing.  If I have it put away for a "special occasion", I'll probably never use it.  That's why it's so important to me to use it; then I see it, and it reminds me of my mom.

My mom is 82 years old.  I had the opportunity last week to drop off groceries to her at Oak Crest, and they have a very strict drop-off procedure.  My  mom told me she'd come down, but when I got there, I thought, there's no way they'll let me see her any closer than across the street.  Well, not only could I get 2 feet away from her to look at her well-worn, beautiful face, but we got a photograph of us together. 

It was really emotional for me to see her.  When I left, I pulled into the parking lot of the grocery store down the street, and I cried for 20 minutes.

I miss my mom.  I know she misses me and my sister.  However, I'm grateful for the strict protocol and procedures that they have at Oak Crest, and I'm grateful for the 5 minutes that I got to spend with her.  And I'm grateful for the things that I have from her house.

Bee in love with the heartwork of your life.

Above my desk

I'm a huge believer in using the Law of Attraction (LOA), positive affirmations, and meditation in my daily life.

Recently, I started taking my favorite quotes and making my own printable memes to hang up on my walls in my office.  I switch them out every couple of weeks.

I've had EGBOK:  Everything's gonna be OK.
I've had Recognition is the greatest motivator.
I've had It will never rain roses.  When we want to have more roses, we must plant roses. 
And Be the energy you want to attract.

This is what I currently have on my wall:

I printed out the one that reads "I am meant for this" last week.  I can't even remember why it struck me so poignantly, that I had to print it.  I was looking at it this morning as I stood there, drinking my coffee and getting ready for what seemed like the millionth Zoom meeting since March.

I said it out loud, like so:  I am meant for this.

Wow, whatever "this" is, I'm meant for it.

I am meant for this.  The word "am" is a conjugation of the word, "to be".  As in "I exist for this moment".

I am meant for this. In this sentence, "meant" conveys "to have in mind one's purpose or intention."  As in "This was the purpose all along, and it has to do with me".

I am meant for this.  In this, the emphasis is "to obtain, gain, or acquire".  As in, "This is something I am supposed to gain from". (not the quarantine 15, though.  Not that!)

I am meant for this.  The word "this" pertains to indicate a person, thing, idea, state, event, time, remark, etc., as present, near, just mentioned or pointed out, supposed to be understood, or by way of emphasis.  As in, This is the exact TIME that I'm supposed to be here.

Where do you put emphasis on your life?

Bee in love with the heartwork of your life.

What DOESN'T Drive You Crazy?

A lot of times, people love to talk about what drives them crazy.

For instance, people speeding on crotch rockets on the highway, weaving through traffic in between the lanes, drives me crazy.

Loud, repetitive patterns of chewing drive me crazy.

I mean, I drive me crazy sometimes.  I keep doing stuff that I know I shouldn't be doing, like snacking incessantly, or complain about the weather.  I know it's going to be hot in July, it isn't like it's a surprise!

I want to reflect for a moment on what doesn't drive me crazy.  First, let's define the word, "crazy", from dictionary.com

Well, those definitions are definitely extreme!  None of these feels right for something that irritates a person.

Let's look at synonyms.

None of those feel right either.  It seems that when "something drives you crazy", it's a cause-and-effect situation.  Speeders on Route 50 don't drive you nutty... but they sure are heck irritating!  They could cause an accident! 

These are all words that are about something that comes from within.  

So did you ever write a blog post that started out as one thing, only to twist halfway through?

So here are the antonyms for the word "crazy".  Let's test this out.  Yoga drives me balanced.

Ummmm no.

When my children are playing in the backyard having fun, it drives me calm.

Hmm.  

So it seems that the phrase, "drives me crazy", really doesn't make sense.

Just something to think about.

Bee in love with the heartwork of your life.

Is Your Heart's Desire In Your Back Yard?

It's been an interesting time, hasn't it?  Being in #lockdown, folks all over the world have been able to reconnect with their loved ones, and rediscover what they love about each other.  Some have been struggling.  Some have done a lot of introspection, and taking the time for self care and discovering what they really want in their lives.

One thing that I think has happened is that people have been finding ways to appreciate their lives at home.  We're a busy society, and it's always a rush. 

• Get up early
• Get the kids up and ready for school
• Go to work
• Work
• Go home
• Take kids to activities
• Make dinner
• Clean
• Bedtime routine
• Sleep

Do you see any time for savoring time with family?  Enjoying your home, which for many people is a symbolic sanctuary?  

I believe that we've been given this time, as hard as it has been for so many people with health issues and financial loss, to be able to rediscover what exactly is in our own back yard.  That's where our heart's desire is.

So as you mow the lawn, work in the garden, and tend to your patio, look around your back yard.  Watch your pets as they lounge around in the sunshine. Watch your kids as they play tag, laughing and jumping in the sprinkler.  With every stripe of grass you mow, see it as releasing the stress of your "old life", and realize that your heart's desire really is in your own back yard.

The lesson that Dorothy learned in the movie, is that she really is smarter than she thought, was more compassionate than she thought, and was more courageous than she thought.  And in doing so, discovered that her heart's desire was in her own back yard, with Auntie Em and Uncle Henry, and their farm hands.  And of course, Toto.

Bee in love with the heartwork of your life.

The Psychology of Old Photos

"Those were the good ole days!"

"They don't make things like they used ta!"

"Back when I was a kid, I walked a mile uphill in waist-high snow both ways to school!"

Did you ever wonder what that looked like?  

Well, the third one about walking was always an exaggeration; it's to tell kids that they really have it easy these days with school-buses and car-lines for drop-off and pick-up.

We are really lucky to be living in today... because most families have at least 100+ years of photographs of their loved ones, when they celebrated life, got a photo in the corner of the yard against the flowering bush, and the hunting photos!  It seems that even with how bulky and heavy cameras were back then, people knew the value of photographs.  It was a record to them of good times, brought joy, and helped them to remember that exact moment in time.

When you go home for the holidays in December, do you lug out the old photo albums?  I mean the ones with the black pages where the black and white and sepia photos were encrusted with corners that had been licked and placed to keep the photo in place.  I mean the ones with the sticky backs, that had so much acid in them, your photos turn yellow.  I mean the ones with the static pages that when you ripped open the film covering on the page, your hair would fly up!  

Do you sit on the sofa or on the floor with your mom and grandmom and peruse the albums? Do you ask questions about who is in the photos, and what's going on?  Do you try to insert yourself in the moment to discover what that day might have been like: the warm sunshine, the cool breezes, the smell of the flowers, what the colors actually were, what their voices sounded like?

I encourage you to dig out an album or the shoe box of photos, and get on Zoom with your grandma, and ask her about the photographs.  I bet you'll hear stories that you never heard before, and gain an appreciation of exactly how easy we do have it these days!

I mean, anti-perspirant and washing machines/dryers! 

Bee in love with the heart-work of your life.