Today is a Shout Out for all of you who tell and show the people in your life that you love him or her. When you do show that special someone how essential s/he is to you . . . life just feels so great. And lovely. And perfect. 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ehu3wy4WkHs
What is that one thing — that if you don’t do it everyday — you don’t feel quite right?
Running, playing music, hiking, taking pictures, gardening, speed skating, reading, playing water polo, geocaching, scrapbooking, quilting, rock climbing . . . What if no one had ever invented or discovered your passion? Would you feel the gap?
It does seem that so many of the things that we love to do are derived from prior necessity. Someone had to learn to sew skins together to stay warm and someone else had to run to chase the herd or dodge enemies. Someone wanted to climb cliffs to harvest eggs and someone else figured out a way to record stories with symbols in order to preserve them from disappearing.
So many of the things we love to do have a connection to the Mother of Invention. And then I think about needlepoint or rock polishing or yarn bombing or collecting Beanie Babies or toy voyaging? Could you live without Extreme Ironing? Is ironing cloth while kayaking that one thing that you would just feel weird not doing every day? This is not to diminish another’s passion — I celebrate creativity! . . . I just wonder about the evolution of the soul’s striving to express itself in modern times. Viva la difference! And bring the iron aboard, Matey!
We do, make, collect, expand, display, and learn. My interests feel fairly global. Nothing too over the top. They are simple: Writing. Painting with acrylics and junk jewelry and gauze. Playing music. Sharing with and laughing with my Sweetheart. Dancing. Researching the limbic system. Going out for Happy Hour with friends. Taking pictures with my new and awesome camera. Walking my dog on the trail. Pretty basic things, actually. But I would feel really unsettled if I didn’t have these experiences in my life. How much of what we do, we do because our soul just doesn’t feel right if we don’t do it? Surely there is enough time in the days. At least this is what I want to believe.
These questions came to mind as a result of a trip to the vacuum-cleaner-bag store — which also sells sewing machines and fabric. The salesperson, Donna, was so enthusiastic about helping me, I asked her, “What is it you like about your job?” Donna responded by saying, “I get to be around what I love. I get to help people with their sewing projects and then I feel inspired.” She went on to say that her husband had built a room onto their house so she would have a dedicated sewing room. She said, “If I didn’t sew every single day, I wouldn’t feel right.”
Wow. I went in search of Type A vacuum bags and left with a good dose of inspiring enlightenment. Her passion for sewing was so evident and inspiring. I wondered to myself, “What is it that I wouldn’t feel right not doing every day? What would I do without _________?”
It is a good question. Since meeting Donna, I have been consciously investing time in those things that really make me happy. Prioritizing that which I naturally love to experience. I love dedicating Sunday afternoons reflecting and journaling with my two best-est friends. I really miss dancing if I don’t go at least once a week. Twice is better. Thrice is the trifecta for my week. If I don’t get paint on my hands at least once a month, I get restless. I can’t imagine not laughing with my Sweetheart when we are together. If I don’t write every single day, I feel weird.
Surely, this is what Donna was talking about. If we don’t answer to our own selves, than we aren’t going to feel connected to Self at the end of the day. Like there is some unfinished business just wanting to be completed — something that spills over into the next day . . . and the next. Like some creativity that is wanting to be expressed in 3-D on canvas. Those running shoes that want to commit some memory to pavement. Some invention that is simply nagging to be discovered. Some research that is demanding a question to be answered.
It is like hearing an added sixth chord on a piano. Would someone, anyone (!), go and resolve the dissonance, please? Suspense is greatly (!) appreciated in jazz and in life but do allow me to experience a classical resolve as well. I love that feeling of returning home.
What is it that you so love to do, if you don’t pay it any heed, you don’t feel quite right? What is preventing you from embracing it and having some fun with it? I am beginning to suspect that we are born with a compass of passion — that instrument within that guides us to do that which feeds our souls. I love playing music and when I don’t prioritize it, something is out of balance. I seek the resetting of my inner compass that will point me back home to that place of consonance.
Dear Monday,
Thank you for being my day . . . my promise of another fantastic and glorious day. Spring is transitioning into early summer. The days are warmer, the daylight hours are growing longer, the sunshine is less fickle, the birds are singing in full chorus in the forest, the sunsets have been magnificent. There are so. many. things. to feel ecstatic about. Life is truly very good.
In music, a loop is a section of music that is repeated over and over. You can record short tracks on top of each other that repeat continuously — making some music that is incredibly rich in texture — all because of the gift of repetition.
Being human, we measure moments of life into time. We measure the minutes into an hour, the hours into a day, the days into a week. We call you, Monday, the beginning of the work-week loop — the reminder that we must don our work duds and head back into the proverbial salt mines. But this isn’t true. Not even remotely true.
Life knows no true sense of repetition. Monday, you are a brand new Loop in Time. You are unique and wild and replete with opportunity. What could possibly be ordinary about you, Monday?
Monday, I am thinking about how this very talented musician, Bryson Andres, uses the Loop to his musical advantage by layering his skill, talent, and passion to create an incredible sound that would ordinarily require a small orchestra to create. Like this music, I want to create a sensation of beauty and excitement and joy that repeats seamlessly into my life — creating new dimensions that expand my Loop . . . on toward and beyond next Monday.
Thank you, Monday, for being my wake-up call to engage my Loop Pedal.
and another if you are up for some more beautiful Monday music . . .
This is such an awesome video with a very happy and uplifting message. Plus the collaboration that went into making this recording is an example to me. It encourages me to go beyond what I perceive to be the self-imposed borders in my life and reach out for creativity and talent and inspiration from others — even strangers. Collaboration is the Higher Ground for growing my dreams and expanding my ideas.
PROMPT: What is the natural order in your life?
What is it that you do first before you think?
What is that one thing that spontaneously drives you beyond having to stop, think, clarify, justify? Prioritize, verbalize, intellectualize, organize, strategize . . . ?
What is that one thing that just pops into your mind?
Do you do this thing every day? Once a week? A month? A year? On Halloween? On New Year’s Eve? On your birthday? Ever? Never? And if not ever, what is stopping you from doing it right now?
What is my natural order? What is it that I do first before I even have to think about it? It is exactly as Samuel Beckett has written: DANCE. I love to dance. I love to dance because when I do, time literally stops. Any sense of time vaporizes, and I am caught in a moment of no-overthinking, no-planning. I don’t think about my job, my current relationship, my to-do list, my chores, my student loans and other pressing bills. I don’t think about having to set the alarm for the morning or needing to feed my kefir grains. I don’t regret saying no to that someone who is always wanting me to over-commit to yes. I don’t blame myself for making that mistake earlier in the day. I give up the guilt that prevents me from experiencing my natural order.
I just dance. I am no longer thinking and processing. I am doing. I am living my natural order. When the music is really perfect for dancing, I have stayed out waaay too late on a work night. I have returned to ex-boyfriends because the perfect song caught us on the dance floor together. I once smoked a kretek after a night of dancing with a really Bad Boy. [I feel so transparent confessing this! If you knew me, you would know that this was a really out-there thing for me to do.]
Consequences of living your natural order? Of course. All of life has consequences. What I do creates the experiences that form who I am. But when I embrace my natural order, I am no longer a human doing; I have become a human being. I want to be in my life. I want to respond to my natural order.
What is the natural order of your life? What is it that you do before you think?
PROMPT: What do you like about your Alone Self? When was the last time you spent some time with your Alone Self?
These questions lead me to tap on my soul’s door and say: “Is anyone home in there? Where have you been?” Wait . . . where have I been?
And then the door opens . . .
Who do I see? What is she doing? What does the room look like? What is the lighting like? Is there candlelight? Is she listening to music? If so, who is on her playlist? What color(s) are the walls? Are the floors bare or are there rugs? What pictures are hanging on the wall? Are there muddy running shoes by the door? Are there musical instruments? Is it some kind of laboratory with an experiment brewing — test tubes and beakers bubbling over? Is there a snowboard leaning against the wall? What does the hearth area look like? Are there books and papers piled on the table? Is it bare? Is it set for one? Or two? Or more?
Just writing these questions takes me on an expedition that leads me to better understand that which makes me who I am and that which I continue to create out of my passions and interests and fancies. My definition of fun lies in this room, and the person who opens the door has been awaiting my knock.
As I answer these questions, I take a journey into what it is I love about being alive. It is these things that I like about myself. I like that I light an inordinate number of candles when I am feeling stressed. I like being able to look at my wall of vintage and unplayable mandolins, knowing that someone once made music in them before the necks became too warped to play any longer. If you look just so, you can see ethereal notes of music past drifting out of their sound holes. I like using my stairway leading upstairs as my filing system for my research: a step for every barely-started project. I like seeing my collection of high heels haphazardly strewn about my closet and bedroom: this means I am wearing them. I like laughing with my loved ones, sometimes at really inappropriate times. I like that I keep at least two pairs of dance shoes in my truck at all times, one black pair and one red pair. Although my kitchen may smell funny, I like making my own kefir and kombucha.
As I think about what lies within and as I enjoy what I see, I now see my soul’s room as being inordinately messy and cluttered and hodge-podgey. No wonder I feel this way in my real life. Wait . . . this is my real life. And this is all good. It adds to my sense of self and to my sense of connection to others. It is I who has created all of this . . . um . . . creativity. And maybe it is time for some Spring Cleaning, but this looks like a really fun place in which to create and to be today. To be with my Alone Self.
A few questions for you:
What do you like about your Alone Self?
What do you see when your soul opens the door? What does it feel like? What does it look like?
After visiting this room, what do you like even better about your Alone Self?
Blessings to you today as you explore the hidden and unseen passages to your soul’s door. Perhaps it is along this circuitous journey where I make the biggest connections with my Alone Self. Boosh and Bwoom! Momentary flashes of discovery lighting my way.
Liking my Alone Self allows me to extend myself to others and make connections that I might have missed, if I am not mindful of keeping the soul’s door open. That is the beauty of spending time with yourself: when you return to your Others Self, you have decided if you are going to keep the door closed or prop it open with a stone. Today, the door is flung wide open. Bliss ensues.
The Unseen Words Project 