Three things I love about Tai Chi:
-Turning off my brain. I so often have too many thoughts, emotions, ideas running through my gray matter that I don't relax and just be. The moves for Tai Chi don't allow other thoughts in. The days when I don't focus on the moves I don't do as well and become increasingly frustrated. There is a meditative quality to this. My brain has to not only pay attention to what I am doing, but also to my body. A calmness sets in. On the days when I try to force it, or let other thoughts in, or think about the next move, are the days when I leave Tai Chi rather frustrated and angry with myself that I'm not 'better at it'. Letting the thoughts go and focusing on what I am doing each second brings peace and relaxation.
-Meeting with like-minded people. While this is true of other pusuits, I find with Tai Chi that there is not really room for too much extra stuff. See point one above. It sounds like an oxymoron, but although there is each individual's focus, there is still a warm and welcoming social aspect. And the Tai Chi-ers smile and laugh a lot.
-Being able to take the physical moves to whatever level I am needing that day. Slow, relaxing moves or the same moves that require more effort and exertion. And all of it benefitting my health - physcial, mental, emotional.
Sunday, November 29, 2009
Wednesday, November 11, 2009
Remembrance Day
Three thoughts about today:
-As a child in small town Alberta, and only 20 years after World War II, November 11 was a big deal. Every family in town had been touched by World War II. I could feel the effects in town. One year in particular I remember a colouring contest for all the children. The page to colour was poppies and crosses. I don't remember who won - I know it wasn't me - but I clearly remember hundreds of colored posters in the store windows, being in awe, and thinking each poppy stood for someone who died. For my own daughter, growing up forty years after The War, the day was a day taught in history and social studies classes. Some of her great uncles and her paternal grandfather had served, but there was/is no direct effect on her life. And now, 60 years later, the meaning of the day gets more lost. Just one more day off work and all the stores open, with some not even closing in the morning.
-I had uncles on both sides of the family who served. My Dad was not able to, due to medical reasons. I have heard both that it was due to flat feet and to his heart murmur. It doesn't matter the reason because not fighting for his country affected his life ever after, and to a degree, all eight of his children. His mother was of German heritage and came to Canada in the early 1900's. Brother One pointed out a few years ago that both WWI and WWII would have been especially hard on her. I'm sure there would have been prejudice and ignorance from people around her. Three of her fours sons served in WWII, in three branches of the Armed Forces. How did she cope with three sons away, fighting, not knowing if they would return, and knowing they were fighting her own country, perhaps bombing and shooting her own brothers, cousins, sisters, friends?
-Today we are still sending young men to be killed. I struggle with remembering the idea that this is for the better good. Is it? Do we only justify it that way to be able to sleep at night? But we also can not stand by and let 'the biggest bullies in the schoolyard' continue to hurt, maim, and kill thousands of innocent people. I struggle with my thoughts and feelings about war, but am comfortable in my own home, do not have to make decisions, and put it out of my mind for days and weeks at a time. I only know war as a concept.
Lest we forget.
-As a child in small town Alberta, and only 20 years after World War II, November 11 was a big deal. Every family in town had been touched by World War II. I could feel the effects in town. One year in particular I remember a colouring contest for all the children. The page to colour was poppies and crosses. I don't remember who won - I know it wasn't me - but I clearly remember hundreds of colored posters in the store windows, being in awe, and thinking each poppy stood for someone who died. For my own daughter, growing up forty years after The War, the day was a day taught in history and social studies classes. Some of her great uncles and her paternal grandfather had served, but there was/is no direct effect on her life. And now, 60 years later, the meaning of the day gets more lost. Just one more day off work and all the stores open, with some not even closing in the morning.
-I had uncles on both sides of the family who served. My Dad was not able to, due to medical reasons. I have heard both that it was due to flat feet and to his heart murmur. It doesn't matter the reason because not fighting for his country affected his life ever after, and to a degree, all eight of his children. His mother was of German heritage and came to Canada in the early 1900's. Brother One pointed out a few years ago that both WWI and WWII would have been especially hard on her. I'm sure there would have been prejudice and ignorance from people around her. Three of her fours sons served in WWII, in three branches of the Armed Forces. How did she cope with three sons away, fighting, not knowing if they would return, and knowing they were fighting her own country, perhaps bombing and shooting her own brothers, cousins, sisters, friends?
-Today we are still sending young men to be killed. I struggle with remembering the idea that this is for the better good. Is it? Do we only justify it that way to be able to sleep at night? But we also can not stand by and let 'the biggest bullies in the schoolyard' continue to hurt, maim, and kill thousands of innocent people. I struggle with my thoughts and feelings about war, but am comfortable in my own home, do not have to make decisions, and put it out of my mind for days and weeks at a time. I only know war as a concept.
Lest we forget.
Sunday, November 8, 2009
My Siblings
I have seven siblings. My oldest nephew and niece are close to me in age; in fact closer to me in age than four of my sibs, so they are like my siblings too, in many ways.
Three things about us:
-Thre is very little sibling rivalry, and less as we grow older. There were some tremendous fights and jealousy as children and young adults, but now we are mostly just loving and accepting of each other.
-We accept each other's idiosyncrasies, and can laugh about them, and at our own. There are some unspoken sensitive areas and we know and understand that to cross those lines would be hurtful. For the most part though, we can laugh together about ourselves, and poke fun.
-We stay in touch. I can't imagine families that go for months and years without speaking. We gather together when we can, in groups of two or three or six or (very rarely due to distances that literally spread from coast to coast) eight or ten. I am fortunate that I have also had many opportunities to spend time with each of these wonderful people individually. No matter the size of the gathering, there has never been an instance where the rest were not welcome, if they wanted or circumstances allowed.
My family. How I love them!
Three things about us:
-Thre is very little sibling rivalry, and less as we grow older. There were some tremendous fights and jealousy as children and young adults, but now we are mostly just loving and accepting of each other.
-We accept each other's idiosyncrasies, and can laugh about them, and at our own. There are some unspoken sensitive areas and we know and understand that to cross those lines would be hurtful. For the most part though, we can laugh together about ourselves, and poke fun.
-We stay in touch. I can't imagine families that go for months and years without speaking. We gather together when we can, in groups of two or three or six or (very rarely due to distances that literally spread from coast to coast) eight or ten. I am fortunate that I have also had many opportunities to spend time with each of these wonderful people individually. No matter the size of the gathering, there has never been an instance where the rest were not welcome, if they wanted or circumstances allowed.
My family. How I love them!
Saturday, November 7, 2009
Lazy Saturday Morning
What 'three thing' today? Sometimes it's a push for me to write about 'three things'. Some of my scribing has been long and I've put myself into a bit of a box by imposing rules within myself. My three things theme intent was to get back to the days when I sometimes had to really think of three good things in a day. At that time, I was so focused on the struggles in my life and within my own self, that it was often very hard for me to see anything good. I know there are always at least three things to be grateful for each day.
I have two days this weekend without any concrete plans, so the whole weekend is is open for me to do whatever I want, but I don't know what I want to do, how to fill my time.
Three things I'm enjoying about this lazy Saturday morning, with hours of time to fil for the rest of the weekend:
- a long time spent with a cup of tea and reading the newspapers that piled up over the past few days, when I had much less free time.
-a phone visit with a friend that I don't see as often as I like.
-the opportunity to make plans (or not) for doing exactly what I want to do, all weekend.
I have two days this weekend without any concrete plans, so the whole weekend is is open for me to do whatever I want, but I don't know what I want to do, how to fill my time.
Three things I'm enjoying about this lazy Saturday morning, with hours of time to fil for the rest of the weekend:
- a long time spent with a cup of tea and reading the newspapers that piled up over the past few days, when I had much less free time.
-a phone visit with a friend that I don't see as often as I like.
-the opportunity to make plans (or not) for doing exactly what I want to do, all weekend.
Sunday, November 1, 2009
Halloween stuff
I am still struggling with the evil monster, Time, to get everything done I want to do. I've had some busy weeks and I am working hard at eliminating the 'shoulds' from my life, but many of my shoulds are also "I want to's". (That apostrophe is not quite right, but 'tos' doesn't look right either). Between Time and Shoulds, I didn't create a Halloweeen costume for myself that I was happy with. In spite of that, I still enjoyed dressing up and becoming the Widow Jones for the day (and evening).
Three reasons I love Halloween:
- a chance to put on some clothes from a second hand store and become another character for a day. I rant every year about people who spend a zillion dollars on store bought costumes, because for me 'dressing up' is just that - dressing up and actually becoming someone else, not renting a monkey suit. I ranted a little less this year, because I chose to see the store-bought characters as at least having the fortitude to put on another face and go out in public for some fun.
-seeing kids excited about their costumes. There is magic in watching them and magic is seeing them transform into another character for a few hours. The candy is the wage earned for living the magic and the long and cold walks door-to-door.
-memories of my Mom and her ability to create wonderful costumes out of nothing. She would do this for us for Halloween and the annual small town parade in the town where we grew up. More importantly, she would do this for herself for Masquerade Balls and the occasional Halloween. With eight kids, no money, and far less time than I have, she would take this little slice of time for herself. She was thrifty, funny, creative, and taught me the importance of using these opportunities to have fun and take pride in creating, laughing, becoming. I miss you, Mom, and I will celebrate Halloween for as long as I can.
Three reasons I love Halloween:
- a chance to put on some clothes from a second hand store and become another character for a day. I rant every year about people who spend a zillion dollars on store bought costumes, because for me 'dressing up' is just that - dressing up and actually becoming someone else, not renting a monkey suit. I ranted a little less this year, because I chose to see the store-bought characters as at least having the fortitude to put on another face and go out in public for some fun.
-seeing kids excited about their costumes. There is magic in watching them and magic is seeing them transform into another character for a few hours. The candy is the wage earned for living the magic and the long and cold walks door-to-door.
-memories of my Mom and her ability to create wonderful costumes out of nothing. She would do this for us for Halloween and the annual small town parade in the town where we grew up. More importantly, she would do this for herself for Masquerade Balls and the occasional Halloween. With eight kids, no money, and far less time than I have, she would take this little slice of time for herself. She was thrifty, funny, creative, and taught me the importance of using these opportunities to have fun and take pride in creating, laughing, becoming. I miss you, Mom, and I will celebrate Halloween for as long as I can.
Wednesday, October 7, 2009
Getting Things Done
Three accomplishments today:
-first draft of a rather convoluted procedure
-answered questions and did some training
-shared individual laughs with more than five people
-first draft of a rather convoluted procedure
-answered questions and did some training
-shared individual laughs with more than five people
Saturday, October 3, 2009
Unexpected Treasures
Yesterday was a day I had planned to do chores and running around. Time got away from me, in the way time often does when a day is over-planned and over-scheduled (especially if the overly-scheduled has to do with obligations). I didn't get everything done I had hoped to accomplish. Instead there were a few nuggets of great time spent. And the treasures helped to refocus my overall life priorities once again, and release the frustration I felt at not having enough time to get 'everything' done.
The three treasures from Friday:
-a long phone visit with The Sister #2, where we just talked about 'stuff'. It felt like she was in my kitchen having coffee, and not thousands of miles away.
-a drive out of town with The Kid. Time well spent and open, honest conversation. I feel I know her better.
-great belly laughs with The Kid as we looked at the photos from our recent holiday. We had no plans to do this, and we actually on our way out the door to do more chores, when a spur of the moment decision led us to this.
The people and the time spent with them are what brings me happiness and satisfaction. The obligations and chores may have to get done, but they will wait for you. Take the opportunities, whenever you can, to fill your time with people.
The three treasures from Friday:
-a long phone visit with The Sister #2, where we just talked about 'stuff'. It felt like she was in my kitchen having coffee, and not thousands of miles away.
-a drive out of town with The Kid. Time well spent and open, honest conversation. I feel I know her better.
-great belly laughs with The Kid as we looked at the photos from our recent holiday. We had no plans to do this, and we actually on our way out the door to do more chores, when a spur of the moment decision led us to this.
The people and the time spent with them are what brings me happiness and satisfaction. The obligations and chores may have to get done, but they will wait for you. Take the opportunities, whenever you can, to fill your time with people.
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