Sunflowerlives

“I have just three things to teach: simplicity, patience, and compassion.  These three things are your greatest treasures.”  – Lao Tzu

One of the first things I do, after the day has a rhythm, is to open my Email.  Today one entry offered very sad news, news that breaks my heart. News that reminds me of Tzu’s quote.

A friend, Kay, has been moved to Hospice; and it seems that there is little hope of a recovery.  I am beyond sad; for this is a woman who has had compassion for many, myself included.  But more than that, she added the simplistic joy of teaching me how to grieve the death of my mother; and, she gave to me tools that I would use eight years later when one of our son died so unexpectedly.  Kay  understood the importance of patiently waiting on others as they wander through a grief process to find the light at the end of the tunnel.  Sitting here now and writing to  you, I wonder how many there are who can offer this to another…  Kay did.  What a woman!

Right now we all pray or lift up or whatever good thing we can from our souls to

“The only thing to fear is fear itself.” – These are the words of President Franklin D. Roosevelt in his first inaugural address. What is the fear that Roosevelt described?  Could it be that it is the fear of ourselves that is the culprit, for we are the ones who allow it to grip our lives. Fear only lives if we allow it to live. We are the masters of our choices.

Recently several persons have discussed with me the subject of fear. They’ve believed me a strong person, and with that strength in mind, they’ve wanted to know what I myself fear? Further, what do I think fear really is, and can I help them eliminate fear from their own lives. (Would that I could eliminate fear from one’s life, including my own for I have had moments of fear.)

At the time that Roosevelt said those words, “The only thing to fear is fear itself.” the entire United States of America was gripped in the worst depression the country had ever known. This president was looking for a way to help the country find something beyond despair in this horrible time. He was hoping that we would stop thinking about

“Horses love to run.  But thoroughbreds love to race, and furthermore they like to win!”  –  Pugnare et Vincere

Hubby was raised on a horse farm; that said, he didn’t care to live the rest of his life around horses.  Who knows why and who can understand it, yet it’s the truth.  He left the farm for thoroughbred; I, in my own way am his pony!

Just call me his thoroughbred race horse, as I’ve been running a race of some kind all of my life.   Not only run but run for the win!  And not win for myself but for all… The Win/Win.  It may seem a bit unrealistic, but then I am one of  the Utopian Girls…  We shoot for Venus and get the Moon.    Like any racehorse, the race isn’t always what one expects….  Yet, it’s always a win when one aims for two finish lines:  Tot place and/or the finish line of knowledge.  We can always learn; and, when the world thinks we’ve lost, knowledge can even be the bigger win.

From this person’s perspective, competing against yourself is always a success story.  Audition against life and make it one’s best effort; watch everything and everyone around to

Dogs.  Do you have one?  I do.  His name is Lewis, after C.S. Lewis, one the foremost writers of the Twentieth Century.  Lewis, AKA Lewie, came to our home about a year and half after the death of our son.  We know death, Hubby and I.  He lost his mother at the tender age of sixteen, just as he was getting to know her as an adult and friend.  I lost my brother at the age of twenty-three, just when we were getting ready to share our lives after his stent in the navy.  We’ve both lost our fathers now, and my mother is also gone…  My mother lived with us until her passing, so many of her things are here while she is not (yes, dispersing an estate from a home you shared with the deceased leaves holes that are exhausting but true). We had just recovered from my mother’s passing when our son suffered a massive cardiac arrest in our home and died three hours later in a hospital.  Death.  Yes, we know you well.

After Nathan died, we did all kinds of things to change it up. We redecorated almost every room in colors that were happy and up-lifting.  We framed his

The mute button was invented by an engineer in 1955 (Polley by name) who worked for Zenith… Although a man named Robert Adler, who invented the television remote, should also be mentioned…  i.e. No remote, no mute button.  Anyway, they both did us a favor.  MUTE on the television means that one can temporarily stop the sound emitted from the television.  One would guess that which one mutes, would be the myriad of commercials that we would otherwise sit through to watch just one tv program.

Ah, silence!  It has always been my friend; so, when my family bought a television set that had this wonderful mute button, it was heaven for me.  One minute some woman is vomiting her vocabulary about her painful twenty-eight day cycle and the next, I have muted her!  No more discussion.  And, let us not forget the many commercial moments about medicine…  Twenty seconds of medical description followed by forty seconds of horrifying disclaimers, as to how this health providing med might also maim or kill the consumer.  MUTE!  How glorious thou art!

In the course of one TV program, there can be as many as six commercials per commercial break.  My parents would hit the mute button and then proceed to read or do cross word puzzles,

All this time, I’ve been quoting other people whom I believe to have said something worthwhile.  We need to hear and read things that are worthwhile, as this is a medicine to the brain and to the soul when times are confusing or difficult or both.  Today I’d like to give you a few of my own words in the hope that they will help in these troubled and confusing times.

We all are aware that we have two questionable persons running for the office of President of the United States of American.  We don’t personally know these people, but we have an idea that they are not a statesman or states woman… They seem self motivated or political or both.  And, as citizens, we need (not just want) someone who can not only lead but take us in a direction that is forward. At any rate oh-so-many of us are convinced that our best interests are not at hand where these candidates are concerned; and the people of America are deeply agitated as to the possible direction of our future.  And yet…  Is it they who are important, or is it WE?  We the People!  WE started this country and

John Quincy Adams:  A statesman who served this country as the sixth president of the United States of America… He also served this country as a diplomat and a senator and also in the House of Representatives.  He could and did rally people!  He could draw you to think… Not the kind of thinking that happens during commercials between scenes of one’s favorite TV show or out on the golf course… He made you think and learn and act! And, I believe he was right when he said, that when one’s actions inspire others to dream more, learn more, do more, become more, then you were a leader… He was describing himself.

I hesitate to mention the up-coming election because we’re all fed up.  But here goes…  Are we choosing an actual leader for our country, or are we trying to solve the discomfort we may be living in for the moment… Because some of that can only go away with time and no leader can change it in a term of office.  Our focus is not to make ourselves comfortable by electing someone, because every one of us must work for that ourselves.  Again, we have to work for that.