Be Good to Yourself

Brushes like these two might be the one of the best and easiest things you can do for your physical body. They will detox the biggest organ you have, your skin. It is good for your lymphatic system, among other things. I have never been a great one for pampering myself. I guess I grew up too much of a tomboy. I mean, who has time to put on lotion when there are so many wonderful things outside in the dirt. (I still prefer dirt to lotion! Hahaha)
I live in the desert southwest. Desert=dry, dry, dry. Now, while I take the time to hydrate my wood furniture (hubby is a woodworker) to keep it looking good and staying together in this climate, I used to rarely take the time to take care of my outer layer of protection. After awhile of this type of neglect my skin does a pretty good imitation of a genuine alligator bag, especially my legs. Hey, I'm a grown up tomboy and I can ignore that. But, here comes the kicker, I get itchy, really itchy. I start to leave red marks on my skin from scratching. Also, I leave behind a trail of dandruff like stuff everywhere. Eewwww! Enter my two new best friends. The short brush is very soft and good to use on my face and neck. The longer brush has more serious bristles and is long enough to even do your whole back. Make sure the brushes aren't too stiff. You don't want to damage your skin when you are trying to do a good thing. I did a little research and found that you should brush your skin toward your heart. Start at your feet and brush up, then do face and neck (softer brush) and brush down. Shower or bathe after to get rid of all that yucky dead stuff.There are so many benefits to this practice. It only takes 5-15 minutes. This is the best part...it feels really GOOD! I don't even think of this as pampering. It is something I do to keep me comfortable and it still does other really cool stuff. It was kind of like when we found out dark chocolate is good for us. Anyway, your skin will look better and you will feel vibrant. Take care of your skin. I mean, really, it holds all the good stuff in.

Expectations

The root of disappointment was planted by the seed of expectation. I was going to write about waiting, or patience today, but just couldn't seem to quite get in the mood for it. All of you that know me, already know that one of my life lessons is patience. So, I'm not going to lead the cow down to that trough (well, at least not today LOL). But, earlier I was doing some chores and putting together some single serve meals to freeze for my 95 year old mother-in-law, and I thought, "This is not what I expected to be doing today. What happened to that time I was setting aside to do artsy-crafty stuff?" And, what had been an ok activity disappeared into a haze of disappointment, a slightly feeling sorry for myself kind of moment. And THAT, my peepsies, turned into about an hour and a half's worth of looking back over a lot of my expectations. I turned 60 this year. I am not where I expected to be in my life. I had EXPECTED to be getting ready to retire, traveling more, seeing my kids and grandkid more, spending more time with my soon to be 80 year old mom. I had expected never to get into this bad a physical condition again (having done this twice before and making some very serious, but now, broken vows to that effect). And it just wasn't the good stuff that I expected. Hubby and I have had some setbacks thru life (who hasn't?) but I got into the habit of expecting the other shoe to drop. You know, just waiting for the next bad thing. I think a lot of us have done this. I have been working on this particular one pretty hard. I have found that if I am always expecting something bad to happen that I can be pretty good at manifesting that. Also, it brings a lot of worry and I am not enjoying my life at the moment. I have found that when I am in that expecting type of place that I am not here, not now. I am living in some daydream of how the future is going to be, most of the time without putting a lot of thought into what needs to get done to have those expectations met. I am not only missing out on all the great things that I do have going, but I am setting myself up for future disappointment. Crazy, huh? Yeah, I know. Well, I am a work in progress and most of the time a pretty good optimist. I will let this expectation part of myself go. It will take a lot off of my shoulders and make my day to day life easier. Well, I still have some food to freeze so I had better get at it. Made a family favorite, JuicyBurgers. I expect my mother-in-law will really like it........oops!

Feeding Your Wild Thing

Feeding Your Wild Thing

I got to see "The Life of Pi" last night. It is still very much with me today. It is so full of such good stuff to think about. What keeps floating to the top for me today is how fragile is the hold we have on our Wild Thing. You know what I am talking about. It is the Passion, the Excitement, the sheer Joy, the over the top and down the sides part of you that is so easily lost or worse, euthanized by todays expectations of what makes a grown up or a responsible citizen. I am not talking about violent tendencies, I am talking about the things that bring life to your life. The fierceness that can pop out when you are speaking about the things you truly believe in. The passion that makes people look at you a little differently, maybe even take a step back, have you fed it lately? That joyful excitement that bubbles through you when you are creating----ANYTHING, have you given it a long drink of inspiration? If we don't play with our inner Wild Thing, air it out, nourish it, we will lose it. It will be gone and it may take a lifetime to coax it back. So, quit starving your very precious Wild Thing. Feed it the good stuff. Now, go outside and ROAR!

My soon to be 95 years old mother-in-law called last week to ask if I could help her put on a garage sale. She lives in Phoenix, Arizona and this would entail a 7 hour drive, plus bringing everything to set up a garage sale, as she has never had one in her life. As my husband and I loaded up saw horses and pieces of plywood to use as tables we discussed the reasons for this unusual request. In January, his mother had been diagnosed with lung cancer and from everything we had been told, she probably had anywhere from 3-6 months to live. She says that she has never felt better in years and does seem to be doing really well considering the diagnosis. She has outlived her husband and a brother and most of her friends. She considers that she has had a pretty good run and has told us all that she is ready for whatever happens. With that in mind, she decided that getting rid of some of the "stuff" she had would make it easier on all of us that would be left.
     The day after we arrived, we endeavored to get her to tell us what she wanted in the sale. After much procrastinating, she decided that we would start in her china painting room and cull out all the books that could be sold. Lordy, I have never seen so many cookbooks, mostly vintage, in one place! Now this is a woman whom most family members would agree, with the exception of one or two items, was decidedly not a good cook. But, I guess hope springs eternal and she was trying to be better by just reading Betty Crocker. Every book she placed in the pile came with an anecdote or a memory of someone that had to be told. We were getting nowhere fast and still did not have much to put in a sale.  My husband came in to hurry the pace and basically just increased her audience by one more body.
    Sale day arrived and we set the make-shift table up and placed what items we had managed to gather and price on display. Now, the wait. The first cars arrived and customers started to poke around the "stuff" that she had accumulated over a long life. We were amazed how well these old cookbooks sold. My mother-in-law was impressed enough to go in and bring out some clothing. As I worked the concrete sales floor and took  nickels and dimes, quarters and dollars, she sat in the sunshine and talked to the strangers and neighbors that had stopped by to see what treasures that they couldn't live without.
     She didn't make much money and we didn't get rid of much "stuff" as she just couldn't seem to part with much. But, I think she had a good time and I re-learned something that I had forgotten. We all have stories and we all yearn to share them. It validates us and we feel that we have accomplished something in the passing along of our tales. So, when someone shares a story with you, smile, nod, touch their hand and know that you have lifted a life and made someone feel precious and above all, heard.

Cycles

I  pulled this card from the beautiful "The Goddess Oracle deck just a while ago. I was a little surprised to pull it. I used to get it in my pre-menopausal and peri-menopausal days, but that is long past. What, I was wondering was what it was trying to say to me? 

For women, our days and years are measured by our bleeding cycles. More importantly, how we feel about ourselves and how society sees us is measured by this, too. When you are young and vibrant and FERTILE you are looked at one way, with a value. Maybe for the wrong reasons, but that is the case. When you are older, it is a different story. Here in the West, we worship, chase, idolize Youth. Our older women are pushed aside. Just at the time when we no longer have the worries of continuos child care and at a stage where we have gathered so much information, both classically and intuitively, we are ignored. We even think of ourselves as unwomanly, thinking that we have nothing of value to offer the World. If the outside won't honor us, we need to do it for ourselves. Take stock of your assets. Every life experience, each moment of joy, every agonizing bit of pain, each night of sorrow has taught you something. Every older woman carries a bit of Chiron, the wounded healer, inside of her. Your hand, your words, your very heart can change how some one else sees their day, their partner, their children, their friends, their World. They will listen to you because they will feel that you have been there, done that. You can walk your talk. Don't be shy or afraid. Don't let the World push you aside. Share yourself. You are a gift.

http://www.amazon.com/Goddess-Oracle-Deck-Book-Set/dp/1572815469/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1330014634&sr=8-1

For many of us, our lives have played out like an old fashioned melodrama. You know what I mean, "You must pay the rent! I can't pay the rent!" Going from one life crisis after another and all the while, waiting for the "hero" to come and vanquish the evil and take us away into a "happily ever after". Well guess what? YOU are the hero! Not only that you are the script writer and you play every role, every character at one time in your life or another. Now is the time to take charge! Be the producer and the director, after all, you are working with the best talent on the planet! (applause, applause)

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