time warps and wonders

One of the challenges of making the transition from a day job to a life's work is creating the texture of the days. For me, every morning has begun to feel like a weekend. I don't feel the urgency to get out of bed and get going. And yet, there are things to be done. The question is.... where to start? There are so many more options now that I don't have to head to an office.
Do I jump headfirst still sleepy into morning meditation, a walk, or my ORBS project? Check my Bberry or ignore it? Send that invoice? Call Fidelity? Take a bath? Tackle that proposal?
It takes a little while to settle into the day. Establishing a routine can be helpful, but I enjoy the slow start. I like waiting for what bubbles to the surface of importance. It's that touch of discomfort until the right thing reveals itself that is difficult. But with practice and patience that process itself will become an essential part of my ever changing daily routine.
I keep loose TO DO lists. I don't so much procrastinate as lay in wait for something to arrive at its natural moment of must be done. And then it is. With surprising ease.
May your day be filled with the Magic Medicine of natural rhythms and the life sonnets that may be composed of them.

artist derick melander

Recycled clothing becomes sculpture.

not working. living.

When I first got downsized, I had visions of running off to India, getting lost in the swirl of a country I've been wanting to visit for years. The reality wasn't quite so dreamy. But is turning out to be a different kind of adventure.
My first day back from a trip to Yuma, AZ, where I'd been headed before I got the ax, I landed a fast and furious freelance gig that set my head spinning. Mindful of the $$ that my bank account would appreciate, I managed the meltdowns and did some great work under pressure.
Then the doldrums set in. I set up lunches. Made a few new connections. Updated my resume and website. I entered the "Catching up on Doctor's Appointments" phase.
It's almost 2 months now. The Visa applications for India seem to be in a perpetual state of almost done. But I'm just about finished with a knitting project that I had to completely unravel and start over. I'm somewhere in the middle of an art project for FIGMENT on Governor's Island June 11, 12, and 13. And I just started my application for an MFA program I've been looking at for 10 years.
This is the amazing blessing of losing your job. You get to live.
At first, the quiet is a little deafening. Or more accurately, anxiety producing. But then, as the mind starts swirling, forgotten things bubble up. And life becomes your work. Which begins to feel more like play.
It felt a little funny at first. Like I should be doing something more productive. But what's more productive than living?
I still have those moments where I go into a silent panic about money and am gripped by desperation about the house and yard that will never be House Beautiful. But on rainy Monday mornings like these, I have no where to be but where I am. And no one to be but myself.
May your day be filled with the Magic Medicine of reimaging and reinventing your life.

Perfect Voice!

Got very impressed after watching the latest episode of Xing Guang. Her voice really get ppl addicted. Did some searches regarding 黄龄, and this is what written in her album:"- 不听黄龄是你的损失华语歌坛已经许久没有出现抢耳好歌。因为我们的耳朵已经很久没有兴奋的感觉。当市场上充满两个月八个星期“完全成长”的快餐音乐和流水线艺人的时候，基本顺耳竟然成了音乐创作的境界标准。人们甚至开始怀疑花费时间来培训艺人、抵抗浮躁专心琢磨音乐的作法是否值得，人们渐渐淡忘音乐曾经如何感动人心，何其悲哀。..."I think this is very true. Now new singers are popping out

Just Change the Diagnosis?

Real conversation between 2 MOs.MO 1: "Hi XX, it seems that you just admitted a patient with obstructive jaundice and fever to medical ward..."MO 2: "Ya I did. Anything?"MO 1: "And your diagnosis in the admission clerking is ascending cholangitis..."MO 2: "Yup...any problem with that?"MO 1: "In that case, the patient should be admitted to surgical ward instead of medical ward. Is there a mistaken

linkety link

http://cargocollective.com/

Overwhelm is just upside down abundance

Spring can be overwhelming. Welcome, of course. But overwhelming just the same.
Everywhere I look there's something else to be done in the yard. Raking the leaves I didn't get to last fall. Redefining outdoor spaces so I can enjoy coffee in the morning sun, lunch in gentle shade and star gazing at night. Pruning and weeding out the overgrown. Planting seeds in hope of fresh grown vegetables.
I've owned this property for over 20 years now, and I'm afraid I haven't done much to improve it. Deer have all but decimated the beautifully shaped juniper at the front door. As well as the old roses and lilies. The fence that protected the bee balm and blackberry last year finally came down in a tangle.
But, there is progress. I freed two old wire fences from the tangle of thorns in the now abundant wild roses, and plan to reuse them for the protection of lettuce. And I see signs of the lilies' return in a fenced off patch. Old cement blocks I've moved every year from one pile to another, are finally neatly stacked to create two seats under the magnolia where I can rest in dream between leaf raking relays.
The lilacs are a promise away from blooming. So too is the bridal wreath and magnolia. And I know that somewhere under the matted leaves, poison ivy is waiting, hoping to catch me off guard.
But right now, there is nothing to do, precisely because there is too much to do. And the gift of being overwhelmed with it all, is taking a step back, taking a day off, watching the breeze in the pine needles and listening to the not so distant trickle of water running down the hill into the swamp that could be dredged into a pond. If only there wasn't so much else to do. And not do.
May your day be filled with the Magic Medicine of doing nothing.