Musings of an Earthling

Last night, I watched a documentary on Netflix called Magnetic, directed by Thierry Donard (he's brilliant, look him up). From surfing the giant waves of Nazaré Canyon, Portugal to speed flying in the mountains of New Zealand, Donard captures elite daredevil athletes at the top of their game doing what they do best, and gives the viewer some of the most breathtaking scenes cinematography has ever given us. I encourage you to watch it, even if you have no interest in extreme sports!

This amazing planet on which we live, truly is miraculous. Now, I'm no activist, but we really do need to take better care of her. All Native cultures know this instinctively and yet some dismiss them as primitive. I dare say they are more spiritually aware and evolved than modern day "civilization." Take a look around you...are we acting like responsible citizens of humanity, or are we behaving like sniveling children who don't know any better how to manage our emotions?

Every day the sun rises is a gift. Greet the day with gratitude and wonder! This place, this glorious heavenly body is ours to care for, explore and enjoy. I've had wanderlust my entire life and was lucky enough to see some of this beautiful world in my youth as a flight attendant. I didn't appreciate it fully, and what I wouldn't give to re-live some of those moments now. Someday, I hope to find myself standing at the lighthouse on the cliffs of Nazaré staring wide-eyed at those towering ninety-foot waves breaking and the adventurers who dare to surf them.   

       

In All Things, Give Thanks

If there's one thing that this worldwide shit show has proven to me, it's just how fast Life as we know it can change. I'm fifty-two, clearly, I know how fast life can change, but n-o-t-h-i-n-g on this scale has happened in my lifetime. How many of us rode (or are still riding) the roller coaster of emotions in the days and weeks after COVID19 became a part of our daily vocabulary?! For me, it has become a chance to embrace, and practice living in the present moment. The one thing that I can control during these unprecedented times, are my feelings surrounding all of it...so I stopped the roller coaster and got off.

I wake each morning and give thanks to God for Life, for the chance to spend another day with my beautiful daughters and our crazy Belgian Malinois. Starting each day with an expression of genuine thanksgiving sets a positive tone, keeps the demons at bay and I often experience overwhelming gratitude for little things: lilies in bloom, birds singing, cool mornings in June, manicured lawns, a gaggle of geese by the lake, quiet time to read, rooms with a view, and sobriety.

The bad days still come, but are met with an attitude of indifference. I say...do your worst. I'm an old sage, capable of handling whatever the World wants to throw at me. God gives us this miraculous life, and we are capable of animating any reality of our choosing, you know. But, it's a discipline one must practice in order to master like anything else. In the wise words of German theologian, Meister Eckhart, "if the only prayer you say is Thank You, that will suffice." I think right now we need a simple prayer in this convoluted world. So, when you wake up in the morning that means you're not done here yet...thank God and get going!

    





       

Finally....

God may sometimes seem slow answering your prayers, but He is never late.