Rainbow sprinkles and cherries on top

I work with people. I see every hair color, every skin color, every gender, size, shape, age, every accent, every attitude, every everything that makes us all different and unique.

This also happens to be my favorite part of my job: talking to people and exchanging this miniature space of time. The variety is awesome.

Having so little time with so many people, is like getting to eat the top part of an ice cream Sunday over and over. I get the good bit. The cherry on top. I don’t have opportunity to get full, overwhelmed, or have enough, I just get the colorful and flavorful; the yummy bit.

As I meet countless strangers from all over the world, I only become more amazed by the diversity and beauty out there, which mystifies the existence of racism and hate. Billions of people on this planet, and some seem to think diversity is a bad thing. Are there really people out there who think every human should have the same skin color? The same religion? The same clothing, the same attitude? And if it’s not that they wish us all to be the same, is it they wish for those with differences to not exist? Like bombing the shit out of them till they are all gone?  I have to wonder.

There is an old saying: Live and let live. And that saying has two parts!!! What you need to pay attention to is Live. In doing that, in worrying about yourself, you Let Live.

I think there are way too many people out there needing to be told:

Go live your life, do YOUR thing, experience YOUR dreams and desires, don’t get bogged down or care what other people are doing. Don’t pay attention to their skin or hair, their religion or their land. Live YOUR life, caring about what YOU are doing. Accept there are rainbow sprinkles, cherries, cookie crumbs, caramel sauce and every kind of topping you can imagine. And be ok with it because you are living YOUR Life, and enjoying YOUR happiness.

Simple really. So do it.

You can’t see how beautiful you are…

I asked my friend recently to have her kids draw a Mandala for me. My goal was to replicate what they drew in order to “build” the Mandala in photoshop; creating a circle from a non circle design. So my friend being clever, and knowing Mandalas are round, cut paper into pie shapes, and had her kids draw on those.

Clever right?

2 of her 4 children loved it, the other two were not impressed with the project. What I got back was two from the kids, and two from her.

In scanning and playing around, the design I used was one my friend drew, not her kids.
When I finished the Mandala, I sent it to her. She was shocked. She said she had no idea it would look like that… even tho SHE drew it.

-so beautiful.

Then I got thinking… (as I tend to do)

A number of people I know can’t seem to see they are more than a slice of Mandala. They are unable to see their complete beauty. The single slice is all they know, they drew it, they are familiar with it, but the ability to see anything more than that one slice, is just not there. Essentially they are too close for anything more.

Then I come along, I am not in a position to only see the slice. I see the whole Mandala. I’m not involved in the intricacies of their little slice, the bits they concentrate on, or have hang-ups with. I just see the big beautiful design and feel perplexed by their inability to see what I see.

I find this so often with people I really like. People who I think should see how great their wholeness is, and yet, they only see a slice.

What do I do other than enjoy their beauty, and keep trying to tell them what I see?

August Awareness

August has been a beautiful month for me. I don’t want to say good bye to the warm weather, and August normally represents that letting go of beautiful warmth. We have had some funky weather all summer, so I will continue to hope it stays funky, and maybe the warmth lasts longer than it should. Heck, I think I have seen the sun set in the north a few times this summer, so maybe anything is possible with the weather.

It’s been a beautiful month not just because of weather, but because of people. I seem to have so many loving and giving people in my life, that I am receiving smiles and love in many directions. In addition to being extremely busy with fun projects, and a social life squeezed into every available hour. Which is why I’ve found it so difficult to get my first blog post up this month.

 I’ve had a few things fall together in my mind the last couple weeks, and overall I feel great.

A couple nights ago I went with a Dearheart to a really cool event called a Sound Bath & Sonic Massage. It was in a Krishna temple, where the floor was covered with people on yoga mats and blankets. I had never been to one, so didn’t know what to expect, and afterward I felt like everything in the world was where it should be.

There were no mantras, there were no meditations per se, it was just sound, lovely sound made by two individuals with crystal singing bowls, Himalayan metal bowls, drums, flutes, rattles, gongs, tingsha chimes, and a little singing. They say they are “producing sounds which invoke a deep relaxation, naturally assist in meditation, stress reduction and holistic healing.” This was not a description I saw before the event, only after, and I was like –“Ah, ya, I totally felt that.”

I both laid and sat on my soft blanket during the ‘sound bath’, and afterward some thoughts came to me, so I grabbed my notebook and wrote:

The life I want can be the life I have. If I accept I’m in control, I invite, I expel, I love, I allow, I decide, I live… my life. We spend so much time wishing for the beautiful to arrive, the comfort to come, and for the “everything is ok” dream. We think it’s unattainable. The older we get the more we seem to accept there is no green grass, not on this side or the other. I had nearly accepted that lack of green, well… I in fact had, but something happened and I started to notice the green grass is growing under my feet, and it has everything to do with my willingness to look down and look around. In doing that, I’m seeing beauty everywhere. It’s life. It’s MY LIFE. And I’m seeing it’s the life I want. I’m making and living the life I want to have.

I need to own my life, take possession, and be the one dictating what I do, how I feel, and what ground my feet step on. I have to be self-full. I have to own me, take care of me, shut doors to some people, and pay attention to energy to and from myself. Consider what I’m willing to have in my life, and what I’m insisting leaves.

What if there is no “doing what you are meant to do”? What if you’re just supposed to follow your heart and act on what you feel? No path is already paved with you forced to find it. What if you pave your own using dreams, desires, loves, joys, interests and the things that make you happy? That’s the path that will bring satisfaction and lead to what we call fulfillment. There might not be any “meant to”, just “want to”.

Happy August. ;)

(Photo is one I took down at "the farmers path". My favorite place)