The sun bends down in all its summery heat, so that creatures large and small search out the cooling shade of trees and canopies.
But even so, in all this hazy, shimmering splendour, the secret can no longer be hidden: Summer is maturing, growing old and ripe and slow. A vintage season showing more and more the gentler colours of antiquity … darker greens, faded pastels … and unmistakeably, the sheen of red and gold in the leaves of trees.
The sun is turning towards the North. Nature knows it well.
A single autumn leaf braves the change, releases the world it has always known
…
and
flutters
down.
Aim for success, not perfection. Never give up your right to be wrong, because then you will lose the ability to learn new things and move forward with your life. ~ Dr. David M. Burn
Nothing is perfect if judgment is present. Everything is perfect when you let go – this is how you see with the eyes of love. ~ Mastin Kipp, founder of The Daily Love.
Ring the bells that still can ring
Forget your perfect offering
There is a crack in everything
That’s how the light gets in. ~ Leonard Cohen, amazing singer/songwriter.
Perfectionism is the voice of the oppressor, the enemy of the people. It will keep you cramped and insane your whole life. I think perfectionism is based on the obsessive belief that if you run carefully enough, hitting each stepping-stone just right, you won’t have to die. The truth is that you will die anyway and that a lot of people who aren’t even looking at their feet are going to do a whole lot better than you, and have a lot more fun while they’re doing it. ~ Anne Lamott, best-selling author, acclaimed public speaker and activist.
Spectacular sunset after a storm
Quotes are from The Daily Love, a really inspiring site with a free daily e-multivitamin for the soul.
there is joy to be had in the little things.
little straws of comfort to clutch at
when the big swells of entropy
loom and swallow and threaten.
Whew, is it just me or are the weeks are going faster and faster, all blurring together? Time for an update on South Beach Steve’s Perfect 10 Challenge.
This week was once more crazy busy – I am beginning to actively hunger for a vacation – but things went better. I even registered a weight loss, that is, until I ate a super salty meal and gained it back, so in total for the week, my weight is still standing exactly where it has been for the past two, three weeks.
What is it with craving salty things so badly? I can eat a whole handful of capers – and I did the other day, with some feta cheese. Olives and sundried tomatoes hold the same attraction for me. There are simply days I want something wickedly salty. But here’s the good news: Formerly I would have satisfied this craving with chips – either fries or crisps – of any sort or description. Lately they don’t appeal to me and I make healthier choices, which is amazingly good. Even if it is still salty. Having low blood pressure, I’m not too stressed about this craving, except that of course it makes me retain water. But I do wonder what triggers the need. Is it physiological? Is it emotional? It would have been nice to finally report a lower weight this week – something I will just work on again and again and again until I achieve it.
I even managed to touch my reading-from-the-masters goal this week, so it seems I’m slowly beginning to adapt to this new direction life has taken with my mom’s health. Am I sailing through it? No ways. Am I back to the place I want to be, actively and passionately pursuing each goal I have set for the Perfect 10 Challenge? Absolutely not. But I’m getting there. Even though my time is constrained, and even though I am tired all the time, feeling less than on top of the world, I’m slo-o-o-owly getting stronger, able to once again focus more on where I want to be.
In spite of picking up a silly cold this week and feeling all clogged up and achy, I am pleased with the baby step progress I did make.
But I need more focus. And my hunger for a long vacation tells me that I desperately need to do something to get some rest. I am not going to be able to break away for any extended period of time soon. Yet my whole being can’t keep running like this without showing the strain. I need to find a way to really recharge my batteries, even if it is in mini breaks. This weekend I am focusing on finding ways I can do that, so I may incorporate rest into these next weeks, rest that is nourishing enough that I may find the strength to keep going. Any suggestions? How do you recharge your batteries when your time is limited and your life is full?
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A little known fact about me, as per Perfect 10 rules: I have never smoked anything in my life, not even a hookah. The idea of putting some little cylinder to my mouth and inhaling its smoke right into my lungs is such a strange thought that I am fascinated by the fact that so many people can do it. It’s not natural! Lungs don’t like smoke, that’s why we naturally cough in the presence of it!
And from where I stand, the smell is so toxic, I can honestly not comprehend how that can be a fun and relaxing thing to do. Does it taste different when you inhale it? I’m not going to find out, but perhaps someone can tell me. Once in a while I get nightmares about smoking.
That doesn’t mean I judge people who smoke. Having grown up with first both parents smoking, and later only my mom, I fully accept that this is something some folk do. And I will only start judging once I’ve set aside my own little addictions and idiosyncrasies. =)
But it does remain a source of befuddlement to me how it can be fun at all. I just don’t get it!
Zee picks her up off the ice rink and drops her into my hand.
She is stony cold … a hard, frozen little thing. Life which has succumbed to the cold. She falls into my palm with a heaviness unexpected in such a tiny little insect, and her chill creates a circle of cold in my palm.
I keep her there, studying her enormous eyes, and the beauty of her iridescent, furry wings, not quite willing yet to let her go. She needs someone to observe her passing from life, and to celebrate her journey towards the light, small as this journey had been.
A feeler flickers. It must be my imagination.
Gently I breathe over her, and the other feeler flickers as well.
I sit transfixed as she responds to the warmth of my skin, legs slowly thawing and coming back to life … wings twitching …
When I turn her onto her feet, she sits still for a long time, and I think this resurrection was only temporary. But she is merely taking her time, welcoming life back into her.
Her wings start fluttering – a hard, quick vibration that tickles my palm. She tiptoes over my hand and under it, back up again … and then, in an instant, she is gone. I sit with my hand still raised, surprised by her quick departure. She has become so light that I don’t even felt her leave.
Go well, little moth, and find the light!
Today I came across this movie at Simple Truths:
The Best Way Out is Always Through, based on the words of B J Gallagher.
It fits in so nicely with the Perfect 10 Challenge – and with any challenges we might experience in our lives – that I wanted to share it with you – you can find it here.
It is really short but powerful – you’ll be glad you took the minute or two to watch it.
Here are some quotes from it which really struck me:
What matters most is showing up for your life … whether you feel like it or not.
Life is not about doing one thing 100 percent, but about doing a 100 things 1 percent better every day.
Ask yourself: What two or three little things can I do today that will move me forward?
For an oft-times all-or-nothing thinker like me, who regularly feels that the only way forward is to storm the castle and bring it down in one fell swoop, it is good to be reminded that small, sustainable actions can often bring you a whole lot further than huge crusades.
Looking back over these past few weeks, I can absolutely testify to the power of small steps. And I am sure they will keep carrying me through the time ahead so I don’t lose sight of my goals.
What two or three little things can YOU do today that will move you forward?
Found this huge mushroom house in the lawn ... thing of beauty!
Deliciously heavy weather knocked out my internet last night, so my report for the Perfect 10 Challenge is a few hours late. I’m just so happy to be connected again!
This past week continued to be the Perfect 10 Lite for me, as I managed to touch some goals, but not all. The creative things like reading and writing and drawing just didn’t make it into my day – I hope to find some time for that over the weekend. About the only things I could focus on was a little exercise, a little time with God, and eating fairly OK.
The rest of the week has been truly and completely swallowed by caring for my mom while my dad was in hospital for chemo. Her condition has deteriorated significantly. I got a nurse to help in daytime – very grateful for her presence – yet even so I am running myself ragged.
I know I am not taking very good care of myself at the moment, and the returning migraines tell me that I need to change that, even (perhaps especially!) now where our family has entered a state of crisis.
The good news is that I showed no weight gain for this week, for which I am super thankful! Living under the 60kg redline – if only just – is still something strange to me. I continually find myself expecting that I should be above it, as if I haven’t really come to accept this new weight level as part of my existence. Part of this Perfect 10 journey for me right now is getting my mindset right until I can believe I can be thin and happy.
I’ve only been in the 50s once before in my adult life, and that was a time of great upheaval – I’m beginning to wonder if deep down I’m fearing more pain when my weight dips lower. Definitely something I will pay more attention to this week. It is one aspect of this journey that I realize now is foundational. Get this right, and the rest will come easier.
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Oops, almost forgot an unknown fact about me! I’m typing this as I need to run out the door, so I’m keeping it short and sweet this week. My blood group is B+ which secretly thrills me simply because it spells “Be Positive” … I figure with something as encouraging as that running right through this little body, I can’t often forget the essence of being positive, right? It often buoys me up when I need it. =)
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Good luck to all you beautiful people out there for Week 5! And if you’re not participating, good luck for the week anyway! =)
