Come Fill Me Again Photo by Youssef Hanna Courtesy of PhotoDropper
I’m coming out of winter and a little slow getting things going here in the Colorado Rockies. So, I decided to put on some Jimmy Buffett this morning. Before I knew it, I was dancing around and happy. The snow is almost gone, sun is shining and I’m excited for the day to begin.
Here you go. I hope you dance around with me and have some fun with these songs. Continue reading
My husband and I were talking this morning about optimism and pessimism and it got me to thinking. Depending where you fall – optimist or pessimist – what does it take to feel different or make a difference? How do I let my light shine?
I think of the Jimmy Buffett song “Changes in Latitudes, Changes in Attitudes” where he says “nothing remains quite the same…..and if we couldn’t laugh we would all go insane”. Just based on recent events of devastating fires and shootings in my home state Colorado – it’s crazy out there. Why would I even want to try? Sounds like it would be better to just find a remote island somewhere and park myself for the duration.
But I came across truly inspiring videos I wanted to share with you of two people SHINING their light – putting themselves out there and demonstrating the will to live their lives fully. I noticed how compelling their attitudes were though different.
No blame – no excuses. Human beings are a truly incredible species capable of doing so much. Maybe that’s the reason we’re here living through these life experiences – how are we going to respond (attitude) to the good and likewise the bad because there’s no escape of it no matter who you are?
If your first instinct to a roadblock is to respond negatively, you just add to the drama and anger that’s already there. If your first instinct is to respond positively, there’s a shift and change to the norm no matter how slight – a glimmer of hope and possibility. Go for the positive. What are your thoughts on attitudes?
Pat – from the ol’ kitchen table
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A couple of lyrics from a song “Pacing the Cage” (written and sung by Bruce Cockburn and also performed by Jimmy Buffett) makes me wonder about the world as I see it today. It’s not bad – it has just become different and maybe we can change with it:
“I never knew what you all wanted, so I gave you everything.” … AND
“Sometimes the best map will not guide you. You can’t see what’s round the bend.”
I’ve taken notice lately of a lot of dramatic changes not only in the ways we communicate, earn a wage, but how we relate to each other to name a few. What appears to have worked well in the past doesn’t quite work as well and I see more people frustrated and “pacing the cage”, so to speak.
It’s all linked together and I’ve wondered how we’ve given everything and traded our souls for a false security? Only we don’t realize the security is false until our jobs are outsourced or our partners move on to someone else. Sometimes we feel we’re doing all the right things and yet we feel anxious, pacing.
We invest in a college education only to find when we graduate the jobs are not there. Or you work your whole life and follow the rules only to come up short at the other end wondering what happened to it. Then you dig in and work some more only to realize your value in the workforce is not as great because of your age.
Could it be what we’ve bought into all along are not the real goods? Could it be what we’ve been programmed and conditioned to believe has not just been for our best interest but rather to make it easier for others. Maybe by following the rules we believed we would in turn always be taken care of. We no longer had to think for ourselves – it was someone else’s responsibility.
In school we’re signaled when to move from one class to another or you start work by clocking in and clocking out when you leave. Somewhere along the way we’ve sold out and learned to move along with the masses instead of engaging with our true nature and talents and being rewarded for that.
This new world will require us to deliver unique gifts and talents that have value and we have to learn how to move with it. No longer accepted will be the cookie cutter – template approach but unique services and products with our personal intellect and energy, individual connection and quality.
I would suggest that if you feel a little restless and “pacing the cage” it’s because of the shifts and changes in the world and it’s time to step back and take inventory of our lives and make some changes.
Take back our lives and depend on ourselves to move forward with the talents we’ve been given. The world is waiting and hungry for what you and I have to offer. There’s a genius in each of us. What do you think?
Pat – from the ol’ kitchen table
We humans are strange creatures in all sizes, shapes and with many weird comings and goings. In his “Fruitcakes” song, Jimmy Buffett, in good humor, suggests that maybe we need some more baking – some of us came out of the oven too early. Maybe it’s not so much Fruitcake people but more Fruitcake moments. I sure have had a lot of those Fruitcake moments in my lifetime and as I look around I see others perhaps having some of their own too.
My family does not like me to drive when we go anywhere – husband included. I don’t know why other than almost killing him one time when giving him a push start in my car onto a country road from around our horseshoe drive. We got a good head start that way. At the end of our drive, I stopped and looked both ways for traffic after giving him the final push – he was just hanging out there (luckily just a rural road) in a dead car. All I could see were his arms flailing and mouth going. Oops! I’d better get out there behind him and push! (You may be saying by now, “What dumb….”. I know but I need to be cut some slack here. I was newly married and barely 20.)
Another time, different home in the suburbs, I was backing our big orange van (vehicles again – go Denver Broncos 1977) out of our driveway and as I straightened out and moving forward, I noticed in my rear-view mirror my husband in the driveway jumping up and down, again arms flailing and mouth moving. I couldn’t hear him but knew something was wrong, so I stopped.
Apparently, I had run over the hose that was stretched across the driveway with the sprinkler attached and it had snagged when I backed up and caught up underneath. Only problem was that the hose was also attached to the house and stretching as I pulled out – I was house-attached with a long umbilical cord. When I got out on the street and started forward it had stretched so much it made deflating balloon-like gyrations before dislodging from the house. The neighbor across the street told us later he was watching the whole thing unfold from his picture window and chuckled all day at work with that sight firmly implanted in his brain.
Then there was another Fruitcake moment I remember when I was elementary school age coming home from school one day. I walked in the front door just ready to yell “I’m home” and looked up and saw legs dangling from the ceiling. “Mom – Is that you?” My mother had gone up in the attic for something and mistakenly stepped off the main floor board in between the slats and down she went. Luckily, it had just happened and she was able to hold on and wasn’t hurt.
I have a whole family with stories like that – guess I came from a gene pool with more than my share of Fruitcake moments. We’ve all done it and more than ever seen our fellow humans having the same brain lapses.
Maybe next time we can cut them or ourselves some slack and just say, “Been there – just another Fruitcake moment in paradise.”
Oops, there’s another one. I was so engrossed in writing this post and having fun with it that I was 10 minutes late for my dental appointment. As I was running out the door, my husband said, “Guess you’re having another one!” Making no excuses for being late but the dental office was kind and cut me some slack.
I’d love to hear what stories you have had or seen – please share.