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Childlike Wonder

October 4, 2013 //
1

Yesterday I took some time for me, and spent it in the world, eyes-wide with childlike wonder – thus the title, right? 😀

The day began with dense fog, and a feeling of uncomplicated freedom.

Dawn looking very much as if it got a bit behind on creating a new day.

Dawn looking very much as if it got a bit behind on creating a new day.

An excellent coffee to warm up at my downtown transfer point became a bite of breakfast – most important meal of the day, and my personal favorite. 🙂

At The Original in downtown Portland.

At The Original in downtown Portland.

Then on to the ‘main event’ – everything worth doing is worth waiting for.

How do waiting rooms always look like waiting?

How do waiting rooms always look like waiting?

As I made my way home, after my appointment, I practiced being ‘in the moment’ and really looking and seeing the world around me.  I saw all sorts of things worth sharing, but didn’t take many pictures.  I had a conversation with a lovely young woman of incredible enthusiasm on a street corner.  She was shilling for a children’s charity.  I am an extrovert.  Those things equal ‘conversation’ in my experience. lol.  It was fun, cost me nothing, and although she didn’t ‘make the sale’, she also didn’t get treated with discourtesy or disregard, and lively banter was clearly in her skill set.

I had an interesting life lesson on perspective, beauty, and the fanciful delights the world offers up for appreciation when I open my eyes to it.  Two very different pictures of very different sorts of beauty.

I still don't know what these are, but wow are they fancy!

I still don’t know what these are, but wow are they fancy!

These are wow - and fancy - as well, and so very different from the complex natural beauty of a flowering vine.

These are wow – and fancy – as well, and so very different from the complex natural beauty of a flowering vine.

I’m not sure what to say about either, or both.  I know that I was equally delighted with the alien swirls of the strange vine as I was with the mad sparkle of crazy high-heels with glittery rhinestones.  I don’t plant invasive vines in my garden, and I don’t wear killer high-heels on my feet.  Appreciating their beauty is not relevant to that. 😀

…And here it is Friday. The day has barely begun with a lovely morning of sleeping in, followed by a quiet sunrise and a tasty latte, some love, some literature, some meditation. This is a brand new day that has barely begun to unfold.  So much potential. 😀  I hope to make wise choices, to speak with compassion, and to act with love.

 

 

 

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Categories Anxiety, autumn, Brain Injury, Healthy Living, Logic & Reason, Love, Metaphors, Mindfulness, Perspective, Post Traumatic Stress

One Quiet Moment

October 3, 2013 //
0

It’s a gray morning. A lot of them are in this part of the world in autumn. I don’t mind, but it makes for unexciting photography in the pre-dawn gloom. lol.  Yesterday as I left for work, though, I saw this lovely sunrise:

It needs no explanation.

It needs no explanation.

It was a nice beginning to an exceptionally good day.  it was still autumn on the walk home, but less about pinks and lavenders, and more about russets, golds, greens and reds.

What remains of summer.

What remains of summer.

In the evening, I hung out with my loves and a dear friend of many years. We watched Heavy Metal; still a favorite bit of incredible art and animation, and of course the sound track is great classic rock.  It was a very nice day in general, although I had some challenges with my emotional balance over a very strange phone call from a business I did not expect to treat me badly.   I got past it with the use of new tools, and the help of my partners. Perspective makes a huge difference.

A peaceful morning. A good day. A quiet evening. A restful night.  There isn’t a lot more to want from life.   😀

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Categories autumn, Brain Injury, Healthy Living, Love, Mindfulness, Perspective, Post Traumatic Stress, Relationships, Words

All Too Human

September 30, 2013 //
4

This morning I woke feeling cross. I also woke with a nasty headache, and serious pain with my arthritis, too. I feel stiff. Hell, I’ll say it – I feel ‘old’. lol.  I’m not tired.  My morning coffee is just right. There is no element of the morning thus far that lacks harmony or a relaxed satisfying comfort.  I just hurt, and I’m cross.  Pain is enough to result in a less than pleasant mood, of course – so why does my brain go looking for more? lol  Yep. This morning’s feature attraction – The Brain Attack.

Once upon a time, and up to very recently, a morning like this one would have set me off on a path of frequent angry rants, tantrums about inconsequential or unimportant bits of circumstance, and on a hunt for insidious (and illusory) patterns of misconduct in other people’s everyday utterly innocent behavior.  It isn’t fun to participate in that sort of thing, and even when I suspected my Brain was misleading me, I struggled to put it to rest or ‘find my way out’.  Something has changed… or at least, something has potentially changed, somewhat.  This morning is different.

This morning, feeling how I felt, and being so cross, I made a point of focusing on me while I showered and dressed. Instead of just going through the motions and filing it away under ‘morning task completion’ and moving on, I slowed down and took my time with myself.  I practiced ‘staying engaged and connected’ with myself.  I hadn’t noticed before that I sometimes wander off in  my thinking to places unknown, leaving my emotions unattended.  (I’m sorry if that seems… hard to follow, or lacking clarity. I don’t understand what I did differently today fully, myself, and I’m trying to share before I have an understanding. lol)  Giving myself the respect of staying ‘in the moment’ with myself first thing actually felt really good.

Meditation, a delicious latte, and some time playing SuperBetter and I find myself in a very different place.  It seems too simple – is this all it takes? I’m not bitching.  Oh, I still hurt, but I’m not making myself miserable with self-deception in the form of brain attacks on my emotional balance, along with physical discomfort.  it’s nice.

This morning, I did things differently, and got a different outcome.

A lovely flower to start the morning. Clematis on a rainy day.

A lovely flower to start the morning. Clematis on a rainy day.

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Categories Anxiety, Brain Injury, Free Will, Logic & Reason, Mindfulness, pain, Perspective, Post Traumatic Stress

Wrapped in Love

September 27, 2013 //
2

Today I ventured forth in the late afternoon, for an appointment.  I felt tired, and I hurt, but some of these appointments are pretty hard to get, and rescheduling them is harder still.  When I stepped out into the chill of autumn, I felt a little foolish about my initial reluctance – I love fall! The bite in the air, the damp of passing drenching rains, and long hours of drizzle, the many lush greens, and bold russets and golds as the leaves begin to turn, the shhhh-shhhh of cars passing on rainy roads; all of it delights me and I feel recharged, energized, and inspired.

Walking my autumn path

Walking my autumn path

The afternoon was made more enjoyable by the power of love itself.  See, for years and years I just didn’t wear a coat. I didn’t always have one. Couldn’t always afford one. Didn’t always understand that having one represented ‘taking care of me’ on those cold days when being human isn’t enough to be warm and comfortable without one. (I’m a little embarrassed now and again, as I understand more about what I wasn’t understanding. lol. So far, being embarrassed hasn’t proven to be terminal, or particularly injurious.) Back to the coat, though… it is love. Funny that a coat could be love, but there it is.  One of my dear loves, who has put an unimaginable amount of devotion into supporting and nurturing me as I wade through my chaos and damage, took me shopping one winter for a coat. I needed one, and we live in a place that has a bit of winter every year.  He was so gentle and encouraging, and it was this amazing fun adventure together… every time I wear my coat, I feel wrapped in his love.  Today I walked, smiling, wrapped in my coat against the chill, wrapped in my memory of love protecting me against fear and insecurity.  It has been a lovely autumn day.  😀

I got to my appointment… I really fought to get this appointment, with this doctor, and hilariously all the fuss and bother amounted to a 10-minute experience… and one photograph of the gray autumn sky from the 8th floor of the VA hospital, eastward, across the river.  How many 10-minute appointments does it take to pay for a million dollar view? lol

The view was worth the trip.

The view was worth the trip.

I am tired. It’s evening. I’m out of words for now. 😉

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Categories Anxiety, Brain Injury, Healthy Living, Mindfulness, Perspective, Post Traumatic Stress, Relationships

One Breath at a Time

September 25, 2013 //
0

It’s a nice enough morning, I guess. I slept rather restlessly, woke a couple of times, and the alarm seemed to come too soon. The headache of yesterday is little more than a dull reminder of my human frailties, lurking in the background this morning. My arthritis is kicking my ass, though.  As I sit and contemplate the imminent dawn, a downpour begins, hammers on the skylights, and passes on. I feel a little cross and out of sorts, without reason – unless pain is reason enough. Is it? lol

I’m okay. Neither wildly excited about the day, nor truly discontent; I sip my latte unenthusiastically and watch the minutes tick by quietly. My thoughts lack focus or theme. I am letting my consciousness coast, and observing the comings and goings of my thoughts.  This is, as yet, a raw and unformed day; it could go a number of ways, and there’s no obvious tendency or trend, yet. This, by itself, is very interesting… I’m not sure I’ve ever been aware of this sort of moment before.

This morning, each breath is a beginning, and a pause, a moment of its own. I wonder where the day will take me?

Wherever the journey leads, it is mine.

Wherever the journey leads, it is mine.

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Categories Anxiety, autumn, Brain Injury, Free Will, Healthy Living, Mindfulness, pain, Perspective, Post Traumatic Stress, Sleepless Nights
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