Life goes on. the pandemic goes on. We learn and we grow and we adapt. or what? We get left behind, we moulder, we shrink and we drink and we get lost?
Ew!
Right?
We always have choices to make. We have the choice to accept what is and to adapt or to resist what is and fight it forever. Neither is perfect but one is more perfect than the other and you will only know which is which when you commit to one.
For me, I’m writing this post to unravel some realities. I’m frustrated with my own lack of forward momentum, my past choices, my potential future choices and the stupidity of worrying about those. Ok. Honestly I’m not thinking about my future stupid choices.
I would never label future choices as stupid and…
This will guide me in making better choices in the future.
Deal with frustration. Get beyond it. Frustration is only there because you think you’ve lost touch with what really matters.
You haven’t. You only think you have.
So, change your mind.
We get to do that. As often as we need to, want to, get to.
And make a new choice…choose differently. Rename it.
You’re not frustrated! You’re growing. You’re learning. You’re accepting new ideas, new boundaries, a new definition of yourself.
See?
Wasn’t that easy!?
Now GO! Embrace your redefined self. Learn the new steps. Read the new rules. Hell! SET the new rules! and then erase them and start over. Whenever you want to…whenever you need to.
Good Morning beautiful!
You! Yes…YOU! You are the ONLY one I’m talking to here…You matter so much! You COUNT in a HUGE way! There is no one else LIKE YOU…I’m not even kidding here. Ok? Got it? You’re important…to me..to the World. Yup. You matter.
Let that soak in for a few moments. Yes indeed…it DOES feel good. It should feel good. It’s amazing and true.
Ok…now that you’re getting used to that thought…here’s why I say Be Appreciative…Appreciation does not look back at what was once here and now, is not….Appreciation is filled with looking forward…well, being PRESENT…If you are appreciating something, you are present in the moment and THAT is a powerful, loving, awesome place to be.
Wake up present in that very moment…and allow appreciation to FILL you … watch!! The things that you appreciate right in that moment will appreciate for you…right before your very eyes.
Appreciation is a the most powerful, present moment expression of thankfulness. This is because it’s so very present and now-based.
Try it now! Yes….just look at something you Love and are Thankful for…and look at it with deep appreciation…see how it grows more valuable (appreciates right back for you!)..you see how it does that?
So, that’s it! Wake up in the morning and let your FIRST thought be one of APPRECIATION…look around and Appreciate the things that matter to you…the people that matter to you…the aspects of your life that matter to you….spend a few moments every morning sharing your appreciation for the things in your life that matter. …
Your life will become filled with so much value and so much appreciation, your sense of abundance will seem like it could overwhelm you with joy, and love and meaning. Don’t worry ๐ It Won’t. You can’t put out any such thing as too much appreciation. Never. Can’t happen. Promise.
Your appreciation for the World and everything in it that matters to you will raise you up…YOU will raise you up.
Just you watch! Being raised up by Anyone is a powerful thing…but raising yourself up…that’s the nut. Just You Watch, sugar. Are you smiling now?
It’s CLEAR what the intention behind the lyrics in this song are….They are telling the object of the writer’s affection (This is an aside for you if you need a little help…and if you don’t but you read my asides cuz you find it at least mildly humorous) that he/she is getting the BEST out of them…in the relationship, in love.
ALL of their intentions behind their actions are to show LOVE for this person. They are saying that life and Love are poured into everything that they do for their loved one.
Intentions are a powerful thing.
Keeping an intention in your mind as you set about a task can be key to completing that thing and achieving your best results.
Have you tried this one? Before you get into your car, set your intention as one of “Safety for me and safety for everyone with whom I’m come into experience, be it short or long term” You could say something like this or think it…It is my intention as I get into this vehicle, this potential weapon of mass destruction is to be fully conscious, aware and alert. My Intention as I take the wheel of this several ton vehicle is to arrive safely at my destination and to be conscious of my safe interaction with all other drivers on the roadways…
Try it. Betcha notice how clear you truly can be when you’re driving…there are other side benefits. After you try it I hope you’ll come back here and comment.
Take a moment to say whether you will try this or not. Thanks!!!
If I asked you, “What’s the general Focus of your thoughts right now?” What would be your answer?
Would you answer that you were thinking about all the good things that are coming to you?
Or would you answer that you are thinking about of the things you don’t have? Would you answer that you were thinking about the things you would liketo have but have no way of getting them?
We are all magnets of a sort
If you are overwhelmed with negative thoughts about what’s missing in your life… You are a magnet attracting more to have negative thoughts about.
Whereas, if your focus
Is positive about the good things that are coming into your life – you, the magnet will attract like things and like circumstances!
TRY THIS: For ONE DAY Decide NOW to focus your thoughts on all the good things in your life and how it will be great when you have more similar circumstances, people and things coming into your life. –
Then tomorrow try this same tactic! Like all new habits, the habit of thought takes One day at a time ๐
After 17 to 25 days you will have yourself a habit of positive thought! By then, you will have seen things beginning to shift in your life! You may begin noticing more positive uplifting outcomes… You may begin noticing many more “happy accidents” or moments that flow like magical serendipity!
YOU Can Begin to Choose day by day the kind of things you would like to attract into your life!
And once you do….. ๐ … Once you do
Let’s just say there is a tremendous possibility for WOW!!!
Do you Give Yourself The Credit You Deserve for being MAGNIFICENT?ย
YOU are MAGNIFICENT!! Do you feel that truth? It’s there, inside you, that kernel of knowledge that holds this truth for you.ย
Am I right? Or DO YOU give yourself credit for being MAGNIFICENT every day?ย
And, do you know how to do it? Just start SAYING it. “I’m MAGNIFICENT!” and you don’t even need to believe it YET!ย
You just keep saying it…keep looking at yourself in the mirror as you say it. POINT at your reflection and try saying it then…say it with EXTRA FLAIR and a HUGE SMILE -“YOU are MAGNIFICENT!!!”ย
{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{SMILE CUZ THAT’S REALLY NICE TO HEAR FROM YOUR BIGGEST CRITIC!!}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}
Now, if you have a smartass reflection that asks you “Why?” and you don’t yet have an answer…SMILE AGAIN and say,ย
That’s for ME to KNOW! Your reflection can mind it’s own business!ย
But in all seriousness, a BELIEF is a thought you keep thinking, over and over…until it’s a truth.ย
So, just get busy practicing with your deeply truthful magnificence.ย
Listen to that still small voice deep within, the voice that is somewhat louder each day you repeat this thought…
That still small voice is growing more profoundly glad you’re reading this right now…
It wasn’t? Well, go back and read that line AGAIN, yes, AGAIN! …and this time, answer OUT LOUD “AWESOME!” and if you don’t SOUND like you MEAN it…guess what!! DO IT AGAIN!ย
I want YOU to convince YOU that AWESOMENESS is lurking just below that surface that you show to the world and you show to yourself. YOUR awesomeness is right there…you know? Some days you KNOW it…and some days you’re just not so sure.ย
Well, I am here to tell you that your AWESOMENESS is ALWAYS There! and the more you wake up and say, “Come out, Awesomeness! Come out! I want to introduce you to the world!” …the more you say that EVERY MORNING…the more mornings you wake up EXPECTING your AWESOMENESS to appear…the SOONER it will just BE that YOU are ALWAYS AWESOME to everyone in your life.ย
Pretty soon, EVERYONE will see it.ย
You BELIEVE it and you…YOU …Yes YOU can CHANGE THE WORLD!!!!
EMBRACE that soulful and beautiful YOU. Do it Now!ย
It’s up to US to open our hearts and our minds to the POSSIBILITIES.
It’s up to US, entirely, to learn to EXPRESS gratitude, appreciation and thankfulness.
It’s up to us, all the way, to learn to FEEL gratitude, appreciation, thankfulness and to CELEBRATE the Moments of our lives.
We are the only ones who can do it…the only ones who can change through it…the only ones who can grow through it…
BUT, when we do…WHEN we DO…we begin to CHANGE the World around us…incrementally, maybe…exponentially, maybe.
But, Change is possible.
And we are LUCKY to be who we are.
Don’t forget that.
Celebrate that.
Celebrate WHO YOU ARE…and EMBRACE it. We ALL have challenges, some of us more than others. We all have concerns.
But we’ve got JOYS and LOVE…We’ve got MOMENTS to embrace…and Challenges to Overcome that will only make us stronger.
We’ve all got a LOT on our plates, be it a tangle of turnips, a bevy of beets, a salacious steak, wonderful wasabi, a tsunami of tuna, capricious crackers, or carrots and plentiful peas and rockin’ rice…be in complicated or simple, complex or rare or slow…
it’s OURS alone to figure out how we are going to BEST ENJOY finishing everything on our plates.
“What are you? Glory. Mercy. Peace. Truth. You give calm of spirit. I understand it. Courage. the contented heart.”,
Terrence Mallick, Director/Writer The Thin Red Line
The scene is sounds, mostly…the sounds of dry gras fronds brushing against cloth, against other tall dry grass fronds. The images, men in camaflage walking through developed sugar cane. Silent. Blue blue sky. Cobalt blue.ย Gorgeous sky. Unfair blue when the men come upon a scene. It is two blood-bathed bodies, lying in the talk cane. One is shirtless and his legs have been taken. The other is a jumble of face and torso and blood. One soldier covers his mouth and nose.
Next Scene: Voiceover as Private Witt, played by Jim Caveziel with blue eyes so expressive. His thoughts:
“Maybe all men got one big soul. Where everybody’s a part of. All the faces of the same man, one big self.” Private Witt, “Thin Red Line” Writter/Director Terrence Mallick
Private Witt continues in voiceover thoughts: “Everyone looking for salvation, by themselves. Each like a coal -drawn from the fire.”
The sounds are just his thoughts and the score that was composed for this movie. Powerful, impactful, soft, expressive music. The scene itself is muted. Private Witt is a stretcher bearer. He is walking through a dirt patch that is blanketed with the bodies of the dead and of the wounded. It is a veritable symphony of the battle’s advance sprawled across that patch of dirt. No wonder the music plays so softly. We don’t need much to tell us what’s going on here.
Transformation in film is a tricky business.
Poetry of the soul, of the human spirit, of fear transformed, of courage, of death, resilience,
A baby bird falls out of its nest in the shaking of all the artillery shelling and gunfire.
Blue sky, lofty fluffs of clouds frame the scene.
And the ‘enemy’ seems untouched, up on their hill, under cover.
the sounds of grass, buzzing of bugs, crickets, bullets whizzing past, canteens clinking against gun belts. Fear hums in the air, with death and amazing blue sky and clouds.
A young, a very young, wounded soldier lies in the arms of his fellow officers. He looks up into the trees…and… he watches the light playing through the leaves. And…breathes his last.
John Savage: lifts up a handful of dirt, “Dirt…”,
he growls, referring to the hillside they have been attempting to win from the ‘enemy’ and have lost hundreds of men in the doing, so far… “…just dirt.”, his face curls in a snarl.
A pheasant flies up, suddenly, a new sound, wings beating. And grass fronds, and machinegun fire.ย
Images of home. Wife. Kisses. Soft light, lips, breezes through open windows…then wading in the surf together…and then, back to the blue sky battle. Birds singing in the frond-waltz-crisp-swishing sound of the soldiers breaking through the tall grass.
Sean Penn’s character says, in a quiet moment, to Private Witt: “I feel sorry for you, kid. This army’s gonna kill ya. If you were smart you’d take care of yourself…Running into a burning house where no one can be saved…(music softly up)
“What difference do you think you can make…one single man- in all this madness? If you die, it’s gonna be for nothing. There’s not some other world out there where everything is gonna be okay. Just this one. Just this rock.”
Cut to: Sky now clouded with smoke…dogs on the ridge silhouetted against the post-sunset sky, scavenging at something…God knows what,
Cut to: Intimate warm, rose-colored bedroom. Window open. curtains wafting
“WE…we together…” and the frame is a man and wife, intimate, a breeze coming through the open window..in a symphony of love and ecstasy and oneness…”one being…” sighs and whispers…”flowing together like water, til I can’t tell you from me…I drink you…now…now…” end scene .
Cut to: Elias Koteas in the near-dark on Guadalcanal. “You are my Light…my guide”.ย ย
Darkness descends on the tall grass and shadows the faces. Grenades looped, shining in the moonlight, around their necks.
The full moon shines down. Sleeping soldiers on the wet, trampled, muddy grass.
Morning comes. Grim faces. John Cusack snarls at his Colonel’s orders. You can hear his thoughts, “Propoganda puppet. Glory hound.”, if you had to guess. Kinda goes with the curl of his lip when the Colonel turns his back.
One of the more up-close, human, tragic and painful scenes in the film, when the Americans make their assault on a small Japanese MASH unit and overwhelm the Japanese is followed directly by Private Witt pouring water over a tropical leaf. His thoughts return to the cheery village, the waterfall and the children:
ย ย ย ย Cut to: Off the front lines:ย In the scene in a tent, where the men of Charley Company have been awarded a well-deserved week-long break from the front line, the Elias Koteas character tells his men that he will NOT file a dispute against the Colonel, though he has ever right to, and that they have been “like sons to me…You are my sons”
The sky and sunset scenes, the beauty of nature throughout the film, that Mallick highlights aptly, illustrate just how war is part of what we are, our invasion upon the Earth, our place here, not always, but often violent is our contribution. Juxtaposed gorgeous skies, better seen on relaxing vacations, found in most scenes in this film.
ย ย Wonder. Beauty. Awe. Contrasted with Violence. Death. Tragedy.
Ben Chaplin’s character: “My dear wife, You get something twisted out of your insides with all the blood, filfth and noise. I want to stay changeless for you… I want to come back to you the man I was before…How do we get to those other shores…to those blue hills? Love…where does it come from?… Who lit this flame in us? No war can put it out…conquer it.ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย I was a prisoner, you set me free.”
ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย in a scene shortly after Chaplin’s character has this daydream of thought, he gets a letter from his wife explaining that she has met an Air Force captain and wants a divorce so she can marry him. She says, almost heartlessly, to us, since we’ve seen how thoughts of their love have sustained him, and how he’s not touched another woman nor talked to one, that he doesn’t want to feel the desire. Her letter says, “Dear Jack, I’ve met an Air Force captain. I’ve fallen in love with him. I want a divorce to marry him.”…and goes on…”forgive me..it just got too lonely, Jack.” and he laughs heartlessly, despite himself, “…we’ll meet again some day. People who have been as close as we have, always meet again. I have no right to speak to you this way, I just can’t stop myself…Oh! My friend! All those shining years! Help me leave you.” …and he wanders off, meandering, lost. It’s a heart-wrenching scene.
Witt wanders back to the blissful village he had escaped to when he went AWOL and finds it much changed. No songs. No playful children. and they were fighting. “we were a family…had to break up and come apart..and now we are against one another. Each standing in each other’s light. How do we lose the good that was given us, let it slip away…scattered, careless? What’s keeping us from reaching out, touching the glory?”
Private Witt faces his death with the calm he’d sought in the beginning of the film.
Who were you that I lived with, walked with? The brother, the friend? Strife and love, darkness and light–are they the workings of one mind, features of the same face?
“…Oh my soul. Let me be in you now. Look out through my eyes. Look out at the things you made. All things shining“
ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย And upon that note, the credits begin to roll on what may be the most ambitious and beautifully captured film about war and the changes it may wrought upon the soul and shape of man. Beliefs, hopes, faith, imagination, hope itself, desire and, perhaps above all…sense of self, oneness, and the connectedness of all things.
ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย I hope you have enjoyed this and that you will click to follow my blog.
SING! Your voice, lifted up into the heavens JUST FEELS GOOD and it’s nobody’s business if you want to sing your heart out.
Life is FAR TOO SHORT not to let your heart leap out of you, through your throat, between your teeth and tongue and into the air…to possibly bring joy to others…or simply to just bring joy to yourself…LIFE is OURS to EMBRACE in the ways that bring us closer to our MEANING! and our MEANING is ENJOYMENT of LIFE…
There is only one YOU
and only YOU know what makes YOU feel GOOD!
Listen to those words speaking in your heart telling you to SING!
And Do It, darlin’…just do it.
EVERY day is a gift.
Every gift precious.
Lick it up, breath it in with every precious moment.
“Don’t ever believe what they tell you…You cannot get enough sugar!”, Michael, the angel in “Michael”, screenplay by the One and Only Nora Ephron ๐
The Answer to ALL of your questions:
How do I get a better body? Get Happy!
How do I find more friends? Get Happy!
How do I get the success I crave? Get Happy!
The more you do it, and make it a habit, the more you will find all things wanted in your life.
Heidi & Co - Joy Injection 