Tuesday, July 24, 2012

Mountains vs. Oceans: This Time It's Personal!


 Another beautiful day of sunshine here in Bend? Can’t believe how peaceful it is to live down here. At least once a day, as I'm driving/fiddling with the radio or speed walking with the kid/stroller/dog, I turn a corner and there’s a different angle on a damn mountain. It’s humbling to live among these big ass mountains. I like how it makes me feel: settled and concrete and aware of my surroundings. 
Mountains are permanent. I am not. That notion (that my little world is fleeting) makes me nervous at times. Mountains kick the shit outta my worry.  Whereas, when I’m at the coast, the ocean is fluid like me and therefore I feel more distracted around water. I never grew up anywhere near a large body of water and its novelty, I believe, will never wear off. Getting to stare into the ocean or be close to it takes on an event all its own. Suddenly I can’t read a book because I’m just staring into the sea. Watching how the waves lap and roll back out. Wondering when I should get back in or if I should just sit and continue to stare. (If I'm in Mexico, should I buy another blanket or a bracelet?) 
But mountains are a period. The end to the sentence, a declaration of finality. Oh! Shit! Look at Mt. Bachelor (didn’t see that one coming!) And I’m so small and my kids are even smaller and we are so frail and finite and suddenly “big” problems seem ridiculous in comparison to the size of even one of those mountains in the Cascade Mtn. Range. It’s like a reminder to shut the fuck up and get happy with the now (and finish the task at hand!).
Thanks, Mountains!

Wednesday, July 18, 2012

A Nod to the Ladies


We choose our friends because they remind us of what we can be and who we are and the choices that we make. They are our idols and our playmates, our heroes and sometime soul mates. For female friendships, the mere presence of another woman that knows you helps to reconfirm. This reconfirmation of our Self provides the strength that women need to move back through their own lives and accommodate the needs of others and the myriad of daily requests that are put on us by our children, husbands, co-workers, and even parents and siblings. As in the practice of yoga, we return to our mats to let go. To practice the art of letting go. We return to the warm embrace of friendship in order to reaffirm our position in the universe. After spending time with good friends I can see more clearly. I can be more patient with my children and show them more compassion, too. Though it could sound dramatic to put so much weight on the power of female friendships, I feel that there is so much involved when women stand together. We can change the world.