first chilly day...

wow...so, i realized just recently that it's been over a month since i've written...
i don't know where the time goes sometimes!
each week i kept thinkin, 'man, i need to write something...'
but then the days turned into weeks and then a whole month went by!
whew!
almost a month and a half, really!
so, here i am...
back at it...
thinkin maybe, oh, i don't know, i'll just put something out there.
i think maybe too, that i have been busying myself with life so much that i forget that i should sit down and record some thoughts and feelings about what's going on around me.
because as we all know...there's always something goin on.
loads and loads of things everyday,
even if it seems like the most usual blah kinda day,
you can be rest assured, that somewhere, something is going on.
maybe even without notice...
kinda like the crazy bushes and grass in my back yard...
they've grown up like wildfire, all over the place,
and it looks like a jungle out there...i usually avert my eyes as to not remind myself that something needs to be done with that wildness. haha!
i weed the front porch area because once i'm done, it looks so much prettier and neat and clean (and it makes me feel accomplished when i do it, if for no other reason)...but all it takes is a week to go by, and those wacky weeds are all over the place again! holy cow!
stuff that we don't want is always poppin up all over the place!
which maybe brings me to a thought for the day...
just maybe :)
at the change of seasons and in different times in our lives,
we go through a period of cleaning out or clearing out.
things that we've been looking at for days, weeks, months, years...
we all of a sudden decide, 'okay, it's time, you're outta here'.
be it spring cleaning,
chopping off our hair,
shaving, (my favorite. haha!)
cutting the grass,
clearing out friends we don't talk to anymore on facebook,
breaking up with partners, spouses, and friends.
all of these things are part of how we clear up and move on.
it's kinda crazy how sometimes we just need the momentum of a good book, a movie, a song, or even the first chilly day of fall, to inspire us to do the things that we know we need to in order for our lives to be better, to be cleaner, to be more beautiful to look at and live in.
thing is...
it's kinda like pruning a plant...
cutting off the old dead parts, in order for it to grow stronger,
in order for it to grow with renewed energy,
with renewed fullness.
because in time, it all does grow back.
and sometimes in the wildest of ways, that we hadn't even imagined.
but that's the cool part about life...
it's so unexpected and out of our control!
we are in control our of actions...and no one else's.
so, it's up to us each and everyday,
to make an effort to renew and revive and re-fill.
to clear out and clean up.
we must always keep watch over what we do and what's growing around us...
because the weeds and dead stuff that cling to us,
have to be cut back, pruned, and thrown out,
in order to keep growing...up and out.
it's a daily process, this life.
taking it all in, and deciding what to keep,
what we can learn from,
what brings us down,
what picks us up,
and what holds us back.
decisions, decisions, eh?
i will leave you with this poem by hafiz,
a friend of mine sent me long ago, (it's on my wall in my kitchen)
when i was having difficulties in my days...
and please excuse me, if i've already posted this one
on a previous blog...my memory sometimes fails me...
but there is some good that can come out of reading things over and over again...we can pick up things hadn't seen before.
like watching a movie a few times, and realizing you hadn't caught this or that from the first or second time watching...
great words are sometimes best read several times over,
and in different times in our lives, we may understand them better or in a different way.

"we have not come to take prisoners"

we have not come here to take prisoners,
but to surrender ever more deeply
to freedom and joy.
we have not come into this exquisite world
to hold ourselves hostage from love.
run my dear,
from anything
that may not strengthen
your precious budding wings.
run like hell my dear,
from anyone likely
to put a sharp knife
into the sacred, tender vision
of your beautiful heart.
we have a duty to befriend
those aspects of obedience
that stand oustide of our house
and shout to our reason
'o please, o please,
come out and play.'
for we have not come here to take prisoners
or to confine our wondrous spirits,
but to experience ever and ever more deeply
our divine courage, freedom and
light!

~hafiz~

i think that maybe sometimes in our lives we just have to take stock, check things out, and see what's growing rampantly that maybe we didn't even notice about ourselves.
things that maybe all we really need to do is grab a set of clippers and prune away.
the other side to that coin is that what grows from it could be the best thing ever! maybe what you've been looking for and waiting for all along.
it's easy to miss sometimes, because there's lots of weeds that have pretty flowers attached to them, and it's hard to differentiate between the two.
that only means we just have to pay closer attention.
after all...
this life is ours for the taking.
why not take it and live it?
for '...we have not come here to take prisoners,
but to experience ever and ever more deeply
our divine courage, freedom,
and light!'
rock on, my friends,
and prune away!