This is the slogan now touted by beer and liquor companies in every TV & print ad these days. I guess it is a feeble attempt to assuage their guilt for all the 13 year-olds they put in rehab. I especially like the one where they show a cap-full of vodka with an orange peel slice in it and advise to enjoy Smirnoff "neat". Do they really want you to drink less (which is what I assume is implied by "responsibly")? Probably not...because that would mean that you consume, and therefore buy, less of their product. And goodness knows they need the money...they do, after all, have to pay for all these goodwill ads. Please drink responsibly. Really. What is the point of that? Who really drinks with the intention to "drink responsibly"? Snobby wine-drinkers who prefer to swirl, smell, sip, & comment on the "subtle oakiness", "depth", or "light hints of peach" in a wine? No, they aren't drinking responsibly, they just want to look like they are...
Ever had a day that nothing but a few shots of tequila could soothe? Yeah, me too...and today was one of those days. A day when ANY diversion I could find was escape from reality... a suitable portal to another state of being...be it a piece of rich chocolate, a song that took me away, a stiff drink, or a good book (just finished "Fear & Loathing in Las Vegas"...more on that later). On a "healthy" day I might have escaped through meditation, yoga, a good Tennyson poem, or exercise...but today? It was me and Margaritaville (an excellent tequila...in case you are in the market for a good portal).
So please, say a little prayer for me today...and please, for the love of all that is good...drink responsibly.
Monday, February 28, 2005
Sunday, February 27, 2005
Do something productive!
I should really do something productive today...I'm always complaining that I don't have enough time to get things done...yet here I am with a few free hours and all of the things I have been putting off (glamorous things like doing the laundry, cleaning the cat box, and taking the trash out) just don't seem as pressing as they do on days when I have minimal free time. I should start on my presentation that is due Tuesday, I should work on sponsor fulfillment reports for work, I should create the flyer I promised Mom I'd get to her weeks ago.
...should...should...should...
That word will kill you, won't it? And in the end, does it REALLY matter?
We watched the movie, The Notebook, last night. I have read the book, so I already knew the story...and the movie delivered, as promised, a tear-jerking love story. I'll admit, there are times when I am a sucker for the schmaltz of a good chick-flick...last night was no exception. The movie not only made me appreciate the love I have in my life, but reminded me to appreciate life itself, because you just never know when it will end or how things are going to turn out. I know, I know, its an awfully deep discussion to start from a ooey-gooey summer-love movie...so I won't really go there...but its something to think about.
Wow, here I am back to debating whether or no I should do something "productive"...may be time to re-evaluate what "productive" means...?
...should...should...should...
That word will kill you, won't it? And in the end, does it REALLY matter?
We watched the movie, The Notebook, last night. I have read the book, so I already knew the story...and the movie delivered, as promised, a tear-jerking love story. I'll admit, there are times when I am a sucker for the schmaltz of a good chick-flick...last night was no exception. The movie not only made me appreciate the love I have in my life, but reminded me to appreciate life itself, because you just never know when it will end or how things are going to turn out. I know, I know, its an awfully deep discussion to start from a ooey-gooey summer-love movie...so I won't really go there...but its something to think about.
Wow, here I am back to debating whether or no I should do something "productive"...may be time to re-evaluate what "productive" means...?
Thursday, February 24, 2005
Space
No, not the final frontier...but "space" as is "Looking For Space", the title of my little corner of the e-world. Since I know only 2 people who are aware of my bolg have a prayer at knowing what the title means, I'll explain...I know the rest of you are dying to know. And even if you're not...well...you don't have to read on.
Let me start with a confession: Hello, my name is Sarah and I am a HUGE John Denver fan. (here is were the 2 of you are also in this club say "Hi Sarah"). No, I didn't grow up in the 60's and no, I don't smoke pot (but I would if it was legal!). I'm just an almost-thirty, tree-hugging, organic-food loving, sporadic yoga-practicing, wannabee hippie. Perhaps it was all the John Devner I heard in-utero and while growing up that has made this music such a part of the fabric of my life. I am fortunate to have found and married the only other under 30 John Denver fan, so I don't feel too out of place. Well, except at stop lights with the windows down belting out "Rocky Mountain High"...that will get you some odd looks from teenagers and some knowing smiles from the baby boomers.
"Looking For Space" is one of my favorite John Denver songs...and trust me, I have many favorites. It is a song about finding out who you are in this world -- through highs and lows - and accepting life as it comes to you. I find that this song meant something special to me in high school, had another unique meaning while I was in college, and means something entirely different then both today. I think I am not so much looking for my space now as I am creating and exploring the space I am in.
It is a great thing to be comfortable in your own shoes.
Let me start with a confession: Hello, my name is Sarah and I am a HUGE John Denver fan. (here is were the 2 of you are also in this club say "Hi Sarah"). No, I didn't grow up in the 60's and no, I don't smoke pot (but I would if it was legal!). I'm just an almost-thirty, tree-hugging, organic-food loving, sporadic yoga-practicing, wannabee hippie. Perhaps it was all the John Devner I heard in-utero and while growing up that has made this music such a part of the fabric of my life. I am fortunate to have found and married the only other under 30 John Denver fan, so I don't feel too out of place. Well, except at stop lights with the windows down belting out "Rocky Mountain High"...that will get you some odd looks from teenagers and some knowing smiles from the baby boomers.
"Looking For Space" is one of my favorite John Denver songs...and trust me, I have many favorites. It is a song about finding out who you are in this world -- through highs and lows - and accepting life as it comes to you. I find that this song meant something special to me in high school, had another unique meaning while I was in college, and means something entirely different then both today. I think I am not so much looking for my space now as I am creating and exploring the space I am in.
It is a great thing to be comfortable in your own shoes.
The World Is Too Much With Us
The World Is Too Much With Us – William Wordsworth (1806)
The world is too much with us; late and soon,
Getting and spending, we lay waste our powers:
Little we see in Nature that is ours;
We have given our hearts away, a sordid boon!
The Sea that bares her bosom to the moon;
The winds that will be howling at all hours,
And are up-gathered now like sleeping flowers;
For this, for everything, we are out of tune;
It moves us not.--Great God! I'd rather be
A Pagan suckled in a creed outworn;
So might I, standing on this pleasant lea,
Have glimpses that would make me less forlorn;
Have sight of Proteus rising from the sea;
Or hear old Triton blow his wreathed horn.
I first read this poem in college and it has since become one of my favorites. Even though it was written almost 200 years ago by a man who lived in a world nothing like my own, its words are so true and accurate. We spend so much of our life’s energy on things that are meaningless…things that bring us neither joy nor fulfillment.
Its funny to me that I tend to think of “way back when” as a simpler time & place…where the stresses of life were fewer…be it the 1960’s or the 1800’s…I just know it had to be better then this over stimulating, break-neck paced world. But reading Wordsworth’s writing I see he is expressing the same things I think today. Going even further back then that, in the Bible, Solomon talks about everything being meaningless – that there is nothing new under the sun! So is this a symptom of the human condition? Are we all to have the feeing that life just “isn’t quite right”? I recently started reading a book that answers that question with a resounding “yes”. The author asserts that this life never feels quite right because our souls are not meant for this world. He says we were created for something bigger and better and this life is only a temporary assignment.
But what to do in the meantime? How are we to live each day to the fullest if we are being pulled in 20 different directions at any given moment…our attention being drawn to something different on all sides?
I don’t have the answer…I just write the questions. :)
The world is too much with us; late and soon,
Getting and spending, we lay waste our powers:
Little we see in Nature that is ours;
We have given our hearts away, a sordid boon!
The Sea that bares her bosom to the moon;
The winds that will be howling at all hours,
And are up-gathered now like sleeping flowers;
For this, for everything, we are out of tune;
It moves us not.--Great God! I'd rather be
A Pagan suckled in a creed outworn;
So might I, standing on this pleasant lea,
Have glimpses that would make me less forlorn;
Have sight of Proteus rising from the sea;
Or hear old Triton blow his wreathed horn.
I first read this poem in college and it has since become one of my favorites. Even though it was written almost 200 years ago by a man who lived in a world nothing like my own, its words are so true and accurate. We spend so much of our life’s energy on things that are meaningless…things that bring us neither joy nor fulfillment.
Its funny to me that I tend to think of “way back when” as a simpler time & place…where the stresses of life were fewer…be it the 1960’s or the 1800’s…I just know it had to be better then this over stimulating, break-neck paced world. But reading Wordsworth’s writing I see he is expressing the same things I think today. Going even further back then that, in the Bible, Solomon talks about everything being meaningless – that there is nothing new under the sun! So is this a symptom of the human condition? Are we all to have the feeing that life just “isn’t quite right”? I recently started reading a book that answers that question with a resounding “yes”. The author asserts that this life never feels quite right because our souls are not meant for this world. He says we were created for something bigger and better and this life is only a temporary assignment.
But what to do in the meantime? How are we to live each day to the fullest if we are being pulled in 20 different directions at any given moment…our attention being drawn to something different on all sides?
I don’t have the answer…I just write the questions. :)
Friday, February 18, 2005
Solitude
"I've never found the companion that was so companionable as solitude" -- Henry David Thoreau
Why is it that when you are most starving for a bit of solitude that your family and friends decide that is high time for a weekend-long visit? Happens every time. This weekend has stayed true to form. I have wanted nothing but to curl up with a good book and a cup of tea or quietly plant flowers in the thawing soil of my garden -- spend some time nurturing my soul. How sad is it that I have to consider calling in "sick" to work just to spend some quiet time in priceless solitude? Why is it that our society does not accept and appreciate our innate need to spend time alone -- doing "nothing". The need to constantly be productive and to "do something" can drive a person to madness.
Part of me wants to scream and the other part of me wants to crawl under the bed and hide all day. Funny that the same circumstance produces two seemingly contradictory reactions.
Why is it that when you are most starving for a bit of solitude that your family and friends decide that is high time for a weekend-long visit? Happens every time. This weekend has stayed true to form. I have wanted nothing but to curl up with a good book and a cup of tea or quietly plant flowers in the thawing soil of my garden -- spend some time nurturing my soul. How sad is it that I have to consider calling in "sick" to work just to spend some quiet time in priceless solitude? Why is it that our society does not accept and appreciate our innate need to spend time alone -- doing "nothing". The need to constantly be productive and to "do something" can drive a person to madness.
Part of me wants to scream and the other part of me wants to crawl under the bed and hide all day. Funny that the same circumstance produces two seemingly contradictory reactions.
Tuesday, February 15, 2005
Beautiful Women
I have this huge problem with how society has raised generation after generation of American women. For all I know this problem is a world-wide epidemic, but I can only speak from the vantage point of my small corner of Texas...and from where I stand this problem is an ugly blemish on humanity.
The problem is this: women do not see their inherent beauty. Is it the media images we are bombarded with? The way our mothers raised us? The way other women act and treat us? Who knows WHY, but it is a serious problem and we are all guilty of contributing to it at one point or another.
I was fortunate enough to grow up with a father who loved my mother deeply and always talked about her beauty -- at a size 6 or a size 14. I am also fortunate enough to be married to a man who is just as smitten with me...at a size 6 or a size 14. But do I see my beauty? Hell no. To hear me describe myself, you'd think I was an inhabitant of Middle Earth.
I am not just talking about physical beauty, although that is part of it. I am talking about the inner beauty and fire that is a God-given gift to every woman. We spend too much time covering our spots and trying to look a certain way that we forget to nurture the best parts of ourselves. The parts that make us phenomenal friends, mothers, sisters and lovers. We spend too much time talking to each other about what we need to do to look better and too little time talking to each other about what we need to do to nurture our beautiful souls.
I work with 4 women. They are all beautiful in their own way and for reasons they probably do not know. One is 80 years old, one is a size 2, one is a beauty queen, and one swears she weighs over 300. All BEAUTIFUL. And it has NOTHING to do with the way they look.
Tell the women in your life they are beautiful. Tell strangers at the grocery store or the mall. Tell your mother, your grandmother, your friend, your aunt, your wife and your little sister. Actually speak the words to them. REFUSE to further perpetuate the myth that beauty is found on the cover of a magazine and dare to see the inherent beauty in EVERY women you know.
Next blog...extolling the virtues of makeup and shoes! :)
The problem is this: women do not see their inherent beauty. Is it the media images we are bombarded with? The way our mothers raised us? The way other women act and treat us? Who knows WHY, but it is a serious problem and we are all guilty of contributing to it at one point or another.
I was fortunate enough to grow up with a father who loved my mother deeply and always talked about her beauty -- at a size 6 or a size 14. I am also fortunate enough to be married to a man who is just as smitten with me...at a size 6 or a size 14. But do I see my beauty? Hell no. To hear me describe myself, you'd think I was an inhabitant of Middle Earth.
I am not just talking about physical beauty, although that is part of it. I am talking about the inner beauty and fire that is a God-given gift to every woman. We spend too much time covering our spots and trying to look a certain way that we forget to nurture the best parts of ourselves. The parts that make us phenomenal friends, mothers, sisters and lovers. We spend too much time talking to each other about what we need to do to look better and too little time talking to each other about what we need to do to nurture our beautiful souls.
I work with 4 women. They are all beautiful in their own way and for reasons they probably do not know. One is 80 years old, one is a size 2, one is a beauty queen, and one swears she weighs over 300. All BEAUTIFUL. And it has NOTHING to do with the way they look.
Tell the women in your life they are beautiful. Tell strangers at the grocery store or the mall. Tell your mother, your grandmother, your friend, your aunt, your wife and your little sister. Actually speak the words to them. REFUSE to further perpetuate the myth that beauty is found on the cover of a magazine and dare to see the inherent beauty in EVERY women you know.
Next blog...extolling the virtues of makeup and shoes! :)
Let Today Teach You
Today is one of those days that will make you feel intensely alive if you let it. Beware: its 100 proof. It’s a gift – a sunny 80-degree day in the middle of what is usually a cool, damp & dreary Texas February. It makes me appreciate all things living & growing and what they must endure to do so. Whether trees, animals, wildflowers or people…surviving season after season is truly something to be commended.
There is a lesson to be learned in the tenacity of nature. Annually, it battles snow, flood, disease, fire, ice and humans – yet it never grows weary of rejuvenating it self. It was created for LIFE and must go on to fulfill its only purpose. Nature never complains or gets tired…it just continues. People do the same – eventually – but with so much resistance and so many self-destructive patterns it is a wonder it happens at all. If we could only be like the trees, flowers, moss and snails…true to our purpose, living the Creator’s dream for us.
So take a lesson from nature today – in all her divinity and wisdom – and persevere with passion. You were created for LIFE…and LIFE is vast and only limited by the constraints you put on it.
From Ulysses, by Alfred Tennyson:
Come, my friends.
'Tis not too late to seek a newer world.
Push off, and sitting well in order smite
The sounding furrows; for my purpose holds
To sail beyond the sunset, and the baths
Of all the western stars, until I die.
It may be that the gulfs will wash us down;
It may be we shall touch the Happy Isles,
And see the great Achilles, whom we knew.
Tho' much is taken, much abides; and tho'
We are not now that strength which in old days
Moved earth and heaven, that which we are, we are,--
One equal temper of heroic hearts,
Made weak by time and fate, but strong in will
To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield.
There is a lesson to be learned in the tenacity of nature. Annually, it battles snow, flood, disease, fire, ice and humans – yet it never grows weary of rejuvenating it self. It was created for LIFE and must go on to fulfill its only purpose. Nature never complains or gets tired…it just continues. People do the same – eventually – but with so much resistance and so many self-destructive patterns it is a wonder it happens at all. If we could only be like the trees, flowers, moss and snails…true to our purpose, living the Creator’s dream for us.
So take a lesson from nature today – in all her divinity and wisdom – and persevere with passion. You were created for LIFE…and LIFE is vast and only limited by the constraints you put on it.
From Ulysses, by Alfred Tennyson:
Come, my friends.
'Tis not too late to seek a newer world.
Push off, and sitting well in order smite
The sounding furrows; for my purpose holds
To sail beyond the sunset, and the baths
Of all the western stars, until I die.
It may be that the gulfs will wash us down;
It may be we shall touch the Happy Isles,
And see the great Achilles, whom we knew.
Tho' much is taken, much abides; and tho'
We are not now that strength which in old days
Moved earth and heaven, that which we are, we are,--
One equal temper of heroic hearts,
Made weak by time and fate, but strong in will
To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield.
Sunday, February 13, 2005
Copy Cat
OK, so I got the idea to do this from my friend Shel-O. We'd be girlfriends if either of us played for the other team...but since we are both madly in love with wonderful men...I'll just have to say she is my inspiration...my muse perhaps?
I'd never even read a blog until I read hers...and I am not sure who I'll tell about this. Maybe no one. I've just come to a point in my life where I see the days all running together and I want something to make each stand out.
I read an article that suggested everyone should spend 5 minutes each day writing down a few things that made the day special. Even if it is small...it will differentiate it from every other day. Who knows if it works...but I am willing to give it a try. Maybe this is the place for it.
So what did I do today? I created this.
I'd never even read a blog until I read hers...and I am not sure who I'll tell about this. Maybe no one. I've just come to a point in my life where I see the days all running together and I want something to make each stand out.
I read an article that suggested everyone should spend 5 minutes each day writing down a few things that made the day special. Even if it is small...it will differentiate it from every other day. Who knows if it works...but I am willing to give it a try. Maybe this is the place for it.
So what did I do today? I created this.
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