“If you don’t climb a thousand crags,
how can you learn
all things are empty?
The mountain’s head is white and mine is too.
December dies, the year
runs out its string as all things do.
At the summit: one rude hut, the snow,
this lonely body, and the wind.
I lean on the rail, heart sudden struck
the moon rises from within Great River: there.”
– Yuan Mei
“Self Portrait
It doesn’t interest me if there is one God
or many gods.
I want to know if you belong or feel
abandoned.
If you know despair or can see it in others.
I want to know
if you are prepared to live in the world
with its harsh need
to change you. If you can look back
with firm eyes
saying this is where I stand. I want to know
if you know
how to melt into that fierce heat of living
falling toward
the center of your longing. I want to know
if you are willing
to live, day by day, with the consequence of love
and the bitter
unwanted passion of your sure defeat.
I have heard, in that fierce embrace, even
the gods speak of God.”
– David Whyte
Fire in the Earth
Here I am. Procrastinated, or as I like to call it, thinking. Thinking is NOT the same as Pondering. I wanted to type just then that Pondering is NOT the same as producing. That would not be true. All right, for some the idea of producing means a tangible goal achieved which would mean that Pondering is then NOT the same as producing. Seeee!?!!? How am I to write Inside Out, Upside Down, and Backward when I cannot get past the first three sentences?!?!?!
I require Tea for this!!!
(So will you, I promise.)
Ok, I am back having cleaned the screen with vinegar. Who would have thunkenuggetted that one could not see the screen all bright and cheery for the goo? No, I suggest that we do NOT look down at the condition of my keyboard.
Now. A lovely blogger called Centria just happens to do a lot of the things I do or I think or vice versa. She’s fun, and I like how she thinks, and how she does not. I like how people take her seriously when she isn’t, and doesn’t when she is. I have not yet noticed that others get out a can of whoop-ass at her when she says a thing they cannot grasp or another thing that wafts past the mind a bit too close to home. I often wonder if there is some gift of what I guess I’d call diplomacy that of course I’m comparing sometimes to see if I lack. And then, I smile and I know that we move and draw the readers that want what we have.
Sometimes I think about what I think I am going to write and I will wake up and find that She has written it. I try to be cognizant of this. This morning I decided to ask her about an idea in a letter. The letter did and does still feel awkward.
So, back to the beginning. I love being outside. I stopped writing about being outside, courtesy. Remote viewing and sharing isn’t anyone’s fault, it simply is, and can require grace. It has been bugging me for days now, particularly in my sleep about how much time I spend INSIDE. And how since NOT writing about being Outside, that I’d somehow shoved OUTSIDE aside…a present no longer mine to cherish. This is such a funny idea, as my insides are my outside. Without it, I am upside down and backward.
Now, since this morning I woke with that jittery unsure go go feeling, I asked for focus. I wasn’t specific enough! I have been focused on my sore toe all darn day. WOW!! Does it hurt. Wow, has it driven away the ability to focus on what I wanted to have my attention. I would say that I found a distraction for fear of writing crap. However, I am not that stupid to have a sick toe to do it, not on purpose anyway!
(Yes! Please blow kisses to my toe….)
Apparently I have GREAT FOCUS!
shaking my head and turning all about…
Have a great afternoon
Elisa
P.S. Oh! This is what inspired me to begin, though I only read half of it, and finished reading after I published the blog. It was hilarious so, here it is:
Eighty-three problems “There is a story of a man who came to see the Buddha because he had heard that the Buddha was a great teacher. He had some problems in his life, and he thought the Buddha might be able to help him straighten them out.
The Buddha listened patiently to the man as he laid out all his difficulties and worries, and then waited for the Buddha to say the words that would put everything right for him.
The Buddha said, “I can’t help you.”
“What do you mean?” said the man.
“Everybody’s got problems,” said the Buddha. “In fact, we’ve all got eighty-three problems, each one of us. Eighty-three problems, and there’s nothing you can do about it. If you work really hard on one of them, maybe you can fix it – but if you do, another one will pop right into its place.”
The man was furious. “I thought you were a great teacher! I thought you could help me!”
The Buddha said, “Well, maybe it will help you with the eighty-fourth problem.”
“The eighty-fourth problem?” said the man. “What’s the eighty-fourth problem?”
The Buddha said, “You want to not have any problems.”
– Steve Hagen
Buddhism Plain and Simple
Elisa's Spot 