Blogging and Energy

Lately I have been turning off the news. I've been a news junkie. Over the last many months, since before the election, and subsequent dismantling of our economy, I was glued. And listening to all the angry voices out there, angry for good reason, I might add, I realized I couldn't overcome the the number one Spiritual Law of the Universe. "Like attracts like". Whatever you focus on returns to you. My anger was returning to me, and it wasn't pretty. The news media feeds on that anger because it sells. The only way to break the cycle was to turn off the news programs and quit visiting my many aggregate news sites, newspapers on-line, and magazines. Time to let Obama do what he is going to do, trusting that he has our back. I was like a junkie. I needed to get it under control before I needed anti-depressants, or therapy.

Like most addictions, you need a replacement. In my case it became blogging. I started out by hanging around my daughters blog. But she is in a completely different stage in life, and I kind of felt a little out of place. I will always be interested in children and families, but this blogging forum was more about new mommies who wanted to connect with other new mommies. No, what I needed was something different. So I started going to Blog of Note, and found a couple of sites there. But my biggest breakthrough was following some of the comments on those sites. The beautiful thing about blogging is that it is inclusive. You don't have to be young, old, athletic, beautiful, handsome, smart, rich or poor to be included. You just have to leave a comment. Certain rules do apply, however. Mean comments will be deleted and so will you. The blog will either become private, or all the comments will be approved before they appear on the blog. A nice little built-in hate stopper. But thoughtful comments are appreciated by everyone. 

Which brings me to energy.

I have been noticing a certain energy pattern in blogging. We are drawn to the sites that have something we need. It may be a quality that we have not yet developed, an interest we want to pursue, a need to be cheered, information, a friendly "voice" in the night. But we find them, and they find us. We are never alone, if we don't want to be. And everyone has something to offer. And I think that is the real beauty of it. You may not think what you have to say is of any interest to anyone, but rest assured someone is interested. What you have to offer is valuable. So all you new bloggers out there, keep exploring the blog world, and remember "like attracts like".

Spring at 6500

I think spring has arrived here at 6,500 feet. It may not be lush yet, but there are certainly signs. I always love to visit blogs that show me pictures of what it is like where they live at different times of the year. So I thought you might like to see what early spring looks like at Lake Tahoe.

We took a walk that winds us around the golf course and homes that are only used for a certain part of the year. Where I live, only 30% of the people live here year-round. I guess they don't like to shovel snow. Anyway, it's quiet right now, but soon it will be bustling with tourists and the people who are only here for parts of the year.

Lucy was having a ball running on the golf course. But she will only be able to do that for a few more walks. We could already see someone preparing the course for the summer, and she is not welcome when the little golf carts start winding their way around. As you can see she is running at full tilt. We keep a close eye on her because if she hits us running like that there is no doubt you are either going down or breaking something. We don't call her Hulk Lucy for nothing. One time I was talking with a plumber in my kitchen in Minnesota, I was on one side of a high counter and he on the other. That house was large with a big open floor plan. Lucy went into "crazy lab mode" which is running as fast as she could around and around the room. She was able to get some speed up when she hit me right behind the knees. One minute I was talking to the plumber and the next I was looking up, red faced, as he peered over the counter to see if I was okay! 

You can see that the snow is fighting to keep hold on the green grass that has been buried, just waiting to take it's turn. I love the shadows on the snow and grass from the tree branches not yet in bloom.

I'm trying to visit everyone's blog that left messages. Thanks so much for your visits to mine. Have a great day!

One Person, One Change

Thank you all for your comments and wise words. One thing that jumped out at me was the universal desire for people to be treated with dignity, kindness, and equality. This came from all over the world. This one desire. Oh sure, we want our collective governments to play fair, get out of the hate game, and do right by us and the world. But the overwhelming response was for people to treat each other as equals. And no matter where you are from, there are always those that want to elevate themselves at your expense. They think they are better because they may have more money, education, status, power. But they are not better, they only have more money, education, status, and power. And we cannot change that. The only thing we have power over is ourselves.

But that power can change the world. One mind at a time. One change at a time.

I have made some changes in my mind over the last few months. I no longer accept e-mails from friends and family that are cloaked in jokes, patriotism, stories, etc., but are actually hidden hate bombs. You know the ones - they start out nice or interesting, but end with you feeling bad, or at least uneasy. They are usually against Obama, immigrants, other nations, other nationalities, other races, the poor. They always have a target. They always have an agenda. Needless to say, this has not made me popular with said family and friends. (And I get far fewer e-mails.) But I felt I needed to make a stand. Just one person, one change. 

What about you? Have you made any changes lately that you feel strongly about?

Small World

I was thinking about how when I was a child, I thought the world to be an immense space. So large that the mind had a hard time grasping the idea of so many people, lands, cultures. Now, because of technology, we realize it is a very small globe, actually. That we are connected to the world, and it's peoples, in a very intimate way. We can communicate with individuals, not just second-hand through newspapers or journalists. We can, through blogging, reach out and touch real people.

In the US, it has changed politics forever. Between the election in 2000 and the election in 2008, the blogging world exploded. For the first time, our politicians could not lie to us, and then just keep repeating the lie, until we had no choice but to accept it. Ditto for our business leaders. The world of blogging has changed all that. U-Tube has changed all that. The truth is already out there, and you can bet someone has it on tape somewhere.  All we have to do is link to each other, share information, and the ability to pull the wool over our eyes decreases exponentially. The power goes back to the people.

In that light, I would like to ask you a few questions. I have never had the honor to be able to do such a thing, with so many people. You are reading this blog from all over the world, by the thousands! Absolutely incredible! So here goes:

Where you live, what is it like right now?

How/would you like to see change?

Thanks, and have a great day, night, whatever! 

Awards

I have received two awards over the last few weeks that I am just now acknowledging. (Sorry.) I thank you so much for thinking of me when presenting awards to blogs that you find enjoyable. We all write, not knowing if anything we write is of any interest to others. Rest assured, that I thoroughly enjoy both of your blogs, and thank you so much. The Chic Geek and Women of a Certain Age, you are both wonderful and interesting writers. Both awards had the same text:

"This blog invests and believes in the Proximity - nearness in space, time and relationships. These blogs are exceedingly charming. These kind bloggers aim to find and be friends. They are not interested in prizes or self-aggrandizement! Our hope is that when the ribbons of these prizes are cut, even more friendships are propagated. Please give more attention to these writers! Deliver this award to eight bloggers who must choose eight more and include this clever-written text into the body of this award."

Please feel free to enjoy this award and to pass on if you would like to - no pressure! I am still trying to figure out how to display awards on my blog - just in case you all wonder why they haven't appeared in a pretty little row like so many more techno-savy blogs - geeesh!

Musings from the deep - sweet and soulful

Lost in Translation - trying to do it all

Goddessoftheconfluence - Nepal's friend

Kathy's campground capers - life in a campground

La rubia habla! - life as a new high school teacher

Midlife, menopause, mistakes, and random stuff - love those animals

Not Rocket Science - midlife musings

Star-forever-young - moving to America

These are just a few of my favorite blogs - most of the others are well-known, and well-loved!

Blog of Note

Wow! I have no idea why I was picked as a Blog of Note - but I feel very humbled. I have read some of your comments to my last post, and I can't wait to visit your sites, as well. We are all together on this journey through life, and blogging has given me the ability to share my thoughts, and to learn from yours.

Thank you so much for visiting!

In that Moment...

I was trying to have a conversation with my daughter today while her toddler bounced around the room, either hurting himself or getting into something he shouldn't. The conversation was about trying to hang on in this economy. Her husband has a lucrative sales job that is not as lucrative as it was last year. Like most young families, she is trying to stretch herself and their resources, to make ends meet. In between picking him up to kiss an owie and tell him to get off/out of something, she sounded harried and exhausted, but also strangely happy.

I started thinking about happiness. How you can always be happy if you are in the moment. By that I mean, just taking a small second to be aware of all the good that is around you. Just right at that very moment. 

I remember finding out I had a brain tumor. I was 33 years old, with a six year old daughter, and one eighteen months. My mother had died when I was six, so this year of my daughter's life was very poignant for me. 

It came out of the blue - one minute I was just fine - swimming a mile a day in the community pool and the next I was on my way to LA for some serious surgery. I was diagnosed with an acoustic neuroma - which is a tumor wrapped around the acoustic nerve on the brainstem side. It was thought to be benign, but not in a good location, and rather large in size. In the end, I lost my hearing on one side, my face was temporarily and completely paralyzed on one side, one eye not tearing at all. I had to wear this ugly eye patch that was see-through. To say I was odd looking is an understatement! But whenever I started to feel sorry for myself, in that moment, all I could feel was incredibly lucky! Lucky to be alive, lucky to have a beautiful family, an incredible husband, to have a future. There were so many others dealing with so much more. So, because it was so easy to feel sorry for myself, and my family needed me to be strong, I tried to stay in the moment as much as possible. It really was the only way to get through it and recover. 

I sensed my daughter doing that today. She was busy, harassed, worried. But then her son would do something endearing or funny. And in that exact moment she was happy. Nothing else mattered.