International Women's Day, today. Way to go ladies! So how far have I really come? To frame it in a time capsule I'll put it in the context of my life.
I've had a little of 60 years to "experience" life as a woman. And I have to say that, whether I like it or not my gender has majorly shaped my life and continues to do so. That being said. I am also very clear that despite the parameters life hands me, I WRITE THE STORY.
I am reminded of that quote by Mahatma Gandhi, "You can chain me, you can torture me, you can even destroy this body, but you will never imprison my mind." I have always taken great care to ensure that my mind always had the opportunity to know and experience FREEDOM, even if my body did not.
I have lived with societal pressures and dictates and mores for many, many years. In that time I have managed to break free of these societal bonds at various times and really know the delight and exuberance and pure empowerment of total acceptance and expressive freedom.
The moments of pure freedom I have known? They have been a sustaining torch, a light, that has kept me moving during those other times when all I really wanted to do was curl up in a ball and quit. Is this just a "women's thing"? I don't believe so. The human struggle for acceptance and equality is universal.
The journey from birth to death is about figuring out what works and doing it. It's about honoring all the other journeys that you come up against along the way and celebrating each other's wins, each brilliant spot in each other's path, knowing that there will also be dark moments, and long nights that these moments of brilliance will help us each move through.
After 60 years, for myself, Love has become the common denominator. When I peel away the layers, the behaviors the mores and dictates and look at the brilliance and the FREEDOM I see only LOVE.
Wishing you Love on the most auspicious International Women's Day.
Hugs,
Betsy
It is a lovely morning in Florida. The sun is shining, the birds are singing, and the air is warm. I am so very grateful for the conditions that allow me to live here. This last week has been an interesting one, as it has held a lot of emotion for me with not a lot provoking that emotion, which I find pretty interesting.
I have come out the other side of it, it seems, no worse for the wear. There were some delightful highs and some darker lows. It caused me to wonder if my body isn't kind of stuck in the winter doldrums of Wisconsin even though I'm away from all of that cold and gray and snow, snow, snow. I suppose that a body doesn't necessarily adapt in one season.
Battling winter depression has been such a saga for me, when I lived in Wisconsin. Then I add to that conditioning the stress of relocation and rebuilding my life, yet again. And I can understand how this week came about.
The last two years have been a bit challenging... no, a lot challenging. The wonderful news is that there are so many people who have made it all so much more bearable and enjoyable, even with the challenges. That's really it then isn't it? That the people in our lives hug us and hold us up to the light even when we don't have the energy or inclination to do it for ourselves.
I have a great Tribe... an amazing Tribe. All good, kind, generous souls who network with me regularly to bring out the best in me, the best in them, and the best in the world. I am so very fortunate.
Today holds tremendous potential for completion, and generous endings and brilliant beginnings. Right now is the quiet in the morning, when most are still sleeping. The birds are singing and the leaves on the trees are just coming out. It is springtime here. There's a red headed woodpecker creating a drum beat on the hollow branch outside my open door. Although it's still too cool for the lizards to be active, I anticipate the scurying of anoles and chameleons as the day warms up.
Hugs,
Betsy
There was a woman who had a tendency to worry, but she also had developed the habit of letting go of worry. Every time she'd find herself picking up worry, she'd also purposefully set it down.
There were times in her day when she'd realize that she was getting tired and then she'd self reflect and see that she had picked up a load of worry. So she'd set it down.
Worry is like road dust. As you travel through life you can pick it up along the way. Some people never seem to pick up much worry, while others seem to attract it like iron filings to a magnet. It's like when some people wear white clothing and they can wear white clothing for an entire day and at the end of the day it is still white. There are others who will put on white clothing and guaranteed, within a short period of time, it becomes soiled, stained, or marked.
This woman found that she could put down worry by being very still. By being physically still, and by being mentally still. She found that unlike dust, worry falls away if you are still. The more still you are, your mind is, the less of a hold worry has until it slips off and falls away.
This woman knew, from life experience what a heavy burden worry can be and how it can deaden you to your life and the world around you, So she decided to choose to regularly make time to be still, to let worry fall away, because she never wanted to forgot how wonderful and miraculous life really was. She never wanted to lose touch with what it feels like NOT to worry.
She accepted that she may never completely escape worry, because it seemed to be a part of her nature, but she has chosen to be mindful of it and to become its master rather than it becoming hers. That is her victory.
Here is her prescription for worry:
- First, know your personal indicators or signs of worry. Like the symptoms of disease, worry is recognizable by its symptoms. For the woman it was the absence of joy in her life.
- Sit quietly, as needed. Quiet your mind and focus on your breath. In... Out... In... Out... If your mind engages in thought, gently go back to the simplicity of your breath.
- Thoughts should disappear like clouds in the sky.
- Immerse yourself in your breathing. Be in the moment. Feel the present moment, sense the present moment. Relax into the present moment.
- Do this for an extended period of time. Pay attention to your state of mind. If it wanders away from quiet, peaceful, breathing In... Out... In... Out... gently bring it back, again... and again... and again... and again...
- Your mind should be like nature itself, present, rich but not clinging to anything, or any feelings, or any conditions; just being.
- Breathing In... Out.. In... Out...
Hugs,
Betsy
