‘Cause no problem is too small or too big for Spirit
I’ve had a lot on my plate as of late.
I’ve been responding to some of this a lot with stress. It’s natural to say, this stuff stresses me out. But I’m choosing my words carefully here.
My mom is going through some memory challenges. So I’m checking in with her more often and doing some long-distance problem solving — including making sure she has all her important papers and cards in a secure place.
And replacing lost or missing ones. I’m walking through those processes with her on conference calls, instead of having her do them offline.
Today we…
We gotta start with ourselves
This week’s selection of stories sing a similar song— that of self-love.
Whether it be having clear boundaries in our friendships so as not to be sucked dry, as Laura puts it so metaphorically in her newest story…
Or how our lives are inseparable from our family’s and could turn out a variety of ways, depending on actions taken or not. Bottom line, it’s up to us to take care of ourselves despite what others do or don’t do, as Bebe points out.
Self-love includes loving up our bodies. Marilyn reminds us that hydrating our skin, especially our faces is…
Creative Corner 11
Meaning both Brilliant Radiance and Weightlessness
Oh, Great Spirit, what can You tell me about being initiated into my own mystic being?
Especially since I don’t recall having any so-called mystical experiences — you know, those burning bush kinds, visions, levitations, sudden flashes of insight or download of spiritual wisdom or powers, though you know I’m very open to this and hoping to one day…maybe, pretty please with a cherry on top, have one. Hint! Hint!
Great Spirit (GS): My Darling Daughter, what does that the poet Rumi say — there are many ways to kneel and kiss the ground. …
’Cause facing up to our faces can be a big deal
I didn’t give my face more than a passing glance.
Until recently. A batch of suspicious places on my face was biopsied. Turned out they were all either basal cell cancer or precancerous growths of some kind.
One, on my nose, needed a Mohs procedure, where they scrape and test, scrape and test. The other three got to be treated with a topical chemotherapy salve I nicknamed ‘creamo-therapy.’ ‘Creamo’ for short.
Its scientific name is Fluorouracil Topical and it’s intense. It burns upon application, and sometimes longer. It turned my skin bright red and sometimes created bleeding sores.
I had…
Creative Corner 6
Musing on my muse, reflecting on collecting inspiration
As the year falls into its final phases,
I smother myself with electronic gazes
into that mortal~immortal mirror of my imagination.
Far from stagnation, or resignation, the moment’s
implication reminds me how much I yearn
and burn for that which I’ve set out to learn —
Riveting Writing.
Yes, that’s where my muse awaits me,
with unadulterated purity, of vision, of motive,
of the myriad of possibilities awaiting my decision,
and selection.
What will I create next?
While I’m perplexed, she awaits
with patience, stability, genuine love,
curiosity. I can trust her and I do,
to hold my ideas, my…
Fragrant, colorful, and prolific!
We here at Middle-Pause have been blessed with a profusion of stories to arrange in this bouquet to offer you!
And what a magnificent variety they are.
Our first focus is family. Margie and her sisters tempted the hands of fate and the steadfastness of a vinyl waterbed with dire consequences. Bebe and Cindy explore the in-law issue up, down, and sideways.
Aikya poetically shares how she and her faith-filled mother overcame health challenges she was born with. While Tara reminds us that not every opioid user is an abuser. …
Creative Corner 10
Just trying to clear some things up
It’s tough to be shunned everywhere you go. Even before you get there.
But hey, I can’t help it, I’m fire. It’s my nature to burn hard and travel fast. Besides, it’s not my fault. Do you see any feet or legs on me? What you may call arms, I call flames.
I don’t travel of my own volition. My only buddy, the wind lifts and carries me everywhere I go. Talk about dependency. Like you humans, if I don’t get enough oxygen, I’m a goner.
My other two sister and brother elements, water and earth kill me when we…
Middle-Pause Pump-Priming Prompt
What’s your favorite look, color, outfit?
They say clothes make the man.
Or in our case, the woman.
Whether or not we keep up with changing fashion trends, have a simple basic wardrobe, or mix and match, like me, chances are we have a relationship with our clothes. Or at least, our favorites.
In an ideal world, our most comfortable, most favorite clothes, the softest, silkiest ones would also be our power outfits.
But I can’t imagine showing up at a Board meeting, or an important appointment with authority figures in my comfy-comfy sweats or leggings, PJ-soft sweater, and polka dot socks.
That’s my everyday casual…
Foot Fetish Funnies
Humanity’s flabbergasting fetish for footwear
Some shoes are works of art.
I’ve long admired what artists, cobblers, designers, and visionaries do to aesthetically enhance basic footgear.
What started out as a way to protect our feet from the ravages of hot desert sands, city mud, and muck, or swampy, boggy bottomland has built itself up into multi-faceted, multi-media wearable art forms.
I so want to applaud, just like I would for a Monet, Van Gogh, or Judy Chicago.
The inventiveness and variety of shoe art leave me amazed and breathless.
The ways that shoes can make us taller with platforms and heels make them the…
Creative Corner 8
Takes being willing to learn and practice patience
Have patience with everything that remains unsolved in your heart. Try to love the questions themselves, like locked rooms and like books written in a foreign language. Do not now look for the answers. They cannot now be given to you because you could not live them. It is a question of experiencing everything.
At present you need to live the question. Perhaps you will gradually, without even noticing it, find yourself experiencing the answer, some distant day. ~ Rainer Maria Rilke, Letters to a Young Poet
I love this quote.
I love this quote even though it makes me…
