The following are excerpts from a piece passed on to me by one of my favorite people, Joan Fleming. I don't know who the author is, but wanted to share some of his/her insights about love.
It is a mystery why we fall in love. It is a mystery how it happens. It is a mystery why some love grows and why some love fails.
Just as life itself is more than the sum of the bones and muscles and electrical impulses in the body, love is more than the sum of the interests adn attractions, and commonalities that two people share.
Sometimes, hopefully at least once in your life - the gift of love will come to you in full flower. Take hold of it and celebrate it in all inexpressible beauty. This is the dream we all share. More often, it will come and take hold of you, celebrate you fora brief moment then move on. Too often when this happens, people try to grasp the love and hold it to them, refusing to see that it is a gift taht just as freely moves away.
You need to know this. You need to know that there is no meaning beyond the love itself. You need to treat it wiht kindness. If you find yourself in love with someone who does not love you, be gentle with yourself . There is nothing wrong with you. Love just didn't choose to sit in the other person's heart.
Remember that you don't choose love. Love chooses you. Alll you can really do is accept it for all its mystery when it comes into your life. Feel the way it fills you to overflowing, then reach out and give it away. Give it back to the person who brought it alive in you. Give it to others who deem it poor in spirit. GIve it to the world around you in any way you can.
Love has its time, its own seasosn, its own reason for coming and going. You cannot bribe it or coerce it, or reason it into staying. You canonly embrace it when it arrives and give it away when it comes to you. If you keep your heart open, love will come to visit.
'Two roads diverged in a wood, and I -- I took the one less traveled by, And that has made all the difference.' Robert Frost
Monday, November 12, 2007
Wednesday, October 31, 2007
Aging Disgracefully
Tonight, on all Hallow's Eve, I found myself reminiscing about, well, childhood and the annual promise of a pillowcase overflowing with mini chocolate bars, lollipops and bags of chips. Costuming for the night of trick-or-treating was always given the utmost consideration and concentration. In the end, it was usually Mom that put in the most hours, using her creative genius and the sewing machine to turn me into a black cat, angel, leprechaun, gypsy. Once Sara and I were in full costume and makeup, we'd pack up our bags for the night (always hopeful that one would not be enough!) and hop in the old Volvo for our candy excursion. Some years we scoured the countryside and lucked out, with neighbours dumping entire bowls of candy into our cases or rummaging through the pantry until they found canned pop or some other elusive treat that would be bragged about the next day on the playground. Other years we went to Kensington and stripped the streets of Suburbia, counting on getting loot through sheer volume of households covered rather than through generosity at every door. Once curfew hit, we'd head home and dump our bag(s) of treats on the livingroom in two piles. Then we'd methodically organise our loot by candy type - chips in one pile, choclate bars in another, packaged candy in another and, of course, the 'undesirables', which most often included raisins and floss. Finally, we'd start the negotiating/trade process. It's a good thing Sara and I didn't like the same types of candy, because we both left the bargaining table (or floor) believing we'd gotten the sweeter deal. Candy was then consumed in mass quantities and walls were bounced off for days to come.
When did the appeal of this ritual wear out? When did I decide I was too old to dress up and go candy hunting? I'd like to say it was when my sister began refusing to join me, but no matter, at some point I would have resigned myself to that fact that trick-or-treating was not acceptable at my age.
This year I bought Hallowe'en candy for myself, dressed up in a somewhat riske costume, hit up a couple of house parties and drank too much wine. It wasn't nearly as fun as going out on October 31st with my big sister , both of us in costume and freezing our fingers off in the bitter cold of a Canadian autumn, receiving 'oohs' and 'awws' from the adults that opened their doors to us and gave us candy for no particular reason, sorting out our treasures and then begging Mom to let us have more than one for lunch the next day..and every meal thereafter!
It's funny, in the crossover from childhood to adulthood we willingly relinquish so many rituals and beliefs with little more than a short-lived sense of resignation before embracing the rituals of adulthood. We give up planning Barbie weddings, in favor of planning our own;we stop believing in Santa Claus, telling ourselves that there is no magic in this world; we stop painting the sky purple because it's supposed to be blue.
When did the appeal of this ritual wear out? When did I decide I was too old to dress up and go candy hunting? I'd like to say it was when my sister began refusing to join me, but no matter, at some point I would have resigned myself to that fact that trick-or-treating was not acceptable at my age.
This year I bought Hallowe'en candy for myself, dressed up in a somewhat riske costume, hit up a couple of house parties and drank too much wine. It wasn't nearly as fun as going out on October 31st with my big sister , both of us in costume and freezing our fingers off in the bitter cold of a Canadian autumn, receiving 'oohs' and 'awws' from the adults that opened their doors to us and gave us candy for no particular reason, sorting out our treasures and then begging Mom to let us have more than one for lunch the next day..and every meal thereafter!
It's funny, in the crossover from childhood to adulthood we willingly relinquish so many rituals and beliefs with little more than a short-lived sense of resignation before embracing the rituals of adulthood. We give up planning Barbie weddings, in favor of planning our own;we stop believing in Santa Claus, telling ourselves that there is no magic in this world; we stop painting the sky purple because it's supposed to be blue.
Sunday, October 28, 2007
Global Warming...oooh..Sorry, I Mean Climat Change
So I have a TV with 60 channels and I'm watching the Fifth Estate on CBC. Go figure. I haven't watched more than ten hours of t.v. since I got home in June, but I'm glad I flipped it on tonight.
Right, so tonight the topic of discussion is global warming and, more specifically, how big business and government have employed spin doctors to raise doubts about the scientific validity of claims that the Earth is heating up. The Bush administration recieved direction from Frank Luntz, who studies the impact of language on people's reactios. In 2000, Luntz wrote a memo for the Republican party, advising them on how to talk about global warming. Actually he suggested they call it 'Climate Change' because it is less threatening and seems like something that is going to happen over a longer period of time. Someone recently challenged me as to the fact that people aren't using the term global warming anymore (although they actually are in places like Australia..just not in America), implying htat perhaps it was because there wasn't sufficient evidence of global warming. Well, nope, it just looks like the Republican party was actually successful at spinning the term 'climate change'., But, well, a rose by any other name....
Anyways, I think it's 'cute' that this debate is still going on about the existence of global warming, when evidence is taking place every day in the form of catastrophic fires, record droughts, unusually high temperatures, super extreme storms, etc. A couple of years ago, I had a hard time talking about global warming with anyone, becuase most people still wanted to believe it wasn't happening, but now I think the proof is too prevalent for the majority of people to ignore. Those that continue to question it are either looking to get a good night's sleep (read Michael Crichton before heading to bed), or have simply been exposed to an excessive amount of 'Luntz' spin via the media, business and government. This was going to be a rant, but I am too tired, so I am going to sleep instead!
Right, so tonight the topic of discussion is global warming and, more specifically, how big business and government have employed spin doctors to raise doubts about the scientific validity of claims that the Earth is heating up. The Bush administration recieved direction from Frank Luntz, who studies the impact of language on people's reactios. In 2000, Luntz wrote a memo for the Republican party, advising them on how to talk about global warming. Actually he suggested they call it 'Climate Change' because it is less threatening and seems like something that is going to happen over a longer period of time. Someone recently challenged me as to the fact that people aren't using the term global warming anymore (although they actually are in places like Australia..just not in America), implying htat perhaps it was because there wasn't sufficient evidence of global warming. Well, nope, it just looks like the Republican party was actually successful at spinning the term 'climate change'., But, well, a rose by any other name....
Anyways, I think it's 'cute' that this debate is still going on about the existence of global warming, when evidence is taking place every day in the form of catastrophic fires, record droughts, unusually high temperatures, super extreme storms, etc. A couple of years ago, I had a hard time talking about global warming with anyone, becuase most people still wanted to believe it wasn't happening, but now I think the proof is too prevalent for the majority of people to ignore. Those that continue to question it are either looking to get a good night's sleep (read Michael Crichton before heading to bed), or have simply been exposed to an excessive amount of 'Luntz' spin via the media, business and government. This was going to be a rant, but I am too tired, so I am going to sleep instead!
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