$20 bill

I'm still disturbed by the fact that I heard something fall out of my pocket this evening and didn't check to see what it was. I'm bothered by my lack of ability to respond properly when this situation occurred. A sweet boy came up holding a $20 bill and told me he found it under the chairs where we were just sitting. I checked my pocket remembering the sound I heard as it hit the ground and recalling how I had stuffed it there the day before after my friend Kay bought a hula hoop from me. I checked my wallet to make sure I hadn't put it away but forgotten. I took the $20 from him and was grateful but honestly I can't remember if I said thank you. I was too busy checking to make sure it was actually mine though I already knew that it was. I was shocked honestly and thrown off my ability to respond. Afterwards I thought maybe I should have just let him keep it as a Thank you for being honest. Either way, I am grateful he returned my lost $20 bill to me. Just another reminder to stay present in the moment, I think my mind was somewhere else or I would have handled it better. At least I know there are still honest people in the world.

Speaking of honesty, who hit that button today? The one that sent out the "False Alarm" to Hawaii? And why did that happen? Can you imagine the nightmare everyone experienced today in those moments between the warning and the recall? It's hard for me to believe that it happened and I feel deeply for all those people who had to experience it directly. Talk about a shocker. I was shocked by some silly little mishap with a $20 bill. I'm just thankful it was a false alarm and a massive tragedy was avoided. I really hope something good comes out of this. I think about how life can change so drastically or end so quickly. Better make the most of the unknown time that we have. I'm sending out lots of love to everyone all over the world right now and praying that we all can see clearly to make the most out of what is most important in our lives.

Gratitude

Happy Thanksgiving!

Yesterday at Cherry Point Beach, Washington.

There are so many reasons to be consciously thankful on a regular basis and this holiday is a good reminder to remember. I feel truly blessed just to be living in the Pacific Northwest where the mountains meet the sea and natures playground surrounds this amazing community of people. I could tell you all the things specifically that I'm grateful for today, but it would take a really long time.

Basically, life is good, I'm healthy, I'm happy, I love my partner, my family and my diverse group of friends and I feel loved and accepted in return. This earth is amazing, this life is a gift, the food I get to eat everyday is wonderful, this tonic water I'm drinking right now is perfect and I could go on. It's good to be alive and I'm thankful for it all. 

Under the red sun

I wrote this on August 8th, 2017 and saved it as a draft with the intention of getting back to it later that day. Swept up in the flow of life I haven't even looked at it until today, 15 days later. I was reminded of this especially yesterday morning as I was walking with Mark to go get coffee at 7:30 am in south eastern Portland. The day after seeing the totality eclipse the smoky haze was obscuring the sun again just on the eastern horizon and I was thankful we were going to be heading back north into clear blue skies again shortly. Just another reminder of how important it is to have gratitude for the things we often take for granted every single day. Who knew after almost two weeks of hazy grey smoke in the sky that every day since I would be awestruck and grateful for every bit of blue sky and clouds I see. And grateful for so many things even I had started to take for granted. So here's my draft below and I'm not going to edit it for fear that I may not post it if I overthink it.

Paddling under the red sun it was a smoke & mirrors kind of feeling, the lighting at twilight was just not right. Pretty in a way, yes, but reminiscent of the fires that created the smoke it smelled eerie and forlorn. I hesitate to give too much attention to it because of the way it makes me feel, sad and introspective. Why all the wildfires and how can we put them out? Has it just been too hot and too dry? What can we do to prevent them in the future? How can we make it rain and extinguish them? I want clean air and blue skies again.

How do I shift my focus from what is to what I want? I look outside and all I see is haze. I look inside my imagination and dream of lush green forests with huge puffy fifth dimensional clouds delivering life giving water to the land, and clearing the air. The mountains rinsed clean, purified & restored the sky is blue again and the sun shines with the freshness of summer rain. It's so vivid in my mind I can almost taste it and then I walk outside back into reality. My nose wrinkles as I gaze back up into the haze. 

Out of desperation to do something I posted on Facebook a request for all my friends to Imagine rain. If believing is seeing than I thought that if only I could get enough people on board we could make it happen. Maybe we all need to do the Rain dance too. I even thought maybe we needed a visual demonstration of what I was imagining so I  had my help from my Goodman to create a video clip of what I was visualizing. Rain sounds so soothing and lovely right now. It's August in Washington, some people call it Fogust and I long for the salty sea foggy air instead of this thick gray haze of smoke choking the mountains and obscuring them from view. I'm seeing red in my head because my heart knows something just isn't right.

Under the red sun the time has come to change the way we think. We really oughta recognize that humanity is on the brink of either a breakthrough or something unfathomable. Under the red sun the spirits have warned us that this time would come, that we need to either recognize that we are all one and work together or continue to face this extreme weather affecting all places and all of our faces. We can no longer choose to look the other way, I know it's hard, I've heard us all say but what is the alternative? Under the red sun the time has come to wake up and smell the smoke of the natives who are speaking from the spirit world. Our current way of life is not sustainable and it's going to take every ounce of creative hope & desire to change the path we find ourselves on. Mother earth is wise and we must learn to respect her ways. I can not really see beyond what I feel is a calling to say something out loud in spite of the fear that you may not want to hear.

I'm guilty too, as guilty as you, this is not a game of blame, this is our life and the time to wake up to the truth. We have so much more power individually than we know and if we use that individual power collectively we can choose to direct our future faster better stronger and thrive on this planet longer. The latent power of our minds must be utilized, the infinite power of our hearts will move us in the right direction and under the red sun the smoke will clear as we walk with intention & gratitude in each moment.