Sharing My World 33

SHARE YOUR WORLD – 2015 WEEK #33

What are some words that just make you smile?

Hi grandma!  (Those never fail to put a smile on my face.)  However, there are more, but they’re less popular;  skullduggery, skedaddle, brouhaha, mollycoddle, doozy, lollygag, shenanigans, bumbershoot, malarkey, kerfuffle, gonzo, humdinger, fuddy-duddy and gobbledygook.  I also like namby-pamby, but I’m not sure how to use it in everyday conversation.

You’re given $500,000 dollars tax free (any currency), what do you spend it on?

I have everything I need and more.  So I would like to get rid of something.  My debt.  And the debt of my children.  The reason we are all in debt is because we want for nothing.  Except for the cash to pay off everything we owe.  Half a million dollars would be very helpful.  I thought once we had our vehicles and mortgages and credit cards all paid up we would be debt free, but our line of credit does not want to go quietly into the night.  There’s always something.

What subject would you like to study in depth, if given the time to do so?

Zen.  Although I expect it would just give me a headache.  I have a little book of Zen sayings.  In the introduction Zen is described as “spiritual, uncluttered, calm, mystical, enigmatic – all at the same time.  It might be easier to describe the sound of one hand clapping.”  Many of the parables, haiku and quotes are simply beautiful.  And many confuse the living hell out of me.  Which is probably not a very Zen thing to admit.

Would your rather be stuck in a small plane with bad turbulence for 2 hours or be a passenger in a car racing the Daytona 500?

Seriously, if those are my two choices, just shoot me now.  Small planes bouncing around in high winds have a way of reminding you how fragile life really is.  And racing around in circles at ridiculous speeds is just dumb. That being said, I will admit I admire the people who are good at it.

Bonus question: What are you grateful for from last week, and what are you looking forward to in the week coming up?

I am grateful for getting to see my grandchildren, at home and away in the last 2 – 3 weeks.  They are all growing older and growing up.  Although their parents may think it’s a slow process, I know better.  I am grateful for a new (some might say time-wasting) game that my son and two grandsons play and now I’m hooked on it too.  Thanks guys.  Of the four games I play religiously, at least one of the old ones must go.  Perhaps two.  My sanity is at risk.  And don’t tell me it’s too late.

The break from blogging has been good, although it wasn’t planned and just happened, and then kept on happening for much longer than any normal kind of break should.  I am a creature of habit, both good and bad.  If the road to hell is paved with good intentions, I must be almost there. And feeling like I have nothing but time to do whatever I want is almost as dumb as car racing.

Well all that didn’t sound very grateful.  No worries, I am getting back on a schedule.  Home delivery has ended here and I am walking to the new post boxes daily to get the mail.  Two days now, and no mail yet, but the walks are good.  I will get back to doing my art because now I have a mission!  I have a purpose!  Someone actually asked me for something!

Enough of the gobbledygook and lollygagging, it’s time to skedaddle and make some sense of the kerfuffle in the art room and create a doozy of a humdinger!  Or I could maybe take a break and play my games…..

 

 

Putting The Day Away

Just some stuff from some of my favorite Facebook pages.  I’m halfway through a bottle of malbec and thus unable to name exact sources.  Or exact anything if you want to get all technical.  Having a lovely evening.  Hope you are too.

Life Is An Echo

All of this is true, but that last sentence is the kicker.  I should make it my mantra so I’ll never forget it.  If I can’t trust anyone, it means I can’t be trusted either.  If I think someone is not telling the truth, it’s because I would also tell that lie.  The things I don’t like in other people are exactly the things I hate about myself.

Funny how that works.  Funny how it takes some of us our whole lives to figure it out.

Big K Little k, What begins with K?

There are several sweet and brilliant “K” people in my life, but if I get started talking about them I will never shut up.  So I’ll just say a few things about Kismet and Karma instead.

karma koma (Photo credit: PixLjUicE23)

To me they don’t mean the same thing at all, but feel free to correct me if I’ve got this all wrong.  Just letting you know that even if you do confuse me with the facts, it’s still unlikely you’ll change my mind about any of this.  Ha.  Yes, I am one of those obstinate and opinionated people today.  Which makes this day not unlike every other one I’ve ever lived, but that’s another topic entirely.

Kismet to me is synonymous with the word fate – a predetermined or unavoidable destiny.  We are born, we live and we die.  You can’t really argue with that because it is pretty much an unavoidable process for being involved in dwelling on this earth.  To us as mere mortal humans, our fates are unknown and unknowable beyond the very basic and obvious.  We know death will come but we don’t know when.  It’s kind of funny how it totally surprises all of us when you think about it.  But that would be because we mostly try so very hard to never think about it at all.

Karma as action and reaction: if we sow goodness, we will reap goodness. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

In between arriving and departing, we have free will.   We believe we are directing our own destiny.  If we didn’t believe this, there would be no point in trying to make something of our lives.  We would all just sit around waiting to see what happens next.  Sometimes others are very influential in pointing us in a certain direction and we may not be aware of it, or simply not care enough to stop them. Then when things turn out not to our liking we tend to blame someone else for seriously messing with our fate.

The truth is, everything that happens in our lifetimes between birth and death is Karma, or cause and effect.  Karma is what we do, and Karma is what comes back to us as a result of the decisions we made on what to do.  Life is kind of like a circle, or a looping spiral, or a meandering line going from point A to point B.  We get to choose our path.  We are in the drivers seat.  I could go on and on with these similes, but I choose to stop now.  You’re welcome.

“Karma is simply the law of cause and effect. If you plant an apple seed, you don’t a get a mango tree. If we practice hatred or greed, it becomes our way and the world responds accordingly. If we practice awareness or loving-kindness, it becomes our way and the world responds accordingly.  We are heirs to the results of our actions, to the intentions we bring to every moment we initiate. We make ripples upon the ocean of the universe through our very presence.”  – Christina Feldman Jack Kornfield, Stories of the Spirit, Stories of the Heart, Parables of the Spiritual Path from Around the World.

“There is so much about my fate that I cannot control, but other things do fall under the jurisdiction. I can decide how I spend my time, whom I interact with, whom I share my body and life and money and energy with. I can select what I can read and eat and study. I can choose how  I’m going to regard unfortunate circumstances in my life – whether I will see them as curses or opportunities. I can choose my words and the tone of voice in which I speak to others. And most of all, I can choose my thoughts.” ―    Elizabeth Gilbert

So what kind of ripples on the ocean of the universe do you want to make?  I used to think I was pretty much completely inconsequential in the grand scheme of things.  Now I’m not so sure.  And don’t try to talk me out of this comforting little notion I’ve got, because I quite like believing that what I say and do might actually matter

I can’t change my Kismet, or my ultimate fate.  But I can make some good Karma on the way to wherever I’m headed  I can take the bad things that happen and turn them around and head off in a different, new, even better direction.  I can be optimistic to the point where I appear to be blowing smoke up my own ass.  Sorry if that little metaphor offends, but I figured if I snuck it in here right at the end a large percentage of readers would miss it because they’re already bored to death with this whole Kismet/Karma diatribe.

Just make some good ripples today, okay?  Or some big waves.  Whatever floats your boat.  And doesn’t sink someone elses.

The Devil, the Magician, and the Moon

Those are the three cards that turned up on my tarot app today.  The association of the Magician with the gentle Moon means that I am now ready to open up to others again, after a period of withdrawal, perhaps caused by disappointment.  I am supposed to leave the clouds behind.  Life is good.  Anyone who works with me had better do what I say.  (I swear, I am not making ANY of this up.)  The alliance between the Devil and the Magician indicates an inexorable will that is causing me to behave in a devilishly authoritarian way.  Luckily, I have the charisma to sweeten the pill.

English: The Magician card from the Visconti-Sforza Tarot deck. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

I seriously love this shit.

Well except for that time I drew both Death and The Hanged Man, one after the other.  And topped that  with the Tower, showing a burning building with people falling from the windows,  portending shock and upheaval.  Impending doom is not the first thing you want to think about when you start your day.

I really don’t need to be told that I’m going to be cranky and dictatorial with everybody, so when that happens I re-draw the cards.  When they finally decide to say something nice, like how it’s an ideal day to stop worrying and cultivate that zen outlook,  I simply choose to go with that.

Insane?  Yeah, I guess.  But the power of suggestion is a compelling thing.  What’s that sociology theory I learned all those decades ago – If men define situations as real, they are real in their consequences.  Actions are affected by subjective perceptions.

If you believe that life is good, the consequence is your happiness.  If you think you have a cart load of charisma, chances are you will act the way a charismatic person acts.  If you can see your way to opening up to others and leaving the clouds behind, life will be good.

Our reality is whatever we choose.  I just seem to need more hints and clues and suggestions and maybe even kicks in the ass.  The Devil should be able to help me out with that while he’s also giving the boot to Death and the Hanged Man.

Meanwhile, I’ll be dancing with the Magician under the Moon.