Loveliness

Wiping drool off my chin....of course it is from Design Sponge.

Inspiration

I have four things to inspire you today! How lucky am I to have them to share with you?

The first is the amazing book "The Art of Possibility". It is a MUST READ for everyone. If you do not feel more hopeful, more motivated, more excited after you read it, if you bought the book, I WILL BUY IT BACK FROM YOU. No lie. I will.

#2: Amazing song and lyrics from Death Cab for Cutie. The song is

Soul Meets Body

I want to live where soul meets body
And let the sun wrap its arms around me
And bathe my skin in water cool and cleansing
And feel, feel what its like to be new

Cause in my head there’s a greyhound station
Where I send my thoughts to far off destinations
So they may have a chance of finding a place
where they’re far more suited than here

And I cannot guess what we'll discover
When we turn the dirt with our palms cupped like shovels
But I know our filthy hands can wash one another’s
And not one speck will remain

And I do believe it’s true
That there are roads left in both of our shoes
But if the silence takes you
Then I hope it takes me too
So brown eyes I hold you near
Cause you’re the only song I want to hear
A melody softly soaring through my atmosphere
Where soul meets body

Where soul meets body
A melody softly soaring through my atmosphere

And #3 is this lovely, great lady:



And finally #4 is this entrepreneur, owner of Pangea Organics, who has lived a life similar to Dan Eldon's but is still with us to tell the tale!

More Good Stuff

I know...you all wondered incessantly where I find this great stuff. If you tried to follow the path in my brain or on my computer you'd be ASTOUNDED (not really, but you would be very tired).

You must follow the adventures of My Milk Toof. And people think I'm creative...

For God's sake-have you EVER?

I haven't been to Cute Overload in awhile. So I'll add it to my gettoutuva funk list.

10 Quick Ways to Pull Outuva Funk

If only depression were something you could just "fix". For me it is not. It is a daily battle to avoid the black swirling hole...sort of like dirty bath water going down the drain...and I'm the fly trying to get free. It is hard, hard work and a fight I've waged most of my life. I'm 46 now, though, so I've learned a few things to help me battle it more succesfully. This is in addition to the most amazing therapist EVER (my little Quaker elf) and good meds (hats off to Cymbalta...I call my life before that "BC" because of the irritability and anxiousness that Cymbalta has pretty much cured).

Here are my Quick Ways to avoid the hole:

1. Do something. Anything that will give you a tiny sense of movement and accomplishment. For me, depression is about inertia. The more I sit, or lie, the worse I feel. I KNOW. This little #1 is hard but it's quick.

2. In order to help you with #1, break your bigger tasks down and do one teeny part of it. You'll have to trick yourself and say "this is all I have to do". I really do not want to leave my house today to go to the library...so I at least have my books and library cards in a neat pile by the door.

3. And/or set a timer. Tell yourself you will only pick up, paint, do laundry, write, whatever for 10 minutes. Microwaves have timers. Use it. Once you are up and moving, you will often find you have kicked the funk and are in a new place.

4. Listen to Adam Lambert's version of "Feelin' Good". You can get this off iTunes. I actually have the show saved so I can watch his big Tim Curry Franknfurther version and his little boy grin when he's done slays me.

5. Go to YouTube. Type in "Laughing Babies" and watch some. After you've giggled, try getting up and doing #1. If babies don't do it, just watch Maru, the cat, channel on YouTube:



6. I'm blessed with two good people who truly understand. Sometimes just calling and saying "I need out of this funk" helps. M and I have a pact to hold each other more accountable for getting certain things done.

7. A shower and getting cleaned up works also. "It's better to look good than to feel good" per Fernando (aka Billy Crystal). Honestly, sometimes this is true.

8. Get thee into nature. Now, when I go alone I feel lonely (but this is my personal issue-not yours!) but I also feel much calmer. I headed into Mt. Airy Forest yesterday, watched the woodpeckers and chipmunks. I felt blessed.

9. Set up a support system. I finally learned that I want friends I can just be with...no talking, no socializing. They do their thing and let me just hang out in the background. But I had to ask for it. And my friends are willing to give it.

10. End the day. Sometimes, especially in the evening, you realize this day has sucked ass. It is quite ok to "put the day to bed". If I've learned anything in this struggle, it's that moods fluctuate and on my worst night I wake up the next morning and it is simply gone.

If you are NOT SAFE, call someone who cares and be with them. Just sit. Tell people you are in a dark place. They WILL be there for you. If it gets really bad, get professional help. Life is incredibly hard work and we all come with our odd mix of chemicals, memories and issues. It's what makes us human. Be kind to you!

DISTRESSING NEWS! Please help...

For those of you who occassionally read this blog, you will know I've included Current.com and TV as one of my favorite sources. I opened Yahoo mail today to discover that two of their journalists have been arrested and charged to 12 years in a North Korean prison. I had no idea (was it covered?) that they'd been arrested on March 17. Current was created by Al Gore to be an "open source" news source, but they also do provide hard core news by younger journalists. Thank God Barack is in office. I hate to think how long they'd linger before anyone would do anything in past administrations. He is working diligently for their release (and I actually believe him).

Laura Ling, sister to fellow reporter Lisa Ling, and Euna Lee have been imprisoned for exposing conditions in North Korea. The first saw what it was like to live in North Korea when LISA Ling reported for Oprah. NO TV (except the gov't channel), NO Internet, NO contact with the outside world, NO artists or music that isn't gov't approved. It was eerie. No people on the streets. ZERO freedom and obviously very strict laws.

Take a moment to drop an email to your local congress person, encouraging them to not let pressure off of North Korea (which is using these two women as pawns in a bargaining game over nuclear weapons with the US).

Been a long time...

(Do you hear Led Zeppelin when you read that?)

Wow. What a crazy wild ride my life is! Working two days per week in the ER and writing, writing, writing. Who would have thought? I added two new clients this week-one writing career related articles for his Web site, the other editing a business book. With each client (I've had about 12 now!) I learn something (like I'm pricing myself too low). Regardless, when I'm sitting in my jeans and flip-flops in some dark coffee house writing, I stop and think "I'm living my dream". Not enough money in the current dream (I forgot to add that detail when asking the Universe for what I wanted), but I'm getting there...

Just finished Season 2 of The Closer. Great series...definitely improving as it goes along. Also on Season 3 of ER (ha! I started before I even applied for my part-time job...never watched it in the beginning so it is fun catching up. Plus lots of seasons to keep me entertained). My guilty pleasure has been The Cougar (sort of like The Bachelorette but the lady is 40 and the guys are all 28 and younger). I have the season finale DVR'd and it will be like a big piece of gooey cake when I finally get to it after work tonight.

I'm reading (along with thousands of others) The Story of Edgar Sawtelle. It has me. Certainly, so far, not the best book I've read but I have trouble finding fiction that grabs me. Reading the Amazon reviews, don't know if I'll finish or not. I really enjoyed Paris Trance. Mostly reading more nonfiction for work.

I started another blog that got picked up by Alltop.com ("The Best of The Best in Blogs") after 3 days!!! It is The Truth is Stranger... a nonfiction print and film blog. I'm hoping to turn it, long-term, into a source of income. I have a couple of books in me and there is lots of info on writing fiction, but less about nonfiction. Thus the reason. And I love documentaries...

Day 2 to Increasing your Likeability

Check it here.

A lovely gift from Marie

Ah, there are times and days that fall perfectly into place. It's easy to forget this in the rush to get to where you want to be, easy to forget what you do have instead of focusing on what you are missing. This was the BEST gift of my weekend, among many, dubbed "The Kelly Song":

I miss the sound of your voice
I miss the rush of your skin
I miss the still of the silence
As you breathe out and I breathe in

If I could walk on water,
if I could tell you what’s next,
Make you believe, make you forget
So come on, get higher, loosen my lips
Faith and desire in the swing of your hips
Just pull me down hard
And drown me in love

I miss the sound of your voice
The loudest thing in my head
And I ache to remember
All the violence, sweet
Perfect words that you said

If I could walk on water,
if I could tell you what’s next,
Make you believe, make you forget
So come on, get higher, loosen my lips
Faith and desire in the swing of your hips
Just pull me down hard
And drown me in love

And in love I miss the pull of your heart
I can taste the sparks on your tongue
I see angels and devils
And God, when you come…on
Hold on, hold on, hold on, hold on love

Come on, get higher, loosen my lips
Faith and desire in the swing of your hips
Just pull me down hard
And drown me in
It's all wrong It's all wrong
It's all right
So, come on, get higher
Come on, get higher
'Cause everything works
Everything works in your arms

Matt Nathanson

I Don't Know: Lisa Hannigan

Happy little ditty...and cool art at once. Doesn't get much better...
I Don't Know from ATO Records on Vimeo.