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I have to play this every so often and it’s kind of apt for that rousing New Years feeling…
Doop-de-doop!
Ahh, that feels better now. This video is therapy!
HAPPY NEW YEAR, EVERYONE!
It’s funny how things you’ve heard a zillion times in your life, all of a sudden take hold. The other day I was looking at National Geographic’s space photos of the year. They really are amazing, especially the one of the black hole. It’s real! Some time later, I heard a woman talk about how her time on earth is temporary. She had had cancer and, for her, she felt her time on earth may be even more momentary. Of course, all of our time here is temporary/momentary.
Naturally, I’ve always known I’m going to die one day but, for some reason, hearing her talk about how, one day, she won’t be a part of all this struck a chord. And, I looked at the photos of the black hole and of the gases on Jupiter, and somehow it hit me that I, too, really am here only temporarily. I’m just a teeny human creature within an incredible, infinitely moving arrangement and unfathomable process of Nature. (Until they discover otherwise.)
I took a walk this afternoon. The cold air was fresh and energizing and the sky was gold and pink. As I looked up, I thought of black holes and distance so incomprehensible its measured in light years. I was in the here and now and it felt good to be outside, part of the world.
Then, a guy with dogs appeared, one of which was not on a leash. It pissed me off ’cause my dogs were on a leash and they like to bite at other dogs. Tussle. Tussle. Tussle over. We continued on our walk but my head was then filled with “What a jerk! Dogs are supposed to be leashed,” and “Why can’t he be thoughtful even though my small dogs look like they should be easy to control?” “I had shoulder surgery, the inconsiderate @**¡!” Boy, it’s reeeeally easy for me to fall out of the here and now.
Then I remembered the part about me being here only temporarily. I looked up at the sky and reminded myself of the bigger picture. Bigger than ME. Bigger than my puny thoughts. There is a huge amount of mass, energy, noise, and movement, that operates in spite of me. A world that, really, I have very little effect upon.
But, here on earth, for me, there is music and there are paintings that bring me to tears. There is rafting down the Futaleufú in Chile, spending a New Year’s Eve with good Cuban friends in Cuba, driving among the fjords in Norway in a BMW with an insane sound system. I’m a lucky girl. My world is pretty big but, some day, it too will turn into something else.
So, right now, I’m appreciating the cold wind on my face, the pink and gold clouds, and the tunes playing in my ear. I think I may even be appreciating the guy with the dogs. He reminded me how small are the things that so easily irritate me. He reminded me that sometimes I act like a stand-in in my own life, that I get too caught up in things that don’t really matter, that this life is the only one I get.
He changed my day,.. the @**¡!. 
Last week, the President of Iceland requested a reduction in his salary: “President of Iceland Ólafur Ragnar Grímsson sent a letter to Minister of Finance Árni M. Mathiesen last week requesting a lowering of his salary in consistency with the lowering of salaries of other officials.” (Iceland Review) Icelanders are such good, solid people. It’s too bad a small group of greedy ones ruined lives in the rest of the country. I know Icelanders will make a comeback and it will be an honourable one. After all, the government has picked two women to clean up the mess! (*smiles*)
Here’s a good article from The Guardian (UK) about Icelanders dealing with their crisis. “Today people have too many trousers.” I admire them.
These are “snow prints” done in Seattle by Aly Lendon and friends. She said they pushed their faces (and other parts) into fresh powder and took photos with a point-and-shoot. No Photoshopping!
There are more at 2Pie.
(Photographed at the Ché Memorial in Santa Clara, Cuba.)
Today is the 21st of December. It is the shortest, darkest, and potentially gloomiest day of the year for me—me with my angst of winter. But, after 21 December, there is only one way to go and that’s up. The days become longer after today! We are now moving toward the long, light-filled days and short nights of summer. There is light at the end of my winter tunnel.
Today is the Winter Solstice and, I must admit, I never really gave it much thought. But, after seeing photos from the BBC…
…and reading this:
“The word itself, “solstice”, comes from the Latin solstitium, a combination of “sun” (sol) and “a stoppage” (stitium). However, legend says that, at the very moment of solstice, it is not only the sun that stops. If you are in a silent place, with a quiet mind and a stilled heart, you can hear the earth catch her breath and pause, as she waits for the sun to turn and move, beginning his ageless journey toward the spring.”
in Linda’s post, I feel more reverence for the day. It’s more than my own little party for reaching the halfway mark in day length. I didn’t know how many of our modern day Christmas celebrations are based on the ancient celebrations of the Winter Solstice.
In Jen Louden’s email today she writes:
When my daughter Lillian was little, we would celebrate the Winter Solstice in a magical way. The Solstice fairy would leave magical presents at the doorstep. We would read solstice stories while eating cookies, and then we would light candles in all the windows and go for a walk in the dark. We’d talk about what we wanted to bring to light in the new year and what we wanted to let go of that had been hard. Then we would round the corner to our house and see the light waiting to bring us home.
You could, on this longest night of the year, gather candles and turn off all the lights. Sit in the darkness. Feel it around you. Perhaps, if it feels okay, imagine the aspects of the darkness that you are ready to shine light into–the fears you are ready to see for what they are, the patterns, the stresses, the old thoughts–gently and with love, of course!…
Today’s Intention: To remember the light always returns.
I like that. My candles are lit. Thank you Jen and Linda. Happy Winter Solstice to everyone.
Since I seem to be using this blog as part repository for things I find on the web that I like, I’m adding Andrew Zuckerman’s Wisdom Book project. It’s beautiful and I’ve been looking for role models during these difficult times much of my life. There are some great ones here.
It seems Canada’s government is not the only government to fall in the wake of the economic crisis. Yesterday, the Belgian government collapsed. The Belgian Prime Minister, Yves Leterme, is accused of trying to influence the outcome of court proceedings having to do with freezing the assets of the bank, Fortis. He has tendered his resignation.
“Observers said the likely next steps would be a reshuffled cabinet without Leterme or early elections, an option few of the ruling parties would want amid a deepening economic crisis and with the Fortis debacle on voters’ minds.” Sounds excruciatingly familiar.
I can’t help feeling what’s happening in the world is very sad. In the WisdomBook video, Jane Goodall says,
“It’s awfully sad that with our clever brain, capable of taking us to the moon, we seem to have lost wisdom. And, that’s the wisdom of the indigenous people who would make a major decision based on ‘How will this decision affect our people seven generations ahead?’”
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