Category Archives: life

Caffeine Deity – Trifextra challenge

18 Comments

Rulers of space, controllers of destiny – you will appreciate me more than most, for all of your senses will drink me in. Affairs of humanity are best served when Buddha’s cup is full.

coffee-buddha-falko-follert

Written for the weekend Trifecta Challenge: Buddhist cosmology tells of Trāyastriṃśa, or the Heaven of Thirty-Three gods, which rule over the human realm.  This weekend we’re asking for exactly 33 of your own
words about a god of your own devising that shares heaven with the other thirty-two gods.  Make it yours and have fun with it

(image credit: fineartamerica.com)

A moment of disquiet

8 Comments

I have no words.

I feel imprisoned within four walls that don’t belong to me.

Lost in a familiar setting, missing the comforts of home.

Thankful for the roof over my head, but a stranger in these confines.

Going through the motions, watching the clock.

Incessant thoughts running through my mind.  Can’t sleep.

Life is out of my control.

Cracks in my resolve.

I am a creature of habit.  I miss my routine.

I make the best of my dilemma.  I rise above and adapt.

Fleeting moments of angst are replaced by gratitude.

Calming breaths.

Hope for resolution and restoration.

Longing for Mr. Sandman.

Maybe sleep will come tonight.

sleep

Stuck – 100 Word Song

11 Comments

If only I could let the world see me,

see where I linger.

Caught between two worlds, separated only by a reflection.

I continue to write my words, words that come from a place deep within myself,

but those words will never be seen.

Reality lies above and below me.

I can hide in both of these worlds, torn between them,

never sure of which world I will feel truly defined.

I play a role in each of these spaces.

I let those others who dwell here see only pieces of me, not the whole picture.

Caught between my realities.

Above-and-Below

~

(image credit: naturesedgestudio.ca)

Written as a first attempt at the 100-Word Song Challenge.   Lance introduced me to this challenge and I thought I would give it a try.

This is what it’s about –  A song is chosen and the post that is written has to be somewhat based on that song and written in exactly 100 words.   This week’s 100 word song – Above & Below – The Bravery. 

Oh yeah, well wait ’til you hear what happened to me….

25 Comments

Perhaps this is a rant or perhaps it is a series of casual observations that have manifested into cause for a blog post.  Regardless of the reason, these words interrupted my sleep and wanted to be written.

Each one of us has a collection of friends that is as diverse as the hues throughout the color spectrum.  And although we tend to gravitate to like-minded individuals, there are always the few friends that add the spice to our lives – those people who share similar interests but sometimes deviate so far from our idea of normal behavior that we simply shake our heads and wonder why.

During my 44 years on this revolving Earth I have met a myriad of characters – it comes with the territory when you work in hospitality.  But I have only experienced a few people who live their life by one simple standard.

keep-calm-its-all-about-me-3

(image credit: keepcalm-o-matic.co.uk)

Every story ever told seems to pale in comparison to what this person has experienced.  If you have faced medical issues, they have narrowly escaped amputation.  If you were in a car accident, they were extracted from an accordion, that used to be a vehicle, by two fire departments using the jaws of life.  You will never have one experience in your life that this person has not endured more suffering under the same circumstance.  There is no conceit involved.  They don’t ever claim to be the best at anything in their life, but they most definitely have encountered every situation in a more personal and more painful way.

Over the years I have learned how to spot these people fairly quickly.  They don’t tend to hide in a crowd for long and I have learned to limit my conversation about any personal issues for fear of hearing another calamity that is monstrous compared to my story.

Perhaps during my next encounter with one of these people I will suggest that they should live in a bubble!

Warm nights and home cooked meals

5 Comments

After feeling displaced after the recent storm, there is something inherently comforting about being in a familiar place.  Although hotel living is difficult and I am realizing how much of a homebody I really am, things could be much worse.

My hydro situation is at least another week from being rectified and although I felt great frustration today, I stopped for a moment to count my blessings and realize how fortunate I am.  I have a roof over my head, I am surrounded by warmth and I am among friends.  Waking up to this view isn’t half bad either.

IMG_0977[1]

My new work family is looking after me and making sure I don’t feel like I am being a burden.  I enjoyed a nice warm meal today, compliments of Karen, and I will sip on my glass of wine and bury all the negative feelings I had today towards HydroOne.   Life is much too short to spend these moments being bitter and angry.

The nocturnal time-bomb

8 Comments

Last night I had a nightmare.  I have no recollection of the horror at all but I awoke in the wee hours of the morning and I was sobbing, full on heaving sobs, and tears were streaming down my face.  I can honestly say I’m relieved that I don’t remember the theme of the night terror that I survived. Naturally, it got me thinking about nightmares and why they occur.

Nightmares are simply a combination of our history of events and many of those nightmares are caused by the stress of those same calamities.  Whether we realize it or not, we may be dealing with some issues that take hold of our subconscious and wreak havoc in our dream world.  We may not even comprehend that we are holding onto so much of what happened in our day, or our week, but it builds up like a brick wall that crumbles in our sleep and the shrapnel plummets into our waking moments.

Stress is fickle creature.  It can inhabit our daily life as much as it creeps into the blissful hours that should be our time to recharge.   When I went to bed, I carried with me each particle of energy-draining angst that I had accumulated throughout my day and the stress of what has been happening with my home.  Nightmares and dreams paint a picture of what is happening in our life.  Whether that portrait is drenched in vibrant colors or tarnished with mottled shades of black and grey, the visions in our sleep depict our mood and illustrate the tension we are storing in your body.

I am in awe of the seemingly limitless catastrophes that a human body can endure and process.  Any type of mental anguish it represses during the day will certainly appear in our unconscious state giving us signs that we are walking on a ledge.

We need to find a way to clear our negative energy before the weight of our day begins to pull down the blankets of our eyelids.  We will at least have a fighting chance of supplying the artist in our sleep with a pallet of spirited rich colors instead of the monochromatic, threatening spatters of charcoal and black.  If we can free our head of that ticking time bomb called stress, we can reclaim our restful night of unadulterated sleep.

Focusing on the positive

11 Comments

The last couple of days have been stressful, to say the least.  My puppy and I are still currently residing in one of the rooms at the lodge where I work and there is still some work to be done at my house before it is safe to move back in and have the power restored.

It’s been frustrating and I feel, in a way, like I have been taking advantage of my employers (they assure me otherwise).  I have spoken to a least eight Hydro One employees to try to rectify my situation and, after several trips circling the drain and not getting a straight answer, I think we finally have it sorted out.

But as I sit here in a warm room with the football game on the television, I realize that things could have been much worse.  My house could have burned down and I could have been left in the cold with no roof over my head or friends to lend me shelter.  Life really is about focusing on the positive.

I went for a walk this morning with my puppy and the blue sky and sunshine helped to clear any of the remaining negative thoughts that may have been residing in my brain – remnants of my adventures this weekend.  The cloud in the picture below hovered above us and the way the sun shone on the small formation at the top, it illuminated the shape to look like Pac-Man.  That ethereal icon continued to eat his way through the clouds until nothing was left but an expansive view of pure blue sky.  Only a strange ghost-eating fragment of my youth could have been the catalyst that made me focus on the good.  It made me see the positive which was otherwise temporarily masked by a shroud of looming clouds.

IMG_0971

The sky in my mind once again matches the blue of the sky outside.  Once I remembered to focus on the good things in my life, the rest of it all but washed away.

Letting go – Trifextra Challenge.

4 Comments

On now to our quick Trifextra challenge.

In The Scorpio Races,
author Maggie Stiefvater writes, “It is the first day of November and so, today, someone will die.”  Give us the next thirty-three words of this story, as you imagine it.  Take it wherever you like, but make it original and make it 33 words exactly.

~

The words echoed as she hovered near him, her warm hand on top of his chilled skin.  He would never come out of the coma.  The monitor flat-lined and he was at peace.

Wind and things that go bang

17 Comments

There are not many things that truly scare me but wind storms are one of the furies of Mother Nature that greatly unsettle me. It doesn’t help matters that my house is nestled amidst numerous very tall trees.

We had a doozy of a storm last night and the wind is still raging, pushing the rain sideways across the landscape.

In the wee hours of this morning a large branch came down on the wires attached to the post that holds the power connection directly feeding my hydro supply. That post now hangs precariously at a 45 degree angle – still barely attached to its mooring. The most disturbing part of this situation is that the power is now back on.

IMG_0969[1]

I am currently sitting in my car waiting for the cavalry to ride in on their white trucks and rectify the dangerous situation my house is in. With a live power supply – those wires could spark any time. I am staked out at the end of the driveway watching for any sparks – poised to dial 9-11 if the need arises an my dog is safely snuggled in the back seat.

Fingers crossed they arrive soon!

The ripple effect

9 Comments

(image credit: singerlearning.com)

Every action in life creates a ripple effect.  Whether that ripple effect is as visible to the naked eye as a drop of water in a pond or is so infinitesimal that it is unseen by the human eye there is always a reaction.  We learned it in Grade 11 Physics and the theory is as true today as it was then.   By now our interpretation of that same ripple effect may be broadened. It may not just encompass that drop of water but a drop of energy into the pool of existence.  The end result may dissipate in strength by the time it reaches its destination but it will still create waves on its way to the shore and alter the state of nature as we observe it.

For everything a human being says or does a ripple is created in the universe and that ripple, unbeknownst to you, may affect many more pools of reality than you originally intended.  It brings to mind the old adage – think before you speak.  You may never comprehend the consequence of your words and what reaction may be created, first or second-hand, but the words still have the power to change the tidal pool of various ponds.

Many of the problems we face are essentially man-made.  There are certainly elements out of our control but what if we put forth the effort to regain some of that control?  What could happen if we invested our time and energy in something positive and sent that energy out in waves?  A drop of human kindness or empathy can spread like the circles created by that original bead of water into the larger body of aquatic energy and send that same wave in directions you never thought possible.

Make the power of the ripple effect work for you…..send positive energy and watch it expand as the ripple gets larger on the water.  Know that the good energy you put out there will be shared by more than just the one person you bestowed that energy upon. Your positive energy may ripple into a pond of people who you didn’t even know existed but they will eventually benefit from that one good vibe that you put forth.

A simple smile or a kind word – send the ripple…..and you could potentially change the way those waves reach other shores of lakes that you never knew existed.