He did what everyone expected of him. His screams cut through All Hallows’ Eve and the full moon only served to intensify his anguish. His cries echoed. His mask can never be removed.
Artist credit: Dan Duford
www.poisonedplayground.com
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Written for the Trifextra Weekend Challenge – Give us the 33 words that follow this illustration. What happens next?
The most unlikely friends. Each of them thought they needed something they already had. We always seek the things we are afraid to see in ourselves. Be brave, be clever, have a heart.
(image credit: doctormacro.com)
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Written for this weekend’s Trifextra Challenge:
This weekend we’re asking for 33 of your own words about a famous trio. The trio could be from literature, from history or from pop culture. Just make it yours and have fun with it. Good luck! – See more at: http://www.trifectawritingchallenge.com/#sthash.y3vJUsW9.dpuf
Yesterday was my first day off in a couple of weeks. My house is covered in dog hair, my laundry is slowly crawling across my bedroom floor looking for a means of escape and the collection dirty dishes is beginning to outweigh the number of clean dishes, but yesterday I didn’t care.
Being able to leave those chores behind is something I am unaccustomed to – I like having a clean, orderly house and it bothers me when things go unattended. After having worked a copious amount of hours over the last two weeks I wanted nothing more than to restore some order under my roof, but that didn’t happen.
I hit the driving range in the morning and soaked up some sunshine in the process. And then something even better happened. I was invited out for a boat ride, something I haven’t done in over a decade even though my town is surrounded by three lakes! It was glorious and possibly the best thing about being in the open air and catching some more rays is the fact that I didn’t let my mind become consumed by thoughts of the jobs that were waiting for me at home.
The boat ride was fantastic. We cruised around the lake, had a few cocktails (if the police are reading this, they were actually Ginger Ale) and pushed the throttle forward to make the last few minutes of the ride home a little quicker. I was like a dog holding its head out the car window, minus the tongue hanging out. My feet were firmly planted on the floor, two hands clutching the windshield and air rushing towards my face at great speed.
The boat ride turned into a great dinner with lots of laughs and when I returned home I didn’t even notice the dishes that await my attention. Instead of being lost in mundane tasks, I allowed myself the opportunity to seize the day, to make great memories and enjoy life rather than letting my life control me.
Today I am playing my first round of golf in two years. The dishes will still be here when I return and the laundry will continue to tie itself together to create an escape ladder, but I have given myself the nod of approval to seize yet another day. I’m going to add a little more life to my life and enjoy every minute of it. Perhaps the dish fairy will arrive in the interim and surprise me with clean dishes but even if they are still in the same place on the counter, I don’t care. This day is mine!
Carpe diem – seize the day!!
We all have those moments where life’s proverbial bullies gang up on us and we shrivel into a ball and feel sorry for ourselves. We become so overwhelmed with negative things that our mechanism for coping pops a few springs and lays useless at our feet. But self pity is like a rocking chair…..it gives you something to do, but it really gets you nowhere. (Thank you, Van Wilder, for that gem of wisdom)
Still, sometimes it is difficult to pull ourselves out of that funk and move into a more positive realm. Self pity can be all-encompassing. Once we let it into our mind, it takes root and wraps itself deeply into the soil of our emotions. When something comes along to crush our spirit, every bad thing that follows seems to compound that helpless feeling and we begin to lose our buoyancy in a churning sea of despair.
We tend to be pessimistic and convince ourselves that more bad karma will follow when instead we should be sending out positive thoughts to get back that affirming energy. We need to rethink the whole picture and realize that the small obstacles that have presented themselves do not define the rest of our lives. Our emotions become exaggerated and self-indulgent and we tend to ignore the rest of the world still revolving around us.
We need to make a pact with ourselves to not indulge in that obsessive behaviour. Gratitude and self-pity are bitter enemies. If we take time from our “pity party” to think about all the things we should be grateful for, eventually the affirmations of all the good in our lives will counter-balance the scales.
Every negative occurrence in our lives can be seen as an opportunity to learn from that experience. Instead of wallowing in a mire of self-pity, step back for a moment and realize that the positive things in your life far outweigh the negative aspects. Put an end to that pity party, get a good night’s sleep, and start the next day with a new outlook. You’ll be amazed what a new attitude will bring.
This post was inspired by this post. Thanks Guap for getting the wheels turning again!
“Life begins at the end of your comfort zone” ~ Neale Donald Walsch
Risk and reward. Two words that represent how life really begins when you take that chance and step off the ledge of your comfort zone. Life in a safety bubble is just that, safe. No adventure tale every begins with the lead character being stuck in the confines of their comfort zone. With risk comes adventure and the potential for really harnessing an energy that you never knew existed.
We create and shape our comfort zone for a reason. It brings us the solace that we crave. But frequent trips outside of that comfort zone can open up a world of possibilities and give us a sense of freedom. It can allow us the opportunity to perceive things about ourselves that we never would have otherwise discovered. And it doesn’t have to begin with a great leap of faith. Small changes in our routine can lead to a monumental swing in our level of acceptance and can eventually increase the size of our comfort zone.
It is a given that stepping out of that comfort zone will lead to some anxiety and discomfort but the small pains we face to grow our experience will be well worth the gains we appreciate on the other side of the journey. We need to re-wire the built-in mechanism that regulates our level of apprehension when it comes to trying something new.
Change is frightening but change is also cathartic. Real personal growth can only occur if we allow ourselves the opportunity to expand our horizons, to go beyond the constraints with which we bind ourselves. Reaching beyond that level of comfort will allow us the chance to gain more confidence and gain a sense of power from our attempt to evolve.
Take that first step towards the ledge, and then take another. Slowly you will gain the confidence and know that the precipice that faces you is not as daunting as you first thought. The fear that you embrace can only hold you back from finding out what awaits you once you take that plunge. Perhaps the thing that scared you the most will hold the key to you truly feeling like you can conquer the world.
For those of us old enough to remember, this was a slogan for AT&T that was coined in 1979. It simply encouraged people to pick up the phone and call their friends and family, to reach out to those who meant the most to them.
As I was driving to work this morning I was thinking about all of the great friends I have that I never get to see, or talk to, during the busy summer months. For me, working in the hospitality business is great. There is an influx of people with a myriad of personalities that make each and every day a veritable smorgasbord of entertainment. But at the end of my shift, as I ease my wearied bones into my car, the cacophonous thunder of voices that surrounds me during the day is quieted. I am soothed by the sounds of silence and the last thing I want to do is go out to a noisy bar or add to the number of hours I have acquired on the phone during the day.
I lose touch with those familiar voices for a few months, but instead of wondering why my list of recent calls never displays their number, I get it. They, like me, see countless people day in and day out and, after a long day at work, want only the dulcet harmonies of nature to fall on their ears and nothing more.
(image credit: telephone.com)
The madness of summer is now a distant speck through the rear-view mirror. As we forge ahead into fall, the friends that I have not seen begin to come out of their hibernation and we slowly assimilate to life as we remember it. This morning I came out of my cave, yawned and stretched and went in search of the sustenance that my friends provide. I reached out, touched someone and reconnected with those voices from my not-so-distant past. Soon the wine will be opened and those soothing voices I have longed to hear will once again infuse themselves into my reality.
Intuition is a perplexing thing. Our body is a natural conduit for energy and that energy has an odd but effective way of giving us warning signs that danger is lurking. The witches in Macbeth described the feeling as a pricking in their thumbs. We may feel it when the hair on the nape of our neck stands at attention but the premise is the same. Our gut is sending a message that our brain cannot ignore.
Usually we can’t understand the visceral reaction to a certain circumstance but we have to put our faith in its validity. That little voice gets very vocal when it feels imminent danger and usually that voice is spot on. Everyone is born with the gift of intuition but it is how we heed the wisdom of that instinctive feeling that is of great benefit to us.
That moment when something wicked does actually come may be completely averted by listening to those nagging doubts in our mind. Those doubts exist for a reason. There is a power far beyond some people’s belief or comfort level that aids in our self-preservation. That terse glance over our shoulder, the quickening of our step while walking in the dark – both may feel cryptic and unnecessary but listening to those pestering whispers may help us avoid an uncomfortable situation.
That intuition may also have altruistic applications. The stirring in our senses does not always represent peril but could also put us on the path to good fortune. The Yin and Yang of those intuitive forces can also help us make decisions for our benefit and not just our physical longevity. Our lives are based on choices and that same power of perception can guide us through those choices and help us discover the best path for our journey.
My thumbs do not become prickly, nor does the hair stand up on my neck. I get goosebumps, and that chicken skin that was once my flesh has never steered me wrong. Hopefully when something wicked this way really does come, I will be the human version of Foghorn Leghorn, plucked and covered with a road map of goose-flesh to guide me to safety.
There are not many mornings that happened so many years ago that I can remember with such crystal clarity, but September 11, 2001 is certainly one of those days. If I close my eyes I can see what I was wearing to work that day as I lay on the office floor watching the horrific events of that day unfold. Even from our homes and offices north of the U.S. border, we all felt stripped of the safety in which we had become so accustomed. The world most definitely changed that day.
Horrors I can only imagine happened to so many people and took so many lives. In those days and nights that followed, during times of grieving or times of uncertainty, not knowing the fate of so many trapped in a nightmare, there was a sliver of light. A bright beam of humanity kept glowing light through the darkness of terrorism. Strangers became saviors, neighbors became friends and the hearts of the world ached for those afflicted with so much pain. Thousands of hands reached out to help and to salvage some faith in the goodness of people.
Although darkness lurks in the shadows of reality, I like to look for the light. When tragedy happens, I try to see the goodness in the people who rush to help. On that fateful day in September 2011, amidst the darkness and chaos, that light never failed to shine.
My prayers go out to all of the families and friends who lost loved ones. I can only hope you can still see their lights shining.
Slightly over ten years ago I listened to a voice mail that would rock the world in which I lived. I was nearing the end of my work day and called home to see if my best friend had left a message to say she had returned home safely to Halifax from her vacation in England. The message that I received was nothing like what I expected. I played the message one more time, listening carefully to the Newfoundland accent to make sure I heard it correctly, and the handset of the phone fell out of my hand and hit the desk. I stood in utter disbelief as the horror of the words slowly transformed themselves into my new reality. Sandra had passed away.
While on her holiday, she had burned her leg on a propane heater and, unbeknownst to anyone, had been exposed a form of bacteria that would take her life several hours after she stepped on the plane. She had been infected with the Staphylococcus bacteria which presented as Necrotizing Fasciitis, better known as the Flesh Eating Disease.
I flew to Halifax to be with her mom and to attend her funeral. I did my best to articulate the words I had written for her eulogy and can still remember how much my legs shook behind the podium as I tried to capture and convey her beautiful spirit with my words.
When I returned home from the most emotionally draining experience of my life, I was confronted with the most terrifying experience of my life. This picture was taken of the window in the entrance way to my house. The glass spans 45 inches and this charming creature was folded in half basking in the sunshine between the two panes of glass.
This Eastern Milk Snake meandered its way up the window casing and into the ceiling of the entrance way. I’m sure by now you have surmised that I did NOT sleep in my house for a few nights, but knew I couldn’t abandon my home. I moved back in and am still hoping it wasn’t long before it moved out.
After a few weeks I didn’t give it another thought but last week all of that changed. No, it did not resurface, but I was sharing my story with a friend and she told me that a snake symbolizes rebirth. Suddenly my perspective on that whole experience changed. Perhaps Sandra found a way, a terrifying and unique way, to let me know that she was okay. Maybe she was trying to impart her acceptance of her fate and let me know that her soul felt reborn.
Messages are everywhere – we just need to learn how to see them and interpret them. I am sure now that Sandra somehow managed to guide that reptile to my house to send a message in a way that nobody else could. She was as distinctive in death as she was in life and I still miss her every day. (Sandra, in case you are reading this – if you are going to send further communication, any other form of message would be greatly appreciated!!)
I had a voice message yesterday on my phone that was overwhelmingly special. A dear friend who has been struggling with some health issues left a message for me that brought tears to my eyes and I listened to it a few times because it was so sweet. She had been having a bad day and, without getting into detail, she was directed to my blog and phoned to tell me how much she loves what I write. She has been a follower for a while, but for some reason she was drawn to it yesterday and called to tell me how much it means to her to read what I have written and how my words seem to mirror her own.
During those times that I am consumed with words, when I am overcome with the desire to write, I never really take the time to consider how my writing can affect other people. I’ve always written to free the ideas but never thought about how those ideas are absorbed on the other side of this blogosphere. It was really heart-warming to get that message and realize that words convey many messages to many people.
Linda, thank you for your message. I hope God hears all of your words, and the ones I added in, and I hope the sun shines on your beautiful face for a very long time. xo
polysyllabic profundities 