Monday, March 28, 2022

My Oxygen Mask

 Who forgets to breathe? No-one. We live so therefore, we breathe. The breath of life is something we take for granted unless of course something impedes our breathing. We think about our breathing the most if for some reason we are having trouble breathing. My chain of thought this morning is about breathing, self care and making choices to help us breathe better.  Put your own oxygen mask on first comes to mind. I have often thought of that saying and use it when talking about my self care. I realized yesterday that my 'Everyone's Ok' has taken a bit of a back seat to the mantra ' I'm OK ' lately. Is that selfish? Not  if you follow the oxygen mask instruction. The  key to truly benefiting from putting your own oxygen mask on first is leaving it on long enough for it to do any good.
I intend to do just that. I will of course continue to care about my people and my work but my goal is to put my needs first. Radical and life changing but something we all should do so that we are well enough to be there for those who need us to be. Tomorrow my granddaughter turns thirteen. How quickly she has grown into a young woman. She has so much to learn and so much to discover. I hope in all that discovery she keeps her  own well being at the forefront. 

Monday, March 21, 2022

Spring is Upon Us

 I feel the tug of Spring. Ice flows in the river, depleting snowbanks, muddy driveways and yards, longer days and warm rays of sunshine are but a few. We look behind and ahead. Memories of deep snow and bitter cold make way for thoughts of crocuses and forsythia blossoms. Again I will launch a new book and I look forward to returning to the Farmer's market on Saturdays. And here it is Monday again and I have a day and week ahead of me that holds promise and potential. I have time to write new words and do not take that for granted. So I will get to work on this first day of Spring. 


Monday, March 14, 2022

A Monday in March

 I am happy to be sitting at my desk on another Monday in March. We are all mindful of the two year mark and recalling what came in March 2020. Two years have flown by one day, one Covid challenge at a time and here we are. Do we know any more than we did on the days we knew nothing? Today mask mandates and gathering restrictions are lifted.  Vaccination passports  have been done away with and daily case number announcements  have ceased. Many of us have had positive tests and experienced symptoms and isolation. Serious world events and human suffering have taken the forefront of our attention. We certainly know no better in that regard either. Two world wars and many regional wars  have  done nothing to prevent the same forces of greed and power mongering  that have existed since time began. The burden of it all seems too heavy for any of us to carry.  Constant newsfeed and social media manipulation bombard us and we juggle it all with our own personal challenges and heartaches. We trust and distrust at the same time. We feel hope and complete desperation simultaneously. We are weak and strong, laughing and crying , forgiving and angry, compassionate and vengeful , up and down, exhausted and refreshed, clear and confused and only human. We are where we are  in this moment of history. Ours is no more challenging than what our parents and grandparents faced before us  and what our children and grandchildren will endure. We have this day and only the tools available to us  as we know them today. The tools of love , gratitude, resilience,  and courage are ours. What more can we ask for?



Wednesday, March 2, 2022

On These Dark Days

 And suddenly mask mandates, trucker convoys and vaccine passports seem so trivial against the backdrop of Russian invasion and a country under attack. In these dark days of winter our attention has shifted to the terrifying reality of suffering and violence being perpetrated on the sovereign nation of  Ukraine.  For weeks  the news was filled with accounts of the siege on Ottawa, cries for freedom and swelling opposition to government over reach. The Russian invasion is what real government over reach looks like and it is truly worth our outrage and protest. I sit in the comfort of my home and feel the threat of it.  I have no words for this attack. I just know in the core of my soul how barbaric and heartless it all is.