Measure.

To look at the word itself…. well… it is kind of a combination of Me + Assure.   We are a “measuring” kind of people we are. I think we do this for assurances.

“When will the train be here?  In about 20 minutes.  How long should I bake those cookies.  Oh, give them around 7 minutes.  How tall are you?  Six feet two inches.  What does that pig weigh?   Approximately  400 pounds.  Big pig.   Pretty big pig.”

Yes.  We try to measure just about everything.  Even the intangible.  “How much do you love me?  How long has he been feeling sad?”  And on…

But as hard as we try, somethings truly cannot be measured.  In fact, most things can’t be measured…. or at least I would assert that notion.

This morning, bright and early, I went to the store to buy some shipping boxes.  The temperature gauge read 7º F.   I thought to myself… oh seven.  That’s really not THAT bad.  (Now give me that same temperature in July.  I will give a different perspective on that measurement.)

Nonetheless… I segue.  As I drove, the sunrise was absolutely beautiful in every way.  This could never be measured, or quantified. It just was…. incredibly and wonderfully awe inspiring.

So many things during the day…. are the same way.  A smile on someone’s face.  The way a piece of grilled salmon tasted.   A good song on Pandora.  The wag of the dog’s tail when you walk in the door.  The list goes on and on…. from moment to moment.

Still later in the day… on my quest for boxes… I met my childhood look alike… Tweety Bird.  On the end of an umbrella.  Priceless.

And late this afternoon, I took notice of the ice sculpture at our pond.  Again, a gift of beauty from nature… that 7º F nature… that simply cannot be metered, weighed or counted.  It undeniably is.

We live in a culture that is fanatical about numbers. We seek standardization.   We don’t care for “the ambiguous” as much as we do “the precise.”  The  belief of Western culture is that numbers make a thing real.

If we can put a number it,  we make it real.  And once it is real… we can begin to manage and control whatever that thing is.  We depend on numbers.

Now don’t get me wrong.  Sometimes measurements are good, and necessary.  And we need them to survive.  Like… say you are spinning out on the operating table when you are having that ugly mole removed…. and the surgeon says… “Oh for the love of gawd… what is his blood pressure?”  And everybody in the room just kind of shrugs… and says… “I bet you it is WAY up there by the color of his face.”

You see.. in this case… a measurement would be good.

But there are times in life when perhaps… we should not try to measure. Or calculate.  Or assess.  Maybe we should just lean back, take in a deep breath… and… as the Beatles so aptly suggested…. “Let it be.”

“Every line is the perfect length if you don’t measure it.”   ― Marty Rubin

“Everything either is, was or will be. Time doesn’t really exist. It’s just something we have made up that makes it easier for us to grasp the universe.” ― Ashly Lorenzana

Today, I have been thinking long and hard about paradoxes.

As life would have it… the more you consider certain paradoxes… the more confusing the situation seems.

To define it in abbreviated terms, a paradox is when you have…. let’s say…. more than one boat.  Yes.  You have two boats.  So you need more than one dock.  You then…… have a pair of docks.
Sorry.
Paradox.   It is a statement or proposition that, despite sound ( or what seems like sound reasoning ) ….. leads one to a conclusion that seems senseless….. or logically unacceptable.

A paradox is basically a contradiction,  inconsistency, or incongruity.
Some days… I feel like I am a complete and total anomaly.    From minute to minute when I am really on a roll.

But there is a point to this.  Sometimes life itself doesn’t seem to make sense.  There are moments when everything seems like it is all just spinning around on the Crazy-Axis.  But among this crazy world… we can also know calm.  And peace.

You see….  We are okay.  Exactly as we are.  No matter what society, or our conditioning, or guilt may be telling us…. WE ARE OKAY.

Sometimes, with me….  I have a hidden feeling…..  that I could be doing things better.  I will get this feeling that  I am  not quite sure how to live life.  I mean,  what if I am doing this all wrong.

But the message I get time and again… paradoxical or not…. is that the universe is going the way it should be going.  And so is everything in it.

There is no need to be anything else, or anywhere else, but where we are at this very moment.  Every moment.

Fear keeps us focused on the past or worried about the future. If we can acknowledge our fear, we can realize that right now we are okay. Right now, today, we are still alive, and our bodies are working marvelously. Our eyes can still see the beautiful sky. Our ears can still hear the voices of our loved ones.  —  Thich Nhat Hanh

Spring is not scheduled for another 22 days, or so.

The March equinox happens at the same moment across the world….. but is converted to your local time. In 2015….. here ….., it falls on March 20 at 6:45 P.M. EDT.

And not a moment too soon, I might add.

Much more of this winter, and I think everyone just might go a little crazy.  At least we will all match the weather.  Crazy.

I can hear your little voices right now.  I am talented like that.

OHHHHH…. I know when you log on to The Big Can Do…. in your mind… you always secretly say…. “Oh gawd.  I hope she doesn’t talk about Sock Monkeys or Chicken Eggs today.”

So close your laptop right now, gosh darn it.  I am going to talk about both.

You see… I don’t know why I like the things that I do.  But I do.   I talk about Rocks here a lot too.   But I have long had a appreciation for The Sock Monkey.  There is just something about the conflicting spirit of the sock monkey.  They all have this look on their faces like they are completely happy, yet underneath they are terrible concerned about something.  You have to love that in a stuffed being.

But the real problem I have tonight… is the chicken egg.  The recapitulation of the story is this.   Today, I stopped by my favorite farm to buy chicken eggs.  These people are good, hardworking, kind people (who’s women wear little bonnets, and who’s men wear longish beards and dark hats).  Any way, as I bought my regular four dozen fix, the Chicken Lady told me they had butchered a bunch of their hens.  They would not be getting more for a couple of months.

Well, you may as well have dropped a piano on me from 42 stories above.  I  WAS CRUSHED.   I love THESE chicken eggs. They are the best I have ever, ever, ever consumed in my entire life.

I tried hard not to sob in front of her.  I tucked my four dozen eggs under my arm and retreated to my car.  I did not sob there either.  Their dog was watching.  (I am not sure if it is a girl or boy dog, as it does not wear a bonnet or a beard).

I drove away, trying to keep focus on the road.  My mind was racing.   WHERE…. Oh for heaven’s sake…. WHERE will I ever find chicken eggs as good as these.

I was despondent, dejected…. and visibly shaken by the entire ordeal.  In fact, the rest of the day, I had been feeling a little down in the dumps.

But now… I have regrouped.  Yes.  I have adopted a new view on things.  I now see this as a new challenge… a QUEST… if you will.

Polly in search of the next perfect Chicken Egg Farmer.

I know you are out there.  And the Universe will show me the way to the Golden Embryo.  I have faith.  I am back out of my shell… and I can see the white at the end of the meringue.    The Good Egg.

I just hope it is everything it is cracked up to be.

“The only impossible journey is the one you never begin.” – A. Robbins

“It is your road and yours alone.  Others may walk it with you.  But no one can walk if for you.” – Rumi

Well.   You can travel the word abroad.  And you still will never, ever see it all.  In fact, once you come back home from traveling, you begin to notice more, right in your very own back yard.

We had one local psychic in town.  I thought I would go to her and see what she might SEE for me.  But dag nab it ….. The psychic went out of business. I wonder if she saw that coming.

While I was  in town, I saw a clown with balloons walking down the street.  I held the door open for that  clown. I thought it was a nice jester.

I also had to stop at the Butcher Shop and pick up some pastrami.  It was closed.  Evidently…..  the butcher backed up into the meat grinder and got a little behind in his work.

Going into Eaton can be a bit challenging when it comes to parking.  So…. the City Council recently built a new garage.   The first week it opened there was a crime that happened in a parking garage.   It was wrong on so many levels.

Here is some other big news.  A nudist colony just opened up in the county.    Wouldn’t you know it?  A hole has been found in the nudist camp wall. The police are looking into it.

And… where else in the world could you go…. but little old Preble County… to find the most interesting (or perhaps scariest) Walmart on the planet…

…. AND, to find Ernie hanging out in the parking lot.

I think I am missing island life.

I love rocks.  I am not quite sure why, but I have loved them for as long as I can remember.  Our home is full of rocks.   We have more rocks sitting around our house than Fred Flintstone moved at Mr. Slate’s Stone Quarry.

Honestly.

At any rate, I had a story to share with you about my last day of vacation at the Cayman Islands.  But it will never really translate here.  The long and short of the story is this.

Whenever I am out on a walk, or out in nature, I always ask to find the perfect rock.  I just put it “out” there.  I am not sure….. really…..  who I am asking.  The Rock Gods, the Creator of the Universe, or even perhaps “The Rock Biter” from “The Never Ending Story.”   But nonetheless, I ask.

So that last (early, early) morning on the beach, I was really needing to work through some “things” going on in my heart… especially about feeling anxiety and  anger around certain situations in my life.   I asked for my rock…. or since I was on a beach… I added that a shell would be fine too.

A few minutes later I found the most beautifully shaped, whole, perfect, and pristine Conch Shell.  It was marvelous in color, and luster.  I picked it up… and I just felt like it still MIGHT be alive.  So I took off my workout pants, down to my skivvies, and waded out into the ocean… and gave the shell back.  I said “Thank You” to those shell gods… and went on my way.

About 10 more yards down the beach, I found a rock that looked exactly like Edvard Munch’s “The Scream”  It was dark in color, and had the same expression, most exactly.  Initially, I thought THIS was the rock.  But then I realized that was the thing I was trying to get rid of… the angst.  So I put it in the ocean.

Then, within a couple of minutes, I found the third rock.  This one looked just like they hand signal for OK.  And my heart was overwhelmed… with the feeling that things were going to be just fine.  That I would be able to begin working through this.  It was  A-OK.

My day flipped a switch right there.  And as I continue to process and grow through this, I am grateful for these three messages about giving back beauty, giving away the turmoil, and holding on to those things that were A-OK in my life.

And it is at moments like this… that I have to believe in the Great Big Other.  I have to believe that there are forces at work, that we will never understand, or know.  I just keep asking for that energy to keep coming back to me… and I will give it back in return.   Or in forward.   And, that Rocks.

Sometimes, I think….. we can get too focused on what is going wrong.  It may not be true of everyone, but I think a lot of us tend to react this way.

Flying always brings this out in people.

Lines were too long.  The flight was cancelled.  We had to wait 3 hours in ticket check and security.  That woman was a wench.  The seats are so cramped.  The guy next to me smelled like moldy bread.  The airport was crazy.   There was so much turbulence.  And on …. an on.

But whoever is telling you the story of their incredibly unfortunate flight experience…. is sitting there…. alive and well.

And there you have it.  Your plane didn’t crash for one. …. ..  …. and you weren’t hijacked by terrorists, then tortured, and killed.

So all and all…. it was a pretty good day?

Yep.  All sorts of life’s little happenings can get us worked up.  But taking time to consider the uptake… might be a better approach.

I wish I could practice this… WAY more than I do.
So thank you… to all of you…. who are showing me goodness, kindness, love and peace.  Compassion.  Hope.  Support.  And more.

You all are always helping the uptake.  And I am grateful.

Oh but it is good to be home… and see the ‘Home Faces’ which happen to be one of the best parts of life itself.  The place I want to be. On the up.  And up.

Home – is where I want to be
But I guess I’m already there.

– Talking Heads.  This Must Be The Place.

.

You know how they measure a car’s speediness by saying…. “This car can do 0 to 60 in…. blah, blah seconds?”

Well, you can measure the speediness a vacation declines by sort of the same thing….

Today, we went from 85 degrees Fahrenheit to 12 degrees Fahrenheit in nothing flat.

Well, it took a little longer than nothing flat.  The better part of a day….. and a couple of plane rides. But nonetheless.

I am very tired and I’m ready for bed.

But the truest thing about the day is this….

“OH, but it is good to be home!”

Here we are.  Winding down our little break away from Ohio.  Being in this part of the world….was indeed…. a nice break from the cold of winter.

And….. this is always a pretty low-key place to visit.  There is a lot of lying around and not doing much of anything.  Unfortunately, this can be difficult for me.  I am a Type A individual.  Maybe AAA.  I like to stay busy.

Yet … the last two days have flown by.  I think it is because the weather has been so crappy, and we pretty much had to stay indoors.   So I got a lot of work done.

A lot of my friends down here seem to be easier with it.  With the whole relaxing thing.

I was working pretty hard on my meditation about 7 or 8 months ago.  And then it fell off.  Now… I sit down to be with it… and my mind is a busy bee.  I’ve always been a little that way.  A little busy in my head.

However, one thing that slows me down is when I am drawing or photographing something.  My mind goes away… and I lose all sense of things around me.  The world becomes very small…. and very large… at the same time.  It is a wonderful feeling to be there.

And maybe that is where I need to be.  Maybe that is my call for life, somehow.   Where my spirit feels the most at home.  Where my spirit can run free.  And…. both at the same time.

Accept your Relatives.
But, I think I should explain.

Relative can be a lot of things.

When you consider the noun-ish version of the word… it could go in a number of directions.   For instance… a relative could be a person connected by blood or marriage.  You know… Uncle Herman.  Your Mother-In-Law.  a Brother…… and on.  (Or it could speak to  a species related to another by common origin….  similar to a plant… or an animal. )

But the adjective… the main version of the adjective is my concern tonight.  Relative.   Something which is considered in relation or in proportion to something else…… you know.   Like Einstein said…. a something which is  existing or possessing a specified characteristic….. only in comparison to something else.  Not absolute.

So today it was very, very windy here.   Such….. that it was very difficult to even walk outside.   In fact, most things around here were completely deserted…. with the exception of an occasional-crazy-windsurfer.

And here it where RELATIVE fits in.   When you are used to being in this nice-weathered paradise… today might be considered to be a complete drag.  A TOTAL “Let Down”…. if you will.  On the other hand, in comparison to the -20 degrees below zero weather in Ohio…. THIS is NOT so bad.

Now the “Accept” part.  You see… there is no changing this wind.  It is mighty.  And strong.  YOU could stand on that beach facing the ocean…. …. filled with anger….. screaming at the top of your lungs…. “STOP WIND.  I command you to stop.”

But that wind would continue.  It would keep on blowing as forceful as ever.
It might make you more angry that the wind paid no attention to you.  And the day would be filled with angst.

On the other hand… if we simply accept those things we cannot change… they become less difficult.  When we realize that is is -20 degrees somewhere else… or in another place… there has been no rain in 6 months…. or worse yet…. when we remember there are places where people are dying from mass genocide….  well, then.   That wind is not so bad.  And we accept.
We Accept our “Relatives”…. and we find peace.