On any given day, I wonder… I just wonder… how many things we see?

There is that saying that WE are spiritual beings, inhabiting a human body.  This is our “vessel” for travel… our spirits…. through this time.  As such, supoosedly we are “limited” by our human form.

Yet.  We have some pretty amazing capabilities.  Sight.  Sound.  Touch. Taste. Smell.  Holy smokes.  Those are some incredible functions.  Miraculous, really.

Which brings me to the first question.  I wonder how many things we see in a day?  How many smells, and sounds do we encounter?  Tastes?  Tactile experiences?  Thousands upon thousands upon thousands I imagine.

It is speculated that humans have between 50,000 and 70,000 thoughts per day.  That’s a lot.  Different studies show around 30,000.  Hey.  That’s a lot too.  A lot of fast, nondescript thinking.  We are all over the place in our minds.

My point is, we have this second.  Right here.  This little minute.   Do we really need to be anywhere else?

Do we really see what is in front of us, and appreciate whatever it is?  Whether it is the Grand Canyon, or a peanut butter sandwich?  Do we hear the sounds?  Do we listen… truly listen… when someone speaks?  Or are we just getting ready in our little heads to answer back?

I think some people are really good at this.  At actually living.. and being.  And others just flop around through the day… with little attention to this OR that.

I also think life is a gift.  Our humanness, in all it’s limitations, is an immeasurable gift.  Tremendous.  For this minute in front of me, I will notice this gift and be thankful.

I had Sushi for dinner, and it was completely great.  The food, and the people I was sharing it with.  In that minute, I loved it.  And. Right now, I am thinking about all the people I know who might read this.  I love them all.  Gifts.

It is through gratitude for the present moment that the spiritual dimension of life opens up.
Eckhart Tolle

Between stimulus and response there is a space. In that space is our power to choose our response. In our response lies our growth and our freedom.
Viktor E. Frankl

My faith in the human condition has been restored.

You know, on any given day, the world might have a way of bringing you down.  Holy cow.  Watch the news for 5 minutes.  As a race, it seems we humans sometimes do everything possible to ensure our demise.

Everything from the presidential candidates in the clown car… to massive war destruction in countries abroad.

Yet.  There is the other side of it.

On any of those same given days, there are ALL sorts of people doing good things for other people.  From the very small to the very large.  It could be as simple as letting someone turn in front of you in heavy traffic… to hosting a wedding for friends…. to volunteering for a community cause… or saving lives in some emergency room in war torn Somalia.

Yes.  There are truly so many good people with good causes.  Those people who go about there day… just doing a great job at what they do.   From fixing a fence to mending a heart.

But my example specifically, is just like the stone thrown in a pond.  It starts with a little splash, and before you know it… there are ripples everywhere.

How do they say…. turn that frown upside down?  Well.  Today was… turn that 707 upside down.

Yessirreeee Bobby McGee.  I was astounded how many people were waiting to LOL.  I had more texts, emails, and messages… where folks simply wanted to laugh out loud.  And laugh they did.

What was once a defunct 1% activity globally, has now found a small resurgence here… and I think the movement will continue to gain steam. Momentum is on our side.

Oh it brings a wave of joy to my heart.

Trust me.  Laughing is marvelous in every way.

A good laugh has great short-term effects. When you start to laugh, it doesn’t just lighten your load mentally, it actually induces physical changes in your body.   Yes… it is TRUE.

We change physiologically when we laugh. We stretch muscles throughout our face and body, our pulse and blood pressure go up, and we breathe faster…. which in turn… sends more oxygen to our tissues.  And as such… laughing out loud…. stimulates many organs.  It also activates and relieves your stress response.    It soothes tension.

This is all according to the Mayo Clinic.

If that weren’t enough.. they say laughing has long-term effects too.
Laughter can improve your immune system.  Not to mention, laughing releases a form of pain relievers in our own bodies.  So.  Pain relief.  And of course the obvious… it improves your mood.

Better for you than Florida Orange Juice.

And there you have it.  Laugh today.  Laugh out loud.  Cause someone to laugh a little too.  I think the more the laugh, the better.  Better for the GOOD cause.  Better for  the human condition.

The fragrance of flowers spreads only in the direction of the wind. But the goodness of a person spreads in all directions.  —  Chanakya

Goodness is about character – integrity, honesty, kindness, generosity, moral courage, and the like. More than anything else, it is about how we treat other people.  —  Dennis Prager

Groovy.

Apparently, I need to slow down.  I move too fast.  It seems that I have GOT to make the morning last.

You see, most of the time… I am just kicking down the cobble stones.
Heck.  Let’s fact it.  I’m looking for fun and feelin’ groovy.

Looking for fun.  Feeling groovy.  Well, we all know that the word “groovy” faded away years ago.  If you say “groovy” now… people think you are channeling the Brady Bunch. Or… of course… Simon & Garfunkel.

But looking for fun? Is that going out of style?   Evidently that must be the case.  I heard some bad news ON the news today.  My days of laughing out loud are over.  It’s true.

For all intents and purposes… LOL is out the door.   Yep.  It is no longer “cool” to say LOL in your text messages or emails.  Dag nab it.  I like to laugh out loud.  I do it all the time.  I use it all the time… because I am LOLing most of the time.  I’m watching the circus after all.

But.  The report on the news explained that it is not the “in” thing to write anymore.  In fact, only  1% of text messages contain, LOL these days.  I’m dated.   Again.  Isn’t THAT just groovy?

Anyway, there replacement now is “ha ha”  or “hee hee”

Both seem pretty lame to me…. AND old school.

For me, this whole departure of LOL is a quite unfortunate…. and puts me in a bit of a predicament.  As I mentioned, I love to laugh out loud.  But… as you all know… I am constantly on the very edge of coolness.  In my mind.  LOL.

So what to do?
What else.
Trend set.

I shall come up with my own LOL acronyms.

BAG —  Busting a gut.
DOHMB — Doubled over holding my belly.
CLAC — Cackling like a chicken.
GMBO — Giggling my butt off.
SMS — Splitting my side.
IS — In stitches.
JSMOMN — Just shot milk out my nose.
ONJPMP — Oh no.  Just peed my pants.

I think that’ll do just fine.
Now I am back to feeling groovy…. and GMBO.

LOL RIP.

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Very little is needed to make a happy life; it is all within yourself, in your way of thinking.  —  Marcus Aurelius
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Be happy for this moment. This moment is your life.  —  Omar Khayyam
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You take away all the other luxuries in life, and if you can make someone smile and laugh, you have given the most special gift: happiness.  —  Brad Garrett

There is that old saying.

You see, there are some old sayings… I am not quite sure about.  I think it is all very dependent and specific to the situation.

A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush.
Now me? I would rather see two birds… free as birds… in that bush.  Rather than one bird in somebody’s hand.  Unless we are all hungry, and it is a chicken.

Better late than never.
Not in my book.  On time… or…. even a tiny bit late is okay.  A long bit late is rude.  Don’t bother.

Blood is thicker than water.
I am pretty sure this one is not true.  I have seen it with a lot of people in a lot of places.  Just because you came out of the same womb doesn’t really mean much more than you have the same birth mother.

If wishes were horses, beggars would ride.
What the heck?  Wishing and begging are not one in the same.  This makes no sense to me. Not one bit.
I make wishes all the time.  Maybe I am begging the Universe?

There are many more.  But one that always struck me funny is…  every cloud has a silver lining.  I have seen a lot of clouds.  From down here, it doesn’t look like many of them have silver linings.

But tonight… I actually SAW one.  A cloud with a silver lining.

I know what it suggests as an aphorism.  Every bad situation has something good which comes of it.  I sure do hope this one is right.

We all go through troubles.  Some of us, seemingly more difficult than others. But each one of us, has a “something” that we are going through, or have been past.  It all can’t be a bed of roses, now can it?

But… in those hard times… people try to convince you that something good will come of “all of this.”

I guess if we learn something from the situation, or if it somehow makes us stronger, or kinder, or more compassionate…that is a really good thing.  It is just hard to see… when you are at the bottom looking up.

So maybe it is true.  Maybe every cloud DOES have a silver lining.  We just can’t always see it when we are way down here on the ground.  But when the light starts to shine just right…. we can spot it.

Maybe.

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Hope is important because it can make the present moment less difficult to bear. If we believe that tomorrow will be better, we can bear a hardship today.  — Thich Nhat Hanh

I like certain shows on TV.  Most of the time, they have to do with news or real events.  Like 60 Minutes, and CBS Sunday Morning, and such.  So this time of year drives me a little nutty, because most everything is reruns.  I don’t mind reruns so much.  BUT…. when “news” items are re-run… it bugs me to the high heavens.

Of course, it happened again tonight.  60 Minutes… The Pizza Box Guy.

And then it reminded me of this thing… this Project  or Blog or Compiled Utterances.

I am certain I have a lot of reruns here.  I started this in January of 2010.  So that makes about 5 1/2 years of writing this every day.  With the exception of a day or two here and there…. when I hung up my Thesaurus.

Nonetheless, that is roughly 2,110 days.

Now…. you would think, I could come up with a fresh serving of “corned beef hash” for 2,000 consecutive days.  But I get stale.  I hit the reruns.  I do not like it when I am having the reruns.  Someone get the Kaopectate.

But truth be told it isn’t easy. Kermit once said…”It ain’t easy being green.”  And I think he meant green… as in “fresh, new, ingenuous, original.”   …….  Yeah.  Well, bet me.  It ain’t easy being green.

Especially, when my life is so repetitive.  It comes right in the same package with all the other OCD behaviors. Sometimes, I feel like the days of my life are like a skipping record.

(Segue: If you don’t know what a record is… they were these round things with grooves in them.  You would put them on turntables, and then lower an arm with a needle on them to make sound…. music.  But sometimes there would be a glitch.  A scratch in a groove, or  a little clump of peanut butter… or whatever.  The needle would get stuck in that groove.  And it would just go around and around and around… playing the same line over and over again.)

My life.  Most days.  Skipping Record.

Somehow though, that is how I think I like it.  Predictable.  And in my little mind, predictable is safe.   Some people love adventure and new things.  (Every so often… HEY… me too!)  But most days… safe is good.

But I guess…. we all are… who we are.  I am a homebody.  I like a schedule.  I like to have it all lined up.  Some of us are adventurous, and need something new to be happening all the time.  Travelers.  Thrill-seekers, and the like. We are all wired differently.  And that is a good thing.

So.  I guess if you finally get tired of the reruns here… you’ll tune into another station.  Until then… thanks for watching the show.  And sticking with the groove.

Isn’t life a series of images that change as they repeat themselves?  —  Andy Warhol

Do you know that story about the Lion and the Mouse?   It may be one of Aesop’s Fables… or a Golden Book… or an African Folk Lore Tale.  Not sure.  But.  As I remember, the Lion has a thorn in its paw, and the only one in the jungle who is brave enough to remove it is a little Mouse?  Of course, the Lion is incredibly relieved and as a result, he is very grateful to the Mouse.  He even shines a great big toothy smile at that Mouse.

Something along those lines.

I was reminded of this today.  I had an eye exam.  For the past few months, my left eye has been irritated at times.  It felt like something was in it… and more often than not, it hurt.  So the doctor discovered I had an eyelash growing in the wrong direction…. up back into my eye.  He plucked that sucker right out of there… and for the first time in a month… my eye went….”Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhh.”  Oh my gosh.  It felt so much better right away.

Hence, the lion and the mouse story.

And then I got to thinking.  Wouldn’t it be great… if once a day… we could be the mouse for some lion in our lives?  It wouldn’t have to be earth-shattering…. like curing their terrible illness… or stopping them from stepping off a curb into traffic.  No.  It could be really little and simple.  Like a stuck thorn, or some rogue eyelash.

It could be someone we know very well, or a complete stranger.  Who knows. Maybe we always throw our dirty socks on the floor, and this makes your honey a little crazy.  Well, maybe today, we put them in the laundry basket.  Or…. someone is struggling with a sack of groceries trying to open a door.  So we take the time to open it.  A homeless person, who is hungry… and we might buy them a sandwich.

It could go a different way.  Someone is sad, or stressed, or angry. Maybe we can be a listening ear, or a babysitter, or an errand-runner.  Shoot.  It might even be just telling a little joke, or going out for some dinner.

We are just visitors here.  With a whole bunch of other visitor’s just like us.  No one stays in this realm forever.  Not as we know it.  At times on this journey of ours, we are simply trying to find our way through this jungle.   One step at a time.

Wouldn’t it be a good thing to help people, however great or small…. as they try to navigate through?  We all need a little help…. at times.

I think it would be a great thing, if just today…. we could be the mouse.  To work up enough courage to do something…. anything… which might make someone’s life a little easier.  Or less painful.  Or happier.

Pull that thorn from a paw.  Or an eyelash from an eye.

And when we do…. the Universe will open its arms… and smile.

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The purpose of human life is to serve, and to show compassion and the will to help others.  —  Albert Schweitzer

Don’t you just love a pliable word.

Of course, here in Preble County, the word which comes to mind this week, is Fair.

Yes.  The multi-faceted word…. Fair.

It could mean….equitable, honest and honorable.  You know…. impartial, unbiased, unprejudiced…. like being “fair with someone.” Which… is a pretty good way to live.

You could be talking about fair weather…. fine, dry, bright, clear, and sunny.  A fair and pleasant day.  Like today here, in the southern part of Ohio.  No rain.  All was fair.

Tow head.  You know…like fair hair. Blond, yellowish, golden, flaxen,  and such.  (A blind guy on a bar stool shouts to the bartender, “Wanna hear a blonde joke?” In a hushed voice, the guy next to him says, “Before you tell that joke, you should know something. Our bartender is blonde, the bouncer is blonde. I’m a six foot tall, 200 lb black belt. The guy sitting next to me is six foot two, weighs 225, and he’s a rugby player. The fella to your right is six foot five, pushing 300, and he’s a wrestler. Each one of us is blonde. Think about it, Mister. Do you still wanna tell that joke?” The blind guy says, “Nah, not if I’m gonna have to explain it five times.”  )

And a lot of times, you will find right with that type of hair… the same sort of fair skin….pale, light, light-colored, white.  I would say pass the sunscreen, but recent studies have revealed we should not wear sunscreen anymore.  I am telling you people…. it all changes by the minute.   Gluten is OK.

OK.  Something could be fair as in…. just passable, tolerable, satisfactory…. or… acceptable, all right, good enough.  Or… just so-so.  Not great.  It can’t ALL be great.

And finally… to the point of this whole thing.  It could be what we have been having here in Preble County all week.  The country fair.  A carnival, festival, exhibition… the good old county fair.

I have spent a fair amount of time this week… at our fair Fair.  All in all… it was pretty fair.  I saw a lot of fair people there.  They were all very fair.  Of course… the Fair couldn’t be fair enough, without all the fair food.  Much of it was fair.

I am fairly certain you have had enough of this.

But truly.  There are lots of great stories from the week and memories built to last.  Experiences had.  But the greatest of them all was much better than Fair.

You see…. I ran into the Pig.  It made my heart jump for joy.  We sat together for hours, and caught up.  Yes indeed.  This was the Fairest Fair of  Them All.

Here is a little secret about me and my shortcomings.

I want to be right.  And I want other people to agree that I am right.  I think all of us might be this way a little bit.

Let’s face it.  We know best, gosh-darn-it.  Yes.  Ours is the best way to do something, the smartest solution, the right way of thinking on this and that.

We are humans.  We have brains, which think.  And think… they DO.   As such, our opinions on the world and everything in it… are the strongest.  That’s just it.  We think we know.

Simply enough, it is the way we humans are. At least, that is the way this human is.

I am learning to release a whole lot of that.  I am smart enough, truly… to know that I don’t know anything for sure.  I certainly don’t know the best way to do a lot of things.  I know people who are amazing at things.  And they have qualities I do not possess.

Community leaders, financial wizards, business gurus. entrepreneurs.   I can continue… with gifted artists, healers in massage and touch, singers, and musicians.  Scientists, handymen*, bakers, mechanics, mathematicians, seamstresses*, doctors, historians, lawyers, and the list goes on.

I am learning that there are a whole lot of people who know better than I do.  That becomes a fine line sometimes… especially when we feel very strongly about this or that.  It takes some big courage to stand up and speak at times.   On the other hand…. it takes even more courage to open our minds and listen.  One thing I have learned for sure… my ears have never gotten me in to trouble.  Open my mind, and my heart, and let me accept other possibilities exist.

There is no doubt.  We should be our own authentic selves, and start by living a life that makes us happy.  This will radiate to others.  I have seen it with my own eyes.   And others…. they deserve the respect to be “whoever” their genuine selves are.   They are living a different life than you and I.  What might be good for one person may not be good for another.   Kindness, understanding, and compassion, yet once again.

So… that’s what I think about all of this.
I’m pretty sure I’m right on this one.  Don’t argue with me.

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We have two ears and one mouth so that we can listen twice as much as we speak.  —  Epictetus

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Listen with the intent to understand, not the intent to reply.  —  Stephen Covey

I am not always the brightest bulb in the lamp.  No sirreeee bobby.

Sometimes, I am downright dim…. when it comes to being on the right path, it seems.

I say the wrong thing. I don’t act quick enough, or perhaps I over react.  There are times when I feel like I am choosing the wrong fork in the road, the wrong fork on the plate, and the wrong fork in the tongue.

Try.  Sure I try.  But not always successfully, I suspect.  I know.

The thing about it is.  Learning to get back up once you trip over your own big feet.   There is a quote about that…. something like … it doesn’t matter how many times you fall down.  What matters is how many times you get up.

Or as Buddha said.  Fall down seven times. Get up eight.

So.  Continue to try…. I will.  To be better at this thing called life.  Living it.   Trying to “lighten” things up.  Sometimes it happens out of the clear blue.  Like…

Today, I had somewhere I “needed” to be.  But …. I had a chance to learn to throw a piece of pottery. Wouldn’t you know it?  I sat down at that wheel and worked with that clay.

It was like magic.  It was me, busy me… having to be exactly somewhere … in the little time zone in my head.  “Don’t sway from the course Polly. Stick to your OCD schedule Kronenberger.  Get it done when you say you are going to get it done … hurry up… schedule.  Time… tick.. tock.

And then.  A miracle happened.   I made it shut up.  For just a moment.  I sat down at that pottery wheel and learned a completely incredible thing about it.  And about me.

Not only did I make a piece of pottery… a clay jar to hold some of my rocks… I made a ripple in the wave.  A step of change.  An ounce of doing.  It was the Faeries in the Woods, and the Cheshire Cat, and the Easter Bunny.  Magic.

The bulb got a little brighter.  For that one brief shining moment.  And I truly hope to flip that switch again… and again.
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“You cannot change what you are, only what you do.” – Philip Pullman
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“True life is lived when tiny changes occur.” – Leo Tolstoy
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“A year from now you will wish you had started today.” – Karen Lamb

I have two phrases on my mind tonight.  The first is “Beautiful Creatures” and the second is “Power Play.”  As with everything else in this world… they are connected.

Well… at least I think so.

The old “Power Play”….

This can have a whole lot of  different meanings.  In hockey, for instance, you have the “Power Play” when one of your dudettes is in the penalty box… and you have more players on the ice…. because of this.  Hence the PP.

It happens in the non-sports world too. It occurs when somebody uses (or has) knowledge / or information / or power, against someone else.  So they assert this “knowledge” in order to gain advantage.

Yep.  It happens in business, in friendships, in marriages… and quite often…  in nature.  Typically when one rooster thinks he has a bigger cock-a-doodle-doo than the next rooster…they stare each other down.  Sometimes… they even get out their little peckers and pick a fight.   Oh yes.  Ruffle THEM feathers.

It also happens among strangers.
Strangers.

For instance.  I was driving home today, and in a bit of a hurry.  I had a meeting at the house, but my Mom needed some extra help just as I was leaving her today.  So… it put me back a little bit.

Anyway… I was on my way home… and I came up on a guy driving a backhoe… slowly.  (Now I don’t mind farm equipment on the roads… not one little bit.  I know they have a job to do and their lives are hard enough.)

So back to my foible.  Double yellow lines.  No good place to pass.  I had to relax and slow it down until my turn off.  Wouldn’t you know?  He turned too.  Now this guy… THIS guy…. had plenty of opportunity to pull over slightly and let me by.  But no.

He stayed dead center in the road.  He knew I was behind him.  The more aggravated I got, the slower he went.  Okay… relax Pol.  Next turn.  And…. DAG NAB IT.  He turned too.  Of course, he did the same thing… center of the road.  He was a big bad strong man with a backhoe, and the road was HIS.  The rest of the world could get in line and wait on The all mighty and powerful King of Heavy Equipment.   Well enough.

I took my nice clean sedan for a little four-wheeling adventure.  Yep.  Right up in a farm yard at a pretty good clip.  Pedal to the Metal.  I Mario Andretti-ed the guy.

Take a walk on the wild side, baby.

So.. fast forward to this evening.  I was thinking about my day and the fact that I saw SO many beautiful creatures.  Most days I come in contact with so many.  People, animals, insects…. you name it.  Just tonight, there were several deer at our feeder throughout the hours.  Moms and fawns.  Rabbits, squirrels, birds, dogs, fish, chipmunks… and on.  Right outside our front windows.

And each day….. My partner, my brother, my sister, my friend, my Mom….  healers, helpers, and harlequins. All beautiful.

And I wondered what makes some people so very, very beautiful right to the core?   And what on earth motivates people to be ugly creatures with a backhoe and a power play?

Another of life’s mysteries.  I much prefer the good eggs in life.  The rotten eggs grow up to be mean old roosters… the ones with those little peckers.  Yep.

The best part of beauty is that which no picture can express.  —  Francis Bacon