Perspective ... (Trifecta Wk 15)

After gentle prompting from karen, I have decided to participate in the Trifecta Writing Challenge.  


This week's prompt was: 
fool 
noun \ˈfül\

3  a : a harmlessly deranged person or one lacking in common powers of understanding 

I chose to focus on the second half of the definition given.  Please, let me know your thoughts.

I lie here, curled in my bed, tail tucked over my nose, watching and listening to the two-legs that live with me.

They think that because I don't speak their language, I don't understand. I think that because I don't speak their language, I understand more than they do.

Fools.

I see their body language. I hear the subtle undertones in the words they speak to one another. I hear what they are really saying. They don't see that, or pretend they don't. In truth, I think their shared spoken language causes them to misunderstand each other more often than not.

Fools.

They think my love is simple. I think they make their love more complicated than it needs to be. Love simply is.

Fools.

On writing, and blogging ...

From the introduction to the 10th Anniversary edition of Kitchen Table Wisdom:

"I quickly discovered I am an author and not a writer.  Writers are people who are born to write.  An author, on the other hand, seems to be born to do something else and then writes a book about it.  This is a very different thing entirely."

and this, from Pioneer Woman's blog:

2. Blog often.

Whether you write a sixteen-paragraph essay about the cosmic implications of a free market system or a one-paragraph description of what happens to your soul when you walk into your godforsaken laundry room, consider your blog a precious bloom that requires daily nurturing.


And watering.


If you water a plant once every two weeks, it will shrivel.


Unless that plant is a cactus, and then it would thrive.


And to tell you the truth, I really can’t figure out how a cactus fits into this analogy, so forget I brought it up.

I have a number of bloggy-friends, and they all blog for their own reasons.  My reasons have changed with time, and still vary from day to day, but the fact is I actually enjoy writing, enjoy communicating, and enjoy getting feedback on that.  Sometimes I blog to get thoughts out of my head, sometimes I blog to reach out, sometimes I blog to say something I can't, out of politeness, say to the person who has spawned the thought.

I am not sure, using the difinition in the first quote, if I am a writer or an author.  I think that also varies based on the day. 

Morning writing ...

So the whole writing in the morning before I have been exposed to outside influences that might distract me from my inner voice ... that might be a challenge.

When I woke up, I needed to go pee.  Of course, the dogs heard me when I got up, so then they needed to go out.  The Moose has had a parasite, so when she needs to go out, she needs to go out.  Right then.  I got dressed and took them out.  When I came back, I found 2 piles of poo on the dining room floor from the Moose.  I cleaned those up, and then went to the grocery store to get a different kind of dog food to settle her stomach.  Of course, I bumped into someone I knew there who wanted to talk.  So we talked.

I got home, fed the dogs, got some juice, and sat down to write, got about 2/3 of one page done ... and my room mate pinged me on MSN (I know, my fault for turning it on, but ...).  Then Sebastian came on line, we MSN'd for a while, then we both installed Skype (never saw the point when MSN Video was working).  Skype worked a bit better than MSN messenger; he could hear me fine, but I couldn't hear him, he still had to type.  We Skyped for 2.5 hours .... and now I think it doesn't count as early morning pages, and between various people, reading the news on-line while chatting (yes, we read the news together), the teenagers playing Mario and swearing at each other in the living room ... ya, I think I have had my share of outside influences this morning.

So for tomorrow, I have put my book and a pen right beside my bed ... and I am going to try to write before I get up to pee, and all things furry demand attention.

Health Coaching ... the big picture

I mentioned some time ago I was enrolling in Health Coaching, and some of you indicated a wish to know more ... well, let your wishes be fulfilled!

This was prompted partly by a number of dietary restrictions I have, and a few other health concerns.  But mostly by opportunity - one of the lovely ladies with whom I belly Dance just happens to be a certified Health Coach, and gives a free initial consultation to other dancers at the same studio.  After an incredibly frustrating visit with a Hospital Dietician, I took her up on her offer, and ended up signing up for 6 months of coaching.

I meet with my coach every 2 weeks.  While the primary focus is on diet and nutrition, she takes a holistic approach to looking at the client's life, and addresses small, realistic changes that can be made.  While there is education in notrition and other things, a lot of it is about learning to listen to and read the cues your own body is giving you.  The coach realizes that what works for her may not work for everyone.  Her body is happiest on a vegan diet; we are pretty sure mine would not be.  And that's OK.

We have had some good, informative sessions on food, but lately we have been talking more about my exhaustion, my need to please others, and where that stems from.  I was happy today to be able to report to my coach that I have seriously scaled back my Legion commitments to 3 days or so a month (unless they need me for a special event) and am going back to doing some things that nurture my soul - movement (belly dance, martial arts, the gym). music, and crafts, as well as just some long overdue down time.

We also talked about my issues with my mom, and I processed some things that happened this weekend past.  I am pretty sure I am going to spend Christmas with Sebastian at his place, instead of going to my parents, which will be a very big thing, but I think is the best for me.

One of the things she has recommended to me is "Early Morning Pages", based on an activity in The Artist's Way: A Spiritual Path To Higher Creativity by Julia Cameron.  In short, it is a commitment to get up in the morning and write two stream of conciousness pages, on anything, before your mind has been "cluttered" with e-mails, phone calls, news, or other distractions.  We'll see how that goes.  You may be seeing some of the reults on these pages!

My other "homework" from this session is to start setting some boundaries in my interactions with others: in reality to become pro-active about situations instead of reactive.

I'll keep y'all posted on that one, too.