Hope

“Hope begins in the dark, the stubborn hope that if you just show up and try to do the right thing, the dawn will come.”

–Anne Lamott

In many cases, just getting up and out of your own pity party, will bring the light  of hope out of your darkness, but you’re not a little child that can merely smile and yell “ta da” and have adoring parents clap at your very existence.  The world can be a harsh parent that will make you work for your room and board.  What are you contributing?  What are you sharing? What are you learning that will ultimately be shared? Are you working and if so, at what? It’s not the job that matters, it’s the attitude and intent of what you’re doing on this planet at this moment in time.  What are your intentions for today?  What about tomorrow?  Do you have a realistic plan to succeed?  Can you break it down or do you need assistance?  Yes, the dawn will come eventually, will you be ready?  Start now.

Marilyn Monroe in the Full moon

While talking on the phone with my father the other night, he urged me to go outside to see if I saw what he saw.  He claimed Marilyn Monroe could be seen in the full moon.  “She’s looking left, and her hair is full and wavy.  The shadowy greys are her mouth…just like a black and white shot I saw on a poster once” he said.   After our phone conversation I went outside and while I thought I saw the wavy hair part…I couldn’t detect the facial features…at all, but the idea of my father seeing Marilyn Monroe made me smile.  He met Sophia Loren one time because he built a bridge that she had to walk across as part of her promotion entrance at a mall in south Florida many,many years ago.  He smiled so wide when he talked about Sophia that night at the dinner table.  We can all get mesmerized by beauty, but what really touches our heart and soul is when we interact with different age groups and different cultures, different perspectives.  Wholoctave Living is seeing the beauty that bubbles up from within and learning from it. What lies hidden in all of us, when shared, can open new ideas for the people that listen.  I’ll call my dad back and talk about that poster he once saw and where he was at that time in his life. I hope I have the wisdom to listen.

Holi Festival

I learned something new today.

I was trying to park and noticed many people in the street and parking areas…just loitering around “because of the beautiful weather”, is what I thought… I also thought….”not the best place people”…as visions of being back in Las Vegas popped into my head.  I used to live in Las Vegas and people just seemed to be oblivious to traffic there…even in grocery store parking lots, etc.  People wandered where they wanted, not even caring that drivers were trying to get through…it was maddening…

As I got out of my car today, a couple of the children ran up to me..excited and proud to show off their painted faces…they were bright red and smeared with reckless abandon.  I smiled and commented on how wonderful they looked…then I glanced over to all the adults in the road and saw they were actually in a loose circle and had painted faces as well.  They were all dressed in brightly colored clothing.  They appeared to be Indian.  I smiled and continued.

March 19 is Holika Dahan

March 20 (2011) is Holi (Dhulandi)

Holi is celebrated at the end of winter on the last full moon day of the lunar month.

Holi Festival is joyous celebrations of going into the street in big groups smearing each other w/ bright colored powders and water.  The dance of colors is also an expression of this event.  There are bonfires the previous night.

 

I encourage you to explore the stories behind this celebration as they were interesting as well.  Anyone wanting to correct me on what I’ve posted, please do so as I’m just reporting what I briefly discovered online after my experience today .  I would love to hear from Holi Festival participants.  I believe it is a Hindu Holiday.

 

 

Decluttering

Our lives are cluttered with more than just things.  We have responsibilities, “to do” lists, broken promises, abandoned dreams and broken hearts.  Our souls are getting buried beneath the crap of life.  By decluttering all this baggage, we can travel light.  We can live to enjoy the present.  We must not abandon responsibilities and loved ones, but we can delegate, prioritize and simplify.  Consciously identify needs from wants and don’t try to do everything all by yourself…or you’ll just end up all by yourself.

Travel well today, travel light.

Let your soul sing with the beauty of the present moment.

Starting New Adventures

You are destined to fly, but that cocoon has got to go.
-Nelle Morton, theologian and educator

With every new idea, we must then decide to let it die or fly.  Putting ideas into action requires determination, persistence and confidence. Get off the couch, out of the house and connect with life. Get your idea to fly,  otherwise you’ll just be digging yet another hole.

Hello world!

Wholoctave Learning

Infants, children, teenagers, adults, seniors, local communities, businesses and global communities interact and learn from each other in a woven diversified soup of humanity.

If one of these eight components is isolated, the amount of learning, thus thriving, depreciates in direct proportion to the limitations of the interactions with the other components.  Lessen the diversity, lessen the growth.  The is exemplified with the classic tragedy of the orphaned babies left alone in their cribs.

Wholoctave Living encompasses the same eight components listed above. Substitute “living” for “learning” and our perspective easily turns to ourselves.  Are we truly living in the rich diversified soup of humanity or are we shriveling away in our cribs?