MaXIMIzing Life

MaXIMIze life by living by your values and virtues. For me, that means honesty, respect, dignity and honor. If you are not treating yourself and others with those four items to start with - and there are others, such as love, loyalty, fidelity...you get the drift - then you are not living life to its MaXIMum potential.

In fact you are shortchanging yourself and others and causing much more pain in the world than there truly needs to be. And believe you me, there is more than enough pain in the world to go around and definitely not enough love.

There is a saying that goes oh, what a tangled web we weave when we first practice to deceive. And once you get tangled up in such a web of lies, disrespect, dishonor, faithlessness and such, it is very hard to untangle yourself from it and you get drawn deeper and deeper more often than not.

So, do yourself and everyone your life touches a favor and MaXIMIze the virtues mentioned above.

An honest life is not always a peaceful life, however it is truly a kinder life to give to those around you and to yourself.

New Month, New Year, Different Choices

Yes, it is now October, a new month. Also, it is a new year for me - fiscal year that is - currently being a Federal civilian employee.

With all the newness, and thanks to the challenge Michelle Brunmier posted on her Facebook page (the one you can like to follow...), I've decided to do New Month Resolutions. On the post I'm referring to, she writes, "This month, my goal is to exercise and meditate at least 4 times a week (one more than last month), to read every day, and to write in my gratitude journal every night. Being grateful is key...I think we get lost in our "situations" and forget all the wonderful things we have."

As those of you who've known me for a while know, my life has not been the easiest these last nearly six months. I've done a lot of soul-searching, and am in the process of climbing up that long tunnel towards the light I can see shining brightly at the end - even though sometimes it only shines as a pinprick in the cavern of darkness I feel like I'm in at times, rather than as a window shining in the front room of life...one could say I have a tendency to "get lost in (my) 'situation(s)' and forget all the wonderful things (I) have."

So my first resolution is to keep in the front of my mind all the things I am grateful for - today, it is having a job, my wonderful husband, my adorable and brilliant children, grandchildren, step-children, and children of my heart, my expanding network of Girlfriends -both through My Girlfriends Garden and other areas, the rest of my family - brothers, sisters-in-law, nieces, cousins, et al, the rain that is moving through our area right now - lightly at the moment, my cat always happy to see me at the end of the day, my wonderful team mates at work (both Corps and sponsor/stakeholder team mates) who helped propel my little program to execute at 96% of what we expected - making us Green in the lingo of the Corps, my health, my hunger, desire, need to write that never goes away, and the many avenues I have to express and share what flows through me onto the page (like this one, for example!).

I could focus on the dark things in life, but why? Life is too short and too grand and too full of things full of light to allow the dark to overtake me for more than a very short time. The dismals is not where I want to dwell, not now, not ever!

My second resolution is to do things to propel the career I will have after I retire to fruition - writing prose, poetry, and essays, self-publishing where necessary, looking at venues to sell my wares - both writing and photography, looking into what it takes to become a yoga instructor and life coach (perhaps I should have said careers - plural???), and start building the connections now to make this all a reality sooner rather than later.

And those two resolutions are enough - for now! ; )

Another Season Done - Turn, Turn, Turn

Wow - it's been a long time since I posted a blog here. Life has had more than its share of downs this summer season - and some ups as well - and those are what I prefer to dwell on. As long as I can still see the light at the end of the tunnel, I know I can get there!

And speaking of getting there - yesterday was the day of the 100 Thousand Poets for Change events hosted all over the world - in over 90 countries - WOW!!! Here's the article from the local paper, the Sacramento Bee, on the event I participated in yesterday. Yes, you read that right, participated in. I actually got up and read one of my poems during the first open mic session of this event. And...I wasn't even nervous! Usually when I get up to speak in any type of public forum, I am quaking and shaking in my figurative boots - not this time - I said it loud and I said it strong - WOW again!!!

And that wasn't all I did writing-related yesterday, oh no was not all (BTW, yesterday was the 20th anniversary of the passing of Dr Seuss - the man who introduced me to poetry at my mother's knee in the 1960s).

I also entered NPR's Three-Minute Fiction contest - edited down one of my favorite short stories and sent it off on its merry way.

Back to the poetry reading yesterday - there were some awesome artists there sharing!

Mario Ellis Hill- WOW!

John Allen Cann - I will find a copy of the 24 Caprices he published in 1992 - they are as relevant today as they were there (and perhaps even more so!).

Sean King - again, WOW!

And Lawrence Dinkins - double, triple WOW!

And of course, Abe Sass (sorry, new website found with just info on him or an example of him reading...sigh...) - dude, Dr. Seuss may have drawn me into poetry, but it was Langston Hughes who touched my soul with back in 6th grade, when Miss Desmangles assigned him to me to research and write a report on. Awesomeness!

These were just a few from the first installment in Capitol Park - I was not able to follow to Fremont Park to hear the rest of the readings., which included Frances Kakugawa, a fellow NCPA member - although she did read a Thank You to Poets poem during the second open mic session at Capitol Park.

Not the Best Week

Well, as I reviewed my posting from last week, I noted that I meant, I really did, I meant to post another blog over the long weekend on the art of writing.

Well, somewhere between intention and action, my life turned to mush between work deadlines, and gettting sick (somehow I managed to pick up a cold or somesuch thing with a lingering cough - first time I've gotten sick from traveling in ages). And there are other things going on as well...aren't there always? Today is the first day since that post that I have felt fully with it - am still weak, but did manage to get to the grocery and am thankful the laundry pretty much does it self.

I haven't even written my Daily Pages focused on the craft of writing since the 31st. Sigh...

So I guess today's blog could be about how one's greatest intentions can get seriously derailed by life in general, and sometimes one has to ride the wave of that derailment to the best of one's ability while determining the best way to change course to get back to what is important in life.

Wow, that's a bit deep, even for me.

I'll end this week's entry on a lighter note, then.

We have a black and white tomcat named Oliver in our neighborhood who thinks he's all that and a bag of chips - our cats are afraid of him, even in our own backyard. So, when he comes in the yard, they dive for the cat door like the scaredy cats they are, and one of us humans has to go and chase him over the fence.

Well, twice this week I discovered we have an ally in this endeavor - a mockingbird who has apparently set up nest somewhere nearby. I wished I'd had my camera at the ready (tells you how sick I've been - I love taking pictures of things like this!)!

Oliver is scurrying along the top of the fence, looking for a safe place to jump down in the next door neighbor's yard as this screeching mockingbird is dive bombing him and all he can do is hiss and keep moving!

Too funny!

To the First Day of DST in 2011

From the last weekend in February to the first day of Daylight Savings Time for 2011. Where did the last two weeks go?

Well, last weekend was one of playing (imbibing) too much - something that is getting harder to recover from the older I get! We attended Barrel Tasting Weekend along the Russian River Wine Road in Sonoma County, and I overtasted...oops! Had a great dinner at Bistro 29 in Santa Rosa on Friday night before the overindulgence though!

This weekend was one of attending the Northern California Publishers and Authors (NCPA) meeting, with one fantastic speaker! Rachel Dillon - an author/illustrator based on Folsom - discussed her series of books comprised of poetry and artwork based on endangered species. How they came to be, her style of artwork (which is fascinating!), and process - of art, of writing, of getting from draft to finished product (published!).

During the work week(s), work has been challenging, playing number games, waiting for Congress to do their job and work out a Federal budget for 2011 (which was due to be in place by last October). At least the threat of a governmental shutdown seems to have been averted, but the final fallout has yet to be determined, both in the short term (the rest of this fiscal year) and in the long term (good old ripple effect to be felt for years to come). Working on long-term studies and projects - where we are expected to stay on schedule and within budget (without taking into account too much on the schedule slip/added cost to ramp down and then ramp back up instead of working straight through to completion) - when we don't know what funding we are really getting year to year is not an easy way to do business. And in today's climate, we cannot necessarily rely on what has happened in the past continuing into the future. Living in interesting times seems more of a curse then a blessing right now.

And in the midst of all this, my heart goes out to the people from Japan to the West Coast of the United States who have lost lives and livelihoods due to the recent earthquake and accompanying tsunami.

And back to the personal side...checking on the accomplishment of the weekly goals.

Exercise - did not do much either week. Think I did yoga three times and the trainer and the gym once each last week, and did yoga and a bike ride once each this past week. Mother Nature reminded me I'm female and knocked me off my game...sigh...

Writing - fell off the wagon two or three days during the last two weeks. And this poor blog was neglected last week as well. Perhaps Percopotomus took more out of me this year than I expected! ; ) Actually I think it was more related to work stress and Mother Nature's friendly (?) reminder of my femaleness.

I leave you this week focusing on those who have lost lives and livelihoods due to recent natural disasters throughout the world. We are all human beings first and all else comes second.

Namaste.

Still Plugging Along...

Life does tend to get in the way of writing a bit - something about a day job - but hey, I'm still plugging along. It's my week to post prompts to the CHPercolators group on Yahoo, so I'm at least giving others grist for the mill! I've only managed one more piece out of my 2006 FebNaNo novel since I last blogged, but plan to get some more typed up today. Less than 30 pages to go on this part of the editting process! Ok, back to the grind...