woo woo love adventure

OK, so I've discovered that I'm way more of an adventurer at heart than a scientist. The experiment is over, my dear friends, and the true findings are that I love adventures! I've been on something of a marathon of navel-gazing lately and the unlikely news is that all signs, from the enneagram to astrology and numerology, point to me as an adventurer, such as it is, so I'm accepting the truth and getting back on track.

The adventure lately has been getting truly woo woo, folks! I can't stop listening to the Marie Manuchehri radio show and learning more about the cool guests she interviews - just finished a fascinating book by Sue Frederick, called I See Your Dream Job. Listening to Marie and my favorite guest of hers, Dr. Sheila Dunn-Merritt, got me really interested in holistic medicine and I found an amazing chiropractor who I can't believe is right here in Tennessee! His intuitive approach and various chiropractic and other healing techniques have me feeling better than I have in years. And thanks to my dear, amazing sister I'm now a juicing fiend! My current favorite is a celery/green apple/ginger/lemon/baby kale blend - yummy! I'm also totally loving my subscription to Eckhart Tolle TV. And I look forward every week to sitting with the Nashville Insight Meditation Group. Did I mention that I have plans to see the Dalai Lama, Thich Nhat Hanh, and Pema Chodron this year? Seriously, my life is an embarrassment of riches on the spiritual front these days and I am so, so grateful.

The good news is that I haven't floated off into the ether just yet - we've been hitting the local trails and there's nothing my feet like better than wandering these beautiful hills, especially when there's a lake up ahead...

film love experiment

This week I was finally able to snap this photo that's been haunting me for a couple of weeks. I walk past this little combination of shapes and life in the morning when I get off the bus, but I'm usually with other people and don't feel I can whip out my camera and take the time I'd like. But the perfect opportunity arose this past week and once I had my camera out, everything became outrageously beautiful to me. Capturing simple, everyday beauty is definitely a true love of mine.


I also came down with one of the various bugs floating around these days, but I think I got off easy. Still I was laid low yesterday and the only thing that really worked for me was napping and watching movies on my Kindle Fire. (Oh, definitely that little gizmo is another true love of mine!) I watched a few little independent-type movies you might enjoy - consistently solid performances from wonderful actors and stories of alienation, longing, and connection. In other words, real life: The Giant Mechanical Man, Goats, and Take This Waltz. And today, while I'm much better, but still needing some rest, I watched the lovely Salmon Fishing in the Yemen on DVD. Oh, it's not news to any of you how much I love movies!

And some things never change. Even though I didn't handle film for any of these things I truly love, I'm still a girl who calls a CD a record. Heck, at this point even a CD is old school, isn't it?

true love experiment week 1

page/duke's "star" garden
Here are some things I truly loved this past week:

1. Listening to jazz - I'm super lucky to live in a house with a fabulous collection and to be married to a wonderful man who loves it as much as I do (after I had to listen behind closed doors growing up). Nothing makes me feel as at-home in the world as good jazz (ie Miles Davis, Wayne Shorter, John Coltrane, Eric Dolphy, Mingus, Charlie Parker, Bobby Hutcherson, Andrew Hill, Sun Ra, etc.).

2. Finding an awesome chiropractor and suddenly being so much more at ease in my body - I hadn't even noticed how stiffly I'd been holding myself, probably for years.

3. Seeing this sea of sparkles at the Antiques & Garden show - thanks Page/Duke and Albert Hadley for the inspiration.

This is a pretty rich practice, so I'm going to extend it to be a month-long experiment, rather than just a week. I'm looking forward to seeing what this week brings!

experiment adventure

As I'm exploring the theme of TRUE in my life this year, I think I may change my approach here for a while. I've loved my adventures, but there's something about TRUE that is feeling more like an experiment. Perhaps the seed was planted when a dear friend mentioned Gandhi's Story of My Experiments with Truth. It was a bargain in the Kindle store today and I can't wait to really dig in. I loved reading this in his Introduction:

I simply want to tell the story of my numerous experiments with truth, and as my life consists of nothing but those experiments, it is true that the story will take the shape of an autobiography. But I shall not mind if every page of it speaks only of my experiments. I believe, or at any rate flatter myself with the belief, that a connected account of all these experiments will not be without benefit to the reader. My experiments in the political field are now known, not only in India, but to a certain extent to the "civilized" world. For me, they have not much value; and the title of Mahatma that they have won for me has, therefore, even less. Often the title has deeply pained me; and there is not a moment I can recall when it may be said to have tickled me. But I should certainly like to narrate my experiments in the spiritual field which are known only to myself, and from which I have derived such power as I possess for working in the political field. If the experiments are really spiritual, then there can be no room for self-praise. They can only add to my humility. The more I reflect and look back on the past, the more vividly do I feel my limitations.

If this makes you want to play along, the experiment for this week comes from Natalie Goldberg's wonderful book Wild Mind:

A writer I know who is now in her sixties told me that in her late twenties, she had a nervous breakdown because she didn't know who she was. She moved to New York City from the rural South, and she was estranged from her family. She wandered down Thirty-fourth Street, completely lost. She said she found a therapist who slowly, over three years, saved her life. In the very first session of her therapy, the therapist asked her to find one thing that she liked, just for herself, not because her mother said it was good or the South said it was good or because she wanted to impress a New Yorker. Finally, by the end of the hour, she came up with one thing. She knew, irretrievably, just for herself, that she honestly liked the taste of chocolate. From that one pleasure, she and the therapist began the construction of an authentic life.

Don't you love that? And as my intention for my One Little Word class for February is to explore True Love, I will spend the week making a list of all the things I truly love, just for myself, and will share them here next weekend. You're more than welcome to join me!

And now I'll leave you with a collage I did today, exploring the theme of TRUE. As you can see, it involves deep inner listening...