Energy-Flipping

There's this thing about energy.

It's got a whole explanation behind it but for the moment we're just going to go with what is actually a pretty simple  concept.

Say you've got a bunch of bad energy coming from inside, or from anywhere for that matter.

It's Energy - and you can use it instead of feeling like it's gonna drown you or otherwise keep you from what you want to be, which probably is NOT feeling like negative energy is swamping you.

So you flip it.

Your body, mind, and soul are inextricably linked. You are one organism so all of your parts (body, mind, spirit) are in the same place at the same time, right? You might not be able to change what's going on in the world around you - but you CAN take your own parts and use them to help each other.

If you're feeling blue, or cranky, or whatever, and would rather feel happy, or in a good mood instead ...

Here's the 'simple' part.

Your body affects the other parts as much as they affect your body, so use it.

Use your body.

Behavior (the use of your body) is a product, if you will, of what's going on inside of you.

The reverse is also true.

Believe me on this one because it's been put to some severe tests by my own self.

When you feel like boo-hooing, sing instead.

When you feel like cutting loose and hollering, find something good to talk about instead.

When you feel like sitting on the couch and lazing the day away, get up and do something active.

What you WANT to be doing instead of what you Feel Like Doing At The Moment is just as much an option for you at any given time, so pick that option instead of the negative one.

Hard to do?

Yep.

But really hard only at the beginning. It gets easier and you'll get really good at it before you even realize.

That having been said, it does take some will-power and might not always work as quick as you want it to. Don't you quit. Keep trying ... unless you want to wallow in negativity, you have nothing to lose and a lot to gain.

When you're using your body to sing, or dance, or take a walk, or do something (anything) productive and fun, it has the effect of re-setting your mind and your soul to go along with it.

Whether Energy comes across as Negative or Positive, it is STILL ENERGY and you can most certainly take that Negative and flip it into Positive.

The quickest and 'easiest' way is to use your body.

Physically 'acting out' behaviors that belong to what you want to 'be' or to 'feel' actually do have more of an impact than a person would think.

You'll feel as though you're 'being fake' but really you're behaving in anticipation of what you will soon be, and there will be times you might notice the transition between 'faking it' and 'making it happen'. It's all part of the same thing, all part of You.

Which isn't to say that whatever was making you blue, or cranky, or whatever doesn't need to be dealt with - it's just a lot easier to do that if you tackle it from a position of strength - and flipping negative to positive, on purpose and by using your own body, mind, and spirit in positive ways to make it happen reminds you pretty powerfully that you DO have the strength to deal with what you need to deal with.

Just sayin'.

You've got more to you than you might think.


The photo? CERN banged two tiny bits of matter together and got a picture of the Energy produced when they collided and their Energy spiraled out to take whatever form was next for it as it was done being those particles. This is the top view. The side view looks like an hourglass.

That's beauty, the Energy of our world.

If those two tiny particles contained the Energy caught in that photo, imagine how much Energy our bodies contain.

Quit underestimating yourself.

You've got everything you need right there in your own self - body, mind, spirit - so what's keeping you from using it?

Nothing. 

Find your Balance.

Love Yourself - because until you do you won't know how to love anyone else.

An Angel Story

I have a number of 'Angel Stories' but for today my focus is on a point that needs to be made about one of them in particular. The whole story will come in another post; for now the abbreviated version will make the point.

A recent topic of conversation was about angels; it reminded me of the reluctant angel I met when my vehicle overheated on I-25 between Pueblo and Colorado Springs, the one who drove a red corvette convertible. 

I needed help and he helped me, confused as all get-out because, as he told me, he just didn’t do stuff like help people because all people are inherently bad, hateful, and generally mean. Nevertheless he helped me in more ways than one and was on the receiving end of a blessing of his own.

He drove into the Springs to get the part my poor little beat-up S10 Blazer needed, leaving me with my vehicle because otherwise it probably wouldn't be there when we got back, and I was to stay IN the vehicle (doors locked and windows up). 

While he was gone, people pulled off of I-25 from both directions to check on me. I’m not even kidding you a little bit here. I started writing down plate numbers on the back of an envelope but stopped when I ran out of room and lost count. More than FORTY vehicles pulled into that little area, some of the folk choosing to stick around until my ‘angel’ got back with the part, which took better than an hour.

The point I want to make here is not so much that there are indeed an abundance of ‘angels among us’ (although that’s most certainly true and I’m here to tell you so) but ... 

Those angels showed up from all socio-economic backgrounds (going by their vehicles and clothes) and from all the ethnic-cultural backgrounds that the Front Range is home to, they were of all ages and both genders – and not a one of them gave any of the others so much as a sideways look, I’ll have you know. 

Each and all of them had pulled off of that highway urged by the exact same impulse, to help someone, and they all knew it. Grins and waves from each to the other and they were back on their own paths for the day. 

Few of them would have known how MANY they were a part of on that day, but I knew and so did a couple of the early stoppers who stayed to ‘stand guard’.

So it wasn’t just me who was blessed on that day, nor just my reluctant angel (who was shocked enough to find a group of folks waiting with me when he got back, let alone when we told him how MANY more had stopped), but also all those folk who took the time out of their days and made the effort to check on the well-being of a total stranger.

Do not ask me to explain because I flat out cannot do it. 

Such a thing may never have happened before and may not have happened since and may never happen again – but on that day it did I tell you true.

In today’s world we could have and would likely have recorded the whole thing and it would have gone viral on line. As it is, the memory makes me smile and having had the experience makes me believe very strongly in just the opposite of what my reluctant angel told me about people on that day.

Score one for the good folk!

From all walks of life, from all ages, from all ethnicities, from all cultures, male and female they stepped up to the plate and offered aid, support, good wishes, protection, and many a smile and/or hug as well. 

That I am still so impacted by that one short time speaks on behalf of everyone who was there on that day. 

I couldn’t tell you the name of a single one of them except that I remember Ric was the name of the reluctant angel. 

But I will never ever in my life forget the message they brought with them, each and all independently of everyone else. 

‘I care,’ they said. ‘I am here.’

*sentimental sigh*

I totally love remembering times like that.

I Never Wanted To Know

I never wanted to have to find out, and prove, how tough I can be - never.

I still don't want to.

I don't want to.

I don't want to.

At the moment I'm not feeling the least bit tough. I'm in the process of soaking my way through a roll of paper towels, having already used up my box of Kleenex.

The loss of this oh so dear friend is hitting very hard. 

Part of it is that I was not with her; we never got to say goodbye. The last thing she said to me were the above words, 'You will do what you have to do.' They seemed such a non-sequitur at the time, just a couple of days ago. We smiled, her eyes as always giving me strength and peace. I was so very looking forward to seeing her today, her smile, the smile reaching her eyes as she recognized me.

All these tears, this plugged nose, red eyes, sopping wet paper towels - they are my selfishness, which doesn't help the situation any. I weep not for her but for my own loss. I am bereft, bereaved.

Part of it is that I cannot really grieve except here, alone. I can't take the time it would require to find my peace - and what peace is there for me to find? This dear friend is the one I sought out when I was in need of peace, and strength. For years, from the day I met her, she was my go-to person for peace, and strength. Now I feel as though I have lost my balance and fallen. It is times like this that I seek my friend - but she is gone from me so where am I to turn?

Part of it is the cumulative effect of continual loss.

Every other loss over the years of our friendship was somehow eased a little by the touching of our foreheads, the touch of her hand to my face, the understanding in her eyes that I needed her. Every one. She was there when I needed her, and I ... I ... where was I when she might have needed me? 

Part of it is my own guilt. I should have been there, should have spent more quality time with her, with everyone ... 

Her words are in my mind, in my heart, in my soul. She didn't always talk a whole lot. These words from her are precious to me. So very precious. You see, although she never read a word of the books I write, the words of this dear friend are quite very familiar to me. They have been many times the words of Characters who have never held my hands in theirs, never touched foreheads with me, never smiled into my eyes - yet it is their words I heard from my friend, out of the blue just a couple of days ago. They seemed so out of context but it turns out that they were not.

And so, what am I to do?

I've been weeping for hours; you'd think I'd be out of tears but no, they keep coming.

They do not belong to her, nor to any of the others. They belong to me and I ought to have known they were coming.

I cannot be as tough as I think I ought to be. 

I cannot.

In reality, I do not want to be.

I would rather go through the grief, the hurt, rather shake my fist at the sky, rather weep and weep and weep - and God it hurts, it's a soul-wrenching hurt.

If the tears flow through this night, so be it. If they are still flowing come daylight, so be it. I will weep them, let them rise, course, fall, and carry with them from my heart bits of that hurt until their task is done.

If they do not abate I will call in for tomorrow's shift. It is not right, not fair to the others who deserve the best I have in me to give to them. Someone will ask me, when they answer the phone, 'Are you sick? What are your symptoms?' And what will I say?

I am heart-sick. 

What do you mean, you're heart-sick? You have a heart condition? You need to see your doctor.

Not that kind of heart-sick.

Well, what do you mean then?

I'm grieving.

Oh. Did your mother die? One of your children? Who?

When I tell them who, they will remind me that I work in a nursing home, what do I expect? Taking time off work every time somebody dies? Are you kidding me? You'd never be at work. Suck it up Buttercup.

No, this is only the third time in almost six years. I can't even count the number of my people who have died in that time, I can't remember all their names even - yet I loved them, each and all, cared for them and about them. And I learned from them, each and all. From them all I learned. Hard, harsh lessons.

I've learned the hard way about courage, tenacity, resilience, peace, strength, endurance - and love.

It's the goodbye part I'm still having trouble with.

Yes I know all the platitudes and yes they're all true.

It's me that is the problem here, you see. It is I who am bereft, I who am grieving, I who now feels pain. I'm not yet as tough as they are. One day, if I am lucky, perhaps I will catch up to them.

Meanwhile, the lessons continue.

This year and a day is going to feel like eternity.

MAMM SPEAKS - JUST THE STORY ...

These are the seven books that contain the STORY part of the Mamm Books. 

We had to make more than one book because for this version we went with the LARGE PRINT at the request of some of our readers. Makes for some almighty big books, let me tell you. These are 8 1/2 X 11 inches with a font size of 18. Only a couple of them are over a hundred pages so none of them are going to be bulky despite their larger dimensions. And their covers, as you can see, are simple and color-coded following the rainbow.

I have to admit it seems kind of strange to read the STORY without it being in the context of the Dunnottar Story Line ... without knowing what's right around the corner for Danann and Sidhelagh, and their family, at the end of this STORY ...

Frankly, I've been curious about how they would read when separated, the twined story lines of the Mamm Books.

You can read the 'History' part of it, as these books show, with no problem at all - it's a good STORY standing alone.

Such is not the case with the 'Today' part of the Story Line of the Mamm Books, however.

Again and again and again that Story Line refers back to the 'History' Line. If you don't have the 'History' part, the 'Today' Story Line is not going to read at all well. You aren't going to 'get it' - without knowing the back story upon which the whole is based.

Without the 'History', you won't have any idea what drives our Characters, what motivates them, what inspires them, what makes them entirely unwilling to relinquish what they hold most dear. You won't know what it is that guides them when the times come for them to draw their lines, to take their stands and to hold them against all odds.

You see, the STORY and what it means is an integral part of life for our Characters. They know what past generations of their family had to do in order for them to be able to pick up where those generations left off.

Today I realize that their lineage breeds true and it makes me quite very sentimentally proud to have 'gotten to know' both the Characters of SONG and the current Characters who also stand true to what the 'History' part of SONG is all about.

I tell you true.

Scotland does herself proud in so many ways, every day.

The world watches now, alert and wary, as Scotland takes to herself those on whom the world would turn its back. She is not unwary, believe that. She is plenty alert. That, my friend, is a part of the strength Scotland is showing to us right about now, once again taking the lead. Being alert and wary are, I think, a part of the nature of the Scots - with just cause.

Would it not make her doubters hoot and howl if the guests of Scotland turned against her, tried to do her harm? Yes. The world would shout, 'We told you so, we told you so!' But, should such a thing come to pass it would most likely be quite very short lived.

Even in the Mamm Books such ones came among our Characters. When they proved themselves 'incompatible', they were marched right on out of there in no uncertain terms, and delivered directly to those on whose behalf they had been trying to cause harm to the very people who had given them safety and offered them friendship.

Yes I write fiction, and yes its setting is a very long time ago. The 'bad guys', those who would do harm to others for whatever reasons they want to come up with, might wear different faces and names these days. That doesn't change who and what they are.

Today's 'History' Line isn't really all that different from the 'History' Line of the ancient days, you know.

When an entity threatened the Legacy of Faith, Family, Friends, Freedom, and Future our Characters of SONG were living, protecting, and preserving, said entity made great gains right up until it ran up against the People who would not give up and would not give in. Said People joined forces, pooled their resources, and an Empire bit the dust.

I'm not real sure what 'History' books our today's 'entity', our today's 'bad guys' have been reading, but they might maybe want to reconsider their interpretation of whatever they've been thinking was the outcome of their 'History' books.

At any rate, now I know that yes a 'History' Story Line can stand alone - but a 'Today' Story Line cannot. It is much too entwined with the 'History' Line to be able to stand without it.

We need to be thinking about that some, friends - and giving it some consideration when the time comes for us to have to make a Choice of our own.

You want to know how the STORY ends?

It doesn't.

It isn't going to end.

And the doubting world can watch all it wants, make dire predictions about this, that, and the other thing. Soon it will get bored, because success is never as interesting as conflict - and ain't that just a sad commentary on life in the world in which we live in. Success based on caution, alertness, wariness - built on compassion and a willingness to offer friendship - is quiet, you see.

The rampaging brats get plenty of attention; for every one of those there are many who are quietly going about just being nice. 

So, bottom line?

Be careful with your Choices.

Respect the 'History' of the Spiral and the need for balance.

If you're going to stand for something, let it be Peace.

Never EVER lose your Faith that good will come even out of bad.

Allow, nay encourage, the Healing that must come among us.

Know that against all odds it is Hope that will keep us all going.

Accept the fact that Love isn't always peaches and roses. Tough Love is harder to understand but understand it we must.

Above all, realize that Unity must prevail. It will strengthen us more than you think it could. A fragmented People is not a strong People. 

That little story about the sticks of kindling is Truth and Wisdom. 

You cannot break a bound bundle of kindling regardless of how easily individual sticks might be snapped in two. It doesn't matter if the sticks are of all different kinds of wood. If a stick of balsa is tucked into that bundle it is not going to get broken any more than will the sticks of oak, of pine, of elm, of cottonwood, of ash, of any of the kinds of sticks ... yet unbind them and you can break them at will. 

Yep.

And that's it for my bits of wisdom on this day I do believe.

Who Do You Think You Are!?

To those who ask this question, the answer lies in another question:

'Who' I am? What does that matter? Am I not, to you, 'who' you think I am, 'who' you see me as?

Who do you think you are?

Are we not all God's Children?

I am a Daughter of the Creator and the Holy Spirit, Sister to Jesus, as are you Daughter and Sister, or Son and Brother. The titles are ours by birthright, gifts of the Holy Trinity, whether we claim them or not.

Because part of the gift is also freedom to choose to accept or to reject the path we are given. Choosing Acceptance carries the responsibility of Being, to the best of our ability, Daughters and Sons of God - yet even Rejection can be reversed; therein lies Hope ... and Mercy ... 

See, the Creator knows who we are, has known us since before our births, each and all of us.

Heaven knows we are not perfect Beings. We're going to fall flat on our faces time and again, we're going to get tired and cranky and whiny, we're going to know fear and pain and loss, we're going to doubt ourselves and the Creator who made us, we're going to say, 'What, are You crazy? We can't do this! We don't want to do this. We're falling down exhausted, our feet hurt, our backs are killing us, our hearts and wills are broken ... You're nuts if you think we can just keep going the way we are!' 

And then, just when we're absolutely positive that we can't and won't carry on any further comes another breath, another bit of strength, a little more will ... and we take just one more step. And another. And another.

By that third step we might be coming to realize something.

We don't have to do this thing, whatever it may be, all alone.

For one thing, we have one another. When the time comes that each and all of us are about to go down in flames, we look around us and know that together we're going to make it through that next step, and the next, and the next. And so we do.

More importantly, when we've reached the end of our collective rope will come something we may have been too tired, too hurt, too disheartened to have thought much about. And within us something will stir; we'll find what it takes to get us the rest we need, the healing we need, the heart and the will that we need.

That, my friend, is a part of the gift as well.

Do you think the Spirit who dwells within us each and all doesn't know full well (having been a part of many more than just us from the dawn of Creation) that we're going to become tired and cranky and whiny, know fear and loss and doubt, fall flat on our faces? 

When those times are upon us we'll find that sure enough we aren't strong enough, we aren't smart enough, we aren't tough enough, we aren't anything enough.

We aren't.

We don't have to be.

Someone Else already is.

Someone already has our aching backs. And our hurting feet. And our broken hearts, our exhausted wills.

What we are given to do we will also be given the means to do.

When we realize that, something inside of us relaxes. The absence of tensions we weren't even aware of frees up our own internal resources - believe that because it's true. It also opens a door, or a window perhaps, or maybe even just a bit of a chink in our walls (it doesn't really take all that much) that Hope can walk through, or come in like a breeze, or sneak up on us unexpectedly.

Such a simple thing, but so very hard to find out how to do - yet all we have to do is do it.

We are given a Command: Fear Not

That's not just a suggestion, folks.

That's a Command.

And it's followed by a Promise: I am with you

In other words: Don't worry. I've got this.

All that's required of us is to do the best we can with what we have to work with at any given time. What we need will come when it is most needed.

We, each and all, are gifted before birth with everything we'll ever need. We are known, cherished, Children of the Creator. 

So really ... think about it ... 

Someone who created the universes tells us, 'Don't worry. I've got this,' and proves it time and time and time again - and we're still fretting and fussing?

Well yeah, we are. 

Not that it does us any good. 

We've been doing it since we were old enough to know what worry is, we're doing it now, and we'll continue to do it. Probably most of us will spend our entire grown up lives that way - because we tend to forget that we are Children, Daughters and Sons, Sisters and Brothers, of ... hmmm ... 

Do you remember the powerful arms of your father from when you were a very little child? The comforting ones of your mother? The hugs of a strong sibling? Not worrying about stuff like bills and fatigue and pain and all that?

Yep.

Guess what.

Confidence in yourself is not required. Strength of your own isn't mandatory.

And it doesn't really matter a whit 'who' you are or 'who' you are not in your own eyes or in the eyes of others. You are not just your own self. You have never been 'only' anything or anyone. There's no 'only' about you, never has been. God doesn't create us to be 'only'; we are created to be Daughters and Sons, Sisters and Brothers.

So:

Who Do You Think You Are!?

Joy - and Peace

When the world seems to have gone around the bend, when I look around me and know that there's so much I can't do, so much I don't have, so much that's wrong and I can't fix it ... it can get more than a little disheartening ... 

On the other hand, lots of the time I end up looking around me, and inside of me for something, anything, to give me hope. Lo and behold, there's always something there. Maybe not much of something, but still ... enough to make something.

That, my friend, brings Joy, and it brings Peace.

There are things I can't do physically, intellectually, spiritually ... lots and lots of them. There are things I don't have the money to tend to the way I would like, lots and lots of them. There are things I don't own and never will. There are times I'm hungry or cold or miserable. There are people I don't see enough of, and people I may never get to see, and people I will never see again in this life. There are places, as with people, I don't see, may never see, won't see again ... There's stuff going on in our great green world that will turn our green to dark if we don't watch out.

And yet ... sometimes when I'm feeling the most down there will come to me a warm embrace, like a strong hug from Someone who loves me despite all. Here is Peace, I seem to hear. Make something of it.

And yet ... in the darkest of dark a tiny flicker will catch my eye for an instant only. What was that? Was it real? Where did it go? Oh, there it is again. Here is Hope, I seem to hear. Make its light stronger.

And yet ... into the depth of my utter loneliness will come a Voice, perhaps from a far distance, perhaps from near to hand, and I am blessed with an unexpected gift. Here is Friendship, I seem to hear. Let it in.

And yet ... and yet ... and yet ... all of the Circles of Dunnottar come one by one, turn and turn about to bring their gifts: Faith, Family, Friends, Freedom, the Future ... just when they are most needed. They didn't spring from my imagination; they've been gifting me, and you for that matter, all along.

So too the Voices of SONG: Choice, the Spiral, Peace, Faith, Healing, Hope, Love ... they aren't just parts of the fiction I write - they are parts of the books because they have been first parts of each and all of us.

I write because it is in me to do so - and out it must come whether I would will it or no. Perhaps there may be only one person in the entirety of this world for whom the words are meant; perhaps that one person is yet unborn. That is not for me to know. What is for me is to do - to do the best I can with what I have to work with at any given time.

When despair is but a heartbeat away ... I look around me, and inside of me, and make a Choice. To make something or to not make something out of what I find, no matter how small or insignificant.

And comes Joy, comes Peace ... and all the rest of it.

It doesn't necessarily have to be 'good enough' for the rest of the world. It has only to be the best I can do, and that's good enough.

Kids Nowadays - I Tell Ya!!

Maybe I'm just blessed in a special way, but it seems that most of the 'kids' who come into my life these days are truly awesome people.

Not all of course, but honestly the percentage is amazing to me.

Kudos go to their parents for raising them, but mostly the kudos go to the young people themselves who choose to be the people they are, who give me hope for the future.

Watching, hearing, reading the news these days can be a terrifying thing ... and then along come these wonderful people, our next generation growing into their adult lives, and I have to sigh with relief.

That's my Happy Thought for this day.