Friday chicken

Reflecting on both the hard and the good in the week that was…

Hello, week: we are here.

{a breath for being here when we get here}

Thank you, week!

This is the 419th week in a row and I am glad we are chickening here together!

Or “checking in”, if you prefer to enunciate.

What’s been working?

Asking “what is the version of this with less story?”

In other words, am I stew-stirring a narrative when I could acknowledge the feelings without buying into the story….

Also I invented an AWESOME DANCE DRILL that I am very excited about, it involves dancing to a song while standing on one leg, and not making the face if I fall.

I might try…

Given that it is not exactly a secret how important quiet is for me, making sure I get more of it is not a terrible idea.

Naming the days.

I name each day the night before and I love how names change things and also how they become incantations.

This was the week of welcome the muse and these were the days.

In my element! Salud y pesetas. The muse is welcome. Welcome, muse. Freedom is the foundation. Winged goddess of. Every turn is a solo turn.

Upcoming biopic if it were based on this week…

I Only Made The Face Once.

If you feel drawn to comment on aspects of my week, I will take love, hearts, breaths, pebbles — I do not need advice or cheering up, though presence and sweetness are always welcome

8 breaths for the hard, challenging and mysterious.

  1. This week was just incredibly hard for me. I cried a lot. A breath.
  2. I cried in the park because I had nowhere to go, and this reminded me of then even though Now Is Not Then. Homelessness triggers and reminders everywhere. Nightmares at night. Awful memories of something scary, and I am not sure if it happened or not or where or when, everything around the memory is gone. Sitting in a park waiting for [all is clear] is the worst, and I didn’t even know I had so many different kinds of memories of this. And even when I remembered that I had somewhere to go and went there, it was not good for me to be there. A breath for safety.
  3. I had trouble all week remembering that Now Is Not Then because now was reminding me of then in every possible way. A breath for remembering that is is only reminding me of then because it’s a chance to do things differently in this round of the video game.
  4. And I need peacefulness and quiet to do my work, and everywhere I am is the opposite of that. Breathing for spaciousness.
  5. Had the thought this week that I need a tattoo on the back of my wrist that says YOU DESERVE BETTER so that I see this and remember that it is true and do something about it, instead of putting up with the epic amounts of WUSIT (What Unsovereign Shit Is This) that I am currently putting up with. Another breath.
  6. The beautiful faraway cowboy was AWOL and for five days barely even surfaced to say hello, and because I am having trouble differentiating between Now and Then, I was experiencing this like a repeat of the time the kid took off for Berlin and disappeared on me, for months, and then came back to Tel Aviv like he could just dust off his favorite plaything, as if I would just be there waiting. Big upset feelings of hurt hurt hurt and wanting to lash out, and knowing I don’t do that anymore but not able to remember why or what it is I do instead. A breath for now is now, and now is different.
  7. Everything is no, which is useful, because no is a beacon, and also it’s really frustrating because I am in the no places. And I had a two day on-the-floor migraine of the kind when everyone wants to be in my head, which is also no. And there are too many mysteries to solve right now, and I still have too many jobs. A breath for all the right solutions — speedy, easy, inexpensive solutions, may they reveal themselves soon.
  8. Inhale, exhale. May all misunderstandings and distortions, internal and external, dissolve in love if not in laughter. May peacefulness prevail. Trust-more love-more release-more receive-more. Goodbye (and thank you), mysteries and hard moments of this week.

8 breaths for the good, reassuring, delight-filled.

  1. Many beautiful things happened this week which proved that now is in fact nothing like then, and All Is Well, it just is, even when I forget this. A breath of sweetness and presence.
  2. The stone skipping not-a-course is amazing, and everyone in it is so great — what a gathering of warm, thoughtful, wonderful people, I feel so good about it! And no one is asking me questions or trying to get me to be in teacher mode, and it is heaven, I wish all courses were like this. A breath for play, and for all the seeds-and-sparks of wisdom that are going to change our worlds, I can absolutely feel the power of this and we only just started!
  3. Agent Sloan invited me to stay with her and her cat — who is my favorite and also the schmooiest schmoo, and it was so quiet and peaceful and just what I needed most. A breath of thank you.
  4. Incoming me is obsessed with floating in dark floatation tanks, and this was big healing this week. Intensity! A breath of thankfulness for the amazing discoveries and transformations that happen for me through this specific form of immersion. And also, while I may think I hate Portland, it is also the float tank capital of the world, which is not a bad place to visit. Breathing.
  5. The beautiful faraway cowboy loves me, even when I forget this and am upset with him. A breath for remembering.
  6. I followed Adrianna’s forever-advice (breakfast first!), and everything got better. A breath for listening.
  7. Learning how to glow and to trust my glow. A breath for this.
  8. Thankfulness. Treasure in the form of a day trip to the coast turning into something longer, progress on the secret subterranean studio op, things being so bad that they forced me to switch seats which is how I learned about sloth sanctuaries, and if that’s not a clue, I don’t know what is. Everything is okay and so much is good. Nothing is wrong, even when I want to believe it is. Now is not then. All Timing Is Right Timing. Thank you for this grand adventure. A full breath of deep appreciation in my thank-you heart.

Superpowers I had this week…

Last week I asked for the powers of Welcoming the Muse, inviting what needs to come in, and self-forgiveness , and that is exactly what I got.

Powers I want.

More of the same please and also the superpower of claiming space for myself, which is also the superpower of remembering that I matter and my state of well-being matters.

The Salve of Claiming Space.

These invisible salves are distributed here by way of internet magic. Help yourself! Take it in a bath, as tea, a cocktail, whatever works for you. Not only is there enough salve, there are also enough ways to receive it.

This salve is about Crown On. It immediately bestows truth-seeds: you claiming space for you actually makes more space for other people to have their space, because things get more clear and delineated, less muddy. It is a kind and welcoming thing to do for other people, to glow boundaries for you. And it is a retroactive healing for all the past selves who didn’t get the space and safety they needed.

Side effects include breathing deeper, releasing things that need releasing, feeling sweet towards yourself, wanting to scoop up past-you and be the wise, loving adult who takes care of them.

Playing live at the meme beach house — the Fake Band of the Week!

My brother and I make up bands, which are all just one guy. The Meme Beach House is the venue.

just-one-guy

This week’s band is from the moment I discovered the lock on the studio door doesn’t work, exactly like twenty years ago when I lived in a place that had no locks, and everyone thought it was the art gallery and would just wander in, and oh wow I got sent into some serious stuff aka….

Spirals of Then

Their latest album is Excellent Escapes And A Swing, and this band is just one guy.

Photo taken just for us in Lubbock, TX by Jesse — thank you!

Announcement time….

The fantastic monster manual is still available in the place that used to be the the shop, and it is enormously useful if you would like to practice being Way Less Impressed with the horrible things that internal critical voices say!

How was your week?

Come play in the comments. Share something from your week, take a breath, or just say hi! No rules, my format doesn’t have to be yours, we’ve been doing this every week for years now and there still isn’t a right way.

Everyone belongs. We let people have their own experience. We’re supportive and welcoming. We lovingly refrain from giving advice.

And of course it’s always okay to comment under a made-up name, whether for play and delight, or in the interest of Safety First.

Wishing you a glorrrrrrrrrrrrious day, a restful weekend and a happy week to come.

Shabbat shalom.

It’s fine if it’s not Friday anymore. There’s complete chicken amnesty — jump in whenever you like. Blowing kisses to the Beloved Lurkers too!

The Fluent Self