Friday chicken

Where I cover the good and the hard in my week, visiting the non-preachy side of ritual and self-reflection.

It is Friday and we are here.

{a breath for Friday}

What worked?

Attentiveness to clues…

Sometimes it is ridiculous how many times something needs to hit me over the head before I pay attention to it.

I went for a walk in the park with Richard and he went on this long crazy tangent about Wappen, which are kind of like a coat of arms or a shield. He talked about it for so long that I finally thought, okay, this has to be a clue.

Then Max mentioned the word pageantry, along with an image, out of nowhere, of… more Wappen.

And then I ran into a design problem that was also an organizational problem. Solved it. With Wappen.

Lots of these moments over the course of this week. Something would come up in a number of different contexts, and then I would need that very thing, which I never would have thought of, and I’d remember it because it had just shown up.

The word synchronicity is over-used, and also one of those words that has had the specialness sucked out of it, however I will use it here and imagine clocks striking….

Conducting.

Hit the ground. Close eyes. Wait ten minutes.

Things are better.

Rally is the place where I remember to do this.

Next time I might…

Remember Day 2.

It’s kind of like Day 4.

It is that point in the middle where it starts to feel like everything is going wrong.

It’s just the middle.

This is what happens in the middle. It is because things are changing.

A wise thing a dance teacher said this week.

Applicable to life as well as dance…

“It is just not worth it to be afraid of people.”

That was Jon, again.

Eight breaths for the hard, challenging and mysterious.

  1. Extreme low energy. A breath for letting go of things that need to be let go of.
  2. Websites were down on and off all week. Hackers, blah. Stuff, blah. A breath for maintaining calm.
  3. So much W while I am trying to let go of W. A breath for how big this is, and how much support I am craving.
  4. Hormones taking me for a ride. A breath for everything going slower than I want it to.
  5. Uncovering memories. A breath for presence.
  6. Scary dreams and more scary dreams. A breath for release.
  7. Wanting a thing to be done, and it is not done yet. A breath for trusting in All Timing Is Right Timing.
  8. Inhale, exhale. Goodbye, mysteries and hard moments of this week.

Eight breaths of good, reassuring, delight-filled.

  1. The upside to exhaustion is that I napped very many naps this week. A breath for permission.
  2. Svevo was here! Shabbat dinner with Agents Em Dee, Mueller and White, and then Svevo and Noah showed up too. A breath for companionship, and getting time with people I adore.
  3. Two hour techniques workshop with Jon, my favorite dance teacher. A breath for the pleasure that is floating.
  4. Dance dance dance dance dance! Country two step is getting easier. Nightclub two step is starting to be fun. Oh, and my favorite dance instructor unceremoniously kicked me and my dance partner up to the intermediate level. And then that turned out to be way easier than I’d been anticipating. A breath for play, my favorite thing.
  5. Words, creativity and silliness came together to solve a big scary thing for me this week. I have a Blodgett and I am going to meet it! A breath for magic, and a new commitment to reversing an old pattern of self-neglect.
  6. The best clues! Like when I thought, “Okay, I need a clue about the Blodgett”, and then Agent White drove us right past a place I have never seen or heard of, called Blodgett Dental. Or when a dance instructor suddenly, completely out of the blue, asked me a direct question about my secret non-dance-related wish that no one knows about. A breath for joyful laughter.
  7. I am totally quitting W! And a bunch of other things that don’t begin with W. And I am doing this by becoming allergic to W, so that it doesn’t even occur to me to do it. Also, so much Bell Time is freed up by not W-ing. A breath for new beginnings and for possibility.
  8. This week is Rally (Rally!), and Rally is solving lots of things for me. Haha, solving is not even the word. Ten minutes into Rally, and I had a Big Vision about the Playground. Half an hour into Rally and I had an epiphany that made me giggle for about the rest of the evening. I love Rally. A breath for trusting the rabbit holes.

WHAM BOOM! Operations completed.

The phrase Whoosh Ha Mastodon Boom is secret agent code that means: this thing is done! It is often shortened to wham-boom. You may also shout (or whisper) other joyous words if you like.

My op this week was Operation This Is The Last Hat, and I finished it! It took so much less time than I’d been expecting too. Amazing.

WHAM! BOOM!

Superpowers!

Powers I had this week…

I had some fire snake superpowers this week…

And I had the superpower of Knowing What Needs To Be Eliminated.

I am the Proprietress of a magical ballroom, and I am not worrying about that either.

Superpowers I want.

Sprprised By Focus and also: Oh I’m Actually Good At Receiving.

Salve.

The salve of good at receiving. Or, as I like to call it, Generously Receiving.

This salve eases the process of letting in good. In a way, it works like a force field strengthener. It only lets in qualities that you want, in amounts that feel safe and comfortable.

And suddenly receiving feels uncomplicated, sweet, simple. It might be my favorite salve right now.

These salves can’t be seen, but the production factory delivers enough for distribution by way of the magic of the internet, so help yourself. There is enough.

If you are not a salve person (today or in general), you can have this in tea form, pill form, as a bath, whatever works for you. Not only is there enough salve, there are also enough ways to receive it.

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

Background. Ez and I make up bands. Stu (retired Bolshevik-fearing voice-to-text software) once invented hanging out at the Meme Beach House“. It’s just one guy.

This week’s band via dance class:

Epic Foxtrot Collisions.

It’s a klezmer band, and their new album, Put Your Helmet On, is a smashing success. You’d never guess, but it is actually just one guy…

Attenzione! Attention, AGENTS.

No announcement today! I thought I would be able to share the announcement with you today. Soon, soon.

Come play if you like…

Join me in the comments. Some of us share hard and good, some of us say hi, or maybe we’re on silent retreat. My ritual doesn’t have to be your ritual. Whatever works for you. Almost three hundred weeks of this and there still isn’t a right way.

Everyone belongs. We let people have their own experience. We’re supportive and welcoming. We don’t give advice.

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

Shabbat shalom.

p.s. It’s fine if it’s not Friday anymore. There’s complete chicken amnesty — join in whenever you like, it’s no big deal. And I am blowing kisses to the Beloved Lurkers. I love that you are here too.

The Fluent Self