Mojo Monday ~ Plot Twists

It began with a dear friend posting this quote to the left on her Facebook wall on July 5th.

I responded:

LOL - This is part of what we call writing your Legendary Story. Plot twists in the real world can be a real pain, but when you look at it from a story perspective, oh this is when the story sometimes gets really good and juicy!  

She wrote:

Oh yeah! well I could use some boredom right about now LOL Plot twist, Plot twist, Plot twist!!!

I wrote:

You're funny!

Then I wrote: 

Tonight while reading the novel A Good American I come to this paragraph on page 353 that ended Chapter 40 - "My grandmother's life had been one long opera. There had been drama, heroes, villains, improbable plot twists, all that. But most of all there had been love, great big waves of it, crashing ceaselessly against the rocks of life, bearing us all back to grace." (Can you believe that!?! - how uncanny!)

Her response: 

synchronicity.. gotta love it!

Then on July 8th I read this in an astrological forecast by Heather Roan Robbins on Starcodes.

Thursday, July 11: If conflicts and friction arise early on; breathe through it and be safe. Tell good stories midday; when the plot twists, choose a good road. Afternoon is more efficient as the Moon enters mental Virgo, but instincts may work better than our minds; unknown factors can challenge our judgment as the Sun sesqui-squares Neptune. Watch out for detours, sloppy conditions, and defensive people; feel the good road underneath.

I began to get this nagging feeling that the Universe was telling me to "Pay attention, this is important!" and then laughing at blowing my mind with some good old synchronicity.

Several weeks have passed but I still felt inspired to write about Plot Twists for a Mojo Monday post.  I am curious and wondering what kind of plot twists others are experiencing out there?  How are you dealing with them?  Do you have a basket of goodies or a tool box, or belt if your more into packing them on your hip, that you can reach into when life throws you curve balls?  

Have you been experiencing more synchronistic moments?  What are your thoughts about synchronicity?  What is THAT about?  

Something to wonder about and ponder are the lyrics to the song Synchronicity by The Police:

Synchronicity I
With one breath, with one flow You will know Synchronicity A sleep trance, a dream dance A shaped romance Synchronicity A connecting principle Linked to the invisible Almost imperceptible Something inexpressible Science insusceptible Logic so inflexible Causally connectable Yet nothing is invincible If we share this nightmare Then we can dream Spiritus mundi If you act as you think The missing link Synchronicity We know you, they know me Extrasensory Synchronicity A star fall, a phone call It joins all Synchronicity It's so deep, it's so wide You're inside Synchronicity Effect without cause Sub-atomic laws, scientific pause Synchronicity You can also read more about how to handle things when life throws you curve balls in my article called The Compass of Love in Cosmic Cowgirls Magazine.

The Red Boa Perspective

Today in Cosmic Cowgirls Magazine
is my latest article called 

The Red Boa Perspective

Perspectives are a lot like opinions in that everyone has them.  I am quite intrigued by perspectives.  Much like our opinions, our perspectives are also formed and influenced by our perceived identities and our life experiences.  Yet just as our identities can change during the course of our lives, so will our perspectives transform and evolve.

However, I have this suspicion that the one perspective at the core of them all is the one you have of yourself.  Do you think highly of yourself?  Do you think you are lovable? Do you love yourself?  Do you see your beauty?

Did those questions make you pause or did you feel immediate conviction in your answers?

Buddha quote with photo by Michelle Fairchild

To read more come visit this article at Cosmic Cowgirls Magazine. 

Mojo Monday ~ Equilibrium

Contemplate U by Larry Poncho Brown

Lately I have been feeling more contemplative and observational about life.  It seems as if I know quite a few people who are facing very difficult health issues or life challenges.  Some of them are people I have known most my life.  The pattern of life can sometimes seem very rote for all of us with our daily routines, but then life also has a way of throwing the unexpected at us too.  Sometimes life is incredibly joyful and everything seems to be going our way.  Then a day arrives when life seems really hard and we feel very challenged by health issues, job losses, tragedy, death and more.   

During a particular difficult time we may even wonder, "Am I going to get through this?"  I have certainly felt that way at times.  Back in 1995 when my fiance died in a car accident I wondered for a great long time if I would ever be able to feel happy again.  The loss felt so deep and profound.

What I have learned from my own life experiences is that we humans are remarkably resilient.  We are tough, even when we may feel weak and are incredibly sensitive.  Life really is much like a roller-coaster and there are always going to be ups and downs.  There will be good times and tough times.  Even just remembering inside our head the phrase "This will not last forever" can help pull us through.  Though of course the other side of this coin are that those magic and blissful moments, that we sometimes wish could last forever, but alas cannot, because even the great and good things come to an end.  Yet have no fear, more great and good things are always ahead of us too.  

I think that trying to see that there is a bigger picture and a longer view to life, can help us get through the darker days.  If we choose to live our life more this way, the dips of the roller coaster of life don't seem as scary or an pronounced.  I think we can choose to learn from our life experiences to flow more with the ups and downs.  There can even be comfort in knowing that a particularly difficult time won't last forever.  We will rise again.  

Here is a wonderful essay along the lines of this topic by author Charlotte, Davids Kasl, PhD from her book Finding Joy: 101 Ways to Free Your Spirit and Dance with Life.

"It Matters, But It's Not Serious"

"Having balance in our lives helps us find joy.  Keeping our equilibrium is about letting things matter yet realizing they are probably not of earth-shaking seriousness.
People who get lost in the 'it matters' side of the equation tend to treat every little ache, slight, upset, mistake, or rejection as if they qualify for headline news.  Someone slights them and they hold on to it, chew on it, bear grudges, or get obsessed with it.  On the other hand, people who don't let anything matter tend to grin and bear it, numb out natural feelings, and say ' It's fine' even when their best friend betrays them, the roof leaks, or their feet ache.
Both of these approaches leave out part of the picture.  If you tend to create a big drama about life's bumps, you might want to develop your ability to realize that it's not terribly serious --it's only a cosmic blink in time.  On the other hand, if you tend to tough out situations and play the martyr, you might want to give yourself permission to let things matter a lot more.  let yourself feel your anger, jealousy, sadness, frustration, hurt, or resentment.
One way to balance the two concepts is to first let it matter.  When something upsetting happens, let yourself feel the disappointment.  Don't swallow it.  Don't rationalize it.  Feel it.  Otherwise, it fests away inside.  Then, after you have had a good fit or a good whine, back off and put the experience or problem in perspective.  Look at the big picture,  Find a phrase that brings you back to yourself, and puts things in perspective.  (I remind myself that I have shelter, a warm bed, food, friends, and work, and the rest is gravy.)  Then write it down and put it up someplace so it will be there when you need it.  The more we accept our inner world and the less we deny, the more we come home to our center and the dwelling place of our joy."

Do you feel you are able to keep your equilibrium?  Or are there things that set you off kilter and make it difficult to stay balanced?

Do you have a phrase that helps you keep your perspective?

What do you think of the phrase "It's only a cosmic blink in time?" 

Mojo Monday ~ We Are All Meant to Shine!

“Your playing small does not serve the world.

There is nothing enlightened about shrinking

 so that other people won't feel insecure around you.

We are all meant to shine, as children do.”

~ Marianne Williamson

Come sit down.  Make yourself comfortable.  If it was winter I would tell you to go ahead curl up on the couch, with a soft cuddly blanket to keep you warm, and I would serve you some hot Moroccan mint tea, my favorite.  However in my neck of the woods it is summer and we are in the midst of our annual triple digit days.  So instead I will invite you to sit in a lounge chair in our backyard, and you can put your feet in the cool water of our kiddie pool, while we enjoy some cold ice tea together.   

Now that you are settled in I want to share with you how round these Cosmic Cowgirl parts we have been discussing the topic perspective.  I have two very simple points of view to present about life perspectives:

The first one is: Life’s too short not to wear a red boa.

The second one is: We are all meant to shine!

You may have giggled when I told you that life is too short not to wear a red boa.  Quite a few people do.  You may have even laughed when I surprised you by draping a red boa around your shoulders.  The other possibility is that you looked at me like I wasn’t quite all there, wondering what was up with this red boa thing.

Well, the philosophy of The Red Boa, as I like to refer to it in short, is about having more fun and enjoying life more in the present.  Now this approach to life may come easily to some folks.  There are people with naturally positive, happy and laid back attitudes.  However, I recognize that for some individuals this way of being can be very foreign and it can take some actual effort at first to practice at lightening up.  There are also plenty of people who, like myself, fall somewhere in the middle of that spectrum.  Of course there are always going to be tough life experiences that come along now and again and can make it tough to see the brighter side to things.  There are a number of things that can help us all to keep perspective about this thing called life.  The first one, while it may seem a bit morbid, it is to remember that this thing called life is not a permanent gig that will last forever.  Every single one of us on this planet has an expiration date, it may be many years from now, or it may arrive sooner than that.  The reality can be uncomfortable to consider, but when taken into consideration can help us keep things in perspective.

Let me assure you that I don’t walk around with rainbows shooting out of my ears, sprinkling happy glitter while I skip through city streets nor do I have birds and friendly animals scampering around me while I sing angelically in a forest.  On occasion I do wear glitter and truth be told I may bust a move while cleaning the house, especially if a band like the Gipsy Kings is playing.  

Sometimes my life feels grand and sometimes I want to scream “get me out of here.” Many wonderful things have occurred in my time here on planet earth.  My life has been full of abundance and I always try to be grateful for all that I have.   My life has also been affected by tragic and deep loss and I have even experienced depression.  A few years ago in fact I went through what I describe as a dark night of the soul.  Yet somehow I have always managed to return to what I call a sunshine spot.  Sometimes the return trip to my sunshine spot is quick and I stay there for an extended period of time.  Sometimes I can’t find my way back there for a long time, and those are the hardest times of course.  I won’t delve into all the details of my soul’s story right now, but I believe there is much we can learn from one another’s life stories.  Especially when brave souls come forth to share how they triumphed over adversity and chose to rise above it all.

Perhaps even after the introduction to The Red Boa philosophy you are still asking yourself “But why a red boa?”  I am here to tell you that wearing a feather red boa can be transformative.  There is something about a feather boa that is sassy, playful, mischievous, sexy and a little bit wild.  If the thought of being “wild” sounds a little intimidating consider what reknowned writer Clarissa Pinkola Estes, Ph.D writes about the “wild woman” in her introduction to Women Who Run with the Wolves:

"Within every woman there is a wild and natural creature, a powerful force, filled with good instincts, passionate creativity, and ageless knowing.  Her name is Wild Woman, but she is an endangered species.  Though the gifts of the wildish nature come to us at birth, society's attempt to "civilize" us into rigid roles has plundered this treasure, and muffled the deep, life-giving messages of our own souls.  Without Wild Woman, we become over-domesticated, fearful, uncreative, trapped."

If you do not yet own a feathered boa add it to your shopping list right now.    Then make up reasons to wear it.  For example, on my 30th birthday (which unbelievably was 13 years ago) I had my birthday party at a roller skating rink.  My family and friends requested lots of disco music (think Michael Jackson Off The Wall) and a few of us even wore feathered boas while skating.  I for one, am the owner of a rather fabulous collection of feather boas.  I often incorporate them into Halloween costumes too.  There is the flamingo pink boa, the fire red and orange boa, the parrot rainbow boa, as well as boas in simple black, red, green and blue. The photo collage (top left and then counter clockwise) above features me as "Fire," a rainbow parrot with my twin kittens, a pink flamingo, and then see how I use the rainbow one for decoration by framing a mirror in my art room.  

The reality is that I am a regular run-of-the-mill woman.  I have my low melancholy times, I get angry and feel impatient.  My figure will never walk a fashion show runway and from time to time I even have (gasp) bad hair days.  Yet, underneath there is also my wild woman, who occasionally howls at the moon, has danced in a bar cage and in the rain in Paris, and will when needed (or just for the hell of it) break out the glitter and feathers to help me keep that Red Boa perspective.

Put on

that red boa,

fling it round

your shoulders,

shimmy shake

those full

feminine hips

take pride

 in your stride

delight

 in the tickle

the caress

 of the feathers

feel your skin

oh how good

 it is to be you

one of a kind

a singular creation

of love

What do you do or could you do to stay in touch with your wild woman?

How do you keep perspective (or your cool), if you even do, when the shit hits the fan?

Do you own a feathered boa?  If not, what are you waiting for??