Moments D440: Pouring Rain and a Nap

Today's moment is a simple one.  A simple day of getting caught up, slowly, methodically.

Laundry, housework, homework.  A productive day.  It helped that it was cloudy most of the day.  But this late afternoon, the skies opened up.  The world outside was awash in deluge.  The sound was incredible upon my window and as I sat there reading one of my articles for class.  So much so, that I closed my eyes, and focused on the drumming against my window.  I could hear the flood of waters in the eaves troughs.  I could feel the air turn from hot and humid to that with a slight chill.  I even took a wee video of the sounds.

As I lay there enjoying the sounds of the downpour, I had myself a wee nap.  Why not?  It's Sunday afternoon, I'm enjoying nature's percussion.  A mini-cat nap later, and dreams of playing in the rainstorm, I was back reading my articles for class.  I felt rejuvenated and ready for the rest of my evening's work.

Moments to take pause and enjoy the sounds of nature.

Moments dreaming of playing in the rain.

Moments D439: Ever Digging

These past few weeks have been life changing for me.  I have been digging ever deeper into the shadows of my heart and soul.  Years of accumulated pains and neglect found me with very stubborn daemons.  In the past month, I've started to feel them lift from me.  It's a glorious feeling, but the steps along the way are not always easy.

Today's moment is about one of those raw emotional moments.  As painful as it was, it was cathartic.  Twice.  The same subject at two slightly different angles.  Digging deep today meant getting into the nitty-gritty and then going a little deeper.  It meant I had to push through the fear and  shove the embarrassment aside.  I wasn't sure, either time if I'd have the courage.

In these moments, when you do dig as deep as this was, you need to believe that those you share with will stand strong and hold you tight and not judge.

Today, I was fortunate enough to have two of those moments.  The first was happened this afternoon.  I went deep this afternoon.  Very deep.  Coerced a little, but I understood that it was time to look at the reflection in the mirror.  As hail suddenly dropped from the sky and interrupted the intense conversation, I wept as the emotions flooded over me, but my tears were (fortunately!) lost in the moment.  Then the hail turned into gobs of rain and laughter and silliness ensued.  My tears dried and I was, once again, listening in wonder to the depth of support that I had in front of me.

I have been on a soul journey these past two (or so) years.  Digging ever deeper.  Exploring.  Sometimes the reflection in the mirror is not so kind to look at.  But with every step forward, that has begun to change.  To really, deeply change.  Today, I felt it.  Today, I believed it.  That's a first.

The second moment (of this very same nature) came much later in the evening.  I recounted the days events to Heini.   I shared my deepest darkest feelings and before I knew it, she shed tears for me and the journey I had taken over the past 5-7 years.  And then, we celebrated just how far I've come and the promise of hope that was on my doorstep.  No more self-made obstacles.  Life is for living.  Life is for digging ever deeper, because this soul won't have it any other way.

Moments for cathartic sharing.  Worlds lifted from your shoulders.

Moments believing.  Truly believing, in the path ahead.

Moments D438: Hot Hot Heat

Here in the big smoke it's been hot and muggy. Pretty typical for summer in the city, but that's nothing in comparison to a friend of mine who recently found himself stranded in the desert without enough water.   (Seriously.  And he knows better!)

With temperatures over 120 degrees F, the sun hot on his back, it was not a good situation.  My day's moment is not about his dangerous moment, so I won't bore you with the frightening statistics and details.  But, there there are similarities to the shift in energy that EQ experienced and self-awareness that followed, to my own only two days ago.  Know that this life threatening situation was resolved and what followed this hot hot mess, was my inspired moment of the day.

Mentally and physically exhausted from his ordeal, EQ found himself in a euphoric state when he arrived at his hotel for the night.  Having survived the fiery halls of hell (not without blisters and rashes), he found himself riding through a sky full of fourth of July fireworks which were followed by nature's own fireworks:  A thunderstorm in the desert.  As the charged rains finally washed over him, he found himself celebrating.  From the fiery halls of hell to such jubilation:  a ride like none other he's experienced before.

Earlier in the day I was worried for him on his hot hot adventure so I was happy to hear of his adventure from his hotel very early this morning. And as I watched his retelling of the tale, I could nearly see the energy pouring from him.  It was tangible.  He was alight from the self-reflections of the day, the extremes and the significance of many moments throughout his day.  His excitement as he shared his triumphant celebration of exiting the fiery halls of hell, was captivating and inspiring.    Many, MANY miles away from the hot, hot heat of Toronto, I could see, and feel that this was a momentous experience for him.

My moment:  sitting back and enjoying his euphoria.  Always one to revel in another's joy, I find I look for moments where I can partake in the excitement and growth of  friends and family around me.  After all, digging deeper.  Isn't that what it's all about?

This was a moment that I will not soon forget.    Such raw energy.

Moments shared.
Moments that inspire your own cleansing.

Moments D437: Smokey vs Smoky

Today we had a discussion in our department upon the spelling of smokey.  (my preferred!)

Was it "smokey" or was it "smoky"?

We had a mini-spelling bee that included one of the executive team members from another department.  In the end, our senior copywriter seemed to be on his own with the spelling of "smoky", whereas the majority was  more comfortable with the spelling as "smokey".  Go figure.

And so, I had to look it up online and figure out how it was that our authority on copy was disagreeing with the majority.  And I found this website on the English Forums.

The major point from this site:  "use smoky if you don't want to be old-fashioned".

We all had a good giggle. We were all the old-fashioned users of the word and our executive team member said outloud, "sure, you are hip and cool with the ky".  And then she realized what she said.  The room exploded in laughter.

You can't script that kind of humour.  My face and belly hurt from laughing too hard.

Moments trying to better understand the English language.

Moments of explosive laughter.

Moments D436: Reliving Moments

Today was slow start for me.  I had the entire day booked off as a vacation day, but I decided to only take the morning to myself before going into the office this afternoon to, at the very lease, clean up my emails.  I did, however, luxuriate in my lazy morning where I had plenty of time to relive and share a couple of moments.  Contrary to one another, one from my incredible weekend just passed and the other was from my recent past.  I found myself reflecting over all that has happened in the past year, where I've been, where I am, and of course, where I'm going.  This past weekend was life altering; this morning I relived the moments that changed my path.  

After waking lazily (no alarm!) I decided to upload some of my sky diving photos online to share with the world; it was a joy to relive this moment of excitement and joy and honest to goodness euphoria.  Euphoria was quickly dulled as I found myself wrestling with something that has been haunting me for far too long.  Reliving the haunting of my recent past was not a pleasant moment; it became thief to my  excited energy brought to me by my newest adventure.  This haunting was no longer something that could be avoided given my new perspective, given my need for a clear path into my future.  And as I relived the moment with my nearest and dearest I felt a sense of relief wash over me as the solution (not a new solution, but one now unavoidable) presented itself once again.  

With a feeling of wonder for the shifts in energies this morning, I followed the path of relief.  After, as I readied myself for my afternoon of work, I found myself reflecting upon this shift of emotion and the eerie familiarity of it all.  (the high, the low, the high, the low.....)  It was definitely time to clear my path.  

Given this swing of emotion, I found myself feeling dulled.  And then I arrived at work and shared my life-changing weekend adventure with the team.  Before I knew it, my energy had shifted once again back to the this vivacious place I like to live.  Excited stories of my weekend came hurriedly.  The photo sharing,  the laughter; before I knew it, my energy was high and bright again.

And then it hit me.  Sharing milestones with people can be inspiring to others.  The energy in the office was high an the excitement from my posting of photos online was something I've never experienced before.  My bucket list check-mark had become an inspiration to others.  I was awed how sharing can create such energy and inspiration amoung my family and friends.  

Today's moment reliving past moments found me a reflective student.  I'm ready for my future, more than I've ever been.  With a new perspective on how to deal with obstacles and opportunities, I am ready.

Moments reliving other moments.

Moments realizing there has been a shift.

Moments D435: Patience a Virtue

Today was a travel day.  Sure, the morning was calm and relaxed, but we hit the airport mid-afternoon, my flight out wasn't until 9pm and EQ left at 3.  I had a good long time to sit around and wait.  And wait I did as my flight was 30 minute delayed as well.  What a long day.

But as I sat in the airport and watched people come and go, I realized that this too wasn't so bad for me.  Patience is a good thing to dig deep for sometimes and being in a busy airport for four hours without wi-fi was a challenge!  I did some of my school readings, I organized my photos on my laptop and cleaned up old ones from my phone.  At no point in the waiting game did I feel like I was waiting.  I kept myself very busy, and quite productive.  I even met a gentleman who had just finished a Tough Mudder race earlier that weekend.  It made me anxious and excited for my own race this coming September.

I could have been grumpy about my wait times, but what's the point?  Why bring myself down just because of the location I was in.  Had I managed to get home sooner I would have been busy unpacking and doing homework anyway.  In fact, in this case, perhaps it was better that I was in the airport as going through old photos would never have been accomplished at home.  In the airport, it was a priority.  At home; not so much!

Today's moment, being patient without realizing you were being patient.  Six hours flew by.  As did my car ride home getting me in very late (3am).  Funny how perspective on your life and things that matter changes one's ability to dig a little deeper for patience.  Having recently jumped out of a plane, met a handful of interesting, positive and vibrant people, I am further inspired to dig deeper to share my light with those around me.  Six hours?  Who's counting.

Moments finding patience.
Moments realizing it doesn't matter and stuff is getting done.

Moments D434: Chicago, my favourite city in the US

Now I suppose that's not really a fair statement given that I haven't been in a lot of cities in the US.  I've been to most of the big ones though (LA, San Diego, San Francisco, Palm Springs, Dallas, Fort Worth, NYC, a bunch in New York State, Las Vegas, Phoenix, and I'm sure a few I've forgotten about in OH & PA!) and somehow Chicago stole my heart.  As we drove up to the city late last night, I couldn't help but pause our conversation to say "Helloooo Chicago!".

Today's moment was sitting back and really enjoying Navy Pier.  Normally I'd have a plan of at least three major things to cram into the day, but this time around I decided to let go and see where the flow took me.  My typical life/personality doesn't really allow for this type of travelling, for I love to explore all the nooks and crannies of a new local.  The last time I was here though, I saw a lot of the touristy places (and a few not) - it was a crammed trip.  This time around, I was more than content to soak in the navy pier atmosphere.

It was a perfect venue for a stroll (even if I did keep losing the hat on my head to the wind!) and to swap stories and try to solve some world problems.  Sitting at the end of the pier, wind running through our hair, EQ and I watched as the boats come and went for quite some time.  I honestly don't recall for how long as time seemed to still.  The conversation was inspiring and uplifting to my soul.  

On our walk back we stopped to ride the Ferris wheel.  I can't remember the last time I rode on one.  The ride was quick, but I managed to get a few nice pictures of the city from the air.

A pretty city indeed.  It's too bad that I missed out on their famous deep dish pizza (a foodie could die for that pizza!) or even one of their crazy "Chicago" hotdogs.  But I was saving myself for an amazing dinner at  Joe's and I was not disappointed!

Chicago stole my heart a couple of years ago and my love has only been inflamed once again for Chicago is even pretty in the rain and prettier yet when trying to solve the world's problems in a day.

Moments to relax and take your time with a day.

Moments knowing that good conversation is a keystone to the best of friends and life in general.

p.s.  HAPPY CANADA DAY!