February 2012
54 posts
Day 99(C): Choosing a Full Life
I am physically and emotionally spent. It’s been an intense week and I’m looking forward to some rest over the weekend. Although I’m exhausted, it’s the kind of exhaustion that also comes with the peace of knowing you are spending your energy on the things that matter most to you. You are choosing to dedicate your time and attention to your core values. I don’t have to be this worn out. I could...
Day 99(J): One, Single Step at a Time
It’s been a hectic week, yet both Charles and I feel that we’ve been staying centered notwithstanding the demanding schedule. I’ll write about it when I regain the energy to unpack this week’s events. Right now I feel a strong need to stay close to my core and tend to my soul’s fire.
Charles and I have some big decisions to make in the coming week or two regarding our daughters’ educational...
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Day 98(C): I Tell Her Nothing
What do I tell my daughter When a teacher Believes her classmate And not her?
What do I tell my daughter When the “new girl” she befriended And welcomed to her school Drops her To hang with the “cool girl” clique?
What do I tell my daughter When she is exhausted From staying strong In the face of daily Bullying and teasing?
What do I tell my daughter When adults Don’t keep...
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Day 98(J): Children’s Wisdom
I am awed by the creativity J demonstrated yesterday. I have heard both J and S make up songs and lyrics in the past, and sing them heartily, usually when we are driving in the car. When I ask them where they learned the song, they tell me, “We made it up!”
Yesterday, however, I was astonished to watch J get all revved up after telling Charles and me what happened at school, and channel her...
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Day 97(C): The Hypocrite
When Jung and I met our daughters at school today, they both told us that their day was awful. Although the list of unfortunate events was long, their bad day began for both of them with a single, shared incident, and much of their ensuing misfortune had roots in what happened in the morning.
Our daughters’ grade is putting on a musical about the American Revolution and although most of the show...
Day 97(J): Commitment and Practice For Creation...
It has been almost one hundred days since I left my corporate employment in order to create work and life that feeds both my soul and my family. In addition to identifying consciousness and awareness as essential ingredients in making the soulful soup that will feed both my soul and my family, I’ve learned that commitment and practice must be brought into the mix.
I can read, listen, watch and...
January 2012
54 posts
Day 96(C): A Proud Papa Again
I’ve written before that I haven’t always been diligent in making time for teaching music to my daughters. I think it was my own conflicted relationship with music that got in the way. I’ve also noticed, though, that my daughter J hasn’t taken well to “being taught.” This is nothing new. When she was four years old, she decided that she hated dance classes because she didn’t want to act like a...
Day 96(J): Long Live Wise and Wild Women!
Recently I began re-reading the book, Women Who Run With The Wolves by Clarissa Pinkola Estés. It is an old gift from my mother-in-law. I don’t recall exactly when she gave it to me, but I think it was before my marriage, which would make it at least 15 years ago when I received it from her. I am wholeheartedly grateful to her because I am rediscovering the timeless truth, love, and power of...
Day 95(C): Learning to Dance
This morning over breakfast, Jung said something that resonated deep within me:
“Life is a dance, not a march.”
These words worked as a solvent on the crust that had been forming around my soul for the past few days. Until that moment I didn’t understand why I had been feeling heavy and my level of creativity had dropped. It was then that I realized I had started marching at some point last...
Day 95(J): Stay Awake, Stay Full
The emptier I get, the fuller I feel. By empty I mean letting go of anything that I’ve outgrown.
Consciousness is the key to knowing what does not serve me any longer but is still taking up precious space in my life - whether in my psyche or in my physical environment. The more I get to know my soul, the clearer I can see what I truly need and want in my life.
This clarity that I enjoy now was...
Day 94(C): Just a Day
Some days are just a day. Today we ate together, we played together, and we talked. Much of what we talked about was the Little Women musical we saw yesterday. We read up on life in the 19th century in society, politics and the arts. We talked about the 19th century composer Amy Beach.
Mostly we talked about how the desires and strivings of the contemporaries of Louisa May Alcott seemed less...
Day 94(J): Dream Message: The Life/Death/Life...
Lately I’ve been dreaming a lot and I’ve been remembering many of my dreams — somewhere between three to five a night. I’m paying close attention to them, and recording them when I wake up, to the extent I remember the details. Sometimes I simply jot down images that were particularly provocative or evocative, or words or thoughts that lingered with me. For instance, this morning, I woke up...
Day 93(J+C): Little Women
The entire Soul Play Family just got back from the opening night of Little Women at Studio East in Kirkland, WA. We were all surprised by how powerfully moving the show was. We went through a lot of tissues and our voices are hoarse from cheering at the end of every song. I have seen very few adult actors whose talent and passion could match that of the teenagers we saw perform tonight! (Charles...
Day 92(C): No Further Meaning
I got a bee in my bonnet about “Four” today. I’ve been struggling to learn the tune and my lack of progress has been making me cranky. Today I was determined to get it into workable shape, so I decided to finally practice it in earnest. As my practice session went on I became less and less forgiving and I all but felt myself split into two beings: my “student self” who was sitting at the piano,...
Day 92(J): Twin Native Powers
My energy is low today. I feel dull, sluggish, and slumberous.
It may be from the gray Seattle winter that seems to have settled in since the snow storm that hit this region hard last week. We’ve also had weather advisories concerning windstorms for last few days, in addition to on-and-off rain showers and drizzles. When Charles and I dropped the girls off at their school this morning, we saw...
Day 91(C): How is Whining Working for You?
Many, many years ago I ran across Hugh MacLeod’s cartoons and ever since I have enjoyed the way they often get into my head and prod me to challenge my assumptions. I don’t always agree with him, although I often do, but he always makes me think. I have subscribed to his daily cartoon email list and when today’s cartoon arrived I knew I needed to share it with Jung. The message of the cartoon is:...
Day 91(J): Cooking Enhances My Creative Ju-Ju
Yesterday I wrote about working at home as the most significant change in my life since MyCrownShift, and my current at-home phase as being symbolic of my soul finding its home in me. I wrote:
”I am no longer in exile because I am reunited with my soul, my friend with whom I will never, ever, part again.”
Furthermore, spending most of my waking hours at home, living and working daily in my own...
Day 90(C): Sustainable
xkcd: “Sustainable”
Ninety days! It’s been ninety days since Jung left her corporate employment and we started this daily blog. When she first brought up writing every day, I was completely supportive of her doing that, but I really didn’t think I would be doing it as well. Ninety days into this thing it seems that I was wrong. I’m still here!
One thing I’ve written about a few times, and I...
Day 90(J): The House of Belonging
It’s been ninety days since I left corporate employment and launched this Soul Play Family experiment with Charles! As I read my Day 1 post again, it feels like I just wrote it yesterday. Yet, I can see the last ninety days of my life as if I’m watching a movie! It has been the most enriching, blissful, and liberating time I can remember in my adulthood. When I left Microsoft, I didn’t know...
Day 89(J): Cold Haiku
Knocked out by head cold. Sinus congested, dull mind. Body needs to heal.
