checking in...

Good Morning :) Erin, thanks for calling me back...it has been too long.

That's true; and no excuse - just feeling that there is so much to do and not enough time.
I like to give this site some thought and lately I seem to be jumping from one thing to another so fast... and then there is that pesky accounting course. What was I thinking???!!!

So here goes...
I think there is a HUGE and scary - I mean SCARY - dragon lying in wait for me.
I can sense her presence; smell her acrid breath; every now & then I think I see a wisp of smoke. sshhhh...don't let her hear you...she thinks I'm still asleep...ssssshhhhhhhhhh..

Folks, this one may be the grandmother of them all - the Queen D - if you will. I can't even talk about her right now....

So I'm going to talk about something else!

Since the concert I've been pretty busy - well sorta busy - I am retired after all.
I'm enjoying the warm fuzzies I get from volunteering and am finding out that I have a few valuable skills in that arena. I'm working with two groups now and coming to the place where I have to decide where to put my energies. I'm pretty sure that the new domestic violence shelter will win my time. For the present...

The other group competing for my time is a politically active group seeking some major changes. So am I - on many levels. I've only met a few of the core group so far (they are in start-up mode), and I like them, and am impressed by the depth of their concerns and their commitments to challenging the status quo in our (very) conservative little village. I agree with them on SO many points.

Where the differences come up for me is in the nature of their emotional involvement. These people are angry. I'm not.
I bless them for it. My gut tells me that more of us need to do some shouting about the stuff going on in this world (and especially in this country) right now.

But anger in a political arena just doesn't work for me, right now.
I can see much room for mediated intense discussions among thinking people. But what seems to be going on in the world today smacks of the Hatfields and the McCoys. I'm not convinced that all the players are thinking, really, in a discover-the-facts discerning way. Everybody is perfectly willing to "judge"; I see so few walking in another's shoes.
It feels like fighting for the sake of supporting an unexamined set of beliefs.

And I see that one main challenge to accomplishing change is to awaken the masses of humans whose energy is stolen by the daunting tasks of keeping food on the table and roof over heads.

Being socially and politically conscious in today's world takes work. If it's all you can do to drag yourself from an underpaying job, through the chores, and onto the couch for a little TV; you might be catching a 30 min. network news show - but you're not really hearing the news. Real news is terribly elusive these days.

(I can do another whole rant on how any show on TV that is programmed by rating numbers and sells commercial advertising time can not possibly give anyone 'fair & balanced' "news".
Later, I assure you....!)

So, leaving the rest of that discussion for another time, I just say that I can work with this group whenever they are memorializing our military dead, whenever they hold a public function.
I'm just not willing to spend my time being angry along with them. I don't want my name on that list.

So---which list?
The Peace-full list.
The Gather the Women list.
The Spirit-full list.
I want to be a core member in a group(s) designed to hold sacred, loving, peaceful space and that teaches others how to make that happen.

To that end, I'm becoming more and more involved with Tai Chi and QiGong, with meditation, and with developing some retreats for women.

I got to go to a Tai Chi workshop with Grand Master William C.C. Chen (one of my teacher's teachers.) And next week I go to Texas for a QiGong workshop with Ken Cohen.
I love the movement, the quietness in both body and mind, and the seeming paradox around stillness and activity. Additionally QiGong has a strong medical aspect that I appreciate on many levels.

There is a monthly networking lunch shortly hosted by Barbara of High Mesa Healing Center, which will be one of the venues for my new retreats.
So, I've got to cut this short (?) and head to the shower.

If you'd like to give me a hand - then think of what you'd like to see, feel, experience in a 1-2 day weekend retreat and let me know what that looks like. I've got tons of ideas, now I need to know what you want. Can't wait to hear.

It's nice to be back.
More soon.