Welcome to 2011! (It's already March, huh?) Many, many things.
I've been listening to too much of this:
Which has had me spending many hours with this:
& even inspired me to obtain this:
tah dah!
(my old guitar is on her last leg...it was time for a new addition to my family of stringed things)
Mix that with lots of yoga, friend time, reading, dancing & crafting...(contemplating sharing my adventures in crafting with the world...) & there you have it 2011 thus far. Stay tuned.
Happy weekend!
Don't ask what the world needs. Ask what makes you come alive, and go do it. Because what the world needs is people who have come alive.
The success of love is in the loving - it is not in the result of loving. Of course it is natural in love to want the best for the other person, but whether it turns out that way or not does not determine the value of what we have done.
Mother Teresa (1910 - 1998)
Easier said than done Mother Teresa. You've apparently never suffered a gut wrenching, life destroying break-up.
I just spent the day looking back on the high highs & lowest lows of a dear friend through her own words. After turning the final page, (or rather pressing the 'next page' button on my kindle for the last time) I'm in awe of her talent for story-telling, honored to call such an amazing, inspired woman my friend, & even more convinced we were separated at birth. Honest people are on the endangered species list & she's proof there are still good, gracious people on the planet. (good, gracious, talented & hot at that) Her ability to be honest to herself & then share that with the world, is not only incredibly brave, but it is inspiring. Maybe I could stand to be a little more honest & true to myself. Maybe we all could. Her resiliency, determination & love of life are truly something to aspire to & her charmingly awkward, sometimes painful missteps on her path to finding love, dealing with loss & working as a performer in the entertainment industry, relateable. Even having known her personally, this book has given me a whole new respect for her as a performer, as a woman & as a rolemodel. I would love to keep gushing, but you all are going to have to wait & see for yourselves. I can only promise you're going to absolutely love it.
"Dance allowed me to escape from the real life I was so terrible at living. I existed in a dream world of glitter and costumes, of props and pride. I felt happiest alone in my room at night, choreographing entire shows I dreamt of performing for my class. In my dream world, everyone who ever doubted me became a believer."
-Keltie Colleen, Rockettes, Rockstars and Rockbottom
**Kelt I'm so proud of you. I hope you know how much you've grown in the past 18 months. You're a constant reminder to the people in your life that good still does exist in the world.
Most people are on the world, not in it—have no conscious sympathy or relationship to anything about them—undiffused, separate, and rigidly alone like marbles of polished stone, touching but separate.
(Can you believe 1990 was 20 years ago?) Twenty years ago today this world lost one of the most epic blues musicians/guitarists/one of my favorite musicians ever.
Stevie Ray Vaughan
RIP Stevie. When I was six years old I was in love with you & I used to dance around my living room, playing air guitar to your albums. 20 years later I'm still doing the same thing. (the only difference is that I carry nearly your lifes' work everywhere I go in my phone & can be caught dancing to it on street corners, in elevators, on trains, in my kitchen, bedroom, bathroom, the park & pretty much anywhere else) You live on in the hearts & eardrums of ever faithful fans. (& little girls who aren't so little anymore who always dreamed of seeing you play live, impressing you with their sweet dance moves & living happily ever after with you) Thank you for sharing your gifts with us in your time on this planet & thank you for transporting me to a far, far away place every time (even still) that I press play...
'I think I've got something special to say with my music. But I have to keep these things in perspective, because they're gifts. It's all a gift, and I have to keep giving it back or it goes away. If I start believing that it's all my doing, it's gonna be my undoing.I'm committing myself to doing the most I can with the gifts I have, so that they do as much good as possible.'
So recently I was out on the west coast to tell people about what I do on the east coast & very, very early one sunny morning @ the San Diego Fox 5 News station I made some cool new friends with very fancy facial hair. They have a pretty jazzy sound & the more I listen the more I dig.
It doesn't interest me what you do for a living I want to know what you ache for and if you dare to dream of meeting your heart's longing.
It doesn't interest me how old you are I want to know if you will risk looking like a fool for love for your dreams for the adventure of being alive.
It doesn't interest me what planets are squaring your moon... I want to know if you have touched the center of your own sorrow if you have been opened by life's betrayals or have become shrivelled and closed from fear of further pain.
I want to know if you can sit with pain mine or your own without moving to hide it or fade it or fix it.
I want to know if you can be with joy mine or your own if you can dance with wildness and let the ecstasy fill you to the tips of your fingers and toes without cautioning us to be careful be realistic to remember the limitations of being human.
It doesn't interest me if the story you are telling me is true. I want to know if you can disappoint another to be true to yourself.
If you can bear the accusation of betrayal and not betray your own soul. If you can be faithless and therefore trustworthy.
I want to know if you can see Beauty even when it is not pretty every day. And if you can source your own life from its presence.
I want to know if you can live with failure yours and mine and still stand on the edge of the lake and shout to the silver of the full moon, "Yes."
It doesn't interest me who you know or how you came to be here. I want to know if you will stand in the center of the fire with me and not shrink back.
It doesn't interest me where or what or with whom you have studied. I want to know what sustains you from the inside when all else falls away.
I want to know if you can be alone with yourself and if you truly like the company you keep in the empty moments.
