Things that May Appear Lost or Forgotten...

That Smile That Smile
By Jacquelyn Hughes Mooney ©07

How gorgeous is that smile/That holds the pledge of all things beautiful/ And the joy that comes from/ whatever it takes to get that smile/The promise that /we can work it out/That we bring about/That we do indeed/Be in possession of ourselves/radiates from that smile/ Shall we get to together?/Well just ask that smile/It roars/Yes, yes oh yes/We are doing something new/Not ventured forth/Before that smile/ It shimmies with a bounce of future times/Forward dreams/And cleaves to the possibilities/From yesterday/That laid all out there in that smile.

AllrightsreservedJHM©07

Way to Sow~Doing something extraordinary on an ordinary day

"Where the unusual occurs & miracles happen"~Dwayne Thomas MD CEO 2002 University Hospital,New Orleans, La

My story for today:

Before I had my last visit with the last part of the team I did a couple of things that pleased me to do. The people who yesterday had a change of heart after denying me access to a program that would have covered my medical expenses but in hearing my plight went above and beyond the call of duty. Because their humanity showed plainly, I decided I wanted to do something in turn for them. I gave all 3 persons a miniaturized framed piece of my art. I got to thinking how hard it must be for them on a daily basis of having to make decisions that can ultimately affect some one's health. And how they probably on more then one occasion they may have been yelled at,curse at , have someone talk about their mama for doing what they have to do (I did not yell at them, but held my ground and my position).

In fact, there were times when I had to stop mid-sentence & be still before continuing. All I could see for a moment was this opportunity being snatched from me. And then in 5 minutes everything shifted. I told the initial contact person I would not forget her...

And I didn't... So today before I had my appointment I walked in to present her, her boss & her boss' boss my art "Head in the Clouds". I am happy to say they were touched and said no one had every done something like that for them before. My response then was it was time and what a better person then me?

I am not saying this as a brag, for me it was simply good to do something for someone else even though it could have turn out badly for me yesterday. I then continued on to my appointment and got a lot of good news and also some poetic justice: First as of now all systems are go now on the surgery. And I have to brag a lil bit here, but my HDL/LDL is doing very well, no diabetes, no high cholesterol. I lost 5 pounds since last week AND my BP is 142/87. Even the GP concurred he has misjudged and notice I had a massive improvement since the last time my liver was checked in Nov and wondered what I was doing. I told him jokingly "been poor" ...

Now seriously... What has been in my control to change I have... the others well I stomp & fuss a lot, lick my wounds, stomps some more then learn how to surrender. Surrender ain't a bad thing, it means "to yield" which takes conscious, reasonable thought. And something we must concede are bigger then we are. I could not do a lot about (yet) but just like the turtle you just keeping moving steady & consistent.



I've learned to never underestimate what people can & will do or what YOU are capable of doing. Sow the seeds, water, nurture, fertilize and then watch it grow. Some times you have to deadhead so the plant keeps on blooming, sometimes you have to prune it back so it can grow and then others you have to pull it out by the roots and start anew.

As Kenny Rogers in the song The Gambler "Know when to hold 'em, know when to fold 'em, know when to walk away...

I will spare you my attempts to sing it.

Now excuse me while I go and do a happy dance!

I get a kick out of my own surprises

Cypress Trees-Lake Ponchatrain ©09JHM

Who I am really keeps surprising me.~ Poet Nikki Giovanni

What we can learn from our path to the present

Often in moments of discouragement or depression, it's easy to feel that your life is going nowhere or that change is impossible. But it's simply not true! Take a minute to think back over your life. Chances are, you'll see a lot of growth in all of your formative areas. From childish playing, to youthful impulsiveness and adult reasoning, life sure has taken you on a rollercoaster hasn't it? When you were young, someone probably asked you what you wanted to be when you grew up. If someone posed that same question to you now, what would you say? Let this reflection be an indicator of your dreams.

Declaration of Me~On My Side of the Fence

I am a pretty groovy woman if I say so myself.

And I am not gonna do the "appropriate" thing as it is expected or conditioned for a woman to do when she acknowledges her assets by down playing, externalizing what she can do by saying "it just happened or someone is far better at doing XYZ as I" because we all know the world including the culture of women who will, in some corners, punish one with either a benign "tsk, tsk, tsk" to an outright character assassination to remind you of your place if you have the audacity of affirming yourself.

It can make some folks nervous, having audacity, as one has to have some sense of feeling & knowing being powerful to be what they are especially if they possess a uterus. And when one has not reached that point may feel uncomfortable when another does, or had it/lost it/retrieved it/lost it again even for a minute may feel they have to "tsk, tsk", I say that's ok.

However, if any reader feels they have to even in their thoughts, I say of you, save yourself the trouble of "tsking" as I've heard it before & will probably hear it again. However it will not be today or tomorrow or the day after. I cannot do much for your thoughts as that is your free-ness, just don't send it to me.

Alright?

I know on good authority that the sun will still come up everyday without fail. Even if you cannot see it for a moment behind the cloud that will deflect its glow, its going to come out...

Now, despite a whole lotta shakin goin' on previously in my life, I have managed,nay actively have embraced living, indeed having a whole lot of love to share, move a few mountain, supported many a soul, laughed, made contributions to others, made a few ripples, alter some perception inclusive of an active healthy appreciation of who I am.

As Kahlil Gibran once said:
"The deeper that sorrow carves into your being the more joy you can contain. Is not the cup that holds your wine the very cup that was burned in the potter's oven"?

Without a question I am flawed, however it is the cayenne pepper, the oomph that keeps me from sainthood which I do not desire or aspire to anyway. And as many a person who has known me my almost 59 years know (and still care) I have made decisions as a after thought were not the best. But no one can deny me of the fact that I at least chose to do something. And while sometimes, well, many times I feel on my very ample derriere', I got up. Sometimes I had to sit there and catch my breath or my bearings, I got up. And was able to at time sashay, saunter, strut or at times very carefully so move ahead.

In fact, just in the last few days I've enjoy an amazing amount of liberation. Knowledge is so powerful. Not only the knowledge that can be intellectual, but the kind that reaches into the very marrow of your bones. It is mighty nice, to put it nicely. Actually it is at least metaphorically speaking one of those "I wanna go to the mountaintop and scream it to the world" but shan't not because this baby is for me.

And it is a groovy kind of love.

I am good with it....

Somewhere and I know now where it happen, when I turn over the keys to my life, but now I have repossess my vehicle and in the driver's seat. And now ready to rock & roll right on over all the packaging that once was my ally and now has slowed me down.

I am a visual artist/poet, mother of 3, grandmother of 8, embarking on returning not only back to New Orleans my home, but also ready to re spark my career, my world and my identity.My sabbitical is over, I will no longer be in a self imposed exile.

I will indeed have even bigger, joy to the world totally realistic that it won't always be joyous all the time as this is not how cycles go. But that even as Anthony Robbins said recently on Good Morning America "We are in the winter right now", I have to add "spring is coming an with it rebirth, regrowth, re-sparking!


"Hard times and funky living can season the soul, true enough, but joy is the yeast that makes it rise".~Ruby Moon

Now how cool is that!

Happy trails...~S'More

Joy to the World

Rediscover Who You Are
Read full article at:

http://www.oprah.com/article/spirit/knowyourself/ss_lybl_letgo_201

I so love this exerpt. So now I have to see my own Joy List...

Create a "What I Enjoy" List

As simple as this may sound, it is very important for you to make one. This list should include everything that brings you pleasure and passion in life.

If you aren't sure what brings you joy right now, think back to what used to bring you joy?

This may require some exploration, but what did you do when you were a little kid that brought a smile on your face? Did you used to go horseback riding? Walk outside in a garden?

Whatever it may be, write it down.

This list doesn't mean that you have to do them every day. It's just to make you aware that there are things in the world that do make you feel alive. If you are able to do something you enjoy at least once a week, do it and help yourself feel alive in that moment.

You have to behave the way you want to feel before you feel the way you are behaving! It's about opening yourself up to a new experience, or something that you stopped doing.

Try to rediscover what it feels like to look or feel differently from the "not enoughness" you have been putting into your head for a long time now.

When you start doing this you will launch yourself back into aliveness!

Now some of myJoys to the World List:

1.Travel
2. My Moon Garden
3. The Color Purple; Seven Pounds; The Curious Life & Times of Benjamin Button /Divine Secrets of The Ya Ya Sisterhood movies
4.j.California Cooper/Tina McElroy Ansa/ Alice Walker books
5. Good perfumes and perfumed candles
6. Laughter
7. Home decorating
8.Creating art;writing;dance
9.Beautiful jewelry
10. Reading
11. Spending time with people I care about.
12 Shopping at antique stores, thrifts & yard sales.
13. Collecting recipes.
14. Clear nights seeing the stars & the Moon
15 Early mornings
16. Good conversations
17 Smoked oysters on crackers with cream cheese and wine.
18. Cream white Calla lillies, French tulips ;hydragneas', spider zinnias, fushias, irises & impatients
19. Slupees & crunchy Cheetoes
20. Mexican food.
21. Change.