Did you make the shift to daylight savings with grace and ease? I didn't. Oh, my routine wasn't altered much. Within a day or two, I was past any effects on my circadian rhythm. It's just that twice a year the time change annoys me. Now before I hear from all of you who have a preference one way or the other about daylight savings time, let me explain. I don't care whether we're on DST or ST. I just wish we'd land somewhere and stay there.
Every year, twice a year, our time shift makes major news. Especially this year with all the speculation about how going on or off daylight savings time helps or hinders global warming, depending of course on the expert of the day being interviewed.
When did we all become so obsessed with time? It used to be that sunrise, midday with the sun directly over our heads (give or take), and sunset were enough to keep us together in some sort of common rhythm. Then, as we became more industrialized, we needed to divide our days into smaller and smaller increments as a way to coordinate with each other. At first, on or about a particular hour was good enough. Then minutes within that hour became necessary. Now, especially for those coordinating in the world of computers, seconds hold greater importance.
And if that's not enough, as if our game of hours and minutes and seconds has become too boring, we have created a new game where we get to change the time of day twice each year. Now there are whole discussions and disagreements about daylight savings time, how and why it became our practice, whether or not we should be going on each spring and off each fall, when the shift would be most helpful and most appropriate for school children, the earth, business…and on and on and on it goes. What have we come to that we are so busy we need to divide time into tiny increments and then adjust it twice a year based on some theory that only really works for a percent of the population?
All I want to do is sit in my chair with my cup of coffee in the morning and watch the sunrise. And I’ll gladly sit in that same chair each evening and watch the sunset. What time the sun rises or sets is not important to me. For the rest of the month I will have the time of my life ice fishing, no longer “doing time,” but instead, in time out! Try it for yourself. I bet you can find one or two days, on occasion, where sunrise and sunset are all that matter. There's no time like the present.
"Clocks slay time...time is dead as long as it is being clicked off by little wheels; only when the clock stops does time come to life." ~William Faulkner
"But what minutes! Count them by sensation, not by calendars, and each moment is a day."~Benjamin Disraeli
"You must have been warned against letting the golden hours slip by; but some of them are golden only because we let them slip by." ~James Matthew Barrie
Here are my favorite Top Ten Reasons to Walk the Dog(s)
1. As Jersey and Styx (my dogs) say, "It blows the stink off."
My dogs mean this a little more literally than I do. But I do notice that as I allow daily worry and concerns to creep in, I begin to smell.
2. It keeps you putting one foot in front of the other.
If it's true that movement creates momentum and momentum creates flow, then putting one foot in front of the other, no matter how mindless, is literally the first step in movement and towards flow.
3. It's a moving meditation.
While my body is doing all the work, my mind is allowed to wander in directions it needs to go and finally become silent.
4. It's cheaper than therapy.
Dogs are great listeners.
5. Your body will look and feel better.
If an improved cardiovascular system isn't enough incentive, think about your legs and butt in shorts and swim suits.
6. You'll notice things only your dog can point out.
Jersey and Styx have hearing and a sense of smell that are far superior to mine. I've come to rely on them to point out wildlife I would have normally walked right by.
7. Ice Cream!
The hot fudge sundae you'll now be tempted to stop for seems little more justified.
8. Without movement and fresh air, dogs, like the rest of us, can become a little testy.
A daily walk can save you repair bills on furniture, boots and shoes, and anything else you dog uses to cure her winter blues. Jersey's personal favorite is playing "keep away" with my $200 hiking boots.
9. If you've been walking your dog regularly, yard clean up is a lot easier.
10. By developing a strong bond with your dog, she may one day share the importance of turning around three times before lying down.
It seems to me there has been an unusual lack of sun in Northern Michigan this winter. It has felt exceptionally drab and dreary. My observation was confirmed last night on the evening news. 120 inches of snow makes for a lot of overcast skies.
But wait! There are hints that something is breaking loose. This too-long quite winter is getting noisy. I hear a giggle coming from the woods around my home. Could it be the longer daylight is beginning to make a difference? I think so. It's starting with the red squirrels and the blue jays. They have always been the leaders. They're taking personally the job of waking up the woods. They've been here all winter. And just a week ago, they were scurrying and flitting about, quietly and seriously searching for food. Now they sit on the tree outside my bedroom window with no other purpose but to chuckle. By March, today's chuckles will become guffaws as everyone gets in on the act.
I can take a hint. I can make my own sunshine. So each day I will sit quietly and let the laughter come to me. I’ll let it bubble up from the bottom like a long-suppressed, runaway spring. I’ll let the corners of my mouth turn up and the fizzy turn into involuntary giggles. I won't turn back. I don't even need something to laugh about. All it takes is a willingness to risk losing a little control. Laughter is free. And it takes nothing away from the seriousness of other activities. We don't need to delay laughter for an earned day off.
Can I become as contagious as those rowdy jays and disruptive red squirrels? Can I pull in the curious who will be unable to leave me without their own little chuckle? I hope so. The jays and squirrels have brightened my surroundings and broken the long silence of winter. I'm eager to pass it on.
Take some time each day to laugh out loud and let the gifts that laughter brings come to you. Then snatch up those gifts and giggle at what has presented itself. The world outside you and the world inside you will appreciate it.
"At the height of laughter, the universe is flung into a kaleidoscope of new possibilities." ~Jean Houston
"Laughter is the sun that drives winter from the human face." ~Victor Hugo
"Even if there is nothing to laugh about, laugh on credit." ~Author Unknown
"When people are laughing, they're generally not killing each other." ~Alan Alda
A couple of weeks ago I was listening to the program This I Believe on National Public Radio. I heard the speaker say something to the effect that we must look at what we do if we want to know what we believe. I think she's close to getting it right. I say listen to what you say if you want to know what you believe. But, looking at what you do will give you a clear indication of what you know to be true. That the distinction between a belief and a knowing is the difference between just talking about and actually doing.
Why do we shy away from saying “This I know?” Do we feel we are being rude or pushy in an arrogant way that will turn our listeners off? Are we afraid that if we firmly state what we know we are unable to change our mind? Perhaps we are too insecure and we are only willing to go as far as believing what we have been told.
What we know is more simple than what we say we believe. Perhaps what we know is so simple that there are no words. Our body simply knows this or that to be true and takes action.
My coaching and writing are filled to the brim with distinctions and musings like this. I love them. And I think distinctions are critical to understanding who we are and what we mean to say. Please don't be lazy in your communication. Find the right word.
For those of you who love words and creating distinctions, check out Visuwords™ Online Graphic Dictionary. Wow, what a resource!
I love January as that time of year when I hang close to home napping, writing, listening to the radio, reading, cooking, eating, walking the dogs, a little ice fishing and just generally being quiet.
This year so far, the dogs have kept me hopping. You don't need details. But after three visits from the vet to my home, one including surgery on my kitchen counter, I think we're on the mend. Now I spend my free time washing stains out of the carpeting. Ugh!
Last Monday, when I had reached my emotional limit and the tears were flowing, I heard myself say "Uncle!" So I'm taking my own advice and giving myself some Wiggle Room by repeating an article I wrote in 2002.
My words are more persuasive for me today than they were back then because my retirement is within reach! I've decided to transition this coming spring from a coach who goes on fishing adventures often to a fisherwoman who fishes a lot and coaches occasionally. Oh, I’ll still write. And I've got a handful of clients I will not let go! But for the most part, I’ll be visiting with you and my clients from the wilds of the North Country via some kind of satellite service I have yet to discover. If anyone has suggestion or details about said satellite service, please call or email me.
My writing intention, if anything, is just to present the musings of a wandering woman. Take what works for you. Discard what does not. I won't mind a bit.
Wiggle Room (Revisited)
I was paddling a new river a couple of weekends ago and came up behind a beaver. He didn't know I was there. I spoke up, trying to give him fair warning, but by the time I saw him, I was on top of the poor fellow. We were both pretty surprised. As we went down river together at about the same speed, I could hear and feel, th-thump, th-thump, th-thump, on the bottom of my canoe as he tried to maneuver his way out of the dilemma of only 8 inches of water between the bottom of my canoe and the bottom of the river. After a long 45 seconds, we finally reached deeper water. My paddling partner said, “That poor guy just ain’t got no wiggle room.”
But isn't that what happens to us when we play in the shallows, not daring to go deep? When a crisis happens, we don't have room to wiggle because we've limited ourselves. Getting “wiggle room” starts with creating space in our lives. Here are some of my favorite ways:
1. Let go. Avoid being overly attached to goals. Move toward your goals but don't, in your effort to accomplish the goal, miss a new emerging path.
“To live only for some future goal is shallow. It's the sides of the mountain that sustain life, not the top.” ~~Robert Pirsig
2. Understand your fears. Know what's real and what's imagined. You are not alone and you are not powerless. Our egos serve no useful purpose except as a defense for what we fear. Having understood our fears, we can now let go of ego.
"Fear is static that prevents me from hearing my intuition." ~~Hugh Prather
3. Trust your intuition and your dreams. Be open to possibility. Seek the unlikely. Think the unthinkable. Imagine the improbable. Life's biggest opportunities are often hidden to all but our intuition.
“I have heard it said that the first ingredient of success - the earliest spark in the dreaming youth - is this; dream a great dream." ~~John A. Appleman
4. Give yourself permission. There WILL be opportunities. And these opportunities may ask you to become someone you are not right now. You'll want to be able to do that without guilt.
"When you take charge of your life, there is no longer need to ask permission of other people or society at large. When you ask permission, you give someone veto power over your life." ~~Geoffrey F. Abert
Did you make the shift to daylight savings with grace and ease? I didn't. Oh, my routine wasn't altered much. Within a day or two, I was past any effects on my circadian rhythm. It's just that twice a year the time change annoys me. Now before I hear from all of you who have a preference one way or the other about daylight savings time, let me explain. I don't care whether we're on DST or ST. I just wish we'd land somewhere and stay there.
