JUNO!!!
Hey Friends,
I am super thankful for you folks coming to read these pages and download the Mp3’s. We hope you have been enjoying the membership and we are very appreciative of your support!
The month of May has been a full month! Many things have happened this month in the world, in our country, in our state. We got handed all these rules to be paranoid about, and many of them simply go against the nature of being human. We gather, we hug, we celebrate and now…we are torn between “right and wrong”, “opinions of what healthy really is”, “red and blue”, “economist vs. humanitarians”, “risk, denial, and chance seekers vs. playing it safe or being respectful”. This has been a very challenging time for everyone and for me, someone who’s purpose is mixed with building community and spreading the light, there is a lot of dark right now.
If you turn on the news it can seem like there is no light to be found. When do we go back to “normal”? Will the world EVER be NORMAL again? And for us personally, how do we keep our ship sailing financially? There are so many levels of unknowns here and I know, I am not the only one to ask these questions. Many of you are suffering from your own inner struggles with the way the world is right now. There is NO WAY for me to come to these pages and write an out of touch blurb that is puffed and “jolly jolly”! But…I can come to this piece of writing and share my compassion, for you and the world.
I can sit in this chair as I type and tell you that I can actually HEAR our chimes outside blowing in the wind (which is a rare slight miracle for me). I can tell you that if you still your mind you may notice the Simple Things around you. The sunshine dancing in the tree leaves as the wind gently plays it’s wind song. The smell of bacon still left over from breakfast. Or that hug from the dog, wow…if you pay attention, they REALLY know how to HUG!
As I was heading through the house, I leaned over Juno yesterday. She met me with as much if not more love than I had. My face berried in her fur, paused to take in this sweet beast. I could feel her little heart beat and hear her dogie breath in and out. For a moment, I felt Joy. For a moment…
Finding the “Joy in the Ride” these days is a true challenge folks, I’m not going to lie. For someone who wrote that song and a bunch of others, Life is Beautiful, Above the Rain, Keep Facing the Sun…I search too. Searching for the light and the brighter side is the byproduct of those songs. I had to work and SEARCH for that, it’s not as though I was “walking in that”. Writing a song is much like trying to catch a butterfly. You get glimpses of the feeling, laced into words or perhaps music, and if you are lucky and don’t try to “chase” the feeling down…it will land on you. And it’s fleeting yes, but it gives you a moment, a moment to take it all in. A moment to experience harmony and joy and dogie breath to make you feel at peace.
We have to keep reaching for those moments. We have to be open for the butterfly to land and give us a moment of serenity. Like one musical note suspended at just the right time…it can unlock a heart! I’ve seen it, I’ve felt it. And when I feel dead inside, I reach for music. It brings out the life in me.
And yet here I sit too, with expectations upon myself, as we all do. When given enough time, we expect we should do great things within this new “surge of extra time”. Where are the new songs? Why is that front shed not cleaned out? When are you going to get some well needed exercise? Ha! We dance in our own obligations every day and we can become our own driving force to be reckoned with and if you are like me, you are driven. I was an athlete, I was a teacher, I am a different type of musician because of those things. A part of me thrives on structure and a part of me resists structure. It’s a constant flux. A stretching of giving myself permission, expanding to be playful, to be creative, then back to the contracting of taking care of business, checking things off the list. Expand, contract, expand again.
I don’t feel like I am the only one going through this as our world is spinning to a different frequency than it was just a few months ago. People are diggin’ deep and confronted with sobering realities. It has not been an easy road as of late. But I have faith it will “Turn Around”, and perhaps in ways we would not have expected. We have to REACH for the JOY, we have to pay closer attention to the GIFT of life and all it’s beauties, especially when there is so much ugly out there right now. (Riots/Violence…etc.)
Take in those Simple Things. That humming bird that just whizzed past. The ants that gathered under Mo’s car last week, looked like an oil stain but it was moving. A sea of thousands of little tiny ants all moving in it’s own microcosm. A fascinating underground world revealed as they made their way into the cracks of the pavement.
Our picture has been dominated by the horror that has gone on in the world, but if you change your focus, you may see those small, little things, those gifts, the beauties, and the “Simple Things”.
One of our members asked us to record the “Simple Things” for your download. The original version is nearly 20 years old before I met Mo. Well, we are posting this song for you WITH the “Mighty” Mo. Take time for the little things, the simple things. Practice shifting your focus and recognizing your “driver”, perhaps that “athlete” in you that keeps pushing you to your “goal”. Being driven is great…but not if you drive yourself nuts! I have had to take some hard looks on how I treat myself. I think that is what this time is about. How do you treat yourself? What can shift, re-balance or adjust so there is a greater sense of peace and acceptance? Just ask yourself these questions in the silence of your mind from time to time. The “driver” will not be able to answer these things for you. You can not “drive” to the answer. It’s going to have to be between the spaces of your to do list. In the places and times that you give yourself to drift and day dream out in the yard, gardening or hugging the dog.
And those that are drivers and can’t FIND their drive, perhaps it’s time to let faith take the wheel. Or if you’ve never been and athlete or particularly driven, watch your mind and see if your mind is driving and your body just refuses to buy into it…then come teach me how you do that! ha ha ha!
I wish for you and myself some amazing “Ah-ha” moments in all of this. I wish for you that expectation management is met with ease and grace. And I hope you enjoy this months download. An old song, but a NEW recording.
Be well sweet ones! Stay healthy and thank you for all you do and all you are!!!
Much love,
Niccole , Mo & Juno
