Keep calm, don’t worry, stay alert, and listen. What is the higher calling required of me, to serve my purpose right now, right here? What will I face today? Where will my path lead? What difference can I make that is positive, encouraging, and uplifting for someone who may not even know that they need it?
I can’t get thrown off being distracted by the distractions where worry replaces calm like deeply pitted pains of contractions as I look inward deciding the approach to my reactions the things that don’t fit aren’t additions but subtractions.
When I saw this photo, it was a quick and simple reminder to stay in the now, to embrace the gift of life and the spirit of living. It is a reminder to let all of the nonsense trying to weigh you down, stay where it is, and deal with itself.
Today is the day to make “now” happen. It is a reminder to let toxic folks continue on their merry way because they are trespassing in your orbit of positivity, and universal light. The unnecessary, the toxic, and the negative have got to go or get the heck out of the way. The time is always now to make that change happen while you can.
Could we paint a clearer picture of greater possibilities, add light to the darkest of rooms, write stories that depict the warmth of what home is or could be, write a poem from where the heart is, cook a meal that can fill and satisfy the body and soul, snap a photograph that will allow others to imagine the vastness of what you see, or sitting with a friend, sipping tea and gazing out at life with all of its possibilities?
Just allow the possibilities of this moment to simmer within, and permeate outward…far and wide.
Life is precious and when it’s over, it’s over. It is what it is. We don’t want to stand or sit here and think about the time we wasted on silliness and foolishness. Our clock continues to tick. We can’t erase past or present mistakes. We can only learn from the takeaways of those lessons and add value to the life we have yet to live.
As many of you know, The Masked Singer is one of my favorite television shows since its inception. A few days ago, I watched the new season of the show and oh my gosh, all of the season’s beginning performers were outstanding. There was a particular singer who was formerly known as the Gnome but whose voice sounded familiar. I could tell his voice was seasoned, a veteran singer you know? But I guessed wrong about who the singer was.
Well, this singer was sadly sent home, but when his identity was revealed, I literally cried. That singer, formerly known as the Gnome was none other than 97-year-old, Dick Van Dyke! I was in shock at how amazing this man still looked at age 97. He still has a full head of white hair, and even though he now dons a white beard to match, this handsome entertainer still has it. He performed one last time before the show ended that night, singing ‘Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious’ and even did a little dance. And another thing, I was simply in awe by the incredible details in the costume the designers made for him.
Image Source: New York Post
I find inspiration or a kick in the butt moment when something or someone gets my adrenaline flowing. I am encouraged by those who succeed against all odds. The older I get, I also find that in spite of what others think or feel about our aging population, we have so much to learn from them, even when it seems like they are at the end of their rope and have nothing more to give. Pay attention, because there is so much more you can learn.
“It matters not how long we live but how.” – Philip James Bailey
Anyone who stops learning is old, whether at twenty or eighty. Anyone who keeps learning stays young. The greatest thing in life is to keep your mind young. – Henry Ford
Yesterday, I was so disturbed by the following article that revealed new evidence of the mystery behind the death of beloved poet Pablo Neruda. This read like a murder mystery that Agatha Christie could have written. I reposted this article from France 24 Digital Magazine so you can read their report surrounding this horrifying evidence of accusations. This article is about a 2-minute read. After all of these years, one has to wonder about this disturbing cover-up resurfacing now.
Santiago (AFP) – A panel of scientific experts investigating the mysterious death of Nobel laureate poet Pablo Neruda delivered a report to a Chilean judge on Wednesday.
Judge Paola Plaza will study the report in a bid to determine whether Neruda was poisoned by the regime of former military dictator Augusto Pinochet.
Reports in the press this week claimed the report found he had been injected with a deadly substance, and did not die from prostate cancer, as the government had claimed upon his death in 1973, aged 69.
Neruda was a celebrated poet, politician, diplomat and bohemian figure, and also a prominent member of the Chilean communist party.
When he died in a hospital he had been preparing to flee into exile in Mexico to lead the resistance against the Pinochet regime.
“The court had no knowledge of the content of this report until today,” Plaza said in a press conference, distancing herself from press reports that claimed Neruda was killed by a highly toxic bacteria.
“I cannot take responsibility for what is circulating in the press,” said Plaza, who is heading an investigation that began more than a decade ago.
Last month, experts from Chile and abroad began meetings to discuss the results of previous studies carried out on the remains of Neruda, who won the Nobel prize for literature in 1971.
Neruda died 12 days after the violent military coup in which General Pinochet, then the commander of the army, ousted socialist President Salvador Allende on September 11, 1973 with help from the United States.
In 2017 a group of Chilean and international experts concluded that Neruda did not in fact die of cancer but said it could not determine what did kill him.
Then a probe was launched into a toxic bacterium called Clostridium botulinum that was found in Neruda’s body.
Rodolfo Reyes, a lawyer and nephew of Neruda’s, claimed earlier this week that he had had access to the report and that its results were sufficient to confirm his uncle was poisoned.
“Of course this bacteria is a biological weapon that was injected into Pablo Neruda, and he died a few hours later,” Reyes told AFP.
But Bernardo Reyes, a grand nephew, dismissed this theory, telling AFP that “the scientific conclusion will not be able to” determine a murder.
“Notwithstanding that in 1973 there was still not, in the dictatorship, a development of assassinations using chemical methods.”
He said those relatives claiming otherwise “do not represent the family.”
An investigation into the cause of Neruda’s death first began in 2011 when Manuel Araya, who had been his driver and personal assistant, asserted that the poet was given a mysterious injection in his chest just before he died.
Pinochet, who ruled Chile for 17 years, oversaw a regime that killed some 3,200 leftist activists and other suspected opponents.
The dictator died in 2006 at age 91 without ever being convicted for crimes committed by his regime.
Neruda is remembered especially for sensual poems about love.
The following quotes from Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., spoke so impressively and powerfully to me today.
“If you can’t fly then run, if you can’t run then walk, if you can’t walk then crawl, but whatever you do you have to keep moving forward.”
“People fail to get along because they fear each other; they fear each other because they don’t know each other; they don’t know each other because they have not communicated with each other.”
“No person has the right to rain on your dreams.”
“May your wins be greater than your losses. And may your losses teach you a great lesson on how to strengthen, yet humble your spirit and win.” -Kym Gordon Moore
Enjoy the little things and you will learn to appreciate the big ones.
Today is a new day to make a fresh start, so get up and get at it.
Be kind to others, but first be kind to yourself.
Today is a day to rejoice and be glad, so spread love not hate.
I am wishing every one of you reading this post, peace, and blessings, so go on out there and do something fun. Create something magical. Make something awesome!
As I searched for an accessory piece to go with an outfit not long ago, I came upon my old charm bracelet. Many of you probably had one or knew someone who had one. When I travel, I would always buy a charm from the places I visited to remind me of my special moments there. To me, charm bracelets reflect trinkets of stories and tiny representations of memories that you fondly embrace. Imagine if you were a charm on a bracelet, what symbol would you be, what memory or story would you bring to the table, or what metal would you be made of?
From Behind the Pen 