Life, Projects and The World

I have lived in California and Florida in my life, both are very lush and green states.  Green trees, green grass and flowers seem to grow in abundance.  While I always appreciated the view everywhere I looked, I still feel I took it for granted.  I live now in Arizona by choice.  I love the energy here, the wide open spaces, the lack of sky scrapers, the red rocks and cacti.  It’s so foreign to me but so beautiful too.  A different kind of beauty.  I’ve got a couple of trees that are fairly green when it isn’t scorching in temperature outside.  I’ve got a grass back yard I should probably get rid of because we’re in drought but you know what, a part of me needs that patch of green…even if it’s mostly yellowish green for a better part of the year.  My back yard is cooler than my front yard.

 

I have yet to find some flowers that are happy here.  I see them all around but my goodness is the ground in my backyard so hard.  I can’t plant the things myself.  I’ll have to hunt down some local colorful or flowering plants and have my gardener help me out.  He’s got the tools and muscle for it and I don’t really.  I’m going to draw up a plan for it.  My plan is to add a color explosion of drought tolerant local flowering plants.  I want the bees happy, the humming birds humming and all manner of critter content to call my backyard home.  That thought makes me happy for some reason.

 

I’m also going to focus next Spring on some new flooring for my bathroom.  I’ve got the floors picked out and when I’m ready, I’ll order and get that handyman or person out to help me with it.  I tend to suffer arthritis to the point, I just can’t DIY any more.  But am getting ready to make some improvements here and there.  Going to paint my house soon and maybe a little personalization on the inside too.  I’m really liking turquoise, grays and cool browns.  It’s fun planning.  I’m so incredibly grateful I have these little projects to look forward to.  They keep my mind off of pandemic numbers and all the harshness I’m seeing in the world just now.  I can cry at every little thing I see that breaks my heart or I can pull my focus in on fixing myself, my surrounds, figure out how to engage better in support of my new community where I find myself.  I don’t know how to get there entirely from here but the beautiful thing about life on Earth is that when you open your mind to something, that something soon follows right smack dab into the middle of your life.

 

I’m trying to keep my life very simple just now.  The world is rough and the news is horrendous.  The scientific articles I once found fascinating are becoming ever more terrifying and I just don’t have the heart for them anymore.  I support science but I don’t have to get sucked into worrying about every little thing or new terrible finding of this study or that theory that nearly equates to the end of the world.  All I can do is all I can do…support organizations that help, be strong for myself and my family, be kind to people for no other reason than that is at least something I can offer this crazy world – KINDNESS!  It all seems a bit weird and crazy but I do know this, if you take good care of yourself, take good care of those you love, and take good care of your community and all the things you care about, you are less fixated on those troubling things that you cannot control.

 

Life is always changing, something new or different to contend with and it isn’t always pleasant is it?  Sometimes it’s not glowing roses but violence, global warming, facts and figures climbing or falling in ways that hurt others.  It’s hard to take it all in.  Sometimes you have to stop, tune out and focus within, close to home a little minute.  Take a breath, give yourself a time out and some space to re-balance in whatever way that works for you.  It’s okay not to be okay sometimes.  It’s okay to be okay too.  This is your life; however it is you want to live it.  I’m troubled by what I see but I’m still optimistic.  I’m completely grateful for my job, my home, my family, my pets, and that our basic needs are solved for.  I pray every day for those less fortunate than I am.  I pray we all find our way to a better tomorrow.  In the meantime, take care of you.  I apologize for the wild pendulum swing in this catch-up post.  It is where I’m at.  Struggling some days with what I see in the world and striving to give myself a break and try to balance myself out with simple tasks and projects.  All the while though, this quiet time has been a blessing too.  Time to focus inward, get in touch with what’s there, breathe and breathe again knowing all will be as it is meant to be and all I can do is do what I can to change what I can or find a way to work with or accept those things I cannot.  It is a strange place. Wherever you are on the spectrum of emotions in this world on any given day, it’s okay.  Take care of you.  It matters.  You matter.  Blessings of comfort, abundance, health and satisfaction.