I have a friend, S., who's gifted (and makes a living) at the esoteric arts -- palmistry, tarot, numerology -- and I always find her insights to be interesting filters for viewing my current adventures and challenges. She recently did my numbers and informed me that I'm in a "one" year. "What's a "one" year?" I asked, and discovered that, as you might guess, it's all about beginnings. Seems our lives run in thematic cycles, with the any of a number of themes emerging more prominently during certain years. We might find ourselves inundated with beginnings, or enmired in development and details, maybe we're fascinated with a renewed spiritual awareness, or feeling a sense of mourning permeating our days and work, or finding our projects and relationships dominated by natural endings, a sense of conclusion. Whatever it might be, it's certainly an interesting way to go about our lives -- seeing the cycles in not just one area of life, say work or schooling, but as a color in all the areas we experience.
I learned from a great therapist that most of us think our lives are compartmentalized -- we believe each part is its own situation or problem or progress -- but in fact this is rarely the case. The same issues come up all over our lives, as if someone spilled a jar of marbles (titled "fear" or "rescue me" or even positive things like "I can do it!") that roll willy-nilly into every crack and crevice of our experience. Our bodies, our mental health, our jobs, our relationships -- no area is exempt from the "big themes" we might encounter.
At first thought, it's easy to think, "oooh, baby! I want to be in a "nine" year -- I want to be experiencing completion, reward, acknowledgment, conclusion -- but you might be forgetting about the other side of conclusions, like friendships that may have run their course and be ready to end, or jobs that were once fulfilling and fun that you're now needing to leave. There's a full spectrum to every theme, I imagine. It's how life remains interesting and probably part of the force that asks us to evolve as people.
So this apparently is my "one" year, and boy, can I ever tell. I've never experienced so many projects on my plate. Daisy is over a year old now and walking, talking, signing, singing, and excitedly tasting anything that can fit into her little mouth. The Crab Cove kids album is ready to launch, I'm writing a book, am facilitating two terrific workshops with Karen Ely this fall. I've been taking steps to rejuvenate my health, playing with diet and changes in exercise habits (for instance, signing up to do the Portland Marathon in October -- a kind of daunting first for me) and just for extra spice, we're renovating our house, letting go of things we've wanted to change for years and bringing in the new, more representative vibe of our current life. In fact, everywhere I look it seems there is a pile of items to make decisions on or a list of things to do for one project or another. I recently compiled BOB, the "big orange binder," to help me manage all the things I'm trying to do. (It's helping a lot, btw.) When I look at all the tasks I want to get done, it makes me tired. But the actual work of each project is exciting. And there is nothing better than excitement and anticipation to keep your energy up.
Finally, completing and posting this new website has been a big project that I'm SO excited about, so glad to have finished (well, it's in progress, so it's almost finished I guess), and so thrilled to share with all of you who have kept up with the music and adventures even when you had to muck through my old rough site for far too long. Thank you for your amazing support. I hope the thematic year in which you find yourself feels good, right for where you are, and full of wisdom and gifts for the greater journey.
xo
mb
Five Things I'm Thankful For Today:
1. That Daisy finally went down for a good nap. She's teething and isn't herself.
2. The delicious fresh cherries we just gobbled up.
3. That Mark figured out how to fix my computer power cord (so I could do this!!)
4. That my dear friend Felice is headed to the most wonderful place on earth (Las Ventanas al Paraiso) for her honeymoon!
5. That we're going to see the new Indiana Jones movie tonight. Looks like fun!
I learned from a great therapist that most of us think our lives are compartmentalized -- we believe each part is its own situation or problem or progress -- but in fact this is rarely the case. The same issues come up all over our lives, as if someone spilled a jar of marbles (titled "fear" or "rescue me" or even positive things like "I can do it!") that roll willy-nilly into every crack and crevice of our experience. Our bodies, our mental health, our jobs, our relationships -- no area is exempt from the "big themes" we might encounter.
At first thought, it's easy to think, "oooh, baby! I want to be in a "nine" year -- I want to be experiencing completion, reward, acknowledgment, conclusion -- but you might be forgetting about the other side of conclusions, like friendships that may have run their course and be ready to end, or jobs that were once fulfilling and fun that you're now needing to leave. There's a full spectrum to every theme, I imagine. It's how life remains interesting and probably part of the force that asks us to evolve as people.
So this apparently is my "one" year, and boy, can I ever tell. I've never experienced so many projects on my plate. Daisy is over a year old now and walking, talking, signing, singing, and excitedly tasting anything that can fit into her little mouth. The Crab Cove kids album is ready to launch, I'm writing a book, am facilitating two terrific workshops with Karen Ely this fall. I've been taking steps to rejuvenate my health, playing with diet and changes in exercise habits (for instance, signing up to do the Portland Marathon in October -- a kind of daunting first for me) and just for extra spice, we're renovating our house, letting go of things we've wanted to change for years and bringing in the new, more representative vibe of our current life. In fact, everywhere I look it seems there is a pile of items to make decisions on or a list of things to do for one project or another. I recently compiled BOB, the "big orange binder," to help me manage all the things I'm trying to do. (It's helping a lot, btw.) When I look at all the tasks I want to get done, it makes me tired. But the actual work of each project is exciting. And there is nothing better than excitement and anticipation to keep your energy up.
Finally, completing and posting this new website has been a big project that I'm SO excited about, so glad to have finished (well, it's in progress, so it's almost finished I guess), and so thrilled to share with all of you who have kept up with the music and adventures even when you had to muck through my old rough site for far too long. Thank you for your amazing support. I hope the thematic year in which you find yourself feels good, right for where you are, and full of wisdom and gifts for the greater journey.
xo
mb
Five Things I'm Thankful For Today:
1. That Daisy finally went down for a good nap. She's teething and isn't herself.
2. The delicious fresh cherries we just gobbled up.
3. That Mark figured out how to fix my computer power cord (so I could do this!!)
4. That my dear friend Felice is headed to the most wonderful place on earth (Las Ventanas al Paraiso) for her honeymoon!
5. That we're going to see the new Indiana Jones movie tonight. Looks like fun!
Blog note: Many of you may notice that the hundreds of comments that accompanied the blog entries in the past are no longer attached here...I'm so sorry, but it was not possible to move them over with the entries when we shifted to the new site and blog engine. Your comments mean the world to me, and I have been so inspired and uplifted by them over the years. Please come comment like crazy here on the new site so that your ideas can reach new people in a new time. Thank you again, and I look forward to your forthcoming remarks!