Redemption Cakes: An Allegory of Tastiness

In anticipation of the "Lost" finale last night, I made some special treats:

 

 Cupcakes that were half angel food-half devil's food, topped by an "ocean" of blue cream cheese frosting and a Reeses' cup "island."

 

I'm still processing the show, but the cupcakes were heavenly.

Nature vs. nurture

This is me with my two older sisters, visiting the Florida Keys.

Is it any wonder I have no fashion sense?

Synchronicity II

I'm starting to wonder if the converse of the post below is that when you're off track, the universe keeps whopping you upside the head until you get the message.

It might explain a lot ...

Synchronicity

Last week I read a wonderful article in O Magazine by Martha Beck. I think almost everything Beck writes is wonderful, but this one struck a chord with me. It was about using visualization, particularly vision boards, to make your dreams come true.

Beck admits, as do I, that the idea seems hokey. But she also says it works. (I’ve been a believer ever since the book Creative Visualization by Shakti Gawain wrought huge changes in my life a decade or so ago.)

The idea is that once you commit fully to an idea, and form it completely in your mind, it seems to find its way to you – sometimes in surprising ways.

Last night I had coffee with my friend Whitney. She’s an immensely talented writer who not all that long ago decided to commit herself fully to making her writing dreams come true. She’s been doing the work and taking big steps in the right direction.

And the universe has responded with some pretty amazing encouragement.

I told her these gifts – seemingly out of the blue – mean that she’s on the right track, that when you’re doing what you’re supposed to be doing, the path seems to clear for you.

I haven’t seen a ton of that for myself lately, but I realize it’s because I haven’t fully committed. I’ve been hanging back, letting my fears restrain me from genuinely trying for what I want.

In the last few weeks I’ve been downright stuck.

But when I left Whitney last night I felt energized, and more committed than ever to my own writing and my own dreams.

Then this a.m., I received an email with this quote:

"Dream lofty dreams, and as you dream, so you shall become.

Your vision is the promise of what you shall one day be;

your ideal is the prophecy of what you shall at last unveil."

                                                       – James Allen

Maybe the universe is encouraging me, too.

Perseverance

Two summers ago I bought a peony. Not a full plant, just one of those sad plastic bags that contain a root and a handful of soil. It was a whim -- had I been thinking more clearly I would have just gone to the nursery and bought a big, healthy plant. But I fell victim to the gorgeous picture on the bag, and I grabbed it up.

I brought it home and planted it, and lo and behold, it eventually emerged from the ground. I was very excited. That is, until my neighbor's teenage son stood in our flowerbed to trim the bushes that were reaching over from their side of the fence. I'm sure he never even noticed the tiny thing just an inch or so high, and it was demolished.

The next spring, though, it poked its head out again. It lived! I nearly cried when I saw it. And then I got the numb-brained idea to move it to a "better spot" in the same flower bed. I dug it up and moved it, realizing too late that I'd made a big mistake. At the hands of my mistreatment, the poor thing vanished again.

I was sure I'd finally done it in for good.

This year, though, it emerged yet again, and, with no interference from silly humans, it put out its first bloom.

I'm so glad it did.

It smells as wonderful as it looks.

Blame it on the wind

Remember when we were kids and dandelions meant, 

  not a blight on our perfect suburban lawns,

but an opportunity for wishing? 

Go ahead, make a wish and blow the seeds away, just this once.

And when all those dandelions come up next year it will be, not defeat, but a proliferation of wishes.
(Just don't tell the neighbors it was you.)

What are you wishing for?

Which wolf?

This photo isn't mine, but I don't know whose it is to give credit. Isn't he gorgeous?

Earlier this week, a coworker reminded me of this little story.

Just a few hours later I found myself very much in need of this lesson. I am thankful it was so top of mind. Coincidence? Sometimes I wonder if there is such a thing as coincidence.

Here's the story:

An old Cherokee Indian was speaking to his grandson: “A fight is going on inside me,” he said to the boy. “It is a terrible fight between two wolves. One is evil – he is anger, envy, greed and resentment. The other is good – he is peace, love, hope and serenity."

“Which wolf will win?” the boy asked.

The old Cherokee simply replied, “The one I feed.”

I'm still struggling a bit, but I'm trying hard to feed the good wolf.

Good days and bad

Today's tally:

1 angry coworker, yelling at me first thing this morning for something I was not guilty of, followed by some vaguely conciliatory gestures but no real apology.

4 lovely emails from friends containing kind remarks about this blog.

1 extraordinarily nice compliment from an old man, a fireman long retired, who sells me an ad once a year for his county search-and-rescue team's annual fundraiser. (I've never met him in person, but we chat on the phone every year, and his voice and his gentleness are all Hal Holbrook. His kind words today made me glow.)

And yet, so drained was I from the early confrontation that my initial feeling was I'd had a bad day.

Clearly, I need to change my focus -- and revise my calculations.