Skating on the Thin Ice of Life

Skating on the Thin Ice of Life
 
“You’re skating on thin ice girl!”
 
Life is full of warnings, some overt and some less so. This one is pretty clear and was more serious than, “Stop, or you’re going to your room.” or even, “You’re cruisin for a bruisin.”
 
Skating implies movement, action, direction and a path or destination. Thin ice implies danger, warning, risk …high risk and a calamitous outcome if direction is not changed. Skating is smooth, continuous whether it is a forward, backward, figure eights, it is a confident motion that would seem not easily stopped or altered which increases the danger of being on thin ice. Once your motion carries you far enough there is no turning back and the only choice is to deal with the consequences of your action. This is a pretty good argument for thinking out plans beforehand.
 
But it strikes me that as we age skating on thin ice takes on a new meaning. Our footing may be ( literally ) less sure due to any number of circumstances including weak fragile bones or eye sight problems with depth perception, muscle weakness, blah, blah, blah. The older we get, the thinner the ice and our big rink just plain putters out.
 
 
Sometimes I think a zamboni is the only answer.
 
FYI….Wiki says…Zambonis do not really “melt the broken ice” in hockey arenas. The process of resurfacing the ice is the Job of the Zamboni at an ice rink between groups on the ice or periods of a hockey team. A Zamboni actually has a blade on it that cuts or shaves the surface of the ice (not much because the ice is only 1.5 to 3.5 inches thick!) This way the grooves and uneven surface from skaters is brought back to a more even surface. Then the Zam floods behind the cut with hot water (approx. 140 degrees) which fills in any leftover grooves or odd spots in the ice, freezes up and makes a fresh surface for the next group of skaters.

I Woke Up With Will Smith This Morning

I Woke Up With Will Smith This Morning

Waking up and before stirring towards a busy day I decided to start inspired. In days gone by when folk settled for the night with a routine of setting out things for the next day which may or may not include teeth in a glass, my nightly routine is to plug in the iPad and the iPhone so I am ready to roll first thing.

This morning I grabbed the pad and googled – ‘successful people’.  Among the selection was Will Smith, so snuggling down, ear phones in I listened and watched this very successful person.  I say person not actor as his success is in life not just in his craft.

Will Smith says:

I love living…it’s infectious.. and you can’t fake that.

I have a great time with my life and I want to share that.

We did not grow up believing that where we were was where we were going to be.  We grew up believing that where we were almost didn’t matter.  What mattered is that we were becoming something greater.

Your talent will fail you if you do not work hard.  You are not going to outwork me.  If you stay ready you don’t have to get ready.

I don’t want to be an icon, I want to be an idea.  I want to represent possibility.

I want the world to be better because I was here.

Plan A is you must believe.

Being realistic is the most common road to mediocrity.  Thinking of a light bulb was not realistic.  Bending metal and flying people was not realistic.

What you think is real, thoughts are real.  Thoughts, dreams, feelings are real.

There is redemptive power in making that choice.  I decide what is, who is.

Success takes obsessive focus. Be completely motivated. The person who works the hardest wins.  Learn how not to quit.

Don’t ever let anyone tell you you cannot do something.

I believe as Chris Hughs does in spiritual genetics which I got from my mother and grandmother.

I believe in happy endings.  You have got to believe you can be happily married for fifty years to be happily married for fifty years.
 
People ask me about racism in Hollywood.  Why would I acknowledge racism?  When you acknowledge something you give it power.

Fame may exist for some but greatness exists in all of us.

I believe in running and reading.  Running teaches you not to quit. And reading…there is no problem you have that someone else has not had and conquered and written about.

Know you can!

It works for me. Have a great day everyone!

HELP! One of Those Critical Moments When Common Sense Hits and Words Must be Said…One of Those Critical Moments when My Light Hearted Muse Steps Aside and I am at The Mercy of My Poetic Muse

HELP!  One of Those Critical Moments When Common Sense Hits and Words Must be Said…One of Those Critical Moments when My Light Hearted Muse Steps Aside and I am at The Mercy of My Poetic Muse

Be what you know

You should be.

See your vision 

Of what that is.

Show what you know 

You should be.

Show your vision of what that is.

Live what you know

You should be.

Live your vision

Of what that is.

Not from what you have been told

But what YOU know from your heart and soul.

Now that is living!

Things My Mother Said…Long Ago

Things My Mother Said…long ago

My Mom died in 1983.  We weren’t very close for a lot of reasons I guess,but since she has gone I have come to realize what a remarkable person she was.
And every day I tell her.  Things come back.  Things I did not see or understand back then.  There is lot to say on that but today is all about actual words from her.

She said:

In the morning we close the blinds on this side of the house and in the afternoon on this side.  No such thing as air conditioning then.  1954

Some day people won’t need money.  People will just use a card.  For the life of me I could not figure this one out.  It was long before the concept of debit. 1958

Someday a woman won’t need a man to have a baby. 1957.  Since I did not know the facts of life I wasn’t sure what this meant except I knew there were Mommies and Daddies and they had children.  I could not conceive why a Mommy would have children without a Daddy.

Life is hard. You have to work.  All of us learned a great work ethic from our folks. I started working at fourteen, through high school and nursing.  It is who I am.

Don’t look at me in that tone of voice young lady!  I could never figure out how she knew what I was thinking.  So much for the poker face.

Life isn’t fair.  Get over it. I didn’t know if I believed this one for a long time.

This woman worked in a factory most of her life raising five of us.  My Dad was super and I idolized him.  But it wasn’t until I grew up that I realized what she gave, what she sacrificed to raise us and how hard it must have been.

She was Super Woman.

RIP Esther Byers Jenkins Gingerich.  For you have earned your rest and are still adored by all of us here.

Twice in a Lifetime..not….

Twice in a Lifetime….not

I find myself pondering a question that at first thought seemed easy to answer.  Many years ago there was a Canadian TV show called Twice in a Lifetime.  There was a male angel, cute as a button, who would be present at the time of death.  The deceased always had some deficiency that put their soul in jeopardy and thanks to the angel, they would then get an opportunity to go back to one point in their life to change the outcome. Invariably the deceased would conquer and the end showed them in fact restored to life – as if they had stayed on a true and proper path.

In the last few years I periodically have asked people what point in their lives they would return to – to change something if given a chance.  One friend who had experienced the worst kind of abuse as a young child said she would never have answered the door that day when a knock came.    She didn’t hesitate for even a second.  We have been friends for years and I always forget that decades later she still lives with that.

Most people don’t have such painful turning points but most can think of some point where they took a left when they should have turned right. Maybe a failed exam, or turning point or turning down a particular appointment or date.

I don’t find myself as lucky.  Every time I think of a possible trigger changing event my mind considers all the fallout effects about other good things that followed in spite of my errors in judgement.

There is no one point where I would change the course of my life. Instead there are multiple truths I ignored at one time or another that I would like to go back and embrace when I did not:

Do unto others….
Save ten percent..
Onto thine own self…
Be quiet and listen…
Be the kind of friend…
Honor thy….

There may not be a true Twice in a Lifetime and  thank God for that..instead each day is new and when we open our eyes we have a chance to do it better than the day before…or the year before..or…
For some of us it is baby steps cause just when I think I have conquered a mountain, I realize my biggest sin is congratulating myself for being so darn good..and I lose humility.  If I am not humble I am not seeing the scope of my own frailty, or the scope of God’s Greatness.

Nuts..then it is like…back to the beginning…sigh.

Do you have one pivotal point where you would have changed your course of action?