SPRING FLING!
" SPRING IS NATURE'S INVITATION TO PARTY!"
QUOTE FROM ROBIN WILLIAMS
Every time! Every time I am surprised: the first fat, proud, noisy robin; the first warm sunny day with a blueberry sky and no clouds; the strong, still cold, damp breeze; and the colours. What magnificent colour: blue, yellow, pink, lilac, to say nothing of green becoming green again. Every single time, Nature does an astounding job and my heart leaps with joy. I smile, laugh out loud, and want to celebrate.
Can life get any better than the first spring picnic? Ours was baked chicken, pasta salad with feta and olives, fresh cut raw vegetables and dip, and startling cold white wine. Man. All this and heaven too, as my cousin Gail would say.
Even Aimee ( the most adorable puppy on the plant) can feel it. She has wings on her feet as she flies through the air at the cemetery with her best friend Ginger. They take turns leading the race. Through the woods, around trees, over tomb stones, up and down cliffs. I have no idea how they keep from bumping into something. There certainly is plenty to bump into! When they get tired they play mouth and wrestle. Then they sleep.
Watching Aimee and Ginger share the joy and freedom of this 34 acres of spiritual land, I become contemplative. The names and dates on the stones honour souls who recently as well as long ago, shared this planet with me. We breathed the same air, walked the same hills, felt the same sun, probably had many of the same dreams. As a relationship therapist, I think about them and make up stories.
The story I tell myself is that couples a hundred years ago or so had to work so hard to feed, dress, and house themselves and their families that they had very little time to share intimately about feelings. Not so different from today, as I think of it. Families today tend to have 2 adults going off to work each day, 2 or 3 or more kids needing car pooling to lessons and sports after school, and all of the appointments, meetings, and errands necessary for keeping life going each day.
Not so much time for intimate sharing.
A powerful exercise to intentionally do every day for 10 minutes max. is APPRECIATIONS.
All you do is sit facing each other, or stand for that matter, and one at a time say, " I appreciate that you-------" something your partner said or did during that day. One at a time give three appreciations. The receiver of these appreciations mirrors,"What I hear you telling me is-----(and you parrot or paraphrase, but to not embellish what you heard). Simple. Make eye contact. Focus open heartedly on each other. Allow yourself to receive/accept/take in. And do not judge or criticize.
Then switch. So both have a chance to give and both a chance to receive.
More later about giving and receiving. Time to attend to puppy cakes (aka Aimee). She gets scared at loud noises and there sure is a lot of noise in my house right now. Basement renovation goes on------and on-------and on--
Warmly, Nancy Ross
QUOTE FROM ROBIN WILLIAMS
Every time! Every time I am surprised: the first fat, proud, noisy robin; the first warm sunny day with a blueberry sky and no clouds; the strong, still cold, damp breeze; and the colours. What magnificent colour: blue, yellow, pink, lilac, to say nothing of green becoming green again. Every single time, Nature does an astounding job and my heart leaps with joy. I smile, laugh out loud, and want to celebrate.
Can life get any better than the first spring picnic? Ours was baked chicken, pasta salad with feta and olives, fresh cut raw vegetables and dip, and startling cold white wine. Man. All this and heaven too, as my cousin Gail would say.
Even Aimee ( the most adorable puppy on the plant) can feel it. She has wings on her feet as she flies through the air at the cemetery with her best friend Ginger. They take turns leading the race. Through the woods, around trees, over tomb stones, up and down cliffs. I have no idea how they keep from bumping into something. There certainly is plenty to bump into! When they get tired they play mouth and wrestle. Then they sleep.
Watching Aimee and Ginger share the joy and freedom of this 34 acres of spiritual land, I become contemplative. The names and dates on the stones honour souls who recently as well as long ago, shared this planet with me. We breathed the same air, walked the same hills, felt the same sun, probably had many of the same dreams. As a relationship therapist, I think about them and make up stories.
The story I tell myself is that couples a hundred years ago or so had to work so hard to feed, dress, and house themselves and their families that they had very little time to share intimately about feelings. Not so different from today, as I think of it. Families today tend to have 2 adults going off to work each day, 2 or 3 or more kids needing car pooling to lessons and sports after school, and all of the appointments, meetings, and errands necessary for keeping life going each day.
Not so much time for intimate sharing.
A powerful exercise to intentionally do every day for 10 minutes max. is APPRECIATIONS.
All you do is sit facing each other, or stand for that matter, and one at a time say, " I appreciate that you-------" something your partner said or did during that day. One at a time give three appreciations. The receiver of these appreciations mirrors,"What I hear you telling me is-----(and you parrot or paraphrase, but to not embellish what you heard). Simple. Make eye contact. Focus open heartedly on each other. Allow yourself to receive/accept/take in. And do not judge or criticize.
Then switch. So both have a chance to give and both a chance to receive.
More later about giving and receiving. Time to attend to puppy cakes (aka Aimee). She gets scared at loud noises and there sure is a lot of noise in my house right now. Basement renovation goes on------and on-------and on--
Warmly, Nancy Ross
