Tag: getting quiet

gratitude-a-thon day 815: get quiet, get answers

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Sometimes you find yourself at a crossroad and you wonder, what would Beyonce do, and you think of Robert Frost, and all you know is that you want to take the road that Donald Trump is not taking.

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Curve balls, and potholes. Faulty floorboards, and GOP presidential hopefuls that appear to have graduated from Ringling Bros.and Barnum & Bailey Clown College. There is so much out there that can go so terribly, horribly wrong, and yet, this morning brought a pink sky. A dappled, and artistic painting of something more. Sometimes I can’t see, even with glasses, even pulling myself up to within an inch, I cannot see what I need to see.

And then I wait. I get quiet. And I wait for the truth to come floating up to the surface like Jaque Cousteau used to do after exploring the deep dark sea The Undersea World of Jaque Coustea. That French accent always seduced me, and made me pay attention to what he found down there.

Cousteau Society.32
Cousteau Society.32

The right answer comes. Even though sometimes it is hard won, and you have to cry some tears, maybe a lot of tears, to get at it. The right answer comes. Sometimes it isn’t easy to see, or feel, or it comes in a tricky box that doesn’t necessarily open the way good sense would tell you, but other times it is wrapped in love. Pure and simple. And all you have to do is take it. Just like that.

gratitude-a-thon day 503: wild

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Wild-Reese-Witherspoon

I saw the movie Wild this past weekend. I think Reese Witherspoon has redeemed herself, at least on film, from being such an ass to that police officer who pulled her over.

It’s the true story about a woman, Cheryl Strayed, who loses her mom and her marriage, and finds out what she’s made of, while hiking the Pacific Crest Trail. The scenery is breathtaking, and the story is beautifully told in flashbacks, as Cheryl, who totes a backpack the size of a small midwestern farm, faces herself while hiking terrain that mimics life perfectly (lots of ups and downs).

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I saw the real life Cheryl interviewed. She did this hike in 1996, before cell phones, so she had no way to contact anybody. She didn’t even have music with her. But she did have books, and she did keep a journal. She said her mind kept wanting to be entertained, so she sang, and as the movie shows, thought, a lot about her past.

In fact, she thinks so much, she thinks herself right into a better place. For the first 11 days of the hike, she doesn’t see another human. She says if she’d turned around then, she would have had a profound experience, but she doesn’t, she hikes more than 1,000 miles more.

I’ve never been alone for 11 days. In fact, having a smart phone means you’re never alone. All day long, whether I’m in the presence of real live people or not, I’m talking to someone on my phone, by text, or on social media.

It’s a profound idea to me, to shut my big mouth. I think I’m going to try and do it this year, at least for one day, see what it’s like, to just be quiet. Good stuff can come from quiet.

I give the movie an A. And it’s not a chick flick, Peter really liked it, too. I’m not sure if I don’t still hate Reese off screen, but on screen, she killed it.