Okay, I'll admit it. I hate snakes. I'm scared to death of them. Mice, spiders, bees I can deal with, but snakes are evil. First there was that snake that caused us all to get kicked out of THE Garden, where we all ran around joyously naked. Well, maybe that wasn't such a bad thing, but....
I go to zoos and walk around to see everything, but I suddenly get very tired when the reptile house comes up. See, I don't mind lizards or things that run fast and look green. Just don't make me look at a slithered snake. I'll be happy sitting on a hot bench sweltering in the hot sun waiting for a friend that is brave and fearless and crazy enough to go into the abyss of the snake house.
I am in good company as that adventurer Indiana Jones hated snakes too. However, I would have never jumped into any pit to find the Ark of the Covenant like he did. No thank you Indy, even though I like all your movies. I close my eyes at that part. Covering my ears and singing loudly helps too, or if I am in company...mute is a wonderful button. Snakes on a Plane will never be seen. I would not survive.
I come by it naturally. My dad is afraid of snakes. He used to run them over with the mower. Thus the saying, the only good snake is a dead snake. Okay maybe that's not a saying. My daughter on the other hand can pick them up. She rescues people like me from the danger of a snake 3 miles away.
She couldn't have come from my womb. I wonder if she was switched before birth????
Wikipedia has a name for that phobia fear of snakes. You can see the name in the title. I could only write it once as it gave me the "willies" to do that. A full third of us have that phobia. I am not alone.
This writing came about because I was having a wonderful time at the river, and stopped to take a picture of a little tree growing in the water. See I am reading A Tree Grows in Brooklyn right now and I thought “aw, a tree grows in the Mississippi. " Then what I thought was a branch slithered .... SNAKE!!
So after my heart rate slowed back down from beyond infinity, I came back home to my safe couch, drank some soothing infused raspberry water, and kept a careful eye on the door. My daughter lives too far, I need to be ready to run.
Tuesday, May 20, 2014
Tuesday, May 6, 2014
slow down
I've been reading Notes from a Blue Bike by Tsh Oxenreider. The premise of her book is living a simpler life in the midst of a fast paced world. It's about being intentional in slowing down.
We all live now in a world where everything is fast from our internet connection to our food. We drive instead of walk cause it's faster. We text instead of call cause it's easier. We have bigger and better televisions to draw us in and take us away. Times flies when you get caught up in HGTV.
Yes, I'm guilty of all three.
We have lost connections to our friends and family. We have lost the dining room table- mine is usually covered with piles of stuff. Sometimes I don't know if I am coming or going aka the piles of stuff. We have lost who we are in this technical world we have created.
Tsh has it right in saying we have to be intentional in getting back what we have lost, but moving towards a slower and simpler life can take time. It doesn't just happen.
One of my intentional choices right now is slowing down with my food. Food defines you, and is the sustenance that gives you energy. I am also back walking after such a long cold winter. Last night, I pumped up the tires of my bike. I'm heading out today to enjoy a quiet ride by the river. I'm reading more good books. I'm making intentional choices at work and saying no more when I'm feeling overwhelmed. That's the beginning for me in my effort to slow down my life.
I am returning to the written word slowly. I have always wanted to write. I journaled for years, and then I quit for the last seven. I have been caught up in many other things, many important, some not so much. The Disney Frozen song of "Let it Go" resonates with me as I need to let go of baggage that is too heavy for me, and lighten my load. Jesus said to let him take on our burdens, but I think even Jesus would throw some of mine off.
One of my favorite hymns has the words “tis a gift to be simple, tis a gift to be free."*
Freedom comes when we live a simpler life. The joys of sitting down to eat dinner at a table can still be before us. Hearing your friend's voice instead of seeing words on a screen is wonderful.
Letting go of my HGTV...hmmm, I will have to think about that one.
*18th Century Shaker Hymn “Simple Gifts"
We all live now in a world where everything is fast from our internet connection to our food. We drive instead of walk cause it's faster. We text instead of call cause it's easier. We have bigger and better televisions to draw us in and take us away. Times flies when you get caught up in HGTV.
Yes, I'm guilty of all three.
We have lost connections to our friends and family. We have lost the dining room table- mine is usually covered with piles of stuff. Sometimes I don't know if I am coming or going aka the piles of stuff. We have lost who we are in this technical world we have created.
Tsh has it right in saying we have to be intentional in getting back what we have lost, but moving towards a slower and simpler life can take time. It doesn't just happen.
One of my intentional choices right now is slowing down with my food. Food defines you, and is the sustenance that gives you energy. I am also back walking after such a long cold winter. Last night, I pumped up the tires of my bike. I'm heading out today to enjoy a quiet ride by the river. I'm reading more good books. I'm making intentional choices at work and saying no more when I'm feeling overwhelmed. That's the beginning for me in my effort to slow down my life.
I am returning to the written word slowly. I have always wanted to write. I journaled for years, and then I quit for the last seven. I have been caught up in many other things, many important, some not so much. The Disney Frozen song of "Let it Go" resonates with me as I need to let go of baggage that is too heavy for me, and lighten my load. Jesus said to let him take on our burdens, but I think even Jesus would throw some of mine off.
One of my favorite hymns has the words “tis a gift to be simple, tis a gift to be free."*
Freedom comes when we live a simpler life. The joys of sitting down to eat dinner at a table can still be before us. Hearing your friend's voice instead of seeing words on a screen is wonderful.
Letting go of my HGTV...hmmm, I will have to think about that one.
*18th Century Shaker Hymn “Simple Gifts"
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