Memos From The Universe

I’m the woman to blame

2012-05-14T16:54:13Z

Night before I left Orlando last week, I had dinner at Margaritaville on CityWalk. I sat on the patio and listened to the guy with the guitar crooning all the slow, soft Jimmy Buffet ballads. When I left, I went through the merchandise area to inspect the t-shirts but bought nothing. Although I like the droll sentiment behind the "I’m the woman to blame" t-shirts, I’ve yet to find a design that I love. So I wait.

As I was leaving, I noticed my icon on the floor in the entry way.

How is it possible that I have lived in Florida for six years (as of yesterday!), but have yet to set foot on Key West? Surely this needs remedied!

Training mission confirmed

2012-05-14T02:49:07Z

Was at a hotel in Orlando getting some training to maintain my professional certification – although, I was frankly wondering what I was doing there, since I don’t seem to work at this profession any more. The training rooms were cold and I went outside on break to get warm. There on the path, I saw my icon.

Sometimes – ok, practically ALL of the time – its just not clear. At all. But I guess I was doing what I was supposed to be doing. I guess?

I want to rub it

2012-05-11T21:44:41Z

I need a wish to come true. Just one, okay? Please?

Peeking out from the clouds

2012-05-05T20:40:11Z

This is a banner day for memos. I’m at EPCOT, and this is the official artwork for this year’s flower and Garden Festival.

There’s a smiley face, shining sun behind each and every cloud. I guess the trick is getting the clouds to go the heck away so you can actually have what you KNOW is there.

Hey, clouds. Take five. Ok well I am feeling generous – take ten!

Iconflict

2012-05-05T13:59:49Z

I know BP did terrible things to our Gulf, but their gas cards were 20% off at Publix – AND, there’s my icon.

For those grumpy, out-of-sorts moments

2012-05-02T00:39:43Z

Maybe it’s just that time of year, when I am done, done, DONE with the relentlessness of perpetually blue skies and dry lawns. Or maybe it’s just that patience has never been my strong suit, and I’ve been practicing it so long now it’s just freakin’ ridiculous.

QUENCH ME, ALREADY. I have been SO ready for SO long now.

*shakes fist at sky*

I’m so sick of the sunshine baby ’cause it burns my skin. I’m so sick of the sunshine, tell me when the storm comes in.

Cosmo Jarvis, 'Sunshine' — Song Premiere and 'Think Bigger' Album Info – Spinner.

Be our guest

2012-04-11T19:34:07Z

Long time no memo!

I took a course offered by Lee County called "Lee GROWS". This led to
me exploring the Lee County website. I found information about another
course called "Guest First", offered by the visitors bureau. I wanted
to take the course, but could not find information indicating how to
qualify, what it costs, etc.

So during the Lee GROWS course, a lady from the visitors bureau came to
speak with us, and I asked about the Guest First course. She hooked me
up with someone I could speak to. While I’m waiting for the next start
date to roll around, I figured I would poke around and find more
information about the various modules. Lo and behold, here’s my little
icon prompt, smiling a little smile at me.

Right direction!

Seriously?

2012-03-06T15:29:37Z

I am awaiting dental torture. This is a randomly selected card from the Hay House and sampler app. Since this earning money thing has become a somewhat long-running, ongoing issue, I thought it was fun to have spun up this one in particular.

Now he tells me

2012-03-06T12:53:56Z

And here I’ve been scouring the earth for my dharma all this time…
turns out it’s THIS simple?

Well, not really. Supposed you don’t know what will make you happy. Ah
but there’s the wrong approach. "What" implies external to yourself.
You have to decide just to BE happy. Wherever you are, whatever you are
doing, whomever you’re doing it with, bloom where you grow. No, don’t
stop striving for better circumstances, but don’t be stuck emotionally
while you’re in the old circumstances.

It’s a choice. Just keep swimming!

All smiles

2012-02-29T03:29:36Z

Was walking the neighborhood a couple of days ago, slowly after a period on the bench due to injury. I’d been to the grocery store, and apparently the Universe approved. I love that the kids in the neighborhood chalk up the environment. It’s a sign of life, first of all, and it makes me smile with the memories of chalking up 205th street when I was a kid growing up in Queens.

Write is right

2012-02-21T16:33:10Z

I spent some time this morning researching journaling apps that also have an online interface. I became somewhat frustrated with the options and made no decision. Now I find that reigniting and enabling an earnest interest in journaling is going to benefit my health!

Who woulda thunk it? And get this – I spent some time last night listening to the intentblog’s owner’s daddy teach me how to quiet the monkey mind. The theme of Chopra’s later 21 Day Challenge is restoring the body’s balance through meditation.

Getting a strong signal here that I should be meditating between the lines of a notebook.

One of my favorite words :)

2012-01-28T18:12:16Z

Fairies at the cash register

2012-01-13T16:19:22Z

Waiting for my cafe mocha – look there’s the tip jar

Not months, but moments

2012-01-03T16:00:34Z

I tried to do this screen shot via Picnik on the desktop but it would not take the shot, so here’s the iPhone version.

"Just living is not enough," said the butterfly. "One must have sunshine, freedom, and a little flower." – Hans Christian Andersen

I have sunshine; I live in Florida! I have freedom; not tethered much by occupation these days. A little flower? That’s the stuff that feeds me, I guess. Nectar for the tummy, beauty for the soul. I don’t have to look far for it. Love, actually, IS all around.

The desktop had a second quote that accompanied the photo:

"The butterfly counts not months but moments." – Rabindranath Tagore

We are human, not butterflies with a limited lifespan. Butterflies have the luxury-by-necessity of counting only moments, of focusing only upon that which is essential, because there’s really nothing else they can do. Butterflies have it easy. We, on the other hand, are faced with seemingly limitless possibilities. It’s scary- hard to navigate such a world.

Perhaps the point is to take a to take a time-out now and again from believing in the vastness of our human existence. Suspend that belief, and instead get down to the essential business of feeding on a little flower. Not for months, but just for a moment.

She sells sea shells

2012-01-02T18:08:02Z

Last night, part of a dream included finding a Venus ray on the beach. I can still see my own hand reaching out to pick it up.

Today I downloaded a Florida-specific Audubon guide for the iPhone and what do we see in the lower left of the attached screen shot? Yeah, a Venus ray.

I should probably join Audubon.

My Invisible Friend

2012-01-01T00:19:30Z

"A friend is one who believes in you when you have ceased to believe in
yoursel.f"

I’ve only got two friends on Mindbloom. I’m not sure why Mindbloom
awarded me a trophy for having more than that, but I can assure you that
I’ve only got two, and that’s the most I have ever had there.

I wonder if there are invisible friends, unseen in the shadows. Maybe
every time something miraculously unexpected happens, that’s our
invisible friends at work. And not only that, but maybe they are the
ones who pull our butts out of the quagmire when we’ve rendered
ourselves invisible by ceasing to believe.

Tinker Bell almost died because she thought no one believed. Just
sayin’… in which case, one really does need to be one’s own invisible
friend, and be the strongest believer in one’s self.

If you count ME, then there ARE three trees in my forest.

Ah…. !!!

The ghost of Memos past

2011-12-28T20:33:49Z

I’ve seen this one before – probably been a year or more. I will have to check out what’s on the Smithsonian Channel page on Facebook that makes this significant….

You’ve been sent a Picnik picture!
Click this link to view it: www.picnik.com/file/18029892981_HXPdk.jpg

Charming gardeners

2011-12-18T18:28:11Z

I’ve been using Thankful For at least for a year now, but it only just occurred to me to see if "there’s an app for that". This is the splash screen I got the first time I opened the app.

I would love to be able to see the charming gardener in each and every person I encounter. Even the ones that piss me off, for if I could see the charming gardener, I would probably never get to pissed off.

Can you imagine someone cutting you off on traffic, but you just smile serenely and think, "Why, what a charming gardener!"

Yeah, me neither. I guess that’s why ol’ Marcel comments only upon those who make us happy.

I don’t know anything about how to do this, transform a person who is pissing me off into a person who makes me happy, or at least abandon my own negative perceptions long enough to successfully excavate and uncover the charming gardener.

Anyone? Buehler?

The beauty of what you love

2011-12-17T01:22:08Z

In the China pavilion at Disney’s EPCOT, there is a semi-open air space between buildings in which merchandise is hawked. These banners are available there, and as you can see, bear the mark of my keyword. I decided to snap some photos of the ones that “spoke” to me for later rumination.

I noticed that Rumi says it’s the BEAUTY of what you love – not what you love itself – that should be what you do. I am not sure I understand this, as the BEAUTY of it is frequently intangible, an ideal, whereas DOING involves action. The BEAUTY of what we love often lies in how it makes us feel. In the case of producing art, it is also about how it makes others feel, what the product of all that DOING evokes not only in ourselves as the creators but in the spectators, observers, WITNESSES as they experience our creations.

I am guessing that this is something I already knew, just phrased differently. it’s about the response evoked, in ourselves and in others. If it makes me happy and if it makes others happy, then it’s the right thing to DO.

OK. Got it.

Yet everything is accomplished

2011-12-08T16:05:46Z

Yes I am at Disney again; don’t judge me, the place is inspiring ! I was thinking I should cut my stroll short and beat it over to EPCOT to get a present for my niece, before they run out of her size. And I was stressing about it but then I spied the anteater’s sign. BONUS – he’s actually visible today!