When it hurts so bad, it’s because I am hanging on so tight.

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That colorful, vibrant, beautiful thing passing by . . .

That’s your life.

Go get it!

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Buddha’s silence was the result of a profound harmony with himself and with the world outside.

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I reckon there’s a whole different view and probably a lot more fun back there.

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I was driving out to California alone with my two dogs.

I wanted something visible that said independent, tough, courageous, strong.

Kick Ass.

So I threw the sticker in my back window and never gave it another thought.

Occasionally someone would ask me about it and I’d explain why it was there.

Then, on my last day in Cali, my very dear friend told me a funny story.

We’d met when I looked at the cottage she had for rent, eventually choosing something else.

Her tenants, next door to where I would have lived, were minimalists.

I was endeared to them immediately.

Free spirits and travelers, not encumbered with the weight of society’s convention.

Things and bills and ideas and such.

But I always thought it odd that they would seem to avoid me when we saw each other at Von’s.

And I figured it must be my own imagination and self-confidence.

Turns out they were wary of me.

“You can tell a lot about a person by the car they drive.”

Can you, really, now?

I spent over an hour in the Washington National Cathedral on Saturday.

I even sat and said a prayer for some spirit friends.

If you saw me, you probably would have assumed I am a Christian.

Until you saw me get in my truck.

If, that is, you make assumptions based on things like that.

And now I can’t help but wonder, when I chose that bumper sticker . . .

did I?

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You are never, ever, truly alone.

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Art and life are reflections of creativity and possibility.
What we create is up to us.

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I can honestly say I like who I see, when I see my shadow looking back at me.

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Be still and listen.

~ A Course in Miracles (T.31.II.7.2)

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“Never Stop Smiling!”

~ Elderly gentleman to me in passing, while walking around the

historic and eclectic Fairfax Avenue area of Los Angeles.

April 3, 2010

(What he actually said was, “You have a beautiful smile. Never stop smiling!”)

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“I know what I’m doing, Karal.”

A very loud voice “in my head” in response to a heartfelt but still rather

obligatory thank you while out walking the dogs this morning.

Irony isn’t lost on the Universe.

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I write because all my life I’ve felt I had some indescribable connection to something beyond what I can see, hear, taste, feel and know. Writing ~ creativity, actually, is often an outlet for reaching toward that connection in an attempt to gain understanding. Writing is the avenue I travel as I seek to know myself intently and intimately, a way to place my faults and fears and mistakes and accomplishments on paper ~ a self-portrait with words. Seeing those fears and mistakes and things that hold me back give me the courage to move forward. Writing is my way to pass along what I’ve learned, what I’ve gained, to someone else: hope, encouragement, dreams, stumbles and missteps and climbs and back and forths toward something I sense is there for me but am still learning to obtain, accept and welcome with open arms. I thought I was on course, in tune with the Universe, and had something to say. Then something happened and it didn’t mesh with my illusion of that beautiful, simple, spiritual connection. And I realize that for all the things I know and believe in and am so enthusiastically wanting to share, I know nothing. And right now, I’ve simply got nothing to say.

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Summer Breeze . . . Makes Me Feel FINE!

Seals & Crofts – Summer Breeze Live 1973 Midnight Special

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To my 2 beautiful angels on July 10th.

Then, today and every day . . .

You touched my life with your magic and you taught me to believe.

Love, and thinking of you always.

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©2010 the orange chair. All Rights Reserved.