Mother knows best?

Today while shopping at "Trader Joes", I  noticed a mother and daughter picking out breakfast foods, and suddenly the little girl, about the age of four, shouted at her mother;"Show it to me, NOW!" the tone of the child's voice brought a chill down my spine, and I said;" Hey, that's no way to talk to your mother! " That was  no tone to talk to anyone!  If I would have spoken like that to my mother I would had  been slapped from here to next Tuesday! Not that, that I'm saying it's okay to slap a child but still, I would had never had spoken to one of my parents in such a tone.  But when I when turned around the mother was smiling and showing the child the item she demanded to see.  I thought, "Why was this woman rewarding this child for her rude behavior?"  Later in the frozen food section, I saw the same mother and child and the child, shouted the same demand:'Show that to me NOW!" The mother and I locked eyes, and then the mother bend down to her daughter and said to her;"We're in public now, you mustn't speak that way to me." And it's okay in private?  I wasn't  upset at the child, she was just a little girl, this behavior was taught to her.  But I couldn't help but think that teaching your child to speak to another person with no respect was a form of child abuse. If this little girl grows up thinking she has a right to be demanding and demeaning to others, she is going to grow up to be an abusive girlfriend, wife, parent and even an abusive boss.  I had an awfully, cruel female boss, who would love to yell at you;"You are not taught to think!"  She was verbally abusive to her employees and I often wondered if she spoke that way in the office, where she should be on her best behavior, what was she liked when she was at home, where she could let herself go! When I was a little girl, we use to say""Sticks and stones may break my bones but words will never hurt me!" But when I became a woman and became involved with a verbally abusive man, I learned how hurtful words can be.So mother's teach your children well!

Yoga, yoga, yoga, do

In this cyber age of Face Book boasting, Twitter gloating, and shameless confessional blogging, any action that requires solitary introspection would appear to be out of fashion.  However, isn't the sole purpose of yoga is to lead the yogi / yogini through an inner journey onto the self & its connection with the universe?

Often, on Face Book, a person, requesting to become my "Friend" will pose the question;"What kind of yoga do you practice?"  i take my reply from Patanjali, "Yoga is the settling of the mind into silence."

The asanas of Hatha Yoga are designed to aid the yogi / yogini to condition the physical body through this journey.  I've been practicing yoga for 18 years and I have studied in many studios with many teachers, under many methods and I have found that no matter what style, or studio one practices , yoga is a journey we take alone and can be the opening of a whole new world of awareness but the choice comes from the soul of the yogi / yogini.

The Cure

This afternoon I was watching an old movie on the cable, station TCM and in it, the female lead used the phrased; "Taking the cure" for addressing her drinking problem. Back in the day people said;"Taking the Cure" not "Rehab". Then, like now, mostly the rich, "Took the Cure", as the rich here go to over-priced Rehab Centers in the Malibu hills, with beautiful vistas of the Pacific ocean. The results of success were about the same then as now about 50/50. For "The Cure" & "Rehab" only address the symptom of drinking or other drug abuse, not the reality that that life can be very hard on our hearts, minds, and souls! Often we drink or take drugs as a way to numb ourselves to the pain, confusion, and heartache of life. There are times I feel so over-whelmed with loneliness that I want to crawl out of my skin! But, thank goodness, I don't reach for a drink or drugs to numb the pain but I can understand why people do.  There is no cure or rehab for heartache, we just have to breath and live through it, with prayers and love.

Am I Blue?

Did anyone see  the "60 Minutes" feature, addressing the issue about how many of our  young war veterans are killing themselves after they return to the safety of home?  The story of a young 26 year old ex-veteran, shooting himself in the head due to depression, was just heartbreaking! I wish I could pound into the heads of people what a deadly illness Depression truly is! My lung inflection, that gave me a mild heart-attack and nearly send me to that undiscovered country, was triggered by Depression from the grief over my mother's passing.  If I told my family & friends that I had cancer, they would had reached out to me. But when I told them that I was suffering from Depression, they just ignored me. They must of thought, "Get over it, pulled yourself up by your boot strips" and so on.  But Depression is a real, serious medical condition that shouldn't be ignored and that other people, must address and help their friends and family members out when they show signs or express this condition to them!

Apocalypse Now

 When I tell people that I'm a fan of Science Fiction, often, most think only of Star War, sometimes Star Trek or Comic Book adventures, not realizing the rich literature that addresses the facts that the events of today are shading our future. Last night read the must interesting short story by the Hugo winning author, Maureen McHugh, title "After the Apocalypse". What impressed me with story, was how settled she wrote of the events that brought on her dark apocalyptic future. She wrote of rounding black out and raising gas prices that broke our economy's back.  We are lead to believe that the apocalypse with come riding down on us with the crushing hooves of plague, war, and destruction but I feel that the final days will come to us more settle way. Like Christ stated, "Like a thief in the night." I am witnessing our Middle-Class being destroyed by the greed of the so title One Precent of the rich, sending jobs over- seas, college cost going up so high only the rich can afford  a college education, gas prices keep raising making the cost of everyday items raise up as we won't be able to afford to buy them, banks giving so very low interest rates that  they rob the people of the money they use to get rich on and weather that changes are so extreme  that it causes our farmers to destroy their crops before they have a time to flourish, not to mention my country men fighting in wars in the Middle-East that will never end or be won! If these are not signs of an apocalypse what is?

No time for art...

"The way we miss our lives is life!" Randell Jarrell

The Prednisone the doctor prescribed me for my lung infection has given me back my energy but still they haven't invented the drug that can bring you back extra time!  I've been doing a lot of watercolor sketches of painting I would like to do, but where, oh where , can I find the time to do paintings, when the everyday chores of life get in my way?
I need to go through my piles of paper work for my Income Taxes and there is that dark shadow of a medical bill that hangs over my head like the proverbial Sword of Damocles. If you live in a country that has Government Health-Care, count your blessings!
I have private Health Insurance but still I'm stuck with paying a $3,000.00 deductible! I worked it out with the hospital, so  I can pay this bill  back in monthly payments without Interest but still $3,000.00 is a lot to pay back. When I saw my hospital bill, I almost needed to go back to the hospital for a heart attack! I could have gone to my dream trip to Paris on that three grand!
Life can get in the way of following your dreams. I know a lot of talented friends, actors, actresses, artists, who have put their dreams on hold, or even have completely given up on their dream, so they can handle life.  You know that stuff, like providing a roof over your head and buying food.  I live in Los Angles, so talented people are a dime a dozen; actually, even less than that, a penny a dozen!
When following that dream of art, it's more about luck than talent! It's about who you know, or who your parents are, or just being in the right place at the right time!
I'm not waiting to be discovered, I just want to find the time to paint!

And the winner is.....

 Just have to let this off my chest but I found Mr. Seth McFarlane, at best a sophomoric host of the 85th Academy Awards ceremony; and at worst; he was down right misogynistic! I mean really: singing a song on Prime-Time, to the tune of "Be our guest", a song about seeing A-List Actress's bare breast? What was Disney thinking? They own the network ABC, as well as rights to the song.  And the opening bit, with William Shatner went on far too long! The the whole show went on far too long! It was mind-numbing! I found myself chanting; "Ya Da Ya Da and the winner is"!

Live from L.A.

Home Improvement

"You are perfect the way you are. And... there is still room for improvement." zen master Shannon Suzuki

In this western thinking, United States, when we think of self-improvement, the main issue we think of is weight loss and nothing else!  Weight is a multi-million dollar business, in the States.  Jennifer Hudson, a beautiful, curvy young woman, has made more money, being a spoke model for Jenny Craig, than using her God given gift of a beautiful singing talent! Dr.Oz shows, spends more time with weight loss then any other health issue. While watching commercial network TV, you cannot go through those mind-numbing commercial breaks without having, at lease one major commercial from a weight loss product or weight loss program. Damn America: are we so shallow?  We are more than just our body mass! We are creatures blessed with a heart, mind and soul! Why not work on improving those! Why not work on being better people, not just thinner people!

Riding the wave

Songs have been written about the "Circle of Life" but actually, life doesn't move iu a circle but moves in a spiral, continuously moving in an increased or decreased acceleration. Sometimes you are riding on top of that big wave of life, then there are times you are pulled into a vortex of a waves undertow.  If you don't panic, you can ride that wave safety back to the beach, without much damage.  One reassuring fact of the spiral, is that no matter how low you go it will never be lower then that last spin into darkness you experienced for a spiral always runs upward. Currently, my health seems to be going into a lower spiral, a cough, slight shortness of breath but far from the dire health condition that caused my lungs to almost completely collapsed.  I'm much stronger, I'm back to doing yoga and gaining strength in my body. So this slight set back in health isn't causing me great concern for I feel I can ride this wave back to a safe shore.  So my friends, surfs up!