Beach music

I am relaxing into the rhythms of the beach. A number of days stretch before me.

Time to have some coffee on the screened-in porch on my favorite white wicker rocker ...

Quoteworthy

Found while going through an old O magazine:

Time is a created thing. To say, 'I don't have time' is to say 'I don't want to.'
-- Lao Tzu

Air

I was already a little breathless on the treadmill when a news report showing the two firemen who died in downtown Manhattan came on, complete with audio of the emergency calls. They choked to death. No oxygen.

I felt my eyes tear up and became acutely aware of my real, honest-to-God breathing.

Principles of success

A friend told me about this book she was reading over dinner the other night. It gave these four principles of success:

1. Be the love that you are
2. Always do the right thing
3. Follow life and the living
4. Forgive

I love these because they are so simple and they encompass so much. Plus, they are as meaningful in what they say as in what they don't.

I have surrounded myself with good, smart friends.

Saturday

I love these kinds of days, when it's really all about regrouping. Getting a handle on the laundry, cleaning the floors, restocking the cupboard with healthy options, napping, feeling like there is nothing better than that soap and water when I finally hit the shower.

Fresh and ready.

Message on a can

You know how sometimes you wish you had done something in a given situation? Well, today I did something.

I was talking on the phone, gazing out my bedroom window. A young guy pulled up and parked right in front of my apartment. He took a last gulp out of his Red Bull can and then put it on the sidewalk before leaving his vehicle and walking down the street.

When I got off the phone, I put on my workout clothes and left for the gym. But first I wrote a note saying, "You forgot something" and got a piece of tape. Then I attached it to the can and put it on the hood of his car.

I was probably pounding the treadmill when he got his message.

It just felt good to do something.

Comeback

It occurs to me that I have spent so much time the last five to seven years improving my emotional and spiritual health, really changing myself, that some good stuff got lost in the shuffle.

The award-winning journalist who got paid good money to write, she wants back in.

Microcosm

Right now I have two friends literally rendered speechless

One from experiencing the delight of new life

Another mired in deep grief

I'm happy. I'm sad. Don't know what else to say.

Grace

Today I gave a homeless man a banana, as I do nearly every day. Much to my surprise, he stopped me this morning and said, "I have something for you, too." It was a tomato, but not just any tomato. It seems a woman in Long Island keeps him supplied with goods from her garden and he wanted to share.

That tomato was so freakin' good I can't tell you. I cut it up like an apple and ate it with a little salt. A delectable snack.

A priceless gift.

Quoteworthy

From the August issue of Vogue:

I always wanted to be famous. But I think the good things have happened because I'm confident, not that I'm confident because they happened.
-- Mary Heilmann, artist

I love this distinction.

From within

Had an interesting conversation with my neighbor on the ride home from the city today. He is in his 20s and has already figured out we are the ones who control our attitude and mood, and happiness does not come from external sources.

It would have been nice to know that when I was his age.

Stylin'

I'm starting to formulate thoughts of my fall wardrobe. I love that. And I haven't even hit the beach with the September Vogue yet.

So far, I'm really digging the silhouette of snazzy patterned silky tops over skinny pants or leggings, depending on the length. A nice flat with some character to polish the look.

My creative juices are a-flowin' ...

Write wisdom

When I am working really hard every day for hours upon end and then feeling a little guilty for escaping to read or wander or meet friends, I will remember this:

Writing the breakout novel demands a commitment to life. How can you engage readers in your fictional world if you, the author, are not engaged by your own world? To write about life, you must live it. You cannot make readers cry or feel joy until you have wept and exulted yourself.

-- from Writing The Breakout Novel by Donald Maass

Communication?

Today I was having a light conversation with a co-worker. The boss walked by and told him he had work to do. It was humiliating.

The life coach in me wondered how it is that so many people haven't a clue about how to talk to their fellow man.

Passion and purpose

The life coaching clients I have right now are delightful. They have taken to coaching very quickly, are smart and open, and we have a genuinely easy dialogue in our sessions.

I am ever grateful for that.

Mourning

I found out today that a friend's mother died. I saw grief up close.

I cannot imagine it.

Shock and awe

I want to believe that if I plunged 30 feet into a river because a bridge collapsed and managed to get out of my vehicle safely and swim ashore, that I would then dive in and help others. I really want to believe I would.

But I honestly don't know.

Heroes

As I watch the events of the Minneapolis bridge collapse unfold, I am struck by people who step up when it counts.

I just am.