10 Weeks of Word Oracles - Bother

The cusp of "why bother?"

© 2010 by Joyce Mason

All Rights Reserved

Drawing this word as one of our oracles bothered me! To bother is to pester or annoy. A bother is something that requires a lot of work without adequate return. Bothered can also mean to be bewildered or confused when you don’t “get” something. The last meaning is the stuff of Hot Flashbacks, Cool Insights. Here we dig into the meaning of things. Like why I’d draw bother for discussion.

To read the whys and wherefores of the word oracle series, see 10 weeks of Word Oracles #1

Why Bother?

Yet having trouble seeing the light about events in our lives is not where I want to focus this time. What calls to me from my intuition to discuss is the expression, “Why bother?” It implies a lot of effort for little result—or the point at which a person begins to question the input-to-output ratio on anything they do.

Bother seems to be a negative word, but it’s only when we look at both the light the dark side of anything that we attain balance.

What are just tired of doing? What’s going on in your life where putting in a lot of effort doesn’t seem to be giving you much in return?

We reach these cusps in relationships, jobs, volunteer organizations and activities—in all aspects of life. They are not a bad thing. They are simply turning points.

Giving-to-Receiving Ratio

Not all things in life are meant to be in perfect balance when it comes to giving and receiving. As any parent will attest, the role of mother or father, over the course of a lifetime, has periods when giving outweighs receiving. But in the big picture, few parents would give back their children or deny they’re “worth it.” Infancy passes, when a child is totally dependent on his or her parents for every need. Adolescence, when your kid drives you up the wall? It passes, too, as do the years of high college expenses for results hoped for and often nowadays in no way assured.

We all go through our ups-and-downs in personal relationships, too. Our partner may be cranky, dealing with issues at work, health challenges, or any number of potential reasons that put us in the position for some time of giving much and feeling on the short end of the receiving stick. 

Whether it’s our church, club or other group we hold dear, we have hair-pulling times of always being the one to do it all and wondering why the whole thing revolves around the big heartedness of a few. These why bother moments are disheartening—more so the bigger the heart.

The question, why bother, asks us to examine when the cumulative imbalance becomes a deal breaker.

The Cusp of Change

We all know the expression, the straw the broke the camel’s back. You give one thing too many, and you’re done—ready to bolt. Sometimes that’s a good move; sometimes it’s a mistake.

The cusp of why bother begs analysis of a situation. For a spirited individual, analysis should always precede action. If we cut something or someone loose too soon, we might be kicking out the kid, the spouse, or resigning from a committee that’s important to us during one of those seasons where it's OK to give more than receive. These giving upticks and temporary imbalances are just part of life.  We might not have enough long-term experience with the situation to determine if the giving-to-receiving ratio is a permanent pattern.

But boy oh boy, if it is, when you hear why bother in your mind on a regular basis, the analysis is due, if not overdue. Always listen to your inner voice when it bothers you with that pesky question.

The Final Analysis

In the end, the decision of whether it’s time to stop bothering—or not—is a conclusion that can only come from analysis of your unique situation, perhaps in conjunction with some trusted advisors. Let your higher self and inner voice be among them. And if it’s time to move on, ask for help from the spiritual realm to make it gentle on yourself and everyone concerned.

Meanwhile, here’s an exercise to help you hear any voices that might be crying or crying out from giver’s fatigue.

Meditation and Journaling on Bother

Sit quietly in a meditative posture, whatever one works for you. Have pen and paper nearby.

1.      Take three deep breaths. Say “bother” to yourself.  Let it rest on your mind, and then let your mind speak. Now ask if the expression why bother hits home for you in any way.  Take plenty of time to let the thoughts form or memories come back to you. Let your memories or thoughts finish speaking. When they are done saying what they have to say, write down their message.

2.      Return to meditation. Read this thought, and then sit with it in the silence for as long as it feels right:  I will tune up my inner hearing and notice whenever I hear, “why bother?” from my inner self. I commit to weighing what it means and giving myself time to form considered conclusions about it. Then I will act, if change is needed.

3.      When you come out of meditation, look at what you wrote about “bother.” Take some time to contemplate it. Carry these thoughts and intentions into your week. Learn as much as possible about your relationship to bother.  (Other meanings besides why bother and over-giving may have come up. Are you being or putting up with someone who’s a bother?) Write a few wrap-up notes before the end of the week and our next word.

Hope your week is no bother whatsoever.

~~~

Next word:  Backlog

Photo credit: Overwhelmed © Blake Anthony | Dreamstime

10 Weeks of Word Oracles - Coloring

© 2010 by Joyce Mason

All Rights Reserved

When I drew coloring as one of our word oracles, my first impression was similar to the one I had with drawing. It took me back to my coloring books and the thrill of a new box of 100 Binney-Smith Crayolas. Every Christmas I begged for a new set, the old ones by year’s end worn to nubs from overuse. Use of the most unusual colors became my quest. I liked magenta but I think burnt sienna stuck in my mind most of all for its similarity to the color of autumn leaves. In 2007, Binney-Smith morphed into Crayola, Inc. Five decades later, it rechristened itself after its most famous product and has many more colorful offerings today. I admit it; I still like to color in coloring books as an adult. (The last one I bought was a Harry Potter—and it comes in handy when real kids visit.) Check out how lucky kids are nowadays on the Crayola site. Download free coloring pages, including some very cool ones for the holidays.

Wonder what we’re doing here playing with words? See 10 weeks of Word Oracles #1

Eye for Color

I’ve always had an eye for color. Once when my choir decided to wear solid colors onstage, tops and bottoms, any single color being OK; I found a top first in a deep jade green. A week later with only “color memory” as my guide, I found a bottom the same color that matched within a hair. They looked identical. You could only tell the difference with a magnifying glass. The paint department and the chips at Home Depot are heaven to me, and I’m forever taking some home to dream about when I’ll have the time and budget to redo various rooms in my house. Colorstrology by Michele Bernhardt, which matches your birthday to a specific color with interpretation, is a huge favorite, and I plan on using it as my ultimate makeover reference, whether it’s my office or my psyche I’m redoing. In the latter case, I’ll surround myself with the colors that help me feel the most upbeat. (My personal birthday color is Misty Rose with the characteristics unusual, dynamic, and clever.) You might want to explore this book or one like it that deals with color psychology.

Chakras

A discussion of coloring wouldn’t be complete without the seven chakras or subtle energy centers in the body. Starting from the bottom up, red is associated with the tailbone or base of the spine. It’s called the root or 1^st chakra. These whirling disks of invisible energy move up the body as follows: orange at the 2^nd belly or sacral chakra, just below the navel; yellow at the solar plexus or 3^rd chakra; green at the 4^th or heart chakra; blue at the 5^th or throat chakra; indigo is associated with the 6^th chakra at the third eye between the visible eyes; and purple is at the crown or  7^th chakra at the top of the head. Our own energy fields are bathed in color. Chakra means wheel in Sanskrit. We carry our own color wheel with us at all times!

Coloring

We talk often about someone’s coloring or complexion—light, dark, pale, olive, brown, black, yellow, ruddy. In Oriental Medicine, the color in a patient’s face is as important a tool as pulse diagnosis. It gives feedback about the person’s medical condition. I can always tell when my best friend is getting sick. She looks “green around the gills.” With my sensitivity to color, I can always tell when hers is “off.” I notice changes in facial coloring instantly. Color not only makes us diverse and interesting; it offers us important feedback about our health.

“Color My World With Hope …”

The coloring I most want to explore, though, is how we color everything we do with our attitude. We can be red with anger, green with envy, in a blue funk, or beaming yellow, the color of the sun and joy. The last line of the romantic lyrics to Color My World by Chicago says Color my world with hope of loving you. Others do color our world with their energy, attitudes, and love. We do the same. Why would we want to live under anything less than a rainbow?

What color is your world today? How are you coloring the atmosphere of those around you? Let your visual mantra be that 100-crayon box, knowing that every day, you choose your colors. “Show your colors,” we say, and expression that means your true self.

What color are you?

Meditation and Journaling on Coloring

Sit quietly in a meditative posture, whatever one works for you. Have pen and paper nearby.

1.      Take three deep breaths. Say “coloring” to yourself.  Let it rest on your mind, then let your mind speak. What does the word coloring mean to you?  Take plenty of time to let the thoughts form or memories come back to you. Let your memories or thoughts finish speaking. When they are done saying what they have to say, write down their message.

2.      Return to meditation. Read this thought, and then sit with it in the silence for as long as it feels right:  I will notice the color in my life and take joy in its diversity. I will choose my colors carefully, whether clothing, attitudes, or loyalty.

3.      When you come out of meditation, look at what you wrote about “coloring.” Take some time to contemplate it. Carry these thoughts and intentions into your week. Learn as much as possible about your relationship to coloring.  Write a few wrap-up notes before the end of the week and our next word.

Have a colorful week!

~~~

Next word:  Bother

Photo credits: Crayons © Susiew47 and 7 Chakras Color Wheel with Mandalas © Artellia, both from Dreamstime

Postscript: I'm a permanent mail-in voter. Today I finished my ballot for the Nov. 2 election, and I had a whole new insight about coloring. If I hadn't learned to color between the lines in my coloring books, I'd never be able to fill in those little bubble capsules on my ballot. Here's to early training for future citizens of America! Who knew coloring books were part of civics class?

10 Weeks of Word Oracles - Yesterday

© 2010 by Joyce Mason

All Rights Reserved

 When it comes to yesterday, there’s a difference between living in the past—and learning from it.

As the quote by Kierkegaard in the Hot Flashbacks, Cool Insights masthead says, Life can only be understood backwards, but it must be lived forwards. Insights rarely come without analysis of patterns in your past. When you “get it” all at once, it’s called an aha moment in the present. It relates to the future, because hopefully you will take what you learned from the past and carry its lessons forward.

That’s why at these crossroads of past, present and future, I recommend that we stop, look both ways, and listen for signs. Those times are magical when past, present and future merge. They allow us to take lessons learned into the future and with them the possibility of new behavior patterns. They are threshold experiences, and our willingness to learn and change from our experience is the essence of growth itself.

But what about when we get stuck in the past and can’t let go of yesterday?

This is #5 in a series of 10 words drawn as oracles, spirited topics to ponder in our Hot/Cool community. Visit the post for Word Oracle #1 (Upper) for background on why we’re playing with words for ten posts.

  

What to Do When You Can’t Unglue

Whether you’re stuck on an ex, stuck in a job, or stuck in old ways of thinking, it can be murder on the spirit.  What can you do to unglue?

We all know the expression, “The devil you know is better than the devil you don’t know.” It’s important to “examine your conscience,” as one of the nuns in my parochial school used to nag us, to see whether or not your rut is fear of the unknown. When we are deeply entrenched, we’ve used up so much energy digging the hole, it’s hard to have enough juice to climb out of it.

But if the problem is only a habit turned ritual turned rut, mere awareness can be a tonic. That’s where the prescription is to do something different—even if it’s “wrong”—even if it’s only an experiment. It doesn’t have to be huge. It can be taking a different route to work, eating a different breakfast cereal, or deciding you won’t leave the house without saying something positive to everyone in your family. Start small. Make mini-changes. Soon the small steps will domino into a more open and adventurous you, free of entrenched habits. It’s all about courting a new habit of openness to the New. You’ll find it’s not so scary. In fact, it’s exhilarating to mix things up a little.

On the other hand, when things are more emotionally based like a relationship or major loss of a job or family member: these are more difficult to let go and may take stronger measures. One of the tricky aspects of the human psyche is how we know intuitively that we have to come to terms with yesterday and our past in order to move on. When we are seriously stuck, we’re just not getting the lessons, opportunities, or insights presented in the loss. That’s why we can’t move forward. Our psyche knows we can’t leave the stuck place until we do, so we stay there. It’s terrible to wait till it’s so painful; we nearly break. Why be miserable. See a counselor, your clergy person, an astrologer, or another consultant or advisor you trust who can help you get from stuck to “getting it.” When I serve in this role in my Inner Growth Work practice, I consider it a sacred trust and am deeply moved by helping others move on. It’s one of the things I live for, because I’ve been there and wish I had someone like me help me before I spend decades mourning a lost relationship that hurt so deeply, I never could move on completely in that area of my life.

Another tip? My friends the flower essences. Flower essences help move emotions to completion. There are flower remedies for being stuck itself (Blackberry by FES), mourning the loss of a love (Bleeding Heart by FES), and being stuck in the past (Honeysuckle by Bach and Healing Herbs). In fact, there's a flower essence to fit nearly every human condition. If you’ve been stuck and long for a boost out of your deep rut, flower essences maybe be something to consider.

Rewriting Your Story

We don’t like to hear it, but many of us enjoy our drama at some level. One of my favorite quotes fits what I want to say next perfectly:

Change your melodrama into a mellow drama.
~ Corita Kent

The ultimate goal is to rewrite yesterday into a positive part of today and tomorrow. My tender heartbreak in my late teens/early 20s was a vehicle for one of the most valuable lessons of my life. I tended toward relationships that had high highs and low lows, laced with both intense pleasure and equally intense pain. I would overlook unkindness, even cruelty—and for sure, very unloving behavior—just to get the highs. It had to hurt enough that I would ultimately understand that I couldn’t allow anyone to mistreat me. No pleasure I worth it! This didn’t just go for “romantic” relationships but carried over to friendships and a vast variety of interactions.

Now I see this pain as one of the greatest teachers of my life and have “rewritten” it as a key experience to make the rest of my life a better story. Recently, I had the pleasure of being on a paranormal panel with a number of other professionals in hypnotherapy, the psychic arts, and identification of unwanted household entities (“ghost busters”). The hypnotherapist and I had a fascinating discussion about past lives, and I am lucky to be privy to several of mine through past life regression. Currently I am facing the emotional fallout from when I was an astrologer in another lifetime where the powers-that-be harmed me physically for “seeing too much.” My colleague has done hundreds of past life regressions and her simple statement is where we all have to start, “Then was then and now is now.”

Hear yesterday’s message, learn from it, and rewrite your tomorrow.

And now for a little journey to help you get started.

Meditation and Journaling on Yesterday

Sit quietly in a meditative posture, whatever one works for you. Have pen and paper nearby.

1.      Take three deep breaths. Say “yesterday” to yourself.  Let it rest on your mind, then let your mind speak. What does the word yesterday mean to you?  Take plenty of time to let the thoughts form or memories come back to you. Let your memories or thoughts finish speaking. When they are done saying what they have to say, write down their message.

2.      Return to meditation. Read this thought, and then sit with it in the silence for as long as it feels right:  I am thankful for my past and everything I learned from it. I am willing to hear its lessons, bring them into the future in a positive way, and let go of what no longer serves me.

3.      When you come out of meditation, look at what you wrote about “yesterday.” What steps will you take to “process the past?” Take some time to contemplate it. Carry these thoughts and intentions into your week. Learn as much as possible about your relationship to yesterday.  Write a few wrap-up notes before the end of the week and our next word.

May every yesterday help you weave a better tomorrow.

~~~

Next week’s word:  Coloring

Photo Credit: Yesterday and Tomorrow—Two-Way Street Sign  © Iqoncept | Dreamstime

10 Weeks of Word Oracles - Slice

© 2010 by Joyce Mason
All Rights Reserved

No matter how you slice it, slice is a great word for us to chew on for cool insights! Welcome to #3 in a series of 10 words drawn as oracles—spirited topics to ponder drawn just for our Hot/Cool community. Visit the post for Word Oracle #1 (Upper) for the history on what we’re doing at this wordfest and why.

I don’t know about the rest of you, but slice is a very good word for me, personally. I have issues with slice. I alluded to them somewhat in talking about the word upper. Auntie Mame is my heroine, and to me, “Life’s a banquet.” I have a great deal of difficulty limiting myself to a single slice of anything. I have a lusty appetite for food--and live with the health and weight challenges that go along with it. Same goes for most everything else in life. I couldn’t limit myself to one blog. (Now I have three.) Until two of them passed on, I had four pets. You get the picture. Overdo is my middle name.

Unfortunately, one of the side effects of overdo for most of us leads me to another word, overwhelm. Slice is actually an antidote to it.

Slice is like the joke, “How do you eat an elephant?” Answer: A bit at a time.

My office often looks like a total disaster area. I hate working in chaos, even if creativity springs from chaos itself. Still, the enormity of the job to get organized just leaves me with eyes glazed over, my visual orbs a pair of vortexes that are not exactly the white tornados of cleaning solutions. When I can do the job in slices, a piece at a time, I actually get something accomplished. Slice. What a concept!

Then there is the literary form, a slice of life.

slice of life

An episode of actual experience represented realistically and with little alteration in a dramatic, fictional, or journalistic work. ~ Free Online Dictionary

Since memoir writing is one of my strongest genres and my own life has given me plenty of slices to share, I’ll serve up an episode from my Pie of Life. This is the one my intuition told me to tell you.


Thanks But No Thanks

I’m a teenager, and I’m the lucky family member with garbage duty this particular night. Our small house has a postage-stamp sized backyard, and behind that is a garage. A long sidewalk runs beside the house and garage, and the garbage cans are located at the end of the walk, against the garage, where the walk intersects with an alley.

It’s autumn and gets dark early in the suburbs of Chicago. I am hugging my big plastic trash bag, carrying it down the walk by outdoor light, which is rather dim. I’m humming a tune to myself, thinking of some boy I have a crush on. I look up about half-way to the goal and see a man lurking by the garbage cans.

I scream! The trash bag flies straight up in the air, a good four feet, as I reverse directions on a dime and run to the back door, yodeling the whole way like my fanny is on fire. I don’t stop screaming when I get there.

Dad comes rushing to the kitchen where I’m now standing, still screaming. “What in the h— is wrong?” my father demands. I can barely stop screaming long enough to say, “Man—by garbage cans.”

Dad goes out there with a big honking flashlight, the beacon kind you take with you camping. He inspects and investigates. Of course, he finds nothing.

“I can’t see a damned thing,” he pronounces.

I insist that I am not imagining it—that there was someone lurking there.

Hw silly does this sound? He could have been a neighbor tossing a soda can in the nearest trash receptacle while walking down the alley from his own garage. Yet, somehow, I knew he was sinister—and my high-drama, Italian mother believed me.

She called the police, and they knew before they even investigated that they wouldn’t find him or anything suspicious; however, they share with my mom that there have been complaints in the neighborhood about a guy exposing himself. How did I know that? All I saw was the shadow of a man. I didn’t even see the shadow of his—uh—“exposure.”

Now, nearly 50 years later, I’m still chuckling over this scenario, which wasn’t so funny to me at the time. My psychic radar started very young, and believe me, I’m always into prevention. There was a slice of this guy I did not want to see!


Meditation and Journaling on Slice

Sit quietly in a meditative posture, whatever one works for you. Have pen and paper nearby.


1. Take three deep breaths. Say “slice” to yourself. Let it rest on your mind, then let your mind respond. What does this word mean to you? Take plenty of time to let the thoughts form or memories come back to you. Let them finish speaking. When they are done saying what they have to say, write down their message.


2. Return to meditation. Read this thought, and then sit with it in the silence for as long as it feels right: I am thankful for the ability to tackle life a slice at a time. When I am overwhelmed, I respond by imagining the natural slices into which I can break food, projects, feelings, and other larger forms.

3. When you come out of meditation, look at what you wrote about “slice.” Take some time to contemplate it. Carry these thoughts into your week. Learn as much as possible about your relationship to slice. Write a few wrap-up notes before the end of the week and our next word.


May this batch of word oracles, broken into ten slices, bring you some good “slice of life stories” and a new appreciation for savoring life itself one slice, bite, and morsel at a time.

~~~


Next week’s word: Drawing



Photo credit: Pizza Slice © Danee79 Dreamstime.com

Reader Feedback Wanted: Let me know your thoughts on the Word Oracle series in the Comments or by e-mail.

10 Weeks of Word Oracles - Fall

© 2010 by Joyce Mason
All Rights Reserved

Fall is one of the more versatile words in the English language! Just off the top of my head, it can mean any of the following:

• My favorite season, autumn, which also has falling leaves, where I assume it got this nickname.

• Fall as in “go boom” or splat on the floor or ground. Not as pretty, unless it’s a pretty girl fallen in fall leaves, like in the one in the picture in this post.

• “The Fall” – The Bibilical fall of man when Adam and Eve disobeyed divine direction and ate of the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil

• Water that cascades off tall rocks down to a river or rivulet

• A fake woman’s hairpiece

• In astrology, a planet is “in fall” when it is in the sign opposite where it is considered exalted. Example from my own chart: Mars is considered exalted in Capricorn; mine is in the opposite sign, Cancer, therefore it’s in fall. I’ve never found this concept very useful. It implies there’s something wrong with my planet that’s in fall. I actually like my Mars in Cancer that’s action-oriented toward making comfortable surroundings for people, and as much as possible, making family of everyone.

Welcome to #2 in a series of 10 words drawn as oracles—spirited topics to ponder drawn just for our Hot/Cool community. Visit the post for Word Oracle #1 (Upper) for the history on why we’re playing with words for ten posts.

Let’s focus on Fall as Autumn—the season we enter on September 22!

First, I want to share with you an autumn “astrologize” I wrote for Spirited Woman blog. Astrologizes are exercises, rituals, or activities to celebrate the changing seasons as the Sun moves through each of the signs of the zodiac. Four times a year, we reach the seasonal cusps. Spring occurs as the Sun enters Aries; summer starts with Cancer; Libra initiates autumn, and Capricorn heralds winter. This "astrologize" for autumn has to do with expressing our gratitude for the harvest of our blessings.

If you don’t have time to do the gratitude box suggested in the astrologize post, let’s take five to do a combo meditation on gratitude and the word “fall.” All truths will be revealed in our oracle word and the Hot Flashbacks alternative to the astrologize combined!


Meditation and Journaling on Fall

Sit quietly in a meditative posture, whatever one works for you. Have pen and paper nearby.

1. Take three deep breaths. Say “fall” to yourself. Let it rest on your mind, then let your mind speak. What does the word fall mean to you? Take plenty of time to let the thoughts form or memories come back to you. Let your memories or thoughts finish speaking. When they are done saying what they have to say, write down their message.
   
2. Return to meditation. Read this thought, and then sit with it in the silence for as long as it feels right: I am thankful for my reverie on “fall” and everything I learned from it.
   
3.  Now let’s focus for a moment on fall as autumn, the season of gratitude: I am grateful for ___. (Make as long a list in your mind as you want.) I will practice living gratefully every day by doing the following ___________.
   
4. When you come out of meditation, look at what you wrote about “fall” and how you’ll create an ongoing attitude of gratitude—a thankfulness practice. Take some time to contemplate it. Carry these thoughts and intentions into your week. Learn as much as possible about your relationship to fall. Write a few wrap-up notes before the end of the week and our next word.

May every fall down help you look up with a different perspective. May every season of gratitude bring you more in your cornucopia and a longer list of blessings.

~~~

Next week’s word: Slice

Photo credit: Young Woman in Fall Leaves © Pinkcandy Dreamstime

Reader Feedback Wanted: Let me know your thoughts on the Word Oracle series.

10 Weeks of Word Oracles: Upper

© 2010
by Joyce Mason
All Rights Reserved


Welcome to #1 of 10 in a new series on Hot Flashbacks, Cool Insights. It was inspired by one of the many books I inherited from my birth mom, Helen. A Gemini, Helen left behind a library that’s eclectic and highly spiritual. The book that caught my eye while I was dusting “her” shelf is called The Book of Qualities by J. Ruth Gendler. The author has made one-page meditations or thought pieces on various human qualities such as power, pleasure, contentment, change, and complacency.

This got me thinking about our playground on this blog for working with symbols, oracles, and the other cosmic hints we look Up for. I knew about random word generators online.

I decided I’d “draw” ten words for us—ten words that would tweak my intuitive skills for insights that would hit home for my readers. It was like drawing a handful of words in a fortune cookie for the readers of Hot Flashbacks, Cool Insights.

Let’s get started!

Upper—Unzipped

A state of high emotions, one of the best things anyone has ever said to me is, “You’re an upper.” A very ‘70s expression related to the drug culture, an “upper” was a kind of pill that made you high—different from tranquilizers and other “downers.”

Ultimately, an upper has become a term that often denotes a natural high. People, places, things—all can be an upper. Up is fun! It’s buzzy. It’s happy. It’s exuberant and sometimes caffeinated. It’s rollercoasters and risk-taking.


Other Uppers

A familiar vacuum commercial called its product “the quicker picker-upper.” You can pick up, stay up, or look Up. The last is another kind of Upper that works for me in my role as docent for a troupe of spiritual explorers. My original slogan for my astrology-plus practice was:

Do you ever raise your eyes to heaven, asking, “How about a hint?” Astrology is the hint and the heavens are the right Source.

I want to be an Upper. A Look Upper. Someone who seeks guidance from the highest source and vantage points.


Up—and Counter Up

The problem with up is its counterpoint—down. The higher you get, the longer the fall. Through my forties, I still liked high drama, especially the high part. I loved intense people, places, and things—and if I wasn’t feeling everything at a high pitch, it didn’t work for me. Over time, my roller coaster life was exhausting, and the long falls hurt. I quit riding actual roller coasters in my teens. It took me till midlife to give up the figurative type, the roller coaster of Desperately Seeking Uppers.

Now I like to skate in the middle between up and down, often well above the midline, but don’t much like living right on the edge. I still enjoy those delicious peaks at times, but more like caviar, not like before, better described as insisting on eating caviar as breakfast cereal. I realize it’s crazy to try to live in a constantly excited state. Letting go of uppers in the extreme was a good thing for me. That leads me to the final segment, offering you your own meditation and journaling exercise on our word for the week. Ten minutes, ten times—voilà! You’ve got a personal book of insights and instructions. Set aside a special journal book or computer file for your oracular explorations.


Meditation and Journaling on Upper

Sit quietly in a meditative posture, whatever one works for you. Have pen and paper nearby.

1. Take three deep breaths. Say “upper” to yourself. Let it rest on your mind, then let your mind respond. What does this word mean to you? Take plenty of time to let the thoughts form or memories come back to you. Let them finish speaking. When they are done saying what they have to say, write down their message.

2. Return to meditation. Read this thought, and then sit with it in the silence for as long as it feels right: I am thankful for the highs in life, but I’m also thankful for the lows. Without the valley, we can’t appreciate the mountain. Life has its ups and downs, and I navigate them with energy and style.

3. When you come out of meditation, look at what you wrote about “upper.” Take some time to contemplate it. Carry these thoughts into your week. Learn as much as possible about your relationship to upper. Write a few wrap-up notes before the end of the week and our next word.


May these ten weeks of words chosen just for you be—an upper!

~~~

Next week’s word: Fall


Photo credit: Roller Coaster © Grisho Dreamstime