All is Well

Hot water came gushing back about 9 o'clock last night. I immediately went to work stomping my carbon footprint into the earth by running a load of laundry, the dishwasher, and taking an unnecessarily long and hot shower.

I've got a lot going on for a Sunday. There's an Animal Protection Society (www.apsrc.org) meeting this afternoon where I'm being voted onto the Board. I'm going to dive in and assume Secretarial responsibilities because, frankly, it seems the perfect match for my anal-retentive tendencies.

I'm VERY excited about the work the group has done and is doing. When they formed a year or so ago, GAS CHAMBERS were still being used to kill animals in our county (that's illegal in most states). The Euthanasia rate was close to 90% for animals at the "shelter" -- the tarp-covered building with cement floors where animals were stuffed in not-so-good conditions.

The euthanasia rate is now down around 58%, a new shelter director just came on staff and--best of all--the county has agreed an animal shelter is desperately needed and has put up $800,000 toward the 1.6 million dollar facility. The new facility will have a spay/neuter operating room, seperate spaces for dogs and cats, dog runs for exercise, a "meet and greet" room where people can spend times with animals they're considering adopting and more.

We have to raise $800,000 which is daunting in a rural county already suffering but I have hope. One couple just donated $50,000 (bless them). I think it's possible to raise the rest. So many people understand the love an animal offers and don't want to see animals suffer. Rather, they want to offer them a chance at a real home with people-parents who love them. I think shelter animals know how lucky they are when they find a a forev er home. Any one who's ever adopted a shelter dog or cat always says the same thing, "He/She is the BEST pet I've ever had."

We'll get there. Even if it's one dollar at a time.

Long Day

Woke up to 19 degree weather and no Internet service. Spent over an hour on the phone with Road Runner and issue still not resolved. Pipes in home frozen--showering just became optional. Got a ton of work done on my book but almost none done for clients as that work requires reliable Internet service. (I'm piggybacking on my neighbor's wi-fi right now, but service keeps going in and out.)

My take on the situation? To quote Captain Jack Sparrow, "But WHY is there no more rum?" Guess wine will have to do.

The Art of Chaotic Breathing

Anyone familiar with the book The Artist's Way by Julia Cameron will understand what is meant by the term "Artist Dates." Cameron recommends every artist take time each week to go out--by themselves--and explore a new activity. Being by yourself doesn't mean you wander out into nature (necessarily). What it means is that if there is a play or art show or movie or lecture that you attend it alone, without spouse, significant other, or friends. You're looking to fill your well through these dates. Having new experiences, seeing new sights, and being exposted to new ideas is often missed if we're in our normal rut of chatting with mom or a friend during the event.

So one of my New Year's goals was to keep a weekly artist date with myself. I've made this resolution before--and failed--so I loosened the guidelines to say yes, okay, I can ask a friend or my husband to attend an event with me. Better to get out with a friend than not to do an event at all.

Which is why I asked my friend Melody to attend my first artist date of the new year, a treasure-mapping exercise we participated in last weekend. We created a collage of our goals for the New Year which is now laminated and hanging in my writing room.

Then I received an e-mail notice that a free 5-week meditation course was about to begin in Greensboro. The time was on Wednesday mornings from 11:30 - 12:30. Most people work during those hours so I had visions of showing up and being the only person there but decided to plunge ahead anyway.

Yesterday was the first class. I had to laugh. I was surely NOT the only one there. The class is held in the Leonard Center on Ballinger Road in GSO.  I wasn't familiar with the place but observed it to be a rec center when I pulled in. "Great," I thought. "Seems normal." And it was. The only thing unexpected was that it's apparently a rec center for seniors. So the class was full - me and twenty women between the ages of 60 and 70.

Hey--that's the point of the Artist Date. You never know what you're going to get. (And there were actually 2 women who I would say were close to my age.) The class was different, but in a good way. I use to meditate consistently but let it drop some years ago.  I miss it and am hoping this class will get me back on track.  But this is a different meditation from anything I've ever learned. We're going to learn a new technique each week. Yesterday was "chaotic breathing." Very simply, you breath FROM THE BELLY, eyes closed, kneeling on the floor. The trick is to breath without any rhythm. So you may take 3 long, deep breaths, 10 seconds of quick huffs, one long breath, 5 medium breaths, 2 huffs, etc. We were encouraged to rock and sway and move our body as we did this.

It's more challenging than you might think. The instructor warned we might eventually feel a light buzz and I was lightheaded and dizzy almost from the get go. But after, when we sat a few minutes in silence, I was very calm and at peace. It was an intriguing dichotomy.

I'm going back. I've decided the class will be my artist date for the next month. I'm curious to learn more about the meditation and I like being able to impress everyone in the room with my ability to manuever myself down and up off the floor without any help. (Ha! God will get me for that one.)

And now I'm off to practice my 7 minutes of chaotic breathing. Stay tuned... it can only get better.

"No TV" Taking Hold

Several of you have been kind enough--or concerned enough--to inquire how our month of no TV is going. The answer is really, really well.

I should fess up and admit that our month of no TV is not quite as stringent as I made it out to be. The purpose behind unplugging the TV was to rid us of the mindless channel-flipping that permeated our evenings. We never flipped on the TV intending to watch two hours of The Food Network, but who among us can resist a National Cake Bake Off? We were weak...

So the pact we made is that while we can't watch regular TV with commericals, we are allowed to pop in a movie OR tape a show we want to see and watch it later without commercials. The surprise however, is that after we tape a show and let it sit for a couple of days, neither of us are all that interested in going back and watching it. After having the TV off for a week, we really started to enjoy it. After my Lasik surgery, I wasn't allowed to read or get on the computer for the night but I could watch TV and close my eyes on commercials, so we lifted the TV ban for the night. I watched one hour of Oprah and had a headache. Turned the TV off and haven't missed it since.

I am AMAZED at how much more focus I have, how much calmer I feel, and most of all, how much TIME I feel has been added to my day. I wasn't watching all that much TV before, but knowing I wanted to watch an 8PM show made me rush through dinner, exercise, or whatever so I could be "ready" to watch my show. It's hard to explain, but I feel like a division has been removed from my days and evenings and now there is just a smooth, continual flow of time. We're reading more, talking more, cooking together, and getting more done around the house.

Sure, there are moments where I want nothing more than to throw myself on the couch with the remote but I find if I can distract myself for 15 minutes, the urge passes. Or if the urge is really bad, I pop in a movie.

Overall though, extremely pleased with the "no TV" and plan to continue it. Thanks everyone for checking in. I think the rescue squad may now safely stand down.

Dena