3 posts tagged “life”
The dead don't dance. That was the root of the argument James was making as he presented his faux-Japanese proverbs to me. True enough, but, still, I wasn't going to dance.
"Live every day like it is your last," he pressed. "Won't you be upset if you don't spend your last night on Earth dancing?"
"If this was my last night on Earth. I would be dancing," I said. "But not in this place. And not with these people."
James countered, "You not dancing is like placing the sun in a box. It denies us all the warmth. It denies the trees and plants their life."
"And yet, it is still the sun."
"Don't you care about your legacy," he asked.
"I have only two concerns for when I die," I said. "That my parents don't find porn in my home and that I don't leave someone else with my messes."
It's a lie. I have other concerns and they are the most important: I want my legacy to be that I've done more good than harm. That, hopefully, I haven't consumed more than my share. That I have had a positive effect on the living things I interact with. And, while I joked last night that I run from my fears*, if I'm ever in the Defending Your Life scenario, that I'm found not to be a coward when it really counts.
With Molly's "Last Meal on Earth" post and this conversation and some larger life questions that I've been struggling with, you might think I'm a little too focused on the end times. You'd be wrong. I'm always all about the here and now. This moment.
And even if I'm not in the midst of a physical get down, I'm always attempting to maintain that spiritual shuffle ball change.
*The Fears in this instance:
- Crazy white people dance moves.
- That at a party featuring a white couple in ignorant Cholo/Chola costumes,I might at any moment be faced with people in black face or some other nonsense and I'd have to burn the place down.
- That, in the event that the police were called to this event for a disturbance, they'd shoot the lone black man in the corner on sight which, in retrospect, maybe I should've hoped for someone attempting to be "ghetto fab" so as to be effective cover from the po-po.
There are few things more thrilling than having a new house or an empty room to decorate. Our imaginations soar as we consider the many possibilities. In the same way, our lives offer us the opportunity to express ourselves within various contexts, to ask ourselves questions about what we want to see as we move through our days and how we want things to flow. Some people do this instinctively, moving through the various environments they inhabit and shifting the energy with their presence. These people have a knack for decorating life. This can be as simple as the way they dress, the way they speak, or the fact that they always bring a bouquet of wildflowers when they come for a visit.
As we move through the world, we make a statement, whether we intend to or not. We shift the energy one way when we enter a room dressed elegantly and simply, and another when we show up in bright, cheerful colors and a floppy hat. One is not better than the other. It is simply a question of the mood we wish to create. What we wear is just one choice we can focus on. The way we speak to people, or touch them, shifts the energy more profoundly than almost anything else. The words we speak and the tone in which we say them are the music we choose to play in the world that is our home. Some of us fill the space with passionate arias, others with healing hymns. Again, one is not better than the other. We are all called to contribute.
Just as we consciously create an environment within our homes, we can consciously choose to decorate life itself with our particular energy. Ideally, in doing so, we express our deeper selves, so that the adornments we add to the world make it more meaningful, more beautiful, and as welcoming as a beloved home.
- Decorating Life: Viewing the World as Our Home by Phyllis S. Toney via email, 03.07.07
Some things you should know about me:
I'm never serious but I'm serious as a heart attack.
Even when I'm lying, I'm being truthful.
I'm scared of the inevitable which I cannot change and in love with possibility no matter how unlikely.
I talk about you when your back is turned because I'd say the same thing to your face.
I have high expectations of you.
I have higher expectations of myself.
I'm rolling my eyes any time I hear a sentence featuring "can't" or "have to". In everything, you either will or want to. That other stuff is bullshit.
I believe life is easy.
I believe every day is a gift.
I'm less and less inclined to believe I will live forever but that doesn't mean I'm going to stop trying to outsmart death.
You see, Grim Reaper, I'm very resourceful.
Church!
