Monthly Archives: March 2012

Day of Rest

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Amanda on Kind Over Matter shared this video in her Friday’s Lovelies list this week. It’s described this way:

Shot in Fire Island, New York, this film (4min. 23 sec) captures the secrets of eternal youth as Maia Helles, a Russian ballet dancer turns 95 but still remains resolutely independent, healthy and as fit as a forty year old. Made by Julia Warr, artist and film maker met Maia on a plane 4 years ago and became utterly convinced by the benefits of her daily exercise routine, which Maia perfected, together with her Mother, over 60 years ago, long before exercise classes were ever invented. (2011)

The video never shows the ocean, but but the wind, sound, light, worn wood, and plant life make me sure Maia lives in a cottage by the beach. Maybe not within sight of it, but certainly within walking distance. If you added writing and reading, some long walks, and a few dogs and maybe a cat to this video, and it would be exactly the life I dream of for myself when I’m old and and possibly living alone (without another person, that is, dogs and/or cats are essential, so not truly “alone”).

Maia says at the end of the video “My secret to long life is simplicity, work, and enjoyment.” What is your secret to living fully, to having your best life? If you aren’t already “there,” if you don’t yet know, what one small thing can you do today to start the long walk into that dream? Do just one small thing, something simple, even if it’s just to identify what you want and allow yourself to daydream about it, identify it, name it and call it.

You and I, dear reader, deserve the best, a long and healthy and happy life. We are worthy, we deserve it, and we have permission (a duty?) to be our truest self, to live our best life. As the beautiful Mary Oliver, another glorious and brilliant older woman, asks in her poem The Summer Day: “Tell me, what is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life?“

If you really knew me: a list of 31 things

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If you really knew me, you would know that:

I struggle with trusting myself, caring for and loving myself, and I have a bad habit of trying to please and take care of everyone else even if it means I am being hurt or suffering.

I act tough but I am incredibly sensitive.

I seem like an extrovert but am really an introvert who’s curious, who wants approval and appreciation.

I suffer from poverty mentality, don’t think I am enough or believe there will be enough for me.

I have all of these surface level issues, blockages that cause me so much suffering, but underneath, I am wise and compassionate and powerful.

I love big, a love that is unbound, a love that breaks my heart wide open.

I hold a grudge, am judgmental and critical, but I would never hurt anyone intentionally.

I’m glad that dogs can’t talk because if they could, I might find out they don’t love me as much as I think they do, and I couldn’t bear that.

I am obsessed with anything about the Holocaust, went to Amsterdam just to be able to see the Anne Frank House.

I can’t swim very well because I am afraid of drowning, which makes me tense up and start to sink.

I have dreams about being able to fly fight like in The Matrix or Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon.

The only “make-up” I wear is moisturizer and Strawberry Chapstick.

I prefer flip-flops, clogs, or boots to heels or sandals, but I’d rather not wear shoes at all.

I like doing laundry.

Lilacs are my favorite flowers.

I couldn’t live without music—well, I could, but I wouldn’t be as happy.

This is my second marriage.

My two favorite and most read authors are Stephen King and Margaret Atwood, and my favorite poet is Mary Oliver.

I was in theater and two different choirs in high school. I miss it.

I dream about learning to play the ukulele I already own and taking singing lessons so that someday I can be in a band.

I have two tattoos.

I want to be in a flash mob.

I lived in the same house for the first 18 years of my life, and the house I live in now, have for 12 years, has the exact same floor plan and was built around the same time.

I was scared of the dark and being alone until I was 31 years old, the same year I got my first dog.

Letting go of that dog, my Obi, was the most difficult and most loving thing I have ever done.

I prefer mending and keeping old things over buying new ones.

I have two places I consider “home.”

My favorite pastry is a maple bar (unfilled), my favorite ice cream is maple nut, and I love any breakfast eaten with maple syrup.

I would almost always choose staying home in my pajamas and reading a good book over dressing up and going to a concert.

I have Ménière’s disease and Hypothyroidism.

I have wanted to be a writer since I was in the second grade, when I first realized writing was an occupation and therefore a possibility for me. It’s still the thing I want most.