Enthusiasm

"No one keeps up his enthusiasm automatically.  Enthusiasm must be nourished with new actions, new aspirations, new efforts, new vision.  Compete with yourself; set your teeth and dive into the job of breaking your own record.  It is one's own fault if his enthusiasm is gone; he has failed to feed it."

-Edwin Way Teale

I have obviously failed to feed my enthusiasm. But the question is, "What does enthusiasm eat?" I need to find how and what to feed it or else languish in this sea of blah forever!

Our Deepest Fear

"Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness, that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented and fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small doesn't serve the world. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It's not just in some of us; it's in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others."  
A Return to Love: Reflections on the Principles of "A Course in Miracles."

still searching

For some time I've been searching for a local organic farm where I can buy fresh produce. Today I journeyed out to Franklin to check one out that seemed promising. And yet again I was disappointed. They have organic goat, lamb, beef and pig, but very little produce. Those of you who know me, know that I will not eat lamb or veal. I just can't stand the thought of eating those sweet baby animals. I can't even stomach the thought of eating the grown-up versions if I let my mind dwell on it at all, which is why I go through intermittent bouts of vegetarianism. And goat just does not sound appetizing in the least! So it was pretty much a waste for me. But I did manage to get some good photographs...of all the sweet animals before the get eaten! Yikes. And some of the produce and landscape as well. That makes the getting lost and sweating my socks off almost worthwhile. But come on! What does a girl have to do to find fresh veggies in this town?

motivation

Motivation...where to find it, how to sustain it? These are big questions for me as the long hot dog days of summer roll out ahead of me. If only there were a motivation store where I could go and stock up! It's such a fleeting thing. Some mornings I wake up full of it and hit the floor running and others I wake up and just hit the floor! What is the magic secret. Did I sleep better, or have more upbeat dreams on the motivated days? Did I eat better, or exercise? I think all of those are factors. The difficult part is, how do you motivate yourself to eat right and exercise when you have zero motivational mojo working!? Hate those Catch 22 scenarios, don't you?

You Can Do Anything...start taking action

You Can Do Anything
You Believe You Can by Donna Fargo

Just start somewhere. Resolve to do something.
You might even write out what you want to
accomplish. Then explore what you need to do to
reach you goal, and start doing it, step by step.
It's the same as if you were planning a trip: you
get a map, make your preparations, and then start
traveling the right road.

Don't get "bound up" in any problems that stand
in your way. Do something every day to resolve
them. Trust your instincts. Do one thing at a time.
Remember... if you sow seeds of fear, doubt, panic,
and procrastination, it will most likely work against
you. If you keep doing the same things you're
doing now, you will keep ending up in similar
places to where you are now.

Once you start making progress towards your goal,
you will be magically propelled towards eventual
reward. Just keep listening and taking direction
from inside you. Be patient; your dreams will not
come true overnight. But start now, and go with
love and courage and confidence. Don't be afraid.
You can do anything you believe you can. And
don't forget to keep an open mind and heart to
check yourself along the way.

You can do it! Go for it, and good luck.
~ Donna Fargo ~

funk

Well, it's been over a week since I put my thoughts down here. I have to tell you I've been in quite a "funk" this past week. Not really depressed, but more of a feeling of being plain worn out. So I went into recharge mode, doing only what absolutely needed to be done and forgetting the rest. I suppose we all need that from time to time. I took lots of afternoon naps and didn't do much of anything really. Not productive to say the least, but maybe it was productive in some way. Maybe it produced a space for me to breathe and to settle and to adjust. So many things are happening in my life right now, it seems hard to keep pace. So a little down time might have been just what the Dr. ordered.

Beware of Monday

After our wonderful adventure last week with experiencing Nashville as a tourist, we decided we would make this Monday part two of the adventure and check out some of those places we'd passed by on our last trek. It was a good thought, but didn't work as well as we'd hoped.

It all started with the parking delema. We were trying to be economical so we didn't want to pay $15 for a spot to leave the car, while at the same time not parking so far that we would roast in the sweltering summer heat. (I never realized what a parking nightmare Nashville is!) Enter idea number one. Let's park at the Library. I have a couple books I need to return anyway so we can get our ticket validated and go on to our tourist activities. Nice idea right? Well, guess what? The library is not open on Monday, so no dropping off the books and no validating of tickets. OK, we shake it off. It's still the cheapest parking around so we'll leave it there and head out to the TN State Museum under TPAC. Guess what? The museum is not open on Monday! We did not do very thorough research. Oh well! Shake it off. What about the War Memorial Museum? Nope! It's closed too. Apparently Monday was not a good choice of days. Perhaps everyone in Nashville needs Mondays to recoup from the weekends of all night honky tonkin'?

At last, we find one site open- the State Capitol. It is a very impressive building, the tour is free and the big bonus...very cool inside! Jackpot! Did you know there are two people buried in the building? I think that's kind of creepy, but no worries. The grounds are beautiful too with a great statue of Andrew Jackson on horseback. So the day was not a total loss. And after getting home and fixing dinner, we had some cool lemon sorbet. Nothing better after a day of sweating it out like a Nashville tourist in June! If you want to check out Nashville's sites I have one word of caution, "Beware of Mondays!".