Meri's Musings

May all beings have fresh clean water to drink. May all beings have physical and spiritual nourishment. May all beings have a home and sanctuary. May all beings share love with someone. May all beings know their true purpose. May all beings be well and happy. May all beings be free from suffering. Today I will do what I can to  bring this intention to reality.

Think of all the wishes we send soaring each day each time we form an intention and give it wings by making supportive choices and  taking deliberate actions. Wishes have the wings we give them.

It's easy to stalk JoY this time of year. Family gatherings the excited anticipation in children's eyes the near-manic intensity in the grocery store on Christmas eve day (well, maybe most people don't find that joyful) I found plenty of JoY over the past week, mostly in the form of pint-size people. Little Oliver is now almost seven weeks old.  Good as gold. Loves to be upright. Is a good snuggler. His cousin Serenity  got a rush of joy  from holding him. Logan had fun playing with Serenity, finger puppets and hot wheels (which the cats found absolutely fascinating) and then there was the present-opening part. Poor kid has too many Christmas appearances to count, but each one comes with presents. I want to give him Christmas memories  beyond the ripping of paper and the temporary frenzy of things, so I engineered an outing. Last year,  we nearly froze our fingers walking around

Be safe and warm and know that you are loved.

A few tenacious raindrops are clinging  to the scrawny fingers of the vine maple. After winds knocked Douglas fir cones loose from my neighbor's tree (why do they only fall in my yard?) now the smoke from my other neighbor's chimney  is rising almost straight up. It's a fine day, I think, for a splash of color. Color Quilt - created on Polyvore.com/MeriMagic Not my usual submission, and not a series of images, but I'm thinking this might be today's Postcards from Paradise because to me paradise is alight with color.

When there's been a horrific event like that in Newtown or you call a friend and learn that her niece just committed suicide it's hard to focus on joy. But here's the truth: in the face of unspeakable evil, in the face of evidence that we never know what tomorrow will bring we need to  and cultivate all the joy we can. The world needs all the light we can shine. Maybe you've not felt much fresh joy this week. That's not surprising.  But you can still  Share the Joy.  1. do a post that tells and shows what gives you joy. 2. capture the URL of the specific post and paste it into  the Mr. Linky box along with your info. 3. Visit other players and let their joy infect you. Leave them a comment because everyone  enJOYS getting positive feedback. Let's start an epidemic of JOY!

We have been reminded too viscerally of the existence of evil, of the corrosive effects of anger and hatred. There are unfortunate pockets of darkness where compassion, joy, and goodwill cannot seem to reach. All we can do is shine our light, radiate love like a beacon in that darkness. Be the change needed in the world. Say the Metta. Be the  Metta . To do otherwise seems unthinkable. Do it for the children. The ones lost to senseless violence everywhere. The victims of ethnic, political, and religious conflict. The sex trade slaves. The ones without hope. Let your light shine ceaselessly. Love, Meri

"A Candle to Light the Way"  created on Polyvore/MeriMagic she holds a candle elephants march in distance dark storm clouds gather Haiku My Heart

As most of you know, I've got another blog called MeriMagic , mostly dedicated to participation in collaborative blog things. Over the past 12 days, I've posted 12 posts celebrating the Divine Feminine, the Holy Mother, the Virgin of the Americas, in connection with Rebecca's A Virgin a Day. Looking forward to creating something special for each post, to seeing the posts so lovingly created by all the other participants was a treat each of the days. Feeling like each encounter was a bit of girl talk, a conversation about what's important, what speaks to our souls, what feeds our wellspring of joy. So thanks, Rebecca and all of you who participated (and yes, Spadoman, I'm including you in the girl talk-ers, but that's a compliment) you're the JOY I'm talking about this week. What gives you JoY? Please share! 1. do a post that tells and shows what gives you joy. 2. cap

just keep on dancing for the pure joy of it

On this day in 1980, John Lennon was murdered. Assassinated by a deranged fan outside The Dakota, where Lennon lived with wife and muse Yoko Ono and had been a stay-at-home dad  for their young son Sean. I remember waking up to the news and feeling stunned.  Horrified.  I felt stricken,  knowing that all however-unlikely hope  for a Beatles reunion was now moot. It angered me that such senseless acts of violence existed and that this cultural icon's life ended in such a gruesome and tragic way.  It felt so personal. The assassin had ripped a hole in the fabric of my life, tore the threads of melody that sang stories of loves found and loves lost, tales of youthful fascination with things counter to the dominant culture, taking a stance against war and discrimination, in favor of peace and justice. When the Beatles first invaded American shores, John wasn't my favorite Beatle. I'll freely admit to being into cute. . . and cu

I've been writing a bunch recently, and for some reason I started thinking  about my former husband's sister Randi and her fridge magnet. It said Even if the marriage wasn't magic, the divorce can be. It sported the logo of Marie Laveau's House of Voodoo, in the French Quarter of New Orleans, at least I think it did.  I remember it was from a place right near  the Cathedral and Marie Laveau's fits the bill. Since my sister-in-law  never had anything nice to say about her ex, in fact didn't say anything about him at all, I wondered how much help the magnet was in making her divorce magic. I don't know if she tried any other self-help remedies. Now, lest you think of sticking some mean thought pins into an effigy of your former beloved, I've checked and all their voodoo dolls are meant for good purposes. Apparently, you'll have to go elsewhere if you're inclined toward the

Do you ever get tired of  always saying the right thing, of biting your tongue, of not saying anything  if you can't say something nice? Do you ever want to celebrate  your wild child? Let your bad girl out to play (if only for a guilty minute)? "Girls Like Me" - created by MeriMagic on Polyvore.com Whew! I thought it was only me. . .

I find so much sustenance from music. Joy, really. There's nothing like being alone in the car, with That Old Time Rock 'n' Roll blasting, to lift your spirits. Music weaves seamlessly into the soundtrack of favorite movies, but more importantly, becomes the soundtrack of your life. There are those musical events that stand out. Concerts you're glad you attended. The first I remember, one I'm so privileged to have attended, was a night of Dave Brubeck. He died today at 91, a day before his 92nd birthday. He was a legend in the jazz world, becoming the first jazz artist to sell a million albums. His long-time musical partner, alto sac player Paul Desmond, wrote the saxophone melody for the Dave Brubeck Quartet's memorable piece "Take Five," a jazz classic in 5/4 time. The piece became the title song for the album.  I, as an adolescent, fancied myself a sophisticate and intellectual, so o