Creator

This is why artists, all artists, from the little and lame (read: me) to the fantastic need to keep creating:

How inventive, beautiful and pure is this?!

http://www.carlwarner.com/otherscapes/

Thought Provoking Question: 9 of 25

Wow, way to smack me in the head with a question my constitution makes it practically impossible to answer, TPQ #9. I hope someone reading this gets to see the day when I stop calculating risks and rewards. In fact, I hope we all do, it's just improbable.

I gotta say here, again, it's time to stop calculating when it's about love...which is really all the time. And much of the time, it's gonna be excruciating to stop calculating personal risk and perceived benefit of loving one another without strings attached, but the thing is, it's always the right thing to do.

There's a girl in Zambia who shares my birthday, and I know her because I am working with a project that provides her community with school supplies, clean water, health care, etc. I wrote her a letter, which I have yet to send her, because she's just four years old right now. But I have the letter waiting, and as I was cleaning up during my move, I found it again and I read it to myself. The synopsis is this:

God's love to you is infinite. It's perfect. It's always there in abundant supply. And if you can give away the love you receive from God to others, it will never be in vain. It might not result in the outcome you might like, but it will always be transformative, for the greater good. Ultimately, it will never fail, and so you need never regret acting out of love.

If I could actually live that, it'd be great. It requires dying to self, and letting the self be sustained by the love I claim to trust in so much. It's a great lifetime feat, and I need to pray for the willingness to pursue it.

Stepping

"...often, stepping outside your comfort zone is not careless irresponsibility, but a necessary act of obedience." - Andy Stanley

Sunday, holy Sunday

And today I don't run or dance at all. Tendons, you are welcome.

Instead, I'm checking out a church in my new area and spending the day in retreat with my singing group. Perhaps I'll get some time to reflect on life too, but that's a bonus. I've actually begun journaling, which is sort of ludicrous considering the amount of self-reflection I do here, but it is what it is, and helps me to deal with the fact that, for all the new activities and opportunities I'm inviting into my life, there are new relationships too, with all their beautiful complications and my accompanyingly endless musings.

Be inspired today. By the little and the infinite.

PS - Just kidding, I ran 10-plus miles today. The manifesting made me do it.

Direction

Today I run six or seven miles in the morning, then spend the afternoon/evening in a spin cycle of ballroom, swing and latin instruction and social dance spanning from three in the afternoon through two in the morning. I am a big proponent of thanking my legs and feet for all the unbearable stuff I am putting them through these days. They are being such champs!

I am not sure how I got here, only that manifesting works. Not in a new age-y kind of way, but in an a matter-of-fact, Andy Stanley "your direction determines your destination" kind of way. Right now I say "yes" to things that keep me active in my body and in my community, so those opportunities keep appearing, and I keep taking them.

I am both a good and a bad committer to things. I tend to get excited about an idea in the moment, and I can really pull out progress in a short period of time. Then my motivation, or more often, my confidence in my ability to continue, flags. Other people help so much with this though. I used to think perseverance was a lonely discipline. The more I realize my community here in Boston, however, I take note of just how many people have pushed me to continue with new goals, dreams and joys. I am so thankful for them, and so pleasantly surprised that I don't actually have to do the heavy lifting of inspiration and taking action on my own.

I'm a slow runner and a counter-intuitive dancer, but I believe those that's going to change so long as I keep opening myself up to a communities that embrace me as I am. With them, I'm committed to the direction of my dreams.

*Happy* Friday

Okay...

...this and the rest of this lady's videos are hilarious. Also, I don't want to online date ever.