Desert Magnolia

Every day the sun comes up. And with that comes an opportunity to view life with renewed optimism and energy. Today was no exception. I realized that the dark cloud that had been following me dissipated while I slept.  The world itself was the same, in fact a nasty storm had added to the chaos by hammering Louisiana and Texas with Cat 4 forces overnight. But, for some reason, my skies cleared. My breaths deepened, my shoulders lifted, my spirit decided to lighten the hell up. Was it my guardian angels answering my soft plea for guidance through this shitstorm? Was it the endless hours of Qi Gong finally taking hold and settling my nervous system and emotions? Not sure, but something (or somethings) worked. And well. For this I am grateful, for obvious reasons. Today was a day of myriad domestic tasks, one of simple pleasures derived from creating order from chaos.  There was cooking, there was tidying, there was organizing, there was a calm from focus on just those things, not...

For me, suddenly not doing something I've been doing religiously can be the best way to appreciate how well that thing I had been doing, but am currently not doing for whatever reason, has been working. Case in point? The Primal/Paleo diet. In recent weeks I've been busy, stressed, lazy, hungry, cranky, stressed, and feeling like I'm barely hanging on by a thread most days. I've begun to look at that trend of mostly negative stuff to identify factors I can control, because seriously, who wants to be a cranky butt so much of the time? In all fairness to my life, I have complicated it beyond reason, so any deviation from a solid routine can throw things off in a hurry. Lately, there have been several things that have qualified - daughter's surgery; hubby's backpacking trip; school deadlines; and natural hormone fluctuation that has begun to intensify, and which may require much more focus to manage in the months to come. So the stuff that has arrived, unp...