spare time
spare change

who's got a dime?
life's rearranged

meaningless rhyme
I'm in a cage

And on we spin

Photo by Hulki Okan Tabak

What do you do when things don't go as planned?

Truth is they rarely go as planned.

You have an opportunity to reframe what actually happened.
Seeing it differently can help you move on.
Or you can stay stuck in a " not my plan" loop.

You get to choose.
Like a butterfly choosing its flower.
Isn't that wonderful?

Photo by Gary Bendig

The pain in your knee?
It's coming from your hip.

Easy to focus on the point of pain.
Yet everything in the body is connected.
Addressing the root
Improves chances of making a lasting change.

And the most lasting change of all
Is to our habits... our behaviors.
Most often people stand on one hip.
It causes all kinds of imbalances in our body.
As gravity pulls the jutted hip out and down,
The other hip gets weaker and weaker
One knee caves in
The other knee takes the extra weight the hip deferred
The ankles try to compensate

Our divinely balanced structure is broken
Out of alignment
Gravity has a handle to pull
Gravity wins

Photo by Hassaan Qaiser

Investing in yourself and your future
Taking strides to improve
The self is worth the investment

Enjoying the fruits of your labors
The joys of Mother Earth just as she is
Quiet
Listening

Balancing growth and presence
Stretching your limits
But not too far

Rooted in the Earth
Reaching toward the Sky
Human in the middle

Photo by Karl Beighley on Unsplash

Muscles sore from consistent training
They shout upon sitting and standing

Back awake after being asleep,
They begin to function again as designed

To move easily with power and grace
Fluidity of movement

Like a great wildcat
Ready to pounce on it prey

Bringing its entire body
Into one action

Remembering what I already know
And refining each movement, each breath
One day at a time

Photo by Liz Guertin on Unsplash

"You should have started earlier," she said.
Perhaps I should have.
Not a lesson I am likely to learn in this lifetime.

It's hard to know how long something will take until you are in the thick of it.
All you can do is do your best.
Experience gives reality to scoping the work.
And there are always unforeseen glitches.

"Know thyself."
Give your best guess.
Base it on experience.
Do the legwork to research the job.
If you have little experience, it will take awhile.
Embrace the learning.

Accept what is.

Photo by Rainhard Wiesinger

Working hard with single-minded focus
In the zone where many things get done
Life narrows to a single task
Simplicity

Plow through this part
On to the next step after
The steps are clear

Take a break to walk around a bit
Then back to it
I work in cycles

Life narrows to a single point
The tip of a pencil

Clarity, Simplicity, Persistence
No time for distractions

Photo by Francesco Lo Giudice

Contracting
Expanding

Learning
Teaching

Resting
Running

Dying
Living

The wheel
It turns

The student becomes the teacher
The teacher becomes the student

Round and round we go

Photo by Larry Costales

A time of winter
Activities slow
Leaves shed

I draw inward
Nestled in blankets

Restoring, reviving, regathering

I stoke the fire
Deep within

An ember barely alight
Add fuel a bit at a time

Patiently blow
Coax the flame

Conceiving, creating, commanding

Photo by Adarsh Kummur

The mountain of stuff
Accumulates slowly

It's daunting to see it grow

But just as things were added one at a time
You can remove them the same way
A piece at a time

It is the small steps that matter
Small, but consistent

Day after day
We can change our world
If we decide to

Photo by Tom Rogerson on Unsplash