Time just won

It’s funny how lines are drawn and dots are connected in unexpected ways, isn’t it?  I recently saved a Word doc with the title ‘Time just won’t slow down’ and it showed up as the title of this column, ‘Time just won.’

Huh.

This is the constant battle, isn’t it?  Don’t we often feel like we’re racing the clock and always under deadline and always running out of time?  I know the feeling very well.

It helps me to take a deep breath and try to remember that where I am right now is exactly where I need to be, and to enjoy the journey.

And I do love this journey. I feel like I’m on a path of constant wonder and discovery and I see no end to it.  I love this life.

One night last week, we headed downtown to the alley behind Kirk’s Hardware just as it was getting dark.  As the light faded from the sky and we commented what a gorgeous night it was, grateful for the lower temps, talented photographer Ernie Mills shot photos of my friend Lynn Spencer-Nelson and I lighting up the night sky with our LED hoops.  Music spilled out from my ipod as we spun our lights around each other, laughing and feeling so comfortable and so completely in our element with our circles of light. 

We even drew a little crowd of onlookers, who watched from their apartment window and then came out into the alley.

Time seemed to stand still while the minutes ticked away as though they were seconds.  Here we weren’t in a battle against time, but completely immersed in the moment and in complete love with it.

And this is what it’s about I think, finding a passion and a talent that you love so much that you lose yourself, in the case of Lynn and I—in our hoops—and in the case of Ernie—behind the lens of his camera.  We won.

Creating a female counter-culture

At my bookclub we often sound off about issues.  It never fails, each meeting we either get pumped up about a topic the author brings up or go off on various tangents. The conversations are always interesting and enlightening, and I’ve read some interesting perspectives on the particular topic that came up at the last bookclub several times over the past few months, so I thought I’d bring it up here.

            The topic? PMS. But even more than that, the necessity of calling up the soul, which is so important for a meaningful and creative life.

            So, how did we get on this subject?  In the book (yes, in our bookclub we discuss the same book every month!) the author wrote about the importance for women to ‘converse with the wild feminine’—to take a little break from the world and have some solitude.  The author laughs when she hears the claim that women were considered by some anthropologists to be ‘unclean’ and forced to leave the village once a month. “All women know that even if there were such a forced ritual exile, every single woman would…leave the village hanging her head mournfully….and then break into a jig down the path.”

            Women often feel more intensely around that time, and in fact senses are heightened and tears often come more easily. Yes, we may get edgy and irritated, but this is because we feel so deeply. We aren’t ‘weaker’ because of our emotion, we just don’t see the world like men typically do. Men generally see the world more linearly and women employ more circular logic and rely more on intuition and emotion.

            Sheila Kelley writes “I believe that this ‘emotional irrationality’ is nothing more than the deep connection that women have to the vulnerability of humanity. It’s empathy.  To be blessed with empathy is one of the greatest gifts on Earth.”

            Labels like PMS are often negative and dismissive, but feeling so deeply isn’t a bad thing.  We can create our own female culture and propel it forward through a positive spin on ‘PMS’ and take our emotion and channel it into something good for us and for our souls.  Which brings me back to solitude, to carving out a simple place for yourself to escape for a bit—a little intentional solitude. It doesn’t have to cost anything—just a little time and effort. It’s vital.

Hooping for a Cure at Forest Park Sat. Aug. 13 and Festivale Sat. Aug. 20

from 430-630. I'm going to be hosting this hoop jam to raise money for a cause near and dear to my heart--the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation. I'm asking for a $10 donation per hooper, and hoops will be provided!  Then the next weekend, I'll be in downtown Indy at Festivale (with my hoops!) for the CFF.

See here for the hoop jam info and here for Festivale info.

If you can't attend and want to donate, please do so below. Thank you SO much.