My Authentic Path

What I'm Reading

I checked out a paperback version of Daphne Du Maurier's "Rebecca" from the library last week.  I hadn't read it since I was a kid but recently caught the movie version on television and wanted to read it again. It's featured in many writing manuals and textbooks as an example of the ultimate romantic suspense and reading it again I can certainly see why.  The tension and mystery build with each page. We want so very much for the heroine to be happy but there are many obstacles in her way.  We want her husband to be happy as well but he just won't talk to her!  It's a great book and highly enjoyable.  If you haven't read it, pick it up from the library or download it on your Kindle.  I think in both cases they're free.

Sometimes the best things in life are free.

 

 

 

 

Thankfulness - what can it do for you?

Thinking about the nature of thankfulness this morning on this Thanksgiving day.  There is a lot written about it lately, how it affects your brain for the better.  I know it is probably true but I leave the science to those smarter than me.  I know that being thankful, noticing that which is wonderful, even in the mundane, has the power to change your life.  I know it isn't easy every single minute to note the good things.  Sometimes it's impossible not to notice that you're stuck in traffic, sitting in your car, sweating with heated guilt, trying to get to your child's daycare that charges an extra dollar for every minute your late.  That's a tough one.  However, there is your beautiful child that waits for you who will hold out her arms and call you "Mommy", more happy to see you than anyone else has ever been.  Several years ago you didn't have her and now here she is, this miracle of life and love. Now I'm just turning sentimental.   Regardless, you get my point.

I challenge you on this particular Thanksgiving day to think of at least ten big things you're thankful for and ten small things that you "notice".  You'll feel good each time you do it.

I'll share the one on the top of my Big List this year.  My two daughters.  They're 4 and 7 this holiday season and I love them more than I could have ever imagined.  And they're just perfect in their them-ness.  So good.

Happy Thanksgiving.

Zumba class makes me feel like a clumsy ox and it's good for me

They say (the proverbial "they" - we don't really know who that is but it sounds good) doing things that make you afraid is a good thing.  One of those things for me is dancing.  When I was at USC drama school back in the late eighties I got my schedule the week before my freshman year and there it was in black and white, "Theatre Movement".  I thought, how bad can it be?  Maybe we'll have to pretend to be an egg frying in a pan or something like that.  Oh no, it was Ballet.  And there I was - all 5'3" curvy self staring at myself in a mirror that covered every wall.  It was not pretty.  Especially when everyone around me was thin and beautiful.  Even the men.  And I am a terrible dancer.  I have no rhythm for one and I'm uncoordinated for two.  Especially when people are looking at me.  I feel that terrible shrivel up and die thing in the pit of my stomach.  I just want to melt into the floor.

Anyway, I got through four years of dance class and when I was done I thought, never again. Well now here I am in my (clear my throat) early 40's and I still have no rhythm and I'm still uncoordinated. Here's the difference though.  I'm in really really good shape if I do say so myself - especially for a 41 year old. I've worked hard for four years to get in shape.  Oh yes, there are muscles and heart strength that can make me go forever. And the other big thing is - I don't care anymore that I'm not perfect.  I figure this is the way God made me so I may as well do with it what I can.  So I decided to try Zumba.  It's all the rage now, great exercise and supposedly super fun.  Why not, I thought.  I'm always looking for something new.  So I tried my first class a month or so ago. I felt the same as when I was in dance class all those years ago.  Only not quite as conspicuous and hideous as I felt back then . Anyway, it made me sweat and not just because it is great exercise but because it's something I'm not good at. The teacher, who is incredible and also kind, told me I could come early and she'd teach me some of the steps.  It helped.  But I'm still pretty bad. I've got the steps for the most part but I don't look particularly graceful nor like I belong there.  And I very often feel like that scared kid I used to be in theatre school.

And guess what?  I think that's really good.  We have to keep trying things that make us sweat.  It helps us feel alive.  And also, when you finally get that "box step" for the first time it feels pretty darn awesome!