March 17th, 2017

Instructions for surviving    M A R c h   MaDnesS.


We are all UPSIDE DOWN.  Gravity assures that we barely notice this.   

I remember standing on a chair to review my drawing when I was eight years old, because my teacher told us ''to take a break, and to look at your work from a distance. Change perspective,” sage advise that should be followed, no matter what kind of work, to this day.

And I still love standing on chairs.  MOST especially in staff meetings.

It can be very bouncy being an inhabitant of the mind.

I say,
        dig like a thick legged chicken,
                                          and confess your regrets to the   
                                                   earthworms;

dance  like  a   s h o o t i n g    star,

stare into the deep brown eyes of a cow, see all sentient beings for their struggle and sweetness.

     Drop kick judgement to the next stratosphere,
                 (the curb ain't near far enough )


Blow some  b u b b  l e  s---


Stare at the best painting you can find for hours.
Let it come alive for you. Imagine painting it.


        Unplug from everything.       EVERYTHING!


Scream into the wind—wearing a dramatic scarf and goggles, so you appear  as a cartoon character with it blowing lyrically behind you.

Spend the night sleeping in the forest, listen to how alive it is. Scare yourself silly. Speak with the owls, frogs and racoons.

W A I T.

Be patient.   Be still.   Breathe slowly.

Allow an animal to nap on you until they move. Cherish the tenderness, the trust.   The bond.

Swallow the great beauty of blossoms like the last visual f feast you will ever see.

Be useful out there but don't stress yourself out doing it.

Be kind to others, (it's a given) and see how this showers you with multiple rewards, namely, entrance to nowhere when you die but maybe a clever or well meaning epitaph.  No, Let's just be kind because it's good to be, no other reason required.

If you are edgy, restless, irritable, dry and tired under winter's itchy coat; still waiting for ice to melt, a north wind to stop slapping insults at you,   W A I T.

This too shall pass.    Until then, moisturize.

And when the blossoms do arrive, you too will be blessed with the wakening world, once again, the primordial wisdom, tireless intelligence of nature, the  reverent resilience that offers us hope, over and over, and over again.

(and we need hope now more than ever!)

Be the best version of you.  Even if you have no understanding of why, what difference it makes, and how many other people seem to do it all better, faster, smarter, it doesn't matter, because they are still not you.   And cannot be. 

And we need all the birds to sing.


We need everyone's voice, if we are going to make this planet better.    AND, that goes doubly if you are a woman, a child, a minority, one-legged, deaf, schizophrenic, labelled and categorized in any external and offensive way, too fat, edgy, alternative, grumpy, gay, freakish, electric blue, old, poor, disempowered, hairy or sin ugly,    just share your song.

                                                     I think we must.


And together, we will find spring. We will come back to life.     We will   re awaken  together.


Our blossoming will be magnificent.