Christmas 2020

Saturday morning, early, driving to breakfast shared with family and friends,

I saw trails of dangling Christmas lights shining through the morning darkness,

and it nudged that spot in my brain that brings back past wanderings

taking me to Mississippi on a backcountry road riding to a place

that once brought anticipation and joy

though those days are past, ending sadly.

Christmas lights, the only rays in the darkness of that countryside journey.

Back to Christmas 2020 which brings us a contrast of dark and light,

goodness and what? 

What is that filling the air with sorrow and crying? 

What is that swelling our hearts with laughter and joy?

 It is Christmas 2020. The end of a strange year.

Extreme as it may seem,

it is still just a year of life and death on an earth filled with darkness so necessary;

for without it, we would never know the light.

Peach. Love, Linda

American's Self-esteem

 I don't even want to write this because I will have to think, and it is much easier on this slow day to sit scrolling through my Facebook and checking, irrationally, on the internet every five minutes for a Biden win. You know the page, the one that is frozen in time and space. However, this is the result of a 4:45 brain wake-up call, so I think I have to pay heed and attack the thoughts that are developing in my head on the subject of American's self-esteem.  We have a problem.

If I were still in my early twenties, I would not know we have a problem because I did not know I had a problem. However, due to hardheadedness and a strong voice, I have learned much about self-esteem. Those lessons accelerated because I put myself in many situations that forced me to realize that  I am not always "all that", and I don't have "all the answers". It has been humbling, to say the least, but it has, also, built into me a stronger and more peaceful character. I like to think those characteristics are a product of strong self-esteem and not pure narcissism. I always say there is a fine line between narcissism and confidence. This sounds very personal, but my personal lessons when ratcheted up to a national scale bring me to my point about Americans.

A multitude of Americans have a self-esteem problem. We have been sold a bill of goods through media of all sorts that has chipped away at our self-esteem for as long as I can remember, which is about sixty-one years. We have put our sites on the accumulation of wealth and "stuff" and compared ourselves and found ourselves lacking if we do not measure up to whom we used to call "the Jones's". We have let educators tell us that if we do not comprehend Algebra or we take five years instead of two years to learn to read, we are somehow lacking. We have idolized movie stars and now real TV actors and football players and basketball players and everyone in the fields that make money in overwhelming quantities without realizing how incredibly valuable our public servants are at ALL levels and that value should be reflected in a fair monetary reward at all levels.  We have devalued essential workers who run this country that may have never stepped foot into a college and never will. It is necessary to have flagmen on the highway during construction and someone to pick up our garbage on a regular basis and LPN's and janitorial crews and bartenders and service staff, and I am going to stop because the list is too long for multiple pages. We have somehow decided that it is far more "valuable" to shoot a basket with a flair than to remove waste from a community or clean trash from the ocean. That valuation we have entrenched into our souls at every level has led to an American epidemic of low self-esteem. I am not at all saying that individuals are not responsible for the outcomes of their lives, but I am saying that as a society, we have let ourselves down tremendously by misplacing our value system and therefore displacing our incredible human resources.

What happens to people with low self-esteem? From my personal experience, I can tell you this. They tend to make less wise decisions. They tend to attach themselves to "saviors"; they tend to follow instead of lead; they tend to put themselves in abusive relationships without a clue as to their self-motivation, and they tend to idolize and be fooled by thoughtless individuals who use them and then cast them aside.  Only then do they pick themselves up and start the cycle all over again. 

It sounds terrible to think that we are in this position as Americans, but it is not terrible at all. It is human. It is why we are on this journey. I am thankful for my foolishness because it taught me wisdom. It is why "earth school" was given to us as part of our journey, and most importantly, it is why we can overcome and grow from each hurtful episode we both deliberately and inadvertently step into. At the end of each episodic failure is an outpouring of Grace just waiting for us to grab hold. For that Grace, I am eternally grateful, and because of that Grace, I know Americans can move forward from this day with boldness and wisdom and thoughtful collaboration. We can make our future bright and strong for our children and their children and...

Peace. Love, Linda

The Universe Knows Justice

I'm always looking for the float that was swamped to come back to the top of the water, and I feel incredibly lucky to be wired that way, but this year is a tough one for anybody who doesn't radar in on buoyancy. It's not only the pandemic that makes life stranger than normal and curtails all kinds of things we call "fun"; it's, also, the chaos that filters down from the top of our country into our living rooms oozing out of our televisions and computers, day after day. It can swamp anyone if they let it, but don't let it. 

Soothe yourself with these thoughts, if you like. The bizarreness and the chaos of 2020 had to happen for the BIG swamp to drain. A call to the universe went out loud and clear to drain the swamp in 2016, so with that much energy behind the noise, the swamp, as we can see on multiple media fronts, had to be drained because the Universe listens to loud noise, and the Universe knows justice. I say that for those who feel anxious and dismayed about the turns of events on a personal and national scale in their lives at this time, and I say it with true conviction; therefore, it will come to be. I am calling that faith, not obnoxious cockiness, a benefit of being the author. Justice will prevail. If you want to chant with me at this time, I won't tell anybody. "The Universe knows justice!" Justice is just around the corner!" "The Universe knows justice!" ...

The surprise for many will be the outcome of the universal response. "Justice" will not look the same to everybody. Freedom from chaos will not look the same to everybody. Partly because, as a nation, we seem to have developed an obsessive love of drama and dramatic figures which often blinds us to the "knowing" that wisdom comes in silence, and some will even think when justice is served that all is lost. Oh, well, sometimes those tides just turn, which brings me to another thing I believe the Universe knows, it's nice to take turns. 

This may seem silly, but it felt good to write. Also, I am sharing a picture I took this morning of a small creature on a "relatively" large trailer I was pulling out of the shop. It seemed to have enjoyed the ride. I wonder if it thinks an aluminum trailer is "the universe."

It's ALL relative. 😁 

Peace. Love, Linda

A Blank Page

The page is white,

so what to write?

Just leave it blank.

It looks so bright.

Just make it quick

with lots of space

and not many words

to fill this place.

Just leave it clean

without much clutter.

Ah, yes, refreshing.

Sometimes the 2020 noise seems too loud. Be still, and have a nice day. Peace to those remembering. Love, Linda

The Rising Popularity of the "H" Word

I didn't understand while I was growing up that I lived in a household that was very much like other lower-middle-class families' households in the '60s, but very different in one significant and life-altering way. My father was strong, loving, and hard-working. He cared for us deeply. Mama loved us, too, but she had something going for her that was a rarity then and especially now. Mama had a deep-seated understanding as part of her faith and her past, that words had great power, not only in meaning but also in their effects on the outcome. 

Mama realized that words came from thoughts and thoughts generated action. I can still hear her voice breaking into our conversations with the words, "that's not a lovely thought". She said it more with an informative tone than one of chastisement. That voice of clarity started when we were young and followed us into our adulthood. We often laughed it off, but it stuck to us like glue. Even looking back on it, I don't view it as thought control. I see Mama teaching us a hard-learned and often never acquired lesson that we are in control of our thoughts and our words. Both matter deeply in how we perceive and deal with the world.

Mama taught us how to change our sentences to kinder more loving ideas. She turned phrases such as my use of the term "mister mean" into "mister strong". She took "cuss" words off the table completely and much to my sister Mary's and my mirth one evening, she would not put the letter "F" in front of "art" to get a triple word score during a game of Scrabble. It was "not a lovely thought." She did not just preach it; she lived it. 

Some commonly used words in our house were forbidden, at least in the presence of Mama; we were not perfect kids all the time. We were not allowed to use the phrase "shut-up", and we could NEVER say "I hate you!" In our house, the word hate was the "H" word. I think that is why I take issue with seeing it used far too often today. It has become part of what I call "slogan" thought:  if you are not for us, you "hate" us. If you disagree with me, you "hate" me. I am not naive enough to believe that some people do not harbor hate. However, maybe because of Mama's lessons, I wish we would change those statements into something more positive and leave the "H" word out of our conversations completely. I learned from Mama that the words we speak repetitively do shape the outcomes in our life, and our world right now needs to see in writing and hear a lot more spoken words of love and a whole lot less "H".

Peace. Love, Linda

Don't Kill the Doves

      In the last two days, I have been struck by the fact that, as of this morning, three times I came upon a dove in the road in front of my car. Each time I had to slow down, and this morning I had to come to a full stop so as to not hit the dove before it timidly decided it should fly away. I am not sure if this is random, and my vivid imagination is making more of it than it should, or if it means something in some strange way only the universe knows at this time. Whatever the reason, I feel compelled to write this, "Don't kill the doves."

Doves need a little more time to make decisions. That's OK. Be patient with them. If not, and the doves are killed senselessly for anything other than to feed the hungry, the world will be bereft without that mournful but lovely sound they make after a hard rain or just when the sun has risen on a hot, summer morning. Maybe, more importantly, our metaphor for peace would be destroyed. Too much that is good is being destroyed these days. Now more than ever, pay attention to the road ahead, and don't kill the doves.

Can you find the dove?

Neither can I. 😄

Peace. Love, Linda

Sitting on the Apex

 Sometimes we are sitting on the apex looking things over and feeling as if we did it. We made it to that place that just feels right. The sky is blue. The world is busy, and we are it. It is a good feeling everyone should experience from time to time. However, it can become a dangerous vantage point if we ignore the 360 surroundings because our vantage point becomes "the point".

As a matter of fact, while sitting at the top, looking at the blue sky ahead, there may be tremendous outcomes, both good and bad, going on behind our backs that we are missing. That tends to happen on the "we are it" perch. We are living a turning point in the history of the United States of America that is both terrifying and magnificent. It is not necessarily the ones that are suffering the negative effects of this turning point that will forget their patriotic duty this upcoming election. They are desperate for change and looking for an alternative answer. They are protesting in the streets and crying out for justice. It is the ones on the apex, the ones in the feel-good spot that need to watch and listen and turn around and inspect this nation with full focus. Otherwise, our apexes may disappear, and we won't even know what happened.

Vote Biden/Harris in November. Peace. Love, Linda

BAM!

     A regular customer of mine came in this morning hobbling on crutches. His foot was in the healing stages after having been pinned and stitched back together. He was in good spirits, but if he had not been such an accomplished driver, I may have never seen him again after his harrowing mishap. He was coming home from Melbourne on his motorcycle on a dark, country road late at night. He was riding 80 MPH. He maneuvered a curve and BAM! A wild boar ran into the side of his bike. If you have seen a grown, wild, Florida boar, you know it was as if he hit a bolder running on legs. Thankfully, his story ended well.

     I felt that BAM! myself a few years ago when I hit a deer, or I should say, a deer hit me on Narcoossee Road early on a Saturday morning. I, also, felt it in the middle of the night on election night 2016. For some reason, I woke up sometime after 2:00 AM. I had watched the election as late as I thought I should since I had to get up for work quite early the next day. I felt an immediate desire to turn on the television and see what had happened while I slept. I got out of bed, and the computer screen on my desk in the bedroom flashed brightly for some reason and then went off. It cast an eerie feeling over me, and I hurried to the living room to turn on the television. The results were in and BAM!; I immediately felt ill.

     Donald Trump is in his final year, and I say that because I believe with all my heart Americans have had enough of his crassness,  his cruelness and his total lack of knowledge toward the hardest job in the world. I believe we will turn out in droves to vote him out, and I believe we will heal from this superlative mess he has spoken over us. We will come out stronger and wiser than ever because good rises up out of chaos and BAM!; we WILL be on the path to recovery! Thankfully, our story will end well.

Peace. Love, Linda

On the Path to Recovery

Why Alphabet Soup?

Do you remember eating alphabet soup? Little pasta letters floated in a red, soupy base. I think there may have been a few little carrot squares, but I don't remember that. I just remember the little pasta letters floating around. Someone decided it was a good idea to build machines to cut out pasta in tiny letters and put it in a can of soup. 

Letters were not enough. Someone, also, decided to make pasta stars and that became part of a soup. I don't remember eating stars, just letters. Why is this important? It's not. It is a distraction, noise, trivia from my past, but harmless. Not all distractions are harmless. Watch out for dangerous distractions as this election gets closer. 

This election, in my opinion, is the most important voting opportunity in my lifetime. I truly believe that if we let Donald Trump have four more years, he will sell us out to every strongman in the world and build himself a power position that we may not be able to dismantle because our democracy will be dismantled. Alarmist? No. Realist. If you believe what the Bible says and most any religion says in there own vernacular, "You reap what you sow." We are, right now, feeling that chaos from our choices as a nation, and we are "reaping the whirlwind" of Trump's callous decisions.

I am confident we can change this because I have an overwhelming belief in grace, but our choices matter now more than they ever have.

I am signing off for today, but not without saying this: whatever you do in your life, whatever is happening whether it be sickness or health, hardship or wealth, please go out and vote for Joe Biden this fall. Our democracy needs you. Don't let letters and stars get in your eyes. Look closely at the outcomes of Trump's choices and his countless scandalous decisions. Then, cast your ballot. See you at the polls or the post office. Either one will do. They are both valid ways to be heard.

Peace, Love, Linda

HEED THE SIGNS!

There are many lovely images in the world to bring us peace, but when the earth gets warm and somehow icky, we forget to stop and breathe them in. It is vital we do not forget to look for peace on earth. In spite of seeking calm and striving for that buoyancy that brings us up from our downs, it is difficult to not, at some point, feel the sadness and the loss. This poem is not a happy poem. It is expressing loss, but once you have read it and understand it or just say, huh? let it go, if you share my sentiment, and reconnect with the natural beauty that surrounds us and heals us, if we give it, at least, a moment of our time.

Mad Cows

Stewing in your mad cow gravy,

slicing off a piece of white bread toast,

turning from your friends that raised you,

leaving us behind who loved you most,

slapping on a cuff of opposition,

bowing to the death of savoir-faire,

singing in the choir of full submission,

donning your red cap and golden hair.

Where are those young hearts that beat out laughter?

Who is that Strong Man who stole your soul?

Why is this the way we raise the rafter?

When will we all see the Holy Ghost, 

beckoning the crowds with ethereal fingers, 

nodding with a smile

he'll raise a toast.

Then the mighty man will turn defeated,

tripping up the steps

then to the sky,

signaling to his host of opposition,

my work is finally done

and so am I.

That's the day the clouds will host the angels dancing.

That's the day we'll see the demons cry.

Peace. Love, Linda

Nonessentials

Your life long dream, a flower shop
or maybe a gym to keep us trim.
Your passions flow you build your place.
Your business grows.
You feel its grace,
and then the world shifts left
then right.
Your work is stifled by government might,
and all you've done to ease man's plight
is given a name to dim the sight
of all you've done so good and right.
Today you awake to a new credential.
You've become a nonessential.

My thoughts are with those mourning the death of a business. The impacts will affect millions in a tragic way. There is no clear answer, but
we will figure this out one way or the other,
hopefully, with wisdom.

Peace. 
Love, Linda

Life Moves On

Trill me a song little mocking bird,
trill me a  song today
as I push my broom in the parking lot
and swish the leaves away.

Your note is loud and oh so clean.
You rule your nest like an iron queen.
Florida, once a state quite smart,
made you "our bird," a symbol with heart.

But now we tout a bird of prey,
a mighty bird the great osprey.
It soars aloft and builds its nest
so high above all of the rest.

Its beauty bold as we watch it fly,
it spreads its wings and owns the sky,
as somewhere in a tree nearby
a clear, sharp note begins to cry,
and the mocking bird says its goodbye
as I search the trees and I really try
to stop and breathe.
And then I sigh.
And life moves on and we're not sure why,
and life moves on,
and birds will fly.

Peace. Love, Linda

Pandemic King

Look to the sky.
It still spreads blue.
Look to the moon.
It shines on you.
Look to the east, then turn toward the west.
Cirlce around,
and cross your chest.
Stand on your left foot,
then on your right.
Hide your face; it's day,
now hide your face its night.
Wash your hands and sing a song,
make sure it's not too short or long.
Touch your fork but not your face,
and don't touch me, for goodness sakes.
Cough in your elbow, but not in the store.
Blow your nose then run out the door.
Eye your neighbor with judgement and fear.
Bash all millenials and hide through the year.

But wait, what is happening that all is awry.
A virus is loose, and the news says to cry.
A virus is loose, and small businessmen sigh.
A virus is loose, and the King says we'll die.
But don't ask me questions,
I know not to speak.
This virus is novel.
It makes the world weak.
The king says we're winning,
and that's all that matters,
so jump up and down
as the world falls in tatters,
and stop living life
or you might loose your breath
and stop living life,
to keep you from death.

Linda Oliverio, Sharing things I've been thinking

A Life Well Lived

Sunday mornings, I often find myself watching a segment Willie Geist presents called, "A Life Well Lived". The stories are heartening of the accomplishments of a wide range of individuals who have charted a path that left an indelible impression in the world of music, business, acting, writing, and more.
I like the segment. The tributes are lovely and appear to be well-deserved honors at the time of their deaths. 

Then comes Monday, and I mow the grass and buy groceries and clean the house and cook supper and maybe bake some cookies. That is followed by Tuesday when I reopen the repair shop for the week, and this time of year in my spare time, I find myself sweeping winter oak leaves out of the parking lot to make sure the building looks clean and presentable to our customers and renters. I have a loud blower, but I would rather sweep.  I find myself in quiet thoughts as I sweep, and I find myself flooded with appreciation for the simplest activity that reminds me how closely I am tied to the seasons and the concrete and the humanity that flows in and out of my life, and I am thankful. Thankful that I have, in my eyes but maybe not the worlds, so much to care for and nourish. I am thankful for my family. I am thankful for my past choices, both good and bad, that led me to this place, and I am in awe of a God who speaks to my heart through a ratty, black broom and a pile of oak leaves. I think I can say, I have a life well-lived. I wish I could share that peace with everyone. 

Find solace in this day. There is good all around you. Open your eyes to it.
Peace.
Love, Linda

Brighten the Corner Where You Are

In our challenge to give life meaning, many now turn more to media for guidance than to spiritual endeavors. There are some legitimate reasons this switch has occurred, but it appears it may be more to our detriment than good. For some reason, we have decided that if our life is less than the glamorous life shown us on Facebook, the movies or the news, we have somehow failed to live a meaningful life. We believe that ascribing to greatness must mean an abundance of likes and more clicks than our friends and family, which have strangely become competitors. Blah, blah, blah. It sounds as if I do not believe in aspiring to be a star. If that is your calling, go for it, but don't feel that it is your calling because someone else says it is. The majority of people on this earth live relatively simple lives, and many of them who were remembered for greatness posthumously, barely made a ripple in the puddle of their time.

In our quest for meaning, the earth, it seems, has become more frightening to both humans and animals.  Although, I am sure a dinosaur would scare the heck out of me! In our country and many others, we presently have chaotic, untrustworthy and even evil leaders. Oh, wait, we have had those in the past. Stability seems out of our grasp, literally for many, considering the number of earthquakes, fires, and storms. Oh, we have had those in the past. Animal species are dying at an incredible pace, what dinosaurs?, and in some countries, people cannot breathe the air where they live without a mask. It sounds horrible and overwhelming. However, the world has always been riddled with problems. That is because humans supervise it.  And, because we made this mess, we can fix it. We have all of the answers inside us and Grace to guide our path. I like to think of a little chorus from a hymn Mama used to play on the piano. We sang it in church years ago. The words may appear stodgy and jaded, but it is a lovely thought. It is how we begin the process of fixing the messes we have made, and we all have the capability of doing our part because it is simple, "brighten the corner where you are." God will do the rest.

Peace. Love, Linda

1. 
   
2. 
   
3. 
   
4. Brighten the Corner Where You Are
5. 
   
6. Do not wait until some deed of greatness you may do,
   Do not wait to shed your light afar;
   To the many duties ever near you now be true,
   Brighten the corner where you are.
   • Refrain:
     Brighten the corner where you are!
     Brighten the corner where you are!
     Someone far from harbor you may guide across the bar;
     Brighten the corner where you are!
7. Just above are clouded skies that you may help to clear,
   Let not narrow self your way debar;
   Though into one heart alone may fall your song of cheer,
   Brighten the corner where you are.
8. Here for all your talent you may surely find a need,
   Here reflect the bright and Morning Star;
   Even from your humble hand the Bread of Life may feed,
   Brighten the corner where you are.