The Output of Fire

Fire is one of the most therapeutic, fantastic, inspiring elements on the planet (to me).  It provides warmth, light, positiveness, and burns away that which we choose to no longer hold onto.  How awesome is that?!

We sat out by our fire-pit for a couple hours tonight ... so relaxing and lovely.  There is truly something about sitting beside a live fire (not the "fake" gas enabled ones) that simply calms one's senses,  The warmth, the solidness of the logs, the disintegration of anything you happen to throw into it, the beauty of the flames and the glowing embers.  It is truly an organic beauty of an experience.

In work, in school, in family dynamics, in life, are we not similar to the embers and the flames?  There are many moments that any of us is "smoldering" ... figuring things out but not yet ready to let loose.  Then there's the "glowing". So many people "glow" in society but may not realize that they are "warming" those around them.  How unfortunate that they don't realize their worth with regards to everyone they encounter.

The loveliness of the fire and the logs, the dancing flames randomly working themselves through the barriers that might otherwise keep them from the air, which makes those flames further reaching.  How many of us are filled with "fire" to accomplish something, be it a task or job or goal, but in order to achieve that which we desire we must randomly work our way through multiple barriers?  I know it happens to me.  I also know that those dancing, frolicking, colorful flames are similar to the alternative arenas in which I tend to look for "the way through" .... is that true for anyone else?  Is how we look to find a way through situations that may challenge us or stress us indicative of our own colorful personalities?

What about the smoke that rises like ghosts out of what is being disintegrated from something like a fire-pit? What if we took the potential energy of the embers and combined it with the expending energy of the smoke ghosts?  Would it create something unworldly in our minds or imaginations?  Would any of us have the courage to act upon it?

As far as I can see, it's all subjective. Everything in this world is how one actively chooses to view things.  A rainy day can be viewed as a deterrent, or an opportunity to meander in the rain while playing like a happy child in the puddles ... a social media comment that denotes something that goes completely against everything you hold dear can be viewed as a depressant that keeps you up all night, or a challenge to be the better person that helps you look yourself in the mirror each morning ... a voice mail or text or letter that says derogatory things can either cause you to believe you're not good enough, or something that lights those embers underneath you to start a fire flame that simply burns with warmth toward humankind and refuses to put forth ghosts of smoke to blind others in its path.

Isn't it, essentially, up to each and every one of us to determine our reactions to every situation?

Simply my thoughts as I stare at the lovely, warm disintegrating embers of this fire that I enjoyed for most of the evening.  Feel free to come to your own conclusions.

~ The Girl In The Little Black Dress

The Other Side Of Walking For Exercise

It's amazing what you see walking down the street.  I love coming up with stories that could apply to what I accidentally view. Not necessarily people and their antics (don't get me wrong, those are fascinating too!), just the THINGS that I encounter.  I find it fascinating (yes, I'm that much of a geek), to imagine the stories of how and/or why those random items came to be there. 

Today, I walked past a single sock, a crushed plastic soda bottle, an embellished barrette, and a pile of crushed pottery .... all within about 2 blocks. So random, yet so fascinating.!  How does one lose a single sock on a street? Was it in the floorboard of a car and fell out when a door was opened to let out a passenger? Was the person in idiot mode of inebriation and decided that one of their socks was just not necessary? Did the bottle fall out of the car when entering it, unnoticed, and was run over backing out of the parking lot, or did someone get fed up with the universe and simply chuck it out the window? How does a person lose something attached into their hair style and not realize it? Had they already taken it out, placed it in a pocket or purse and it inadvertently fell on the ground? The pile of crushed pottery was large enough to be higher than the puddle it resided in. Was it put there on purpose to fill in the hole in the alleyway,  or did someone get annoyed, throw it upon the ground and crush it for sanity purposes?

As I walked past a furniture consignment store, I noticed a fantastic iron wine rack shaped like a butler, and a 1950s style ashtray painted in rainbow mosaic. What stories could those pieces tell if only they were able to?

Walking doesn't have to just exercise your body, it can be truly, mentally stimulating!  Sidewalk and store window displays, accidentally discarded belongings, the single flower popping out of the ground on a chilly day, the bird's nest visible in a barren tree ... all are stories in their own right. Take a look. You might be amazed at what you see, in spite of yourself.

~ The Girl In The Little Black Dress

To Do, or Not to Do ...

*Yawn* *Stretch* *Purr*

No, you have not just been introduced to my cat ... don't have one of those, by the way. My dogs would eat any cat that dared enter this house, and that would be cruel, unusual, and unwarranted punishment! However, I've noticed that when the weather gets cold, even though there are moments of energy & focus, it mainly makes me want to curl up with a warm blanket, possibly a fire, and snuggle with a good book/movie/show/person/etc (which should explain the feline allusion). Why is that?

I'm normally a pretty energetic person. In fact, I tend to have difficulty sitting still much of the time (ask anyone who knows me). I like the feeling that occurs when I've accomplished things that need to be done or that I just want to do - vacuum the house, paint a room, laundry (yuck) - so why is it that I have to mentally and physically force me to extract myself from whatever cozy spot I'm in to go do what needs to be done?

Is it possible that, even though our species has evolved well beyond our primate ancestors, we still have a touch of hibernation instinct that zooms to the forefront of our consciousness when wintery temperatures descend upon us? Makes mild sense ... even though I don't think that my boss or those to whom I owe monthly bill payments would appreciate my going into hibernation for a couple of months ... Still .....

Maybe the birds have it right. It's always a great boost to travel to somewhere warm when it's cold. Should the life lesson here be to "think like a bird"? Hmmm ... constantly live where it's warm, never worry about how loudly you're conversing with your neighbors, your home is always on the penthouse level of where it's built, and if you ever choose to hide your head under your or someone else's arm your face gets buried in soft feathers. There could be lessons to be learned here .....

~ The Girl In The Little Black Dress