Monday’s Random Thought: Space

The silence between the notes is what makes the music so good, our yoga instructor told us this morning. Thirty of us crammed into our yoga room left that place in a pool of sweat. And despite being packed in, I felt like I had all the space I needed on my little mat.

Space between notes. Silence between thoughts. Stillness amidst action.

Take what you need in this world, give what you can and open up your heart in the quiet to hear and live all the possibility.

When I create the space for stillness, my world is so much bigger. I stand taller in more awareness.

by J.G. McGlothern

Winner’s Circle

My husband proposed to me in the infield of Churchill Downs, 8 minutes to post at the 124^th running of the Kentucky Derby.

Fourteen years and three weeks later, I’m sitting on the couch with our 7 year old son watching Dreamer. We birthed a horse lover. This is not the first time we have watched this movie together. In the film, which stars Kurt Russell, Kris Kristofferson, and Dakota Fanning dreams come full circle.

Risks are taken. And as Sting recently told me when he spoke to me via a radio commercial, Nothing is worth doing unless there is a risk.

In Dreamer the race horse should be put down after an injury but a trainer and his daughter think differently. They take a risk, have faith and believe in the impossible.

Impossible. That’s  what risk takers eat for breakfast.

At the end of the movie of course the horse that had the greatest odds, 80-1, wins the race, proving that risk, faith and believing in possibility can result in standing in the winner’s circle with a wreath of roses.

Winning doesn’t just happen in the movies. We all won’t have an opportunity to train a broken horse to contend in the Breeder’s Cup but we all have dreams that when we dust them off and let the light shine on them, can end us too, standing in our own winner’s circle.

The dream starts small with a proposal from your heart. All you have to do next is say, YES. Like Sting goes on to say, A lot of people approach risk as if it`s the enemy when it`s really fortune`s accomplice.

by J.G. McGlothern

Monday’s Random Thought: Dance Partner

This morning at 6:30 yoga, before the cobwebs had cleared, our instructor said something I needed to hear.

You and your breath are dance partners, let your breath lead.

I noticed how I kept trying to lead. It took lots of practice before I stopped holding my breath or let my breath take me into the next pose. I let my mind take control, instead of surrendering to the great wisdom of my own breath.

This happens in my life even when I have been awake and the cobwebs are no longer in my vision. But I am still asleep to the dance of life, so wanting to be the one to make the first move.

by J.G. McGlothern

I talk more about listening to our bodies in today’s blog on my website, www.mamaneedsarefill.com

 

Monday’s Random Thought: All Dirty

In Seattle when the sun comes, everyone is out. You see neighbors you forgot existed. Uncovered toes, tattoos and white skin flash before your eyes on every turn. We are excited, ready for our dose of Vitamin D and have no problem exposing our flesh. Like a unified rock band we all shout from the top of our lungs, Bring It.

This weekend with the sunshine hot and bright and as abundant as grey clouds in winter, I tossed my long sleeve shirt aside and stripped down to a tank top. I was ready for one thing…to get dirty.

With the sunshine that meant only one thing. Time to plant. No big garden this year but that didn’t mean we weren’t going to grow things. My ten year old daughter and I filled nine pots on our deck. Herbs, tomatoes, orange peppers and flowers. Lots of flowers: salvia, poppy, petunia. Deep purple, bright orange, robust pink. We emptied the soggy old soil and pulled weeds as we prepped the pots for new possibilities.

When we were on the second pot we tossed the gloves aside and both agreed it was much easier to work gloveless. Feeling the dirt drying under our nails with the sun on our backs was energizing and therapeutic on many levels.

The next morning, Mother’s Day, finger nails with a few specs of dirt remaining, I drank my coffee on the deck and immediately noticed the open poppy blossom. Bright orange, petals out stretched to the sun, exposing itself, ready for the day.

Digging deep in the soil, creating something that makes my daughter and me smile, so worth getting dirty over.

by J.G. McGlothern

Monday’s Random Thought: Limitless

Attending the Washington State University Graduation ceremonies this past Saturday I searched for a pen at the bottom of my purse to write down these words from WSU President, Elson S. Floyd, Ph.D….Your only limitation is your imagination.

I didn’t want to forget this quote. A simple message so easy to forget. I have remembered it and forgotten it five times today.

My imagination, like yours I’m certain, is so all over the map that it can hinder me one moment and propel me forward the next.

In those moments of forgetting, those times I let my mind set limits, I need to just get out of the way and surrender to the possibilities. Limitless beautiful possibilities.

by J.G. McGlothern