Miracles Are All Around Us, When We Pay Attention

First miracle of today was just watching an unbelievable video:
www.maniacworld.com/are-you-going-to-finish-strong.html.
I will just tell you it's about a young legless, armless man who made the audience (and me) laugh and cry and certainly begin to wonder how much more we can do in our lives!

Yesterday's miracle: a man found me on an Internet site, wrote me a letter achnowledging what I was doing; we met for lunch and sat talking for three full hours. I have never met another person who reflects back to me so clearly the results of my perspective on attention. He is thirty years younger than I am, is black, has a widely listened-to radio show and has won several Grammeys for his editing work. He's also written a book for and about his 6 year old daughter.
He told me a story: One night he was driving on a freeway and his Mercedes car just ran out of power; he managed to glide to an off-ramp and to cross a busy street to take the only remaining parking place. People were going and coming in front of a bar. No one stopped to ask if they could help.

Finally, a homeless man with shaggy blond hair appeared out of nowhere. He asked what the problem was and lifted the hood, said he'd go to look for a mega-sized paper clip and return. He did, wrapped the clip around something in the engine and insisted that they take a ride to see if the car was fixed. It was. They rode around four blocks and my new friend asked his "angel" how he knew exactly what to do...he said he'd been a Mercedes mechanic, had had a wife and child and had had lost everything, when his house burned down with his family in it; he was now homeless and living in a box. Unfortunately, they never met again; the paper clip stayed in place boosting the car's power for as long as he owned it.

Today is my second son's birthday. When he arrived, I thought he was a miracle, for I had been a rather unhappy only child and now my oldest son had a brother.

I am silenced by the awe I feel for the support I receive from The Universe!

My Holiday Agenda Was Full of Movies.

I have to admit I was an avid movie goer during this past holiday season. All of the movies gave me food for thought, showed lots of humanity and brought very fine actors to various depths of demanding roles and gave us some meat!

The needs people have for attention was explored in every single film.

I thought that Milk was terrific and handled an incendiary issue with great respect by showing how well people worked together to gain attention for equality, civil rights and recognition. I felt Gran Torino explored the issue of people of different cultures learning that everyone really has the same needs to feel safe, honored and respected. Doubt certainly provoked much thought and great conversation with others: do we ever feel so totally strong about something that even we can ultimately come to doubt ourselves? Frost and Nixon certainly had me squirming in my seat, as I watched both main actors go through their personal trials.

The French movie, The Class, brought a sense of the real challenge of teaching teen-agers from various ethnic backgrounds, and I ended up having quite a dramatic conversation with a colleague about the teacher's role. I thought the kids were impressive in both their honesty and spontanity.

Last Chance Harvey showed that a rather unconscious man can wake up, grow up and start dreaming again. And Marley and Me brought honest marriage issues to the film as well as the truly emotional role a pet can contribute and demand in a family. Even Jim Carrey's movie Yes, Man provided a theme to contemplate! All in all, it was a very good season. And there were examples of good and bad attention in every film!

I've heard that colds are really unexpressed tears!

I've had the worst cold for the past three days; I actually got it on New Year's Eve, but then I thought I was allergic to something...I've given myself lots of R&R, soup and reading...but all the while I've been thinking about why I needed to get a cold at all.
I've been really upset with the Madoff saga, for I know how much we need generous donors for our various non-profits at this time. That one man destroyed a whole system, practically; the outreach of his greed, "sociopathness" and limited social thinking boggles my mind, and I can't get over his inhumanity to man - that's what really bothers me, and I should have cried about it. They say that people trusted him, they liked to be in his company, they say that he had had a good track record.
Neither his sons nor his brother knew what he was doing. Why didn't the SEC act on some red flags that were presented to them by some financial people who recognized that the numbers didn't make sense. Whatever, whoever???
I still feel like weeping for the values this story tells. Simply, people were not paying enough attention!!!

In the end it's the thought that counts...

The 2008 holidays have come and gone; I am left wondering how many people got the kind of attention they really wanted...Did they get the kind of gifts they wanted? Did they get included in special events and with special people? Did they get to feel that their families really cared about them?
I got a truly thoughtful and special gift from my family this year. Two of my sons, one of my daughters-in-law and my youngest granddaughter sat around my dining table for several hours, while we all plotted out my 2009. What would I need to organize my year? What would it take for me to finish my book, to move part-time to New York? They even gave me homework to do, which I did and sent them for their review...Their gift to me was their time, their sensitivity, their awareness of the kind of support I needed. I was truly impressed, inspired and grateful. And that's a gift which keeps on giving, for I have a view of what I want for 2009 and am organizing it more every day!
I also got wonderful soap and chocolate bars, both of which are very high on my favorites list.
And I gave really good presents this year, for the recipient's reactions were honestly gleeful!

Open Letter to Oprah and Others Who Are Embarrassed about Their Weight!

Here’s an arresting question to ponder. Have you ever been to a memorial? That’s probably a rhetorical question, as we’ve all lost special people in our lives. I went across country once to attend a friend’s funeral, as I wanted to hear a leaderless memorial. People stood up as they pleased and spoke about the relationship they had with the man who died. Some cried when they said that they would continue to miss hearing his voice on the other end of the phone, as he was so supportive and nurturing. Others talked about how they would miss his mentoring, which had meant so much. Some spoke of his caring and consistent friendship. Not one person mentioned his looks, money, how much art he had collected, how big his home was or how many times he had been married. Those things did not matter to the people who had come to pay their respects, to remember him, to share their feelings. The participants came to talk about how much they had cherished their friend and how much they would miss him for his support, his wisdom, and his emotional generosity.

I am writing this, because the older I get, the more it becomes obvious to me that our inner landscape matters much more than how we look on the outside! I saw you, Oprah, on the news and in your own O Magazine talking about how embarrassed you are to have gained back some of the weight you had lost and how mad you are at yourself for "falling off the wagon." I think that you are beautiful at whatever weight you are and I’m sure there are thousands like me who watch you and listen to you. I think that being mad at yourself for how much you weigh is tough for us to hear, for it almost like you’ve dismissed the rest of you.

Where did this cultural fetish about being so thin come from? We’re losing people, younger and younger, boys and girls, men and women, to their eating disorders. Where does our need to be judged by others come from? When will be able to feel good about ourselves no matter how we look or what others think of us? When will we judge ourselves by our kindnesses to each other, by our generosity with each other, by our honest and ongoing inclusion of each other?You have contributed so much to so many. You have triumphed over your earliest childhood traumas, memories and events. You have given countless writers a platform from which to be heard and bought. You have brought families together who would not otherwise have had the opportunity for a reunion. You’ve created movies which have served to enrich the lives of their audience.

You’ve built an especially wonderful school for girls in South Africa. You went to great lengths to give selected young girls the opportunity to learn to be leaders, to acquire an extraordinary education, to excel, to contribute to the future of their country and of our planet. And childhood is where we need to have opportunities to amass successful experiences for approval. Self-approval fuels how we feel about ourselves internally forever and ever. To gain self-approval as adults, we often have to treat ourselves to major healing processes of cleaning out bad attention and others’ bad belief systems.

Oprah, we have watched you, and we salute you for your sensitivity, for empowering future generations, for the positive attention you pay to everything and everyone. And I know you have done much more to support and "cheerlead" humanity than what I’ve mentioned.
Today, particularly, with the tragic financial crisis we find ourselves in, we all have to make changes. We have to learn to spend less, to create more out of what we already have, to rethink our disposable mentality, to nurture our relationships with special time and attention. Wouldn’t it be wonderful if we could truly learn that who we are means more than how much we have or how we look?

Perhaps, this financial mess we’re in will give us the opportunity to rediscover that what really matters is how we treat each other.You have become such a vital, positive role model for our globe. Please know we really don’t care how much you weigh. You radiate interior beauty with which you contribute abundantly to so many who are less fortunate than you. We just want you to keep on keeping on with all your good works and showing us that actions truly do speak louder than words.

I can see through to the shelves again...

What a job...reorganizing my office, getting the creative energy moving again, sorting through over 400 books to see what to save, give away to friends and family, what to give to the local library, what to give to a charitable group and what to quote...Just had to do this, as I could feel the room's energy so stuck that I couldn't write...now, that I've also turned my desk around so I can see out to a gorgeous view, my creative juices are reving up...I want a book out in the Universe, very, very soon......I have created a new paradigm for living called The Attention Factor: A Way to Balance your Life!

Having Too Much Stuff Can Kill Us or Cure Us!

I simply couldn´t stay put in my office long enough to work anymore! I felt as if all the files stacked in various systems, piles of old newspaper clippings, research books I´d used ten years ago, old DVDs, vintage rolodex cards and little scrapes of paper, all this stuff, was taking over and sucking the energy right out of the room. So, I called for help. Several friends heard my desperation and offered to come over to do something; they rearranged the furniture and moved the whole office contents into my living room. Now I had two messed up rooms. First I went into over-whelm; I felt wiped out and debilitated. Then I started looking at titles of some books I hadn´t seen in a decade and made a profound decision. I would not put one thing back in my office, until I looked it over to see whether or not I really needed it, I could use it, it was relevant to the present, or I could give it away.I even created a deadline for this job by inviting six people over for dinner in three weeks, when I´ve committed to cooking. I used to cook. As I began to look at the titles of the remnants of my 100+ cook book collection, I remembered I used to enjoy reading cook books as a way to relax! I loved looking at the sumptuous pictures of food which others had prepared. I smile today when I recall coming to the startling realization that I would never make all the recipes in all my books. I chuckled, thinking that in an earlier chapter of my life, I didn´t think you could own anything that you couldn't use up!Collecting... When did we all develop this need for abundant stuff? I wonder when I started to do that. I know as a little girl I had a few Story Book dolls. I know I had a few but certainly not a collection. I also had books, but not many. Memories came tumbling out of the books I was moving from one place to another and finally putting into various give-away boxes.

Then, abruptly, the day after this Thanksgiving, I heard the news that an employee, who had opened the door to let 5am store shoppers in on Black Friday, had been knocked down and trampled to death. The store´s management wanted to close to stop the shopping, but the people inside wouldn´t leave. They were enraged, as they'd gotten up so early to wait in line.

I am aghast. I am affected. I am grieving for the employee, his family and for all of us. I am paying attention to what's happening. I've realized I have too much stuff and that´s why I´m cleaning out my office. The people in the store were out to get more stuff. We have become a consuming, materialistic nation. We have to have more stuff than the next person. Here comes my soap box again! We eat too much; we drink too much; we own too much; we want too much. We buy too much. When did we start to need stuff more than we need human connection and interaction? The people who saw the employee open the doors had to see him fall and disappear in the crowd. There were additional fights that broke out at cash registers in other stores. I personally have seen shoppers grab articles away from other shoppers, claiming they saw it first and wanted it. Why didn´t some one start yelling and try to hold the crowds back?

Shopping has become addictive and shoppers have become disconnected to each other and themselves, when they need another "fix." Our media world is constantly telling us when and where to shop, what´s going on sale and how much we need to buy. Commercials lull us into believing that when we purchase their products, we will have more love, be more beautiful, have better bodies, attract more lovers, have wonderful, perfect adventures and feel better. I have to ponder: Do we really believe that? Commercials cost huge amounts of money to produce and to air, because they truly do effect our behavior; they work to emotionally urge us to buy!I personally don´t plan to go shopping this season. I have decided to find art objects around my house that have been precious to me and that I now want to pass along to a family member or good friends. Actually, I´ve already started. I had a hand-made angel on my dining room table for years that is now residing in another city, watching over some very good pals. I didn´t even know, when I sent it, that they needed to be watched over! And they are thrilled to have her!


Soon, I will, after considerable laborious work involving lots of decision-making, be able to see empty shelves and space in my office, where I shall revel in the creative energies moving around!