“May your life be like a wildflower, growing freely in beauty and joy each day.â€
– Native American Proverb
It has been a weekend of celebration, Canada Day, Independence Day, a good friend’s birthday (Happy Birthday Vicki) and 13 years of sobriety for me. I am reminded of all the women struggling with and recovering from addictions; addictions to alcohol, drugs, perfection, caffeine, work, food; the list is endless. In a workshop I attended, we were asked to identify the most courageous person we know. I thought then, as I do now of all the courageous women taking it one hour at a time, one day at a time, one month at a time to consciously live a life of serenity and freedom from addictions, whether their own addictions or that of someone close to them. These are truly positively outrageous women!
“God, grant us the serenity to accept the things we cannot change, the courage to change the things we can and the wisdom to know the difference.â€
-Â The Serenity Prayer
Yippee, it’s Summertime!
“Who made the world?
Who made the swan, and the black bear?
Who made the grasshopper?
This grasshopper, I mean–
the one who has flung herself out of the grass,
the one who is eating sugar out of my hand,
who is moving her jaws back and forth instead of up and down–
who is gazing around with her enormous and complicated eyes.
Now she lifts her pale forearms and thoroughly washes her face.
Now she snaps her wings open, and floats away.
I don’t know exactly what a prayer is.
I do know how to pay attention, how to fall down
into the grass, how to kneel in the grass,
how to be idle and blessed, how to stroll through the fields,
which is what I have been doing all day.
Tell me, what else should I have done?
Doesn’t everything die at last, and too soon?
Tell me, what is it you plan to do
With your one wild and precious life?â€
– The Summer Day, by Mary Oliver
7 things you can do right now to bust loose!
* Go berry picking and enjoy scrumptious sun warmed fresh berries.
* Plan a skinny dipping adventure.
* Play beach volleyball, lawn badminton or paddle ball. Remember the exuberance of summers as a kid!
* Do the thing you always say you will do in the summer but have never taken time for!
* Spend time screaming every day, maybe on the rollercoaster, maybe with laughter, maybe while watching a classic scary movie. Open your mouth and really let the sound out!
* Sign up for the, Positively Outrageous Women’s Retreat to Mexico, Jan 13-19, 2008 (go to www.positivelyoutrageouswomen.com for more info)
* Take time to garden, dig around in the dirt and visit with the “other inhabitantsâ€.
“Gardening is a vehicle for spiritual and emotional connection. It is nothing short of miraculous: You kneel, dig a bit, drip in a seed, add water, and wait. In time the miracle unveils itself, beginning with an ever-so-tentative shoot of green: Life!â€
– Peg Streep
Enjoy the summer energies!
namaste,
Zoey
Zoey Ryan, PCC
coach . catalyst . shakti sage
life & business coach for women