Inspiration

Deb’s Meditation

by Susan Robinson on May 13, 2013

Meditation by Deb Genatossio

In the world of water and sun I think of only pleasures.
I drift letting the tension sink beneath the waves.
the water makes me feel clean and alive.
I have found peace without even trying.
I swim back to shore.
the sand shifts beneath my feet with the gentle current.
shells dot the shoreline clean and glistening.
I stand and stretch the water lapping around my knees.
the sun feels glorious.
a blue sea surrounded by clouds hugs me.

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A story of Christmas kindness: Trilogy Jewelry

by Susan Robinson on December 26, 2012

Every year, Charles and I like to give Christmas gifts (or Hanukkah, as the case may be) to the folks he works with. And ordering online is so convenient! So on December 11th, I placed orders with three companies for a bunch of gifts. Then, I waited.

Well the days rolled by and I checked the mail each day but they didn’t come. You know how the days pass. Suddenly it December 21st. I was starting to get worried. I thought I’d better contact the companies. I’d gotten “your item has shipped” emails from each of them shortly after I placed the orders. So where was our stuff?

Every one of the tracking numbers, from all three companies, showed that the items were “Delivered” to our address by the US Postal Service on December 14, 2012 at 1:37 PM. I could have cried. I contacted the Post Office and they contacted the neighborhood carrier and he said he delivered the packages. (What else would he say?) He may have delivered them, but we never received them. It really didn’t help to imagine what might have happened to them.

So I emailed each of the companies that we ordered with. I told them I knew it wasn’t their fault but I did want to let them know what happened. Only one of the three companies replied — Trilogy Jewelry, a small family business.

Not only did Trilogy Jewelry send us replacements for all NINE of the Om Necklaces we ordered, at no charge to us. They also shipped them by Priority Mail on December 22nd, so that we received the order on December 24th, just in time for Christmas.

I’ve loved the Om symbol since my first meditation. It represent pure creative Life Energy, the Holy Spirit.

Shanti and I were recently talking about how objects trigger memories. Some people might even say the object carries the vibration of the event. To me, every one of these necklaces now carries not only a reminder of the Divine but also the vibration and the memory of generosity and human kindness. That’s quite a gift!

If you love doing business with companies that have heart, check out Trilogy Jewelry. And the necklaces are beautiful!

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Writing Life with a Typewriter

by Susan Robinson on November 28, 2012

“Perfection is my enemy.”
— Francesca Battistelli

Charles sent me this ESPN video because I wrestle with writing, trying to get the writing to match what I intend, what I want to communicate. Trying to get it “perfect,” so to speak.

The most obvious problem with perfection is that it’s always out of reach. There’s always something that can be improved. And striving for something that is always out of reach will wear you down, undermine the shred of self-confidence you have and, eventually, immobilize you. It’s too painful. If perfection is your goal, you’ll never be good enough.

But more important than that – If you could achieve perfection, you would have lost something very important.

Why does children’s author Alfred Slote write his books with a manual typewriter instead of a computer? Because “you have a chance to make things perfect as you go along with the computer. And there’s a real loss of innocence, I think….Sucking the life out of it.” He says his books would take him much longer to write if he wrote them on a computer.

What’s wrong with perfection?

It sucks the Life out. The spontaneous, warm, surprising, perfectly imperfect Life.

Watch Alfred Slote as he writes Life on a typewriter:

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Overcoming obstacles to your dreams

by Susan Robinson on November 24, 2012

“Maybe being at rock bottom was the perfect place to start…I was about to embark on the most creative project that any of us could ever do – that of rebuilding a life. And even though I had absolutely no idea what I was going to do, in that uncertainty came a sense of freedom. I was no longer tied to a set path. I was free to explore life’s infinite possibilities.”
— Janine Shepherd, walking paraplegic, TEDx talk 8/28/12

Do you have a dream that you think you can’t achieve?

I’ve been struggling with time lately. The shortage of it. Trying to fit all my priorities into my days, or weeks, or months, or years. Juggling the immediate and the long range priorities. Time has become my obstacle. Because there are so many things I want to do.

And I know that time is just one of many obstacles that we confront in the pursuit of our dreams.

What if the obstacle was your body? Janine Shepherd, a champion cross country skier with Olympic dreams, faced this reality. As an athlete, her body was her identity. Janine The Machine they called her.

Until she was hit by a truck.

And her dreams changed.

I am willing to learn how to transcend this obstacle I call time. (I suspect it might have something to do with appreciating each moment.) I was inspired by listening to Janine Shepherd talk about how she discovered she can transcend the expectations and limitations of her body.

What gifts and strengths are contained in the obstacles you’re facing in your own life right now?