Wednesday 21 May 2014

Butterfly Moments


Time.  It fills everyday.  Our lives revolve around it and through it.  We moan about it, we wish for it.  Yet, what is it?  To give it one simple definition is something that has made even intellectuals scratch their heads.  Some view time as part of the basic structure of life and the universe, that in time things happen in a sequence.  Others believe that time is not an entity or a happening, that it cannot be measured.
Most people, however, would agree that although we know that a minute holds sixty seconds and an hour has sixty minutes, time has a very subjective quality associated with it.  It is closely linked to our emotions. Waiting for the bus to arrive can make a few minutes feel like an hour especially if you are running late, while the opposite is true when one does not want a period of time to pass too quickly.  Then a week-end of forty-eight hours plus can seem as if it passed in the blink of an eye.
Whether you view time scientifically or philosophically, we all are subjected to its passing. Some of us view it as a gift, while others view it as a curse.  It cannot be bought, nor can it be given away or even captured.  It cannot be unspent or re-spent.
Sometimes we perceive time as a tormentor, when old age is prolonged beyond our understanding.  When time granted is short, we feel it is playing a cruel trick on us and it leaves us with unanswered questions, yet to the butterfly those few hours of life is enough for it to fulfill its life's purpose with such an abundance of joy that it leaves us enthralled.
To me, every moment of time is precious, but even so I find it impossible to engrave every moment in my memory.  What a blessing photographs are!  However, I wish that I could have captured not only the special moments, but also those ordinary mundane moments, those real life moments that link the special moments together. Little butterfly moments. I would keep them in a viewing jar.  How wonderful it would be to every now and again slip into my viewing jar and relive some of those snatches of time.  The first time my parents looked at me, the nights my dad tucked me in.  The coffee-fresh mornings in the game park when the day just awoke.  The day my mom sang at my wedding - what a surprise!  Those moments of silly laughter with my sister in the mall, the day she took me to the library. The first day I held my children in my arms, bundling them up against all the sharpness of the world, their first smiles.  Crossing the street, holding onto their tiny, trusting little hands.  My husband's first look of adoration, the early morning warmth of his embrace. All those days he would make the people around him laugh. The endless days of play with my brother.  The special times when I helped bath my little nephew, now a grown man.  The last day I saw my dad, just so I can have a chance to say all the things I never did.  The day my friend and I sat on a street corner, painting the sunrise.  Those cold winter days when my mom would fetch me from school and we would go get warm pies from the old bakery.  These are but a few.
How precious our memories are, and over time they become more so.  That is surely why the old folk speak about "The Good 'ole Days" even though they were often times of hardship.  Time has a way to glorify even the worst of times and the worst of sinners.  Time, elusive as it might appear at times, is a healing balm and a reflecting mirror.  What moments would you like to keep in a viewing jar?  How about sharing them with us here on my blog?
Thank you for stopping by and reading.  I would love to hear from you, so please feel free to leave a comment.  For reading more about time go to this link http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Time .

Tuesday 13 May 2014

Butterfly Girl


Today is one of those days.  You know those days when for no clear reason it feels as if the entire weight of the world seems to rest on your shoulders.  It feels as if you can hardly put one foot in front of the other, as if they are tied down with a great big ball and chain.  That is when I have this secret wish that I could phone Superheroes Anonymous.  Superhero to the rescue!!!   Ta - da!!!
I imagine my superhero to be an adorable little girl butterfly with such a cheery disposition as to put the brightest shiny sun to shame, and with a little flick of her pollen dusted fingers all the wrongs in the world are put right again.  All my worry wrinkles would be smoothed away and the fragrance of joy will linger in every drab corner of my life.  My little superhero would clear up all misunderstandings, touch everyone's heart with happiness and sprinkle bags of glittering good intentions all over everything.  The world would simply be perfect!
Alas!  Superhero's are only alive and well in Hollywood.  No amount of wishing could conjure them up.  So back to reality and this day awaiting.  Of course I always have the choice to climb back into bed again and pull the duvet over my head.  I could hope to wake up tomorrow and maybe feel better.  Or... I could get up and bravely face this day.  The truth of the matter is that we do not really have a choice.  Getting back into bed mostly just postpones the inevitable and to top it all it is a total waste of time.  Time which none of us have to waste.  The only choice we really have is how we are going to spend the time and this takes me to my early morning aha moment!
As I was contemplating to stay in bed till a better feeling came around ( or Superheroes Anonymous gets a telephone) I realized one thing: I have to be my own superhero!  I have to be my own knight in shining amour.  Only I can get up and face this beautiful, perfect, unexplored and un-lived day.  It is my actions and words that will write the most important things on the new page awaiting in the early morning dawn.  I can fill the page with frowns and groans, with angry words and negativity, or I can fill it with words of beauty, smiles and love.  It is my choice that will release the magic dust.
Yes, I know.  I can already hear some of you say that I do not know what your life is like, that I do not understand what obstacles you are facing or what circumstances you are living in.  That is absolutely true, I have no idea.  However, what I do know is that no matter what you are facing or going through at this very moment, you do have a choice of how you wish to react to it. And it is in that choice where the magic lies. Every situation, every event comes with a choice of how we will react to it, and it is most often the choice which we end up making that truly determines the direction our lives will take and not really the event itself.
Of course, simply saying it does not make it as easy as it sounds.  It does not suddenly turn life into a magic carpet ride, but it does beat simply letting life run over you and giving up.
So, this all said, it is time to don my yellow, superhero boots and my butterfly wings.  Watch out world, here I come!

If you flutter by here, please share your thoughts on what super powers you would love to have!


Monday 5 May 2014

...becoming a butterfly


I am not, I repeat, NOT an athlete.  Although I love walking, and can even walk at quite a pace, I am not athletic at all.  We are not an athletic family.  We love art.  We are regulars on the culture scene.  My idea of running is that the engine is here to stay!  Yet I have a dream, one that I have kept quite well hidden, well that is until now.  Deep down, in the very darkest recesses of my heart there is this desire to run at least a 5 k. There I have said it, now I want to hide!  
So, that is how I find myself at this point in my life where I have bought the shoes and actually donned them.  Now it is time to set out on the journey.  Time for the unwilling athlete to step up!
This makes me think of a quote I read in a book by Robert Holden of the two caterpillars looking up at a butterfly flying overhead.  The one caterpillar said to the other one "You will never get me up in one of those things!"  Surprise, surprise!  What was at that moment a scary thought to that little segmented fellow was to soon become a reality.  Not that he really had a choice!!  Yet stepping out from our comfort zone can be equally daunting, and although we usually think that we have a choice whether we want to or not, we do not actually have a choice, not if we desire to grow, or improve or evolve. 
 It is very easy to sit back and let life pass by, to be a spectator, but within every person is that little voice calling out "there has to be more!"  That is the reason new places are being discovered, new galaxies explored and new cures are developed.  That is exactly why man has been to the moon and back.

My little caterpillar friend might be very skeptical about taking flight, but it is only through the process of metamorphoses that he will become all he is destined to become.  How wonderful to be a caterpillar.  One day you are a wiggly, hairy little critter and then some days later you can spread your beautiful, colourful gossamer wings and take to the skies. Riding the scents of dusk, drinking exotic nectar and dancing among the daffodils.  What a life.
A quote comes to mind, unfortunately I am not sure who the author is, but it says that in order to fly you have to really let go of being a caterpillar!  Yes, that is it.  Step away from your comfort zone, or in my case, the life of a couch potato!  Let go of your safety net, and all those excuses, and pursue that hidden dream, that long forgotten goal.  Write your bucket list and start ticking off those things you have finally done.
Well, then, that said, I guess it is time for me to set off on my first run (if toddling down the street can be called running) !

If you flutter by here, feel free to share your goals and your dreams with us, or maybe a word of two of encouragement, haha!