Accidental Perfectionist

[accidentalperfectionist]

[accidentalperfectionist]

What’s on your bedside table?

[accidentalperfectionist]

What if we were to take from the Earth...

What if we were to take from the Earth Only what we needed To feel whole and fulfilled and beautiful? ... https://accidentalperfectionist.wordpress.com/2018/01/17/entry-27-what-if-we-were-to-take-from-the-earth/

[accidentalperfectionist]

Dress Your Spirit

Feed your soul, not your stomach. Strengthen your resolve, not your muscles. Dress your spirit, not your body. Sense your senses, for they are there. Hear your emotions, don’t act on them. Speak your truth, but do not yell it. Follow curiosity. You will reach Joy. 7/14/16

[accidentalperfectionist]

What is your earliest memory of Art?

I hold Art in high regard. That is an understatement. I feel utterly unworthy of Art. I was 7 or 8 when I first witnessed Art. Or, it is my earliest memory of witnessing something transcendental, that I later would identify as Art. It was a photograph, taken by my father, of his mother’s hands pushing fabric through an old sewing machine. It was black and white, and highlighted her weathered hands. I remember loving this photograph, as it allowed me to learn about my grandmother, even though she had already passed away. It also showed me a part of my father I had never known - the tender love he had for his mother poured off the edges of the 5x7 piece of photo paper. That is the power of Art. What is the earliest memory you have of witnessing something inspiring, breath-catching, that you would later identify as Art? Was it a photographor a painting, music, dance, poetry, or something else?

[accidentalperfectionist]

Insiration won't visit just because I keep my inbox clean.

[accidentalperfectionist]

Expire

Expire Expire They are going to expire Expire Expire They are going to expire 7 inmates on death row, the court vacates their stays Asa says I have no choice They will be killed within 11 days The midozalam flows, from syringe through his vein Jones gasps for air, They say he’s not in any pain Was Asa in the room when Jones was injected Could he see through the mirror? Did he feel disconnected? Or did he turn out the lights and say a blessed little prayer He doesn’t know that Truth comes through in our nightmares? Expire Expire They are going to expire Williams counts every minute, he is scheduled for Thursday Will he ask for communion, or Will he get a stay? Genie decides to attend and witness Williams’ death She lives 2 miles from the prison Will she watch and hold her breath? When you have lost a loved one, everything’s destroyed But can killing another person Ever fill that void? Expire Expire They are going to expire Expire Expire They are going to expire 7 lives, 11 days, the officers ask for reprieve The load is too much, they say, We’ll have no time to grieve Why rush, why now, Governor, Citizens inquire. It’s the meds, he says, the meds that are going to expire The meds The meds Are going to expire The meds The meds Are going to expire Based on current events: https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/post-nation/wp/2017/04/07/with-lethal-injection-drugs-expiring-arkansas-plans-unprecedented-seven-executions-in-11-days/?utm_term=.70aa8a6019a8

[accidentalperfectionist]

Meaning

I am addicted to making meaning.

[accidentalperfectionist]

140 characters

I don’t want a sappy souvenir, so I decide to buy him a bookmark - it’s thoughtful and represents my love of reading. I select carefully, one with dried flowers in just the right orientation, balanced and beautiful. The accompanying note, I decide, will be romantic, not frivolous, substantive. I draft the note, and edit it, and then write it once again. All three painstaking sentences. On a yellow legal pad, I practice scripting it, in print, then cursive, then a different cursive, before writing the final version within the hand-crafted card. I hear him say “very poetic” through the receiver as I sit in my parents’ bedroom with the corded phone. My heart lifts off, my mind floats. It is the best compliment I have ever received in my 14 years, even more so because it was from someone I was head over heels enamored with. It was so important that I get each word just right - together, they reflect the light coming from my soul, through my heart, onto the page. By contrast, to tweet, is simply, agony.

[accidentalperfectionist]

Surely [my life] had a shape once. It has a shape still in my mind. ... I want ... to live in grace as much of the time as possible. ... By grace I mean an inner harmony, essentially spiritual, which can be translated into outward harmony.

Anne Morrow Lindbergh, Gift From The Sea

[accidentalperfectionist]

I write

I think of those who are better than I, more noble, more principled.

They protest for black lives

They recycle and buy local

They speak out against climate change

They are willing to fight because they can change people’s minds

I do not fight. I do not change people’s minds.

I feel, I believe, and I write.

That is all.

[accidentalperfectionist]

Essence

Essence

You don’t notice me, but I am here, light sketch lines of a hard pencil against a busy backdrop. You don’t hear me, my voice is used only when a flavor is missing from the recipe. You don’t feel me, for I flow through the universe, avoiding collisions. Any small brush against my skin would give me a jolt. You don’t smell me- I wear no perfume to mask what I hope is the aroma of nothingness You don’t taste me for that has been reserved for very few.

It will be many months before one day, you will notice I am here, and believe surely it’s the first time we have met. I will assure you, it is not. I have already logged many observations of you and my roots have started to entangle with yours.

Now you start to see me, like faded shapes developing into vibrance and contrast. Now you hear my thoughts, curated over decades of observation and reflection. You want to taste me. But I do not want to (yet). We will sit in the silence. We will only say things that need to be heard. And we will touch only when something needs to be felt.

We have moved all that is important from the sideline to center stage. Only then, will you know the essence of me, because together, we will see the essence of the world.

[accidentalperfectionist]

I have finally found my medium.

[accidentalperfectionist]

“Words are, in my not-so-humble opinion, our most inexhaustible source of magic. Capable of both inflicting injury, and remedying it.” — Dumbledore, in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows

[accidentalperfectionist]

Family

Family

Our family is sweet, except when we’re not. Sometimes the arguments are spicy and hot. Other times one of us becomes subdued And you could say, he is in a sour mood.

When the boys use salty words, we are stern But over time, I want them to learn That strong words can be our choice They give vibrance and tang to our voice.

A bitter attitude – mine, not theirs, Will spoil and pollute the air I regret leaving behind a bad taste Ultimately, I feel shame and disgrace.

But our palates are designed for complex blends, We are resilient - we can make amends In the end, whether we are happy or blue The range of flavors are universal and true

I want them to relish everything and be free Because in essence, that allows me to be me.

[accidentalperfectionist]

Wisdom from a poet of long ago

Where the mind is without fear and the head is held high; Where knowledge is free; Where the world has not been broken up into fragments by narrow domestic walls; Where words come out from the depth of truth; where tireless striving stretches its arms towards perfection; where the clear stream of reason has not lost its way into the dreary desert sand of dead habit; Where the mind is led forward by thee into ever-widening thought and action – Into that heaven of freedom, my Father, let my country awake. - Rabindra Nath Tagore (1883-1902)

[accidentalperfectionist]

Radio Show

Radio Show

I turned the dial on the rental car radio, with snippets of one country station after another. It finally lands on a talk radio show, and I stop to listen to a host discussing hydrostatic pressure.

“… the water pushes up against the foundation of a house, and over time, the persistent pressure creates cracks and that is hydrostatic water pressure,” he says, “and man, over time, that hydrostatic pressure can knock over a house”!

I don’t know much about hydrostatic water pressure, but I appreciate his story, which I assume is a metaphor for some other point, though I don’t yet know what lesson I am expected to absorb. I immediately speculate that it’s related to the political realm. Is this a conservative talk show that is inciting tea party listeners how to agitate the political system and obstruct legislative progress? He continues.

“… and that’s how you are going to get rid of your debt …”

Oh! So it’s a financial advising radio show. I chuckle sheepishly at my assumption that everything in the south of the US would revolve around politics. The host takes another caller, someone asking about the prospects for an e-bay business. I start to focus on the voices, and note that the host’s voice doesn’t really have a southern accent. It’s subtle– something in the rhythm of his sentences, but I can’t nail it down. I admit to myself the bias I bring with me about the culture of the south, and start to unravel my notions.

He finishes and thanks her for calling in. In closing the show, he reminds us to tune in every week, and offers one last piece of global advice for his listeners.

“… and remember, if you want to find lasting financial peace, follow the Prince of saving himself, our Lord Jesus Christ. Good bye!”

My eyes gape. How did Jesus make a last act cameo on this radio show on financial advice? Was Jesus Christ good with money? I hadn’t heard, but that wouldn’t be surprising.

Or is this a gimmick to entice people to tune in for Holy advice for their human problems? And in that case, is the host qualified?

I continue driving down the highway, wondering what Jesus would do if He walked with us today.