tonight's the night...

Neil Young said it perfectly to Howard Stern...

"Some days you got it, some days you don't.

You want to preserve that day that you don't

for posterity for everybody to look at.

Some days I'm just not myself,

it just doesn't feel like me…

it's the cosmic weather.

You can't always have it

which makes you appreciate it so much

when you get it 

and that is what life is all about  - 

it's so beautiful…

the way it keeps changing."

Don't spend so much time trying to change
in this 'new' year.

Focus on appreciating
all that is right
and all that isn't
and let the ebb and flow
allow you to live your way
into your new self
one day at a time.

Happy New Year friends and followers.

~L~

a-dorn; verb

a-dorn: verb

- to make more beautiful or attractive.

At this time of year it's an ornament to a tree.

It's Bing Crosby and Ella Fitzgerald on your record player.

Maybe it's fresh powder on the window sill.

Nothing says 'tis the season like these embellishments.

But what about how one adorns another?

The garnish of Love?

If we have nothing else to decorate,

if we are bereft of impressive objects

or even a tree,

the beauty that adorns the season 

lies within your perception of 

what your spirit can hold.

It's wrapped inside the dilemmas of what to buy,

whom to tip,

how to divide up time with family,

where to hide the presents,

whom you are with and without this holiday.

All these little frustrations 

are actually blessings in disguise

that adorn each of us 

to one another.

All you have to do is see it.

Envision the ones you miss to highlight the ones you're with.

Arrange the imperfections of the ones you love

into a ball of mistletoe and stand underneath it.
Adorn the atmosphere with a kiss.

Recognize pain and suffering and adorn it with Love.

These are our gifts to one another.

Although it's been said,

many times, many ways,

Merry Christmas to you.

Thank you for adorning my writing
with your acknowledgments.

~ L ~

go ahead, judge me

If you've never been judged in any sort of 

competition,

do yourself a favor and sign up for it.

In light of yesterday's Cross Fit competition,

I had the pleasure of being judged and being the judge.

Pleasure, you ask?

Here's why:

You walk into a room. 

You're already nervous.

Your stomach hurts, 

your nerves send charges of tingles down your arm 

into your fingertips.

You're alone.

It's just you and the odds in a big crowded concrete room

full of cold alloyed steel,

large black rigs,

cannonballs of iron plastered with numbers 

you'd rather pay to get out of there than lift

and you've never felt lonelier.

Suddenly your soul searches for something to envelop the pain,

to occupy the harsh void of comfort.

I signed up for this?

You cling to every word of instruction

but you can't dredge up focus.

You feel the throb of your pulse in your eyes

as you notice the pencil that's about to 

record your flesh, blood and sweat onto a piece of paper.

Meet your judge.

As if you're not already not feeling human enough,

there's one who will remind you.

You've never met,

but you already fear him.

Please, you beg silently,

help me.

My vulnerability is at your mercy.

Take it and redeem it for compassion.

The bell rings, the clock starts.

Your body moves,

your muscles contract,

but all you feel is the purge of your weakness

that's about to set your new

personal record.

Because someone is watching you,

judging you,

your naked self 

camouflaged by the courage you simulated

when you signed up to be judged in the first place.

Please, you plead,

it's just me.

Be with me when you judge me.

Feel yourself in me.

We're the same.

The judger is watching.

I feel you,

he thinks to himself.

I've been there.

Keep going.

Your every effort is noticed.

He can't tell you,

but he wants you to hear him.

You do.

Because he is 

your

 own 

reflection.

The judge is the awareness of the judger

and the opposite is also truth.

One is a great teacher if the other will listen.

Don't live life without wanting to be judged.

Stare at it, instead, with a good solid look in the mirror.

Nothing can teach you more

than what you fear is your worst enemy.

The bell rings.

The weight drops.

Your muscles release.

The pencil's put down.

You walk away,

better for being judged.

~ L ~