Tuesday, February 12, 2013

629 ANNIE BECOMES MOM OF TWO Chapter 6 WILD THING: :)

First off—before I relate the next toilet training experiment, which thankfully, leads mother and child toward success, it seems wise to introduce my wild thing to you.  It also seems wise not to suggest what may come next so as not to mix you up when my mind switches tracks—which, admittedly, occurs frequently. :)
Take the last several posts, for example.  First I felt ready to relate high school stories.  Next I’d thought to draw colorful pictures of family life depicting natural consequences incurred during my strike, which took place after the wild thing inside me had been trained to role model solution-seeking behaviors for my children.  Then my thought process shifted gears, zooming back at least a decade to a time when my wild thing had clamored for total control over two high spirited, independent little minds (Ha!).  And so, begging your pardon for spinning your head, this way and that, this seems like the right time to focus your awareness upon an insight that inspires my ego to bow to humility when common sense deems switching tracks wise:

My first thought's not always my best thought ... it's just ... my first thought.

You see, just as with my first toilet training tale ... sometimes my first thought proves to be an experiment that blows up in my face. :)

So—at those times when my wild thing is about to erupt, signaling its need to escape from its hide out deep inside a pocket of my mind (blood pounding, brows lowering, eyes flashing, throat choking, teeth clenching, tummy tightening)—I find it wise to take 'time out' to reconsider my attitude, voice tones, body language, facial expressions and behaviors in order to insure that inexperience, confusion, frustration do not lead me down a path where wild thing, feeling defensive, leaps out of my mouth, unattended—leaving me to pay negative consequences, for sure.

As long as my wild thing is leashed and muzzled, words, which might be received as rude and hurtful are held in check.  In fact during times fraught with conflict, I choose to calm down my wild thing in hopes of remaining attached, most often, to emotionally mature attitudes and behaviors, which ready my mind to travel a path 'velcroe'd' to effective problem solving techniques based common sense.

Actually, while writing, right now, this question popped into my mind ...
Annie, exactly what are you getting at here?

Hmmm, good question, I say to myself ...
Looks like I'm openly acknowledging the existence of my wild thing, not just to you, but too me, too.  :)

Truthfully, it's unusual for me to introduce my wild thing to anyone by conscious choice, because, generally speaking, I was cautioned to hold her in check under lock and key.  Oh by the way, my wild thing has a name, so from time to time, we'll call this water sprite, which, being human, tends to spring leaks—Ms. Ego.  Wild thing also has a given name, that being Impassionata.

So here she is ...
Biting at the bit to toss caution to the winds and
Standing before you in all her naked glory ...
My wild thing
Ms. Impassionata Ego

Being that Common Sense suggests that allowing
This water sprite to disrobe in public is known to
Lead to trouble in a flash
Ms. Ego, who, naturally craves center stage
Must be socially trained to adhere to the path of humility
Before the rest of me takes her out in public ...
Properly clothed and head held high ... but
Not too high for my own good ...

And in hopes of keeping Ms. Impassionata Ego
Tucked neatly into my well disciplined life
My defense system has been known to
Anesthetize certain moments that caused me
To experience grief and strife, resulting in the fact
That on occasion I've been surprised
To find repressed emotion leaping out from
Behind my subconscious wall
Where honest feelings, like resentment
Remain alive and kicking, though
Incognito from my conscious mind

What I'm getting at is this:
As long as latent pain remains
Tucked into pockets of my subconscious
I'll harbor an inner life
Where, from time to time
Floods of subterranean emotion ...
May cause tears to flow for reasons so well disguised
That I can't fathom what the trouble is—as of yet ...

How do I know undiagnosed trouble lurks within?
Well, actually if you stop to think about it
I'm sure you've heard that it's common for
People to harbor inner lives where
Tears flow freely from a river called
What-the-heck-is-swimming-round-inside-my-mind-now ...
And somehow whatever causes that river to twist, turn and swirl
Keeps calling us home ...
Not home to the house in which we live
But home in terms of reaching into the depths of one's core
In hopes of relieving an ache
Which our sixth sense admits to feeling painfully raw ...
While our conscious minds entertain the pretense
That life, as it exists, is just fine ...

Hmmm ...
If asked why today
Is different from all other days
I’d say ...
Today I’ve mustered the courage
To drop the curtain
Separating my public life from my inner life in order to
Let you see my wild thing on center stage in the flesh ...

If asked why I'd choose to
Boldly reveal the existence of
Ms.Impassionata Ego ...
Who when unleashed
Tends to put foot in mouth
Or trip over her own feet
I'd reply ...

If I bare my wild thing to you then
Perhaps your comfort zone will expand
Allowing you to more readily recognize those times
When your wild thing feels the need to
Sneak out and slip back in, as well ...

I mean truly—if you are human then you harbor 'wild thing', too

And now—having bared the existence of Ms. Ego in today's post
This seems like the 'proper' time to
Introduce the keeper of my wild thing
So without further ado ...
Ms. Humility ...
Who interestingly proves to be
Every person's most redeeming trait
Is pleased to meet you :)

As you may have surmised
I'm grateful to have acquired this gate keeping trait
For many reasons—for example 
In lieu of humility I'd not have mustered the courage
To tell you stories, concerning experiences
That explode in my face

In lieu of humility
I'd not choose to 'tell on' myself
Each time Ms. Ego floods my mind with
Enough hot air to launch a balloon to the moon

Every time a story, relating a failed experiment, unfolds
I'll eagerly show you how Humility shines lights, here and there
Until insight appears
And the spirit of Socrates smiles on high
To see another mortal
Come to 'know thyself' more astutely than before

Once humility and insight share center stage
The powers conferred upon that trusty pair
Enlist common sense to escort Ms. Ego to the wings
Where she belongs when problem solving is afoot, fore  soothe :)

Each time you watch humility regain control over my mind
You'll see my thought processing machine
Functioning well, making certain
That Ms. Ego stays in line with reality ...

For instance—
In stories to come
You'll watch Mother Nature implore me to
Figure out where my views are not in line with reality

In stories to come
You'll watch my friend, Mother Nature
Provide experiences that offer me reason to
Pay as much attention to my unmet needs
As I’d attended with care to the needs of those I’d loved

With each story that unfolds
I plan to show you reasons why remaining in line
With reality as it truly exists
Is tougher than most of us realize
And having said that ...
You may better understand why I chose to title my blog:
Have you got a clue or is your brain still fooling you! :)

With time you may also come to see why
My mind is engaged in a balancing act
Otherwise known as a life long quest, whereby
I learn how to wear two hats, simultaneously ...

While hat number one tips naturally toward Ego
(This hat often resembles a dunce cap)
Hat number two tips toward Humility
(Resembling a thinking cap)
And—Oh wait ... I almost forgot ...
In case you deem
Ms. Impassionata Ego
As too formal a name for friends and family
No worries, because the trained aspects of
Ms. Impassionata Ego's personality
Have graciously accepted a moniker
More fitting to the greater part of my nature
And as such Ms. Impassionata Ego
Answers most often and laughingly
To the nick name of
Cornball
Good naturedly :)

In stories already told (Twinkle Twinkle, Bully for Me, First Kiss), you saw why the free spirited, childlike, wild side of my mind was subdued by fearsome experiences mixed in with social graces, early on, meaning that for most of my life, I felt it necessary to be so good and pure, spanking clean and socially groomed as to have sworn that impassioned, egocentric tendencies had not manifested themselves within any pockets of my thought processing machine.  In fact, I, like many others, had once believed it impossible for this wild thing to ever leap out, grabbing control over my brain as a whole!

Bottom line, I really saw myself as a good girl, through and through.  Often times, this good girl saw life as black and white rather than comparing life and love to the ever changing, technicolored kaleidoscope both prove to be.

And though I'd been thoroughly taught not to take wild thing out and about, unclothed, you can believe me when I say that, often times, it takes more self control than may be openly shown to keep Ms. Impassionata under wraps.


Once that insight hit, Common Sense called upon intelligence to create THE LINE OF CONTROL :)

Each time one of my dark hair brained schemes proves wildly successful, my heart leaps for joy! 

So let's take stock of character traits that I've owned up to, thus far, in today's post:

Ms.  Ego
Ms. Impassionata
Civilized Socialization
Humility
Courage
Common sensical insightfulness
Cornball Humor
Childlike bursts of unadulterated joy

Thank goodness the first natural duet of traits
Which prove innate to us all
Is outnumbered by sextet of traits—
Which each of us may choose to acquire after birth

Thank goodness I know for a fact
That the first duet hides in pockets of my mind—
Thank goodness my thought processing machine
Has been trained to curb the active life led by that duo
Which needs reining in each time
They feel the need to bite at the bit and lash out

I mean, heaven forbid number they should slip out
Sight unseen—by me
How chagrin I'd feel if my ego, stood in judgement
Of loved ones before gathering all of the pertinent facts

How contrite I'd feel if negatively focused passion
Finds passive aggressive ways to leap out on center stage ...
Wreaking havoc before stealthily slinking behind the curtain, again

How often, I wonder might I tend to miss those times
When that shameless duet of human traits
Causes a ruckus to escalate—unnecessarily?

What if others suggest that I've been know to do all of that
Time and again, while I refuse to believe
That which they so clearly see in me?

As you shall see in posts to come
Denial is the most common defense mechanism known to mankind.

Though all of us visit the Land of LaLa where we believe ourselves to be the most angelic creatures to inhabit planet Earth, some ostriches bury their heads so deeply into fantasies of their own making that they fail to fathom truth from tall tales—where ego white washes its doings while darkening the principled traits of others as fast as the flick of a light switch can darken a room—causing insight to remain as hard to see as a black cat tiptoeing unaware toward cliff side at midnight.

When emotional earthquakes hit, causing the bottom of Lala Land to fall out, all who refuse to believe that two sides of human nature live and breathe fire within us all will be flabbergasted when a sunny, soulful dream world suddenly sinks into a sad sigh, a dark blustering squall or a full blown roaring, lightening storm in the blink of an eye.  Ofttimes it doesn't take much for subterranean emotion to spring release your wild thing or mine.

Generally speaking, all you need do is to tap into a cool, calm, collected mind's hidden hot spot and watch Wild Thing leap out, lunge for your jugular, clamp on tight, and slink back in after imagining (insisting, believing and swearing) that it was you, the messenger, who did or said a dastardly unforgivable thing by opening your mouth and allowing deeper truths to spring out!

How dare you see both sides of me as I am instead of believing in the mask of purity I don't know I wear!

Two riddles come to mind:
Why must we muster the courage to get a handle on the truth?
Why must we dig in to reveal deeper truths that society tends to ignore?
What do these two riddles suggest we fear most of all?
In answer to both riddles, I'd say—
We fear to admit that denial exists to differing degrees within us all ...

And this, my friends, is what sages like Socrates, Will Shakespeare, Jane Austin, Henry James, Ingmar Bergman, Mark Twain, Erma Bombeck, Mel Brooks, Woody Allen and countless others refer to as—
THE HUMAN CONDITION—
Meaning none are innocent, suggesting—
All are guilty of being pots calling kettles black.

Bottomline:
If you are reading this, you are human
If human, you, like me, harbor two sides within your mind
Not good and evil, per say
But rather a choice between two attitudes ... two points of view

If attitude is everything
Then we must choose between attitudes that prove ...
Negatively focused
(The choice of naysayers)
Or
Positively focused
(The choice of solution seekers)

More about recognizing our two sided minds
And admitting to negative mind sets
In stories to come—
As for now ...

If you are human then you and your wild thing face owning up to the Human Condition, meaning this:
We all receive countless wake up calls to tighten lines of humility in hopes of recognizing the havoc our egos wreck, causing deeply valued relationships to crack under the weight of one last straw.

As for me—

I have tired of carrying as much baggage as a camel.
I agree to view myself as an imperfect person
With negative attitudes, views and mind sets
Which prove in need of identifying and changing.

Need an example?
If someone, who hurt my feelings during a moment fraught with tension, offers up humility in hopes of forgiveness, might I lift the cup of humility to mine own lips and drink from the depths of that well, as well, or will I view myself as victim—meaning the other guy must be viewed as villain—forever—allowing my ego to scorch my own most valient traits by refusing to repair a valued relationship—again and again?

Just a thought to consider, because—well— 
Is it not true that, at times, your first thought may not be your best thought—same as mine :)

On the other hand, if a valued relationship insists on seeing my principled values through a glass colored darkly, watch me call upon common sense to quell frustration by stepping back—though stepping back is not synonymous with closing and locking a door.  I'll leave that to those whose egos assume center stage, unclothed.

At this point, I feel the need to switch tracks for a bit in order to be certain that we not brand my wild thing or yours with a bad rep, and let it go at that.  Let's consider that this independent streak of nature provides us with a will so strong as to enable us to muster the courage to survive tragic accidents and dire experiences.  Let's consider the fact that a strong spirited, wild thing revitalizes one's innate ability to love and thrive beyond our wildest dreams.  Wild thing feels wildly enthusiastic when wondrous events swirl us round a dance floor where your heart and mine swing harmoniously to the music of life.  Wild thing knows no bounds when adventure calls our name.

Let’s consider the fact that this subterranean creature whispered, tirelessly into my ear until I felt compelled to develop a voice that works to identify and conquer subconscious fear.  Let's remember that this streak of nature fueled my spirit until I became aware of my need to expand comfort zones past societal limits, which had narrowed my views concerning personal growth for most of my adult life.


Repeatedly, my spirit awakens each morning with thoughts that inspire me to believe that seeking out my computer and sitting down to write is worth my time and energy if my stories encourage others to look into themselves courageously and honestly much earlier in life than I'd known to do.

Daily the spirit of Socrates hovers near my ear whispering, "Know thyself."

Upon the wall above my desk is tacked a plaque, a gift from my daughter-in-law:  "SPARKLE"

Under this plaque is another—also a gift from Rachel—
"Let your life speak"

Under both plaques is a plaque I gave myself:
"Lord, put your hand over my mouth."

A plaque inside my mind states:
"Balance in all things."
Daily I work to balance instinct with well educated intelligence on one end of the spectrum ... and wild thing on the other

Now that I've mentioned balance, let's consider this:
If Mother Nature makes a gift of this wild thing to one and all and if my wild thing inspires me to loosen the noose that silenced my voice ... and if my wild thing compels me to sort through society's contradictory lessons in hopes of making astute decisions—which may not win popularity contests—then wouldn't it be unwise to dismiss my wild thing's most redeeming features?

I mean, let's face it, Mother Nature is always cooking up some cosmic plan that I do not yet understand.

Sooo—though I may not understand what's going on when a narrow mind set is undergoing monumental change—I know full well that change is the only constant in life, suggesting that while I'm confused, Mother Nature knows what she's doing even if I do not.  And if she has offered the wild thing to me, I'll do more than accept her, openly, honestly, graciously—I'll do my best to take good care of her in a nurturing way.

And each time positive focus ignites insight, which spotlights the light at the end of the tunnel, allowing for opportunity to expand my comfort zones, I'll embrace personal growth, again and again!  


On the other hand, when I can't get positive focus under control—I'll ask for help from someone who sees what I cannot—yet.  You know, like when I sat on that bench in the park, opening up to my neighbor, allowing repressed frustration to pour out while little, uncivilized, wild things to whom we'd given life were naturally throwing sand into each other's eyes.

Whew!  If anyone told you the solution seeking process is easy to understand and control, forgetaboutit!

We all need a three-step-problem-solving plan.  Why three steps?  Because whether working through conflict, strife or grief, a mind, tense with emotion, needs a plan that's as simple as—one, two three.

Sooo—if confusion and frustration tend to be natural states of mind during changing times—and if change is the only constant in life—then I hold myself responsible for creating a Line of Control, followed by a workable plan, in hopes of tolerating tension as maturely as possible while my think tank figures out what’s best to do next.  And as a result of maintaining control over tension while taking one step after another into the great unknown, wild thing remains in check while insight brightens my mind.


Once insight hits and my attitude lightens, my comfort zone expands, leading me once again, to feel at ease in my skin!

Once again, thank goodness for personal growth!
Where would I be without it!
Up to my ears in you-know-what ...

Once this quartet of positive focus, humility, the line of control and a workable three step plan guided my life—more often than not—I began to pop up on your screen, baring explosive experiments in hopes that by sharing a wide variety of true life adventures pulsing with self awareness, stories, withdrawn from my memory bank, might inspire you to fire up a quest into self discovery of your own :)

Each time I flesh out another scene, depicting family life in our house, you'll see why my life’s quest—that being to train my Neo cortex to take good care of Ms. Impassionata's free spirit while simultaneously taking care to develop a healthy balance between self awareness and compassionate consideration for the needs of others—is my most important task.

Tall order ... this role modeling, care taking, hat-balancing-self aware-self-discovery stuff!

Tall order but doable when the heart loves so deeply that the mind is instructed to take time out to think smart—as in think twice before your wild thing judges, lunges, growls or bites at will :)

So anyway, now that I've identified my wild side playing hide and seek with me, you may better understand my need to invent five tools, so simple that my three year old sensed the concept of taking control over his ego by way of playing monkey-see-monkey-do when problems were in need of solving or conflicts were in need of resolving with calmness, clarity and positively focused attitudes by all ages and both genders, who lived, ate, breathed, worked, studied, played and slept peacefully beneath one roof, because—different though our needs prove to be, even today—we each learned to place defensiveness to one side in favor or respecting and loving one another, well.

At this time, if we turn our attention toward what tomorrow may bring ... well, your guess is as good as mine.  Perhaps that's why we're taught to write this mantra upon our slates, every day:

While planning for a better tomorrow, choose to accept each day as it comes—and ...

Hopefully, with positive focus running the show, today will prove at least infinitesimally better than yesterday—and tomorrow will prove a bit more orderly than that—and so on until, one day, you come to see that a negatively focused cycle seems to have reversed itself, at long last.

And once all feel—free at last, free at last—free to feel mutually respected, at last— we'll thank Dr. MLK for providing us with thoughts of dreams that come true, which prove to be historically profound for one and all :)

If asked why I make it my business to consciously place Ms. Ego in time out, well, I hope to keep my mind's eye focused and both ears open to insightful information that may come my way, because—I don't wanna miss out on learning anything that might actually cheer me up when I'm down!   :)

Gosh, I wonder what my mind will choose to write about, tomorrow ...

Will we see more of my free spirited wild thing?
Toilet training experiments that achieved success—naturally?
The Park Bench?
Another experiment explode?
A story describing THE THREE STEP PROBLEM-SOLVING PLAN, which
Explains the ways in which logical consequences save the day?
Something brand new, thoughts never before encountered?
All I can say for now, my friends, is this—
I have no more clue what tomorrow may bring than do you ... so
Please stay tuned :)

Sunday, February 10, 2013

628. A SIGN OF MUTUAL RESPECT ... :)

BTW ... In case you wonder how my adult sons might feel when toilet training stories are revealed, drafts of certain posts are emailed to and ok'd by each one before popping up on your screen.

As I really wanted to post this scenario as written, I held my breathe till ...
The younger wrote back ... You have my blessing
The older said ... Great story ... Go for it!

I've been spending precious time with my 99 year old mom, so less time has been spent writing, this week.  Glad to say, Mom's doing well. :)

Friday, February 8, 2013

627 IN RECONSIDERATION OF ... A JIFFY :)

As a unit of measurement, a Jiffy is an infinitesimally brief period of time.
For some reason, this unit of measurement made my curiosity itch
So feeling the need to scratch beneath the surface,  I looked jiffy up in Wikipedia
And guess what I found?
I found counless opinions, concerning differing lengths of time
And since more of my life has been lived
Than whatever time I've left to enjoy
I asked myself if this quest
Concerning the exact meaning of jiffy
Was worth expending more time and energy on or not
And here's what I decided ... In a jiffy ...
par nature of this quest est fini
All I need to understand about jiffy is this:
Jiffy is synonymous with really fast
As in:
I need a positively focused change in attitude really fast!
I need to muzzle my temper really fast!
I need the spirit of cooperation to permeate my mind really fast!
I need a simple plan that solves countless problems really fast!
I need to see what others see in me that I can't see ... really fast!

Hey!  I know what I need ...
I need five solution seeking tools at my command at all times!

I need:
The three minute miracle
The line of control
The cooperation game
The three step sanity saving problem solving plan
The faces we wear

Now, where in the world can peeps of all ages and both genders
Get a handy dandy set of tools that offers each person in a family a jiffy lube
Which is sure to oil up irritating layers of frustration
Until every mind in the house
Feels as fresh and clean and pliably permeable as a new born babe's???
Oh!  For goodness sake!
All a person needs to do is to reorganize the wealth of life's lessons
Which every one of us carries inside our noggins and
If we just write those lessons down in some semblance of order
Uh ... Hold the phone ... What's that I hear you say? ...
You're much too busy to find time
To tackle a project such as that?
Well, guess what, my friend ... this is your lucky day ...
Because tackling that project has been my life's work for years
So if you find this plan appealing and would like to partner up ...
Here's what I have in mind ...
I'll continue to reorganize and record that wealth of lessons and
All you need do
Is to tune into my blog and decide, as with all things that demand your time ...
Which life or love lessons seem most in need of review ...
And by the way ... If you'd shoot me a comment from time to time
That sure would make my day while
I continue to work away at making headway
At a quest as huge as this one proves to be :)

Wednesday, February 6, 2013

626 ANNIE BECOMES A MOM OF TWO Chapter 5: A TOILET TRAINING TALE :)

So rather than returning to the park bench, right now ... let's back up a bit, so I can show you the straw that broke the camel's back, turning my smile into that frown, which inspired my neighbor to ask what was wrong:  Here I am at home with my precious little peeps, determined that the independent spirit of a two and a half year old tyke will be out of diapers by the end of the day.  After all, I'd followed the pediatrician's advice to hold off on toilet training until baby brother was six months of age.  And now that the calendar states that as a fact, I'm aiming to follow a friend's suggestion, which plays out in our house something like this ...

My first born, who couldn't care less about modesty, is running around our apartment naked as a jay bird, happy as a colt cantering free in the breeze.  Numero uno (a pro at aiming number one into the porcelain bowl) and I have agreed that he'll let me know when he feels like ... number two.  In the mean time, I'm bathing his chief rival for my attention—a cherub indeed, because no conflicts have arisen between this babe and me, as of yet ...

At some point while I'm laughing at number two splashing away in the tub, number one runs into the bath room, grabs a towel and glancing furtively at me, dashes right back out.  Sensing something's up, I scoop number two out of the tub, towel him off in a jiffy, set him down safely on the rug in the nursery and concentrating solely on trailing number one, find him kneeling, bending forward in the living room, rubbing away, suspiciously, at a large, brown spot on what had been carmel colored carpet.

OMG, I think ... That was not part of the plan! On the other hand, if his plan went kaphooy, grab hold of yourself, Annie ... it's not a two year old or my friend, who's at fault.  Common sense suggests that what works for one is not necessarily successful across the broad spectrum of human minds ... so swallow your frustration; soothe fear from your sweet child's eyes and help this little peep wipe today's unsuccessful experiment out of his innocent, little mind.

Though a meeting of two minds had not occurred that day, my child had grabbed the towel and ground the tell tale spot into the carpet in hopes that Mom's smile would not turn upside down, suggesting that this tyke aimed to please.  And if attitude is everything then mother and child were actually half way home.

Ahhh!  I thought, positive focus reduces frustration, making me feel better, already!

At that point, I remembered having left a six month old to fend for himself on the nursery rug, so after flashing a smile at number one, the camel spun around and made her way toward number two, who being naked, had deposited exactly that on the rug at the other end of the apartment.  And being a curious babe, he was busy ... finger painting ...

In retrospect, futility must have grabbed control of my mind, because feeling up to my ears in you-know-what caused my best intentions to burst into tears—not because enough was enough, but because this teacher of other people's children had no clue what to do when faced with conflicts that arose with her own!  I mean, where was the principal's office when I felt like marching MY children there—at home???

Though this is only one example (others to come with solutions to follow) of problem solving gone south, I'll bet you can see why frustration poured out of my mouth when my neighbor, spying my frown, had asked, ever so unsuspectingly, what might be wrong.

If ever it was time to open up and admit to confusion, it was now!
If ever it was time to seek help with formulating a problem-solving plan in a jiffy, it was now!
If ever it was time to accept that adults can not forcibly control free little spirits, it was now!
If ever it was time to open my ears to the availability of astute guidance, it was now!
If ever it was time to open my mind and absorb something truly insightful, it was now!
If asked what I learned by opening my mouth, ears and mind at the park, it was this:
Others who'd walked a path similar to mine had done more than brain storm viable solutions ...
Some had actually written a wide range of success stories, which were available for the asking!
And as I'd had the humility to open up and reach out for help ...
I'm glad to say that before too long ...
My frustrated frown had reason to spin into a great big, revitalized grin!!
And if you'd like to know how grim spun itself into this high spirited grin ...
Which tends to beam out of my core much more often than not— then
I sincerely hope you'll choose to stayed tuned into my blog :)
BTW—little known fact:  A jiffy is actually defined as 1/100th of a second :)

625 ANNIE BECOMES A MOM OF TWO Chapter 4

Creating an atmosphere of positive discipline requires an attitude in which kindness replaces punishments.  Hard as it may be to believe, throughout the years of their childhood, my kids were only grounded once, ever, and I didn't do the grounding.  Actually, after a sibling spat, they grounded each other.  Funny story for some time later ...

Perhaps you've surmised that in order to discipline my kids with kindness ... patience and good humor were injected into consequences that made sense.  As that combination was not easy to pull off during moments fraught with frustration, someone had to come up with ways to train my wild thing to calm down in hopes of responding to my kids' misbehaviors in a manner that I'd want them to mimic.  Oh wait ... now that I stop to think about it, that's exactly how I'd responded to 'my' kids (my students) in school—with kindness, patience and good humor.  Once I wrapped my processor around this new mind set, my attitude changed and taming my wild thing in hopes of disciplining myself proved less improbable as I'd have thought. :)

In addition to engaging in an open conversation with a neighbor's good sense, I was double blessed in this way.  I had a father, whose adventurous spirit and larger than life personality inspired his daughter to emulate his curiosity as well as his lust for life.  As such, I inspired myself to tackle every project that appealed to me enthusiastically.

At times when my thought processor is engaged in shifting an attitude (closed mind set), it's natural for confusion to grab hold of my brain.  As confusion feels foggy with no clue as to which direction to go, it's common for frustration to yell, right out loud.  Though many denBethe reality of harboring two sides—a logical side, and the side where the wild thing hides out ... It's a fact that after this wild thing leaps out and slips back in, we hope that others will forget its sneak attacks.  To this day, when confusion causes my defense system to send out silent signals of alarm, I seek a quiet place in which to calm my wild thing down in hopes of targeting my processor to think deep.  Parenting texts have a name for this quiet place—it's called—time out.  And thus, rather than being a place where adult or child feels guilty or punished, time out is a place to contemplate attitudes in need of change when social interaction produces stress instead of peaceful pleasures.

I think it's important that you have a sense of my frame of mind and that of my family before I color in the reasons why my strike worked wonders in terms of cooperative teamwork stepping up to the plate and hitting a grand slam... so please climb into my time machine and buckle your seat belt, because as soon as I throw this baby into reverse, we'll zoom back to that park bench in 1971 ... and if the next post published deviates from that plan, well, that's the beauty of writing a blog, where at the drop of a hat, my train of thought can choose to switch tracks ... Clickety clack :)

Tuesday, February 5, 2013

624 PEEPS VS. MACHINES—RED BULLET


Know the difference between machines and peeps (big and small)?
Machines come with manuals
Peeps of all sizes come with strong, independent wills
Though manuals may be accurately read
Peeps are naturally a surprise from birth until each one's very last breath

Got a new car ... one of the smaller suv's
A scarlet, sleek, not-so-little show stopper
Chose an suv in hopes of riding high and safe ...
Far too many trucks cruising city streets and interstate and ... Years ago
After collision with drunk truck driver—guess who awoke in intensive care ...

Naming this scarlet not-so-little show stopper ...
Red Bullet
Or
Big Red II ...
Time will tell

Big Red was a huge Buick Estate Station Wagon
First new car, chosen on my own ...
I drove her home in spring of 1974 when pregling with #3
Huge as an ocean liner she was—nine full sized seats all facing front
A shiny ruby, coveted by every carpooling mom in the neighborhood :)

My very first car?  A ten year old sad sack, dented and blue ...
Bought in '71, six months after number two made his debut :)
This square old unreliable ride brings to mind a funny story and a half ...
As to how I'd had to pump the gas to get the engine to start ... most of the time ...
And then there was its run in with the fuzz and finally its timely demise :)

Red Bullet/Big Red II has every bell, whistle, safety feature known to mankind
Ebony, cool gray, chrome interior
20 inch eye catching chrome wheels ...
Not a meek little ride
Sleek as a speed boat, for sure!

When I pick up my new ride and flood it's air waves with easy listening
Its sound system will most certainly cry out indignantly ...
Hey!  What the heck!!!  Where's the rock???
At this the little old lady from Pasadena, wearing a self-empowered smile
Will turn down the volume; ride the brakes, and take charge with ...

Hey!  For Pete sake!  Pipe down!

You're a machine, not a peep ... So ...
Button your lip and listen up—right now!
You answer to me!
I own you!

Once my machine gets the message ...
We'll get along just fine ...
On the other hand, if my machine was a peep
With a mind of its own—I'd be up sh--'s creek
Get my drift?

Nuff said for now ... more later ;)

Monday, February 4, 2013

623 SAUDIA ARABIA AND REUNION ... 75 NATIONS AND COUNTING! :)

Let's bid welcome to Reunion and Saudi Arabia ... 75 nations and counting!  :)