The Empowered Lifestyle

Over the past few days just everyone has been complaining about the hot, hot heat and always seeming to add, well, to me anyway, that it’s just so out of place to have these sorts of soaring temperatures in June. Of course, the trail of this thought leads to a supposition that if this is what the weather’s like in mid-June, then August should be a walk in wider and wider circles through the very pits of Hell.

Whenever I encounter someone who starts presupposing how bad the future is going to be, FOR ANY REASON AT ALL, I mentally leave the conversation and go somewhere else where all is well and the Gates of Hades are still closed for the time being. In this particular case, while one of my neighbors was on a full tilt heated rant yesterday, I went to the June of my childhood.

When I think of June, I think of roses. We had “rose bushes” in our own “garden” (there’s a really good reason those quotes are in both of those places) in our back yard but, our neighbor, the quirky Mother Earth, Jean Sellers, had the most lovely ones in hers. All different colors and scents, and she was forever clipping and giving those roses to all of us kids to bring home to our mother. See, she and my mother were really good friends so, not only must she have been privy to the fact that one or all of the four of us were perennially in trouble, but, she also knew that the scent-ual offering she was affording us would put us right with Mom.

I loved Mrs. Sellers and I loved, loved, loved her rose bushes. They were so full that a brief brush past them would start a rain of soft petals that would create an almost magical Cinderella-esque ground cover. One good stiff June breeze would do the same. And that smell…

As we fell asleep at night, with the windows wide open, the summer wind would waft the smell of a million roses into the room—it scenting our sleep and seeding sweet dreams.

Roses are abundant this time of year and, so, along those same vines it should come as no surprise that June is also known as ‘Rose Month.’ For centuries now, roses have been held in highest esteem, not only for their flavors and scents but also for their allure and association with amour. If you’re looking to find a sweet partner or mate, take two pink long-stemmed roses and remove the thorns. Place them in a white vase and position them in the ‘Romance/Relationship’ area of your bedroom (far back right hand corner as you look in from the bedroom door.) This simple and sweet gesture is said to bring those same sorts of energies into your love life. Change this duo every three days and replace with fresh stems. Do this for a total of three times or for nine days. Count on this pair to bring a bloom and some growth into your partnering dreams. Your sweet, sweet, partnering dreams.

It’s hot here where I live. Really roasting hot. And I’m hot. But not as hot as I was the last three days. My son has his first travel lacrosse tournament over this past weekend. Therefore, so did I. In the bazillion gajillion degree heat, with not a lick of breeze or shade to be found, my son and twenty-something of his teammates had their first full weekend tournament in little lacrosse town USA, Berlin, Maryland.

Under sometimes-stacked odds, these strong scrappers played their hearts out—played like machines and made it to the semi-finals. Only after a four-thousand minute sudden death did we have to pack our helmets, hold our heads high and go home.

Now, after three days of three games each day (and, oh, did I mention the bazillion gajillion degree heat?), I’m almost as worn out as those little guys must be. And I wasn’t even going to blog about this today. In fact, I wasn’t going to blog at all until an email from his coach just slid into my in-box. Okay, and there may have been a teensy, eensy wee bit of pressure from Tammy and some letters from my regular readers (I have regular readers!) as well. But, the motivation behind this particular blog is singularly Coach Francis, his gigantic sense of stewardship and his uncanny ability to lead. This is how that man who stood on those scorching sidelines for every one of those games, for three days straight, ended his mail to his boys:

“By never quitting and never giving up we are fulfilling one of my dreams. We will fight to the end—be it bitter or be it glorious…nay, if we fight to the end it will only be glorious.”

It made me cry.

It made the respect I had for him before the email seem almost puny in comparison. And you can ask anyone, I really respected him quite a bit.

And it also prompted me to think about a cornerstone of any sort of success in ANY area of life...PERSEVERANCE. As it happens, I’ve also just finished a radio interview with Pat Lynch of The Women’s Radio Network and we talked and talked and talked about the intrinsic and invaluable importance of believing in one’s mission, one’s goals and one’s dreams. And then trusting and persevering, no matter what the odds or the challenges, until you get to the top of the mountain. There are many paths that lead up to that summit. But only perseverance will allow you to climb and climb and climb.

Pat asked me if I thought perseverance demanded discipline and I answered that life itself demands discipline. But, in this case, if there is something you really want then discipline and perseverance should be stapled to your ass. A partner? A new house? A new job? You have to really want it. And I mean really want it. Taoist Feng Shui says that if you really want something and have clarity about what ‘it’ is, then you can make it happen. Here’s the formula according to that philosophy:

Every single night before you go to sleep, visualize what the top of the mountain looks like for and to you. And every single morning, as soon as you awake, do the same thing. If you really want something, you have to see yourself as ALREADY having it. I know, I know, it sounds so easy. And it’s so friggin’ hard. Otherwise I’d be married to George Clooney by now. Oh well. In any case, watch for those rogue thoughts that will take your focus away and EVERY SINGLE DAY for at least 49 days straight, “see” your goal as you fall off to sleep and welcome it again first thing in the morning. If you are disciplined, if you persevere, you will come closer than you ever thought possible to your personal pot of gold. Because, well, if you do fight, to the end, as the most perfect coach in the worlds reminds, “it will only be glorious.”

And, sometimes, it's a bazillion, gajillion degrees outside when trying to get there...