Hi Folks:
Seventeen years ago today, on June 16, 1995, Mike’s sister Liz passed away in hospital from acute liver failure. She was not a candidate for transplant. She was not yet 39 years old. The whys and hows of this aren’t important at the moment, because today we want to celebrate her life and not her untimely demise. Continue Reading →
Hi Folks:
Our good friend (and amazing poet) Wendy Morton can sometimes be found at the various branches of the Greater Victoria Public Libraries, ‘poeming’ people. Basically, she engages the individual in conversation for a few minutes and then she writes a poem about him or her. We caught up with Wendy at the main library downtown on April 28 and had the chance to be ‘poemed’ by her. We thought we’d share what she wrote about us, with you…
Marcia
Now that I’m retired
I have more time to write,
more time to watch the golden finches
fly from the branches of the cherry trees.
And time to walk
time to be quiet.
I go to art galleries,
go to art walks.
What we love most,
is giving away Free Hugs –
we go down to the inner harbour,
give away hugs to people at random.
I’m learning slam poetry.
I’m learning everything!Wendy Morton
April 28, 2012
Mike
We live in a world where people are
so afraid of touch.
How can we live without contact?
We went to the inner harbour.
Two guys on standup paddleboards
came up for free hugs, then
paddled off. Once a guy got hugged,
went back and got his whole family.
We’ve hugged the whole world.
We’ll keep doing it.Wendy Morton
April 28, 2012
Thank you, Wendy!
Hugs,
M&M
Hi Folks:
UPDATE: This post is about the 2012 event. If you’re looking for our 2013 Victorious Voices post, you can find it here.
Although Marcia and I have both been writers for most of our lives, our introduction to ‘slam poetry’ is somewhat recent – only since Shane Koyczan performed at the 2010 Olympics in Vancouver. Like all forms of poetry there are a few rules to follow, and since slam poetry is spoken, most of those rules relate to presentation. Poetry slams are ‘competitive’, but competitive in the true sense of the word – from the Latin, meaning ‘to strive together’. All work must be original. Poetry may be spoken individually or in ‘teams’. Each poet has up to 3 minutes to perform his/her piece, with a 10-second grace period following that. Any longer and the poet begins losing points for going over time. The time begins when the poet first engages the audience. The poet may not use props or musical accompaniment, and may not wear a costume. That’s the essentials of it.
Last night marked the 3rd annual ‘Victorious Voices‘ final – Victoria’s Secondary School Slam Championships. The semi-finals were on Monday night, but unfortunately we missed that event. Eight teams from local secondary schools made the semi-finals, and the final four teams performed last night. The students were from Esquimalt High School, Pearson College, and Reynolds Secondary (Junior and Senior). The event was held at the Victoria Event Centre, on Broad Street between Johnson and Pandora. Continue Reading →
Hello Dear Ones!
In a world where possibility and probability have become buzz words, where potential is highly praised yet expectation remains in question, where receiving product just on time rather than ahead of schedule is the norm ~ wouldn’t it be delicious to make room for: Most Definitely! Why Certainly! Absolutely!
Rather than building in contingencies for problems, limitations, setbacks and just-in-case scenarios ~ resulting in a greater probability of encountering them by the very matching of that same energy ~ how be we grow, develop and come to expect the very best of everyone, the power of teamwork, and the perfection of an idea, a dream ~ and live into its fulfillment by choice and by design!
In Light and Laughter,
Marcia
Hello Dear Ones!
Two years ago today, on the Sunday of Canada’s Victoria Day long weekend of 2009, I stepped onto the retreat grounds of Queenswood and an incredible journey began … leading me to write my first book:
It has been – and is still – a magical journey, one in which you, Dear Reader, took an active role … as one of my dearest inspirations! That’s why I thought to stop by today to share this exciting news with you … my book has been published and is now available for sale! You can check it out here: http://bit.ly/buspoet (paperback) or here: http://amzn.to/buspoet-k (Kindle version)
And, as a tantalizing little bonus for you, a glimpse of one of my very favourite sections: Continue Reading →
Hello, Dear Reader:
Being Christmas eve and all, it seemed like an appropriate topic for today. This ‘He Says, She Says…‘ post is going to be primarily a ‘He Says’, and it’s likely to be our last blog post of 2010, so I’ll add in a greeting from Marcia as well: However you celebrate it, we wish a joyous Holiday season to you and to those near and dear to your heart.
When you look like me, a lot of kids call you Santa Claus. I’m also very fortunate to have my own Mrs. Claus. Being called Santa may be partly because of the white hair and beard, but I still remember one day over 15 years ago when I was standing at an ATM outside (in July) wearing a headband, sunglasses, denim jacket and jeans, and a girl passing by called out, “Look mom, it’s Santa Claus!” “No, I don’t think so.” was the reply. “Yeah, it is!” Mom was thinking ‘Hells Angels’ was more likely, but the little girl could see through the disguise. I also remember the first time a little one, too young to talk, walked by with his dad in hand. As they walked away the little one began saying, “Ho Ho Ho. Ho Ho Ho…” His dad didn’t know what he was going on about, but we did.
However, this isn’t a post about how to look like Santa Claus, it’s about how to be Santa Claus, no matter what you look like. And that’s something anyone can do, no matter your faith or beliefs. The ‘father’ of the modern day Santa Claus was St. Nicholas, a Grecian man who lived in Lycia in the 4th century. Born to wealthy parents, they died when he was young and he was raised by his uncle. As he grew up St. Nick was a pious man, and very generous with what he had. He also encouraged his associates to be generous as well. There are a number of stories about his life; this is one of my favourites… Continue Reading →
Hello Dear Reader:
We wrote a ‘He Says, She Says…‘ blog post a while back on ‘The Elephant in the Room‘. The ‘elephant’ in that case was money. However, we recently rediscovered Bashar‘s talk on ‘Abundance‘, and that brought the idea back for us but in a different way. Bashar defines abundance as:
“Abundance: The ability to do what you need to do when you need to do it. Period. Did you hear anything in that definition that said anything about money?”
Mike and I have both been considering the implications of such a simple concept – simple and yet radical at the same time. Though normally each of us would write about our own individual interpretations of our He Says, She Says topic, since I’ve been working full-time and away from home, Mike has been flying solo on a few of our dicussions with me reviewing and editing before posting.
Well, today the roles are reversed and it’s me doing the writing, with Mike doing a review and edit. Turn about is, after all, fair play!
So … back to our quote:
“Abundance: The ability to do what you need to do when you need to do it. Period. Did you hear anything in that definition that said anything about money?”
Two scenarios – both related to movies we’ve recently seen again: Groundhog Day with Bill Murray and Andie MacDowell and Star Trek: Insurrection. Though you may find it odd to compare these two, I do hope you’ll stay with me here.
In Groundhog Day, Bill Murray finds himself reliving the same day over and over and over again. Every morning he awakes on February 2nd, and every night all failures (including bank robbery and death!) are wiped clean. Initially his life is mundane and boorish and his purpose for existence is to bed the character portrayed by Andie MacDowel. But after what you realize must be months of repeating the same day, (all unsuccessful in his attempts to win and woo MacDowell) he becomes an intelligent, talented and caring man, beloved by the people of the small town. Once he gets to this point in his life, he no longer seeks satisfaction from the MacDowell character – his life is rich without her. Only then does ‘fate’ intervene to bring the two of them together.
In the Star Trek movie, the people from this magical planet live rich lives well up to over 700 years – that second zero was intentional! There is no money in this society, yet everyone does anything and everything that they have ever dreamed of doing. If it is a thought or passion, they know they can do it, and they follow through on these dreams! These people are rich in talent, creativity, and self-satisfaction. Nothing stops them from completing their goals and each person in their society supports the success and achievements of all others. This year they might choose to study to become a doctor, next year might delve into pottery to the point of mastery, then tackle and perfect a new style of fabric, move on to become a chef … the options are limitless and the success to the point of mastery is a given!
In case you do not see where I’m taking this thought in relation to our topic … there is no ‘working for money’ in either movie. Bill Murray’s character finds ways to take piano lessons till he is a master pianist. He becomes a doctor and helps the people of this town in innumerable ways by caring about them as individuals – right down to the local street person who repeatedly dies every day till Murray finds a way to save his life! In Star Trek, the wellbeing of each individual in this utopian society is paramount … and the peace and beauty – both externally and internally – is tangible. Each person gives of themselves to enhance and support the community.
To consider a life of abundance without consideration of money as we know it in our society today is a radical concept! Yet as I’ve been playing with the idea of this as an option in my life, I have been finding magical scenarios popping up and providing me with physical expressions of abundance yet without the need of my having finances to ‘buy’ them.
Here are some simple examples:
* while awaiting our local library’s purchase of a book that I want to borrow in order to read, a co-worker brings her copy in for me to enjoy without having been asked – nor did we ever even talk together about my interest in it … she said she just ‘thought’ I’d enjoy it! YES!
* wanting the latest Abraham-Hicks book and CD: Getting into the Vortex yet not having the funds to provide it for myself, it arrived in the guise of an unexpected gift from a friend who claims she ordered two (bless her beautiful heart!).
* at a time when I find myself looking within to determine a healthy and contrasting perspective between my comfort in a small living space versus the more expansive and potentially labour intensive demands of residing in a larger home, a friend calls to see if we can house-sit her comparatively much larger house for 3 weeks!
Though simple examples, I think you get the idea that my life is filling up with magical expressions of abundance in marvelous ways that do NOT require the having of money as the prime prerequisite for their appearance in my life.
So let us review that quote one more time:
“Abundance: The ability to do what you need to do when you need to do it. Period. Did you hear anything in that definition that said anything about money?”
How does this quote sit with you? Where does the thought take you? Does it resonate well? Does it challenge your current concepts? Does it inspire you? I’d be delighted to hear from you … I encourage you to leave a comment below!
In Light and Laughter,
Marcia
Hello, Dear Reader:
Things have been a little quiet lately here in our little corner of the ‘net, but since we have three or four blog posts to do, let’s see if we can’t change that! This ‘He Says, She Says…‘ post is going to be primarily a ‘He Says’, but as always Marcia gets the final edit. I have an idea for this blog post but I’m having a little difficulty forming words around it; be patient and we’ll get there.
As the old saying goes, “You won’t recognize the house when you come to visit; we’ve moved.” Actually Sunday and Monday were primarily occupied in getting our ‘stuff’ over to the new house. Moving is nothing new for Marcia and me; so far, in the years we’ve been a couple we’ve occupied 17 different homes – together or separately. Last summer the folks at Victoria’s Boulevard magazine asked people to submit entries of 300 words or less on the subject of ‘home’; I wrote in and told them that Marcia would say I couldn’t write anything in 300 words to save my life, but the concept of ‘home’ has been an interesting one for us. We’ve each been planning to come here to Victoria for quite a number of years, even before we met, and we’re rather liking the idea that we don’t plan to move again. The editors at Boulevard were kind enough to include my letter (edited for length!) in their recent 2010 Home Design Annual. Continue Reading →
Hello, Dear Reader:
One of the Energy Medicine Cards, revealed at a crossroads in Marcia’s work day recently:
RELEASING:
Examine your beliefs. Assess your emotions. Wherever there is historical pattern, be willing to throw it out and see anew.
~ Energy Medicine Cards
It is with the prompting of this simple suggestion that our topic was chosen …
Read on…
Follow these links to read what He Says/She Says: Marcia’s View / Mike’s View
Hello, Dear Reader:
Our ‘He Says, She Says…‘ post is a day late this week because we were off visiting our grandchildren yesterday. Such a wonderful time for us to reconnect with family and to live in the ‘now’ that these little ones experience.  It sparked our topic for this week, the “Sweet Innocence of Children“.
Hugs,
M&M
Follow these links to read what He Says/She Says: Marcia’s View / Mike’s View