Thank you Elizabeth, this "scratch" really spoke to me and even had a little tear just seeing in my mind how you approached that women just to say how awesome she looked!
Kelley, I continue to think myself fortunate that people don't run in the opposite direction! Truly, exchanges like those do at least as much, or more, for me! Thanks for your sweet comment.
Susan, this one brought up some big emotions for me, too, especially with Enigma playing. It somehow seemed like exactly the right piece to pair with these thoughts. Thank you for sharing that with me!
Betsy.. obviously this post moved me greatly. You know me like most people don't and have known me for a long time. I am moved by so many of the same things you are. However. I must lift that sentence again Betsy... that little phrase that this lovely lady used that turned my thinking world upside down just a few moments ago... She took me from the present moment to the spiritual in one statement.."There’s just something about today.”....... Just WOW... you may have just encountered the holy of holies among "the least of these."
Everything about this was something that i needed.
AGREED!
We know how to do right, do better. We just have to keep doing it as best we can.
Yes, it's scary.
It's also big and thrilling and wonderful and twisty and peculiar this life- I just want to be IN it fully for as long
as I possibly can!!!
You can have it all ! The moments joy and the wonder and the 'holy shit this is a pain in my ass!' of this tight rope-somewhere on those spots when we aren't teetering or falling off we achieve the space where we balance between informed without terror and ostrich.
Yes, yes! You are so right, Kate. The whole spectrum of emotion and possibility, and a better sense of how to not lose ourselves in the fear of what we can't control. Thanks so much for sharing your thoughts.
Thank you so much for beautifully expressing what is in my mind and heart. We each know we can’t fix everything, but we can each do what is ours to do, and we can show up as the change we want to see in the world. People making even a small effort to connect and be kind to each other is a really good place to start. It brings joy for the giver and the receiver. Thanks for spreading the joy!
Thank you, Cynthia. I have the sense that every Scratch reader is putting forth significant effort. That's part of what makes this collective so wonderful. It's empowering to think that in doing just a bit more, we can have that much more impact. Wow!
Caught up in political machinations, disgusted at war, horrified at Conservative and far right views on how we should live our lives, price gouging by fuel companies and supermarkets... it goes on and on.
Which is why I love your Pink Lady - you desire to speak with her, compliment her and her gracious reply. It's the kind of thing Tom Ryan does in all his newsletters as he travels the USA and it leaves one a better person for reading the words. And inspired to do the same.
Of course the icing on the cake was Elgar's beautiful symphonic gift to his friends - a gentle smile (perhaps to say how good pink looks on someone).
Oh, Prue. We never know how our words will land, or whether the timing will be on or off. I'm pleased to know this one came an an opportune time for you. To be able to have those moments of connection with my parking lot friend was a gift to me, for sure. To think that it could spawn other, similar moments across the globe...? Well, I guess that's the kind of tiny miracle that, collectively, might really change the vibration of this place! Elgar's piece added a depth to my musings that I didn't see coming. Brought me to tears.
Thank you for your thoughts and abiding support. 🧡
Thank you for writing these thoughts. Your message is one I try to live by, and I don’t find it easy. It is easy however, to get bogged down in hopelessness and sadness. It’s easy to forget that there are people like you who remind us in such a wise and kind way that there are enough wise and kind people in the world to help us sustain hope. That the lady in pink allowed you in, if just for a moment, is a gift.
Darrell, there is no denying (and I may have written this in another comment already) that we have a biological imperative to be wary of what might "get us." I think that's why it's so easy to slip into our fearful responses, which then drive hopelessness. That gift of interaction and connection with my parking lot pal was very special, like a quick chat with an earth-angel. So good to see you here, and thanks for the comment!
I had to sit with this one for a day. It was a day I had to go offline, because being online was getting to me. I needed to get grounded in what is here and now, for me. When I do that, I can find a place of greater balance. Today, this lands a bit differently than it did yesterday. I can hear all of it today. I appreciate what you are saying, and the way you are holding both/and, which is always what works best for me. The world is both a shitshow and wondrous. Humans are both awful and beautiful. We can all do only what we can, and we don't need to martyr ourselves. Thank you for the chance to think about these things.
Smart, smart woman to seek balance by going offline for a bit. And thank you for coming back to this later. That means a lot. I really appreciate your line: "we don't need to martyr ourselves." Like Mary Oliver's delicious truths in Wild Geese and the world offering itself to our imaginations. Thanks for sharing your thoughts, Rita.
Such a wonderful moment, going out of your way to get that woman's attention to offer a friendly compliment. It says a lot about you! (Btw - I listened to this via voiceover.)
Oh, Amy, thanks for letting me know you made use of the audio. I notice that the estimates for read time are much shorter than listen times, so you'll have to let me know how you felt about that experience. It's funny -- I didn't feel like I was going out of my way to connect with the lady in the pink camo, more that she was doing me a favor. I guess that's what we call a win-win? 😊 Thank you for your comment.
A couple of years ago on another site when everyone was panicking over the latest Thing We Need To Panic About, I read a wise man's words: "The sky has fallen before. We have lived through some terribly unsettled times. But you are not in control of the sky. You are called to your work." I write those last two sentences in my journal every day, at the top of the page where I list the work (and play) I hope to do that day.
Your post is another wonderful reminder to step out of the fear that comes so naturally to us (and can slow us down so much) and live a day's worth of the life in front of us. Thanks for writing it, Elizabeth. It's a much-needed message, and you delivered it eloquently and with love.
Elizabeth -- those two lines are gems! You can be sure I will remember them well. And thank you so very much for affirming what I hoped to convey here. It's hard, these days, to know how to walk the line between engaging and keeping boundaries, between holding on and letting go. Your thoughts mean a lot.
Thanks, Elizabeth. I’ve loved listening to the Enigma Variations forever, and it gives such a smooth peaceful landing to a beautiful piece.
I spent yesterday afternoon helping a friend solve a couple of problems that were causing her a lot of tears and the problems got fixed. As she drove me home (I fixed her truck), she poured out her heart about trauma and pain she has carried for years that I never understood until yesterday, when I realized it was the same kind of pain I carried for so many years, although from different causes. Still, she describe her soul battles in almost the same words I have used to describe my own PTSD symptoms, because while the causes are different, the trauma feels the same. That numbing, grinding, gut wrenching 2 a.m. at night phone call feeling that sometimes lasts for weeks and turns every day into an exhausting battle. The darkness so painful that too often it’s simply not worth getting up to face the world, so one day after another goes by with nothing worth doing, no food, no nothing. And people who mean well asking us to just get over it, because isn’t it about time? I sensed her loneliness that causes one to give up on anyone in the world understanding, that causes one to turn inward to block out the world because of the risk of being vulnerable to anything that might rip open the wounds that are still so raw. She cried as she told me of cruel words people used to cut her again and again because they think she fit their particular description of a that kind of person in their minds.
I told her that she is not alone in what she is suffering and I am so grateful I can tell her it is possible for her to get to another, so much better place where all the trauma will still be there, but it will change from something dark and awful that extinguishes any hope into a different thing that is still there in the past but which can no longer hurt us as it gives us a sense of life that can only be called wisdom. All that trauma can transform into a thing that makes our hearts full of tenderness and empathy. All that trauma will be back in a place where it can no longer hurt us and we can finally rest, because we are safe.
I told her about hacks I learned by trial and error, by trusting a caring counselor, by overcoming my terror at even the thought of certain things that could reopen the trauma, by facing it all without turning away from the hard work of healing even if it means sometimes wincing and wanting to shrink back, and by shear force of will to believe that those who love us really do love us and to exert the courage to let their love trickle back in. Please, please be patient with as the love transfusion slowly transforms us. I told her I know for certain there is another, better place and she can get there. It is hard work and painful, but it can change everything. I know everything can change, not magically, not perfectly all at once, not without two steps forward and one step back, but it can change.
I could see that she believed me. I felt frustrated yesterday morning that I am not back on the trail as soon as I hoped, but this morning I think I understand why. I had to go back and resolve some unfinished pain of my own this week ( K.D. @ A.I. in MD, if you read this, I hope it helps you understand where I was at this week and why I said what I said. I am sorry you were the target, because you have done everything possible. You did not deserve to be a target.) The frustration and the taking care of my own unfinished business left me perfectly situated to help another precious, overwhelmed soul. Is this just purely chance? I do not think so, because unexpectedly, at this very moment, I am grateful that I experienced and came to understand the pain of my own trauma, because it helped me to understand and soothe the pain of a friend.
Thank you, Elizabeth, for perfectly preparing my thinking to be ready to do what I needed to do yesterday and thank you for sharing this poem:
Oh Elizabeth, such wise, well-chosen words. Loved this post. Thank you. And the awesome lady in pink - you really made each other’s day. Heartwarming and wonderful. ❤️
You're right - I am! I've been away, and having been overwhelmed by the daunt of my brimming Substack inbox I am now tackling the wonderful posts I've missed one fabulous writer at a time! You caught me!!!!! 🤣
Thank you Elizabeth, this "scratch" really spoke to me and even had a little tear just seeing in my mind how you approached that women just to say how awesome she looked!
Kelley, I continue to think myself fortunate that people don't run in the opposite direction! Truly, exchanges like those do at least as much, or more, for me! Thanks for your sweet comment.
Reading your thoughts, listening to Enigma...sighs, then tears. A release I barely knew I needed, cleansing breath and cleansing tears.
Thank you
Susan, this one brought up some big emotions for me, too, especially with Enigma playing. It somehow seemed like exactly the right piece to pair with these thoughts. Thank you for sharing that with me!
Betsy.. obviously this post moved me greatly. You know me like most people don't and have known me for a long time. I am moved by so many of the same things you are. However. I must lift that sentence again Betsy... that little phrase that this lovely lady used that turned my thinking world upside down just a few moments ago... She took me from the present moment to the spiritual in one statement.."There’s just something about today.”....... Just WOW... you may have just encountered the holy of holies among "the least of these."
She was grace itself, Barry, and such a gift to me that day. Today. Any day. I love that you see that and reflect it back. Thank you!
Thank you Elizabeth❤️❤️. I needed this today. Love the way you write and are able to speak to my heart.
Ah, Susanne -- I'm glad this landed in your life at a time that felt right. Thank you so much for sharing that comment.
Everything about this was something that i needed.
AGREED!
We know how to do right, do better. We just have to keep doing it as best we can.
Yes, it's scary.
It's also big and thrilling and wonderful and twisty and peculiar this life- I just want to be IN it fully for as long
as I possibly can!!!
You can have it all ! The moments joy and the wonder and the 'holy shit this is a pain in my ass!' of this tight rope-somewhere on those spots when we aren't teetering or falling off we achieve the space where we balance between informed without terror and ostrich.
=)
Yes, yes! You are so right, Kate. The whole spectrum of emotion and possibility, and a better sense of how to not lose ourselves in the fear of what we can't control. Thanks so much for sharing your thoughts.
Thank you so much for beautifully expressing what is in my mind and heart. We each know we can’t fix everything, but we can each do what is ours to do, and we can show up as the change we want to see in the world. People making even a small effort to connect and be kind to each other is a really good place to start. It brings joy for the giver and the receiver. Thanks for spreading the joy!
Thank you, Cynthia. I have the sense that every Scratch reader is putting forth significant effort. That's part of what makes this collective so wonderful. It's empowering to think that in doing just a bit more, we can have that much more impact. Wow!
This was a serendipitous read today.
Caught up in political machinations, disgusted at war, horrified at Conservative and far right views on how we should live our lives, price gouging by fuel companies and supermarkets... it goes on and on.
Which is why I love your Pink Lady - you desire to speak with her, compliment her and her gracious reply. It's the kind of thing Tom Ryan does in all his newsletters as he travels the USA and it leaves one a better person for reading the words. And inspired to do the same.
Of course the icing on the cake was Elgar's beautiful symphonic gift to his friends - a gentle smile (perhaps to say how good pink looks on someone).
Inspiring, Elizabeth. Thank you.
Oh, Prue. We never know how our words will land, or whether the timing will be on or off. I'm pleased to know this one came an an opportune time for you. To be able to have those moments of connection with my parking lot friend was a gift to me, for sure. To think that it could spawn other, similar moments across the globe...? Well, I guess that's the kind of tiny miracle that, collectively, might really change the vibration of this place! Elgar's piece added a depth to my musings that I didn't see coming. Brought me to tears.
Thank you for your thoughts and abiding support. 🧡
Thank you for writing these thoughts. Your message is one I try to live by, and I don’t find it easy. It is easy however, to get bogged down in hopelessness and sadness. It’s easy to forget that there are people like you who remind us in such a wise and kind way that there are enough wise and kind people in the world to help us sustain hope. That the lady in pink allowed you in, if just for a moment, is a gift.
Darrell, there is no denying (and I may have written this in another comment already) that we have a biological imperative to be wary of what might "get us." I think that's why it's so easy to slip into our fearful responses, which then drive hopelessness. That gift of interaction and connection with my parking lot pal was very special, like a quick chat with an earth-angel. So good to see you here, and thanks for the comment!
I had to sit with this one for a day. It was a day I had to go offline, because being online was getting to me. I needed to get grounded in what is here and now, for me. When I do that, I can find a place of greater balance. Today, this lands a bit differently than it did yesterday. I can hear all of it today. I appreciate what you are saying, and the way you are holding both/and, which is always what works best for me. The world is both a shitshow and wondrous. Humans are both awful and beautiful. We can all do only what we can, and we don't need to martyr ourselves. Thank you for the chance to think about these things.
Smart, smart woman to seek balance by going offline for a bit. And thank you for coming back to this later. That means a lot. I really appreciate your line: "we don't need to martyr ourselves." Like Mary Oliver's delicious truths in Wild Geese and the world offering itself to our imaginations. Thanks for sharing your thoughts, Rita.
Such a wonderful moment, going out of your way to get that woman's attention to offer a friendly compliment. It says a lot about you! (Btw - I listened to this via voiceover.)
Oh, Amy, thanks for letting me know you made use of the audio. I notice that the estimates for read time are much shorter than listen times, so you'll have to let me know how you felt about that experience. It's funny -- I didn't feel like I was going out of my way to connect with the lady in the pink camo, more that she was doing me a favor. I guess that's what we call a win-win? 😊 Thank you for your comment.
Well said, Cynthia. If the world is going to hell in a handbasket, it’s an interminably long road. Centuries long!
Interminably, indeed. Millennia even! Thanks for reading, Don, and for sharing your thoughts. Quick funny...it's Elizabeth. 😅
Oops! I’ll bet no one has gotten your name that badly off lol. Well, I subscribed to your blog, so I’ll get it right from now on. 🙂
Thank you, Don! It’s of no consequence and good for a laugh. 🤣
A couple of years ago on another site when everyone was panicking over the latest Thing We Need To Panic About, I read a wise man's words: "The sky has fallen before. We have lived through some terribly unsettled times. But you are not in control of the sky. You are called to your work." I write those last two sentences in my journal every day, at the top of the page where I list the work (and play) I hope to do that day.
Your post is another wonderful reminder to step out of the fear that comes so naturally to us (and can slow us down so much) and live a day's worth of the life in front of us. Thanks for writing it, Elizabeth. It's a much-needed message, and you delivered it eloquently and with love.
Elizabeth -- those two lines are gems! You can be sure I will remember them well. And thank you so very much for affirming what I hoped to convey here. It's hard, these days, to know how to walk the line between engaging and keeping boundaries, between holding on and letting go. Your thoughts mean a lot.
Thanks, Elizabeth. I’ve loved listening to the Enigma Variations forever, and it gives such a smooth peaceful landing to a beautiful piece.
I spent yesterday afternoon helping a friend solve a couple of problems that were causing her a lot of tears and the problems got fixed. As she drove me home (I fixed her truck), she poured out her heart about trauma and pain she has carried for years that I never understood until yesterday, when I realized it was the same kind of pain I carried for so many years, although from different causes. Still, she describe her soul battles in almost the same words I have used to describe my own PTSD symptoms, because while the causes are different, the trauma feels the same. That numbing, grinding, gut wrenching 2 a.m. at night phone call feeling that sometimes lasts for weeks and turns every day into an exhausting battle. The darkness so painful that too often it’s simply not worth getting up to face the world, so one day after another goes by with nothing worth doing, no food, no nothing. And people who mean well asking us to just get over it, because isn’t it about time? I sensed her loneliness that causes one to give up on anyone in the world understanding, that causes one to turn inward to block out the world because of the risk of being vulnerable to anything that might rip open the wounds that are still so raw. She cried as she told me of cruel words people used to cut her again and again because they think she fit their particular description of a that kind of person in their minds.
I told her that she is not alone in what she is suffering and I am so grateful I can tell her it is possible for her to get to another, so much better place where all the trauma will still be there, but it will change from something dark and awful that extinguishes any hope into a different thing that is still there in the past but which can no longer hurt us as it gives us a sense of life that can only be called wisdom. All that trauma can transform into a thing that makes our hearts full of tenderness and empathy. All that trauma will be back in a place where it can no longer hurt us and we can finally rest, because we are safe.
I told her about hacks I learned by trial and error, by trusting a caring counselor, by overcoming my terror at even the thought of certain things that could reopen the trauma, by facing it all without turning away from the hard work of healing even if it means sometimes wincing and wanting to shrink back, and by shear force of will to believe that those who love us really do love us and to exert the courage to let their love trickle back in. Please, please be patient with as the love transfusion slowly transforms us. I told her I know for certain there is another, better place and she can get there. It is hard work and painful, but it can change everything. I know everything can change, not magically, not perfectly all at once, not without two steps forward and one step back, but it can change.
I could see that she believed me. I felt frustrated yesterday morning that I am not back on the trail as soon as I hoped, but this morning I think I understand why. I had to go back and resolve some unfinished pain of my own this week ( K.D. @ A.I. in MD, if you read this, I hope it helps you understand where I was at this week and why I said what I said. I am sorry you were the target, because you have done everything possible. You did not deserve to be a target.) The frustration and the taking care of my own unfinished business left me perfectly situated to help another precious, overwhelmed soul. Is this just purely chance? I do not think so, because unexpectedly, at this very moment, I am grateful that I experienced and came to understand the pain of my own trauma, because it helped me to understand and soothe the pain of a friend.
Thank you, Elizabeth, for perfectly preparing my thinking to be ready to do what I needed to do yesterday and thank you for sharing this poem:
I'm Hanging On by a thread.
And so are you
and him and her and them.
But what if we tied
our threads together.
What if we stitch
something strong enough to withstand the weight
of it all. Of us all. Big enough
to make sure there's always
a place to hold onto even
when parts of the fabric are threadbare.
I'm hanging on by a thread. But I'm trying
to learn how to weave.
Poem by Fara Tucker
What a story! This, I am convinced, is what we are meant to do. Thank you for sharing this here.
I share your conviction.
Oh Elizabeth, such wise, well-chosen words. Loved this post. Thank you. And the awesome lady in pink - you really made each other’s day. Heartwarming and wonderful. ❤️
Yes! The mutuality of it was one of the best parts! 😊
(And you, friend, are catching up on your reading...lol!)
You're right - I am! I've been away, and having been overwhelmed by the daunt of my brimming Substack inbox I am now tackling the wonderful posts I've missed one fabulous writer at a time! You caught me!!!!! 🤣