Be the ball (read: tired of the pity party)
There is a line in Caddyshack where Bill Murray is teaching the caddy how to play golf and he tells him, you have to get down, and “be the ball.” You got to get your head in the game was what a 7-year-old told me once when we were playing Fish and I was losing. Today, my housekeeper said you have to project to the universe what you want to get back.
I was tilting towards another entry on death – Patrick Swayze, three more people diagnosed with cancer, and a distant relative on her death bed. Good grief! But I said this is a time of transition, things are changing – people are dying off and new ones are being born and conceived. There could be a sperm floating to an egg right now destined to make a baby that is headed towards my arms. Wow! Now, that’s awesome.
There’s also the get down on your knees and thank your lucky stars for just everything you have. Eyes that see, ears that hear, lips that speak. Two feet to carry you where you want to go. Two hands to hold your loved one. Dogs who look at you adoringly. A cat who comes home every night. A home to house you and your loved ones in safety and beauty. A bayou that always pulls my eyes to it, like a painting that never goes stale. A city to call home that resurrected itself from a 100-year flood.
I could keep going but I think you get the drift. Be grateful for what you have and if you spend your time thinking about all of your bounty and appreciating it, that leaves little time for dwelling on things outside of your control.
My mom’s current condition has me blue. But I’m grateful for the years I’ve had with her, especially on returning to New Orleans the last five years. My two uncles told me the same – that they came home a few years before their mother died (my grandmother) and those were quality years that they are so grateful to have had.
So again I say to the universe I am mighty blessed and let me look outside of myself and see what I can do for those who are not feeling so lucky today?