Quote of the Week - Lao Tzu

“By letting it go it all gets done. The world is won by those who let it go. But when you try and try. The world is beyond winning.”  

-Lao Tzu

I often think Yoda is just Lao Tzu in a tiny green body.  No trying today!

Quote of the Week - Dewhurst

"Life may be a mess: You may have a hundred crises forcing their way into your mind and your heart. But--and I stress this--the theatre and the person you bring to the theatre must be pure and clear and ready only for the work at hand. Your fellow actors, the stage manager, the dresser--they don't need to know the drama you have at home or in your life. Pour it all into the performance. Blow away the audience with your intensity, but don't alienate or alarm your coworkers with the diary of your life. And the theatre becomes therapy. So does the commute to the theatre. Just wash it all away, store it, command it to sit and be still. You'll work a lot of it out in the performance, so that by the time you face down the problem at home, it's smaller and it knows its place, and it knows that you've been made stronger by giving to others, by prioritizing, by doing the right thing."  

- Colleen Dewhurst

One of the greats.  Keep the drama in front of the camera; it's better for everybody!

(I got this off someone's FB.  Now I don't remember whose, but I thank them.)

Make it real Monday,

Digging in the Dirt: I Dream a Garden by Dominica Myers

DIGGING IN THE DIRT:
I DREAM A GARDEN

by Dominica Myers 

“You are all parts of your dream. You are the symbols, you are the actions, you are the scenery, you are the people in your dream, you are you. You are all parts of your dream.”

- Janet Myers

My mother was an interpreter. Dreams were always safe to be dreamt, often and wild, because I knew they meant nothing and everything. I knew when they were sacred, prophetic, and voiced from the stars. I knew when they were fanciful and baseless. Waking up in the morning meant new dreams and new reasons to call my Mom, for she was an interpreter of Dreams.

My dream today is very simple: I want to plant a garden. I want to plant a nice organic vegetable garden with a sprinkling of herbs and berries. I’ve actually wanted to plant a garden for quite some time, but I’ve always had excuses. I’m a renter, a solo mom, a serial houseplant killer. I don’t know a thing about how to plant or where or when or what to put it in. I had started to try to dig and weed out an overgrown rose garden in the yard of a North Seattle rental cottage year before last, but there was a reason it was overgrown with relentless, writhing, Walking Dead weeds. I was clueless on how to tame the beastly richness of it, so that didn’t last long.

Part of me wants desperately to be like my Depression-era Grama who purposely only owned three pair of shoes – everyday shoes, dress shoes (worn maybe once a year), and garden shoes. Her vegetable garden was majestic. It was so big that it had rows that required annual rototilling. She dug in that bad boy every day I can remember. She grew carrots, parsnip, zucchini, strawberries, rhubarb, pumpkins, squash, peas, potatoes, all kinds of edibles. And flowers – flower beds everywhere! I remember planting sunflowers with her when I was six years old and they grew to be twice my height. I lived with my grandparents out in the boonies for six years of my formative life. How in the world did this gardening thing not rub off on me sooner? I asked Mom once how Grama knew SO much about gardening, and she said it was just something old ladies got into as they aged, and that someday I’d be an old lady and get into it too. Technically, Mom was older than I am now when she said that, so I’m not sure I’m buying the old lady thing. But she was right about one thing: I really do want a garden.

More than want, I need a garden. I need to grow things and feel accomplished at something that requires more work and diligence than talent. I need to feel close to my mother and grandmother again in places that can only be cleansed by dirty hands in soil plucking weeds and touching wormies. I need to feel like I could grow my own food in case of the zombie apocalypse. I need to grow a garden. Maybe not Grama’s epic earthly manifesto garden, but maybe I could start with something small. Maybe something in pots or containers.

Our current rental is a lower level mother-in-law with a covered carport, which I share with my six year old son and two cats. With no soil, and an average of only 45 days of sunshine per year in the Seattle area (not to mention, almost no gardening skills, tools, or knowledge whatsoever), I will have my work cut out for me.

But I am all parts of my Dream, and I dream a garden. I’d like to take you with me on this journey to keep me company in my fumblings, and keep me honest in my intentions. After all, you are part of my Dream too. Come along with me, yes? Let’s grow a garden. 

Seattle native, Dominica Myers, is a theatre artist, writer, and soccer mom. She lives just outside Seattle with her small family and two cats, and enjoys writing most when it rains.  Follow her on Twitter.

Editor's Note:  So excited to be launching this new sereies with the lovely Dominica Myers!  Check the Zestyverse on Fridays for new posts on her progress!

Quote of the Week - Kornfield

“This body that we have, this very body that’s sitting here right now in this room, this very body that perhaps aches, and this mind that we have at this very moment, are exactly what we need to be fully human, fully awake, and fully alive.

Furthermore, the emotions that we have right now, the negativity and the positivity, are what we actually need. It is just as if we looked around to find out what would be the greatest wealth that we could possibly possess in order to lead to a decent, good, completely fulfilling, energetic, inspired life, and found it right here."

- Jack Kornfield

Somewhere I read a quote about a Butoh teacher who was talking to a student.  The student said something like, "oh I can't dance today - I sprained my ankle."  And the teacher replies, "Sprained ankle -- good for butoh!  Everything good for butoh!"  

We can only be where we are.  Especially on Mondays!

(Pic is from a piece by Eiko & Koma.)

50 by 50

Yeah.  So I read this "50 Things Every Woman Should Know" piece in the Huffington Post.  (I should know better than to read The Huffington Post - it's true.)  It all struck me as a little, how shall we say -- suburban?  upper middle?  white? materialistic?  Sure, it's great to know how to change a tire ... if you have a car!  And it's awesome to invest in the stock market ... if you have discretionary income.  Likewise, carving a turkey is cool ... if you eat meat.  Thus ... a teeny tiny ulcer was born inside me.  Here are my 50 pearls.  Uncultured.

  

1. Made something from nothing.

2. Gone through the fire.  And again.

3. Held the hand of someone walking through fire.

4. Loved exponentially more than she hated.

5. Slept under the stars.

6. Sex on the beach.  (All that sand.) (Elevator, plane, or desk in your place of business are okay substitutions here.)

7. Helped a younger woman get where she wants to go.

8. Made a child’s life better.  Much better.

9. Found the limits of her own body, her own pleasure.

10. Acted on her most persistent sexual fantasy.  And the next two on the list.  (Unless they involve being over 50.)

 11. Traveled somewhere alone, where she didn’t speak the language, just because she wanted to go.  And was fine.

12.  Told a story that changed someone’s life.

13. Decided she’s beautiful just as she is.

14. Figured out her body is exactly the size and shape it is supposed to be right now.

15. Realized it’s only money.

16. Learned how to receive.

17. Been very true to someone.

18. Figured out when to leave.

19. Said her piece.

20. Failed.  Fallen.  Often.

21. Gotten up often + one times.

22. Apologized.

23. Made do.  With a smile on her face and a laugh at the ready.

24. Worked hard enough to fall into bed to stone cold sleep.

25. Relaxed well enough to fall asleep in the sun in the middle of reading a sentence.

26. Find out she enjoys her alone time.

27. Started one thing she was “too old” to begin.

28. Became someone who hugs a lot.

29. Found her inner voice.  Listened.  Sang.

30. Learned how to let go with grace.  Or without.

31, Forgiven as much as possible, starting with herself.

32. Learned how to be kind.

33. Figured out her biggest fears.

34. Stared down at least one of them.

35. Given up the daily habits that weigh down her body, mind, and spirit.

36. Taken up daily habits that support her body, mind, spirit.

37. Asked for more.

38. Found peace with her childhood.

39. Dwelled long enough in the depths of her being to find compassion.

40. Told anger to take a hike.

41. Watched porn.  Drank in a dive bar.  Or both.

42. Done something huge for someone else for no reason other than their tremendous need of it.

43. Done something for herself so huge she could never ask anyone else to do it for her.

44. Found her truest touchstone for inspiration.

45. Tested her gangster.

46. Expanded her boundaries.

47. Traveled across the boundaries of her lineage, bearing gifts, yet carrying no baggage.

48. Let go of the guilt.

49. Transcended the guilty fear.

50. Rejoiced.

Quote of the Week - White

"If I have a male protagonist, it’s a studio movie, and if it’s a female protagonist, it’s an indie movie...Women are interested in men and women, and men aren’t interested in the woman’s story."

- Mike White

I think we can give Mike White the Joss Whedon Male Feminist of the Week Award for this quote from this interview about his HBO series Enlightened.  It's a pretty brave and true thing to say.  Then again, he's a pretty brave and true writer.

Women's History Month was too short!


p.s.  This is NOT an April Fool's.  But I hope this news is.