Topaz – The B-52’s

My second favorite song by one of my favorite bands and the first one I ever saw live.

New cities by the sea
Skyscrapers are winking
Some hills are never seen
The universe expanding
We’re gazing out to sea
Blue dolphins are singing
Minds swim in ecstasy
Clear planet, ever free

Topaz
Our hearts are traveling faster,
Faster than the speed of love
Straight through a tear in the clouds
Up to the heavens above

Bright ships will sail the seas
Starfishes are spinning
Some hills are never seen
Our universe is expanding
Moonrise upon the sea
Starships are blinking
We’ll walk in ecstasy
Clear planet blue and green

Topaz
Our thoughts are traveling faster
Moving beyond the heavens above

Planets pulsating, constellations creating
Voices are guiding me to the cities by the sea
Yes, I see cities by the sea

Deep forests by the sea
Skyscrapers are winking
Some hills are never seen
The universe is expanding
Topaz

Gardening to Reduce Stress

Many people like to spend time gardening to reduce stress. I also like to garden and get my hands dirty, but oftentimes the pleasant activity of backyard gardening is mixed with the unpleasant activity of yard work. Actually, most of the yard work is fun (trimming trees and shrubs, weeding the garden beds) but the actual clean up portion is what I dread. And while I am zeroing in on the unpleasant parts, I have to say that the worst plants to deal with are the rose bushes in our front yard.

Our rose bushes grow like crazy during the summer, so they require a lot of maintenance, otherwise things can quickly get out of control. The thorns on those branches are sharp! Of course I wear gloves and long sleeves but they don’t offer that much protection, especially when bagging all the clipped branches, and this is where the stress-reduction comes in.

I don’t curse or use bad words often, but during the bagging of those thorny rose clippings, F-bombs fill the air. Normally I am doing yard work alone so I can really let loose with the cursing without having to worry about offending anybody. I used to just focus on the frustration and pain (physical), but now I’ve found that by focusing on the actual cursing and imagining the release of all that tension, it turns into a positive experience. I kind of imagine that attached to each swear-word is a small amount of stress, and it is being released from my mind and into the air. This is stress that has built up throughout the week, not just because of the rose bushes. You know what? This positive spin seems to work. And it is actually pretty funny – I can’t help but laugh at myself!

 

An Ounce of Home

An Ounce of Home – You’re embarking on a yearlong round-the-world adventure, and can take only one small object with you to remind you of home. What do you bring along for the trip?

This is an easy question for me to answer – I would take along my ugly doll that my wife made for me. In fact, it’s already in my daily bag! I like to pack light and my ugly doll probably doesn’t even weigh an ounce, but it would remind me of home, or more specifically, of my family.

I’ve lived in several different places, and it’s hard to really know which place I would call “home”. I’m thinking that there is more meaning to “home” than just where you return to every night. I like to think that “home” is equal to a happy place, and that happy place would be where my loved-ones are. Hopefully they would be with me for the round-the-world trip, but if not, this homemade ugly doll would remind me of them.

There’s a song by Everything But the Girl (one of my favorite bands since 1984) that this Daily Prompt reminds me of. It’s called “One Place” and one of the lines in the song is, “In the end if you take care, you can be happy or unhappy anywhere.” I really believe this is true. I guess the saying “Happiness comes from within” has some truth to it. It isn’t the external situation that causes happiness (or unhappiness), but the determining factor is your interpretation and reaction to that situation. With that in mind, I’ve been trying to look for happiness and a positive angle no matter what situation I am in at the time. Is this part of “living in the moment”?

Homemade Ugly Doll
Homemade Ugly Doll

This post was prompted by The Daily Post from WordPress.