Pam's Closet

This morning I received a phone call from my girlfriend telling me that her closet rod had broken from the wall and her wardrobe was on the floor in a heap. Knowing her closet, I could only imagine the sizable mountain of linen, cotton, and velvet. Pam has developed in the past decades a distinctive look that came long before the fashion world thought of it. Pam layers. She layers her clothing with about five articles of clothing on any given day. All articles of clothing are beautifully coordinated in creamy colors or earth tones to compliment her jewelry. Pam Adger is a well known jewelry designer in the southwest who creates one of a kind rings, bracelets, necklaces, and earrings (all of which she wears in multiples).

But getting back to her closet, it is a work of art. She organizes her hangers according to outfits. This means on a hanger will be a camisole, light weight top of some kind and her outer tunic or jacket. Some hangers may also have an alternate for the ensemble. So, on any hanger there are multiple articles of clothing. And, of course, the whole closet is arranged in the hues of each color. Always neat and precisely arranged the outfits silently and patiently wait to be chosen, lifted off the weary bar, and shown around Santa Fe for the day.

After laughing about the size of the mess she needed to deal with in a hurry, on a more serious note I asked her what message she was getting from this and she immediately replied with exaggeration, “TOO MUCH!” We are all getting messages that are screaming “Too Much!” What is yours?

Reflections

I am in transition. I have days that drift along to the silent sands of time and others that thrust me forward to the incessant rhythm of ticks and tocks. I am consciously changing my life. Those things that no longer work and leave me feeling empty are getting less attention and so I can spend more empty days that are full possibility. It is an interesting time of reflection and realignment. I am learning what depletes and what energizes me. I am worrying less about my life’s purpose and simply living purposely.

And right now pausing I can
hear the “white noise” of the refrigerator,
smell the ignored black coffee in my mug
see the silvery strand of a spider web catching the sunlight
watch a humming bird share the lavender with the bees
observe the quietness of the day before the wind arrives
and realize I am being called to
turn off, and tune in.

Join me. What do you hear, see, smell, feel?

Enchanted Garden

Too Much!

The cell phone finds you wherever you are
with a ridiculous ring or upbeat tune,
a polite but annoying buzz, buzz, buzz,
a text message or lengthy email.
Everyone is expecting an immediate response.
Why not? You’re connected to
everyone, everywhere, anytime.

Trying to connect all the dots of my life
so I can make sense of the big picture.
But, before that happens
all blurs, my brain freezes, my soul runs
trying to find a quiet place.
Too much, too many, too
little of what makes me human,
makes me
me.

I am
old enough to remember
how life was balanced and
there was an invisible
but distinct line between
work and play
friends and family
activity and rest.

There was an on and off to the days,
ups and downs in our lives,
an ebb and flow that was a natural
and healing rhythm in our existence.
It is all
TOO MUCH
of the wrong things.

And so, what are the right things?
Do you remember?

Consider reading a sweet little book, Listening Below the Noise by Anne D. Le Claire, about a woman who practices total silence every first and third Monday of the month because she writes, “Like too many of us, I mistook a busy life for a rich one.” p.xiii

“…being reachable doesn’t mean being connected. In fact, technology often leads to a greater disconnect. As the Swiss philosopher Max Picard noted in The World of Silence,
It is technology that has both dramatically altered our lives and increased the speed at which we live to a point where our days are dictated and dominated by clocks and calendars. The introduced species—cell phones, pagers, text messages, computers, faxes, telephones answering machines, voice mail, e-mails—have encroached on our time and made us instantly available. And because we can be accessible, it is expected of us.”
pp. 67-68