side eye-ing the universe

 As the lunchtime celebration I attended earlier today was about to end, a large tray of fortune cookies was served. I grabbed one at the edge of the pile and got this:

Although random and surely inconsequential, it's nice to feel like I'm interesting even if in a fictional sense. I thought about being some person with some relevant insights about some particular topic and people would like to better understand why I think a particular way about that specific topic. This self-aggrandizement must cease right after I end this sentence. Why? Because I just recalled the final statement in today's Gospel reading from Luke 18:14 that states "...for whoever exalts himself will be humbled, but whoever humbles himself will be exalted." Whether the self-promotion truly ceased is debatable, because I still posted about it. Huh.

nourish yourself against dark imaginings

 Overwhelmed...I thought to share the section of the poem Desiderata that provides some comfort:

"Nurture strength of spirit to shield you in sudden misfortune. But do not distress yourself with dark imaginings. Many fears are born of fatigue and loneliness.

Beyond a wholesome discipline, be gentle with yourself. You are a child of the universe no less than the trees and the stars; you have a right to be here."

Many times I'm tired, hungry, and/or thirsty on top of whatever it is that I need to do or am going through. I think my cheeseburger helped. Cheers.

"Lead, Kindly Light."

My Thursday involved back-to-back meetings and I was relieved by lunchtime when I was able to spend part of it in quiet meditation and then mass. The priest quoted part of St. John Henry Newman's poem, and I'm sharing it here below:

Lead, Kindly Light, amid the encircling gloom,

Lead Thou me on;

The night is dark, and I am far from home,

Lead Thou me on.

Keep Thou my feet;

I do not ask to see the distant scene;

one step enough for me.

Burnout is imminent. Are you in that zone too? If yes, let us acknowledge our exhaustion and rest our minds for a while from thinking about our bottomless to-do lists. I just had a small bite-sized Cadbury fruit and nut chocolate bar as a treat. That may be my favorite chocolate (or among my topmost), mainly because I remember that my late mother liked it (aside from Nestle Crunch, which I may have written about before). It's delicious, of course, but I like that when I consume it, I'm sort of sending a silent shoutout to my mother. She was intelligent, beautiful, feisty, funny, humble, and a really good mother. I feared her, but I depended on her. I just had my birthday on the Feast of St. Thérèse of Lisieux and I've officially outlived my mother. I realized just how young she was when she passed--a temporal landmark for me. I feel that I'm currently experiencing a milestone in life. I didn't have a huge celebration, but we did get Japanese takeout and a panna cotta cake from this French bakery that I've been curious to try. Unfortunately, said cake taught me that dairy sensitivity can be developed later in life. I digress. Oh, in birthday-related news, my husband and I gifted ourselves with musical instruments during the recent Long & McQuade used equipment sale. My husband's birthday preceded mine by a month and he was really planning on getting that acoustic bass for quite some time. The classical guitar I got is an impulse purchase triggered by midlife crisis. 

That's it for today's rambling about Life. Now that I'm at this temporal landmark, I'm grateful to see as far as the next step. I do not ask to see the distant scene; one step enough for me.