Get busy to relax

Ryan McGinley - Dakota Hair-2004
(I just like her, that's why she's here)

While I was busy sleeping, Michael Moore was busy making lists of things we can do to help change our world, our country and ourselves. It's too long to put here, but it is well worth a click to see what he has to say.

One section I will reprint though, because I think core to trying to have a life that is full of simple reality (why I live here instead of a lot of other places I could be) along with trying to have some value and worth in taking up space on the planet every day beside just making myself happy is a number of practical bits touched on here.

5. Take care of yourself and your family. Sorry to go all Oprah on you, but she's right: Find a place of peace in your life and make the choice to be around people who are not full of negativity and cynicism. Look for those who nurture and love. Turn off the TV and the Blackberry and go for a 30-minute walk every day. Eat fruits and vegetables and cut down on anything that has sugar, high fructose corn syrup, white flour or too much sodium (salt) in it (and, as Michael Pollan says, "Eat (real) food, not too much, mostly plants"). Get seven hours of sleep each night and take the time to read a book a month. I know this sounds like I've turned into your grandma, but, dammit, take a good hard look at Granny -- she's fit, she's rested and she knows the names of both of her U.S. Senators without having to Google them. We might do well to listen to her. If we don't put our own "oxygen mask" on first (as they say on the airplane), we will be of no use to the rest of the nation in enacting any of this action plan!

He doesn't say turn off the computer, maybe because you are reading this on a computer, but that is a good thing to do as well. What did we do with our time before we blogged, facebooked, web surfed, emailed? I'm not saying turn it off for good! Obviously I love my computer and the way it lets me stay in touch with the world at large and personal, but time outs are good. Try turning it off for a day - okay, how about half a day - to do something you used to do a lot more (besides sleep). Let me know how it goes.

In the meantime, yesterday was golden. Again.

I went to stand in the middle of the bridge to get some breeze
and saw this really well-formed water spout hovering over the bay.

In the afternoon, we got some light as butterfly wings rain for about an hour,
just enough to feel like I was in a mist room at a very trendy club. Oh, I was!

And then the sun came through, just at magic light time. Nice.

Have an excellent Thursday. Do something fine for yourself today by doing one good thing for someone else. And shhh, don't tell 'em, either!