Peace, Love, Joy, and Spoons?

Meet my new friend (photo above) staring at me thru the kitchen window. So regal, calm, in control and probably digesting a recent kill. I have been trying to determine the type of bird. Merlin Bird ID says Sharp-Shinned Hawk. A friend says juvenile Cooper's Hawk or Kestrel Falcon. I felt so honored to stare into his/her eyes for almost 5 minutes. I turned away for one second and POOF gone...

For me, the New Year is traditionally a time to make space for new ideas to germinate and old ideas to get a face-lift. A time for shedding the old habits and creating new traditions. A time to honor where I sit in this moment of my life, acknowledging the energy stores, or lack of, that come with it! It is useless to make promises to yourself if you don't have the energetic life-force to carry any of it out.

I must admit that, this year, I did not have the wisdom to formulate any kind of plan. I felt a tad empty, uninspired, unsettled, and other sensations that I just could not identify. I got a little too cozy with the television and a little too fond of napping. I was also doing a lot of great cooking so I wasn't checked out, just not focusing on anything but immediate feel-good activities.

One day, I reined in my cells and decided to break the malaise by writing this newsletter. I made a fire. Duncan, my cat, was fast asleep in the comfy chair, so I sat on the floor, pillow under my butt, computer opened in front of me on the coffee table. I clicked on Constant Contact, which is this format for email newsletters, and I was asked to enter my password. Really? It should be remembered by my computer, but alas, for some reason, not that day. I reached for my password book, and you guessed it...nowhere to be found. Fast-forward past the unmaking of beds, cleaning out cars, emptying out trash, moving couches, rolling up rugs, and even looking in the fridge, pantry, garage, freezer and on and on. How many times did I empty out my purse? It was just gone. I closed my eyes, retraced my movements of the past few days and realized that when I went to Subaru for a tune-up, I brought the password book with my computer. Happy ending ensues, with me professing my undying love to one of the service dudes at Subaru who found the book on the floor, took it with him to his desk, and protected it with his life until the moment I showed up!

I have now arrived at the crossroads of admitting to myself that a password book is a dangerous commodity AND not having the desire to transfer all this data to a secure password site. Nevertheless, I embark. I load the app on my phone, I take the tour, I fumble around, and then I commence on what seems like an endless journey. I start at the beginning of the alphabet with American Airlines. I begin to enter the required info and a red line appears as the "smarty pants" app informs me that my password is not secure enough. I open my computer and go to the AA site and proceed to determine how to update my password. Holy Cow. I actually have to google the instructions because the option is no where to be found. Then, I have to endure texts and emails with authentication codes that expire before I get them, choose photos with palm trees, create and answer NEW security questions like "What high school did your father attend?" Really? in 1936? 20 minutes later, I have finally changed my password on American, I enter it into the app and the red line is now yellow (green is the goal), which means, I could have done better choosing my new password. Sigh.

One down, 232 to go.

And then, the New Year's revelation (as opposed to resolution) appeared among the cobwebs of my mind...I am full. I am saturated. Air travel, car trouble and sprained ankles notwithstanding...There is no longer a clear and easy path from here to anywhere. The roads are paved with firewalls, passwords, downloads, and malware. Every bit of information is on a bright screen that pierces the brain relentlessly with ads that break up the fluidity of the reading experience. Touch one erroneous key and you have lost your way forever. Forget to install an update and your printed document is upside down and backwards.

Meanwhile, I have not yet written a word of this newsletter and it is now Christmas Eve. With malaise draped all over my shoulders, I am determined to enjoy the festivities as we make our way to a party filled with people I love. And then it was time to exchange gifts.

Cue music...sweeping surround-sound swells of a full orchestra! I received the most extraordinary Christmas gift from my best friend...a book called Spoon by Daniel Rozensztroch. In my kitchen I have four stoneware pots crammed with wooden spoons and utensils from all over the world. When I travel I purchase spoons at the same rate others purchase t-shirts. My father was an Industrial Designer famous for his flatware designs and, If you had ever been in my Mother's house, you would have seen the DNA connection between the two of us, as at least half of my spoon collection came from her!

So, yes, this gift is totally appropriate as well as truly exquisite...but here is what really got me and brought me to tears when I opened it: its elegance and simplicity. Each page gently and minimally designed to draw you into the hidden world and unknown history of each spoon. The spoons are photographed and organized by material. Wood. Glass. Mother of Pearl. Bone. Metal. Horn. Ceramic. Enamel. Porcelain. There is no cross referencing or foot notes or minute copy filling you with cultural information you will never remember. Just spoons. Just shapes. Just beauty. As I was turning the pages I felt like I was on an expanded Chinese astrological journey witnessing the significant power of each medium from these "modest utilitarian objects that are universal in their simplicity, across all cultures and which, regardless of material or origin, are used to prepare meals, combine ingredients, and ultimately, to eat." Suzanne Czernichow, PhD.

Simplicity. Nothing about our lives these days is simple. When I opened Spoon, it was like a portal to a forgotten world and a relief from the one I live in! I felt my whole self soften...a sensory experience I just don't have randomly anymore. This was the real gift. This release. This subconscious sigh. This effervescent silence! How do I invite this into my life on purpose? And, for me, it is NOT emptying the mind. If I break down this moment of pure ease and awareness I realize I was doing something, I was engaged and my eyes were open but I was settled, tender, rested, happy!

All of these words lead to one request: Take care of yourselves in this oh-so-complicated world. Every once in awhile don't go "above and beyond"....just walk away. The Road Not Taken is often the simple one. Take it.