I'm smiling on the inside, where it counts!

Back in the day...  I remember when my sister Karen and I were small, on the weekends we secretly decided to sleep with our play shorts and T-shirts under our pajamas so when we woke up on Saturday morning, we could jump right out of our PJs and run outside to PLAY!  Hahahahaha! Ah, so much fun, yah?  Mommy used to make like she didn't know, but how can you NOT KNOW, when your two skinny daughters look all lumpy when they get into bed?  I don't mind telling you that these days, I sometimes sit around in my sleep clothes until lunchtime.  And THAT feels good, TOO!  Just call me before you come over, 'kay?  And THEN we can PLAY! 

Christmas is forever if you have a digital camera and a memory.  I also remember how delicious it felt to anticipate gifts from Santa.  I saw the same wondrous sparkle in my niece Rachel's eyes, when she just KNEW Santa had personally put her gifts under the tree as she slept.  The evidence of his being there three years ago, is locked into her digital camera, along with the cookie crumbs and half drunk glass of milk she had put out for him.  It makes my eyes crinkle and the corners of my lips go way up in a smile when I think about it!

Anyone can take flight!  I remember hearing Mr. Tam in our 8th grade P.E. class, explaining the theory and mechanics behind the Long Jump to us before we were to execute it for real.  As I sat on the grass listening him talk us through every move, I could FEEL the front of my body bust through the air, and let my legs and feet lift me high over the sand, then land on the other side.  Wow!  I just KNEW I could do it!  Mr. Tam was THAT good at getting me to FEEL what he was saying.  It was a bit disappointing to fall a lot short of my expectations for the Long Jump, but it never curbed my enthusiasm!  I can still see myself floating in slo-mo high in the air.  What freedom it brings me!

Talk about a zen experience!  A number of years ago, on a bicycling adventure with my friend Yumi, as we left the giant talking Paul Bunyan (yes, he really DID speak to the tourists in the parking lot) and Babe the Blue Ox at the Trees of Mystery tourist park, heading South on Pacific Coast Highway.  I suddenly GOT IT!  I don't know where it came from, except that it had to do with the redwoods we were riding through.  I understood, to the deepest part of my soul what it meant when Buddhists say, "All is One" and "Everything is a part of you, just as you are a part of everything".  I've heard that people contemplate this aspect of zen when seated in meditation.  Like me; I sometimes think about it during church sermons...NOT!  Anyway, it hit me all of a sudden that, "For every question that I ever have, ever had, and ever WILL have... I ALREADY know the answer!"  How's THAT?!  What an explosion of feeling going through my body!   As long as I can be open to hear the answer, it will be there for me!  Whoo-hooo!  Okay, you can smile for me now!

I write these little stories because, although they are MY personal experiences, you ALL have similar ones.  They are the best parts of what you have experienced, and they are the best parts of you that you have to offer.  It will just take a moment for yours to come into focus, so you can unleash your most joyful self! 

And when you do, the world better WATCH OUT!!!  

Because YOU WILL BE UNSTOPPABLE!   

And I will be standing by with the biggest smile on my face, because I know what it feels like!

It's Magic!