Sunday, November 18, 2012

Movie Star or Diva?


I sit here digesting the sermon I heard this morning at the Seattle Betsuin. It was about consideration and human nature.  I can't help but wonder if and when we became a society that moved from understanding how our actions affect others, to always trying to be "real" with each other.  It seems that at some point we learned or forgot that there are others in our world, in our life, in our reach. 

So when did this happen?  Was it our parents who were rebelling from how they were raised by their parents?  Was it the second wave of the feminist movement, who fought to cut off their bras? or was it a combination of both?  I don't know if these are questions I can fully answer.  I think everyone will have a different opinion on this, yet I ponder these questions. 

I don't remember fully learning this lesson in my life.  I am sure my parents tried to teach it to me, but due to outside circumstances, the lesson never fully sunk in to my brain.  It seems this is the next step in my "growing up" life lesson.  it is hard to acknowledge this, that I have spent most of my life so selfishly blind to how my actions affect the others in world around me.  I have willing hurt others, in the past, because I did not understand that I had a choice not too. I felt justified and self righteous in my choice, because I was told I am the movie star of my life.  Yet I can't be a movie star without a supporting cast, that would just define me as a Diva instead.   While I understand that being too much of a people pleaser can be detrimental to one's health, I think going the other direction is just as bad.  I am seeing this as being the case now.  We have become a society of Diva's only out for ourselves. 

What do you mean we are all Diva's you might ask?  Isn't talking care of our self the most important thing?  Isn't putting our self first important?  I am sure you are asking yourself these questions as you read what I have written.  Yes, taking care of yourself and putting yourself is important.  But also recognizing you don't live in a vacuum is just as important.  I see a movie star as one who recognizes their supporting cast to be as just as important.  A movie star knows that without their supporting cast there is no movie.  Where the Diva only sees what everyone can do for her and how she can use that to her advantage to move up in the world.  

I think Don Miguel Ruiz says it perfectly in his book The Fifth Agreement.  He says 
     The fifth agreement is the most advanced teaching of the Toltec, because it prepares us to return to what we really are: messengers of truth.  We deliver a message every time we speak, and if we don't deliver the truth, it's because we aren't aware of what we really are.  Well, the Four Agreements help us recover awareness of what we are.  They help us become aware of the power of our word.  But the real goal is the fifth agreement, because it takes us beyond symbology and makes us responsible for the creation of every word. The fifth agreement helps us recover the power of belief that we invested in symbols.  And when we go beyond symbols, the power that we find is incredible because it's the power of the artistic creator, the power of life, the real us. 

I agree with him in that being the movie star of my life helps me come into awareness of my personal power.  I also have to understand that my words have power as well, and so does my tone and my emotions at the time I speak.  This is what separates the Movie Stars from the Diva's.  Today I move from being a Diva into being a Movie Star.  

Tuesday, May 29, 2012

Memories and the Present

Found out today that my bio-mom is back in the hospital.  The rational/logical part of me says what she is experiencing is from the morphine, but the emotional side is saying I will not get to see her before she passes on.

I have many conflicting feelings about this: guilt, relief, fear, worry, love.  My heart hurts right now. The area where I feel my primal wound the most - about two inches to the right from my heart - feels like a knife is sticking in it. I worry the family will judge me if I can't get down there soon enough.  These feelings are similar to what I felt as a teenager every time my mother was admitted into the hospital.

I am grateful for the phone calls I have shared with her.  It reminded me of the last time I hear my mothers voice - she called me to tell me what a wonderful, amazing beautiful woman I was.  This was right before she died.  My calls with my bio-mom remind me of that call.  Every time she talked to me (except for last night) she mentioned how beautiful and wonderful I am.  I don't feel so beautiful or wonderful right now. I feel selfish for putting my needs to finish the school quarter before showing up for her.

Please god, please goddess don't take her yet. allow me to show up for her and be the daughter she deserves.  Allow me to be the daughter both my mothers deserved. I don't want to repeat the past, yet it seems I might be destined to.

Wednesday, May 23, 2012

Accepting and the process

I know it has been a few months.  Life has a strange way of distracting one from dealing with things at times.  A lot has happened during this time. too much to go into detail with, except for one very big thing.  One of the reasons I began writing this blog was to help work through some issues around being adopted and separation trauma. Well on the adoption issue, my maternal biological family contacted me about a month ago. It turns out my bio-mom is very sick.

While I know I have the tools to cope with this, the little girl in me (the one who went into survival mode when I was told my Mother could die from an operation she was having) just wants to sit in the corner with her arms around her knees crying, repeating over and over again "I don't want my mommy to die."  These feelings are surfacing again which is allowing me to process these feelings and actually feel them.   It is hard. It is scary. I am scared for her right now.  I know I am being given a gift by being here for her right now and reconnecting with her. But I am also just wanting to cry, because I don't want my mommy to leave me again.

A big part of this is that in my life I have lost my mother twice. That is already once more than most people go through.  I lost one mother at birth, and another when I was 21. I really don't want to lose my mother again at 42.  Damn, I see a pattern there, and I don't really want to see this pattern.  Please goddess please let this not be a true pattern and if there is a pattern please goddess let this pattern break.  I would like to not have to walk through this again.  My heart hurts. The difference this time is I can feel and acknowledge these feelings I am having while I am having them. Now I get to learn to be honest about these feelings with her, feel them and allow her to see me feel them.




Friday, January 6, 2012

My name right now is "she who stands with fists"

Things are hard today. or I should say harder. It seems that my writing yesterday opened the can of insecurity worms which have been slipping their way into my mind today.  This sucks, cause all I want to do is lay in bed reading with some wine, when I have responsibilities and things that I need to get done.  I have spent the majority of my life allowing myself to run from all these feelings of insecurity and not being worthy of love. Well I am stopping it now.  I will not run, I will face it, I will be "she who stands with fists".  Insecurity I will battle you. I will knock you down and not let you rule me anymore.

Yes I am afraid I am losing my boyfriend AND YES THIS IS MY INSECURITY TALKING. Do I really believe in the truth behind it, NO!!!  He has not left yet, and has had many chances to, and too be honest, I don't think he will leave, ever. So where does this leave me?  It leaves me with having a weekend to spend some time relaxing and working on things at home. It leaves me learning how to trust that I am his family and the woman he wants to share his life with.  It leaves me with learning how to live in an open relationship without being competitive. It leaves me growing, changing, and becoming authentic, and real.  It leaves me being open to being hurt, but also open to being loved.  It leaves me open and secure in (at least for right now) that giving my insecurity and my fears voices, and understanding, I will learn that I don't need to have them rule over me anymore.

And all of this leads me to loving fully and loving completely who I am as a woman, and allowing others to love me.

Thursday, January 5, 2012

Fear and power

I don't know what to say today.  Except have been thinking a lot about power and fear. I realized that by not owning my fears, I am turning my back on power. That recognizing my fears, not giving them rule over me, and still moving forward is part of power.  My fears have no basis in what is a real situation, they are the negative fantasy of my thoughts, and while there might be truth in fear, it is not always so.

I am having to face and own some of my fears today. I am choosing to write them here so that I am reminded of them and others can see that they are not the only one who might share these fears.

So what are my fears:
I am afraid my boyfriend is in love with another woman.
I am afraid of being alone.
I am afraid I will never change.
I am afraid that who I really am is not enough.
I am afraid of letting go control over everything.
I fear faith is not enough.
I fear I will never fully open to others love.
I fear love.
I fear living fully.
I fear failing at life.
I fear it is too little too late for my relationship.
I fear asking for the truth.

Maybe by seeing my fears I can be like Buffy and realize how little they are, and just step on them.  I can already see that with some of my fears. Others though I don't want to face, but will have to and will have to do it sooner rather than later.  Especially those around my relationship.  I know my stuff around being adoptive have held me back from facing/owning those fears. I know if I do ask the questions I want to ask, will bring some of that stuff up, but it is how I deal with my response/reactions that will be the the true test of everything. It will show my growth, and it will help me make some hard decisions. If I can ask the questions, and deal with every thing honestly and rationally, well then maybe living will be easier. I also hope that it will allow me to fully connect with others and explore relationships with others.