SPRING IN SOUTHERN ONTARIO!

I am Canadian and I live in Burlington Ontario so I supposed I shouldn't be shocked by the sight that greeted me this morning (our 3rd day of spring) when I looked out the door.

Call me a wimp if you will, but I quickly closed the door, cranked up the heat and decided to work from home for the remainder of the morning.

Earlier this morning I'd cancelled my 30K Around the Bay training walk with Candy. We'd try for later in the day we both agreed and once I hung up the phone I dove back into bed for some early morning drifting of my own.

I'd hoped that when I next opened the door I'd find the blaze of the afternoon sun had melted all the snow and I could drive off in my chariot unobstructed and be off for my walk. This was not to be so. Candy and I deemed conditions too lousy for even an afternoon saunter.

But errands were begging to be tended to and before ALF W and I could head out some serious shovelling had to be done. In this pic, serious shovelling resulted in this bleak, windswept sight. It is as cold as it looks!

And, here's where all of the heavy, wet stuff, plus chunks of ice got put. My front yard is under there somewhere. I do like the nice little drift to the left of the tree. It shows you the direction of the wind. For every toss of snow I heaved into the air a substantial amount pelted me in the face. On the plus side; I won't need to exfoliate for days!












Though initially Flippy was disappointed that I'd shut the door this morning and robbed her of her morning ritual of overseeing her domain, in her capacity as the mistress of the neighbourhood, on subsequent investigation I swear I clearly heard her say, "what the F**k!"

Prayer in many forms

Prayer, it's almost an embarrassing thing to admit nowadays, that I pray. I don't know why. I mean there are many forms of prayer; many motivations behind a prayer.

My earliest recollection of a prayer was this one taught to many a tiny, innocent child.
Now I lay me down to sleep
I pray the lord my soul to keep
If I should die before I wake
I pray the lord my soul to take
This prayer scared the shit outta me. I'm sure it was responsible for my life long neck issues (explained here) and probably scarred me for life. The whole idea that God was some kind of creep out there cruising for someone to pluck up in the night didn't endear me to him (I was sure God must be a him). It didn't make me want to jump into bed any more than a lobster would willingly jump into a boiling pot. So, I guess that's why the whole damn Thacker clan are night people; because of this damn prayer.

Like most of us, I have been known to use prayer as a bargaining tool, for example:
"Please, please, please let me just get through this test that I didn't study for and I promise, cross my heart, that I'll study for days in advance from now on. I promise!" Miraculously passing the test has the power to wipe away any memory of promises made.

We pray for what we want to happen. We want our friends and family to be safe, happy, prosperous and healthy. When something bad happens to a loved one we pour our hearts out to God to make them better, to heal them, to watch over them and for a self-prescribed outcome that would make everything right once more, not only for them but, for our breaking heart.

The devastation in Japan and the horror experienced by the Japanese people has elicited a strong response in all of us to help in any way we can, through monetary donations, gestures of support, expressions of empathy and all forms of prayer.

Friends have been circulating this JAPANESE NUCLEAR REACTOR VISUALIZATION video by Adam Dreamhealer via e-mail in hopes that if enough people focus on the power of positive intention and visualization, that the situation will be brought under control with minimal damage to lives and the environment. Engaging in this visualization, people come together to raise the vibration and effect a change in our consensus reality. Behind this belief system is the reality that we are merely organized thought forms and thought has the power to affect what only seems to be a solid, material world.



The Foundation for Shamanic Studies issued this e-mail release to its members to enlist the power of helping spirits to assist in the healing for Japan with the reminder that the Japanese spiritual traditions (90% of the population is Buddhist or Shinto) regarding life, death and healing must be fully respected.

People are lighting candles, praying in churches or at their personal altars, smudging, chanting, reciting mantras, and "flying" to assist the healing process in Japan. NOTE: FLYING FOR JAPAN - SAT MAR 19TH 6 - 7:30pm at HOT YOGA WELLNESS CONCORD, 1750 Steeles Ave W in Toronto.

At the end of every Yoga Centre of Victoria satsang, recitation of Swami Radha's Divine Light Invocation was performed in which loved ones, those in need of healing, and projects needing assistance were seen whole, healthy and successful as they were"put into the light". The visualization progressed as our little collection of light brightened and expanded outwards join with other centres of light to include and offer healing energy to the earth and ultimately the universe.

And of course the forgiveness of Ho'oponopono is another way to offer a prayer for healing in whatever form it may take. The power of forgiveness extends as we forgive others who have transgressed against us and also ask for their forgiveness for our own ill-conceived actions. When we forgive ourselves for our own failings, the power behind this intention is amplified.

As I've observed, prayers of indigenous peoples not only display acceptance of the wisdom in "thy will be done" but also give thanks in advance for the healing that has taken place. Rather than pray for "something to happen" gratitude is expressed for the opportunity that exists in every day, for what has been received and an honouring of those spirits in their many forms who have made it so.

Some believe that the universe has its own plan and its own wisdom that is inconceivable to us mere humans. What good will come out of this suffering? Will the world become a more compassionate place? Will advances in safer technology result? Will individuals and the human race shift our priorities? Will our world view change?

Time will tell if the shift of the earth's plates below the ocean on that fateful day was the beginning of a shift in consciousness for us all.

Playtime in the bat room

REACHING FOR THE FLOOR
One of my favourite things to do is just hang around on the ropes. This series feels so great for the upper back and shoulders. As I look at these pictures I realize that they don't convey the sense of opening that I feel in my body. In this first picture, I feel as if I'm bending at a 90 degree angle; my legs feel parallel to the floor.

CHEST OPENER
Here, I've swung back, using my legs to propel me so that I can catch the lower set of ropes. By bringing my arms out to the sides there is a tremendous stretch across the chest.

BODY ARCH
 As I stretch my arms "up" above my head you can see how the full arc of the body is complete. The arch is distributed throughout the body. This is the perfect way to open out the groins and the arm pits, thus take the strain off of the lumbar which can take the brunt of the load in back bending.

I DON'T KNOW WHAT THIS IS... it just feels great!
Again, perception is deceiving here. It feels as if my feet are just inches away from my head, but not so. I play between this posture and the two previous ones, cycling and flowing from this to arms "up", to arms out wide,  to arms "up", back to this one and so on.

This actually is how I use my legs to catch the lower ropes, pulling the ropes with my heels I take a few swings to be able to reach the lower ropes. I'm able to hold the position with my legs and then extend my arms "up" to get that first really great body arch stretch.

Around the Bay

Hi all,

Flippy's back, asking you to help me raise funds for St Joseph's Healthcare Foundation in Hamilton. Once again I'm walking the 30K AROUND THE BAY road race. First started in 1894, it's the oldest one in North America.

I've made it easy for you. You'll make my steps lighter with your support. All you have to do is click on SPONSOR NANCE make your pledge and I'll be all fuelled up and ready to run...well, not run actually but, I'll be doing a blistering pace as I walk. Well...hopefully NOT a blistering pace! I already did that last year. How about a non-blistering pace which still is pretty darned exciting.

aftermath of blistering pace last year

The old shoes (pictured) are out; the "new" ones are in. Whether they'll be my Vibram 5 fingers shoes or other is yet to be decided as the weather out this way has been pretty cold and more of the same is expected on race day, March 27th.

Will these babies be the ones?

The aptly named CHILLY HALF marathon was run this past weekend. The runners went to bed after moderately mild, rainy day and woke up to a blanket of snow covering icy roads and the howl of blustery winds. By the time the race was on road crews had cleared and prepared a decent surface but the winds remained chilly indeed.

Anyway here we go again. My sister Candy will be walking too!

Now I just need to get out and get some mileage (kilometrige?) under my belt.

Wish me luck and happy feet!

 Check out Da Agony of Da Feet, the blog entry I posted after last year's walk.

TIME FLIES

© Nance Thacker '90
click on image to enlarge 

Oh boy, this cartoon has me tripping down memory lane. Life was so simple back then, sigh. 

The "shoulds" that invade my space (when I have a "day to devote to art") like flies around s**t, still remain the same as back then with the addition of a bazillion others that were not even possibilities in my life in 1990. Today, when I have time to myself, I'm more likely to see what my friends (I mean real, actual, friends) are doing on facebook, Tweet, write this blog, check out my e-mail for messages from clients (somehow work creeps in there) and friends, figure out what the heck to do with Linkedin (work), attempt putting together my website (more work), muck about with garage band in the effort to make a CD or MP3 (yup, more work but with an element of play). So, if I was to add all those to the 3rd box in the panel above and the character would be obliterated by "stuff" to do. And, that's just how it feels lately, like I'm buried in housework and technology...

Excuse me, my Skype phone is ringing, I KID YOU NOT!...

...I'm back.

Well, I mistakenly punched up my e-mail instead of the Skype thingy. I quickly got out of it, but not before the little squares of messages began appearing on the bottom right of my screen, along with their cheery jingles - which is really what I was trying to get away from in the first place. I should explain, I'm in a Starbuck's as I write this. Sometimes I just have to stop being the "thing that lives at the bottom of the stairs" and come out for air, a latte and the sound of other living, breathing sorry Maya and Flippy and talking bipeds.

By the time I got to the Skype, there was no one there and I'm not up enough with technology to find out who, if anyone, was trying to reach me or if the Skype itself was just calling to say, "Hi, I'm here, don't forget about me." Hey, I'm sure this happens. Why, just the other night our phone called 911 - I SWEAR THIS IS TRUE, JUST ASK THE COP WHO SHOWED UP AT OUR FRONT DOOR AT 10PM. Seems they get 3 - 4 calls a day from lines that have shorted out or something. Anyway, that's another story...

You see how insidious this stuff is!

It's not that I don't like technology, just the opposite, I've discovered my inner computer geek waiting to get out. The other day, "Mad Mike" the computer guy, was showing me all the amazing things one could do with garage band on a Mac and I sat there in awe recalling all the time, steps, people and external stuff I once required to do similar stuff in animation in the mid '80's. And now, it's all contained within a portable device the size of a laptop. WOW!!!

Writing (using the computer) has taken the place of drawing for the moment. I wonder if, when I decide to do more cartoons, I'll even be sitting at a drawing board at all, or will the computer be the medium I choose? At this time I can't imagine forgoing the feel of the pencil in my hands, the flow of the ink on the page and the spontaneous dialogue that arises, changing the rough draft into something previously unimagined, in the time it takes to produce one panel. It all unfolded, gracefully, slowly, organically. What will happen when the speed of the computer comes into the mix?

Time. Time is the factor here. Life has sped up for us all, only us Boomers are more aware of it than the younger generations.

It's mind boggling to realize that there are actual adults walking around who were raised: always being connected to others with their own personal cel phone, who think nothing of posting their own video on youtube, who expose their bodies for all to see on facebook, who consider facebook connections as "actual friends", who will never know the joys of Sunday as a day of rest - no kidding, nothing was open at all - NO SHOPPING FOR ONE WHOLE DAY EVERY WEEK, YEAR IN YEAR OUT!!!

The amount of tasks I can do in ONE day would have been impossible in '90 due to: the car I didn't have back then, my cel phone, my computer and all the skills that allow me to: arrange appointments, gather info for free at the click of a mouse, correspond with family and friends, Google maps, and on and on...

Things are speeding up and that includes the way the brain processes information. Want proof? Got a problem with your computer? Consult a 6th grader. The more you work with this stuff the easier it becomes and not through conscious rational thought; something else is clicks in.

The computer is changing the even the way the world operates - look at how info is being disseminated regarding what's going on in the middle east; look at the wave of change sweeping through that area and so the world.

WOW!!!

What this all means for me personally is it's more important than ever to prioritize how I spend my time and discover what really recharges me. Which means that, sometimes, I just have to close up shop, turn the computer off, leave the cel phone at home gasp and walk away from it all.

BYE - gone fishin'

Winter wearing thin

Click on image to enlarge
© Nance Thacker 1985

I have been loving this winter! I love that we've had snow that's lasted for weeks and weeks, that the days for the most part have been cold, crisp and sunny and... that we've had a "snow day" which is like the best excuse ever to drop everything you have to do and just kick back.

But, I've been getting the first sign that my enthusiasm is beginning to turn. No, I'm not getting tired of the cold or the snow. I'm getting weary of all the layers and layers of clothes that such a winter demands I wear especially today as I moved through 3 totally different venues: a business meeting, skating with a friend and doing a Shiatsu house-call. Inside, outside; inside, outside... layers on, layers off; layers on, layers off...further burdened with sessions of choosing and changing from business to sporty to therapeutic attire.

Then there's keeping track of all the gloves, socks and scarves. It's no wonder that Mom lined all 5 of her brood up, zipped us into our snow suits with hooded jackets, shoved our feet into winter boots and our little hands into mitts attached with strings and tossed us out one by one into the cold til the last was wrapped up and delivered. She shut the door and locked it behind us (I know, unheard of nowadays) until we'd gotten the prescribed dose of healthy fresh air (it was actually believed that being outdoors daily was good for children). Of course once the last child was turfed out the bladder of the first one was just about ready to burst. The sensation of full bladders would spread through the little troop like wild fire and all 5 of us would be pounding on the door and wailing dramatically to be let in.

Mom, from her vantage point at the other side of the closed door, using her "mom knows best" voice, would re-assure us that our little bodies had this amazing capacity to re-absorb the offending liquid, all we had to do was run around in the snow a bit and we'd see that it was true. And, for the most part, she was right.

Once the howling stopped and the older ones took charge, she'd retire to the most coveted place in the house, her sanctuary — the bathroom where she'd enjoy an uninterrupted flow of her own, sink into a hot, bath infused with baby oil and drift to a place where only mothers go on such an occasion; the most incredible dimension imaginable.

All this tripping down memory lane emphasizes the point I that I wanted to make which is — when I begin to yearn for the days when a tan is all that one needs to wear I know that the shine is beginning to wear from winter's appeal.

NOTE ON THE CARTOON: No, I didn't go to Hawaii in '85, but friends of mine did. I could only send Dealin' Dan the Tour Man there in my imagination.

Borne of Woman's Tears

I just read the blog CHASING THE GHOST by Dave Cleverly which begins here — as he's standing on Lion's Gate Bridge in Vancouver getting ready to jump.

In subsequent posts he talks about prayer and finding God. And it prompted memories of some dark times in my own past and this piece that I wrote in the winter of '84.
_______________________________________

Her eyes were burning with tears she would not shed. She curled up on the couch, laid her head upon its armrest and closed her eyes. Her breath, limited to her upper chest, choked back the flood of emotion pressing from within.

Why did she feel this way?

She didn't want to know.

Proud of her strength, she believed that if she delved into the source of her turmoil she would be lost forever in her weakness so she willed herself not to succumb, but, her breath becoming shallower, more laboured in her chest, her throat, was delivering her into her pain.

Her shoulders became limp as all the energy drained out of her, dissolving her physical boundaries, expanding and wrapping around her as a larger, embracing form.

She heard/sensed these words, "You are tired. Rest with me."

She felt her tension being physically stroked away.

"It's all right. YOU will be all right. Let go. Let go."

She felt breathing in another's breast upon which her head rest, and with each breath these words repeating. "You are afraid. You have many fears. I will take care of them. Trust in me."

That timeless voice — low, soft, feminine, familiar — flowing through her from heart to heart, which could resist the truth no longer.

Tears welling as she released her fears, she heard, "You are loved. KNOW that you are loved." And, at that moment, in knowledge, tears flowed.

Resting in Mother God herself, she was swept away on those tears into a deep womb of sleep.

_______________________________________________

I am tempted to say that this is just a piece of writing, but it is not.

It was an experience.

My recording of the event doesn't come near to the immensity of what transpired back then, but it is as clear, as intense, as kinaesthetic and as immediate to me now as it was back then.  It consoled me, buoyed me up, gave me hope back then...

as it does now.

Some people consciously find their way to God and sometimes God needs to find those who are lost and don't even know that they are seeking him/her at all.