Kindness

I am blown away. I am humbled. And I am full of gratitude.

When touched by true kindness -- where there is simply straightforward caring and generosity of spirit, offered freely one to another, with no traces of the human tendencies toward score keeping, twisted misperception, inaccurate assigning of meaning and intention, and the like -- something shifts inside. Irrevocably. 

The experience of it reminds me of what it feels like to look into another's eyes and to see and feel compassion reflected in them. 

So full. So meaningful.

I have been the recipient of significant doses of kindness lately. Am in the middle of one right now, in fact. It's penetrating internal walls and moving through, soothing and healing.

Kindness is powerful indeed. A series of challenging circumstances recently left me feeling so off-center that it was hard to find my way back. But within mere seconds, focused thought about one of the aforementioned doses of kindness brought me back to myself. To my Self.

The only words that are relevant to say in response seem inadequate to some parts of me, yet other parts know how rich they are. 

Thank you.

In With the New

I've really gone and done it now.

After years of visualizing and dreaming, months of planning and work, and a final week-plus of an all-out, utterly exhausting push to get 'er done, I have released the bulk of my possessions and hit the road.

Other than what I put in the car to take with me, this is what remains.

Done!

There's more in the storage unit than I hoped there would be (though a neatly packed 5x10 space with a good bit of room to spare is not bad!). I simply ran out of time to continue sorting, selling and releasing in the detailed way I prefer to work. So, toward the end, I just filled boxes and put them into storage. In the spirit of progress rather than perfection, I opted to be proud of the efforts I had made to clear things out and know that there will be another round of releasing at some point in the future.

For now, I feel quite free. And very happy. And full of potential and possibilities.

During one pit stop relatively early on during my departure drive, I did have a moment where I thought, What have I done? I've given up my home and relegated myself to a life of rest stop bathrooms!

Well, I went on to think, that will be remedied when I get my RV.

As it will be. In the meantime, I am off visiting with family and friends, currently in my old stomping grounds in the Southeast. 

Hallelujah!

From the Front Line

Came across this in the sorting and moving process just now:

Thoughts on this to come. For now, it's back to the front line. ;)

Waves of Freedom

A funny thing happens every time I release stuff, whether it's a carload of it that goes to a charitable organization or a cartful of boxes that goes into the storage unit.

I feel a little bit freer. I wake up more excited and joyful. And the lifestyle I have been desiring to lead is so much closer that it's palpable.

The cleaning-out process is challenging in some ways, of course, but it gets easier as the deadline approaches. I'm going to walk out the door in two days and have everything done except for the furniture that a charitable organization will pick up on Monday. That thought helps make it all so much clearer. Do I really need this or that, or to put it in storage to just be dealt with later -- or can I just release it now? Even things that I wouldn't have considered giving away a week ago are now on the chopping block. I keep thinking, I want to live in an RV. I can't take this with me there, and if I can live without it for a time, can I live without it for good? The joy of being unencumbered feels so much better than having that thing does. I can recall it anytime I want to in memory, anyway.

Such freedom. Those who have gone before me in this process and are enjoying their lives on the road know exactly what I mean. And it comes in waves. Just as I have to go through an area of my living space three, four or five times to get things sorted, packed and ready to move on out, so does the sense of freedom come in waves. It washes over me like a much needed balm to the soul.

So, two days to go. Pictures to come. 

Zee End!

That was the title of my last post for this past year's A to Z challenge (written at the end of -- ahem -- October), and methinks it will become an annual tradition.

It just seems fitting.

This year's challenge didn't feel so much like a challenge, at least not in the struggle and effort sense. Overall it went by smoothly, peacefully, effortlessly and harmoniously. I enjoyed pondering posts, waiting for a word to pop to mind associated with the day's letter and, much like my other writing, listening and watching within for the path the ideas and words would take as they formed themselves. At that point, my job is simply (or not so simply, depending on the project) to help the process along as scribe, midwife, editor and watcher of wonder.

I've also enjoyed the daily habit of writing at least something and look forward to continuing it with this blog. As I've heard other writers say, the act of engaging in one form of writing provides inspiration for other works. So, as I've been blogging, the many books that have been dancing around in my head for quite some time have indeed started forming themselves more substantively and pushing with the urgency to be expressed. It's like a faucet that, once opened, enables a steady flow to come forth from the wellspring.

All that said, I'm very happy to share this:

Thanks so much for following along during the past month, and for your supportive comments. I look forward to engaging with you for a long time to come. :)

Yodeling

If I were a yodeler, I'd definitely be doing it right now. Tomorrow is the last day of the A to Z blog challenge, and it's wonderful to have it be almost complete. It also feels rather unreal that it's been nearly a month since we started.

The cleaning out progress also makes me rather feel like yodeling. Lots still to accomplish, but I moved my plan to vacate out a week. That helps. A lot.

What makes you feel like yodeling? :)

Xanadu

I don't know if you've checked the dictionary lately, but the number of words that start with the letter X are quite limited. Xanadu is the only one that kept coming to mind for today's post. And by that I mean this part of Merriam-Webster's definition: "an idyllic, exotic, or luxurious place."

Right now, my Xanadu is in a silver Airstream Interstate parked in a glorious wood -- which, of course, the munchkin and I arrived at by taking a road less traveled by.

The literature references were quite unexpected. :)

What and where is your Xanadu?