Accepting Your Wonderful Self

Acceptance.

I'll say it again. Acceptance. I won't be cliche and give you the Oxford dictionary definition. Acceptance is what it is; being ok with something/someone. It's really just that simple. So why is it the hardest thing to grasp?

People go into therapy for ages trying to find acceptance. They don't like the way they look. They don't like the way they act, they don't like themselves and can't get over it. I can't get over it sometimes either. You look at yourself in the mirror and think: "God in Heaven, what the hell is going on with me right now!" And then you scream and cut off all your hair and run naked in the streets shouting "Liberation NOW!!"

...well maybe not, but you get the idea. Acceptance is hard. It's hard, because it's hard to be ok with ourselves and/or our situations. It's hard because we want something else. We want to be prettier. We want to be sexier. We want to know more, have more experience, have a better house, a better job, a better life. We want better. I want better. I'll admit it. I want a lot more than I have right now. I wish I were more wonderful than I already am (greedy, yes...). It's normal to want better.

What separates the normal from the wonderful, is acceptance. Sorry. Accepting the person you see in the mirror is half the battle. You can't do better than who you already are. Who you are is blissful, happy, unique, great, and magnificent. Who you are is totally you. And once you know that, you won't need to go G.I. Jane and slightly paranoid in the streets to prove a point. That peace will already be there in that little place between your heart and your chest. The situation you're in, that's something you have the power to change.

Super power of acceptance...it's an uphill battle, but I'm getting there, a little bit everyday. I'm a wonder woman, not a saint. Don't expect any radical life altering swings in me just yet. But do expect a sprinkle of contentment. Because that's all I ever really want.

Smiling, WW

Losing Your Superpowers 3

The meditation is still keeping me grounded. I need it. Wonderland is still hostile, despite my passport and exportation papers for the near future. But I'm not done getting my powers back. Not by a long shot am I done. I'm still gathering them up bit by bit, one by one. And I am very surprised to say the next one to cross my path of reclaim was one of my greatest.

There is one thing that has always been my super emergency, hidden, not talked about, super power. I only use it when things get really, really bad and a complete turn around is necessary.

"But WW, it's been bad for a while!" you might say. "Why do you only bring this up now?!" I know, I know. You would think I would have pulled this one out of my back pocket as soon as someone said "fire!" in the theatre. But there is a catch to this power: it is uncontrollable.

What is this uncontrollable, great, super emergency power? My catch-fire drive. I used to have it in mounds only a year ago. I was driven to be the best, the greatest. And whenever I fell off my own personal course, something would catch my attention and light up that match again. It could be a book, a person, or even current events. But, this year, my drive went to the waste side. I never used it. It never caught fire. So I never got anything done for my own sake. Nothing.

That changed just this morning. One little sentence and a familiar stir in my chest and my heart catches me all a flame.

It's a little exhilarating. I forgot how fun it is to be a superhero...

On fire, WW

Losing Your Superpowers 2.5

With one power back, I started to work on getting another back. But this one took patient, quiet, and ease.

Calm. I needed to get my super inner calm back. Inner calm leads to inner peace, which leads to satisfaction. And I need some of that! So straight to the library I went, to do a little research on what all this inner peace business is really about.

I went to the religion, Buddhism section. Meditation is the key to enlightenment, right? Buddha sat under a tree meditating until he figured out the universe. And he did! Lucky duck. But according to his teaching, enlightenment isn't just for him, it's for everyone! We all can join the Buddha train. So I checked out a few books and bought a ticket to Buddha town.

Meditation is AMAZING. I highly recommend it. All you really need is a quiet place, a pillow, and yourself. Put the pillow under your rump, so when you sit cross-legged you are sitting a little higher up. Hold your dominant hand in your subordinate hand, resting them lightly in your lap. Then just focus on your breathing. Count. Count how many breaths you take in and out before a funny little thought pops in your head. Cast it off and start counting again.

Believe me, it takes time and practice to get to ten. Your ego, your thoughts, fight to get your attention. But when you are free of them, when nothing is getting between you and a free mind, it's a pretty stellar feeling.

I'm still claiming it, but I'm glad to say super inner calm is back! And I'm smiling again, which is nice. Good job meditation, you've done me a solid.


Namaste, WW

Wonder Woman and Adventures in the Workforce (Part IX PLUS! Getting Some Powers Back)

After my encounter with the little boy in the midst of war torn Wonderland, and contacting Neverland...much has transpired.

Neverland sent a message via fairy (which was pretty cool) notifying me that my application to be a Wonderful Wendy was accepted! I would be traveling by fairy dust and happy thoughts near the end of the summer season, when my year in Neverland would begin. Ecstatic, I jumped for joy in my big white rabbit feet.

Ah, but there's the rub.

I'm not a Wendy, not even really a wonder woman, but a stupid white rabbit. The ravages of war and Wonderland completely transformed me into a fuzzy rodent with a serious over-bite in a cheap polyester vest. I've lost all my super powers (see last post). And my wounds from the battlefield are really icky... I'm obviously in no shape to try and bust free of this wasteland.

But I have to! It's the only way to get to Neverland come the solstice, and the only way to get my powers back! Plus, I really want be my wonderful self once again. It's kind of nice being wonderful.

So I had to regroup. I had to remember what it means to be a wonder woman. How did I even get to be one? I had to remember before Wonderland...

Before Wonderland I was confident. I sat up straight and looked people in the eye, and yes, could tell them they were wrong. Now as a white rabbit, I cower in the face of others. To face the Red Queen, I would need to get my super confidence back.

And I did...by smiting the terrible jabberwock. I had nothing to help me, no sword, bow and arrow, or even a sling shot and bubble gum. Just me. But I knew this was the only way to get this power back: to be confident in myself that I could defeat it without any help. So I hid behind a wall of rubble, and waited for the jabberwock to come to me.

It took many days. But I waited patiently. It passed me by, twice, but I did not feel defeated. My time would come. And it did, only just today, when the jabberwock took a snooze in a cave; practically begging me to go after it. I jumped and (sparing the bloody, R rated gory details) killed the monster dead. My super confidence was returned in a wonderful bath of warm, glowing light.

I brought the head to the Red Queen. She smiled, and let me pass through the gates of Wonderland. She wished me well on the way out.

Still getting those powers back, WW

Losing Your Superpowers

Where do super powers come from? Every wonder woman has her own story of origin. Usually her powers are sung about in these tales. And usually, somewhere after becoming a wonder woman, she loses her powers...and has to find a way to get them back.

This year, wonder women, I have been stripped of my powers. I was just getting used to them too. I think storytellers call that conflict. You see, I was once a wonder woman of such power I could relay all of my good advice and adventures to all of you. I could spin a couple of words together and come up with something that sparkles. But these gray times have cast a shadow, and I am weakened from them.

No more rope of truth, no more invisible jet, not even those sweet bracelets that bullets bounce off of. Every power I once possessed are now gone. An empty memory has taken their place. I am just a plain jane. It's hard to adjust with plain janeness when you used to be a wonder woman. It was really fun. I had super powers for crying out loud!

But this is just the bottom. Every hero has a time when their powers are taken from them. Every hero has to rise up and claim them back. That's what makes them special. That's what makes them great.

(Gulp). I'm just really, really freaked out about where and what I have to do to get my powers back. I'm not as strong as I used to be, what with the powers and everything. Nobody said it would be easy; nobody said it would be hard either. But this wonder woman is digging out her old costume, and going out there to find her super powers. No matter where they are, I'll find them. No matter what it takes, I'm getting them back. Because I'm a wonder woman, and I'd feel pretty stupid in a silly costume with no super powers to back it up.

Searching, fighting, living, WW

Wonder Woman and Adventures in the Workforce (Part VIII)

There was a horrible war in Wonderland. The jabberwock ate most everyone, and those left were shell-shocked and violent. Not a lot of support, you could say...

But amidst being the Wonderland White Rabbit, and dodging the jabberwocky, this wonder woman saw a strange little boy sitting among the rubble. He couldn't have been more than ten, with ratty clothes and a funny little flute...
"You shouldn't be here," I advised him. "It's not safe to loiter here." He looked up at me and got a big smile on his face.
"I think you should head north," he said. "Second star to the right."
"I beg your pardon?" I said. (I'd gotten very uppity since being a White Rabbit. It comes with the job, you get used to it, and then you sorta fall into it.)
"North,"he repeated. "To Never Neverland." And then he trotted off back through the war zone, and out of Wonderland's gates, as if it were nothing at all. Weird kid.

I was a little confused by his message though. It was cryptic, and yet direct. I didn't quite know how to follow his instructions...
Low and behold, a light bulb! North isn't just north, it's up. And where has this wonder woman been that's up...MOUNTAINS! CAMP! What a revelation. Thanks little flute boy.

So on a day when the Red Queen forbid my presence, I call up said Neverland and reconnect. I am missed, and I am wanted. They need another Wendy to take care of all these lost boys! I put in my request to fill such a space. They are delighted.

Now all that I can do is sit, and wait...and watch the stars till morning.

Health Care

A historic thing happened today. Some people like it, and some people don't. That's totally fine. Every wonder woman has a right to her thoughtful opinions. But you cannot deny when you've lived in a time without precedence, and I think that time is now.

This moment in our country's history will be in the books. It will be with the New Deal, and with the rise and fall of American during the Great Depression. It's funny how history often repeats itself... There was a great depression, we're having one again now. From that depression came a slew of government funded aids that left some people furious and others grateful. And now...well you get the idea.

It isn't a cliche. History does repeat itself. So whether you are for or against our country's new stand on the health care system, you do have to remember that this has happened before. And we are living in noteworthy times.