It's days like these...

It's days like these when you open your e-mail inbox to find a lovely little surprise waiting for you.  These are the little surprises that give us writers more reason to acknowledge that some pretty cool publication actually diggs our voice and/or writing style.  Is it easy to put something interesting, funny, factual, raw or serious together?  Heck NO! Don't think that I wake up knowing what I'm going to scribble about on any particular day.  I don't have a plethora of cascading ideas swimming upstream like wild brave Salmon.  No, I must dig, I must scrape away at, I must be present (in the midst of my own chaos), I must do and try and 'just keep swimming' like that absent minded little blue fish's grand ole motto!  There is no 'perfect formula' to the act of sharing my thoughts, feelings and/or likes and dislikes with you, my readers.  I just do what I know I CAN do which is be ME.

So it's days like these, yes, days like these that I'm reminded that while I may not have the fun and crazy novel that is perched up on my dusty dark chocolate book shelf published YET, I do have something of value to add to parents alike, to mothers that go through the same (or not) troubles and joys and fears and doubts, etc., that I go through every single waking day.  It's days like these that I am thankful to add, inspire, take away (to some degree) or simply make you feel like there is yet another raw, imperfect and passionate individual that is also a mother, wife, daughter, niece or friend out there.  I can only hope that I continue to do what I do best which is to simply be REAL with all of you.  Thank you for cheering me on! Here's to my first 'soon to be' published little article on a very very cool online magazine/website.  Yes, I signed a lovely little contract today and I could not be happier! THANK YOU! (I'll keep the name a surprise until they publish it.)  Stay tuned!

PS
I love my readers!

♥ Vanessa 

Gentle hands communicate...

Hands image via BlackCanvas

My husband is in pain.  His pain is tiring and debilitating and frustrating.  But he's connected to his body probably more so because he is a Chiropractor.  He honors the power of touch, the power of hands, the power of communication through the hands.  Our hands hold light and energy and words that one cannot express with the voice.  Chiropractors envelop their art through the use of their hands to heal and hear what the body is saying.

This morning, our daughter Luna walked up to her Daddy, still sleepy eyed and shuffling her her bare feet as he was slumped over beside me on the cold, quartz counter with a discomfort in his back that started out of nowhere, as I drank my coffee.   Luna came and placed her little, delicate and gentle hand over his back.  She didn't speak but she knew that her gentle touch would somehow communicate something powerful to him.  To his pain.  To his discomfort.  To his energy.  She rubbed his back slowly and placed her forehead on his arm and stayed there, comforting him.  Her hands were communicating something more powerful to him than "Does your back hurt, Daddy?"  


Sometimes a simple touch to let someone know that you understand, can feel their pain, that you care, that you love them, that you can 'hear' the discomfort without an exchange of words just may be what we need to feel validated, refreshed, renewed, appreciated, loved and understood.  A gentle act of communicating through the hands with a touch of one's shoulder, one hand placed over another in sympathy or joy or simply to 'say' I'm here, here for you is better medicine for the soul, better for the heart, better for one's own existence and oftentimes simply better for the world as a whole.

Today I want you to communicate something beautiful, magical, mysterious and moving by using your hands to 'speak' your love for someone, your empathy for someone's pain (be it emotionally or physical), your understanding of the human condition.  Remember that your hands are the first things you extend to the world to either embrace a loved one, introduce yourself, make amends, accept a promotion, accept a demotion, accept a hard earned degree, hold your baby for the very first time, to release a dove and to sometimes cup a child's innocent face and tell them that you love them.

Your hands communicate what you cannot put into words...vj

As you grow older you will discover that you have two hands, one for helping yourself, the other for helping others- Audrey Hepburn~