Blue Days

It’s ok to have some blue days
Sad songs just fit the mood days
When strong face is a game
you just can’t play

It’s ok to just be human
Skip the shower and the perfume
And maybe not put
make up on today

You’ve been tryin’ to be perfect
Workin’ so hard not to hurt them
That you lost yourself
somewhere along the way

Stop paintin’ that smile on
It’s ok to admit you’ve been treated wrong
Others may not understand your pain
But it’s not theirs to claim

We gaze through screens at lives curated
Truth - it seems so overrated
But you’ll never heal
By painting smiles over your pain

So when your heart is in a blue haze
Drop the happy role play
Put your umbrella down
And just cry in the rain

-Tracy C

Please click here for a spoken word version of this poem.

A Simple Haiku

Obviously….

By the number of words on this website, I use a lot of them. I love words.

Words are such a beautiful tool for connecting and communicating.

But sometimes…. words fall on unhearing ears sifted through filters of fear. And it is time to simply stop the talk and let go.

I found a spot yesterday where so much was expressed and released in silence.

And I find it only took the 17 simple syllables of a Haiku to sum it up:

Day moon 
stamped sky

Quiet creek
by the road

Heart flies free
as I let go

Obsessing Over Outcomes

As I sat outside this morning watching birds and preparing myself mentally for the week ahead, I thought I bit about the weeks behind. I thought most about how I spent my time. My burnt up life minutes tend not to be from what I do, but from what I do after I do. 🤷‍♀️ Let me explain….

I’ll work hard at work for a great referral that doesn’t end up working out. But instead of a quickly assessing and learning what I can do better the next time around, I might spend hours mentally beating myself up and negatively impacting the things I’m doing now.

And posting online on my days off is not the problem. I’m a creative, a writer, and a blogger. It’s a great outlet. The problem comes when after I submit the post, I go back again and again looking for likes and other positive feedbacks or spinning downward because it’s not doing as well as I has hoped.

My goal for this day, this week, this moment is to do, create, be and then release. Once it’s out there, I’ll only hurt myself if I sit and obsess and don’t let that outcome go.

And, as they often do…. My thoughts turned into a little poem….

When I take an honest look 
At the time I spend
And the time I waste
It's not so much doing a thing
That takes my time away
It's when I do a thing
But then don't release
And keep obsessing over the outcome
Like checking for likes again and again
Or beating myself up over
The account I didn't win
That is the danger zone
Where my future could fade
Into my own obsessions

Peace (a poem by Tracy C.)

I don’t think
There’s such a thing as peace
In these days of
So many promises
Of instant satisfaction
That only bring dis- ease

But even still
This peace I seek
Getting up at 5
Gazing at stars
As I await sunrise
Is it a glimpse of God I seek
Or more elusive yet
A glimpse of me

The me that I’m
Not even sure I can define
Because too long I’ve drawn
My own reflection
With someone else’s lines
At what point did I trade
Thrive for survive

Perhaps this frustration
With the way I’m living
Is what will help me
Finally
Come alive

(click video below for a spoken word version of this poem)

Lessons from Hummingbirds

I love to watch hummingbirds flit to flowers and feeders and back. I’ve noticed when they land on an empty feeder or another object such as a branch or a wire where there is no nectar, they spend very little time there.

These lovely little creatures must always pursue more sweet nectar in order to sustain their high metabolism and very active lifestyle of almost constant flight. Without new sources of sweetness, they would simply die.

I hope we can learn from them and never stop pursuing the sweetest moments and memories that give our very souls life.

I’ll end with a little #Haiku for you:

like a hummingbird
as we pursue sweetness we
find ourselves sustained