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 Reflections and ruminations from a modern day Alice - Life is Wonderland |
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Reflections and ruminations from a modern day Alice - Life is Wonderland  Welcome to the place were I chronicle my own falls down dark holes and adventures chasing white rabbits! Come on In, Take a Bite, You Never Know What You May Find... "Curiouser and curiouser." Alice in Wonderland ** Image ID #1701066 Unavailable **   |
| 30 Day Blogging Challenge PROMPT May 13th Discuss the “Goldilocks Rule of Motivation” as described on the website below. “Human beings love challenges, but only if they are within the optimal zone of difficulty. Tasks that are significantly below your current abilities are boring. Tasks that are significantly beyond your current abilities are discouraging. But tasks that are right on the border of success and failure are incredibly motivating to our human brains.” https://jamesclear.com/motivation#How%20to%20Stay%20Motivated In theory, I think I agree on the premise. It does take a bit of the romance out of that drive to achieve the impossible though. We all have heard about people overcoming insurmountable, impossible odds to survive so if I were to subscribe to this rule, then it would appear that no matter how "impossible" something seemed, that it was likely still "right on the border of success and failure", or rather there was at best, at least a 50/50 percent of success. That takes the wind out of my sails a little bit I think. I mean, if I was being chased by a grizzly bear or something as equally aggressively terrifying, and I understood that I had a 50/50 percent chance of making it...of course I would still run, still try to escape. That doesn't seem like the "Goldilocks rule", so much as the drive of self preservation. However, if I were to climb Everest, and knew I had less than 50% chance of achieving the summit and still did it anyway...that would akin to achieving the impossible in my book. I think some people will always be charged to pursue a task or a goal that to them, seems impossible. I'd like to believe that there are some humans who will still operate outside the limits of what they believe they can do. I am likely not one of them but I commend those that are out there. I would certainly run...but I'd never even dream of even attempting to tackle Everest. |
| Missed the chance to write Sunday's prompt on Sunday so I am playing catch up this morning... 30 Day Blogging Challenge PROMPT May 12th Write your entry inspired by the word “nurture.” What does it mean to nurture something or someone? How were you nurtured growing up, how are you currently nurtured, and how do you nurture others? This entry feels like a loaded one coming on Mother's Day. This year, this particular day has been more difficult for some reason. For the first time I am reluctant to write about a topic that I fear will release too much anger and toxins into my day and I feel as if I have been struggling to keep such things inside to hard. Nurturing is most certainly one of the most important things we mother's do. To nurture a child goes beyond loving them, beyond teaching them the basic tools and life skills they need to survive. We can not nurture without love for it is the ultimate expression of love. To nurture a child, we flame their passions, we invoke their kindness, we give them hope and light and promise. We build them a foundation to have a good life, to love and care for themselves. We teach them to know their worth and have faith in their abilities. Nurturing our children is a lifetime commitment and gets exceedingly harder as they grow and mature, as they come into more and more contact with outside forces. Sometime, now matter how well we have nurtured them or how strong we help them build their foundation, they will meet someone who crushes it. We have to step in and re-teach, replenish their reserves and rebuild their hope and self-respect. The act of nurturing is forever, and it is a labor of love. It also does not come naturally to some mothers and it isn't until we become mothers ourselves that we realize the wonderful importance of this love, this responsibility. I have bad parenting days. I have many parenting fails. I have sometimes let my daughter down, made mistakes or bad calls. However, my daughter knows she is cherished. She knows she is my moon and my sun. She knows that she can do anything and I will love and nurture her until the end of my days and even then I will not leave her. I worried I would not be able to do these things for her once. It made me fear the day she would leave the safety and security of my womb where it was so easy to care for her as she was so entirely dependent on my own biology. The very moment she was placed in my arms though, I knew it was going to be the most effortless thing in the world to love her. I knew that as I had lived to bring her into the world, I would readily die to protect her. I knew living to love and nurture her would be the greatest gift I could have asked for. |
| Playing catch-up from the weekend... 30 Day Blogging Challenge PROMPT May 11th Write your entry today from the perspective of an animal. You could choose a pet, a lioness on the hunt, a rhino being pursued by poachers, or any other animal of your choice. The hunger was a thing now, alive and demanding in her tiny stomach. It was nature's greatest joke to pair a creature with a seemingly insatiable appetite with such a tiny stomach. The days she woke ravenous and never seemed to be able to satisfy herself no matter how much she gorged on seeds and berries. Even here, where they seemed to fill the feeders as quickly as they were emptied, she struggled to eat her way to that full bellied euphoria of her youth. Now, as she watched from her vantage point high above, she could see the feeder had been replenished with the rich black seeds she knew and her stomach rumbled and rolled with anticipation. Squirrel was wary though. This lovely shaded yard with its rich bounty was not without its dangers. There was lots of competition for one thing. There was the usual variety of the delicate birds, the finches and chickadees but also several pairs of mating cardinals. She found the bright red males easy to navigate but the females, slightly smaller with more subdued plumage, harder to spot and much more difficult to drive off. She'd taken a particularly aggressive peck to her posterior a few days ago that was still sore and red. There was a bigger threat in this place though, one that could deliver a lot more damage than an angry bird. Squirrel crept a few branches lower to get a better look at the large window. It looked vacant and dark in the early morning light. The feeder swung back and forth with the breeze and her aching tummy urged her closer still. She made her way onto the narrow branch that would deposit her all the way to the deck. She moved quicker now, keeping her eyes on the window, making her way down on her nimble claws. At last she landing softly on the solid wood and clambered over the railing and onto the swinging feeder. Her sudden weight sent it rocking, fleeing black seeds out in all directions. The black seeds smelled wonderful and she shoved them into her mouth greedily in great claw fulls. They made a satisfying crunch under her sharp teeth. Suddenly there was a chaotic burst of noise, a frenzied barking and scraping. Her dark eyes flicked to the window and she froze. The lights inside the house were dark but she could still make out the smooth head, the flicking ears and those flashing teeth. The dog keened and pawed at the glass, glaring ribbons of hate through the pane at her stuffed cheeks and flicking tail. She waited, staring back, terrified but refusing to give up her meal. The lights did not come on. The dog was confined, for now. She went back to eating, taking care to pack the extra folds of her jaws with seeds. She ignored the dog, who's protests were growing more and more angry and insistent. Soon the dog would wake the humans that lived in the house and they would let t her out and she would come for her with rage and of hunger all her own. Then, the dim world around her erupted with light. The humans were up. The window pane illuminated and she could see the dog in all her snarling glory, black and tan with flashing eyes. In a flash she heard the door slide open and she knew she only had seconds to escape. She bounded off the feeder and onto the deck railing as the dog came, her nails snapping against the wood and her teeth flashing. Squirrel pulled her tail up short and the dog dove, she smelled the rotten sweetness of her breath as her jaws snapped shut just inches of her hind end. Still too far from her branch, she made a desperate leap, stretching her body and reaching for the tree. The dog was right behind her. Squirrel realized with great dismay that dog had been getting faster and faster, soon she would need a better exit plan or this feeder would cease to be an option for her. Her claws found purchase and she quickly raced up and away from the protesting dog. Squirrel managed to get a safe distance before she turned and chattered angrily back, frustrated that her meal had once again been interrupted. The dog, seeing Squirrel had moved out of range, quickly lost interest. She turned tail and began to contentedly roam about the yard. Squirrel continued to scold the big animal for a few more seconds before turning away and heading for her nest. Soon the dog would go back inside and she could make the trip down again until she was again driven off...it was a dance that was a familiar to her now as the coming of the snows and the grumbling of her tummy. |
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