Creative Meanderings

I was working on my next article for April Magazine and was sharing stories with a lady I met at book club a few weeks back. She said how curious a thing it is that people want everyone to fit into “neat little boxes”. I like this description and also wonder at it.

Before I discuss others’ need for this, I first reflect upon myself. Am I the same? Do I make my own limiting assumptions of others? Do I want to describe people by their outer appearance, whether it is the color of their skin or the clothes that they wear, or the job that they are doing? The truth is that I do. It would be a lie and hypocritical of me to say otherwise.

At the same time, when I get a response that is different from my expectations/assumptions, I find myself curious or interested to know more. I am confident that I have never continued a line of inquiry looking for an answer to fit what I think an answer should be.

So, now about why others feel this need….

For people who have grown up in homogenous societies or have limited exposure to the global world, I can understand how it might be such an abstract concept that someone might not say they are from where they look like they are from. However, for those who are privileged enough to be exposed to people from other countries or grow up in diverse communities – then, I do not understand at all.

More importantly, I do not understand the need to push and push someone into a corner because one is not getting the desired response – no matter what the response. I mean obviously if someone looks uncomfortable with your line of questioning, wouldn’t you take the hint and redirect???

Anyway, now I rant and ramble, so I will close up. My article is coming out soon – I think. When it does I will post a link. In the meantime, break down those tiny boxes and free the mind!!!! 😛

~T 😀

Sometimes when I take the time to share what is going on in my life or when I stop to think about it, I can see why people say to me, “I do not know how you do it.”

Most of the time I never think about the how or even the why. I just do it. Overall, life is good – really.

However, as I finished up my last yoga teacher training weekend before our final exam, I look out on the edge of this new horizon that I have chosen for my life. Also, as we near the end of 2016, I begin the process of reflection over the past year. All of these perspectives leave me on the edge. On the edge of sanity, on the edge of new journeys, on the edge of business taking off, on the edge of what stepping away from what was into what will be.

As I drove home yesterday fighting the emotions of the day from my yogi classmates and the realization that the year has passed with so many changes for all of us, I found myself also drained and perhaps even a little angry (OK, maybe a lot angry given my road rage and impatience with people).

Life is on the edge – and I am exhausted from it. Each day I wonder what the universe is going to throw at me to deal with. While I seem to do alright with managing myself, I have come to realize that I am losing the capacity and willingness to contribute to helping others manage themselves. For my business, this is a problem as that is the essence of what I do.

So, here I am reconsidering what I do and why I do it. I am reconsidering how I do it. I am reconsidering for whom I do it. There is a lot of considering and reconsidering to be done – with everything still…on the edge.

~T 😀

This morning I felt a cool breeze as we were waiting for our morning walk/run. It was such a nice feeling and a relief given the seemingly lingering heat this year – although I’m sure that is not the case. 🙂

One of the events that we do every year as a bit of a kick-off of the cooling weather is Taste of Abu Dhabi.

We always have a good time with friends – drinking, eating and shooting the breeze in the cooler temps (it is still warm). It is one of my favorite events because we can sit outside, take off our shoes and enjoy each other’s company.

This year was a bit different…. First, the group was different due to friendship loss. Second, a new person was invited to join and well…that did not go well…. While we had met her just a couple of days before, she chose to show her true colors after a number of drinks.

Not knowing M very well, she asked him to not talk about our president-elect as it upset her because her husband is a minority in NYC. How the two were related was not clear. M being M pushed her on it, but nicely without his usual ‘taking the piss’ attitude. Well, she did not get it and continued to claim how he (a minority British man just coming out of the shock of Brexit) that he could not possibly understand the kind of danger she (a well-educated white American NOT currently in America) felt for her husband – the minority.

Now, earlier in her more sober conversation, we discovered that she is also adopted, which was an interesting coincidence. She also asked me where I was from – “originally”; with a later follow-up question on whether or not I was Filipino…uh…?

At some point, I had heard enough of her ranting about her poor husband and how worried she felt. She was raving at M about how he was being disrespectful to her. I was no longer willing to listen to her privileged white American (dubbed PWA) rant about how she basically did not have enough respect or belief in her husband, who has probably spent his entire life being threatened or disrespected for being a minority, to take care of himself in a city he grew up in. Her argument against discussing the president-elect had nothing to do with the greater social issues or worries for the nation as a whole, but for her poor poor husband. To this, I said she needed to get over herself. Her husband, and even her as a woman, were not the only people in the world to be free to worry. She could not claim to be superior to anyone else or try to stop someone from having a discussion – how is that any better than the way of life he is promoting?

She told me that I was obviously NOT American or at least did not love HER country just because I did not want to waste a lovely day out talking about politics – even if I might have agreed with her.

She walked away at least three times, but kept coming back to continue her argument. Each time we and others in the group told her to drop it or to let it go (I might have said “Get over it!” :P). In the end, she left and then proceeded to send our mutual friend messages continuing to rant about how terrible of people we were ridiculing her. I was “evil” for laughing at her pain – I laughed at her ridiculousness, not her pain (admittedly I did not see how she was in pain…).

In any case, the whole event made me realize that the ‘winter’ that our president-elect has touted throughout his campaign is going to come. In a way it is already here. Facebook has people posting from all extremes. People are raging on both sides. The division is coming and there is very little to be done because compassion and cool-headedness is being lost. Everyone is about being right rather than finding logical productive agreements to our differing opinions. So, it is all the more important that I avoid these conversations and, generally speaking, drunk Americans. 😉

So, in temperature, winter weather is here. In temperament, temperatures rise as winter draws near….

~T 😀