lara simmons

Another "mud" day, when my husband's car got stuck in the sand on Long Beach, WA " ...[S]ome days are magic, some days are mud." -- Donn "Murph" Murphy I am having a "mud" day today. My body feels heavy, everything feels hard and the darkness seems to be squeezing out the light.  At first I fought against it. I sat at my desk, "to do" list in hand, waiting for inspiration to strike. Nothing.  I surfed the Internet. Checked my email. Wasted time on Facebook. It only got worse. I decided to take a walk.  At first it didn't help. Instead of sitting in the mud, I was trudging through it, but I kept going. And going. And going.  And then I remembered this quote, which I heard many moons ago in Xcalak, Mexico, and I remembered: some days are just mud. And there is nothing you can do to change that. But there are things you can do to make it more bearable. And soon the darkness cleared a bit.  Here ...

"Let it suck." --B.S. A few weeks ago I met a new friend for coffee. It was one of those amazing "first dates" where you immediately fall into conversation about important things and time seems to pass so quickly that before you know it hours have gone by and you both need to rush off, late for whatever it was you were supposed to be doing that afternoon. We talked about life and family, relationships and writing, and I told her that one of the most important things I have learned about writing is the importance of being willing to write a really shitty first draft. I learned this, of course, from Anne Lamott's book "Bird By Bird," but it took me years - YEARS - to be able to actually do it and it still makes me nervous and twitchy sometimes and I am still a LONG way off from enjoying it. We talked a bit more about our writing process and then she paused for a moment out of the blue and said, " Let it suck, " which was her way of re...

      A cold winter's day at Greenlake "This will also change. " --From a folktale about two brothers and a ring I needed this reminder today and thought maybe you might too: "This will also change." A reminder that things are always changing and anything that isn't going well for you today is likely to change sooner or later, hopefully sooner.  The last time I posted this was last year on New Year's Day (http://www.larasimmons.net/2015/01/9-lives.html?m=1) so I think it's a reminder I often need at this time of year when the world is dark and cold. This will also change. S oon it will be lighter and warmer and greener and perhaps I will even remember these dark cold days with a bit of nostalgia and fondness. 

"Only by accepting full responsibility for our own nature – as events and relationships serve to reveal it to us – can we awaken the true compassion we need towards others. Everyone hopes; everyone hurts; everyone needs love and forgiveness. In the end, it's only by being exactly what we are that we can start to see how much we are all the same." --Guy Finley in New Spirit Journal