Month: January 2018

Recent real life mug ups remind me about something I have often thought and written about…that we all want to be asked…we want to be chosen. We want to be asked to sit next to someone on a full bus. We want to be asked to be on the kickball team with our best friends. We want to be asked to go on that first date. We want to be to feel included. Being asked means someone picks us. We were chosen.

Tuesday afternoons used to make me feel lonely. From grade school through my confirmation, I went to “CCD” at St. Patrick’s Church on Tuesdays, right after school. CCD was the Catholic version of Sunday school, only it didn’t get you out of going to Mass because it was in addition to going to Mass on Sunday. For some reason, my family went to church in a different neighborhood than where we lived, so I did not know any of the kids at church or CCD. When my sister and I got dropped off each Tuesday, I would silently wish someone would ask us to join their group as we waited outside until the nuns called us in to start our lesson. I didn’t know anyone and those five or ten minutes (but it felt more like hours) before CCD started were so painful. I would try to look content to stand with just my sister, but inside, all I felt was the disappointment of not being chosen.

Yes, we all want to be asked. There is someone in your life that would love to mug up with you. Maybe she is the coworker that eats lunch alone. Or the neighbor you only see pulling out of her driveway very early every weekday. Perhaps the colleague that shares interesting stories when you get to talk for a few minutes before a meeting. Or the new friend on Facebook that seems to have the same warped sense of humor as yourself. There is someone so busy taking care of everyone else that she seems too busy… but in reality, she would love to sit still and hold a cup of coffee and be listened to. Maybe there is someone you admire and you have never told him. Without a doubt, there is someone who would love to be asked to join you for a cup of coffee.

The main thing about a mug up is that it is meant to be shared. Look around you this week and find that person who needs to feel chosen. We all want to be asked.

-Mug Up Mermaid

Today’s Mug Up is all about movement.  What do you need to move? Who is living and breathing movement into your life?

Movement.

4 days into the New Year, I kept my resolution to MOVE. And I asked others to move with me. In the middle of an actual blizzard, I woke up from a nap and asked the Captain to go for a walk with me. With a bone chilling cold temperature of below 20 degrees with 40-50 knot winds and snow hitting me right in the face, we walked along the tidal creek. I MOVED. We looked at how at high tide, ice sheets had pushed their ways onto the docks of our neighbors and could not be moved.

 

As the sky grew dark, we walked back up the hill to home. On the way, the Captain told me to close my eyes and to just listen. Such bliss in that quiet, snowy moment. A missed moment if I had chosen to stay comfortable in the warm house, out of the storm. A missed moment if I had not asked him to go with me. A gift of movement. As we got to our front yard, I fell to the ground in gratitude and made a snow angel. I was able to MOVE and make a snow angel. Snow fell on my cheeks and I felt kisses coming down from heaven. Movement.

Movement.

6 days into the New Year, I kept my resolution to MOVE. In the middle of a cold snap of below zero temperatures and even worse wind chills, I got out of the cocoon of a warm bed and went to Yoga. I had asked others to go to Yoga with me so I had to MOVE. -4 degrees outside and I warmed up my car to MOVE. Driving to Portland I was anxious about what I might not be able to do. I was anxious my body wouldn’t move like it used to. Would it remember the song of yoga? Walking in the door, some apprehension eased…hugs from the instructor as if it had not been years since I was last in her class… hugs from friends happy to share in the time together… With my purple mat beneath me, I became still. In a room full of people standing on their mats, I took a deep breath in, looked down at my purple mat, and exhaled as my body remembered how to move. And it did. On my purple mat I moved.

Child’s pose.

Flow.

Inhale.

Twist.

Reach.

Rest.

Tree pose.

Wobble.

Crunch.

Ouch.

Exhale.

Warrior pose.

Prayer hands.

Laying on my purple mat, I felt strength coming down from heaven. Movement.

Movement.

On the next day of the New Year, I will keep my resolution to MOVE. I will keep extending my invitation to others who might need to move. I will close my eyes and listen for the quiet, still voice coming down from heaven as it leads me. Movement.

Until next time…

-Mug Up Mermaid

 

 

Mug up: term used in coastal communities since the 1880’s to describe a coffee break or snack. Fishermen would gather to warm up and have a hearty meal. (Urban Dictionary).

Mug up: to study intensively (Merriam-Webster).

Do you want to mug up?

Here. A peaceful morning last fall. Since then, I keep looking at this picture. At first, I just really liked the color contrast and the visual reminder of a quiet morning. However, the more I looked at it, the more I studied it intensely, the more I saw an invitation and inspiration. So, let’s connect.

Here. Come sit and mug up with me. The water is warm. Slip out of your shoes and hang your feet off the dock. Let’s listen to the water gently lap the rocks on the shore and feel the wind brush off whatever is on our skin from the day before. Let’s speak of what is on our hearts and not of the stuff that fills our to-do lists. The lists can wait. What do you want from this sparkly, beautiful day?

Here. Your cup is waiting.

Here. Let’s mug up…

~Mug Up Mermaid