In a Dark Room

https://amanpan.com/2021/05/27/eugis-causerie-weekly-prompt-mingle-may-27-2021/

In a dark room

You feel their presence

You hear their breathing

You can smell the perfume, the smoke, the soap

Someone moves

Murmurs an apology

You just stand and listen

Female, you think

Do you speak?

You wait.

When I volunteered

I did not expect this.

“This is stupid. Where’s the door?”

“I’m all turned around. I can’t find the wall!”

“I don’t like this. I need to leave.”

Someone with a calm voice speaks…

“We can find the door if we work together.”

“Let’s hold hands so we know where we are.”

Someone grabs my hand.

His hand is big and callused.

I reach out, but no one else is close.

Calm voice says, “Reach out if you’re not holding someone’s hand.”

I reach one way, and then another.

“I found a wall!”

The voice is near me.

I move toward the voice.

I find her, and we start walking along the wall in opposite directions.

“Corner.”

I reach a corner and yell, “Corner.”

Then I hear, “Door!”

I pull my partner along the wall back to the corner and then in the direction of the voice.

“Locked.”

Then a 2nd voice…”Not locked but heavy.”

We find the door.

My partner is very big. Maybe he can open it.

Calm voice says, “Before we let the light in, what color is your partner?

“Married or single? laborer or white collar? Old? Young? No you can’t ask them.”

“WHAT DIFFERENCE DOES IT MAKE? WE WANT TO GET OUT OF HERE!”

Calm voice says, “Remember THAT when you come into the light.

“Here, we are mingled, lost people, but we’re not alone in the dark

“Remember what matters most…”

Ordinary Things

https://amanpan.com/2021/05/20/eugis-causerie-weekly-prompt-magic-may-21-2021/

Ordinary things

Things that don’t matter

Things we take for granted

Mama’s Cinnamon Rolls

Dad mowing the yard

The vegetable garden

But do you wonder how the dough rises so evenly?

How the smell of fresh-cut grass is released?

How the tomatoes get so big?

Must be magic!

The storm front that avoids us?

The one little cloud that seeks us out

and drenches us?

Must be magic!

That two people meet

That they marry

That they only part at death…

Must be magic!

No need for wands

No need for spells

Just awareness.

There are no ordinary things

It is ALL magic!

What if we could see…

https://amanpan.com/2021/05/13/eugis-weekly-prompt-viewpoint-may-13-2021/

What if we could see

Through a child’s eyes?

The wonder

The curiosity

The smallest thing to the grandest panorama.

What if we could see

Through an elder’s eyes?

The cause and effect

The heart of a person

The presence of a Spirit that

connects all human beings?

What if we could see

Through God’s eyes?

Timeless continuity

The ballet of the universe

The vision of the child

The insight of the elder

What do you see?

Paradise

https://amanpan.com/2021/05/06/eugis-weekly-prompt-paradise-may-6-2021/

Paradise in US

Cool air in my face

The smell of the junipers and pines

The swish of the wind through the needles

Hawk cry in the distance

Campfire crackling

Watching the sun come up.

Paradise in Europe

The mist over the stream

Quiet talking as people cross the bridge

Unfamiliar birdsong

The crunch of footsteps on the gravel

The beautiful old buildings

A feeling of history

Paradise from a Distance

Opening sequence from Star Trek TNG

Cheat Day!!!

What are the immediate things that come to mind when talking about a Cheat Day? Take a short cut? Look at the cheat codes? That doesn’t involve a whole day though. Cheating is taking a dishonest advantage. You find a way around the rules to best an opponent. You find the answers to the test. The purpose of cheating is to give yourself a leg up on the competition, to make yourself superior without the requirement of working in the weeds first. To take a short cut. To eliminate something distasteful and still get the full reward.

OK, if you’re like most people I know, they’re taking a cheat day in a diet or exercise program. You skip a day in your training program. You have Pancakes for breakfast…lots of pancakes:

But here’s the thing–How does cheating work to your advantage in those cases? If you cheat on your exercise program, then restart the next week, you hurt more! If you’ve cheated more than once, is it harder to go back to the exercise each time? If you know you’re going to be in pain for about 3 days after you resume, are you more apt to give up your program?

What if you’re like me and “cheat” by eating 1 chocolate chip cookie. That’s not cheating…that’s not even noticeable! How can a 2-ounce cookie make that big of a difference? Well, a steady loss program based on a torturous calorie limit and extensive exercise netted a loss of 1 pound in 1 month. 1 cookie (2 ounces!) gained 1 1/2 pounds back. It was the only aberration to the plan. I didn’t go out and have 12 pancakes, 3 large pizzas, and a table full of sushi like Dwayne does on a regular basis. Did you know he eats 6K calories every day and works out twice a day and can bench press 425 pounds? His entire job is working out. Mine isn’t.

The thing about Cheat Days is that these serve No Benefit. They derail you from your plan. They nullify all your hard work. If you’ve read any of my rants about weight control, you know that I follow a very strict diet of 1200-1500 calories in a day. I walk 1/4-1/2 a mile which is just stupid because I should be walking at least 5 miles per day. At least I’m moving. But what do I see as a result? Instead of being FAT and UNHAPPY, I am now FAT, and SORE, and SHORT-TEMPERED, and CONSTANTLY HUNGRY, and UNHAPPY. Cheating is supposed to give you an unfair advantage. Cheating on your diet and exercise gives you an unfair DISadvantage. You have to make up for the extra calories you consume. You have to be sore for another 3 days because you didn’t put in the time today. It’s short-term thinking: I get what I feel like I want today. Of course I have to start over tomorrow 1/2 pound heavier because I only walked 1049 steps all day and had 1 cookie. That’s not cheating, that’s failing.