This post is a response to the SoCS (Stream of Consciousness Saturday) prompt on Linda G. Hill’s website ( https://lindaghill.com/2019/05/10/the-friday-reminder-and-prompt-for-socs-may-11-19/ ) . The prompt this week is “Strain”.
Strain. Straining. Strained. All three in the last few days.
My normally good humor has been strained, by people who didn’t intend to, but did. I strain to get over it, to put it in the past, and I have been successful, most of the time. For some of the people who strain me, it’s easy to put it in the past. Because usually those people only strain me temporarily, and if I am honest, I strained them too.
For others, it IS in the past. Like people who you have made it a point to exclude from your thoughts and life, and they keep popping up, wanting me to talk to them, or react to them. I strain not to be exacerbated. This is the first time I have even mentioned it, but really, why would you hound someone who clearly hasn’t shown a bit of interest in talking to you in 2 years, despite repeated unsuccessful attempts? UGH. It does strain my good humor, momentarily. It’s not that I am angry, or hurt, or any of the things that I imagine are going through this person’s mind. It’s not that I’m afraid of them, not that I feel they can hurt me at all. I just have no interest in opening the door even a crack to them. They are just a personna-non-grata in my life. My life has moved on, and I am happy, and content with my life just the way it is. I wish they would just leave me alone. I wish that they would just move on, and maybe strain to find someone new in their life, or just make a new friend. It ain’t me, babe, in the words of Bob Dylan.
I played the gong for a bunch of my friends in the last week. Most of them loved it. But some of them strained to deal with the volume that the vibration can put out. It’s ok, it’s not for everyone. But my Spirit Girls all loved it. Others in my writing group loved it. I hope I can bring the kind of healing to others that it has brought me. It is absolutely no strain to play it. I can easily get lost in it. When I am irritated, or otherwise unbalanced, I can play the gong for a while, and literally, the unease, the dis-ease, leaves me. It’s a particularly beautiful and effective when combined with a singing bowl. So, the gong is a way to deal with the emotional strains that we all find ourselves with at times.
I strain to not shoot my mouth off about our Twitter-in-Chief, and his antics. He not only strains every brain cell I have, but he also scares me, because he (I believe) purposefully distracts us with the non-sensical stuff he does, and then gets away with bigger stuff that can hurt us. I’d LOVE to see him removed from office, but if the Dems keep on the course they are on, digging, digging for dirt, they will not find themselves with the most effective candidate for the next election, and he’ll win again. Which I believe he is straining to do, to distract from choosing, and supporting the best candidate as a party and then straining with all our might to elect him and thus throw the man out of the White House. Just my humble opinion.
And then again there’s that physical strain that we all, especially as we grow older, have to deal with. Backs, knees, hips, feet, ankles. I push myself so that I can remain mobile as I age, but RA makes it a real strain at times. My Daniel is still straining to regain full use of his shoulder and arm from surgery he had 7 months ago.
Lots of things strain us. And somethings, are just strained, like pasta. Fresh squeezed orange juice. Or smoothies. Those are things that are wonderful uses for a strainer. And they don’t cause any physical and/or emotional or mental strain.
Tomorrow is Mother’s Day, and it will be no strain for me. We’re getting dinner at a good restaurant and bringing it home, and all I have to do is set Dan’s mother’s table. Don’t have to cart food and dishes back and forth from his house to hers and back. I hope everyone’s Mother’s Day is as wonderful as mine will be.
Love and light to all.
Here are the rules if you’d like to join in the SoCS prompt:
1. Your post must be stream of consciousness writing, meaning no editing (typos can be fixed), and minimal planning on what you’re going to write.
2. Your post can be as long or as short as you want it to be. One sentence – one thousand words. Fact, fiction, poetry – it doesn’t matter. Just let the words carry you along until you’re ready to stop.
3. I will post the prompt here on my blog every Friday, along with a reminder for you to join in. The prompt will be one random thing, but it will not be a subject. For instance, I will not say “Write about dogs”; the prompt will be more like, “Make your first sentence a question,” “Begin with the word ‘The,’” or will simply be a single word to get you started.
4. Ping back! It’s important, so that I and other people can come and read your post! For example, in your post you can write “This post is part of SoCS:” and then copy and paste the URL found in your address bar at the top of this post into yours. Your link will show up in my comments for everyone to see. The most recent pingbacks will be found at the top. NOTE: Pingbacks only work from WordPress sites. If you’re self-hosted or are participating from another host, such as Blogger, please leave a link to your post in the comments below.
5. Read at least one other person’s blog who has linked back their post. Even better, read all of them! If you’re the first person to link back, you can check back later or go to the previous week by following my category, “Stream of Consciousness Saturday,” which you’ll find below the “Like” button on my post.
6. Copy and paste the rules (if you’d like to) in your post. The more people who join in, the more new bloggers you’ll meet and the bigger your community will get!
7. As a suggestion, tag your post “SoCS” and/or “#SoCS” for more exposure and more views.
8. Have fun!
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I don’t think I’ve ever known anyone with a gong before. What a great idea! I’d be willing to bet my deaf son would be able to sense the vibration of one … I should look into getting one. 🙂
It may get be good for him! But then, I think they are good for everyone! I am sure he could feel the vibration though. My feet are always buzzing when I’m done playing. Sound healing/vibrational healing has been an amazing for me.
Great to know! Thank you. 🙂
I hope your Mother’s Day ended up wonderfully restful! Great post.
Thank you so much. It was a really nice day. Hope your was also.
I enjoyed reading your SOC. Wondering about the gong and volume. I love sounds and vibrations from drums that are low/deep in pitch, even in a group if they get a little loud. And I like soft tinkling sounds, but I don’t like high pitched, loud tones. Pitch makes a big difference for me for some reason.
The gong, particularly the symphonic gong, has many tones from higher pitches, to very low deep harmonic tones. They can get very loud but I’ve always been told that they don’t hurt your ears. And I believe it, because the sound in some of the meditations I’ve been to had gongs of many sizes, from 24” to 50”, and when they played what we call the tsunami, all the gongs wailed on for a sustained time, my ears and hearing were never damaged. I think it had to do with the kind of organic nature of the vibrations. I do know for sure that the tsunami is the best, easiest way to release old stuff you want to let go. It’s almost impossible to hold onto a negative or untrue belief during that time. While the tsunami may last a few minutes, then the low and quiet tones take place very and give you something me time to regroup. If you search on YouTube you’ll find something me videos, though the sound doesn’t compare to being there live. If you get a chance ever to go to a gong bath, I think you’d like it. I meditate regularly but never as deeply as when the gongs are being played.
Thank you, Deborah. I hope I get to try it some time. 🙂