Gratitude Monday -- This Really Rocks Edition

I have learned what some of my rocks and crystals do and for it I am grateful.
Recently I got a free ebook published by Hay House: Crystals: How to Use Crystals and Their Energy to Enhance Your Life, by Judy Hall (Hay House Basics, 2015) and learned a great deal.
It made me get up, collect every rock I had, and set them outside in the rain to cleanse.
After they dried I put most of them away to rest. They'd been out for years collecting energy and not getting my proper attention.
Among the few I left out is a large single point clear quartz that came to me more than 20 years ago.
I found it in the gutter one day. It glistened in the late morning sun. It had two lengths of yarn wrapped around it, one light blue, the other a pinkish purple. Logically, someone had been wearing it.
The Mountaineer had a lost and found in those days so I left it at the front desk and went to my cubicle.
After a week no one claimed it.
I didn't want it so I  took it across the street to where my inlaws had an alternative therapy clinic and my husband ran a health food store. My MIL put it in a glass carrier with some other crystals, most of them quartz.
It stayed there about two months. Eventually she convinced me that the crystal wanted me so I took it.
Over the years I used it from time to time and often took it in my suitcase when we travelled, but at no point did I even ask it what it could do for me.
I have channeled a rocks consciousness in the past, but it seemed like an effort and I got away from it.
Through the book I learned how to ask.
This quartz is a memory crystal. It showed me a series of images from my life. Most of these were scenes from when I was very young though some were from my teens. It went beyond seeing. I relived them, felt what I felt at the moment it happened.
It was wonderful.
I am grateful for it and am looking forward to what else it, and the others show me.

Gratitude Monday -- Poetic Memory Edition

Photo of Jocelyn II, courtesy Terry Utas

I grew up on a farm and it was pretty damned good. I am grateful for all I got to do and for the great memories of it.

Here's a poem that sorts it out better than a whole whack of description ever  could.

_____

Jocelyn

I am an old woman now.

I sit in the sun

and I remember.

I remember how the sun felt on my face

when I was young.

It feels the same today.

I sat under trees

or in them.

I climbed on the combine

and jumped off into the waiting arms of nothing.

I hung from the swingset by my knees for a

fresher view of the world.

And I threw rocks in the creek.

I rode my bike

and sometimes took it apart for fun.

I slept in freshly ploughed dirt

and swam in mud puddles.

I am an old woman now.

I sit in the sun and remember.

And I smile.

______

Jocelyn is my middle name.  When I was very young we had a jersey cow that I named Jocelyn. Using the name for the poem served as an anchor.
Several years cousin Terry offered her internet circle the chance to name the new ranch calves and I had the honour of naming the above calf Jocelyn.

As for being an old woman, I am not even close. That's straight up poetic licence, that is.

Tomorrow's Yesterday

Today is all we've got.
While we assume we get tomorrow and years afterward all we can be absolutely sure of is right now.
What are you doing with it?
Are you waiting for something to come down the pike to make your life better, happier, more exciting, slower, easier, or just plain different?
Or are you putting the time you've got to good use? Good use is what you make of it, like slowly savouring a small piece of dark chocolate before getting back to doing the stuff that never seems to  get done.
Plans are great. It's important to have something in mind for the future. Plans keep us active and engage and give us solid reasons to get out of bed in the morning.
But we've got right now to play with and it's tangible, here, and ready to use.
Today is tomorrow's yesterday. What do you want to remember about it?