“Ease on down, ease on down the road. Come on, ease on down, ease on down the road. Don’t you carry nothing that might be a load. Come on, ease on down, ease on down the road.” From “The Wiz”

A friend of mine gave me three “wishes” for my recent birthday.   The first was “May I be healthy.”   I know this is something I wish for not only myself but for all of my family and friends.    It’s something that takes diligence and hard work and I often let it slide. It’s something that to a large degree, by making the right decisions, I can control.

This is a picture I took from the internet: it is not me.

The second one is “May I be happy.”  Again, this is something I wish not only for myself but for my husband and especially for my children, and my extended family and friends.   Happiness is less easy to control.   It’s easy to slide into a pity party or to let work and life rain on your parade.

Rain on a parade

The third one is “May I live in the world with ease.”   For some people I know this is an “easy” objective (see where I went there).  Many, from an external point of view, seem to go through life and not hit many obstacles.  Kind of easy breezy cover-girl as the saying goes. I doubt that anyone’s life on close examination is really a breeze, but some people handle it better so that it appears that way.  I stress over everything.  I wish I did not. It’s not so much the physical nature of living; I find I am much physically stronger than I give myself credit for, in spite of some “old age/overweight” issues.   For me, the emotional range of living life sometimes, often times, makes easing into a situation just plain hard.  Often I feel that it is just exhausting being in my own head.  Kermit the Frog sang about it.

It ain’t easy being green
Having to spend each day the color of the leaves
When I think, I think it would be nicer being red
Or yellow or gold

You see, it ain’t easy being green
It seems to blend in with so many other ordinary things
And then, sometimes, sometimes people pass over you
Because you’re not standing out like sparkles on the water
Or like the stars in the sky

But did you know that green is the color of Spring
And green can be big like an ocean
And important like a mountain
And cool and friendly-like
Or tall and skinny like a tree
And me

But when green is all there is to be
It kind of makes you wonder why
Why wonder, wonder why?
Hey, I’m green and I think it’ll do fine
‘Cause green is just what I wanna be
‘Cause green is beautiful, baby
Right on green
And anyway, money’s green

Kermit

I like that Kermit ends on a positive note.  Not about money being green but when he sings “Hey, I’m green and I think it’ll do fine.”  That gives me hope in my journey towards self-acceptance.  My husband says that I judge myself harshest of anyone.  I see the good and beautiful and impressive qualities in my husband, my children and my daughter-in-law and others.. But I lack the ability to see the good and beautiful and impressive in myself.  Most days and often many nights my brain can’t seem to shut down from hyper-awareness.  I know I need to take a deep breath and slow it down.  Make a list.  Prioritize.  Step back.  We all should be “easy like Sunday morning” as Lionel Ritchie sings in the Commodores hit song.   If only it were that easy.

My fear concern terror panic dread trepidation is that it is simpler than I make it out to be to live in the world with ease.  It’s a choice most times I make how to react to what’s going on and what to let in that triggers my anxiety.  If I want the ones I love to live in the world with ease then I can make it my journey to do the same.   To quote Star Wars:

Yoda “Try not. Do… or do not. There is no try.”

Luke replies – “I don’t, I don’t believe it.”

Yoda replies “that is why you fail.”

Try not. Do… or do not. There is no try.

My gift to you is that you too can be happy, be healthy and live in the world with ease.  I know I want to.

“Take It easy, take it easy
Don’t let the sound of your own wheels
drive you crazy
Lighten up while you still can
don’t even try to understand
Just find a place to make your stand
and take it easy”

The Eagles,  “Take it Easy”