Let Consciously Created Fiction Help You See Rainbows Through The Rain

I admit it. I can be annoyingly cheery. Anyone with a Bassett Hound mix like my Rosey needs to be able to laugh easily. Her latest thing? Opening a cabinet and stealing sweet potatoes. Which she loves to sneak onto the bed or into the backyard when I’m not looking and shred into a million pieces. (Well, at least chewed sweet potato is easier to clean up than that pound of nutritional yeast she tore into and tried to blame on her Goody Two-Shoes Golden Retriever brother.)

Why would she do these things, you ask? Well, for starters, she’s a bona fide drama queen. If she had social media accounts, she’d be posting daily about her lack of treats and not being allowed to roam the neighborhood freely and being forced to share her fainting couch with my other fur children. Of course, my perspective is a bit different. I see her as having a pretty privileged doggy life. She eats a healthy diet and gets to chase squirrels in a fenced yard and sleep on a human’s bed. So why does she enjoy the dramas and “dear me’s” so much? For that matter, why do any of us seem to prefer life’s woes to its woo-hoo’s?

Drama Is Definitely Addicting

For one thing, drama is addicting. Perpetuating drama releases brain chemicals like dopamine and endorphins. So I get why (and how) we can get hooked on something like stealing and shredding forbidden items – or on something like social media. Yet if we consider all the possible ways we could engage with others on social media, why does it seem we prefer the “poor me” posts to “Pollyanna pure positivity” ones?

Have you ever given much thought to what makes you stop and read a post or keep scrolling? Are you honest enough to admit you’re like Rosey and crave the thrill of spewing sweet potato shreds and yeast dust in the hopes of getting “likes” from all those friends you’ve never met?

I’m not judging. We’ve all stolen glances at crash scenes as cops directed us to drive on by. (“Rubbernecking” is real, folks.) Yet we tend to look too long at life’s daily messes – and in so doing, we miss the miracles. And there ARE miracles. But have you noticed our tendency to gawk at the gosh-darn messes instead? I’ve got news for you. We can’t ever see a miracle if we’re marveling at messes. None of us can see rainbows (or solutions) while looking at the world through rain-streaked glasses.

“Yes, but … ”

I hear you. But what? Has any of our staring at (or shouting about) all that we see as evil or unjust ever solved anything or made the world a better place for the long haul? Has any of our bickering and bawling (and yes, even our advocating for worthy causes) really made real changes? Do you think me chasing after Rosey in the yard like a crazy lady and yelling at her to “drop it” has saved any sweet potatoes? If complaining worked, I daresay we’d all be living the dream right now.

Yin And Yang And The Dance Of Life

In Chinese Medicine, we focus on balance and not perfection. Even the yin-yang symbol at the heart of Chinese philosophy teaches that life is a dance. That nature choreographs an ever-changing playlist purely because movement and diversity (AND adversity) are all Divine. And that we can’t possibly even know how to define the Divine unless we’ve danced with the devil. How can we know sunshine unless we know shadows? How can we describe heat in any meaningful way unless we’ve been cold? And how could I ever express how grateful I am for clean floors unless I’d spent so much time sweeping up Rosey remnants?

I’d like you to consider, as the yin-yang symbol suggests, that it’s all good. That life is unfolding perfectly (warts and all) and in Divine timing, and not one second sooner. That it’s all this judging we’re doing that keeps us divided and miserable over circumstances and issues. Instead of accepting that one of this world’s deepest truths is this: Two wings, same bird. But if we don’t stop taking sides over anything and everything, then we will forever be fluttering and flapping about and running around like Chicken Little. We’ll be yelling that the sky is falling instead of soaring into the wild blue yonder.

How To Stay Hopeful While Trudging Through Hell

In “Atlantis Splitting”, the “Atlantis Writhing” characters are back, and boy, are they struggling with feeling hopeful in the midst of hellish circumstances. Though this sequel will take you through the darkest night of the soul, A2 has been consciously created to serve as a reminder to look for the miracles and not the messes. Let this book show you how hope – and help – can come from the most unexpected places (and faces). I believe if enough of us can practice kindness and compassion, we can begin to understand truly how there’d be no rainbows without rain. And no precious pooch cuddles without doggy dramas.