A Little Dose'll Do You: Castoria Memories

Now this is a strange little trip down memory lane.  I was with a dear friend yesterday and we got to talking about different things and for some reason Castoria came up.  I think we might have said something about the bad taste of some medicines our parents used to give us as children.  Castoria came to my mind because for me, I really liked the taste.  In fact, there were times (this is MANY years ago mind you) that I would sneek a spoonful on the sly.  Now there is a bizarre addictiction for you.

My mother and my grandmother both paid close attention to my brother and my, well, bodily functions.  I guess way back then, if you were sluggish or cranky, it was automatically assumed you were, well, you know, constipated.  Sigh.  We seldom were.  I think behind this was a psychological ploy my mom and grandma were using to get us to "get over it".  Back then, you just didn't go with your feelings and let your heart sort it out.  You got up, got out and went on about your business.  And if it took Castoria to do it, well, so be it.

Now Castoria is not castor oil.  It is vegetable base with a sucrose base.  No wonder I liked the taste!  To this day, I still like prunes...in small amounts of course.  I suppose one could get addicted to things like Castoria.  I didn't.  But it is interesting what they marketed for kids in those days.  And I was surprised to find it is still available, along with Carter's Little Liver Pills (for headaches) and Doan's Pills (for lower back pain).

I suppose there are things I don't miss about my childhood.  Taking this "medicine" is one of them.  What I do miss is the reason the maternal side of my nuclear family gave them to me:  concern, caring, and love.  I do miss thier daily doses of those.

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Below is a brief description of Castoria and two commericials I remember them running.  Hilarious now I suppose, but well intentioned then.  Maybe the simple days were better...maybe.

Fletchers Castoria The Childrens laxative liquid Fletchers Castoria the childrens laxative liquid is for the relief of occasional constipation.  Patented in 1868.

"Children cry for Fletcher's."

"...Fletcher's Castoria was manufactured by Charles Henry Fletcher beginning in 1871 and had been patented in 1868. The initial patent for Castoria included "senna, sodium bicarbonate, essence of wintergreen, taraxicum, sugar, and water." It was modified later to include other things like pumpkin, anise, wormseed to improve the taste to be more like root beer - although I'm not so sure it does! "

Epizootical Hiatus Syndrome

I think I am on a brief hiatus.  I think I am not feeling creative.  I think I have nothing to write today.  The mind is tired, the body logy.  I started to write a blog yesterday and it is still in draft format.  I just can't seem to get back to it.

I think it is the weather.  Reports are that it is unseasonably hot in the midwest, southwest and northeast of the US.  Here in So Cal it is cool and cloudy, June gloom in full bloom.  I am very susceptible to the influences of atmospheric pressures and temperature fluctuations.  And I wake with the sun and begin to fade with sunset.  Yet I do like this weather and often think I should be living in the northwest rather than her on the edge of the dessert.

I think I have what my dear auntie would have called the epizootic.  This is defined in Merriam's as a bug or disease moving through animals of a similar species.  My aunt said it was when you are feeling off for no particular reason and that word just fits the feeling.  So I am claiming it to describe my general lack of motivation right now to do what I should/could/would like to do.

There is a lesson here, though.  Obviously I am doing what I wasn't inclined to do today.  Notice?  Yep, I am writing a blog about not writing a blog thereby writing the blog.  I love it when I trick myself like this.  I do know that sometimes when I don't feel like doing something, the best thing is to just start and somehow the motivation follows.  Turn it over to the Higher Power and the great HP will take care of it, or something like that.

So here you go.  There you have it.  All that falderal.  Nothing like giving in to a foolish foolish trifle to find you actually have something to say.  So no, I guess I am not on hiatus afterall.  The epizootics have evaporated.  Now I need to go back a finish yesterday's blog.  Wait until you see what it was about! 

Clap On

Have you ever watched people clap their hands?   I mean like when they are applauding or when they are keeping time to the music?  No two people ever seem to do it the same.  Some folks applaud enthusiastically.  They slap their hands together slightly crossed wildly and joyfully.  Others clap gently, as if they are afraid to be heard.  Some folks clap their hands together lined up as if to pray, but instead bringing them together to make a happy noise. 

Some people stand up and put one arm in the air and wait for it to be met in a "high five" by someone else who shares the moment of exaltation.  Some daintier clappers hold one hand very still and politely tap the fingers of their other hand on the palm making a sound like water falling on water.  And their are some people who sit on their hands and grit their teeth and would never give anyone the satisfaction of knowing they were appreciative of what had just occurred, whether it be a moving piece of music, a stirring drama,  a rousing or inspirational oration or just a moment of sheer joy.

Clapping hands seems to be a universal non-verbal expression of emotion the world over.  And of course their is the old woman who wants the lights to turn off so she has the clap-on, clap-off thing-a-ma-bob on her bedside lamp.  And a clap on the back signals approval or understanding. 

Nothing signals approval more than a rousing round of applause.  And it is totally human just how unique each clapper claps.  So clap your hands if you're happy and you know it, clap your hands if you really wanna show it.  Clap a hand with a friend.  As a simple indicator of the average opinion of an entire group, the louder and longer the noise, the stronger the sign of approval.  And even thought there are times when clapping may not be appropriate, you can still let your heart applaud the moment with a smile or a nod.

What Color is Nothing?

Nothing: something that does not exist.  But if nothing is something that does not exist, does it not exist then?  I mean, if nothing is something then it cannot be nothing.  Can something be nothing when that nothing is something?  But then, is or is not the reverse true?  Can something be nothing as in, "it is nothing to me"?  That of course means it means nothing to me.  But even then, doesn't meaning nothing to me, ultimately mean something?  In order for something to mean nothing, it must mean something: that something, of course, being nothing.

What started me down this convoluted maze, this maddening and never-ending rash of questions being answered by questions and answers being questioned by their own answer,  is some reading I have been doing recently regarding God and the creation of the universe, and of the world and of you and of me.  Being human, I am told, prohibits me from really understand how it all came into being.  Surely, I say, God created the universe!  Something or someone had to have set this all in motion.  That's a given.*  But what, whom?  And, even more intriguing than that is, what was it that existed before?  What was God doing before he inspired life?  Always is a long time, and eternity even longer; yet what, pray tell, came before....and ultimately, what will come after?  God only knows.  Or so we hope.

So here's an experiment: try to think of nothing.  Just try it.

Okay, what were you thinking?  Weren't you thinking about something?  Remember nothing is something and if you are thinking of something you cannot think of nothing.  Kind of like that old elephant in the living room 

Aye!  This all makes my head swim.  I cannot still my mind enough to allow nothing to fill it.  Maybe if someone (or no one) whispered sweet nothings in my ear.  Maybe if I do nothing, say nothing, listen to nothing, nothing will happen, but then as it always does, something happens because, well, you get my drift by now.

I love this quote of Jalal ad-Din Rumi, Persian Poet and Mystic, who lived 1207-1273: “We come spinning out of nothingness, scattering stars like dust”.  It seems so magical.  And isn't that what life really is?  Magical, mystical, miraculous?  Coming out of the nothingness, inspired by God into becoming more than nothing, something, someone.

Maybe Woody Allen summed it up best. "Eternal nothingness is fine if you happen to be dressed for it."  That said, I think I need to change clothes.

*Maybe not so much a given because it has not been proven but there are very few other theories that could possibly explain how this, and by "this"  I mean this existence we all find ourselves in currently.  Something had to have started it...in couldn't have been nothing.

Words

I do hope this goes viral.  It could be epic.  Ultimately, it is too big to fail.  If you think about it, it has a real wow-factor.  Sit back, think about it, and I am sure you will have your own a-ha moment, just as I did.  Take time to discover the back story.  Talk it over with your BFF.  Eventually you will man-up and realize that it cannot be refudiated.  It is as if the mama grizzlies amassed their forces against the American people.  I'm just sayin', if you facebook this or google it, you will find yourself living life to the fullest.

Notice anything about the paragraph above? Lots of admonitions.  Many imperatives.  Seems to have an urgent message, but what is it?  Maybe I am saying that I hope this blogpost goes "viral" and is read around the world.  Maybe I am alluding to something that is so much biggest than all of us, but cannot prove.  Maybe, just maybe, I am having fun...something which I am known to do using words.

Here's the real scoop.  The first paragraph contains the Lake Superior State University 2011 List of Banished Words.  These are words they feel have been overused and, when you hear them, you often cringe.  It is funny, but true.  The sad fact is that, even when someone like Oprah introduces the concept of an "a-ha moment", when it is used and used and over-used again, it becomes cliche, annoying and sadly, annoying.  As the most essential part of effective communication, words must somehow remain fresh, alive and meaningful.  I suppose this is accomplished by speaking from the heart, simply and directly.   I surmise this is easier said than done.

Below is the list of words from LSSU.  If you go to the site, you can look up the lists from years past.  It is interesting to see all the words and terms that are still in circulation today even though they have in many cases become trite and empty.  The bottom line is words are the communicative coins we all use to reach for  understanding and connectivity (another overused word). 

Remember words are things.  They hang around, attach to your surroundings and can both create and hinder your life and loves.   When you speak, speak in truth and honesty with sensitivity and compassion and most importantly, remember sometimes using no words at all can speak volumes.

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Lake Superior State University 2011 List of Banished Words

http://www.lssu.edu/banished/current.php

Viral

Epic

Fail

Wow Factor

A-ha Moment

Back Story

BFF

Man-up

Refudiate

Mama Grizzlies

The American People

I'm Just Sayin'

To Facebook or Google

Live Life to the Fullest

When Your Heart Is Not In It

"The quieter you become, the more you can hear."  ~ Ram Das

I have spent a lot of time this week being quiet.  Not always on purpose, but for most of the week, it has just worked out that way.  Because of this, I came to realize just how much time I spend "doing" and how much time a do not give to "being", you know, doing things just to be doing because I feel I "have to" rather than doing things because they are my calling, enhancing mybeingness.

In the quiet you can, as Ram Das suggests above, hear so much more.  I have been hearing that small voice inside my head asking "Why are you doing this?"  more and more often of late.  So I have stop and ask myself, "Why am I doing this or that?"  Now I not talking about this blog.  It is something I truly enjoy.  (Hope you do too).  But what about all the other stuff I do?  I find myself reflecting on whether my heart is really in it and if not, why am I doing it?

I have learned in the past that some things we do are in order to avoid doing other things we should or are afraid to do.  These are things like going to the fridge and/or cupboard and looking for comfort, or going to Costco when you really don't need anything.  Or maybe it is saying yes to something you would really rather say no to because you are afraid people will stop asking entirely and you will be left behind.  Now there is a lesson in all that which I have to keep learning over and over for some reason.

I know I want to write.  I want to create writings of inspiration and whimsy, wisdom and observation.  I want to do this not only in my writings, but in all my environment and in my life.  I have a friend who I jokingly tell that fun is not something I like.  Of course that is a lie.  How can anyone not like fun?  To me, these creative activities would and are fun!


So I guess it is all a matter of listening to the heart.  Your heart knows the truth of you.  It tells you in many ways whether you are being true to yourself and your true purpose in life.  Figuring out that purpose may not be easy, but, if you are quiet and listen, you can hear it being more clearly defined in your heart of hearts.  When your heart is not in something you do, you know it.  And, believe it or not, those around you at least sense it too.

So if you notice me being quiet, I am not being rude or aloof.  If I am with you, it is because I want to be with you.  The relective pose may be because I am hearing the voice within.  And if I say no to something, do not be offended.  And on the same note, if I say yes to something, know that it is because my heart is in it.  The heart knows and the mind must be stilled to hear what the heart is saying.  And my your heart be in all that you do.

Life Put Your Heart Into It Stained Glass by Mary Engelbreit

Burst, Bust, or Busted? What Did June Do?

(This was supposed to go out June 1st, but somehow I missed sending it!)

What exactly did June do today?  Sure, the sun is shining brightly and the birds are singing sweetly.  Flowers are in bloom and the tomatoes are ripening.  Strawberries hang on the vine.  The weather is finally warming up and, well, it does mean that summer is almost here!  But what exactly did June do?  Did she burst or did she bust?

"June is bustin' out all over

All over the meadow and the hill!

Buds're bustin' outa bushes

And the rompin' river pushes

Ev'ry little wheel that wheels beside the mill!"

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"English Grammar Rule - Bust or Burst?

Today's English Grammar rule looks at BUST and BURST. 

BUST is a sculptured, painted, drawn, or engraved representation of the upper part of the human figure, esp. a portrait sculpture showing only the head and shoulders of the subject. It is also the chest or breast, esp. a woman's bosom. 

BUST is NOT correct usage to describe an item that has shattered or broken, such as a balloon that has burst; nor is it correct usage to describe a person who has been caught doing something illegal or unacceptable.

BURST is the word that should be used to describe an item that shatters or breaks, such as a balloon bursting."  From Grammar Rule at Blogspot

So did June burst upon the scene or did she was she a bust like a bosom or a sculpture on a pedestal?  I must say, being a recovering English major, I do cringe every time I hear the song about June bustin' out, but I also sing along and enjoy the joyous revelry!  Who cannot help but be happy hearing the exuberant voices lifted in song welcoming the coming of the lazy, hazy, crazy days of summer?

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So it really doesn't matter in the great scheme of things whether June burstupon the scene today or busted out all over.  Either occurrence is a welcome sign that summertime has arrived once again.  Yay!  And even though I am not a big fan of the extremely hot 100 degree plus days (and sometimes nights) here in Southern California, summer still has a lot to recommend it.  But I do worry that if June really did burst, was it painful? Or if she is a bust, well, what do we we do?  Sit back and wait for July?  Probably not, because its "June, June, June!  Just because its June, June, June!"