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Welcome to this issue of Simply Celebrate:

* Laugh Afterward
* The Simplest of Celebrations
* Simple Words
* Mailbox
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One of my New Year's resolutions was to send out an issue of this ezine every month in 2007. It is June 15 and this is the very first issue of the year. As I sit here at the Liberty Cafe, savoring my coffee cake muffin and latte, I watch myself feel alternately bad/guilty/awful - and then gleeful and content. I'm happy to have found a space to do something I enjoy doing. I like the feeling of connection this ezine gives me. (And I love baked goods!) But my mind wants to draw me away. I watch what is often called "monkey mind" at work. My friend Tricia calls it "squirrels in the head." You know what I mean? That chitter-chatter in the mind that is usually telling us what we did wrong or how we should be different.

In this case, my mind wants me to feel awful for not meeting my goals, for letting the ezine readers down, for letting myself down, for not finding more time to write, for that matter for not finding more time to dance, oh and while we're at it, shouldn't I be volunteering at my son's school this very minute rather than lounging around eating coffee cake and playing with words?

Did you see that? Within minutes the squirrels in my head have changed their tune from trying to make my feel bad for not doing the ezine - to trying to make me feel bad for doing the ezine. Hmmmm. If I hadn't been writing to you, I may have completely missed this.

I pause. Breathe. Listen to the banter at the counter. A man laughs loudly as he is handed a white mug full of fresh coffee. A women in a blue suit complains about being late for work, so much to do. A young boy starts to hum a song. Two women in the kitchen are baking scones
and I can feel the heat from the ovens. Someone new comes in and the cool of the foggy morning drifts in with her. A father seems irritated with his rambunctious toddler. "Good morning, good morning, good morning," the woman at the coffee counter with the knit black hat says over and over again.

I look at every person's face and can guess that each of them, each of us, has at least one or two squirrels in the head suggesting how we should be better, faster, more, less, wealthier, stronger, different.

The next sentence that comes to my mind is, "We all do the best we can." I can beat myself up for sending one issue of this ezine out when I should have sent six. Or, I can take a swig of coffee and be here now. Write now. Connect now.

I laugh. It occurs to me that maybe I can turn this all to my advantage. And yours. What if we pretend that I deliberately haven't written any issues of this ezine for months solely for the purpose of being a role model for imperfection?! "Look everyone! It's possible to not live up to expectations, screw up, forget, procrastinate ... and then, voila, like magic, just show up and be present and not let the squirrels make us feel bad!" Woohoo!

Someone close to me told me a line from his dreams last week: "And we laughed afterward." He said he's been repeating that phrase over and over, like a mantra. "And we laughed afterward." And the squirrels did their thing and monkey mind tried to pull us into the dark and ... we laughed. I want that. I have that. Right now. Thanks to you.

It's possible to show up, with all my imperfection, and laugh. Now that's simply celebrating.

In the next couple hours, try to listen for any squirrels in your head telling you that you said the wrong thing or did the wrong thing or that you didn't do enough or that you aren't enough. Can you catch 'em? Can you breathe into the scramble and tangle they create? Can you not believe what they say? Just for now, just for this moment. Can you treat yourself to something good? Can you chase the squirrels away and laugh afterward?

Always laugh when you can. It is cheap medicine.
-Lord Byron

If its sanity you are after there is no recipe like laughter.
-Henry Elliot

Will you write to me and tell me your experiences with finding the ability to laugh? I love to hear from you.

Sherry Richert Belul
Simply Celebrate
Sherry@SimplyCelebrate.net
3219 Mission St., #3
San Francisco, CA 94110-5029


Copyright 2007 Sherry Richert Belul, Simply Celebrate

Sherry@SimplyCelebrate.net

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Reprinted from "Simply Celebrate," a free email newsletter by Sherry Richert Belul, Copyright 2007.

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