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Friday, January 06, 2006

Christmas, Disney and Toxicity

My take on Ali’s Christmas Card Layout …this was SO inspiring and SO liberating…I don’t have to keep EVERY card I receive and Christmas IS over, so every card got a piece of the layout to call its very own…the right page is random pics from our first holiday here…There were not enough of any once event to make a page of their own, so I carried the idea of punching out the moments for that side too….very cool to do a picture representation of the Holidays…far less pressure and I didn’t have to find something uplifting to journal about.

Christmas 2005 copy

I also had to do a layout for a circle journal with a Disney theme…I’m SO NOT a Disney person…I can totally take it or leave it…so, after wracking my brain for hours and hours, I thought I’d focus on my favorite Disney movies. And I found out that I AM a Disney person in a way – I love the movies!

Disney Circle Journal copy

Onward…

THIS has been in my head for a couple of days…

Where I can run just as fast as I can
To the middle of nowhere
To the middle of my frustrated fears
And I swear you're just like a pill
Instead of making me better
You keep making me ill

And I have been meditating on things that are TOXIC in my life…


During my morning reading, I read THIS in Holly Wagner’s God Chicks :

“We champion chicks should watch what is going into us…and I’m not just talking about food. I’m talking about what we ingest, not just through our mouths, but also through our eyes and our ears. We need to make sure that we are reading books that will help us along the journey. I love movies, but I don’t just see every one out there. I try to be a bit careful with what I allow in. … I love all kinds of music…but I’m careful about what I listen to. I love spending time with people, but I’m careful that I don’t surround myself with gossip. What I allow in will affect me, so I am as careful as I can be. Guard yourself against the junk out there that would hinder you from running your race with excellence!”

And what comes to me is how toxic our world is…

There are toxic movies that cause you to sacrifice your morals or your beliefs or to question what you have always known to be true.

There are toxic books that “enlighten” us to do, say, feel and be things that are poisonous to us.

There is toxic music full of hate and prejudice and overtly sexual imagery.

There are toxic people who are carrying tons of baggage and hatred who don’t want you to be happy because they cannot be happy.

Our food is over-processed and full of chemicals.

Our soil no longer provides full nutrients because it has been over-worked.

And in this wash of toxicity are people trying to find happiness and wholeness and health and peace.

I am profoundly struck by how diligent we need to be in policing the boundaries of our beings. It’s a strange dichotomy – we need to be open, but we need to be closed. We need to be accepting, but we need to be judicious. We should be willing to receive, but we should be selective about what we actually take in.

I am recalled to Paul’s assertion in 1 Corinthians 10:23 that “All things are lawful for me, but not all things are profitable.”

I am allowed to ingest anything I darn well please….but it is not for my profit to do so.

I had asserted some time ago to detoxify my life…in one very important sense, I have done just that…I’m all the way across the country from many of the things that were toxic to me. Funny thing about relocation – Where ever you go, there you are. Its still me making choices about what I do and do not choose to internalize from the influences around me.

Strong medicine for where I am at right now in life. There are people I love in my life…that I love very much. But perhaps they are in my life so that I can influence them to be less poisonous, rather than allowing them to make my life more toxic.

Here is to good decisions and less toxic lives – choose judiciously, because garbage in will always produce garbage out.

I have no intention of producing garbage…therefore I choose not to accept the garbage offered to me.

How do you choose?


Peace, everyone!

3 comments:

amazing grace said...

i love your christmas card layout...that was a great idea! love the square punch!

Anonymous said...

love the Christmas card layout - and I'm going to have to print your toxic thoughts (that sounds weird). So much good stuff in there, it may have to go over my desk. It's difficult to even wrap your head around how many areas of our lives can be so threatening.

Unknown said...

I scraplifted Ali's idea for the Christmas Cards as well! I haven't finished mine yet, though!