the common rat

the past few months i've been caught in seclusion. caught really isn't the word... more like resting in seclusion. the winter has been rough, but the spring is finally starting to push it's way through. everyone is a little happier, a little more at ease, and a little more motivated. this past weekend i got the chance to sit and re-map my life. essentially lots of words and images on a piece of paper that includes everything i want to be, everything i am, and everything i must be. it's a ritual i have that every time i feel useless & unmotivated i re-write what i want in my life - and then i begin my journey back to my path.

it's so easy to slip off the path and wander here or there for a little while - but that wandering usually leaves you feeling lost and a sense of urgency to go back to the path that's specifically yours.

i received a lovely note in the mail from jacquie today (which she handcrafted of course). which falls under "sending more mail" as well as trying to prioritize the important people in your life. besides, without notes and gifts and tidbits of encouragement it's difficult to stay on your path, don't you think?

i also decided that i need to read more - "waste less time/be more productive"- so i am re-reading one of my favorites (which initialized my fascination with rats): RATS by Robert Sullivan. 

it also got me thinking about putting a new image up for my blog - something along these lines:

thoughts on this, as a "tagline" or header for the blog?

because really, we're all just creatures... and they are an uncanny parallel to our own species.

"Rats have conquered every continent that humans have conquered, mostly with the humans' aid, and the not-so-epic-seeming story of rats is close to one version of the epic story of man: when they arrive as immigrants to a new found land, rats proceed to push out the creatures that precede them, to multiply to such an extent as to stretch resources to the limit, to consume their way towards famine - a point at which they decline, until, once again, they are forced to fight, wander or die. Rats live in man's parallel universe, surviving on the effluvia of human society: they eat our garbage" - RATS, Robert Sullivan

- k