Coach Aruni

Life~Works Mindfulness Coaching

Email Coach Aruni

Pay Online

  • Home
  • Coaching
    • Mindfulness Coaching
    • Spiritual Mentoring
    • Experiential Facilitation
  • Opportunities for Study
  • Aruni’s Blog
  • Bookshop
    • Not Over Yet
    • Recovering My Voice
    • Already Home
    • Lifeworks (CD)
  • Videos
  • About Coach Aruni

Olley, Olley, Oxen-Free…

12/19/2021 by Aruni

Olley, Olley, Oxen-Free…

This blog post is also available on my Facebook page to make sharing it with friends and family easy for you to do.

What games did you play as a kid?

Most of the time 
I played alone.

I rode my bike through 
Nay Aug Park 
Every day after school
Pretending that I was 
A Canadian Royal Mountie,
On my trusty horse,
Out to save 
The damsel 
In distress.

With delight 
along 
with
Breathless shame,
I galloped.

Another person’s
Salvation
Rested
With 
Me.

(Oops, 
A pattern
Emerges.)

I played Heidi in the attic
With accouterments–
Singles of Swiss cheese
And tiny 
waxed paper cups
Of milk
Supported
The
Fantasy.

Best of all,
I pretended,
No,
I knew— 
I was a cowboy,
Often and always,
No matter where I was,
I was
On
The
Range.

This full fantasy included
Daisy air rifle 
Aimed at Evil
Bad guys,
Crouched
On my lawn,
Facing the dangerous world.

With other kids?
Did I play?

I played at Camp.
OH CAMP
MY CAMP
Camp Archbald,
That’s where 
The universe
Allowed me
To be me.

I didn’t hang with kids in
The neighborhood…

Were there
Kids
In
The 
Neighborhood?

Gladys was my monogamous friend.
Every Saturday afternoon
We went to the movies.
Forever and always

First to the Char Mount, 
A restaurant for old women
With purple hair.
Why we went there?
Foreshadowing things 
To come?

Hot roast beef.
Mashed potatoes.
Dollop of gravy.

My
Consistent,
Weekly
Order.

(Because they were safe words to say, with no challenging initial consonants to trigger my stutter?)

Then the movie!
So many movies.
Every movie.

I
Love
Movies.

Food and a movie.
Sounds good to me.

  • A restaurant.
  • Food.
  • A Movie.
  • Camp.
  • Fantasy.

My childhood
Delights.

Each arena
Offered me freedom.

In each,
I
Was
Free.

Free
To 
Be 
Me.

~~~
As an adult, 
What games have I played?

What games 
Do you play
As an 
Adult?

My go-to-MO is mostly:
I GOT THIS…I GOT THIS…I’LL DO THIS…I CAN DO THIS.

Underneath that 
Of course,
Lives loudly,

NOW, DO YOU LOVE ME?    NOW, DO YOU LOVE ME?   NOW?  LOVE ME NOW?

Yes,
That familiar
Tapdancing
Of a
Busy
And
Exhausted
Co-dependent.

Underneath that
Of course
Lives
The heartbreak,
The aloneness,
Of 
My
Child.
What about you?
What did you play as a kid?
What games do you play as an adult?

~~~
Here is a classic story from All I Really Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten, by Robert Fulghum   It’s an imperfect recording, but hell.  I’m reversing a pattern by offering it, as it!!

Listen Here

~~~
A leap of transition, nevertheless, a perfect blast-from-the-past, so touching, here is Holly Near.  Do you remember her?  For fifty years her activism, woven into song, song woven into concert, each and every one inspiring and motivating, Holly lives as a powerful beacon of integrity and truth.  Here she is, singing her song, Lift Me Up to the Light of Change:

 

~~~
Holly tells us:

“I do not separate my music from my heart, 
nor do I separate my ideas from my daily life. 
I open myself up to learning as much as I can 
about humanity and this mysterious life experience,
 but I do not relate to political work as a series of ’causes.’ 
Moment by moment, I integrate what I learn into my personal life, 
personalizing my politics. 
It is from this personal place that I write my songs.”

~~~
Speaking of legends, from Woodstock, 1969, here is Richie Havens.  Let’s fall back into this song, as an ending to today’s most rambling blog, hiding, getting found, integrity of self, and freedom!

~~~
Friends,
Be well, 
Be safe.
Carry on.

As the light 
Continues 
To fade,
For just 
This last
Tiny 
Week,

Solstice
Hovers.

The light
Will
Return.

The light
Is
Returning

Blessings, 
Aruni

SHARE THIS:

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • LinkedIn
  • Pinterest

Filed Under: Uncategorized

Have a question for me? Please click on the image to email me.

Sign up to Aruni’s Inspiring Weekly Newsletters

Latest Entries From Aruni’s Blog

  • We Human Forgetters 03/26/2023
  • My Newest Prayer Practice 03/19/2023
  • What are We Waiting For? 03/12/2023
  • Snowy Early Evening Thoughts 03/05/2023
  • This is about a Bird 02/26/2023

Sign up for Aruni’s Inspiring Weekly Newsletters

Books

  • Not Over Yet: Simple Strategies to Struggle Less and Savor More
  • Recovering My Voice: A Memoir of Chaos, Spirituality, and Hope
  • Already Home: Stories of a Seeker
  • Life~Works: Meditations for Mindful Living CD

Search

Website Copyright © 2023 · Coach Aruni

Copyright © 2023 · Enterprise Pro on Genesis Framework · WordPress · Log in