Choosing Our Better Selves

Finding Our Better Selves

Last night Sean Penn told a group of protestors to find their better selves.

I love that suggestion. So often in life we’re given opportunities to take offense, to hate, to hold grudges, to blame, to be childish, to act like the hurt party, and generally to stoop to that portion of ourselves which is our lowest level. How hard it can be to take that fork in the road which leads to our higher selves! It often requires self-discipline or restraint. It asks that we work harder than we want to. Or that we brush off a small hurt and offer forgiveness—even when we haven’t been apologized to. Or that we refuse to glory in the attention we might receive for being victims. Choosing to be our better selves might also mean extending a conciliatory hand even though we feel we’ve been wronged. Or refusing to side up in a quarrel so we can “punish” someone we find disagreeable.

I’m facing a couple of personal turning points. The easy way beckons. I turned to a friend for a “reality check.” She’s a wise counselor. She pointed out the ways my thinking was erroneous. She pointed out where my expectations were out of whack. But she also pointed out the choices I had before me. She did it all without negativity, with a neutrality which didn’t add to my drama, but instead illuminated the pathways.

My New Year’s Resolution word was “organization.” I chose it thinking about my physical world. But truly, at age 55, maybe I’ve missed the point. Maybe organization starts with my emotional self. A large part of being organized is deciding what you want to keep and what you want to toss. I want to toss out part of my childish self, my less desirable qualities. I want to be my better self. It will probably mean some missteps…but I’m on my way.

PS Check out my personal blog for some cool scrapbook pages featuring doodling. Maybe I can transfer my "disorganization" to paper with good result! We'll see. Go to JoannaSlan.blogspot.com

A Big "Shout Out" to Cat Lovers!

"What should I put on my website?"

That's a common enough question. Cathy Clamp polled more than forty thousand prospective readers for answers. The respondents included readers of romance, science fiction, fantasty, mystery, horror, literary works, non-fiction, biographies/memoirs and even...gulp, Westerns.

Amazingly, 17% said they'd liked to see photos for the authors' cats. As Cathy added, parenthetically, "Weird, huh?"

Maybe not.

We've all noticed how this site gets a lot of comments when we write about our dogs. Maybe we've been, uh, barking up the wrong tree. It's furry, it's four-legs and a tail, but...we've missed the mark.

With those readers in mind, I dug through my many, many boxes of unscrapbooked photos to unearth pictures of my two favorite cats: Stanley and Seymore Kitty.

Seymore's mother was a Persian, and I still think that this little grey-striped guy with his adorable pink nose and white blaze is the most beautiful cat I've ever seen. He single-handedly--uh, single-pawedly--turned me into a major cat lover. I chose him from a litter of pure white cats because...I thought him lovely. He was a sweetheart, too.

Stanley's real name was Stanley Cup. He was dropped off at the pet shop where I worked. Unwanted. Well, I fell for him. He has the distinction of being the smartest cat I ever owned. So smart, in fact, that he taught himself to urinate in the toilet. One night my mom got up, stumbled into the bathroom, pulled down her panties and started to sit--only to discover a furry feeling, um, down below. It was Stanley. And he was already busy. Yep, she thought she was dreaming, but it happened again and again.

Both cats have since gone to kitty-heaven. I have discovered I'm major league allergic to cats, which is a real shame because I absolutely love them.

Apparently I'm not alone.