{"id":1223,"date":"2007-05-08T10:51:45","date_gmt":"2007-05-08T15:51:45","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.dangermond.org\/?p=1223"},"modified":"2007-05-08T10:56:58","modified_gmt":"2007-05-08T15:56:58","slug":"skimmers-as-a-way-of-life","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.dangermond.org\/?p=1223","title":{"rendered":"Skimmers as a way of life"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Skimmers have appeared in the bayou &#8211; gliding along the water in search of fish to eat. R, who works for Wildlife and Fisheries, was sitting out on the bayou last night enjoying a glass of wine. He said they are migratory and he hasn&#8217;t seen them around here before. <\/p>\n<p>I kept coming back to that word &#8211; skimmers &#8211; on my walk this morning &#8211; how in the past week each time I have been confronted with an emotional pothole, I have chosen to skim rather than plunge or get stuck. Observing my own behavior, I wondered if skimming was a good response. <\/p>\n<p>The pothole line-up was pretty extensive, ex-husband, ex-friends, ex-lover, ex this and that, all fraught with innuendoes, guilt, and remorse, and gaping in some instances. <\/p>\n<p>But I was thinking as the Bean and I walked along the lagoon this morning about what I was telling my reporters in Tarrytown when one of them voiced the concern that we have been at this same place before, &#8220;it&#8217;s like we are going around in circles,&#8221; he said, and I said, actually that&#8217;s life, you circle back to the same places, but if you picture life as linear or a flat, one dimensional circle, then we are going back to the same place, but if you view life as a spiral that continually expands and elongates, then each time you find yourself in the same place, you are actually not because you are on a higher rung and as life goes on, the frequency of you&#8217;re going back to the same place actually broadens. <\/p>\n<p>So skimming the potholes doesn&#8217;t necessarily mean I don&#8217;t feel them, or don&#8217;t notice them, but they seem to have become less glaring while at the same time becoming more recognizable to my naked eye. <\/p>\n<p>As I move around the current rotation, I know I&#8217;ve come to a higher plane in my work, and perhaps, in my personal relationships too &#8211; I&#8217;m coming to understand what attracts and repels me &#8211; I notice when I am a shock absorber &#8211; I&#8217;ve learned how to separate another&#8217;s hurt from my own &#8211; and I&#8217;ve also grown to believe that forgiveness is what brings you closer to nirvana &#8211; both of yourself and others. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Skimmers have appeared in the bayou &#8211; gliding along the water in search of fish to eat. R, who works for Wildlife and Fisheries, was sitting out on the bayou last night enjoying a glass of wine. He said they are migratory and he hasn&#8217;t seen them around here before. I kept coming back to that word &#8211; skimmers &#8211; on my walk this morning &#8211; how in the past week each time I have&hellip; <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1223","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-main"],"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p1kHSD-jJ","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.dangermond.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1223","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.dangermond.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.dangermond.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.dangermond.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.dangermond.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1223"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/www.dangermond.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1223\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.dangermond.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1223"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.dangermond.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1223"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.dangermond.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1223"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}