Friday Five: Just 24 Hours...

From RevHRod at RevGalBlogPals...

So here are the five things for you to consider...

If you could dramatically change your physical appearance for 24 hours, what would you do?

Well, since I am a minority, I would want an advantaged position. So, I would become a white male. A really good-looking one between 20 and 30.

I saw a Saturday Night Live skit once with Eddie Murphy where they made him up to look white. It was hilarious!! When he got on the bus and other black people were on it, everything seemed normal. But as soon as they got off, the music came on, the ballons were released and people were laughing!

When he went to the bank, the black loan officer seemed hesitant to give him a loan (I think he had no collateral). But the white loan officer took him into his office and pulled out a bag of money and said, "here, take it!".

When he went to the store, picked something out and reached for his wallet, the cashier said, "you know you don't have to pay for that!" and handed him the item he was going to buy.

I don't suppose that would be my experience during the 24 hours, but I do think it would be quite different than the 24 hours I'm about to have in my own skin.

If you could live in another place for 24 hours where would you go?

Well, I'd want to live in my dream house on the lake. So I'd have to go into the future.

You get to do somebody else's job for a day...

I'd want to sing and dance on Broadway. I'm thinking Mamma Mia.

Spend the day with another person from anywhere in time and space...

Well, I'm torn.

I'd like to spend a day interviewing Jesus--because boy, do I have questions! And I'd like to feel God's love up close with skin on.

OTOH, there are two Brokeback Mountain stars I'd like to spend a day with, one at a time, of course.

I'd like to spend Heath's last day with him so that it wouldn't be his last day, but also so I'd know exactly what the mistake was that killed him (and, of course, I'd try to prevent it).

But I'd also like to spend a day with Jake when he didn't know I was there (see my next answer) and felt completely safe from prying eyes. Let me just say that I don't think he'd be with Reese!

A magical power is yours. Which one would you pick?

Well, I'm getting my cake and eating it, too! Because one of the other questions allows me time travel into the future. What's good about that is that it would relieve my worries about how things turned out.

But for this question, I want to pick invisibility. One of my fave books fron childhood was Harriet the Spy, and there are still lots of things I'd love to know :).

***I thought of 2 bonus questions I'd like to answer***

Bonus question #1: If you could relive any 24-hour period, what would it be?

I think I would pick the day when I first realized I could look into my beloved's eyes and see her heart and her soul. It was when we first fell in love and we stared into each other's eyes a lot that day. It felt absolutely wonderful to be so loved and feel so close!

Bonus question #2: If you could create a 24-hour period in the future, what would happen?

My son's happy, romantic wedding day that he has created and paid for himself because of his wildly successful career :).

Finding Who You Really Are

That's the title of the chapter discussed last night during the webinar with Oprah and Eckhart. One thing that stood out for me was his answer to a question posed by one of the Skypers. She described herself as highly sensitive (I am, also) and asked how to avoid reacting to the "small stuff", as he advises in the book, when sensitive people are bothered by small stuff every day.

He asked for an example, and she mentioned noise and chaos, both of which bother me, too.

What he said was that the most important thing she could do would be to understand that that there are three levels. One level is her awareness of the bothersome stimulus (noise, etc), the second level is her reaction to the bothersome stimulus (irritability was one possible reaction) and the third level is her awareness of that reaction.

He did not deny that she was sensitive, but he did insist that she was more than her reaction to it and that as she became more aware of that distinction, she might find that her reaction would diminish.

Well, that would be great!

He also talked about experiencing spaciousness, which I think is what I do when I stare at the moon or watch the trees blow in the wind.

And I loved what he said about abundance because it was a great reminder to practice gratitude!

Each week, I am surprised by how much I get out of the webinar. Like Oprah said, the more you encounter the material, the more it sinks in and also, you may notice something you hadn't before.