Tiddlywinks.
Tiddlywinks.
Tiddlywinks.
It’s just kind of a fun word to say. I was trying to come up with a clever title for my Tuesday blog and FB live and this showed up. It’s whimsical and in my memory, very colorful and happy. This is much needed in our world right now. Please understand I am not making light of our conditions or situations, I just find it much easier and more hopeful to navigate the yuck with a bit of levity.
So, here we are. Week one of Tuesday Tiddlywinks. Here we will question big and little questions of life, explore new ways of being, and discover lots of mistakes along the way to help us to be just 1% better tomorrow than we are today.
I had a set of Tiddlywinks when I was a kid. I think I discovered them in my stocking Christmas morning when I was eight. They came in a mushroom, white base with a polka-dotted red top that unscrewed to reveal the colorful disks. I had no idea the game of Tiddlywinks was as widespread as the 1880s Victorian Era as a parlor game and Cambridge University as a competitive game in the 1950s. And, I am quite certain, I didn’t read the game rules or consider the language of Tiddlywinks! More likely, I used the mushroom as a chair for my Barbie dolls.
So, the research began. I love the Tiddlywinks lexicon. I kinda feel I’m in a Harry Potter world for as much sense as the words make. (tiddlywinks.com)
Enjoy.
Blitz/ Bomb/ Boondock/ Bristol/ Carnovsky/ Penhaligon/ Cracker/ Crud/ Good shot/ Gromp/ Lunch/ Scrunge/ Squidger/ Squop/ Sub/ Tiddlies
Who knew?
The object of the game is to get all of your winks in the center pot. Much like rolling dice, the winks are scattered on the table surface and the players take turns flipping a wink toward the pot. The first one with all their winks in the pot wins the game. But there is a sinister aspect to the game. If you cover your opponent’s wink, you keep them from flipping it until you’ve uncovered it. Okay, maybe not sinister, just strategic.
Isn’t life right now a little like playing Tiddlywinks?
We’ve been shaken out onto the table and we still have goals and desires we are working toward. Sometimes we make it into the center, sometimes overshoot it the center and we land on the floor. But always, we pick ourselves up and keep trying. Sometimes it feels as if the weight of the world is so profound it covers us and we feel we can’t move. It is then that we can seek the help of others. Not to commiserate (well, maybe a bit cuz sometimes It does help to share our struggles and fears, knowing we are not alone/crazy) but to remind each other that there is goodness in the world and we are resilient and strong and fragile and hurting. We struggle because we are compassionate and witness the injustice in the world. And I, quite often, feel helpless and powerless. We find solace when we connect with another, when we go within, and remember, “This too shall pass,” recognizing the path may not be easy and it may take time.
But hang in there.
Here’s a practice for you this week to work on mindfulness for resiliency in the face of all that is going on.
Allow yourself a moment or two of quiet, focus on your breath.
First, exhale completely, allowing your internal space to become empty, open, and prepared to be filled. Hold the emptiness for a moment.
Inhale, slowly, deeply, allowing the breath to fill your entire abdomen. Hold for a moment.
Repeat as many times as necessary to allow your body, mind, and spirit to simply BE. BE in this moment, BE in this time.
When ready, ask yourself: What do I need to know in this moment?
In quiet expectancy, simply wait. Take a few breaths. Your answer may come in this moment or it may reveal later, as a thought, a feeling, a color or sensation. It may arrive while you are brushing your teeth or in the produce area of the grocery store. Simply be aware and open to the answer.
Then ask yourself: What is mine to do?
Again, in quiet expectancy, simply wait. You will know when you know.
The third step is to take action. DO something mindfully according to what you now know. It may look like sitting longer in quiet contemplation, it may be taking tangible action in the world, it may look like making a phone call or offering an apology. You will know what action to take.
Doing this simple mindful practice allows you to navigate your world with a bit more mindfulness and awareness of the impact you have in this life.
Be well, Dear One. Love you more.