Bounty

Image by Emily Van Nort

Today's Bingo: Bounty. The land of milk and honey. Endless fields of grain. A tree, ready to pop with Spring buds. Gifts that keep giving. Love that keeps expanding. The endless pleasure in your favorite music, art, or idea that inspires you without asking anything in return. Winter is nature's way of reminding us that even in death, something new and sweet is coming.

Cheese

Today's Bingo: Cheese. You are in Paris in an old converted Milk shop with painted ceilings. You can eat in or take out. There are a few little cafe tables scattered among the bottles of wine and tins and jars of gastronomie that would have made Epicurus weep. They have a few things off the menu. The cheese is from Italy. It only comes on Tuesday, and is gone by Wednesday evening. You sit at a high stool, sip wine, and dig your bread into the creamy, nutty gift. Life is always this good.

Enlightenment

Today's Bingo: Enlightenment. The moment of clarity. A watershed. The place where you can always go and be completely yourself. Freedom. Realizing nothing is as important as we think it is and the smallest things can be mustard seeds. An old Zen Master in flowing orange robes eating ice cream on a bench in Central Park.

Wrinkle

Today's Bingo: Wrinkle. In time. In the mirror. In the plan. Laugh lines. Smile lines. In the desert sand from wind and baking sun. An unexpected comment overheard. "Deary," the old Grandma said, "You're not as young, but you're even more beautiful."

Drive

Today's Bingo: Drive. Your car. The golf ball. Your hopes. The part of you, that invisible organ somewhere between your heart and spleen that believes you can do exceptional things. You have power in you--to be, to do, to create, to complete--that only takes activation. To get in touch with drive, ask yourself: What do I love about right now? Experience it, then repeat (and if you love absolutely nothing about your life right now, that's drive talking too).

Coffee

Today's Bingo: Coffee. Black. Bitter. The stuff cowboys ate with a spoon. Comfort. Triple foam soy cinnamon latte. A new day. The smell you woke up to as a child. A happy addiction. The one you love brings you a cup in bed. Simple pleasure. Espresso at that little cafe. They served it with a lemon twist and rock candy on a stick. Taste it, and let everything else melt away.

Gold

Today's Bingo: Gold. Fields of grain. Mama's favorite earrings. Fort Knox. Honey. The light streaming across the room. The idea, which hits without warning, that you bury like treasure until it's time. Certain delicious oat sodas. The knowledge that nothing is more important than feeling free.

Exit

Today's Bingo: Exit. Stay calm. Everyone please stay calm. Please exit the building. Follow the signs to safety. Wait. There are no signs. Yes, there are: your breathing, your thoughts, and how you spend your days. Breathe deep, notice your mind's flow without obsessing, and be aware that what you do next, at least how you spend the next moment--you have choices; even when you feel like you don't.

Feel

Today's Bingo: Feel. Pain. Excitement. Frustration. Wake up and want to go back to bed, or leap into today like a kid on her birthday. Be exactly where you are and notice your emotions like a roller coaster. Do you like the ride? The problem with emotion is not where they go, but what the cycling causes next. You are not your feelings. You are the host of their pleasure cruise, and with a few deep breaths or a little time reflecting why the feelings are troubling you, you can drop them off at the next port.

Dig

Today's Bingo: Dig. You have treasure. Like a child playing in the sand. Find the resources you didn't know you had by asking the hard question, and waiting for the answer; living through the pain and doing whatever you need to do to stay whole; by watching yourself in the theatre of your mind, playing in the sand, and discovering: to play, to be playful, is the gold.

Art

Today's Bingo: Art. Make coffee like Picasso. Make love like Leonardo (no, not DeCaprio silly, the guy who painted Mona). Make money like Monet. Even work is art. Imagine Picasso standing over the coffee press watching the oil rise and new schools of beauty are born. Nothing you do has to be ugly, and everything that has you in it is priceless.

Serve

Today's Bingo: Serve. Your favorite waiter. Mama bringing you chicken soup for a cold. The family around the dining room table, and the food could feed the neighborhood. You offer to clean up even though it will take hours. You talk with the man on the street; you listen to his story--twice. You have love to give and you're looking for vessels to fill.

Citrus

Today's Bingo: Citrus. Fresh squeezed orange juice. A glass, some lemon, sugar, and ice, shaken together for the porch and an afternoon with summer breezes. By special request from our good friend lime: Key Lime Pie! The sweet and sour magic, the bright color bingo, and the change your whole day with a glass or a slice power of a simple piece of fruit.

Refresh

Today's Bingo: Refresh: Dive into cool water. Do a little dance. Drink too much wine--wait that's Friday's bingo (this sneak peak into Friday's Bingo provided by wine). Find the person you love most and hug them like you haven't seen them in years. Run. Eat seasonal fruits (what can you do with citrus and beets?). Or just sit. Sit until you know how good you are.

Focus

Today's Bingo: Focus. On the good stuff. On breathing deep. As a child, you could play in the sand for hours. You would look at the grains of tiny rock on your hands and get so close you could see they were different shapes. Your brain is like a camera. See only what matters. Ignore the crazies (unless the crazy is your spouse or child--ignoring will only make it worse). Play in the sand.

Rest

Today's Bingo: Rest. Pause. Breathe. Just for a moment, like reading at the beach, a drink with a friend, a weekend away. Sleep in. Sleep late. For once, sleep. Few things are as important as we think they are, and you and your peace is always the most important thing.

Mistakes

Today's Bingo: Mistakes. Saying the wrong thing. Spilling the milk. The Pilgrims not bringing enough beer on the Mayflower and having to land in Massachusetts right before winter when they should have been warm in Virginia. Running out of beer. Stepping on the dog, then falling down and landing on the dog, then throwing your back out getting up and falling back on the floor. But what happens next? The dog gives you a big kiss.

Sparkle

Today's Bingo: Sparkle. Sun off snow. Sun off the water. The ring on your finger. The glint in your eye. The gold in the mine. The treasure in the field. The child finds a penny and thinks she found heaven. She did. Today, have you?

Stretch

Today's Bingo: Stretch. Even if it's difficult. You can: dream big, hope more, rest more, give more (wait, how can I rest and give more?) because you worry less, fear less, and only waste time on purpose. You're going to be who you are today, and as that emotional state plays out, the thing you really want to do is waiting, like chocolate for your tummy, the roads for your running shoes, and friends for a conversation about what you really want to talk about.

Toes

Today's Bingo: Toes. The difference between winning and losing can be one toe. If it's on the line, the perfect catch doesn't count, like the good idea after the company has closed, or the "I'm sorry" after too much time may not soothe. Every part of you is precious; everything you do is important. And little toes get lonely when they're not appreciated.