My brother suggested this song to relate to my healing heart.  "Please help me mend my broken heart and let me live again." 

Can't go wrong with Al Green, can you? Though I confess I almost used the Go-Go's "We Got the Beat" today instead. Lots of fun memories of that song! 

Yesterday, while my heart did hold it's rhythm, I was very sore, tired and weak. My heart literally hurt. I suppose it's natural that when you shoot it with voltage of electricity it would have a residual pain.

Thankfully, it does feel like it's healing. 

With a lot of rest and taking it easy, the soreness is starting to go away. 

And hope is emerging. 

From the movie "Notting Hill"

While we're on the topic of Notting Hill, here's one of the most genius scenes demonstrating the passage of time I've ever seen in a film. (More on the passage of time in tomorrow's post).  

A lot of people are asking me how I'm doing today after the heart "shocking" procedure I had yesterday. 

The simple answer is "so far so good." My heart is beating at a normal, even rhythm, which is wonderful. But it's also very sore and tired. 

As the "expert" on things happening for a reason, I can't help but explore the "why" I'm going through this. And I think I have two responses (at least for now).  

The first is to ponder = why the "heartbreak?" I do believe that figurative phrases often have a literal parallel. 

Before I tackle that one, here's the second explanation. One of the nurses yesterday told me that the good news is that this is happening now. That the altitude is a blessing. Yes, it exacerbated the problem, but the escalation allows them to diagnose and fix a problem that could have had much worse repercussions if it had been a slower "build." 

Hmmm… The proverbial blessing in disguise? A silver lining? I'll take that.

Which makes the first "reason" more interesting. Maybe it's not the broken heart that's happening now, but instead the healing of the broken heart from the past. 

I like the sound of that. Or, I should say the "rhythm."  

The truth is, only time will tell. I'll keep you "posted."  

I had my heart procedure today. This morning. So far, so good. Though I'm not counting any chickens. 

So let's say I'm waiting "with bated breath." 

As a fan of etymology, I looked up the source of the phrase. I may not be as knowledgeable about Shakespeare as I should be, but I did expect it came from him. 

The earliest known citation of the phrase is from Shakespeare's Merchant of Venice, 1596:

What should I say to you? Should I not say
'Hath a dog money? is it possible
A cur can lend three thousand ducats?' Or
Shall I bend low and in a bondman's key,
With bated breath and whispering humbleness, Say this;
'Fair sir, you spit on me on Wednesday last;
You spurn'd me such a day; another time
You call'd me dog; and for these courtesies
I'll lend you thus much moneys'?

And since I like adding visual quotes – I found this quote from a movie I found especially compelling from the movie "Lucy."

One of the things I love about life in Aspen the most is that I can walk home at night by myself and feel perfectly safe. No one will attack me. 

Correction: No person will attack me. 

But the other night I did encounter the most beautiful fox. I struggled to get my camera out in time to take a photo, but I wasn't fast enough. The best I could do was find a photo online that matched what I saw. 

Beautiful. Absolutely beautiful. 

And what makes it especially unique is not just that I saw a fox, but that I was outside in the dark by myself and saw a fox. Not exactly something I would have experienced before moving here…

And now for some completely silly (un)related songs… 

I know, I know, I know. Colds are a virus. You don't "catch" a cold by being outside in bad weather, right? 

Of course. But what the "experts" who scoff at the mothers saying, "Stay warm! You don't want to catch a cold!" don't know is that the mothers are right, too. 

While you can't catch a cold from the weather, the weather DOES influence whether your immune system is strong enough to fight the cold. 

So why all this virus/weather philosophy today?  I felt my first virus of the season yesterday. I know, most people don't look at it that way, but I do. Why? Because while you can't stop yourself from catching a virus, you CAN prevent yourself from getting sick from it.  

What truly blows my mind is the number of people who don't follow this advice. Yes, the taste is disagreeable, to say the least. But what's 4 seconds of disagreeable vs. days of misery?  Hmmm?  

I'll never understand people.

Well we got our first snow of the season yesterday! Thanks, Judy! This photo was taken by a friend of mine. It's just a light dusting on the top, but what excites me – and most of the residents of Aspen – is the way it starts defining the ski runs, announcing the impending ski season. 

Many economies are dependent on things out of their obntrol, like weather or in beach areas, sharks. While Aspen has done a marvelous job of organizing events beyond the ski season, it is still an important part of the economy. 

And it's lovely. 

I've been cautioned that I'll get tired of the snow. As long as I can ski, I feel pretty confident that I'll endure. And the drier climate and warm sun definitely helps. 

Stay tuned!

Busy day yesterday at the Aspen Film Festival. The day started with a fascinating discussion on autobiographical films led by filmmaker Jennifer Fox, followed by several films. I've never seen so many movies in one day!

After hearing Jennifer talk about the film she's working on, I got inspired to write the lyrics to a song. And when I say inspired I mean waking up at 4 am and dictating the entire song. Only once it was "finished" could I get back to sleep.

For me, creativity is a portal to another dimension. A temporal opening in time and place. If it's not captured during that moment between worlds, it can be lost forever. Like a radio signal testing a new frequency for your eyes only. 

Will the song "see the light of day" in the real world? Who knows. I'm just glad I answered the knock at the door. 

If you want to follow me, here's the schedule for this week: 

https://aspenfilm.org/filmfest-2016-glance/

This song was one of several featured in a film I saw yesterday called, "Seven Songs for a Long Life."

This photo was taken last night – from the window of the Wheeler Opera House at the Aspen Film Festival.

A double-rainbow. 

I'm pretty sure I was the first to notice it, but once I did, everyone flocked to the window to see the incredible spectacle. 

 I looked up the sybolism of a double-rainbow – and this blew my mind even more:

 A double rainbow means serendipitous magic is on the way, the path of personal magic is opening …

Serendipity. The subject of my post yesterday.  Cue Twilight Zone theme song!

Here's another source:  

A double rainbow is considered a symbol of transformation and is a sign of good fortune. The first arc represents the material world, and the second arc signifies the spiritual realm.

Double-wow. 

Considering that I'm working on a screenplay about "the other side" this is especially mind-blowing. 

Serendipity. A happy accident. Good fortune. 

If you know me, you'll know that I like to take a much "higher" view of something others might take at face value. So my question is – what is the force behind Serendipity? 

I don't believe in randomness. I think saying something is random is just another way of saying you haven't figured out why something happened. 

Of course there's Littlewood's Law. Don't know that one? Littlewood's law states that a person can expect to experience an event with odds of one in a million (defined by the law as a "miracle") at the rate of about one per month. So to Littlewood, miracles are just a matter of statistics and timing. 

While I'm a big fan of Littlewood's Law in how it makes us aware of the miracles that are happening all the time, I don't exactly think it's just mathematics. 

So why am I writing about Synchronicity today?

When I first moved here – I mean within a few days – I entered a drawing to win tickets to the Aspen Film Festival. And I won! Winning anything is an exciting, serendipitous event, especially something of significant value. And even more something you'd have a difficult time justifying the financial expense but would die to attend. But for me – a writer and aspiring screenwriter – to win this particular prize is beyond wonderful. 

It means – to me – that I'm supposed to be there. For what reason, I don't know for sure. And I have to be really careful not to over-inflate my expectations. But I do know it's for a reason and that means there's a Divine influence at work. 

Let me use the following songs to express my gratitude:

33°45′18″N 84°23′24″WThe Equinox is the symbol of balance. Equality of light and dark, day and night. 

As winter approaches the days will get shorter as the nights get longer and longer. Call me strange (I don't mind – and agree with you!) but I think a lot about how the planet was "designed" and how that design influences us. 

I moved from Atlanta, located at 33°45′18″N 84°23′24″W to Aspen, whose coordinates are 39°10′54″N 106°50′26″W.  So I'm now living somewhere that's 6 degrees higher in latitude than Atlanta. Doesn't seem like much. But when I first moved here, the days were over two hours longer in the summer. Which means that the reverse will be true in the winter. Longer nights, which would make it colder to begin with, but when you add the influence of the curvature of the Earth to make it six degrees of separation (sorry I couldn't resist) it makes a pretty signficant difference in temperature. My hometown, Lexington, Kentucky is 5 degrees higher in latitude than Atlanta, and it was usually about 10 degrees cooler year-round. Of course, in Aspen you have to account for the 7000 feet rise in elevation. So it's coooolder here – for a lot of reasons. 

But, thankfully, there are two other factors that help. First, the weather is "drier," which makes the cold not affect you as much. And secondly, we're closer to the sun, so the sun's rays are warmer. 

So how can I take this science and turn it into philosophy – if not spirituality?  Well, you know me…

If the Earth didn't have a tilted axis, then there would be no summer or winter seasonal shift. The length of days would be the same all year long. The scary thing is that the axis is changing – and we're the ones changing it.  

To learn how we humans, who are responsible for Climate Change, are influencing the Earth's axis, click here:

http://www.natureworldnews.com/articles/20648/20160411/climate-change-causes-the-earth-axis-to-shift.htm