You know what I'm saying........

Hi Folks!

It's a beautiful day here in Baltimore. The grass is bright green, the skies are clear blue and the spring flowers are full of all kinds of color. When I went for a walk this morning I really soaked in all that powerful energy. That's one of the things I learned in qi gong training - our relationship with nature can be very nurturing and beneficial for health and longevity.

The trip to Santa Cruz started off a little crazy.

This is exactly how I felt ....... for awhile. You know what I'm saying?

The flight from BWI to Salt Lake City was fairly uneventful. Salt Lake City to San Jose- a different story.

I got my fav seat on Southwest - front row, aisle. Got all settled in with a nice seat neighbor when a very disheveled woman with wild blond hair and red lipstick that was smeared all over came aboard. She had priority boarding and she had two giant bags with her filled with food and all sorts of things a jimble-jamble.

A little like this

The first thing she told the flight attendant was that the ticket employee when she checked in kept her credit card. What was she going to do without her credit card? "You know what I mean?" she said.

The very nice and patient flight attendant (f a) said she wasn't sure if she could locate it for her but she would try. Meanwhile, the woman found, after taking everything out of the two bags, her card. I saw a look of relief and a little concern on the f a's face.

Then she couldn't find her syringe to take some insulin. She put her light on and told the f a who immediately asked if she would be all right without it; if not there was still time to get off the plane (I think I saw her fingers crossed behind her back). "I hope I'll be," the passenger said.... and then "You know what I mean?" which she had the habit of saying very loudly.

As we were taking off she put her light back on. "I need a barf bag, hurry!" she yelled as she rummaged impatiently through the little magazine carrier on the wall in front. The f a got out of her seat and quickly brought her two big kitchen size plastic bags.

Meanwhile, the woman sitting next to this passenger got up right when the plane left the ground and went into the bathroom to barf. I did not realize anyone could do this. The f a told her she couldn't stop her but she had to tell her that for safety reasons it is the policy of the airlines that everyone be in their seats for take off.

We made it through take off but it was questionable at times. Now my fav seat was turning into something else.

Once we were up she put her light back on and requested her bags of food. The f a politely got them down but I noticed that the f a was getting a little quiet and even looked a little funny.

Our f a starting at this point to look like this

So, because I'm an optimistic person I said to myself that things would probably smooth out now. Nope.

Interesting passenger (i p) went through all the various items of food, almost black bananas, sandwiches that I'm pretty sure were about a week old (I think I saw green mold) until she found a giant plastic cool whip container. She opened the top and we were all immediately met by a very strong aroma of tuna fish.

In less than 15 seconds I heard a big ole plop and in a fraction of a second I had slimy, liquidy tuna fish all over my pants, my butt, my book (John S's East of Eden - fabulous book), my hand and even on my nice neighbor.

Now you have to understand that the first thing I thought was that she had barfed all over me, projectile style. But no, it was just tuna. Just tuna. Smelly, stinky, slimy tuna.

Then we hit some turbulence and the fasten seatbelt sign went back on. The pilot came on and told everyone to stay seated.

I p ignored the pilot.

Trying to be helpful, she took some old napkins out of her bag and started rubbing the tuna in to the leg of my pants.

I started feeling bad because I could feel NO compassion for this needy woman. NONE. I started thinking, what would Pema Chodrin do? She would probably get up and try to help clean up the mess. Jesus and Mary and Mother T would too.

Meanwhile, the f a is completely ignoring the situation. All this tuna is everywhere.

The woman that went into the bathroom came out, took one look at what was happening and went right back into the dag-gone bathroom.

Then I started thinking, what if they are terrorists? One is creating the distraction and the other one is positioning the bomb right inside the toilet.

I p kept apologizing and rubbing the tuna in. Now both of my legs are dripping with tuna. I could feel the liquid even on the skin of my legs.

I did the best job I could cleaning up once we were allowed to leave our seats. Still smelled really bad.

The  i p noticed the f a wasn't helping and not making eye contact, etc. She started getting mad.

F a brought us all drinks, including i p. Then she started talking to us about how the flight is so short, they used to not serve drinks and i p for some reason thought she was talking about her. She confronted her. Bad scene. F a just said, "I really don't know what you're talking about."

I p then kept saying, "You know what I'm saying." She said it too loud. I started to get scared.

That's me.

Where is my compassion? Holy smokes. I'm toast. No compassion. So I started asking Gandhi for some guidance.

None came.

The f a announced she was coming around to pick up trash. I carefully put my little cup in the bag and witnessed the i p throw her full cup at the f a.

Wow - I thought.

F a completely ignored the woman which made her even madder. When she got to her f a serving area she started crying. She called for help from the back and one of the others came up to be with her. She had had enough. She made a phone call. We landed and as soon as the doors opened, she stepped off the plane.

I was the next one out and couldn't help but notice the f a talking to a state trooper right outside the plane.

Ah Oh! Big trouble was about to happen. I hurried to baggage claim and to my driver who would swoop me away to fun and funky Santa Cruz.......but

My baggage was lost. I was sure it was the karmic wheel turning on me - no compassion, no bag.

So my driver took me to my little hotel where lovely Anne greeted me with open arms. I was so certain my bag would arrive, it was only 2 p.m.

I went for a walk, found a cute cafe, had some tea.

And then I started obsessing over trying to go to sleep without my fan and WITHOUT MY CREAMS. Oh God, what was I going to do without my creams and my fav old jammies?

My creams are so moist and delicious and lovely when I sink down in my bed at night. So cozy.

The older I get the more creams I seem to need. Special eye cream, special serum, neck cream, night cream, scrunchy to put my hair up while I'm taking a shower, clean underwear, lotion, mouth guard so I don't crack my teeth, water pick, ear plugs. I could go on and on.

How was I going to ever get to sleep?

Then I started thinking about all the women all over the world that struggle to survive - just to eat and be safe. Women in caves trying to protect their children and other people's children form war lords. How they manage to live, what their struggles are.

And I didn't think I could get to sleep one single night because of my LOST CREAMS.

What is wrong with me?

But I did manage to and the next day my bag arrived safely.

And the first day of qi gong teacher training our teacher was lecturing about taoism (my beliefs parallel taoism) and Lao Tz and the Tao ti ching. I was still occasionally thinking about what might very well be a lack of compassion.

He asked if there were any questions and I raised my hand to ask how compassion plays a role in Taoism. He said that compassion is an important part of Taoism. He quoted Lao

“Simplicity, patience, compassion.
These three are your greatest treasures.
Simple in actions and thoughts, you return to the source of being.
Patient with both friends and enemies,
you accord with the way things are.
Compassionate toward yourself,
you reconcile all beings in the world.” 
― Lao Tzu, Tao Te Ching


I'm screwed, I thought.


Then he went on to say - but, an even greater teaching in Taoism is that there be a balance between compassion and indifference. Not all situations should be responded to with compassion. Sometimes compassion can be inappropriate. Sometimes the more compassionate thing to do is to do nothing. That is the yin and yang, the balance.


Whew! I thought. I'm saved!

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I learned a lot in Santa Cruz. There were about 15 students - all ages, 3 men. Three others were nurses, some massage therapists, holistic nutritionist, academia-ics, a tree surgeon from London, folks from Canada and all over the states. 


Heading back at the end of June for the second week of Level I Teacher Training. 


For anyone who is interested - I am hoping to teach (as a student teacher - I am not certified yet) in my home a group class - the 5 Element Flow Qi Gong. It takes about 40 minutes. It's a series of movements that strengthens the organs, calms the CNS and directs energy through the meridians.  It is not difficult to follow. If you are interested please shoot me an email 


donnaraesmith@yahoo.com


so that we can work out some times that might work. I get up very early so I am open to teach any time from 7 a.m. to 4 p.m. 

There is no fee associated with this class.


If you have friends that you think might be interested, please invite them. 


Namaste my friends and much love, I know you know what I'm saying!


Donna Rae


p.s I hope i p is not your sister of cousin or friend. If she is, I'm sure there is a logical explanation for her behavior - maybe her blood sugar was 350.