It’s MESSY MARCH
Warm Spring Days give way to Snowstorms.
It’s a time when it’s OK to Make Mistakes.
It’s Always a time when it’s OK to Make Mistakes…

Be CREATIVE
Try New Things
Experiment
Kiss a Stranger
Laugh at our Foibles
And just generally take the Heat off
Remind Ourselves that Life is to be Enjoyed,
Pleasures Savored…
It is a Time of Wild Abandon!
This, in my mind, deserves a Celebration to mark the occasion!

My Beautiful Friend RICK is having as busy a month as I am.
There is simply no time.
To try and steal away to Celebrate Messy March in the middle of all this would be Very…
Well… Messy!
I spontaneously texted him one night this week just before 5pm and asked if tonight could be the night we Celebrate.
He told me that we need to get through early, as he has “DEADLINZZZZZZ!”
Me too.
…Messy!

I hit the Internet Search for
‘Messy’
‘Messy New York’
‘Messiest things to do in New York”
‘Messiest places to eat in New York’
‘Restaurants, Eat with your Hands
and such.

This book kept coming up in my search.
Hmmm….
And I had heard about “Foot Heaven,” a Reflexology Place down in Chinatown.
Really?
A Chinese Massage Parlor?
And then there was this place that came up as the Best Ethiopian Restaurant in New York.
No Utensils… Eat with your Hands!
Our Evening was fairly set — a loose structure, with plenty of room for extemporaneity and artlessness.
One of the Great Lessons of MESSY MARCH is Willingness to Change Your Map.
SCOTT PECK, in THE ROAD LESS TRAVELLED,
talks about that as the Secret to Success: Willingness to Change Your Map.
Going Somewhere?
Discover Something Wonderful along the way?
Wanna’ Follow That Instead?
Do!
You never know what else you might Discover…
JOSEPH CAMPBELL phrased it as: Follow Your Bliss!

RICK snuck home to get into his Messy March outfit,
And quite outdid me this year!
I find it so Full Of Wonder to mark occasions with how we Dress for them.
It is such a great way we can contribute to our Creation of the Experience

He arrived at my Office.
We headed to Naturopathica, this awesome shop in Chelsea for Tonics and Elixirs.
We each got a Green Juice to celebrate how we met
(Years ago, RICK was the Administrator at a Theater WorkShop up in the Catskills where I did some Guest-Teaching every Summer.
The owner of the WorkShop was a Big Believer in Organic Healthy Foods and drank Green Juice every morning.)
We made fun of him then.
Tonight, we toasted the Man and the Place through which we met!

Is there anything in your past you wish to Honor?
Anything you resent that you would like to Now Forgive?
Afraid that would be too Messy?
Not at all! It’s Messy March!
Any milestones which changed your Life, subtly or dramatically,
to which you would like to give pause and make a tribute?
Give Thanks?

We headed to Dinner at INJERA
There, we met ROMAN, one of the most Beautiful Women I have ever seen.
Nuthin’ Messy about her!
She was Vibrant and Scintillating!
Though a charming restaurant, every seat in the cozy little space was taken.
She told us they were pretty booked and invited us to come back after 8:30pm.
Showing up to a Hot New York Restaurant in a tiny space without a Reservation?
Messy!
The thing that was So Cool was how ROMAN made us feel So Invited.
It was only the hour that needed to be other than it was.
Isn’t Time the strangest Commodity?
It speeds by in an instant. It hangs thickly in the air.
It is an illusion by which we illustrate exactitude.
Yet it is anything but exact.
We can make it move quickly or at a snail’s pace.
It seems we have so much of it — then, suddenly, none at all.
Time makes a Mess of all of us.
Celebrate that while you may!

Willingness to Change Your Map is a key ingredient to a Messy March Celebration
So, we headed over to BARNES and NOBLE and purchased that book that kept coming up in my Internet Searches.
Apparently, this Book talks about new research pointing to the Creative Process as being not so much a Right-Brain Process,
but a function of the Entire Brain and our Imagination —
A process Much Messier than anyone had previously thought.
It seemed a worthwhile Read, and very much in the Spirit of the Season!

Are you feeling Messy and Creative?
Is there some way you would like to Celebrate this?
It’s Messy March! Do It!
Get out your Finger Paints!
Bake Something from Scratch!
Build a SnowMan!
Or Garden!
Anything that takes your Full Brain and Your Imagination…
According to this latest research, this is what makes it Happen!
You are completely empowered in this Creative Process!
So, Go Ahead…
Create!

From here, it was a stone’s throw to the site in Union Square Park which RICK delineates as the spot of the Original MESSY MARCH Celebration, where he and his friends covered themselves with Whipped Cream several years ago.
We asked two Police Officers to take our Picture.
We longed for Whipped Cream, but there was much to get done, and we were still harbouring the delusion that the evening would come to a relatively early end.
We told the Police Officers about Messy March and the glimmer in their eyes told us that they wanted to burst out of their Uniforms and Celebrate with us!
Messy March is Infectious.
Wild Abandon exists within each of us!
Let it Out!
Make a Mess
We headed down to Foot Heaven for a Reflexology Massage.
Twenty-Five Bucks for Thirty Minutes.
Glorious!
The People were Lovely and there is No Hanky Panky there,
as clearly stated in the sign by the Register.
It was getting late now, and I asked RICK if he wanted to just grab a bite in Chinatown.
“We can’t! We promised ROMAN we would return!” he replied with such passion and enthusiasm in his voice.
You see?
MESSY MARCH does not mean that there is no accountability.
Accountability and a Strong Sense of Responsibility are Very Helpful to the Creative Process!
We headed back up to the West Village.

What a Glorious Feast!
RICK, having had Ethiopian Food several times, told me that this was the Best he’s ever tasted!
I don’t remember ever having it, I am embarrassed to say.
Well, Why be embarrassed?
It’s MESSY MARCH!
But, Oh My God, it was SO Delicious!
And FUN!
And MESSY!
And Delightful.

We were the Last People to leave the Restaurant.
We were very conscious of this and didn’t want to keep the wait staff later than necessary, so we started to leave when the last table before us departed.
But ROMAN was So Lovely and invited us to stay.
She served us Tej, a Honey Wine from Ethiopia, which was extraordinary.
We talked together until well past midnight.

with our New Friend, ROMAN

RICK and I laughed about how the Best Laid plans to finish early can go so awry and how Wonderful it is to be in a Time of Year when we Celebrate Exactly that!
Celebrate Awry!
Celebrate Reflexology!
Celebrate Getting Home Way Too Late!
Celebrate MESSY!
And Celebrate how, one way or another, it always works out!
That is the Miracle of it!
And so it goes with the Creative Process —
The more Mess we make
The more we give over to Wild Abandon
The Less we Structure
The Less Rigidity
The Less we Insist that we already Know…
The More there is to Discover
The More we are free to Experiment
The More the Unknown becomes Known
And the Known becomes less sure,
Opening up New Worlds.

Explore your Imagination…
Celebrate MESSY MARCH!

And somewhere in there we found Santa Hats for Sale.. in March! (Just in time for my Christmas Card to be Posted! 🙂 )

# # #