SKIP: … is My Spirit Animal.

Urban Dictionary:

In pagan religions and systems, a spirit animal or totem is meant to be a representation of the traits and skills that you are supposed to learn or have. Online, saying something or someone is your spirit animal is a statement that said person or thing is a representation of you or what you want to be.

My SKIP challenge is about peeling away layers of unnecessary information to find the true Me inside, so I decided a fun exercise would be to list my top four spirit animals- based upon the context of the online lexicon. Meaning, what I would want to be.

I started by typing "is my spirit animal" into an images search, but all I really learned from my searching is that a lot of people have a spirit made of Beyonce and vodka, so I made my own list from scratch.

I kinda hope Mr. Rogers is everyone's Spirit Animal. I want to be kind. I want people to know that I think they are special, and that I love them for the things that make them special and the things that make them very ordinary. I want to look at a tragedy and see the good that sprinkles itself all over it. I want to look past a bad action, and see only the potentiality of the human soul hiding behind it. I want to see the sameness of all of us. I want to see all the wonderful ways we are connected.

I want a Mr. Roger's spirit, yes I do.

"When I say it's you I like, I'm talking about that part of you that knows that life is far more than anything you can ever see or hear or touch. That deep part of you that allows you to stand for those things without which humankind cannot survive. Love that conquers hate, peace that rises triumphant over war, and justice that proves more powerful than greed." ― Fred Rogers

In the short-run series, Farscape, Moya is the name of the ship that carries a crew of convicts through the outerwebs of the galaxy until they become a crew, and further still- until they become a family.

She is a backdrop to their adventures- not the smartest or bravest, gentlest or wisest- but she is loyal, and forms very distinct relationships with each member of the team, even though she is never anything but herself.

She is fueled by trust, even when she has every reason in the known galaxies to not trust at all. It is a sort of bravery that makes my breath catch in my throat from the beauty and bigness of it.

As I progress down this list, I realize how drawn I am to spirits that collect a motley but talented crew of friends, or- dare I say it- Best Beloveds. One thing I've always loved about Kermit is that he gives up really easily on himself, and burns out often, and doesn't finish stuff- but he's honest, loving, and dependable. So when he inevitably falls on his face, a bunch of his friends show up, pick him up, dust him off, and set him forward again. And on he marches.

Because even when he doesn't believe in himself, he never gives up on his friends.

I've been painstakingly going through old posts since I came home. There are just over 250 posts live on this blog, which means 4 times that amount are in drafts or set to private. I've been reading through them, individually, deciding which should be brought back to life.

So very many are junk, but some are precious. I read them and I am cheered up, even though I feel as if I should be annoyed by how persistently cheerful this dinogirl is. It's contagious. I read the comments and I think - each one of these should be stretched into a poem, or a post, or a book- or something. They are potent, powerful, positive, and they seep into my mind.

The combination of all that makes me love it here. This place speaks to my spirit. I'm glad I came back to her. This Rarasaur character seems like someone I might want to get to know someday. She's lost right now, but she seems like someone worth finding.

Which I guess is what this SKIP challenge is all about for me.

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I liked all the shirts that said "Coffee is my spirit animal", but I don't really know what that means. Who or what is your spirit animal? How'd I do on picking some for me? How do you like my art? The trolley is a little wonky, but I think Mr. Rogers would say it was practically perfect...