Who I Want to Be

Renée Live (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Ever find a description of someone you want to be? 

 Today in a post by renée a. schuls-jacobson, she described a blogger that she imagined to be a great writer. She said that the blogger  “can write about anything. She has amazing range: sometimes she’s funny; other times, she’s serious. She uses fresh images. She knows how to tell a story so it is unique and yet universally true. She responds to everyone. She’s generous, and her audience loves her.”

In this description Renée unknowingly described herself.  I am here to tell her that. And I am here to tell her that I aspire to be that kind of writer too. Just thought she should know.

Be Astonished

This was posted on the blog by Barefoot Baroness today and I thought I would steal it. She is a gentle while strong soul who bleeds compassion and authenticity.

It is a quote from Mary Oliver and I think a great recipe for life from her “Instructions for Living”:

“Pay attention.

Be astonished.

Tell about it.”

It inspired me, how about you?

Be Gone!

Worry (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

I find Dr Bill Wooton’s blog inspirational and today I believe that he posted this just for me:

“How simple it is to see
that all the worry in the world
cannot control the future.
How simple it is to see
that we can only be happy now.
And that there will never be a time
when it is not now.”   ~ Gerald Jampolsky, M.D.

I must remember this when I wake up at 3:00 a.m. with something nattering at me; something that will not let go and grows into something monstrous that in the light of day is only a molehill and not a mountain.

In the past I have worried to such an extent that it has rendered me paralyzed until I realize that action is the panacea for whatever is bothering me. 3:00 a.m. is not a good time for action, so I must remember Dr. Jampolsky’s advice. Think I will write these words down and place them near my bed and read them when the worry monster shows up.

Does worry every mess up your “now”?

Writing Wednesday is Back and Inspired by Carl Sagan

(Photo credit: lawndart)

“What an astonishing thing a book is. It’s a flat object made from a tree with flexible parts on which are imprinted lots of funny dark squiggles. But one glance at it and you’re inside the mind of another person, maybe somebody dead for thousands of years. Across the millennia, an author is speaking clearly and silently inside your head, directly to you. Writing is perhaps the greatest of human inventions, binding together people who never knew each other, citizens of distant epochs. Books break the shackles of time. A book is proof that humans are capable of working magic. ~ Carl Sagan

books (Photo credit: brody4)

Magic ~ something I have long been looking for and it has been right there in front of me all along. Sagan is right–books are magic—and they are a magic that is available to everyone!

This quote has to be my all time, hands down, forever and always, FAVOURITE. It speaks to my very core. Sagan says exactly what I believe about books—that thay transcend time; that they are a conversation that never ends; and they are the very thing that “binds us together” and are “proof that humans are capable of working magic.”

I found the quote on one of my favourite blogs mybeautfulthings, and I have to thank her profusely for providing this inspiration. Many times I think writers wonder what the point is– if adding another book to the number that are already out there is worthwhile—but Sagan answers these questions beautifully.

Books put you “inside the mind of another person” and by doing so give comfort, teach you something, and provide you with another point of view, or one that agrees with what you already think.

I am inspired now to keep writing,….

What inspires you?

Coming Back for a Limited Time Only

The title of this post is somewhat misrepresentative–I am not coming back for a limited time only–I just thought that might get you interested in reading this post. As a journalist I know the importance of a headline, but I also know the importance of honesty–so to be more accurate — I am coming back on a more limited and day-to-day basis. Maybe I will even come up with a schedule (stranger things have happened–but for now I am leaving things a bit loosey-goosey, as opposed to henny penny.)

My so called “sabbatical” is just not working for me–I miss this lovely cyber world too much to leave it–but I am returning on a basis not quite as rigid as the one I had set myself up for lately. I think the poem a day in April exhausted my creativity in that I liked some of my poems, but some were produced under a certain amount of self-directed duress just to keep up with the challenge, and were not totally satisfying. I now know what it is like to hit “publish” and not be happy with what I produced.

Blogging Heroes (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

I have discovered a fellow Canadian blogger, David Kanigan of Lead. Learn. Live.  just recently, and his words resonated with me on why he blogged. He has adopted Seth Godin’s reason for blogging as his own. He says:

Why Blog?  I think Seth Godin captured my inspiration for blogging when he was asked why he blogged.  He said “if you are blogging for other people you are going to be disappointed…even if no one would read it, I would still blog…this is a great chance for me to clear my thoughts and put them into the world, what an opportunity.” ~ David Kanigan

My second inspiration for the day comes from another fellow and favorite Canadian of mine,  Le Clown,  whose post today served to make me feel less guilty about sometimes not fulfilling responsibilities in a timely fashion (or sometimes at all). He quoted an online friend of his who said:  “NEVER feel guilty if you don’t have time to do something. […] Life is WAY too short to waste any time on people who make you feel guilty.”

So, I am back. And though sometimes I may hit Publish when I am not sure I should, I am going to take Seth’s statement to heart and take the opportunity this blog affords in getting my thoughts out into the world, with the addition of dropping a little guilt along the way. (Don’t pick it up if you see it on the side of the road!)

Bliss is doing what feels right.  Not posting did not feel right to me. What about you?

 

Had to Share

Part of what I am doing during my “sabbatical”–(what a lovely word for break from one thing to concentrate on another) is research, reading, and catching up on my other responsibilities. In my research or eternal quest for knowledge and inspiration, I came across this passage in the book, “Several short sentences about writing” by Verlyn Klinkenborg. On page 14 he wrote:

“A writer’s real work is the endless winnowing of sentences,

The relentless exploration of possibilities,

(Photo credit: Wikipedia)

The effort, over and over again, to see in what you started out to say

The possibility of saying something you didn’t know you could.”

So many times when I write I find myself coming to a realization that I had not consciously come to until the words worked their way from my brain to my fingers to the page. Do you ever find that by winnowing your sentences, getting rid of the parts that do not serve your writing,  you naturally come upon something new?

Bliss is in the magic of discovery. What do you think?

Thinking Out Loud

I am inspired today

Idea Barnstar (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

with a new idea.

An idea

that if it takes form

would plug me into the outside world ~

A world of creative thought

Of possibility

Of people with like ideas

Who understand that philosophy

Is merely approachable ideas with values and beliefs.

But I cannot reveal it–

It is too soon.

Inspiration and new ideas lead to bliss, even bliss unrevealed. Do you have a new idea that produces bliss?

~ DESIRED THINGS ~

1976 edition of The Desiderata of Happiness poetry collection (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

I am not sure the universe is unfolding as it should, but I find this prose poem comforting, and I need to be comforted today.  Last night I attended a Christmas Party for my Writers’ Group and one of the members took the time to write this piece of inspiration on a sheet of paper in printing reminiscent of calligraphy and frame it. It now sits on my desk where I can see it and read it at will. I cannot form any more words about the horrific events that took place yesterday and the story that continues to unfold. I hope that this will provide a little refuge, inspiration, and yes, hope for all of us:

                              Desiderata: Desired Things

Go placidly amidst the noise and haste, and remember what peace there may be in silence. As far as possible without surrender be on good terms with all persons. Speak your truth quietly and clearly; and listen to others, even the dull and the ignorant; they too have their story.

Avoid loud and aggressive persons, they are vexatious to the spirit. If you compare yourself with others, you may become vain or bitter; for always there will be greater and lesser persons than yourself.

Enjoy your achievements as well as your plans. Keep interested in your own career, however humble; it is a real possession in the changing fortunes of time.

Exercise caution in your business affairs; for the world is full of trickery. But let this not blind you to what virtue there is; many persons strive for high ideals; and everywhere life is full of heroism.

Be yourself. Especially, do not feign affection. Neither be cynical about love; for in the face of all aridity and disenchantment it is as perennial as the grass.

Take kindly the counsel of the years, gracefully surrendering the things of youth. Nurture strength of spirit to shield you in sudden misfortune. But do not distress yourself with dark imaginings. Many fears are born of fatigue and loneliness.

Beyond a wholesome discipline, be gentle with yourself. You are a child of the universe, no less than the trees and the stars; you have a right to be here.

And whether or not it is clear to you, no doubt the universe is unfolding as it should. Therefore be at peace with God, whatever you conceive Him to be, and whatever your labors and aspirations, in the noisy confusion of life keep peace with your soul. With all its shams, drudgery, and broken dreams, it is still a beautiful world. Be cheerful.

Strive to be happy. ~ Max Ehrman ~ written in 1927

I do not want to be trite; I do not want to deny that an unspeakable thing has happened; I do not want to live in denial. I do know that we have to go on; we have to set aside our trivial worries and realize what is really important. And we need to find some peace. While we may not be able to be cheerful or happy right now–we need to “nurture strength of spirit” to shield us.

I have no idea how the people who have to deal with this first hand will do it, but I do know that we can lend a hand in showing them that we care. Here is the address to the school provided by Robin Coyle. Write some words of compassion, address the envelope, and send it to: Sandy Hook Elementary School, 12 Dickenson Drive, Newtown, CT 06482. We can do something.

Peaceful and Calm (Photo credit: Striking Photography by Bo Insogna)

Always Christmas

(Photo credit: paparutzi)

“…if you can keep it today, why not always?”  ~ Henry Van Dyke

Better than observing Christmas, is the “keeping of Christmas”. Or so says Henry van Dyke, American author, educator, and clergyman.

van Dyke was a bit of a religious guy, being a clergyman and all and he really had  a way with words. They are the words of a formally well educated man of his era (late 1800’s), but his message is clear. In his essay called “Keeping Christmas”  he gives us a recipe of sorts for not only keeping Christmas in our hearts but in being proactive about it.  He asks:

“Are you willing to forget what you have done for other people and to remember what other people have done for you;

to ignore what the world owes you and to think what you owe to the world;

to put your rights in the background and your duties in the middle distance and your chances to do a little more than your duty in the foreground;

to see that your fellow men (and women) are just as real as you are, and try to look behind their faces to their hearts, hungry for joy;

to own that probably the only good reason for your existence is not what you are going to get out of life, but what you are going to give to life;

to close the book of complaints again the management of the universe and look around you for a place where you can sow a few seeds of happiness—are you willing to do these things even for a day? Then you can keep Christmas.”

Henry van Dyke (1852-1933), a modernist who pushed for revisions to the Westminster Confession of Faith, 1900-1910. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

And he adds:  “If you can keep Christmas for a day, then why not always?”

Do you try to keep Christmas “always”?

~ A Poohism To Get You Through Your Day ~

 

“When you are a Bear of Very Little Brain, and you think of Things, you find that sometimes a Thing that seemed  Thingish inside  you is quite different when it gets out into the open and has other people looking at it.” ~ A. A. Milne

Winnie the Pooh (Photo credit: JayPLee)

 This quote is known  as a “Poohism” and is part and parcel of the wisdom and philosophy of Winnie the Pooh, from the series of books created by A.A. Milne for his son.

Children are very wise. They understand the complicated statements made by their favourite characters. They know that Pooh is smart despite the fact that he is always saying that he is a Bear of Very Little Brain. And they know that sometimes something they are thinking inside their brains becomes something very different when it sees the light of day.

When I first read this statement I did not necessarily think of it as something positive. Sometimes when we reveal what is inside of us to other people they think we are rather odd; or the way we express ourselves does not magically trip off our tongue quite the way we imagined. But  sometimes giving those thoughts a voice can help disperse them, especially if they are thoughts of fear or revelations of angst.

Doodle You (Photo credit: neonbubble)

There is a sensitive blogger, summerteifi, who doodles her thoughts and by doing so gets them out in the open. Her advice is this:

“Express yourself, embrace creativity to help release these fears, pain and worry. Once out on paper, they soften and feel distant and become reassured by the motherly parenting parts of yourself. And if they don’t, keep doodling, keep sharing, keep expressing and never stop knowing this too shall pass.”

So how do you get your Thingish things out in the open?