Every once in a while, my daily reading reveals a gem … a cosmic connection to what’s actually going on in my mind. Here’s an example.
Who makes these changes?
I shoot an arrow right.
It lands left.
I ride after a deer
and find myself chased by a hog.
I plot to get what I want
and end up in prison.
I dig pits to trap others
and fall in.
I should be suspicious
of what I want.
-from A Year With Rumi: Daily Readings by Coleman Barks
20 September
I’m on hold. Some days (weeks, months or years, even) are like this.
The hills of Tuscany. Pieve a Salti in the distance. Smelling the Earth and feeling warmth on my skin. Looking forward to a cold beer at the bar. Refreshing.
Do you like reading my posts? Why not sign up for an email subscription? You receive a little somthin’-somthin’ to ponder every Tuesday and Thursday.
Lately you’ve been questioning all the things that define you. You’re having trouble sleeping, you’re crying in yoga class, you’re putting it out there just how unsure you are.
And the Universe is listening. Consider these subject lines of recently emails:
“Should You Give Up or Keep Going?”
“‘Creative Thinkering'” reignites your imagination”
“Thank you for applying – position cancelled”
“Music to awaken your soul”
“16 Ways to Feel More Fulfilled at Work”
“Creative people earning a living” … “People do not always make breakthroughs because they refused to quit. Sometimes they make them because they know when to quit” … “Fresh and Savory Tomato Pie” … “Play with Word Meanings to Create Essays” … “Why Google wants goats” … “How Good is Your Idea?” … “A special surprise is included inside” …
Now before you go chalking it all up to menopause mind (a very likely culprit regardless), consider the most intriguing shift in thought you’ve considered all week:
“Fame is simply a better and more effective way to live your life.”
-Jay and Maggie Jessup
Whoa. Never quite looked at fame that way. Where is this going?
Do you like reading my posts? Why not sign up for an email subscription? You receive a little somthin’-somthin’ to ponder every Tuesday and Thursday.
My husband spent Labor Day weekend unpacking boxes in his man cave, i.e., the garage. “It’s amazing,” he says, “each time I open a box, it smells like Ramona.” Most of the boxes in the garage were packed up several years ago –moved from our home (and my sanctuary) in Ramona, CA. Oh, yes. I remember. A year and a half ago –when I was unpacking boxes- I, too, was brought back to my beloved front yard in San Diego County … and promptly named our new home “Ramona in the Pines” as a tribute.
Antonia’s Flowers perfume brings me back to East Hampton, NY –weekends riding bikes to Georgica Pond, grilling tuna for dinner. One of Antonia Bellanca’s other fragrances –Tiempe Passate –takes me back to Italy and the hills of Panzano, taking cooking classes. It was my first trip abroad.
My first time west of the Mississippi was a camping trip to Canyonlands in Utah, an amazing 14 days experiencing space. For years afterward, I could return there in an instant, just by smelling the scent of sage warming in the sun.
It’s not enough to say that our sense of smell can help with memory (although it’s clear it can). A fragrance can bring back a sense of connection, reminding us of something meaningful.
And finding something meaningful is what it’s all about, isn’t it?
Do you like reading my posts? Why not sign up for an email subscription? You receive a little somthin’-somthin’ to ponder every Tuesday and Thursday.
Denis Leary as Tommy Gavin in "Rescue Me."
The summer season is winding down and with it –the summer television season. I’ve really come to look forward to and appreciate the fun, entertaining shows on USA, TNT SyFy and FX. Between Men of a Certain Age, Leverage and In Plain Sight (Sunday), The Closer and Rizzoli & Isles, Alphas and Warehouse 13 (Monday), Covert Affairs and White Collar (Tuesday), Royal Pains and Necessary Roughness, and Rescue Me (Wednesday), Burn Notice and Suits (Thursday), and Haven (Friday) – my DVR is full. (Note: I think USA’s Characters welcome campaign – initiative, really, is one of the best). Add select cooking shows on the weekends … and it appears that I watch TV all summer.
Just like during television’s “regular season.”
Those of you in the TV biz know that a 52-week television season was initiated by the FOX television network years ago, and I think viewers are benefiting- from cable’s creative programming at least. I know I am.
I do miss the rush of watching all the fall season promotion campaigns, though. I used to live for them, write and produce them, in fact. All those hours of viewing half-finished episodes, finding the good stuff, packing it all into 30 seconds.
Contrary to how it appears, I do enjoy things other than television in the summer, like books and barbecues and gardening and enjoying the best weather. Just like during a “regular season.”
Do you like reading my posts? Why not sign up for an email subscription? You receive a little somthin’-somthin’ to ponder every Tuesday and Thursday.
While in college, a mystic tells me I remind her of “a red arrow in a white room.” This visual -and the idea behind it– influences me today, especially when it comes to creating my work. I keep thinking about bringing “Red Arrow/White Room” to life with a personal inspiration video.
Structure: visuals, graphics, music and the spoken word. Silence may also work for this project, too. Moments of silence, anyway.
I have a graphic artist friend who is returning to school; she needs a school project (or should I say experiment?) and I can offer up mine to her. She could create the visuals/graphics.
I could do my own music search online to find a suitable piece of music (or many edited together).
Probably use my own voice as voiceover (voice in my head, so to speak).
About 3:00 in length (Three is one of my “numbers”).
My own vision has an ancient wisdom sensibility; it summons the universal mind as it were to evoke a creative call to action for me … and ultimately others searching for creative motivation.
First line: RED ARROW ENTERS WHITE ROOM … What next?
Do you like reading my posts? Why not sign up for an email subscription? You receive a little somthin’-somthin’ to ponder every Tuesday and Thursday.
I have a lot of respect for order. It is the order in my life that helps me to recognize opportunity, and act upon the wisdom of uncertainty.
The routine of my day can open up a whole new world of possibility –when I allow myself to see it. Noticing inspiration in the everyday is a practice that gives back when you least expect it.
Which brings me to the subject of deadlines. Surely, deadlines are the stuff of order, and in a professional writer’s world, they are a way to schedule our work. Surely, they’re the blueprint, the drawing, the overview, a place to start; surely, we promote the accomplishment of delivering finished projects “on time and on budget.” Order in motion.
Deadlines are in our world so we can fall into the gap between them, and live lives of extraordinary creation.
Laugh loud and often; the cosmic joke is on us.
Photo op by Kevin
Do you like reading my posts? Why not sign up for an email subscription? You receive a little somthin’-somthin’ to ponder every Tuesday and Thursday.
… where I am, all is perfect, whole, and complete. I am one with the Power that created me …
(Most mornings, I repeat this custom version of affirmations from Louise L. Hay. It only takes a minute, filling my heart with possibility.)
I love myself; therefore I behave and think in a loving way toward all people, for I know that which I give out returns to me multiplied. I only attract loving people in my world, for they are a mirror of what I am.
I love myself; therefore, I forgive and totally release the past and all past experiences, and I am free. I have within me all the ingredients for success. I now allow the success formula to flow through me and manifest in my world. Whatever I am guided to do is a success. I learn from every experience, going from success to success and from glory to glory. My pathway is a series of stepping stones to ever greater successes.
I love myself; therefore I work at a job I truly enjoy doing, working with and for people I love and who love me, and earning a good income. My unique talents and abilities flow through me and are expressed in deeply satisfying ways. There are people out there who are always looking for my services. I am always in demand and can pick and choose what I want to do. My work is a joy and a pleasure.
lus·ter [luhs-ter] noun
– the state or quality of shining by reflecting light; glitter, sparkle, sheen or gloss: the luster of satin.
– radiant or luminous brightness; brilliance; radiance.
– radiance of beauty, excellence, merit, distinction or glory: achievements that add luster to one’s name.
We talk about “luster” during a recent yoga class. “Now, there’s a word I haven’t heard in quite some time,” I say out loud at the time. And it’s been on my mind ever since.
Every time I look at the picture above, I see the little girl’s luster; it’s just something about her joy that makes me smile.
I wish for you to see the luster of today. The present moment … Or in yourself.
Do you like reading my posts? Why not sign up for an email subscription? You receive a little somthin’-somthin’ to ponder every Tuesday and Thursday.
Sageland Creative 