Imaginate the Journey

Most of us live in this paradox: we are trailing glimpses of insight, knowing why we are here, and not knowing. We both remember and forget. We are imbued with wonder, and sometimes consumed with loss, from childhood on; we pursue our purpose in a thousand ways.

        - Christina Baldwin, The Seven Whispers: A Spiritual Practice for Times Like These

The Seven Whispers

  Maintain peace of mind

  Move at the pace of guidance

  Practice certainty of purpose

  Surrender to surprise

  Ask for what you need and offer what you can

  Love the folks in front of you

  Return to the world
                 - Christina Baldwin

        

Opening into imagination enables a suspension of judgment. A move into a state of the true self occurs where reverie takes over. 

Fantasies fling us along paths to observe obstacles. We marvel at aspects of self forgotten or not considered.  

The journey enlightens and enriches. 

If lost, we acquire new ways of trail-finding while listening to our inner voice of dreams and passions. 

A step off the path merges into possibilities without fears.

Smell the colors, taste the breeze.

Attitude and Awareness provide the guidance.

Rocks along the road lead to wonder and design.

Word by Word

"Don't shoot the messenger. Edit the message."  
- written on a wall.

Approach your day to notice where words and actions affect others in a positive way. Share a smile, a few sentences of gratitude and a compliment.  Those expressions become your high art.

Write with ferocity today. 

Applaud everything around you. 

Make peace with irritation. 

Use words to burrow into frustration.

Irrigate the soul with positivity. 

Change your attitude and watch how it soothes another.

Count how many judgments you can avoid. What would
their opposites sound like?  Write them!

Tell someone to expect an Amazement in an hour.

When a negative rattles toward you, twirl its pace and add a laugh.

Write one-liners and share them.

Win the world's attention word by word.

Objects of Neglect

White bits,
broken cellophane
turned
by breezes.
Beer bottles
stand
near waste cans.
Inch by inch of cigarette butts
line
the trail that overlooks the blue
of sea and sky . . .
"My son does not litter. 
He throws rocks."
at the seagull on her nest.
Waves laze and layer to shore.
Will sandstone absolve
the waste thrown
it cannot absorb?
Eyes of nestlings
struggle to catch the light
as visitors pass on the trail.
Whose awareness opens first?

A Garden

"A book should be a garden that fits in the hands. Word-petals of color. Stems of strength. roots of truth. Turn a page and turn the seasons. Read the sentence and enjoy the roses." ― Max Lucado

Watching Colors

Observe for a time

any intersection.

Notice a blue Mercedes coup

roll past

the line at the Stop sign.

A tan Buick turns left.

Yells. Hand gestures

to the air.

Shimmery in silver,
a Honda

honks at a bicyclist

in his rightful lane.

White Ford driver

smiles at the lady

in pink-flowered pants,

lets her cross at the

sign of green man walking.

What happens 

once these colors

have left

the intersection?

A Happy Habit

We have opportunities throughout the day to share and engage smiles.

At the grocery store's checkout line, or in line at the bank, strike up positive conversations with strangers.

On the street, thank someone for sharing a smile. Even if that person has a straight line mouth or a frown, they will break into an upturned curve with your comment.

Invite individuals to engage in conversation that will make them think about what made them happy that day.

Both of you will feel the uplift received from focusing on the positive aspects of life.

Use your imagination. Make happiness a part of your daily conversations to turn it into a habit.

To Honor our Veterans

Soldier, rest! Thy warfare o'er,

Sleep the sleep that knows not breaking,

Dream of battled fields no more.

Days of danger, nights of waking. 

-Sir Walter Scott

After the Civil War, the government created a holiday to honor the Union and Confederate soldiers who had died in battle. Union general John Logan chose May 30th because it did not honor the anniversary of any battle.

When World War I ended, they extended the idea to honor all United States soldiers who died in any war.

In 1968, Congress's Uniform Holidays Act severed the link between Memorial Day and the original date, changing it instead to "the last Monday in May" to allow for a three-day weekend.

Memorial Day has become a holiday for families to remember anyone they have lost (veteran or otherwise), to lay flowers at grave sites.

For those unable to travel to the graves of their loved ones, there are websites like FindAGrave.com, where one can create a cyber-monument and leave a "virtual" note or bouquet.

What Lingers . . .

“Where to begin? Do we measure the relaxing of the feet? The moment when the eye glimpses the hawk, when instinct functions? For in this pure action, this pure moving of the bird, there is no time, no space, but only the free doing-being of this very moment -now!”  ― Peter Matthiessen


When observing nature, shapes and textures attract. 
               
      They reveal a moment, haunt us, soothe as they move into the distance. 

Engaging with wonder, 

Our lives balance. 

Colors distract us from our complications.

Images linger.

We feel transported, 
                 enriched, 
                      enlightened. 

Our lives alter.  

Imagination and Economics

Dr. Sally Livingston, professor of literature at Ohio Wesleyan University, studies how the imagination can become economic or how economics is imaginative.

Livingston reveals, "The Merriam-Webster dictionary defines economics as, "The production, distribution and consumption of goods and services. Among many meanings, imagination is defined as, "creative ability, ability to confront and deal with a problem." Combining the two words creates a dynamic that reveals economics discovers meaning through the problem-solving nature of imagination. 

Livingston includes the turnip's tale, Repularius, in her book, Subversive Narratives: Fairy tales, Fables and Frame Stories. Written in the 1200s, the tale tells of two brothers. The elder has inherited family land as a result of a new practice where the oldest receives the family riches.

Forced into a peasant class, the younger brother works as a farmer. He grows a huge turnip and asks his wife what to do with such a wonder. She advises to give to the king. The king is pleased and gives the poor brother riches.

When the young man returns to the village, his brother is furious because his brother is now richer. The elder brother thinks that if a lowly turnip could generate such wealth, his own worth will become multiplied. This brother has already begun to think in the new economic paradigm in which wealth multiplies wealth. He decides to give his riches to the King as an investment strategy.

When the king asks his wife what to give as a return gift, she says, the turnip.

The fairy tale focuses on how medieval society used literature to work out the dangers of the new economy with its greed. It reflects anxieties of the time and helps us understand how human beings reacted to the economic changes.

The fable has evolved through time.

In the 19th century, the Brothers Grimm rewrote the tale to create a sense of German national identity. The poor brother becomes a farmer not as a last resort, but so that he might prosper.

Even today the turnip's tale exists in various forms in several counties. In one story, the turnip is pulled from the ground where everyone from the father to the field mouse helps. It is later eaten in a community meal.

Livingston feels,"fairy tales do absorb a society's concerns where they are re-created."  She leaves it open for us to wonder how a contemporary version reflects our own economic imagination.

Examples of the turnip tale:

http://russian-crafts.com/tales/turnip.html

http://jimandnancyforest.com/2005/01/the-tale-of-the-turnip/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KJdRZBzLzxE

The Hummingbird's Triumph

The sky, sea and land quarreled over colors to represent them. The sky claimed blue, but the sea roared in disagreement.

Land demanded multicolors: greens, yellows and browns. That decision angered both the sky and sea.

Then sky shouted also about needing ambers, crimsons and gold for sunsets.

They quibbled daily. Only darkness ended the fighting. With the next dawn, the arguments surged anew.

One day the hummingbird interceded,"Why not collaborate and exchange colors throughout the day," she said.

To encourage their alternation of colors, her clan of hummingbirds wove a variety of darks and lights into a collage to present for their view.

They also invited dragonflies, bees, and colorful insects to add hues.

Members of the animal and plant kingdom collaborated to convince land, sea and sky to work together and share an intermingling  of color.

When land, sea and sky 
agreed to trade and mix, tranquility colored the day. 

The hummingbird danced in triumph.

About the Questions

When did the honeysuckle first

sense its own perfume?

When did smoke learn how to fly?  - Pable Neruda

Where does the white go when waves roll to shore?

     
Does it sneak into the sand or snuggle with blue?

Where does dark of night escape when sun brightens the sky?

Does lightning ever sleep?

How do rocks choose their size and shape?






Does the breeze taste sweet to awakening trumpet flowers?

Where will a duck paint its dreams?

Has a bird ever broken out of its shell in song?

Let Love and laughter connect with questions.

Dig into Yourself

"Go into yourself and see how deep 
the place is from which your life flows."  
- Rainer Maria Rilke

Your fingers that nudge keys
Use them rather than a shovel

Dip. Dig. Dive into the sand

The sea will swirl the hole 




Excavate into the depths

Let warm sand and liquid 

swish to massage fingers




Delve to discover a curiosity

that has remained hidden




It may scurry up to you

A nautilus shell empty of occupant

will reveal its silky texture

Empty means best

Ready? Get fill-eager

Let the salt water wash in

Probe your gifts forgotten




Notice the ways

memory arrives

Fears. Joys. Sorrows

Desires trickle

Into the layered years

If the tide hurries to shore

to inundate the empty space

Select your found treasures 

Bring them home.