When Water Waits

"A waterfall would be more impressive if it flowed the other way." - Oscar Wilde

Water has the ability to move in a variety of ways.

 Water offers its power. Creates reflections. Nurtures and replenishes. It slows in pools and puddles.

When do we need to ease up on the power we energize?  How will a slow flow benefit?

Discover how water waits.
          Find a rainbow in a backward movement in your life.

When challenged, consider asking, "What would water do . . .?"

Writing Movement

The Japanese tea ceremony honors four guiding principles of discipline: to seek harmony (wa) with nature and other human beings; to show respect (kei) for all things and people; to revere the purity (sei) of a clean and orderly environment; and to enter a state of tranquility (jau) amid the chaotic world in which we live.

In the environment of the tearoom, the splendor of natural materials reveals itself in utensils and furnishings. Within a calm and orderly atmosphere, guests show respect for their host and objects used to prepare and serve the tea.

Careful attention paid to the craftsmanship in the objects creates appreciation. A poetic message inscribed on a hanging scroll sets the theme and refers to the season.

The host pays attention to the needs of his guests. Nothing extraneous is present in the room nor in the conversation.  No unkind words are spoken. Tragedies and turmoil of the outside world are left outside the garden gates.

For the moment, host and guest reflect upon the time given together - ichigo, ichie - each moment only once.

Consider how the above ceremony might apply to your daily writing movement.

Do you seek harmony with nature and other human beings in your choice of subject matter?  

In what ways does your writing show respect?  

How will you bring order to your writing environment?

When you write, what helps to bring you a state of tranquility so you leave the chaotic world behind? 

As author, how do you pay attention to the needs of your audience of readers?  

How will you make the most of each moment the pen flows on paper or fingers push keys?

Write your own principles of writing movement.

Dancing in the Fire

I had no more alphabet that the swallows in their courses,
the tiny, shining water
of the small bird on fire
which dances out of the pollen
- Pablo Neruda

The legend of the Phoenix appears in several cultures.  The basic idea involves a superatural creaturing living for 1000 years.  At that time, it builds a funeral pyre and throws itself into the flames  As it dies, rebirth occurs to live for another 1000 years.  Another version involves the bird laying an egg in the burning coals. When the egg hatches the life cycle repeats.

Theories abound concerning the Phoenix. One involves a colorful bird of wild powers, captured in Asia and sold in another land. Possibly the claims about the bird's powers increased the price.  Maybe a peacock, back lit by the setting sun, led someone to believe the bird flew into fire.  Did a hummingbird rise from its nest, its feathers reflecting sunlight?

One theory about the origins of the legend involves a raven dancing in a dying fire.  Ravens will sit over a hot surface such as the dying embers of a fire.  They spread out their wings like we might do in a sauna to enjoy the heat.  Or they use the heat to encourage feather mites to find a different home. The sudden resurgence of flames around it causes the bird to take off.  There's the bird rising from the flames. 

Ravens and crows also practice a form of behavior called "anting."  A bird will disturb an ant's nest, spread out its wings and allow ants to run up and down its body.  The ants give the bird a massage as they eat feather mites which live on the bird and cause irritation. 

Once someone sees a bird in these situations, stories abound.  

Do you wonder about a bird that dances in the fire?  Write a fable or poem of your own.

Ecstasy and Laundry

A Zen koan reveals, "After the ecstasy, the laundry." It refers to how to return to life after a period of meditation or enlightenment.  I think about it during my laundry chores. I'd like a thrill after hard work. Get the tedium over, then the fun begins.

Writing, running and photographing nature create my ecstacy.  No joy exists for house maintenance. I prefer studying and reveling in nature rather than re-arranging dust.

Ecstacy finds me easy prey but it doesn't motivate the urge to do laundry.

Why not stuff everything in one load and be done?

No thrills during the separation of whites and color 

items, synthetics and towels.

Nothing stirs from a sniff of detergent; no images of flower fields.  

Let the machines tumble and twirl in their ecstasy.

During my morning run I continue to consider the arrangement of ecstasy and laundry. The wind tickles my ears as the flow engages.

Watching sea birds, a sensation of flight takes over. Upon returning home no eagerness for laundry sparks.

A writing project beckons from the darkness of my computer. I put in a load of towels and start expressing a forgotten idea.

Hmm, I feel a shift from words to laundry.

Folding warm towels and smoothing the corners provides a sense of calm. Aha! my last load splays in colors on the floor. Time to combine whites, colors, synthetics. Now, is that "one hand clapping?"

What creates ecstasy in your life?

How does it affect the chores that follow?

Explore Equanimity

"Authentic joy is not a euphoric state or a feeling of being high. 

Rather is it a state of appreciation that slows us to participate fully in our lives." 

- Pema Chödrön 

Equanimity involves mental composure. Moving into a difficult situation with calm brings balance. "In the moment we come to abide with the energy instead of acting it out, we are training in equanimity," says Pema Chödrön. 

We achieve freedom by engaging with the energy of the moment rather than reacting. Not an easy activity, it takes discipline and practice to release former behaviors and select others to replace them. 

When sad or glad, we need to widen our circle of understanding and compassion.

Use creativity to change attitudes.

Get out of the way of the ego's control. During a negative experience, project that event as a movie and see it in all its dimensions. Breathe to calm and quiet the emotions that arise. Observe the scene with all senses.

Imagine a musical or comedy evolving from the situation. Sing into silly.

The next anxiety that arrives, use a metaphor from nature. Watch it bloom like a rose. Count the petals, smell the fragrance, feel a touch of breeze. Make positive problem solving choices without judgment.

If an initial reaction to stress is, "Oh sH&^!" find a word to replace the habitual response with a key word.  Say:  Shift. Turn. Flip. Then say the chosen word. Get to the other side of your typical response.

Rainer Maria Rilke said, "This in the end is the only kind of courage that is required of us. The courage to face the strangest most unusual most inexplicable experience that can meet us."

Awareness, creativity, and patience help us dwell in the places that frighten or frustrate. Flexibility in times of uncertainty enables equanimity.

Slow down to savor life's wonders.

Create Instead of Complain

"My advice to you is not to inquire why or whither, but just to enjoy your ice cream while it's on your plate."- Thornton Wilder

                                                                  

We feel the onslaught of frustration in many ways during each day. The media bombards with messages of what's wrong with the world. People annoy us with their behavior. Regardless of efforts to avoid the negativity, we get tangled into the critical syndrome to find fault rather than discover possibility.

Will Bowen, a Kansas City minister suggests word choice determines thought choice, which determines emotions and actions. Conditioning helps us stop using certain words.

Will designed a solution in the form of a simple purple bracelet, which he offered to his congregation with a challenge. Go 21 days without complaining. Each time individuals complained, they had to switch the bracelet to the other wrist and start again from day 0. It was simple but effective awareness training.

Consider going a day-at-a-time to put creativity ahead of complaints.

Each time a complaint or criticism crosses the mind find a replacement word or possible action.

Add the band idea. Use a rubber band and snap it when you feel the need to complain. Replace the critical notion with a solution or the opposite point of view.

At the end of the day write about ways you discovered to problem solve rather than whine.

Starting points:

Work on self-criticism to begin your process. When you hear words in your head, "Oh, why can't I?" Turn the words into, "I can always . . . "

Revise daily headlines into humorous possibilities. For each scene of violence, find someone to save the day. Push creativity and have aliens or animals turn the situation around.

Notice how others begin conversations that center on a complaint or criticism. Change the subject. Point to the sky, "There's Halley's comet," to distract.

While standing in line, observe what you admire about others waiting with you.

If someone tailgates and honks, turn your frown into a laugh. Just think what it would be like to sing your school's fight song to energize that person.

When the mind gallops in circles during a meal, repeat Thornton Wilder's thoughts and focus on the joy of the moment.

If you find yourself snapping that rubber band too often, create a tune and laugh along with it.

Take the time to flush out the frustrations.

When conditioning with a variety of word choices, notice how your attitude changes.

Revel in creativity and smile.

Life Matters for Reconstruction

"Gaining access to that interior life is a kind of . . . archaeology: on the basis of some information and a little bit of guesswork, you journey to a site to see what remains, what's left behind and you reconstruct the world."   - Toni Morrison

What matters most in a life?  Answers to that question change as we grow older and mature with experience. During a lifetime we return to aspects  of life that matter the most. Writing about and through these experiences provides insight for future choices.

Think of an incident that shaped the way you view your life?  Was a hidden gift there, or a lesson you've carried forward?  

Did you make a choice in the moment that benefitted your future?  Could you have gone a different direction and altered where you reside in life today?

Recall an incident where you felt a real or perceived disadvantage of life.  In reflection, would you change the results?

Consider a choice you did not make or one that was made for you because of procrastination or indecision. How would you rewrite it from a third person perspective?

Remember a choice you did not make or one that was made for you because of procrastination or indecision. How would you rewrite it from a third person perspective?

Do you have unfinished business in an area of life?


Freewrite to one or all of the above concerns See what the writing uncovers in the archaeology of your interior life. Then, as Morrison suggests, "Reconstruct the world."

Language of Friendship

The language of friendship is not words but meanings. ~Henry David Thoreau

John O’Donohue, author of Anam Cara, celebrates the soul that shines like a cloud around the body. He feels that when you become open, appreciative and trusting with another, your souls flow together.  

O'Donohue writes, "Friendship is the sweet grace that liberates us to approach, recognize and inhabit this adventure."

In Celtic spirituality, the anam cara friendship stimulates the richness and mystery of life. The Irish believe an individual blessed with anam cara, has arrived at a sacred place.

Friendship becomes an act of recognition, response and reciprocity. It involves belonging. 

Photographs and cute sayings abound in the search for an explanation of friendship. Writers often delve into friendship's concept using abstract descriptions. What does C.S. Lewis mean by, "value to survival"? To communicate, a writer must show instances of emotion and affection.

Examine a situation of friendship to demonstrate its intensity and meaning in a scene that shows how individuals connect. Write to reveal how a friendship looks, feels, and sounds. Let taste and scent have meaning in a relationship. Reveal how humor and play energize friends.

With words, share meanings.

Discomfort into Discovery

Emotions rise, crest and splash. With a series of waves, we learn ways to wash away dismay. Distress and discomfort disconnect to delight. 





Naivete flows out; in rushes wisdom. Out gushes anger. 

Discernment breaks. Out goes despair. Kindness races in. 

With buoyancy treasures arise from the deep. 

Writing with each wave we learn to embrace the rhythm of emotions. 

They flow in a natural and expansive sea of words. 

If we observe and translate the currents, each emotion leaves us healthier than it found us. We move from discomfort into discovery.  Writing releases the tension.


Write about emotional ebbs and flows.  

How do you ride the waves? Develop a metaphor to explain your excursions through emotions.

Celebrate Summer Solstice

Summer Solstice occurs when the sun reaches its zenith. It provides the longest period of daylight in the northern hemisphere. Summer solstice derives from the Latin sol (sun) and sistera (to stand still).

Cultures around the world hold events to celebrate Solstice. 

The Celts & Slavs celebrated the first day of summer with dancing & bonfires. They feel it helped to increase the Sun's energy. 

The Chinese marked the day by honoring Li, the Chinese Goddess of Light.

The Pagan Festival of Litha, celebrated by Druids, venerates the Solstice as the "wedding of Heaven and Earth.” Druidism worships nature and believes in the spirits of mountains, and divine guides.

Stonehenge, in southern England, holds the largest festival. Here, more than 350 mounds surround a stone circle at the center. Dating back to 3100 BC, Neolithic people started the construction. Experts cannot agree on whether Stonehenge served as a temple, a burial ground, or an astronomy site. Nobody can figure out for sure how the stones were erected. Mysteries abound in the region.

Starting at midnight on the eve of Summer Solstice, revelers, spiritualists and tourists gather to dance around the fire, star gaze and hug the stones at Stonehenge. They wear robes and flowers to celebrate the year’s longest day.

The summer solstice is one of the rare occasions in the year when open access to the stones is allowed by English Heritage, custodians of the monuments.

Enjoy your celebration of Summer Solstice. 

Imagine yourself reveling at Stonehenge near the fire. Think about Shakespeare and have a "Midsummer Night's Dream."

Comedy Today

"There was never yet an uninteresting life. Such a thing is an impossibility. Inside of the dullest exterior there is a drama , a comedy, and a tragedy.” - Mark Twain 

Life's too short to write its drama and tragedy. Write your life as a comedy. During the day, change events to evoke laughter and silliness. 


Go for the fun.  Write words that spell lightness, playfulness, and joy. 

Smile until your cheeks ache. 


Write about the mysteries that delight. Feel chuckles tickle your knuckles.

A Gardener of Life

Our bodies are our gardens to which our wills are 

gardeners.  - William Shakespeare from Othello. 

Investigate what bugs you to release its power.


Attract pollinators and birdsong.

Stay nourished with healthy food and beverages. 

        Stimulate your curiosity by exploring nature's gardens. 

Nurture your seeds of wonder. 
                                   
                      Cultivate creativity.

Laugh and smile past fear and frustration. 

          











Feel excitement and gratitude for the unexpected.

Stay open to play in each moment. 

          

Decorate your life with all the colors of the spectrum.

              Breathe the scents and savor sensations.

Absorb renewal at each sunset.