A Seedy Story for New Year's Eve

Two seeds settled side by side in the spring earth.  The first seed shouted, "I want to grow and send my roots deep into the soil. Then I'll push my sprouts through the earth above so I can feel the sun on my face and dew on my petals."  She grew.

The second seed whined, "I m afraid. If I send my roots in to the dark ground I don't know what I'l find.  If I push my delicate sprouts upward, I may damage them in the hard soil. I'll wait till it's safe."  She waited.

A hen wandered in, scratched around for food, found the waiting seed and ate it.

Moral. Don't get gobbled up. Take chances to grow and shine in the light. Avoid procrastination. 

Forget New Year's resolutions. Do it NOW.  Amaze yourself  today and every day.

Get Your Mind Ready for 2019

Place your fussy mind in a top drawer. Hear the closing click.

Hang a fun and weighty item. You don't need a key.

Listen for the jostling and grumbling inside. Say, "Stay."

Put on your happy shoes and saunter out the door.

Let nature intrigue with its winter delights.

Trees will have shed their leaves but evergreens prevail.

Feel grateful release from tendrils of mind.

Go into your heart to flee into sensory experiences.

Discover your neighborhood: fireplace smoke,

a lingering rose, fresh earth, a gush of wind.

Breathe a drift of lavender. Hear a phoebe or crow's call.

Wander until you have forgotten your mind.

Just take your time. No need to rush.

Energize the spirit and play.

When you return, open the drawer

to a renewal of friendship.

"The greatest meditation is a mind that lets go." - Atisa Dipa

A Single Blade of Grass

"If you study Japanese art, you see a man who is undoubtedly wise, philosophic and intelligent, who spends his time how? In studying the distance between the earth and the moon? No. In studying the policy of Bismark? No. He studies a single blade of grass. This blade of grass leads him to draw every plant and then the seasons, the wide aspects of the countryside, then animals, then the human figure." - Vincent van Gogh

Find moments in nature to explore.

Dip into the shapes and colors of petals.

Notice amusements.












Find your wings for flight.

Unwanted Gifts

"People come into our lives without our bidding, and stay without our invitation. They give us knowledge we do not seek; gifts we do not want. But we need them all the same." 

- said by Mrs. Sparrow in The Stockholm Octavo
by Karen Engelman

With one holiday completed, unwanted gifts create the possibility for story. Did you receive packages, relatives, acquaintances or friends that fit that category? 

Examine gifts brought to you in a variety of ways. Include negative influences that caused positive results. Gifts can include knowledge gained of yourself through the tribulations of a relationship's needs.

People change and needs change. How have you met changes and needs?

Detail the gains from unwanted gifts. Discover a treasure or two.

String Experiences

"Words are the threads upon which we string our experiences." - Aldous Huxley

The New Year looms days away.  

Are you feeling consumed by changes you wish for in 2019?  

Forget Resolutions!  

Free your mind of distractions and explore without judgment today.  

Relent to creative urges and stay flexible.

Imaginate: Write a line of something that seems impossible.

Revitalize: See an old problem in an unbelievable way.

Play: Describe a playful activity.

Eye rolls: Examine a familiar object with a new perspective.

No gravity: What would you do if gravity did not hold you down?

Take the responses to your lines and re-arrange them. Read them aloud. Put them aside and write for ten minutes.

How will you begin 2019 as a purple tummy bird?

Or sing like a bluebird with freckles?

Just Be

What keeps you from staying in the present moment?  

Just be.

All thoughts and experiences are impermanent. Why would you pay attention to the scurry of thinking that occurs in daily life? When you realize you do not need to attend to these thoughts, it feels easier to drop them.

Find ways to discover the hidden influence of your most ingrained emotional patterns.

How might that happen?

Think of three patterns that often circulate in your mind.  

Are they: Fears. Situations that will not happen. Relationship issues.

Take stock of your current condition and find balance.





Humor always evokes the best feelings.  When negative thoughts creep in, name them in silly ways and then just laugh.

Just laugh and be.

Christmas Memories

‎"One Christmas was so much like another, in those years around the sea-town corner now and out of all sound except the distant speaking of the voices I sometimes hear a moment before sleep, that I can never remember whether it snowed for six days and six nights when I was twelve or whether it snowed for twelve days and twelve nights when I was six." 

              ~ A Child's Christmas in Wales by Dylan Thomas*

The season stimulates memories in the form of anecdotes, conversations, and relationships.  

Events turn over and over in the heart and mind. 

Will the memory fulfill itself in the events of the moment? Will those who have left return home to celebrate?

What do you wish for to complete your holiday celebration?  Would you request a return from a deceased relative for the day?  Will you return to a childlike self for the festivities?  Do you require a day of youthful pleasures?  Do you recall when someone told you about Santa Claus? 

How might you transport yourself in words over the miles and years?  

Bring memories to the fireside and write.

"Happy, happy Christmas, that can win us back to the delusions of our childish days; that can recall to the old man the pleasures of his youth; that can transport the sailor and the traveller, thousands of miles away, back to his own fire-side and his quiet home!" ~ Charles Dickens.

*Full Dylan Thomas text:  http://www.bfsmedia.com/MAS/Dylan/Christmas.html

Christmas Eve Book Flood - Christmas Eve

Iceland publishes more books per capita than any other country in the world. The Nordic island with a population of 329,000, loves to read and write. They publish five titles for every 1,000 Icelanders. That means one in 10 Icelanders will publish. The majority of books are sold from late September to early December. 

On Christmas Eve, Icelanders exchange books during, jólabókaflóð, the "Christmas Book Flood."

Iceland's literary history dates to medieval times. Landmarks of world literature, including the Sagas of the Icelanders and the Poetic Edda, are still read and translated.

According to Baldur Bjarnason, a researcher who has written on the Icelandic book industry, "If you look at book sales distribution in the U.K. and the States, most book sales actually come from a minority of people. Very few people buy lots of books. Everybody else buys one book a year if you're lucky. It's much more widespread in Iceland. Most people buy several books a year." 

Designated a UNESCO City of Literature, Reykjavik has a population of 200,000 people. Within that small group, the city's library book loans total 1.2 million in one year.  A popular television show in Iceland, Kiljan is devoted entirely to books.

Bjarnason continues, "The book in Iceland is such an enormous gift, you give a physical book. You don't give e-books here."

On Christmas Eve enjoy the power of the book flood. 

Take time to cuddle with chocolate and a fun book.

Stories of Mistletoe

The mystical power of mistletoe and the tradition of kissing under this plant originated with the legend of Goddess Frigga, the Goddess of Love and her son Balder, God of the Summer Sun. 

Balder dreamed about his death. Frightened, he told his mother of the dream. Frigga felt concern for her son and also for the life on earth. She knew that without Balder, life on earth would come to an end. Frigga appealed to every being in air, water, fire, and earth to promise her that they would never harm her son. Every animal and plant under and above the earth promised to keep her son safe.

Loki, the God of Evil, an enemy of Balder, knew that Frigga had overlooked one plant in her appeal. Known as mistletoe, it grew on apple and oak trees.

Loki made an arrow and placed a sprig of this plant at its tip. He beguiled Hoder, the blind brother of Balder and the God of Winter, and made him shoot this arrow at Balder. 

Balder immediately died and everybody worried as the earth turned cold and life became dreary. For the next three days, every creature tried to bring Balder back to life. Finally Frigga with the help of mistletoe brought him back to life. Her tears on the plant became pearly white berries and she blessed it so that anyone who stood under the mistletoe would never be harmed. They would instead receive  a kiss as a token of love.

The plant’s ability to remain lush and fruitful throughout the year led to its use as a symbol of fertility. The Greek goddess Artemis wore a crown of mistletoe as an emblem of immortality. The plant also played a role in the Druids’ celebration of the Winter Solstice. With a golden knife they cut it from the oak and made potions to boost procreation.

Mistletoe served as the magical ingredient in the kissing ball or kissing bough in Victorian England. This round frame trimmed with ribbons and ornaments often held a tiny nativity with mistletoe at the bottom. The ball hung from rafters or the ceiling. Guests at holiday parties, weddings and other festive occasions played kissing games beneath the ball. The kiss beneath the decoration was said to bring good luck and lasting friendship. 

Washington Irving, wrote of a tradition in kissing beneath the mistletoe in Old Christmas From the Sketch Book of Washington Irving:

"The mistletoe is still hung up in farm-houses and kitchens at Christmas; and the young men have the privilege of kissing the girls under it, plucking each time a berry from the bush. When the berries are all plucked, the privilege ceases."

The custom of plucking berries for each kiss, and ceasing the bestowal of kisses once the berries are gone, has been left behind.  Still, the hanging of mistletoe and the custom kissing beneath it remains a popular tradition in Christmas celebrations. 

Enjoy a mistletoe moment on Christmas day.

Take a Risk

 "I write of the wish that comes true - for some reason, a terrifying thought." 

- James M. Caine

Recall an unfulfilled wish of your own. How would your life have changed if it had come true? Do you feel relieved that it did not?

What risk do you regret not taking?  Take that chance in writing about it now. 

Where does it take you?

Celebrate Winter Solstice December 21

"Music washes away from the soul the dust of everyday life." - Berthold Auerbach

Winter solstice occurs on December 21st. The Romans celebrated Brumalia as a winter festival. It also became known as Saturnalia (the “waxing of the light") to honor Roman Gods, Saturn, Demeter and Bacchus.

The festival included feasting and merriment to celebrate the victory of the sun over the cold and darkness of winter. 

Everyone celebrated with dancing and carousing.

Enjoy the season's rhythm.

                     Celebrate a winter festival of fun. 

Simplify

Our life is frittered away by detail. . . Simplify. Simplify. - Henry David Thoreau

If my heart can become pure and simple like that of a child, I think there probably can be no greater happiness than this. - Kitaro Nishida

Enjoy your day in a simple way. Search for nature's details and delights.

Take in the sounds, sights, and scents. Absorb the breeze.


Revel in nature's joy.

Holidaze Writing

Don't let the chaos of the Holiday season cause distress, daze, and down time in your life's journey. Incorporate surprise, laughter, and delight into your days. Notice what happens to your attitude toward life.  

Take time off from your usual worrying or trying so hard to please everyone else. Make a list of the five biggest worries on the left side of a sheet of paper.

Opposite each worry write why they never-in-this-world-will-happen.

You'll discover you worry using creative improbabilities not creative reality.

Write a Dear Child of Me letter.  What would you like to do that's really fun, daring or outright wild? As you write, try to remember your fearless self.

Take a timeout and write yourself into Fun.

Get Grounded

Do not try to stop your thinking. Let it stop by itself. If something comes into your mind let it come in and let it go out. It will not stay long. When you try to stop your thinking, it means you are not bothered by it. Do not be bothered by anything . . . . If you are not bothered by the waves gradually they will become calmer and calmer.     -  Shunryu Suzudki


Get Grounded:

l. Set an intention. Try:  I seek insight to see my objectives clearly.

2. Let go of tension. Inhale for an intake of five and lift shoulders to your ears. Exhale and release them down your back.

3. Take ten breaths with eyes closed. Find awareness in the sensation of breathing. If thoughts grab you, start over. Keep trying until you have taken ten consecutive breaths without distraction.

4. Return to your intention.

Notice what happens.

Windows and Light Trails

Consider a window: it is just

a hole in the wall, but because of it

the whole room is filled with light.

Thus when the mind is open

and free of its own thoughts,

life unfolds effortlessly,

and the whole world is filled with light.  

    The Second Book of the Tao by Stephen Mitchell

The Great White Egret with its posture in the water provides a window of openness. Illusions surround the bird. Its reflection provides a quality beyond grasp. A mystery of light trails appear in its presence as water ripples away and back again.

Another fellow stands on the bank feathered in gray with a silly expression. Called a shoe bill, he wriggles and makes unbirdlike sounds bouncing on one leg, then the other.

Light penetrates and leads if we permit it.  Even those without wings will fly.

What light travels for you today?  


Discover stories or poems that lurk in unlikely connections.

Word Glide

Do you feel fatigued from early holidaze?  Try a change of pace.

Glide into a stream of words without stopping. Write the first word and let it take you trolling for more. Be surprised, amused, and free.   

Try to avoid thinking as you go from word to word in a flow. 

Here's a first example:  

Finch: bird, feathers, brown, yellow cap, branch, twilight, dreams, smiles



Write as fast as you can across the page:

waterfall

sparrow

chartreuse

whirlpool

gossamer

pebble

When you finish look at your strings. Take a break then write for fifteen minutes and see what percolates.  


Have you moved into a new phase away from Holidaze?