Delve into Friendship

"A wonderful thing about true laughter is that it just destroys any kind 
of system of dividing people."

 - John Cheese

he poet, Rumi, sought to find truth in competing beliefs. He said, "A life without love is of no account. Don't ask yourself what kind of love you should seek, spiritual or material, divine or mundane, eastern or western … divisions only lead to more divisions. Love has no labels, no definitions. It is what it is, pure and simple. Love is the water of life. And a lover is a soul of fire! The universe turns differently when fire loves water."

When Mongol armies got close to his home in Konya, Rumi walked out alone to speak with the general, Bughra Kahn. Surprisingly, the Kahn felt such authority in Rumi's presence, he did not sack Konya. Legend has it that the general said, "There may be others like him."

Coleman Banks, who has translated the words of Rumi, speaks of friendship, "However it might be in this violent world, I would rather see us walking along inside the mystery of friendship, with its soul fury and its kindness, to sit down together finally at the table that Rumi, and many others, have set."

Of all the things that wisdom provides...the greatest...is the possession of friendship.” 

– Epicurus

Reach out to a friend today.  Use humor and laughter to bridge any communication gaps.

Reconnect with someone you may have forgotten over the years.  

Write to a friend to resolve issues.  

Send a note to someone who has inspired you because of Friendship.

Everyone has a deep friend
and something that they love to do,
A beloved and a craft. - Rumi 

Moments in Marvel

"The secret of health is not to mourn the past or worry about the future but to live in the present moment wisely."  - Zen Proverb

  

Human beings have such a difficult time just "being."  We are always doing . . . worrying about yesterday, then shuddering about tomorrow.

The natural world has a lot to teach about existing in the marvel of moments. 

When the brain sends out negative thoughts or someone sets you off about events in the past or future, take time to identify with an animal in nature.  

Make time for a walk. Forget about politics, negativity, and even the weather. 

Go for a natural immersion.

Appreciate the feeling of breezes on the arms, a whiff of eucalyptus or a scent in your environment. 

Listen to birdsong and look up to appreciate the miracle of flight.

Let the shimmer on a hummingbird's wings in sunlight activate a peaceful state of mind.

Observe behaviors that fill each moment. 

Enjoy a glorious opportunity to dance, trot, and breathe in, then out.  

Once in a rhythm, you will stop the mind chatter.  

Let laughter stimulate the stomach muscles to tighten.

The magic of minutes in the present will calm your nerves. Find a friend who will remind you to stay in that focus.

In the details Merge with the Marvel of Moments.

Find the Shine

A man is not his hope, nor his despair, nor yet his past deed. We know not yet what we have done, still less what we are doing. Wait till evening, and other parts of our day’s work will shine than we had thought at noon, and we shall discover the real purport of our toil. As when the farmer has reached the end of the furrow and looks back, he can tell best where the pressed earth shines most.  

- Henry David Thoreau

Time to stop for nature's miracles

without cellphone delays.




When many of us require an audience,

the daisy never requests applause.

It needs to rise from the earth,

to shine with each morning's dew.

Reciprocate with a scent of awakening,

to flare magenta into a twirl.




Soon majesty of the moment will

attract a bee to nuzzle the future.

Find the Shine.

Speculative Design

The idea of Speculative Design has taken flight for Ben Bratton. Bratton explains its whimsical thinking, “Although impractical, it gives us a new way of thinking and new perceptions. It helps us to re-imagine and re-engineer the physical world.

Bratton continues, "It has no practical function other than to get one to think about conventions that govern the design of objects, spaces and systems.”

The three speculative design projects listed consider ideas beyond the ordinary. They involve problems to solve even though they are not real projects.

The Cloud Project involves a truck that shoots sugar, flavoring, coloring, and cream into the clouds to product a snowfall of ice cream.

The Fish Project farms colorful fish that contain chemicals released from their bodies to neutralize poisons in polluted water after a toxic chemical spill.

The Heart Project implants an electric eel in the chest of a heart patient so in the event of a heart attack the eel can shock the heart back to life. 



Using creativity and speculative design, what type of project would you create?

Where is the Story?

Stories abound from the clouds to the sea. 

Observe and capture ideas. 

Begin with the pursuit of shapes and colors. Notice where they mesh.

Ask questions of an observation.


Why is this carriage behind bars?











Who has left? Who will arrive? Who will benefit from the circles and lines?

Create a conversation or two. Where will it lead?

Look up.

Find ways to connect or metaphorically use these photographs.  

How do the stories weave and wriggle?

Let Humor Out to Soar

Reality can get in the way of creativity. Take a chance and write nonsense. It might turn out to make perfect sense and twirl into a launching pad for your writing.

Let humor our to soar when gravity sucks.

Look at the silliness of the government. Think of five ways you would use humor to turn their activities around.

If you feel in a pickle see the world upside down. Hand by your knees from a tree's branch.

Try the notion of changing places. Imagine daisies in the sky and clouds rooted to the ground. What would they dialogue about?

How would you transform into your opposite self?  

If you play it safe, take more chances.  

If you run an organized life, what if you scattered your life about?









Open different doors.

Alter your routine.Do something you’ve really wanted to try and never had the time to do.


Search for faces and animals enveloped in roses. Invite them to tea.

Take a reality break. Write into the crawl spaces of fun and fantasy.

Write About Free Will

When John-Paul Sartre explained his concept of existential angst, he used the metaphor of vertigo. If you walk along a mountain path and sense a feeling of vertigo, you're not afraid you will fall off. You're more concerned that you will decide to jump.

Free will causes fear because it means freedom could change radically in the future. The freedom to do what you want later becomes freedom to end present desires.

Dan Brooks wrote, "Getting a tattoo may be a way for your past self to dominate your present self, but getting sick of your tattoo is a way for your present self to betray your past." 

If you decide to start writing right now but receive a phone call about a movie date, free will clicks in. You decide you can write tomorrow. Then, half way into the movie, you realize you actually wanted to write. Guilt sets in causing angst. 

The question of who is in charge becomes complicated.

Write about a time of choice in your life.  Or, write about a person who has to make a choice to stop a bad habit.  He or she may wish but free will takes over.

Write About Animals

About 12,000 years ago, wolves with friendly natures wandered into Native American camps.  Soon they became protectors, hunters and pack animals.  Later dogs became children's playmates and family members.  Animals have provided physical and mental needs of human beings throughout history.

In Native American culture, animals assumed spiritual roles through shamanism, as power animals or totems. People believed the animals became helpers and healers to anyone who sought them out. 

Shamanism explains that everyone is thought to have a power animal or animal spirits that live in the soul to protect and imbue them with wisdom. 

Horses and owls were the earliest used by the Shaman.

Choose two animals, give them a desire to have traits or special powers and write a story. 





Try a turtle who has the desire to fly. He meets a duck who wishes to speak a human language. What if a bear wants to become huggable instead of fierce?  He meets a snail who begs for the power of an eagle. 

Play with the notion of animals and their needs.  Keep asking . . . and then what happens?

Seek the Mystery

“The answer is never the answer. What's really interesting is the mystery. If you seek the mystery instead of the answer, you'll always be seeking. I've never seen anybody really find the answer. They think they have, so they stop thinking. But the job is to seek mystery, evoke mystery, plant a garden in which strange plants grow and mysteries bloom. The need for mystery is greater than the need for an answer.” 

- Ken Kesey

A Chinese poem reveals the true measure of a mountain's greatness is not its height but whether it is charming enough to attract dragons.

Life gathers joy with mystery and fabulous.

What if you planted a garden where strange plants grow?  

How would you describe them by colors, textures, scents, and sounds they make? 

Imagine an orchestra or a wild concert of blooms. Discover magicians within the petals. Discover ways to choreograph the dance.

Place yourself into an encounter of strange and delve into the wonder and magic. 

Move from the actual into fun and fantasy with words.

Flavor your writing with mystery and see where it leads. 

The Journey

Journey metaphorically in writing. 
            Where do you begin? 
                  What must remain behind? 

Think of items necessary. Choose a road, a trail, or passage on a river.

Find a destination like a camp surrounded by trees. Does a house or inn appear in the distance?

Do you require a partner on the trip?

How do you deal with weather and temperature shifts?

In what ways do you manage discomfort?

Are you unnerved by surprises that meet you around the bend in the river or at the next turn in the trail?

What happens next?

Describe the wildlife and nature in detail.

Imagine you have no destination.

Find how each step along the way unravels the unexpected and mysterious.

Describe how
contentment evolves 
during the journey.