Dream Tending

"When we interact with these imaginal presentations of the night/day, we hear the myth, the dream that is moving through our life. Implicating us in all aspects of our engagements with family, friends, and our work, dreams bring inspiration, as well as insight. Dream Tending teaches ways of evolving a sustained relationship with imagination and the figures/landscapes of psyche. Cultivating these engagements and learning to interact with regard creates an on-going living relationship with the figures of soul."                                                                         - Dr. Stephen Aizenstat

Investigate the dream's details. 

In the evening before bed:

Say, "Tonight I'm going to remember my dreams." 

Morning:  Keep a Dream journal bedside. Write details as soon as you awaken. Get a sense of the dream.

Bring the dream into awareness. Dreams are like friends. Get involved.

Notice what dream has to offer.
What is the most peculiar fragment?

Acknowledge the dream. What's the context? Place it in circumstances of life.

Find a pun or metaphor.

Tend dreams from the inside out. Go beyond and explore. Find the myth.

Dr. Seuss claimed, "My alphabet began where yours ended. Most people stop with the Z . . . not me."

Learn more about Dream Tending by Dr. Aizenstat.

Celebrate with Curiosity

Albert Einstein said, "The important thing is not to stop questioning. Curiosity has its own reasons for existing."

Even the rose wants to explore beyond the fence. During childhood, I asked so many questions my father created stories he thought would satisfy my curiosity. Even then he often fell asleep before my questions stopped arriving like thunderbolts.

He never said, "I don't know." Even when I had him perplexed, he'd launch into an explanation to cover the topic. Many years later I learned a bidet really wasn't a footbath. 

Endowed with curiosity, everything in life becomes possible. Linked with optimism and creativity, curiosity pushes limits.

Ways to heighten your natural gift of curiosity:

1.   Stay open to possibilities. Nurture the ability to change your mind, unlearn and relearn.

2.   Ask questions like a reporter: Who, What, Why, When, Where, How? Don't feel content with easy answers. Ask more questions.

3.   Curious individuals never feel bored. Take advantage of 'empty time' like standing in line. Observe what's going on around you. Notice people's choices and listen. Writers always carry notepads.

4.   Become a perpetual learner. Make learning fun and seek beyond the obvious.

5.   Read diverse publications and books. Explore what you don't know with a free mind.
6.   Use all your senses to explore nature daily.
7.   When puzzled, ask, "What if . . . ?"  "Then what . . . ?"
8.   Consider frustrations ways to dig for buried treasure. Keep digging.
9.   Find ways each day to express gratitude for small favors.
10.  Keep exploring your mind's mosaics.

Approach a favorite friend or relative with curiosity.

Reciprocity

 

Reciprocity rules in relationships that endure.

We also thrive in a reciprocity with writing. For writing to nurture us, we desire the thrills and rhythm to sustain our sense of direction. Writing must provide support as we struggle through the fog. Often this relationship feels unrequited. We push and push clutching for words that drown beyond our reach.

Similar to our relationships with others, we must figure out for ourselves what Aristotle meant by, “Know thyself.”  What do we know about our individual strengths and challenges when churning in a wordless maelstrom ? We have to re-create our self-assurance and find a Positive to remind us what works . A "learn thyself" process keeps us going.

Nine Preparations for inclement writing weather:

1. Stock your own life raft while the sun shines. What are your best resources? During the times of flow, write down what works for you. What have you done "this time" to push beyond?

2. Challenge yourself to discover ways to return to the page or screen. Turn up the music. Sit there and let fingers fly without worry about the result. Don’t become anxious to create a finished piece.

3. Learn your rhythm. Chart your mind's peaks and valleys by week.  Give yourself a day of rest and read a variety of words. Choose words that amuse or amaze. Write one word or one sentence on colored cards.

4. As you begin to learn about yourself, consider: Does creativity increase the closer you get to the deadline? Can you count on this? What other ways could you manage your creativity? Consider setting an earlier deadline to trick the "procrastinating creative."

5. When frustration floods, return to research and information gathering. Write a letter to your writing as a friend. Ask this pal for help.

6. Most breakthroughs occur when you move away from the project. Take a walk. Write about forces of nature deal with weather.

7. Consider improbable connections. Let your ideas rearrange in kaleidoscopic fashion

8. Write your process for all writing projects. Notice it does not progress in a linear fashion. This will become your Best Friend.

9. Create your own metaphor for struggle. Consider your greatest accomplishment and how you achieved it. Use all your senses to recall it in detail.

In a write relationship, no one can supply what we have the ability to discover for ourselves. Learning our rhythms and styles will support us through any weather and become habit. With habit and resilience, we will always have two Best Friends and will benefit from the reciprocity.


Write about how you deal with all types of weather in your writing.

Awareness

 

Our minds can create strings of thoughts that move from anguish to armageddon within minutes.  We move deeper into despair by thinking about the next . . . and the next possible disaster.

What if the next time the chain begins we stop and re-arrange the lines to develop creative solutions, absurd or awesome?

Instead of asking, "What if this happens?" Flip the chatter.  Ask - "In what ways will I prepare for all situations."

Begin in awareness.

First describe the internal feelings when the anguish begins. Notice how they circulate in the abdomen or tighten the chest.

Breathing becomes shallow.

Find a word to stop your train of thoughts.  Write or yell:  Halt! 

Just laugh. Sing your favorite tune.

Begin to consider your breathing patterns and find a rhythm of five counts in through the nose and six counts out through the nose. 

Think of how nature deals with timing. Imagine the challenge of a seed breaking the covering to develop shoots and roots.

Create imagery to remove yourself from the anxiety of the situation.

Focus on a scent like lemon or your favorite aroma.  Chase it to all components and tastes. Let it transport you to a time of tranquility.

Focus on a bird song, waves, wind in tree branches.

Listen for the click click of a hummingbird or a gull's cry.

Get into the details of the shapes and depths inside flowers. 

Bring in the Ha Ha Ha of humor. Laugh out loud. Make fun of the situation.

By using awareness and delving into distraction, laughter and creativity, watch the fragments of worry disappear.

Live from the Inside out.

Life requires acceptance and balance. We can feel bombarded by negativity while standing at the grocery store's check out line. Rows of magazines shriek at us with headlines of absurdity and sensationalism. 

Use your creativity to turn those headlines into the positive ones. Then, let someone with fewer items go ahead of you and share your smile.

Discover a life based on Gratitude for each moment and revel in your individual gifts. 

Find balance and energy in daily runs or walks in nature. Focus on mind-body-spirit and breath during a mindfulness or yoga practice. Slip right into yourself and benefit from all the sensations. Even the negative feelings become teachers.

While driving, avoid anxiety when other drivers tailgate or inconvenience you. How do they drive with their knees while chugging coffee in one hand, cell phone in the other? 

At the next Stop, begin a Laughter Exercise. Start with HO HO HO. Add HEE HEE HEE. Move into a wilder HA HA HA. Repeat adding a tune. Roll the windows down. You will infect some cranky person in the car next to you or attract someone walking with his head down.

It wastes energy to feel anger or frustration. When you feel a "tremor of terrible" creeping up your body, acknowledge it! 

Then wave it away. Laugh and use that talent more often.

Celebrate resilient living from the inside out.

Into a Flow

 

"The river was cut by the world's great flood and runs over rocks from the basement of time. On some of the rocks are timeless raindrops. Under the rocks are the words, and some of the words are theirs. I am haunted by waters." - Norman Maclean

A river tumbles and teems with life to reveal the search for simplicity and unity. Waters weave their magical powers. Swift-surging rivers change with the light during the day. They merge with wonder in darkness. The flow provides opportunities for meditation and reflection. The river reveals a symbol of constancy within change.

Norman Maclean wrote, "Eventually, all things merge into one, and a river runs through it." The Indian word, 'hassayampah' means, the river that loses itself underground, like intuition.

We experience others' lives. They move on, flow through other landscapes and merge with different lives. Consider those who came before you. How, like a river do you carry them with you? What about those whose current has taken them away?

Move into a flow

Recognize your personal journey as a life that flows, constant, and changing.

Launch from Ordinary

 

"I gladly abandon dreary tasks, rational scruples, reactive undertakings 

imposed by the world." 

  - Roland Barthes

Barthes said he would do the above, "for the sake of love." Even though he knew it might cause him to act like a lunatic, "it freed up tremendous energy."

What if you take time off and launch from the ordinary? 

Fly away from daily tasks. 

Search for an amusement, 

         an adventure, 

               or creative idea to stimulate your imagination.  

Use boundless vigor and act like a lunatic to accomplish the goal.

Abandon the dreary
    Alter your rhythm
         Free up energy
                  
Take a chance
       Make a change.

              

Launch today.

Scents of Pleasure

 

Do you use herbs and flowers to flavor the air and cooking? 

Rosemary, called "dew of the sea" finds nourishment in sea mist and humidity. Greek mythology reveals it adorned Aphrodite when she rose from the sea. Its fragrance flavors meats and stews. When it's shaped annually in the garden, the aroma scents the breeze, clothes, and work gloves. 

Take a few sprigs to add to your car, or for use in the kitchen.

Bay trees flavor many dishes like spaghetti sauce. They also have symbolic meaning. Greeks fashioned the bay laurel leaves into crowns to place on the heads of victors in games and battles. The God, Zeus, loved the laurel.  It contain oils used in medicines to treat breathing ailments.

In addition to flavoring food, plants provide olfactory effects. Lavender provides a sense of ease when we need relaxation.

Geraniums, a common garden plant, exudes an odor that meets with mixed reviews. They can smell like rose, peppermint, even chocloate and lime.

Leaves of camphor and eucalyptus refresh when crushed or rubbed.

Roses used in sachets and potpourris also add fragrance to water, baths and waft through a room when cut and placed in a vase. After the flowers of the rose have been pollinated, the fruits form rosehips.  They add flavor to tea and provide vitamin C.

Stop and smell the flowers and herbs. 

Slow down, relax and take in the simple pleasures.

Birthday Celebration

 

My father would have celebrated his 131st Birthday today, March 23.

With his background in broadcasting and passion for international communication, he would be quite a fan of the internet. He'd revel in all the technological gadgets that abound. A cell phone with all its applications, super digital camera, and a huge screen for sports viewing would attract his attention. 

Inspite of the ease of access to news, he might feel frustrated by the sensationalism and inaccuracies of the media. Current politics would cause some frustration. I doubt he’d feel surprised at the state of international relations. Even though the world has troubles, he'd have faith in possibilities. He'd believe in ideas, advancements and the development of new institutions.

What fun it would be to bring him back for a day.

I’d take him to breakfast at my favorite café overlooking the Pacific Coast, so he could observe the sea and its creatures. We’d order a jelly and cheese omelette and have half grapefruits to start. Multi-grain toast and boysenberry jam would top it off.

I’d tour him on my computer and show him how a cell phone works. His eyes would grow large and he’d want to take over. I’d advise him - First a walk! He'd try to convince me otherwise but I've mastered his techniques in assertiveness.

"Let's go!" I'd lead the way.

He’d remark at the clear air, scents of the flowers and watch the pelicans and seagulls testing the currents. A pod of dolphins would delight him as they jumped and fished.

"Do they still make coca cola?" he'd ask and, "Wow, cameras without film so you can take shot after shot . . . Really?"

He'd turn, and chuckle, "Petsy, I miss hot dogs and Delaware Punch!"

I'd smell his Old Spice and watch the curling smile at the corner of his mouth.

"Now, show me that communication net?" he'd ask. "Stock market still around?"

We'd walk to another café where he could go WIFI, play all day and acquaint himself with world politics. Adjusting easily to the keys, within minutes he'd have mastered the world wide web.

He'd smile across at me, "Did I ever tell you about the time. . ." Then he'd look out at the clouds turning into animals and shapes. "Nature hasn't changed, has it?" he'd say. "It's still a marvel."

Just before sunset, we would return to sit on a bench by the sea and watch our “great ball of fire” ease past the horizon.

"I finally caught the green flash," I'd say.

"We'll see it together, Petsy. I'll just have to return next year."

Happy Birthday, Daddy. Same time, next year.

Into the Heart

 

Hearts abound in nature.  

Shapes appear in myriad colors.

They arouse and amuse.

Discover one around a corner.

Search inside petals.

Listen to the sighs.

Smile.

Look up, down and squint.

Look inside and beyond a heart.

Write about varieties of the heart. Consider the beat, the shape, and movement.  

Fling into a new view. Get into the heart.

Memory's Rhythm

 

Scenes tickle, rumble, roar

                   across the mind’s landscape.

                                 While bird song soothes the breeze. 

Solitary shadows sparked scrambles,

                       scenes of friendship’s foundation.

                                      Collages mesh with fierce echoes.

Rose scents and tangerine recall 

                   times of immediacy where sunset

                                    bore a backdrop for fireworks.

A box filled with toys enticed

               while eyes explored a roadway

                              winding into kinship sharing.

Magnolia branches climbed to clouds,

                   brought bark stings against a knee,

                                marked how frustration does not delay.

Heart shapes amble and circle

            across the page, as fingers clutch 

                       a fountain pen beneath cupped hand.

Beyond life’s aches and ashes

a smile uplifts to reveal mountain

moments do not relent to time.

Celebrate Spring March 20

"Truth is, one day I planted a flower. As the flower grew I began to feel something come alive in my own skin.  I would go out at weird hours of the day and night, just to fuss over the flower. I dug in the dirt to let the flower breathe. 

I planted more flowers to give the flower friends." 

- Terry Hershey

Terry Hershey discovered that life is a garden. He would tell his flowers stories, laugh out loud into twilight. He wrote, "A strange grin spread over my face as I realized what was happening. I felt at home."

As Hershey continued to plant more flowers, vegetables, and trees, he brought friends over. He watched their smiles. As the garden grew he felt joy, "I came face to face with a part of myself that had been missing and I liked what I saw."

Celebrate March 20, first day of spring.

Plant seeds in the garden and in containers inside your home.

Observe how they grow. It takes time for a seed to break its case. Seedlings show strength and push upward to the light and downward to develop a foundation.  Provide their nurture with water and nutrients.

Once the leaves spring their green, feel the leaf texture.

Always smile.








The scent of a flower will appear in time.

Find a new approach to life by discovering what a seedling's success suggests for you.

Foster Fluidity

All over the world rivers and lakes continue to dry. Sources of water shrink. Droughts become common and prolonged. 

Many respond to the crisis.

Since 2014 an engineer in India, Ramveer Tanwar, has organized efforts to rejuvenate twelve dead lakes and ponds.

Engage in idealistic pursuits that benefit others. 

Foster fluidity and find the flow everywhere you go.