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 where one can create a cyber-monument and leave a "virtual" note or bouquet.:                    

www.findagrave.com              

https://www.facebook.com/FindaGrave/ 

Rediscover

Have you set aside or forgotten parts of your life?  Did you used to play an instrument, dance for joy, write or paint with ease?  

The greatest treasures may be things you set aside long ago. Often it pays to go back and take a look. Replay aspects of youth in a different way.

Discover something new by retrieving an idea from the past. Or rediscover a lost art.  

Garden Stimulation

 

Olivia Laing believes gardening situates you in a different kind of time; the antithesis of the agitating present of social media. 

She writes, "Time becomes circular, not chronological; minutes stretch into hours; some actions don't bear fruit for decades. The gardener is not immune to attrition and loss, but is daily confronted with the ongoing good news of fecundity. A peony returns, alive pink shoots thrusting from bare soil. The fennel self-seeds; there is an abundance of cosmos out of of nowhere."

Greeks called linear time chronos. They plotted progress and cynical time as kairos. Kairos to Olivia Laing means the time of gardens and cycles. 

Birds, cicadas, and plants observe cycles of the season.

Find your garden stimulation.

Hummingbird Play

 

I saw it all from my green sky.

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

If we consider the possibility that dinosaurs evolved into birds, imagine Brontosaurus Rex shrink into a hummingbird body. What a change had to occur from a bulky creature who walked on thick legs and shook the earth with each step? 

An amazement of technology, a hummingbird can fly upside down and backwards while dipping its beak and tongue into flower nectar.

Where did the jewel of glitter first open its eyes? In Peru and other South American countries a variety of hummingbirds exist. They went to the rain forest and the high peaks of the Andes. They arrived in Argentina and Mexico. One species even made it to Alaska.

The Quechan people of present-day Ecuador tell stories of how the hummingbird represents a variety of attributes such as wisdom, optimism and agility. One story tells of a fire in a forest where many animals live. The hummingbird carries single drops of water back and forth from the pond to try to put out the firs. 

When the other animals ask why, the bird replies, "I am doing what I can."

Power to Positivity

 

It takes patience and perseverance to sort out the news and waltz beyond worry.

Take time to skip looking at the catastrophe network or reading headlines for a day.

Push away from the computer.. Find hearts in shadows.

Go out in the morning and Sing!

Immerse yourself in nature.

Take a walk and replace negative thoughts and frustrations with the scents and colors that pass along the way.

Ask questions. What does a peregrine or bee do when faced with an obstacle?

Listen for different sounds.

Observe shapes and textures.

Marvel at the ways the sea rants in ripples.

Distractions move the mind back to the present moment.

Rocks let the sea and sky pass over, under, around, and through.

Let nature’s wisdom seep into your thoughts and actions.

See smiles in petals.

Breathe in the majesty.

Find Power in Positivity.

Kindle Self-Esteem

A great fire burns within me, but no one stops to warm themselves at it, and passers-by only see a wisp of smoke.  - Vincent Van Gogh  

True contentment ignites from the inside out, regardless of the audience. 

Self-esteem kindles and nourishes beyond the insecurities of narcissism.

Arrows of awareness fire toward the bull's eye of balance.




Life's opportunities often surprise within an ember's smoke.




A smile lights the process.

Gifts of kindness and generosity glow with actions to reveal them.




We possess ways to trigger power and intensity to accomplish our goals.







A sense of humor enlightens during stressful events. 

Victories in daily life need flames of applause from the interior first. Then we can share the knowledge gained. 

Poetry Teasing

 

Unmoored
in midnight water
no waves, no wind
the empty boat
is flooded with moonlight
               -  Eihei Dogen

Basho and Dogen wrote with the idea, "Learn about the pine from the pine, learn about the bamboo from the bamboo."

Poetry begins with the outside world that teases the poet. Leaves, light, and longing connect.

Notice the nature of a blossom.

Bring attention to details and search for an original view that reveals playfulness, rebellion or courage.

Widen the possibilities with each line. 

Discover surprise and unpredictability to add to nature's simplicity.

Observe. Reflect. Question.

Tiptoe into silence with open eyes, ears, and heart.
                                  Let the words mist with secrets.

Use Stillness

Imagine a hummingbird as a statue on a branch, its flurry of activity at rest. Identify each color and feather in detail.

The frenzy for many appears endless. How would it feel to quiet your day?

Take time to sit and breathe in five breaths, then out five. Continue until you can extend your exhalation to ten.

During this time of silence when you slow the breath, feel stillness. Sounds may arise but they represent energy when you feel in a focused state.

Notice the the space around you opens. Nothing will overwhelm when you pay attention to the rhythm of the breath. Give this feeling of rest a name as you search for balance.

Use the name and revisit its calming effect from time to time each day.

Choose a name for your tranquility and sense of peacefulness. Dialogue with this new friend.

To the Edge

 

"I want to stay as close to the edge as I can without going over. Out on the edge you can see all kinds of things you can't see from the center."  - Kurt Vonnegut

What does it mean to move to the edge? Does it feel frightening?  How does it inspire?

Go beyond a physical edge in your thinking. Consider times you have pushed to the edge of ideas and thought patterns, the meaning of a friendship, a creative project. 

Where did you feel a glow, progress, and possibility?  How did conquering an unnerving situation result in personal growth?

"The mind I love must have wild places, a tangled orchard where the dark damsons drop in the heavy grass, an overgrown little woods, the change of a snake or two, a pool that nobody's fathomed the depth of - and paths threaded with those little flowers planted by the mind." - Katherine Mansfield

Find the fun and fascination by thinking about movements close to the edge.

Ars Poetica

 

Blaga Dimitrova, Bulgaria's celebrated poet, novelist and playwright wrote:

As Long as You're Upright

Don't forget to rejoice.

The wise trees whisper

as they crash on failing knees

under the ax.

Don't forget to rejoice!

As long as you're upright,

as long as you encounter the wind.

As long as you breathe the heights.

As long as the ax slumbers.

Daily, the media throws "news" at us in the form of disasters, disorders and disarray. Rarely do we see headlines that inspire.

How do we survive each day with a positive attitude in this culture of negativity?  How do we remain upright?

Poetry leads us to search for our center and travel outward from it to make connections  

We can do this in a tone of whininess or search for what works in our lives and in the world. 

Nature provides endless possibilities from dawn to dusk with marvels for our enrichment.

Inhaling life with all our senses gives perspective.

Today consider life from a Positive perspective.  

Write your Ars Poetica from a place in nature. 

Delight and instruct the reader with your art form.

Rediscover

Consider aspects of life you have set aside, forgotten, or given up.  Did you used to play an instrument, dance for joy, write or paint with ease?  

The greatest treasures in your life may be things you set aside long ago. Often it pays to go back and take a look. Replay aspects of youth in a different way.

Reconnect with a friend who has gone missing. Write a letter.

Discover something new by retrieving an idea from the past.  

Rediscover your art.  

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 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.

Capo D'Astro Bar

 

Back in the sixties, Bud Robbins was hired to write advertising copy for the Aeolian Piano Company. The ad would appear in the New York Times for their grand piano. Robbins knew nothing about pianos and couldn't even play one. He had no idea why someone would spend $5000 (back then) when they could purchase a Baldwin or Steinway for the same amount.

Robbins toured the factory for two days.  Just before leaving, the national sales manager escorted him into the showroom. The Aeolian piano appeared alongside the Steinway and Baldwin, in an elegant setting.

The sales manager mentioned, "Even though all pianos look alike, ours is heavier. "

"What makes yours heavier," asked Robbins.

"We have the Capo d'astro bar," the reply.

The sales manager asked Robbins to get down on his knees and look under the piano. He pointed to a metallic bar fixed across the harp that bore down on the highest octaves.

"It takes 50 years before the harp in the piano warps. That's when the Capo d'astro bar goes to work. It prevents that warping," the manager explained.

Bud Robbins searched under the Baldwin and Steinway but didn't find the same bar, only a toy-like version.

Robbins asked, "It doesn't go to work for 50 years?"

The manager said, "Yes, that's why the Metropolitan Opera House in New York City uses this piano. Their bar should be working by now."

Robbins went to the person in charge of moving the Metropolitan Opera House to the Lincoln Center, Carmen Rise Stevens. She told him the only item they took with them was the piano because of its tone and quality that only gets stronger with time.

During his advertising career, Robbins searched and discovered the Capo d'astro bar in all his clients and products dedicated to excellence and endurance. 

Everyone has a strength that kicks in when most needed. 

Search for your own Capo d'astro bar. It will enable you to outlast challenges during times of stress. 

After you locate your Capo d'astro bar, describe what it looks and feels like when it goes to work.

Moment Fishing

Use of photography inspires a feeling of the rustle of moments. Shutter speed has a creativity all its own.

What else enlivens from the bubbles and papyrus? The reflection from a dew globe searches the rose next door. Or, notice a butterfly primping

Like photography, writing does not require a definite subject or something to say. Rambling attracts words through imagery.  The process brings a novelty to light or permits a perception into existenc

In the ordinary, discovery slants, catapults or somersaults perspective.

The tease of unknown intrigues. Test it with a spark of a word or two on the page. During the fingering of keys or flow of a pen, delve into a photograph. Let a collage of ideas percolate and permeate across the screen or page.

  

Clouds in a puddle form and circulate wonder. 

Fish for moments.

Thrill the Page

If sentences run along like this bamboo, where's the thrill? Add spice!

Write like a moving camera to take in the scenery and tease each moment. Let the reader experience your subject as you go. Don't tell everything. Add the spice of sound and scent along the way. Color the greenery with delphiniums, roses and a daisy.

Spark vitality and add texture when you taste the honeysuckle. Mix and match short and long sentences. This gives the reader a breather. Avoid the use of too many "to be" verbs in sentence after sentence.

Promise yourself to avoid "is" "am" "was" "were" and "ings" for a day.

Adjectives and adverbs sprout like weeds among the "beautiful" flowers. They choke the essence from nouns and verbs that drive the sentences. Why write "beautiful" when you can show the iris float above its stalk like a banner in the wind?

Listen to bird songs and see if you can duplicate the trills on the page. Show the ping of water that splashes in a fountain.

Take a walk and write from your discoveries.

Thrill the page.

Find Soft Fascination

Stephen and Rachel Kaplan, environmental psychologists at the University of Michigan, study how the brain rests in, "soft fascination." This occurs during an observation of a restorative landscape, cloud drift, sunset, or rain.

When nature grabs our "sweet spot" of interest, we feel enticed but not demanded to pay attention.

The soft fascination lulls us.

Anxiety and stress decrease.

Cranial currents alter. As the cerebellum stimulates, frontal lobe activity lowers.

"I go to nature to be soothed and healed and to have my senses put in order. 

 - John Burroughs

Take time to ramble in nature with a camera. Notice and click.

"All truly great thoughts are conceived while walking." - Nietzsche

 Discover soft fascination.