Pursue Questions

 

"Literature stops life for the purpose of examining it." ~ William Faulkner

Writers have posed and pursued questions since Socrates who said, "The unexamined life is not worth living," 

Rainer Maria Rilke wrote, ". . . and the point is to live everything. Live the questions now. Perhaps then, someday far in the future, you will gradually, without even noticing it, live your way into the answer."

American naturalist, John Burroughs, wrote as he traveled. He claimed, "I still find each day too short for all the thoughts I want to think. All the walks I want to take, all the books I want to read and all the friends I want to see."

Let creativity and curiosity serve as a rallying cry. 

          Consider how to define "examine"?

                 Discover ways to pursue the questions.

Develop a Positive Path

 

A well-developed thought “is like a ski track in the snow. The more you ski down a path, the easier it is to go down that path and not another,” says Alex Korb, a neuroscientist and author of “The Upward Spiral: Using Neuroscience to Reverse the Course of Depression, One Small Change at a Time.”  

Psychologists call this path creation, "cognitive reappraisal." Individuals who develop intent and practice thoughts that stimulate stronger neural networks increase positive thoughts and a joyful brain.

Performing a cognitive reappraisal does not involve turning off negative thoughts. It is also not about turning untrue negative thoughts into untrue positive ones. 

The goal deals with reframing thoughts constructively, so they are based in reality. Thoughts are composed of a pattern of activity between proteins, chemicals, gene expressions, and neural connections in the brain. The more we focus on a thought, the strong the circuit grows. The mind, like the body, grows with repetition.  

Begin to practice by writing down negative thoughts as they appear. 




Then challenge them. Write affirmations: “I am creative.” “I am a good friend.” 

The goal is repetition.  

Reappraise negatives with creative possibilities.  

Develop a positive path.

Mind Feathers

Birds sing to attract a mate or defend their territory. By July most baby birds have flown. Bird song has quieted except for those who continue to produce eggs.

By mid-July the bird scene at feeders drops off. Birds appear quiet in song and begin to hide.  

What's up? "Where did the birds go?" 

Molting replaces feathers worn or damaged. Sprouting new feathers helps birds stay in top flying condition. 

When a bird loses an entire feather, that feather will grow back immediately rather than waiting for the next molt.

Hormonal changes caused by seasonal changes begin the process.  

Understanding molting patterns helps to identify many species and their age.

Waterfowl lose all primary and secondary feathers at the same time. They become flightless for a month during the molting period.

Male ducks grow "eclipse plumage" which protects them while they cannot fly. They appear scruffy in brown as protective camouflage.

.

After wing feathers have grown, the drakes (males) regrow their bright feathers.

By autumn the rainbow of bird colors and songs will appear in full force.

Imagine if you could molt, take a rest time, feel colorful, and zoom into flight? 

Consider a mental molt. Where would you escape to grow new mind feathers?

Daily Travel

As you think, you travel, and as you love, you attract. You are today where your thoughts have brought you; you will be tomorrow 

where your thoughts take you.  - James Lane Allen

       

A traveler walked along a road from one village to another. He noticed a man tending to a garden by the sea. 

The man smiled and waved, "Good day" to the traveler. The traveler turned  and said, "Excuse me, I am travelling from a village in the mountains to this village by the sea. What is it like here?


"What was your experience of the village in the mountains?"
 the man asked the traveler.

"Dreadful," replied the traveler, "I am glad to be away from there. I found the people most unwelcoming. When I first arrived I was greeted coldly. I was never made to feel a part of the village no matter how hard I tried. The villagers don't like strangers. What can I expect in the village by the sea?"


"I am sorry to tell you but I think your experience will be much the same here," replied the man.

The traveler hung his head and walked on.


Later another visitor journeyed down the same road and came upon the man gardening.


"I'm going to the village by the sea," said the second visitor, "Do you know what it is like?"


"I do," replied the man "Tell me - from where have you come?"


"I've come from the village in the mountains."


"And how was that?"
 the man asked 

"It was wonderful. I would have stayed but I am committed to travelling on. I felt like a member of the family in the village. The elders gave me much advice, the children laughed and joked with me.  People were generally kind and generous. It will always hold special memories for me. What is the village by the sea like?" he asked again.


"I think you will find it much the same" replied the man, "Good day to you."

"Good day and thank you," the visitor replied, smiled, and journeyed on.
 

Consider how attitude affects your daily journey. Shake out feelings and thoughts to focus on what works in the environment of people and places.  

Avoid providing room for negativity to flow into the mix. Believe goodness will prevail in all your travels.

Humor Your Life

Do you use humor to delight, entertain or beguile?  

Consider how humor involves the ability to perceive the ludicrous, the comical, and the absurd in human life. Express the ridiculous and preposterous. Add more funny bones to your life.  

Types of humor:

Irony involves an intended meaning just the opposite of what is expressed.
    Parody occurs where the writer imitates a piece of writing for comic effect or in ridicule.
         Sarcasm expresses, in the form of irony, an intent to cut or wound.

Satire holds up human vices and follies to ridicule or scorn.

     Wit uses ingenuity and swift perception to evoke laughter.

Humor writing mingles the writer's point of view with an attitude of humor. Humor evokes a sudden change. The writer should convey a contrast: the reversing of the normal and abnormal, expected and unexpected.

To develop a strong sense of humor, examine what's funny in yourself.
What quirks, habits, biases and outlooks do you have? You'll discover a perfect source of material.

Make it funny, keep it funny, and don't pass up any opportunity to make it funnier. Humor self-generates. Make everyone laugh. Once they've started, don't let up.

Do remember, humor is an iffy business. What will make you laugh might roll off others.  Stay in pursuit of what tickles your funny bone and don't give up.

Have fun playing with these ideas:

l.   What irritates you about others? Exaggerate their shortcomings. Reverse and examine your own dislikes.
2.  Which misfortunes have you experienced? Notice the tricks that fate has played recently.  
3.  Your flaws make laughable material. Design a few jokes about yourself.
4.  People laugh at two things: surprise and misfortune. Surprise humor leads in one direction and then takes a turn. Intermingle surprise and misfortune.
5.  Consider ways to use exaggeration or understatement to convey a situation.

Humor brightens inclement weather. Humor your life with lines to produce laughter,

What We Need

 

The planet desperately needs more peacemakers, healers, restorers, 

storytellers and lovers of all kinds. - The Dalai Lama

                                                                          

How do we search for those who make a difference in our lives?

Think of the person you would identify as an individual in each area:

     Who makes peace in small ways?

           If you need reassurance, who arrives?

                 Restoration requires imagination. Identify your restorer.

Storytellers assist with their views from the past and present.




Find your friends and family in the questions.  




Then, GO LOVE!

Live Like a Turtle

Keep your head high in all types of weather.

Float worries away.

Face challenges with Power.

Relax in the sun and sea.

Swim and eat and sunbathe. Then rest and begin again.

Thrive in tranquility.

Chill with your Best Buddy.

Everyone CAN

What do you say to an elephant who smiles from the grass?

Discover ways to play and explore; antennae ready for everything along the paths. Find places fantasy and reality mesh and excite attention. The engagement that nature and photography offer nurtures sensory perception.

Through Curiosity, Awareness and Noticing (CAN!), new opportunities build focus during times of  "boredom" which everyone encounters. Find  I CAN to gather experiences and interactions to use in a variety of ways.

Use a cell camera to assist by adding another layer of creativity to the day. Often an incident such as a brown pelican landing on the water will happen for you. 

Keep a notepad with you to provide the space for word pictures. Scribble and record the effects of atmosphere on a temperament of the moment.

Look up, down, and around.  Everyone CAN.

Feelings Unstuck

"This is what Zen means by being detached - not being without emotion or feeling, but being one in whom feeling is not sticky or blocked, 

and through whom the experiences of the world pass 

like the reflections of birds flying over water." - Alan Watts.

How do we stay free from stickiness in feelings?  

       Watch birds. 

            Living in moments keeps attention in full flight. No worries of past or future.

Birds never worry. They just do what needs to be done. Try their attitude and get unstuck.

What Brings You Alive

 

What truly is a part of our spiritual path is that which brings us alive.  If gardening brings us alive, that is part of our path, if it is music, 

if it is conversation . . . we must follow what brings us alive.   
- David Steindl-Rast

Focus on what brings you alive.

Move from simple pleasures to thoughts of motivation and sense of direction.

What energizes the mind and soul?

Activate aspects of daily life that feel subdued or suppressed.

Immerse yourself in nature to breathe in the atmosphere of growth and change.
Appreciate what sustains you and brings balance.

Enliven your internal wisdom.

Mine for Mysteries

 

It may be that when we no longer know what to do

we have come to our real work

and that when we no longer know which way to go

we have begun our real journey.  

- Wendell Berry

"If one is vacilando, he is going somewhere but doesn't greatly care whether or not he gets there, although he has direction."  - Travels with Charlie, John Steinbeck

 ". . . wanderer, there is no path, the path is made by walking. By walking one makes the road, and upon glancing behind one sees the path that never will be trod again."

- Antonio Machado

Metaphorical thinking helps individuals connect to the secrets and mysteries of the inner journey. If one decides to experience what lurks behind the locked door or deep inside one's own cavern, self-knowledge awaits. 

Robert Frost felt, "poetry takes you to a place you have been and thought you'd never return to."

Return to the darkness. Bring a lantern for revitalization. Illuminate sensitivities.  

Travel inside and mine for mysteries.

Moments and Small Deeds

 

"Just as water springs from a fountain, creativity springs from every moment." 

- Jeong Kwan

"If we sit quietly, making no effort, life expresses itself clearly, it simply happens on its own. There's nothing else to get. The great truth is obvious. 

The heart beats, the breath comes and goes." 

- Darryl Bailey

Spend a day focused on what Lao Tzu considered small acts that produced small deeds.

Travel with gladness and focus on each task at hand. No judgments, just movement from place to place in accomplishment.

Take in tiny beauties. 

     Observe the movement of air and scents on the breeze. 

           Sing and do a wriggle dance.

                  Applaud your progress. 

Consider the ways small deeds enhance the day.

Let laughter and play lighten the way.