Nurture Awareness

Nurture awareness and search for three Amazements. 

They might greet in the form of an unexpected card received in snail mail. House finches do provide entertainment while frolicking in the bird bath.


An osprey could land on a house roof as you pass. 

Once you have set your sights for Amazements, they will find you. 

Notes from nature will make you smile and help you relinquish the day's concerns.


Watch leaves fall in heart patterns and breathe as roses decant their scents. 

Those you love and greet daily will also provide messages that break the tension of your day.
 
Collect in threes and then go for fives.

Collate the amazements into a story or poem.

Don't Feed the Worry Bug

All human beings contend with bouts of frustration and negativity. Even those of us with a positive outlook on life, get taunted by the worry bug. Daily we experience about 50,000 thoughts, images and ideas. They slip into our awareness in positive or negative ways. The negative teasers turn into worry bugs that capture our awareness too easily.

Our amygdala and limbic systems focus on threats to protect our survival. During prehistoric times, when stalked by a predator, the systems kicked in. We picked up that danger signal. 

Today our threats involve cognitive thinking: the job, the finances, or what's going on with family and friends. Our heart rates increase just thinking.  When you say, “The older I get, the more I worry,” it’s because of all the practice.

Why do we practice worrying? Psychologists indicate that worry gains its hold on us by ritualized reassurance. All negative scenarios that can possibly occur, race through the mind. We search for ways to survive them, to calm ourselves down. Situations we worry about 94 percent of the time never happen. What results is usually something never worried about. 

Next time the worry bug bites, try new approaches.

Take a break from dancing or jousting with the worry bug. Rather than change the way you think, change your relationship to your thoughts. 

Learn to watch your thoughts, rather than engage with them.

When a negative thought distracts, stop the runaway train. Notice sights, sounds, scents, a taste of air. Engage with a feeling.

Notice what’s going on in the moment. Find words of admiration to discover the rightness of things. 

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

Avoid always thinking in fix-it mode.

Sing La La La and launch into a favorite melody.

Keep a journal for positive ideas and gratitude comments and write in it just before bed.

Use humor to design a defense against your bug.

Take a look at a video about Wince and the Worry Bug. You'll learn how not to feed him.  
http://www.worrywoos.com/wince.html

Turn worry into Wonder! 

Actors of Spring

How do they know the timing?

Without the benefit of calendars, clocks and watches, who reminds them of their spring performances?



When spring arrives . . . 

News travels from the roots to shoots, bulbs and seeds. 

Green and colorful ones, it's show time!

Did a team of wizards stay up all night to paint these new faces?

Sensitive and alert, they smile and make their entrances.

Sap rises and leaves pulse from the branches. Yellow, oranges, pinks and brights emerge dappled with sunlight and dew. They sway  and bow with the breeze.

Never enough curtain calls will end this performance. 

Curiosity for Playfulness

 

"Interest curiosity is like diving into an internet search and realizing hours later that you've learned a whole bunch of stuff and your thirst for knowledge has been quenched. It feels good to learn something new." - Dr. Judson Brewer

Psychologists Jordan Litman and Paula Silvia identified two "flavors" of curiosity: I-curiosity and D-curiosity. The I stands for Interest, pleasurable aspects of a hunger for knowledge. D stands for Deprivation, the idea that if a gap occurs in information, one feels thrown into a restless, need-to-know state. A lack of information drives deprivation curiosity.

A thirst for knowledge has a reward value in the brain. With deprivation curiosity, finding the answer rewards. With interest curiosity, the process feels satisfying. The curiosity rewards by itself. It never runs out.

When frustration hits, curiosity will help explore what that feels like in the body and mind instead of a need to fix or change it. Curiosity allows one to step back and view habit loops for what they are: thoughts and emotions.

Curiosity helps one stay present in a nonjudgmental way to whatever experiences occur. Stronger than willpower, it brings a playfulness to situations.

Push curiosity to a playful state. Stay in the positive mode.

Energize in Song


"If you can walk you can dance, if you can talk you can sing."

- Zimbabwean proverb

Music evolved as a social tool. The pleasure from singing together provides an evolutionary reward for gathering cooperatively, instead of staying isolated in caves. When we sing, the musical vibrations move and energize our body. Sounds fuel and alter our physical and emotional states.

Dr. Julene K. Johnson, a researcher who has focused on older singers, began a five-year study to examine group singing as a method to improve the health and well-being of older adults. He found that group singing becomes both exhilarating and transformative. Songs shared with other individuals return as thrills to all. Harmony adds to the delight.

Graham Welch,  professor of music education at the Institute of Education, spokesperson for the National singing program for school children, Sing Up, commented, “Psychological benefits are also evident when people sing together as well as alone because of the increased sense of community, belonging and shared endeavor.” 
 

Singing in front of a crowd, like karaoke, also builds confidence and well-being. Tra La La La La.

Researchers have discovered that singing is like a tranquilizer that soothes nerves and elevates spirits. 

Elation arises from endorphins, associated with feelings of pleasure. Singing releases them. 

Oxytocin, another hormone that cycles during singing, alleviates anxiety, stress, and enhances feelings of trust and bonding. 

Studies have found that singing lessens feelings of loneliness and depression.  

Singing also provides some of the same effects as exercise, with the release of endorphins. The singer experiences an overall lifted feeling and stress reduction. 

As an aerobic activity, singing provides more oxygen into the blood for enhanced circulation, to promote a good mood. 

Singing requires deep breathing, another anxiety reducer.

Allan Schwartz, LCSW, Ph.D summarizes the beneficial effects of singing alone and in groups:

1. Memorizing the words to songs improves brain function, including the ability to store and retrieve memory.

2. The exercises associated with group singing improve deep breathing and that has the added benefit of adding to relaxation and stress reduction.

3. Performing in front of an audience and as part of a group inspires self-confidence and self-esteem.

4. Group interaction in a singing group ends social isolation and fosters relationships of all kinds.

5. Group participation is fun and allows people to get away from daily stresses and worries.

Energize in song.  Sing in the shower.  Sing in the car.  Sing on and on. 

Into the Outrageous

 

Now's the time to think beyond barriers. What will you create today?

Discover and name colors.

Bello 

   Turqween,

        Tankerine

Fill in empty spaces.

Swirl in arcs.

Create a scene with tangerine.

Let go into the Outrageous.

Write Your Weather

 

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.

Avoid the Hook

The only way to make sense out of change is to plunge into it,

 move with it, 

and join the dance." 

- Alan Watts

Pema Chödrön promotes shenpa, which is Tibetan for  “biting the hook” with our habitual reactions. Shenpa thrives on the insecurity of living in a world of constant change. 

Tibetans call shenpa, "that sticky feeling." We feel a tightening, a tensing, a sense of closing down. Then we experience a withdrawing. The tight feeling has the power to hook us into self-denigration, blame, anger, and jealousy. Emotions lead to words and actions that do not serve us well.


Chödrön writes, "When someone criticizes us, our work, or leaves us, we may bite the hook of grasping. When something unfair happens, we may bite the hook of rage. When we are disappointed, we may bite the hook of numbness." 


What would it look like not to bite the hook in an action of non-shenpa?




Chödrön's philosophy involves how to grow and learn from experiences. She advises not to waste time berating oneself for supposed sins. Learn and move on. 

If we cultivate clear sight, which Tibetan Buddhists call prajna, we view our life without deceiving ourselves. Once we observe the self clearly, we grow and gain strength for the next encounters. 

Consider how you talk to yourself concerning unhappiness. Do you malign and denigrate yourself to induce a wave of guilt that proves you are unworthy? 

"At moments like that, what is it you feel? It has a familiar taste in your mouth, it has a familiar smell. Once you begin to notice it, you feel like this experience has been happening forever," Chödrön says. She continues, "All we're trying to do is not to feel our uneasiness. But when we do this we never get to the root of practice. The root is experiencing the itch as well as the urge to scratch, and then not acting it out."

Learn to recognize when you get hooked in your experiences. Realize you have the wisdom to see your frustrations for what they are. 

The more you practice that realization the less control outside forces have on you. 

When negative feelings intrude, focus on the breath. Stay in the moment. Relinquish the need to react.

You'll benefit by not biting the hook. 

Feelings of freedom will take over. 

Life Quest of Self-discovery

Sail forth - steer for the deep waters only,

Reckless O soul, exploring, I with thee and thee with me.

For we are bound where mariner has not yet dared to go,

And we will risk the ship, ourselves and all.     

                    -Walt Whitman

Do we travel away from who we really are because of the many roles we play? A few of the characters we inhabit during our life experience might include: spouse, parent, sibling, friend, employer, employee. As a result, our true self may stay hidden.  

Or, we haven't taken the time to study the authenticity of ourselves because of myriad role responsibilities.

A life quest involves the process of discovering an authentic self. It takes a lifetime to explore and delve into the depths of one's inner world in writing beyond the chaos of daily life.

Take time to mine your curiosity. Investigate beyond your mistaken identities for an inner voice.                   

Describe with concrete details what this voice sounds like. 

Where do you come from?

Where do you belong?

What is your contentment?

What questions do you have about the real you?

As you write into your depths of discovery, listen for a haunting voice of your true self.  What "other self" keeps you company as you dive deeper into your self-enlightenment process?

Start a dialogue and respond to it when frustrated, angry, needy and happy. Return to ask and answer questions.

Today write about something unimaginable that might define you.

Begin a life quest of self-discovery.

Rise and Recharge

 

"Give up yourself to others. Give up yourself to life. 

Give up struggling to make sense of it all." - Tao Shan

Imagine lowering a bucket into the sea of turquoise water. Fill yourself with wonder.

Turn on mellow music. Rather than identifying with thoughts, pull back and just observe them.

Look up at the sky. Consider the possible rather than trying to capture permanent.

Accept the day's moment-to-moment occurrences. Know your preferences and remain relaxed and accepting when they are not met.

Seek compassion with an open heart. 

Experience each day's offerings with wisdom, strength, courage, and freedom.





Permit your life to unfurl to a story of understanding. Let go of fear, anger, and negativity. 

"Follow the light, hide in the cloudiness and begin in what is." -Zhuangzi

Rise and Recharge.

The Guest House

 

Guest House

      - Rumi

This being human is a guest house.

Every morning a new arrival.

A joy, a depression, a meanness,

some momentary awareness comes

as an unexpected visitor.

Welcome and entertain them all!

Even if they are a crowd of sorrows,

who violently sweep your house

empty of its furniture,

still treat each guest honorably.

He may be clearing you out for some new delight.

The dark thought, the shame, the malice,

meet them at the door laughing,

and invite them in.

Be grateful for whoever comes,

because each has been sent

as a guide from beyond.

Rumi makes points about life's randomness and how to deal with it.  

Everyone lives in a house with four rooms physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual. Acceptance, gratitude, and laughter help us achieve balance when challenges arise in our rooms.  

Write about your unexpected visitors and how they expanded your knowledge of yourself. Use dialogue and humor to delve into these concerns.

Forgotten Places and Friends

 

Souvenirs encapsulate experience. Use them to create a spring board for stories or poems.

Stir imaginative juices by selecting three souvenirs to write about.

Place the me mementoes near your writing area. 

      Touch them.  

            Move them around to spark moments of memory.

Write about individuals whose memories inhabit your selections.

Is an unfulfilled desire a part of the story?  

Add sensory details to enrich the narrative and bring the reader into the moment.

Travel into forgotten places and friends.