Find Playfulness

 

Edith Hamilton wrote, “to rejoice in life to find the world beautiful and delightful to live in was a mark of the Greek spirit which distinguished it from all that went before."

Greeks loved to play. They pursued fun for its own sake. All over Greece games existed for athletes, dancers, musicians and other performers.

Find playfulness and fun today.

What is Love?

"Love calls us to do the things in this world."  - Richard Wilbur

". . . migratory musicians,/one last/ word before /I go back with wet shoes, thorns /and dry leaves/ to my home:/ vagabonds, I love you/free far from the shotgun and the cage." - Pablo Neruda from, "Ode to Bird Watching."

Pablo Neruda, one of the most loving poets, forms an authentic attachment to life. Calling on unlimited sources of inspiration, he writes odes to an elephant, a pair of socks or a bar of soap. He calls them all to life and reminds us of the interconnectedness of all things and beings. Compassion and humor populate his poetry.

At the end of, "Ode to Bird Watching," Neruda leaves in frustration at not getting close enough yet he makes peace with his love of the birds' wildness and inaccessibility, " . . . messengers of pollen/matchmakers/ of the flower, uncles/ of the seed/ I love you,/ingrates/ I'm going home,/ happy to have lived with you/ a moment/in the wind.

What is Love?  Poets and writers have nose-dived and bellyflopped into its lakes and caverns for years. Everyone has experiences and expectations. Which are real? Has the notion of Love become a distorted part of our imagination and desperation? How does it transfer beyond the human form?

Peel the Artichoke

Love is an artichoke

all layered in secrets.

Hear the cricket snap of leaves

petals tipped in silky maroon.

White whiskers protect

the heart.

Cook warm,

squirt a tang of sweet lemon. 

Push and pull to savor the green,  

see how the leaves fall away. 

Once at the heart,  

ah the tingle, oh the sheen.

                      - Penny Wilkes

What do you make of Love?  

Does the word by itself send ripples and thrills. 

Do memories bring shudders?

Where does Love begin? 

How do we learn to Love from the inside out free from expectations and doubts?]

Approach Love in ways you have not considered before. Examine layers and textures.

Play with Scents

 

Top note: the fragrance first released when the perfume achieves initial contact with the skin of the wearer, predominating in the olfactory sense for approximately 15 minutes. White often these first notes of fragrance remind the wearer of a certain day of childhood, the smell of a camomile lawn or a spice cake or a sunny day. 

                                                 - from The Beautiful American by Jeanne Makin

Charles J. Wysocki, behavioral scientist at the Monelle Chemical Senses Center, says the nose can identify ten thousand scents. This means the nose knows more than the tongue which only tastes: sour, bitter, savory, and sweet. 


Expert sentologists have a brain map of odors yet limited vocabulary to describe them or make associations.Wine experts go creative in their descriptions of the "notes" when scenting and tasting fine wine. They describe a scent/taste of braised saddle leather, salted butter, blanced almonds, fig paste, even hoisin sauce. 

Writers have power over their individual chemistry. Those who enjoy a glass of wine can create connections beyond: red tastes red and white tastes white. With our linguistic sensitivities we heighten our ability to move into questioning what really describes: tangy, flowery, and fresh.




Consider connections you can discover describing tastes, scents and textures. Begin with a favorite beverage. How far out can you extend your observations? 

Malty with a hint of . . . . Doughnuty texture with the essence of wet brick. . . . Sea pebbles and burning rubber . . . . You do not have to taste each item. 

Bring in ways you connect scents with memories. Think back to a day in childhood.  Does one aroma return you to a relationship?  Connect a scent with a surprise.

You do not have to make sense, just make up scents.  

Play to enrich your writing.

Pursue a Rebel's Jubilee

"Sometimes breaking the rules is just extending the rules. Sometimes there are no rules." 

~ Mary Oliver

"There are some enterprises in which a careful disorderliness is the true method." - Ishmael from Moby Dick by Herman Melville

The word, oxymoron (from Greek ὀξύμωρον, "sharp dull") means a contradiction of terms.

Ishmael refers to whale hunting but he also means the art of storytelling. 

Develop ideas about "careful disorderliness." Let opposites collide.

Play by creating a meaningful chaos, planned messiness, directed improvisation. Challenge your fun with playful experiments.

Consider the joy and power of rebellion and creativity. A determination to revolt against the usual may stimulate discoveries in living a an imaginative life. 

Find a personal call of non-violent disobedience.

Rise and overthrow a stale notion, overworked idea, or any status quo you've experienced. 

Your vitality will soar as you shed numbing habits and traditions. 

Extend the rules. Pursue a rebel's jubilee.  

Promote Positivity

 

In the 1980’s  Martin E.P. Seligman adopted the term, “positive psychology.” After years of studying the “learned helplessness” that characterized depression, he began to study how individuals could learn optimism. Seligman felt a search for “authentic happiness” made more sense than  relying on psychology’s one-sided focus on illness and disorders. 

Optimism, courage and perseverance result in well-being. Consider how to gather simple pleasures. The process itself will attract feelings of exultation.

When nature provides a feast, take time to savor all the flavors. Everyone needs to awaken to the positivity that explodes in blossom, branch, and sky.

Take a pleasure interlude from your busy life to revel in the marvelous around you. Squeeze out joy and appreciation for the living, growing creatures, plants and trees. 

Robert Louis Stephenson wrote, "There is no duty we so much underrate as the duty of being happy. Happiness does not need to become the goal. We need a variety of experiences and moods to write about." 

Life throws a variety of challenges at us each day. We can choose to see them as flat lines of negativity or take action to draw a vertical line through the horizontals. Taking action always makes something happen to keep us moving, regardless of mood. Humor colors life with vibrancy.

The next time you feel frustrated or angry, see if you can hold your breath longer than your anger.

These exercises will help you create more Positivity in your life:

1. Focus on your sense of humor to provide buoyancy in all types of weather. Laughter strengthens the stomach muscles and releases chemicals in the brain, such as serotonin, to elevate the mood.

2. To practice laughter, begin with a breathing exercise. Take five breaths in and five out through the nose. After five repetitions, let the out breath go with: ha ha ha ha ha. Notice how energized you feel. Remember this exercise the next time you feel stressed.

3. When a negative emotion crosses your mind, write it down. How often do you write frustration, anger, worry or fear? What emotions counteract them? Give them names and write a dialogue between the opposites.

4. Make three columns and list your three greatest accomplishments. In each column, write ways you accomplished these Feats of Fantastic. Keep the list with you and add to it. Include problem solving techniques, strategies and anyone you contacted for assistance. If you feel frustrated during a challenge, refer to the list to see how you succeeded in the past.

Take time weekly to write about what makes you feel good about your accomplishments. Also probe in writing choices that get in the way of what you want to achieve. Continue to ask what you learned about yourself and how you meet challenges. Bring these talents to a new situation?

5. Who is a Hero in your area of expertise or life in general? How does this person achieve success? How do you suppose this person greets failure?

If you spend time working on the above five areas, you will develop Positive habits that will grow into your Best Friends during times of need. 

Benefits of 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!  Gizmo! Never!

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.

Where does dark go at dawn? 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.

Move Beyond Bewilderment

"Human beings are in a state of creativity 24 hours a day."  -  Raoul Vanergem

Many consider creativity only in its relationship to an art form. They forget that everyone displays a creative sensitivity a thousand times per day. These appear in connections, distinctive thoughts and novel ideas. Unexpected perceptions arise around every corner. 

Observing forms and structures in nature provide Aha! understandings.

Restless originality and intentions abound in problem solving during daily activities. Paper clips and rubber bands often serve beyond the obvious. If we remain open to different uses for common objects, we will benefit from the creative process.  

Track creative notions, problems solved in unique ways, fleeting impressions and thoughts for a day.  

Keep a list and write about the connections and possibilities. 

Reveal ways you move beyond bewilderment with ideas and results. 

Savor Life's Wonders

"Authentic joy is not a euphoric state or a feeling of being high. 

Rather is it a state of appreciation that slows us to participate fully in our lives." 

- Pema Chödrön 

Equanimity involves mental composure. Moving into a difficult situation with calm brings balance. "In the moment we come to abide with the energy instead of acting it out, we are training in equanimity," says Pema Chödrön. 

We achieve freedom by engaging with the energy of the moment rather than reacting. Not an easy activity, it takes discipline and practice to release former behaviors and select others to replace them. 

When sad or glad, we need to widen our circle of understanding and compassion.

Use creativity to change attitudes.

Get out of the way of the ego's control. During a negative experience, project that event as a movie and see it in all its dimensions. Breathe to calm and quiet the emotions that arise. Observe the scene with all senses.

Imagine a musical or comedy evolving from the situation. Sing into silly.

The next anxiety that arrives, use a metaphor from nature. Watch it bloom like a rose. Count the petals, smell the fragrance, feel a touch of breeze. Make positive problem solving choices without judgment.

If an initial reaction to stress is, "Oh sH&^!" find a word to replace the habitual response with a key word.  Say:  Shift. Turn. Flip. Then say the chosen word. Get to the other side of your typical response.

Rainer Maria Rilke said, "This in the end is the only kind of courage that is required of us. The courage to face the strangest most unusual most inexplicable experience that can meet us."

Awareness, creativity, and patience help us dwell in the places that frighten or frustrate. Flexibility in times of uncertainty enables equanimity.

Slow down to savor life's wonders. 

June Nights

 

June twilight shivers. 

Spindrift speckles the breeze, 

shimmies droplets to shore.

Beneath

the quilt of foam,

a golden snuggle.

Day's work done

          for a hummingbird and peregrine falcon.

What do they search for in dreams?

Summer Solstice June 21

Today, June 21, celebrate Summer Solstice when the sun reaches its zenith. It will provide the longest period of daylight in the northern hemisphere. Summer solstice derives from Latin sol (sun) and sistere (to stand still).

Cultures around the world hold events to celebrate Solstice. The Celts & Slavs celebrated the first day of summer with dancing & bonfires. They feel it helps to increase the Sun's energy. The Chinese marked the day by honoring Li, the Chinese Goddess of Light.

The Pagan Festival of Litha, celebrated by Druids, venerates the Solstice as the "wedding of Heaven and Earth.” Druidism worships nature and believes in the spirits of mountains, and divine guides.

Stonehenge in southern England holds the largest festival. Here, more than 350 mounds surround a stone circle at the center. Dating back to 3100 BC, Neolithic people started the construction. Experts cannot agree on whether Stonehenge served as a temple, a burial ground or an astronomy site. Nobody can figure out for sure how the stones were erected. Mysteries abound in the region.

Starting at midnight on the eve of Summer Solstice, revelers, spiritualists and tourists gather to dance around the fire, star gaze and hug the stones at Stonehenge. They wear robes and flowers to celebrate the year’s longest day.

The summer solstice is one of the rare occasions in the year when open access to the stones is allowed by English Heritage, custodians of the monuments.

Enjoy a personal festival today in celebration of Summer Solstice. Imagine yourself reveling at Stonehenge near the fire. Think about Shakespeare and have a "Midsummer Night's Dream. 

Find Your Wings

 

"If you study Japanese art, you see a man who is undoubtedly wise, philosophic and intelligent, who spends his time how? In studying the distance between the earth and the moon? No. In studying the policy of Bismark? No. He studies a single blade of grass. This blade of grass leads him to draw every plant and then the seasons, the wide aspects of the countryside, then animals, then the human figure." - Vincent van Gogh

Find moments in nature to explore.

Dip into the shapes and colors of petals.

Notice amusements.

Find your wings for flight.

Emotional Distance

“The truth of our lives is always smoke and mirrors.” - William Giraldi

No one perceives events as they really unfold. Our ability to alter facts has enabled us to survive in this challenging world. In recall, creativity weaves in the details.

To understand how perception alters an event, consider three people who observe a car wreck from different corners of the street. Angles, moods and times of observation change recall and affect where each person places blame.

Are we storytellers by nature? Marcel Proust felt in order for it to be meaningful, we must change the truth a little to remember it. If we embellish for self-protection, will an event stay with us in meaningful ways?

Robert Louis Stevenson wrote, “A lie may be told by a truth, or a truth conveyed through a lie. Truth to facts is not always truth to sentiment.” Stevenson continued, “To tell truth is not to state the true facts, but to convey a true impression, truth in spirit, not truth to letter, is the true veracity.”

Emotional memory differs from factual memory because of the psychological colors added. Moving away as an observer helps to process an unfortunate or stressful situation.

How does emotional distance benefit you?

Advice for Advice

 

Benjamin Franklin said, "Wise men don't need advice. Fools won't take it." Charles Shultz might have adapted Lucy's sign in agreement. 

Most of the time no one heeds advice and would pay to avoid it. Active listening supports family and friends but individuals gain skills in problem solving by trial and error. Everyone needs experiences to gain knowledge.

If you must delve into the depths of another's concerns try these suggestions:

Avoid jumping in to solve another's problem.  

Ask questions instead of providing solutions. Help someone think about the issues.

Share experiences and lessons learned without offering advice. 

Emphasize how your experiences could be different or similar.

Encourage rather than judge. Avoid negativity.

Refer to professionals to impart knowledge about life skills. 

Suggest resources in articles, books, or web-based information.

Communicate with encouragement.

Become an example and shine your light rather than direct with it.  

Ask for five cents for no advice.

Imagine Possibilities

Imagine a day that promotes what works in the world. Choose three articles that inspire you from the news. 

Discover stories that explore individuals who have accomplished something positive. Find others who have shared their challenges and moved into another realm. Seek a group that has assisted a super result. 

Find someone or something to believe in. Disregard all that goes wrong or does not work.

Take a walk to observe how nature collaborates in scents and colors.

Focus on becoming more than a dreamer.

Carry your positivity into the world only you can influence.

Make something happen in your area of expertise.

Imagine 

by John Lennon

Imagine there's no heaven
It's easy if you try
No hell below us
Above us only sky
Imagine all the people
Living for today... Aha-ah...

Imagine there's no countries
It isn't hard to do
Nothing to kill or die for
And no religion, too
Imagine all the people
Living life in peace... You...

You may say I'm a dreamer
But I'm not the only one
I hope someday you'll join us
And the world will be as one

Imagine no possessions
I wonder if you can
No need for greed or hunger
A brotherhood of man
Imagine all the people
Sharing all the world... You...

You may say I'm a dreamer
But I'm not the only one
I hope someday you'll join us
And the world will live as one

Imagine a Reign of Positivity and Possibility. Make something happen.

It isn't hard to do.

A Shift of View

 

What's on your list?  What will you attempt out of your comfort zone?

Consider an unpleasant experience you avoid thinking about. What if you change the result to one less stressful?

Write a humorous view of the experience. Play with a shift of view.