Three Thousand Blog Entries . . .

"The life of Zen attainment is not like standing on a riverbank watching the current and appreciating the water or the landscape as a witness. It is jumping into the current and becoming one with it." 

- Trevor Leggett

Today I celebrate my three thousandth (3000) post to my Writing Blog. Posting every day but one since 2009, I've discovered creativity in words as my morning mantra.

I awaken, grateful for the day and turn on "Marcus" my computer, to post what I have prepared the night before. Also, I have posts ready in the starting gates on ideas I've prepared during the week's afternoons.

I began by featuring "writing about writing" to stimulate the love of playing with words for my writing students. As the years progressed, blog ideas involved photography that attracted words and stories. I've played and adventured writing fables, philosophy, and a variety of musings. 

Some days I kept going because it felt so good to make something happen with words before my morning run or yoga class.  

Mark Twain wanted a day one finds out, Why?"

Rather than pinpoint a day, I feel daily doses of amazement and amusement satisfy.

I launch into each day's moments and use my senses to push into wonder. The good, bad, and frustrating engage with me. They challenge and enrich my ability to deal with moments of solution.

Humor assaults life's challenges.

Laughter dilutes a situation of dread into one that delves into delight.

Moods lighten with positive thinking and flick away negative emotions.

My day of discovery arrives every day.  I believe Mark Twain meant each day one discovers why.

What now, I ask rather than why. My curiosity tingles. Where will my words and wonder lead me?  


The blog will continue to evolve.

Reader suggestions for subjects or comments will be appreciated as I continue to write on.

Happy Groundhog Day

Groundhog Day occurs on February 2 each year. Arriving at the midway point between the winter solstice and spring equinox, it launches a celebration of Candlemas.

Punxsutawney Phil, a resident of Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania, has predicted the weather since 1887. Men volunteer as a part of the Inner Circle to care for him.

Believers feel that whether or not the groundhog sees its shadow indicates how much longer winter will last. If Phil sees his shadow, it suggests six more weeks of winter. If the groundhog doesn't see its shadow, spring will arrive early.

  

The Groundhog Day celebration begins early in the morning with thousands of people gathering to see if the weather-predicting groundhog spots his shadow or not.

German immigrants brought the tradition of Groundhog Day in the 1880s. At that time members of Groundhog Lodges, meant for socializing with others and enjoying meals, planned the "unburrowing" ceremony. They originally used badgers or bears as their forecasters since both animals hibernate and awaken when days become longer and the sun's angle becomes higher. 

Yesterday, thousands of people gathered overnight to await the forecast, bundled up against the cold and entertained by folk music and a fireworks display, with temperatures around 11F (minus 12C).

The groundhog’s prediction is contained in a short poem.

“Up early this morning. Far from home. Are you searching for the Philosopher’s stone? Well, even my best friends, they don’t know. Is it an early spring or just more snow,” the proclamation read. 

My faithful followers, your hands (and my paws) are getting cold so here is my forecast. Not lead, but solid gold: I see my royal Shadow! Six more weeks of Winter to go!”

As legend has dictated for 131 years, the United States is in for a long winter.

February Love Month

February is LOVE month!

 

Make a pact with yourself to Love your writing for the next seven days. Extend all the way to February 14 once you're on a writing roll.

Respond to your emotions and senses and expand your possibilities.



February First - A focus on pure potential

Find a place where you can devote an hour away from clocks, watches and digital reminders of time. Bring your writing pad or computer and just BE.



Take a few breaths and write about how you will devote yourself to a Love of Words each day up to and through Valentine's day. How will you reinforce this daily commitment?

Love for Writing Day Two



What gift have you received from life's experiences?

  Write about your gift of words. Show your appreciation with a write of wonder. 

Choose your favorite meal of the day and bring it to the page with all your senses.

Love for Writing Day Three

Each time you send words to the page or screen, you create energy that stimulates more ideas and sentences. 



Choose success with your paragraphs today. Make them flow with fun and wonder. 

Write about a first emotion experienced. Do you remember what FUN felt like in your body? Recall that first feeling of true happiness and connect it with a sound or scent. Turn abstractions into concrete images. Make us feel them along with you.

Love for Writing Day Four



Observe the day with the least effort. Accept the day, people, situations and events as you meet them. Keep a notebook of the situations that pique your curiosity or irritate you the most.



In the evening, freewrite about the day. Let go of any need to defend your point of view.

Love for Writing Day Five



Today write way beyond your comfort zone. Reach wide for the improbable. Catch the unpredictable. Race to the edge of your writing cliff. 



Love the sense of flight in your words as you soar beyond your limitations.

Love for Writing Day Six

Don't force words today.  Let detachment from results and uncertainty rule.  Write with the freedom to reveal dimensions of yourself in words.

Select a time you wore a disguise.  How did you select the persona and costume?  Show how it reveals your freedom to become another individual. Write to reveal what that identity meant to you.  Could you turn it into a story?

Love for Writing Day Seven

Let your seventh day explode with a sense of humor.  Find fun and fancy in each interaction and situation.  Spread your smile and mystify with mirth. Where will your funny bone take you?

Write Results:  After you have made that week's commitment, keep going. Your love for writing will expand.