Category Archives: humanity

Brain Dump

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For a few months now, I’ve been writing “morning pages,” a concept introduced by author Julia Cameron In her book, The Artist’s Way. Basically it involves filling three pages of a journal each day upon first awakening with “stream of consciousness” writing, moving your pen (or pencil or crayon) nonstop to record whatever pops into your mind.

artists wayMorning pages are intended to circumvent the “inner critic,” that voice inside your head that judges and picks apart whatever you think or do.

If you listen to your inner critic and believe all the negativity it tries to heap on you, eventually your creativity gets blocked, and you couldn’t write a decent sentence or draw a decent picture or perform a decent free form interpretive dance – or whatever your creative bent is – if your life depended on it.

Cameron recommends that you don’t go back and read what you’ve written in your journal so you won’t be tempted to edit or censor yourself.

You know how as soon as you’re told not to do something that’s exactly the thing you want to do? Okay, maybe that’s just me. And most five year olds. But of course I just had to reread my journal entries.

I’ve culled a few of my thoughts to share with you. If you are a psychiatrist who’s reading this, feel free to list your diagnoses of my mental state in the comments below. Or not.

Here’s a sampling of my journal entries:

It’s funny how old sayings get truncated and then end up making no sense. “Sweating like a pig.” “Happy as a clam.” Then you can’t remember how they’re supposed to go. Am I sweating like a pig at high tide, or am I happy as a clam in a butcher’s shop? Maybe I should just clam up and stop sweating it.

spacer pencilI’m still curious as to why birds don’t interbreed. You know, like a hawk and a rooster. You’d end up with a hawk-a-doodle.

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I set a couple of goals for yesterday, maybe more, and at first I totally forgot about them. Then I remembered that I had set them, but couldn’t remember what they were.

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If something is misspelled is there really such a thing as misspelling it worse?

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Birds probably don’t dwell on rejection.

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Who knew ampersands could be so interesting?

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I had it figured out once, but then I got confused again. That happens a lot. Well, maybe not. Just sometimes. I don’t know… I’m so confused.

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I sure have a lot of things to not worry about. That worries me.

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I bet doggie heaven has lots of things to bark at. And smelly things to roll in. And it’s probably right next to kitty heaven so the dogs can sneak over there and eat cat poop. ‘Cuz they sure do love to do that!

Surprisingly, rereading my journal has not invoked that critical voice in my head. In fact, my inner critic seems to just be shaking its head, with that “I don’t even know where to begin” look of dismay.

For once, my inner critic is speechless. Maybe I’ll go do my interpretive dance now.

Pink Feathers

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“Go in search of pink feathers,” commands the channeled spirit, “and you shall find them.” Indeed I did find them. They were on sale at a store right around the corner. Manifested just for me. Must be a common directive for this mystic.

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“Don’t just ask the Universe for a thousand dollars,” advises one motivational speaker. “Be specific.” So I asked for one thousand two hundred thirty-two dollars and fifteen cents. I’m still waiting for the fifteen cents. Universe, do you hear me?

I don’t know when manifesting became akin to ordering from the Sears and Roebuck catalog. Don’t get me wrong. I believe wholeheartedly in manifesting.

My concept of manifestation, however, is the good old-fashioned kind. The kind where what one sends out vibrationally into the ether comes back in the form of self-fulfilling prophecy.

Henry Ford was on board decades ago, long before the “secrets of the Universe” crowd showed up (or did they manifest?). His oft-quoted words sum it up nicely:

Whether you believe you can do a thing or not, you will be right.

Perhaps a bit less mystical, but no less powerful. You are what you think. You attract what you think about. You are limited by your limiting beliefs. And yes, there is a vibrational field that holds your vision and works on your behalf to help make manifest your intentioned outcomes.

There, I said it. So I am a little woo-woo “out there.” But I’m comfortable with that. And I don’t need a pink feather to prove to myself or anyone else that manifesting “works.” And if – at the end of the day – I come up fifteen cents short, so be it.

It’s a beautiful morning, and I’ve sat at my computer long enough. I think I’ll head out to see what I can manifest today. No matter what order we place with the Universe, the Universe has an uncanny way of surprising us.

I like surprises. Sometimes.

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In response to The Daily Post prompt: Community Service

In a Heartbeat

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heartbeat grapesI heard your heartbeat today.
A fetal metronome
nestled in your mother’s womb.
Strong, fast, like a powerful locomotive
chugging away.
And all the more impressive
as it’s likely the size of
a grape seed.

How does your little heart know how to beat?
How was it set in motion?
Who wound the spring or
flipped the switch or
turned the key in the ignition?

Did it take a moment to warm up?
Or was the beat just there
like the first pounding notes of a John Phillip Sousa march,
striking up to dash the silence
in the blink of an eye.
Or – one might say – in a heartbeat.

Perhaps your precious heart
has been beating all along
somewhere in the Universe
waiting its turn to turn up the volume,
to resume its rhythm,
to pick up where it left off
in some prior lifetime.

Whatever miracle set your heart in motion
and brought it forth at this time and in this place,
I am honored to play a part in the symphony
for which it beats a perfect percussion.

It astounds me sometimes
how quickly life proceeds.
From a grape-sized fetus protected in the womb,
to a soft-skinned infant nestled in your parents’ arms,
it will happen in the blink of an eye,
or – one might say – in a heartbeat.

When you are born
I will not fall in love with you
at first sight.
I already fell in love with you
at first sound.
And it all happened
in a heartbeat.

Dancing Water (photo essay)

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Along a street that I have driven hundreds of times in the past, my eyes were drawn this morning to a water feature in front of an office building. The early morning sunlight sparkled brilliantly off the cascading stream that cycled through a structure of concrete, rough boulders and river rock. I pulled over to check it out.

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The fountain itself isn’t much to look at. With a casual glance from the street, one sees a sheet of water pouring over a concrete crossbeam and disappearing amidst some nondescript boulders.

Closer examination reveals that the water has been intentionally channeled (“choreographed,” one might say) to flow in streams that dance and glisten in the sunlight as they freefall to the rocks below.

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I am reminded of the phrase “water over the dam,” which implies that something is over and done with and cannot be retracted or reconsidered. How many of us live as though the decisions and actions of our past have left us in a freefall of dire consequences over which we have no control?

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Maybe water over the dam should mean that whatever happened in our past, “good” or “bad,” served to push us beyond sitting stagnant behind a wall of mediocrity, and has freed us to dance and sparkle in the sunlight on our way to something new.

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We can choose to see the fountain as half empty or half full. Oh, wait, that’s an entirely different analogy. Never mind.

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I’m glad I stopped to look at the fountain, and I’m going to try to be more observant of my surroundings in the future. Who knows? Maybe tomorrow I’ll find some water under the bridge.

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World Oceans Day (photo essay)

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Expansive and deep,
beautiful but volatile,
ample force to turn
vessels to splinters.

ocean3

Teeming with life,
ceaselessly churning,
an indefatigable
dynamo.

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Kissed by the sun,
caressed by the winds,
extolled by poets
and sailors alike.

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Sustainer of life
as we know it on Earth,
yet with all its
grandeur and might…

still fragile.

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What could be big enough to threaten and endanger our oceans (and thus our planet)?

Microplastics.

Microplastics particles, which are smaller than five millimeters in size, likely pose a massive environmental and human health risk when they enter our natural waterways.

Toxins including DDT, BPA and pesticides adhere to the particles, and because they can resemble plankton, they’re often ingested by small aquatic life. The toxins biomagnify as they move up the food chain, accumulating in birds, fish, marine mammals and potentially humans.

Adventurers and Scientists for Conservation (ASC)

June 8th, 2015 is World Oceans Day.

What can we do to help “turn the tide” on the dangerous amounts of plastics polluting the oceans?

  • We can work to increase awareness of the issue. Here’s a video of how one artist is doing that: Invisible Ocean: Plankton and Plastic. But it doesn’t have to be that complicated.
  • We can choose not to buy and use products that contain plastic microbeads (as in certain brands of toothpaste, facial cleansers, soaps…).
  • We can avoid using disposable plastic bags. (Take the Better Bag Challenge.)

These may seem like small steps toward tackling such a large problem ( just “a drop in the ocean,” so to speak), but that’s how things get done. Small actions lead to big changes.

Let’s act today.

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Thanks to Jane (Just Another Nature Enthusiast) and her challenge at UNLESS: Earth-friendly Chroniclers: Challenge 11~ “Healthy Oceans – Healthy Planet” for the inspiration.