Tag Archives: life

Weekly Photo Challenge: From Above

Posted on by

34

From above, the perfidious Shari realizes her life is no different from the random litter of decayed leaves and trash that lay below her.

From Above life must change

Her soul feels dead.
She removes every trace of makeup from her cosmopolitan face.
She knows how draining it is to cover all the lines and lies
That play in her head.
With sharp scissors close to her head, slowly she snips.

Each lock of hair falls, like years of collected garbage…
quickly, she sweeps it all into the trash can.
She hears Leon Trotsky’s words reminding her,

“Life is not an easy matter…

You cannot live through it without falling into frustration and cynicism unless you have before you a great idea which raises you above personal misery, above weakness, above all kinds of perfidy and baseness.”

Sometimes if we look from above a great height, we may see unattractive spots in our own lives that need attention and cleaning up after.

As for Shari, life from above now means working hard to get her high school diploma and remain forever drug and alcohol free.

From above, how do you see life…as an easy matter to clean up or not?

* * *

If you like this post, find more on how to participate here in the Daily Post| Weekly Photo Challenge.

More From Above photos:

Some Days

Posted on by

23

shifting gears

Some days you feel nothing too thrilling. Your emotions are idling in neutral. Your life seems like a long drive down a lonely highway. You wake up; attend to your normal routine to fire up the day. Meditate. Pray. Exercise–rather reluctantly. Shower. Eat. Feed all the needy animals. Walk out the door. Drive off. The day winds down. You come home late, feed the emotionally and physically starved animals; then, shift to low gear and simply melt down in pure exhaustion.

Some days is no different from all the other days except the weather forecast is neither sunny, nor rainy or even slight chance of snow. No. What is unusual is the melting together of fog and drizzle and that would equal frizzle! Huh? Who knew there could be frizzle in the weather forecast!

Some days, you finally figure a little secret: shifting gears in life is unavoidable. There will be ups, downs and everything in between. By melting together the expectation for the day with the outcome of the day (especially if it turned out furthest from your plans) in a positive way, life could actually become an exciting affair!

To balance your life
Shift smoothly expect changes
Clutch, gear, gas as one

* * *

(209 words)

Inspiration & Challenge: An invitation from YerPirate to write a Haibun for The Ligo Haibun Challenge. The Ligo Haibun challenge is to write 220 words or less including the Haiku. The prompt is Melt. This is my first entry. *eek!*


Simplicity

Posted on by

48

What is simplicity and how do we find it?

It is common to hear or read about folks wanting more simplicity in their lives. Heck, even I would love to embrace the idea of simplicity in my life. However, are we talking simplicity as abandoning all creature-comfort for a life alone in some back wood cabin, chopping wood for fire and hauling water from some creek?

firewood

Or is this desire for simplicity something deeper…not a physical cabin get-away so much as simply letting go from fears found in a life filled with…“an empty abundance.”

“Our affluent society contains those of talent and insight who are driven to prefer poverty, to choose it, rather than submit to the desolation of an empty abundance.”
~Michael Harrington

abandoned car

When is too much……just too much? Maybe too much comes with abandoned cars or messy storage units once called a car garage…

messy garage

Maybe the drive to find simplicity comes when our “living” rooms turn into indoor dump sites with stuff we felt were needs, but in reality, became tomorrow’s garbage that we cannot seem to part with yet…

“You have succeeded in life when all you really want is only what you really need.”
~Vernon Howard

So, again, what is simplicity and is it easy to find without someone poking the fun out of you while winking and whispering, “Oh, living in the sticks, eh?”

dead branches

Perhaps simplicity can be found everywhere at anytime.

I am slowly learning about this thing called simplicity, starting with a ten-minute quiet moment every morning. Some call it meditation, but I see it as daily mindful sitting.

With eyes closed, body relaxed, I set the timer for ten minutes (although, Everyday Gurus suggests twelve minutes to maximize on the benefits) and begin to reflect inwards to focus with intention on myself. For example, a mindful sitting may look at how I perceive and process inconvenient life situations like staying calm while driving (heh)…areas I would like to see changes not only for a better me, but in the big picture, a better world–world peace, being one example.

This mindful sitting may seem trivial and maybe it is, however, I feel an overall calmness within myself since starting mindful sitting. To be honest, my mind tends to wander all over the place and I am working to stay focus and train my “wild child” mind.

In application to blogging, I got over the guilt that I needed to post something everyday. I had to be honest with myself and realize, my capabilities to process a quality post everyday and still perform my personal obligations was not, at this time, right for me.

As we go through our day, no matter how complicated or crazy our schedules become, one can go within to seek a quiet quality mindful sitting moment appreciating this thing called simplicity.

Why not look around and check:

Are there things I need to let go that hinder my practice of living life in blissful simplicity? Please share…

* * *

“The greatest step towards a life of simplicity is to learn to let go.”

~Steve Maraboli

* * *

Curtain Call: Featured Blog…

To tie in this theme, simplicity, with the Feature Blog, In Blue: Make Believe Boutique came to mind. Blue describes herself  as “…surfacing bit by bit, in layers…” as a “…quiet and reflective artist…” 

I think you will find calm and spiritual peace as you walk with Blue’s unique writing reflections such as, the spontaneous healing of a tired soul.

* * *

Inspiration today comes from Jakesprinter’s SUNDAY POST :Simplicity. Thank you!

A Love Affair Changed My Life

Posted on by

35

Oh, COOL!  I love the updated My Blogs page with the WordPress New icon button. Did you see how a push on the Inspire icon leads to a…voila, a question just like this one:

What was the one experience that completely changed your life? What happened? How did it change your life?

* * *

Are you kidding me?? You know the ONE experience that turned my life upside down and inside out as– blogging! Yah, it rocks your world too, huh?

For me, everything before WordPress was like the famous nursery rhyme so common long ago–hehehehe. (Hey, is this nursery rhyme still sung to young kids today?)

Row, row, row your boat, gently down the stream, merrily, merrily, merrily, life is but a (dreary) dream. 

I guess having a dreary dreamy routine type of life is okay, to a certain point; however, at some crazy moment, you need to hop off the dream boat and wake up to something more, and I mean more than the…drag out of bed, go to work, come home, crash, and get up and do it all again…and again…and again…and…

STOP the dreary!

Anyway, for me, I think blogging can foster the brain into a deeper thought process. It definitely helps to exercise the creative side of ourselves and for some, a fun way to add self-help therapy into their lives. Blogging dropped the whole world in front of me as I sent out post after post after post. Online friendships soon began and now, my journey down the stream turned from dreary to simply, dreamy!

nature's water source

The (dreary) dream life sunk to the bottom of the stream and instead, a renewed love life floated back up…oh, I still have to drag myself out to make a living, but my brain feels very much in the beginning stages of a passionate love affair.

Is your day filled with thoughts about your blog and does it run a bit like mine…”What can I share with my readers today?” ”What photos should I use…is my grammar/spelling correct?”  ”How do I add this…when should I post…what tags to use”…and on, and on…!

One thing I do know, if this love affair should fade in time, I experienced a dream life…even if for a moment.

Now, that is something to smile about, eh?

Wait, before you go…

* * *

Curtain Call: Featured Blog:

Confession time. Sometimes I am plain lazy. Take for instance when I visit a new blog, instead of leaving a comment, I simply read the post, press the Like icon and dash out quickly!

*my head hangs in shame*

Thankfully, some time ago, I decided to stop my lazy, despicable behavior and leave comments starting with the blog:  Pencil Pilot.  I thought nothing of it until Emma, from Pencil Pilot, returned to thank me for making her day better after reading my comment. Can you believe it? It was a memorable moment in my blog life.

Like most of us, Emma’s life runs with some smooth to turbulent moments and she finds writing “lesson the stress and sting” when confronted with these life upheavals.

By writing and creatively posting, however, is half of the process of releasing stress. The other half comes when readers decide to share some “love” and leave a comment behind. Pure bliss, my friends!

Basically, what I am telling you is, do not follow in my lazy footsteps and please, take a few minutes to add a bit of chit-chat in a blogger’s comment box…you never know who will find your thoughts exactly what they needed to get through their day.

Emma, recently decided to post more often, YAY,  and deals with fear here: 1984 Daily Prompt.

* * *

My Love Affair Lesson:

Some love affairs imprint deeply into a person’s soul and even if circumstances draws the heart away in a season or two, the experiences gained will live on forever like a perfect life dream.

As Kozo from Everyday Gurus would say:

{{{HUGS}}}