N Is For… New!

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Contributed by Rachel Wilder

I, like many others, adore my rut. It’s comfortable and has great carpeting. I really don’t like trying new things and have no desire to send an application to be on Amazing Race or anything remotely like that. Humans tend to be creatures of habit, as the saying goes, and I think that’s very accurate.

But life can become stagnant, lead to depression or cause you to look back and wonder what you did with your life. So even though it can be hard I urge everyone to try something new.

A new look.

I decided to become a redhead.

A new hobby.

Perhaps, coloring- meet my happy yak, Harvey.

Or try a new trail on your next walk.

Boardwalk Path at Wetlands Park in Las Vegas

Because staying in your rut or comfort zone might lead to regrets. You have the possibility of discovering something new to love…or not. You don’t have to do it again, after all. Because the ideas are endless. If you have trouble finding one, ask a friend. They are probably excited about sharing something that they love and enjoy with you.

Just try.

Put in the comments what you’re considering.

I’d love to know,

Rachel

M Is For… Muse!

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Contributed by Tina Holland.

It seems strange to look for a muse in the modern age.   I have an elderly dog that wants to hang out with me when I write.   His name is Kaiser and he’s a chocolate lab.   When my husband comes in, he will often say,  “I see Kaiser is musing” (yep he made it a verb).  This usually means Kaiser is napping in a nearby corner or at my feet.

Another phrase common in creative circles is, “Feed your Muse”.  This generally refers to doing something to fill your creative well – You’re not doing the “thing” but you are doing a thing related closely to it, like reading (for a writer) or something you love (I like scrapbooking).  Occasionally, in these moments you will find inspiration for your current work or maybe a spark of something new.

The modern muse can be an illusive entity.  In our modern world we have so much pulling us in different directions, it can be hard to find time for ourselves, let alone inspiration.  How do we change that?

What I’ve done when I’ve been blocked or overwhelmed is to make a conscious effort to carve out time for myself.  For me that means no distractions – No TV, no phone, no tech at all and I settle in with a book or a craft project for a couple hours.  I don’t even think about writing, because honestly when I’m blocked, I’m too fragile.  And looking at a blank screen when words won’t come makes me feel like a failure.

I’ve added more time to this creative block over the years and it does help me find inspiration and my muse and Kaiser usually joins me in all things so he enjoys a day without all the tech too.

L Is For… Leaving Things Out

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Contributed by Laura F.

We live in an age notable for many things, and one of those things must surely be our shared obsession with “de-cluttering,” “minimalism,” “voluntary simplicity,” whatever other name you choose to give it.  The interiors held up for our admiration are those that have been stripped down to essentials: bare, airy, uncluttered.  If “decluttering” is the activity urged upon us as virtually a moral obligation, then “uncluttered” is perhaps the ultimate word of praise.

I have certainly done my share of decluttering, some of which I heartily regret, but I have never achieved an uncluttered look in my living space, and I have no desire to try.  You see, there is a counter-balance to the gospel that an uncluttered, almost naked space leads to a healthy mind and a pure spirit.  The counter-balance is advice that I have found to be true: it is easier to pursue activities if your living space is set up to make those activities easy to jump into.  Some zealots go so far as to advocate packing your gym bag the night before or even sleeping in your gym clothes (!!!!) so that in the morning you will jump out of bed, grab your bag (or not, if you’re already dressed for the gym) and be on your way to a vigorous workout.

Please do not imagine that the “you” in the preceding sentence is being used as an all-inclusive pronoun.  I have never even owned a gym bag and the thought of sleeping in gym clothes sounds as bizarre to me as the thought of showering in gym clothes.  That would save time, too, wouldn’t it?  But would it really be a good idea?

No, let’s put all thoughts of gym firmly to one side and leave them there.  I’m thinking instead of such things as what I witnessed last Christmas, when my mother agreed to let my older sister spread out her jigsaw puzzle on our “fancy” table, one we only pull out to its full extent at major holidays.  We had our ordinary meals in the kitchen, as usual, but the “fancy” table stayed out in all its glory after Christmas dinner was over so that my sister could keep working on the puzzle.  It took weeks for her to complete the fiendishly difficult puzzle, but she finally triumphed over its challenges.  Imagine what a frustrating experience it would have been if she had had to put the puzzle away at the end of each visit and re-assemble it the next time she came over!

Jigsaw puzzles, of course, are an extreme example, but almost any activity benefits from being literally easy to “pick up.”  Does any reader actually put a book neatly back in the bookcase after each reading session?  Who among us does not prefer to have a book handy on the bedside table or by the side of our chair?  After we’ve read the book entirely through, then it can go back in the bookcase.

One of the greatest of sewing luxuries is the ability to leave a sewing project out on a table.  As for those people who actually have to put not only their fabric pieces but even their sewing machine away after each use, I salute their dedication but I suspect that less dedicated people would gradually sew less and less.

I myself am a tremendous devotee of coloring books and it is a true pleasure to be able to leave a coloring book open, with a tempting array of coloring agents (pens, paints, etc.) by its side.  For me, coloring is a great way to relax.  Sometimes all I need is to color for ten minutes, or even for five, and that is enough to soothe whatever little upset ruffled my spirits.  If I had to take out my coloring book and colors each time before carefully putting them away again, my opportunities for quick “peace breaks” would be much more limited.

In short, although plenty of people will tell you that a completely uncluttered space is crucial to mental health, I’d like to propose that sometimes leaving things out has valuable mental health benefits of its own.

 

K Is For… Kinetic Kindness!

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Speaking of movement.  I was fortunate to be assigned to the letter K. Hmm, so, Kinetic Kindness—I googled these two words together and found oodles of optimistic blogs, websites, teacher resources and more about movement and kindness (not always at the same time). Here’s my take on Kinetic Kindness:

What and who is Kinetic Kindness?

Kinetic refers to non-verbal emotional communication through movement and facial expressions. Kindness is generous, friendly consideration.

Think of kinetic kindness as a combination of non-verbal expression of movement and being of a positive giving nature (which paradoxically will often contain verbal communication). Then I suppose we are getting into the realm of Kinesthesia. Anyway, let’s have some fun with that concept.

Think of an encounter you have had while briskly walking, running, or bicycling on the trail with the person coming toward you. What has been your experience? Someone could offer a kinetic kindness with something as simple as a nod or a bright wave “hello.” A kinetic kindness could be your delightful pet bringing you a dirty sock and dropping it at your feet while staring lovingly up into your eyes (not sure if I’m anthropomorphizing here or not; but doesn’t that feel like kindness?).

Why Kinetic Kindness?

Why not? Supposing that kindness as a noun can be a stationary state; how does one offer kindness without movement? Food for thought and for another essay sometime in the future (or not).

Ways to live in Kinetic Kindness:

I wonder if you could offer kinetic kindness by purchasing or painting a happy painting that shows something, or someone, in motion or draw a drawing (with the intention of giving it as a gift or hanging it in a place that can be kindly shared with others) that has many bright colors and “motion.” Here’s a hint: it can be a realistic or abstract painting like this one from Wassily Kandinsky:

or it can be a flower waving in the breeze or a bird or animal in motion like this little squirrel I sketched:

Whatever your skill level or whatever your media or subject matter, make it m> o> v> e>_>_> across the surface of the painting or drawing then share it.  Get how that combo of concepts works?

Another way to practice kinetic, well, uhm, kinesthetic, kindness is through sound. Not everyone can see a painting or a wave. Could you call out a friendly hello? Could you invite someone to sit next to you on the train with both words and a physical gesture such as a hand movement toward the empty seat (that covers auditory and visual movement)? Could you share a kindness by playing or creating or singing a song that illustrates movement. What comes to mind for you? Do you have any tunes like this on your current playlists? Jeramiah was a Bullfrog comes to mind. What are some songs that you can share that depict movement and kindness?

What are some of your ideas to live in kinetic kindness?

BTW I totally made up this goofy fun concept, kind of works though, doesn’t it?

By JaeSage
Iowa Druid and Kinetic Kindness Practitioner
2023

 

J Is For… Justice!

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Contributed by Adele Fasick.

Everyone has heard of Daniel Boone, but his daughter Jemima, is almost forgotten, although she too played a part in settling the western states.

Jemima’s great adventure started on July 14, 1776, when she was 13 years old and living with her family at Boonesborough, the settlement her father had organized. She and two other teenaged girls took a canoe out on the Kentucky River, which flowed close to the settlement. Seeing flowers on the opposite shore, the girls decided to paddle over and pick some. As they drew close to the shore, a group of Shawnee and Cherokee Indians appeared, seized the canoe, grabbed the girls, bound their hands, and marched them away from the river.

It wasn’t long before the settlers in Boonesborough heard voices calling and realized something was happening. They ran to the river where they found the empty canoe floating in the water. The girls had disappeared. Daniel Boone quickly organized a few men as a search party. Although both Shawnee and Cherokee Indians travelled often through the area, their trails were well hidden and Boone had no idea which way they might have gone.

Fortunately, Jemima and her friends were familiar with the difficulties of tracking people through a heavily wooded area so they did their best to leave traces of where they had gone. The girls were wearing long dresses, which made it difficult for them to walk through the dense woods, so the Indians cut several inches off the bottoms of the skirts. The Indians buried the leftover fabric so it wouldn’t be found, but the girls were able to tear pieces from the ragged skirts and attach them to bushes along the path. When the Indians noticed what they were doing, they ordered them to stop, but some pieces of fabric were left.

Jemima was wearing a bonnet and she realized the bonnet strings could give information. She tied knots in the string to indicate the number of Indian braves who had taken them—five in all. Because the girls were clever enough to leave clues, and because Daniel Boone and his party understood them, it took only a few days to rescue the girls.

Despite the worries of other settlers, the girls were not injured by their captors. In fact, the girls seem to have established congenial relations with several of the Indians. They reported that they had been well treated. Daniel Boone negotiated with the Indians and reached an agreement on where the settlers could hunt and fish. The girls were released, and everyone was satisfied.

Jemima and her friends became famous. Years afterward, James Fennimore Cooper wrote about their adventure in The Last of the Mohicans—one of the most popular books of its time. Unfortunately, Jemima was never able to read the book. Like most pioneer women, she was never taught to read. Reading and writing were considered necessary only for men. So, although Jemima found justice from the Indians, she did not always get it from her own family.

You can read more about Jemima’s story in my blog Teacups and Tyrants.

I Is For… Inspiration!

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Contributed by Alexandra Sissulak.

Be Open for “Inspiration”

Our days are filled with so much to take in and absorb, we are constantly bombarded with the stimulation asking, begging, or pleading for our attention and asking us to take some kind of action.  Between news and social media, marketing and advertising, our eyes and ears are getting tired from seeing and hearing the same madness all the time. Walking through life without the energy or bandwidth to consume the everything being flung in our direction.  It really is no wonder we’ve become nearly blind to the limitless inspiration all around us, surrounding us in our everyday life.  It has been so overwhelming that some of us began to isolate and estrange ourselves from everyday society; barely hanging on….

One day, we catch a flash of something that tugs on our head-strings, makes us vibrate with excitement, or compels us to think creatively.  It comes from a song we hear, engaging with someone we love, or looking for a solution to help do the things we enjoy and the tasks we dislike better, easier, or more efficient.

We are drawn to it like a moth to a flame. All it takes is a spark, a flicker that ignites, the only light bright enough to pierce through the thick cloud layer of fog, dust, and other shattered debris; flowing energy radiating outwards, sweeping indiscriminately, gathering momentum.

Inspiration can be found lurking and hiding within our environment or around the people with whom we interact, like an elusive hidden gem. However, it must be given before it can be received and vice versa; very similar, remarkable, and divine as love. Further, it needs a place to go to be received, and vice versa…

Here’s the rub if one isn’t open to receive inspiration it can’t get in. It has nowhere to go, because the entrance has been shut tight, boarded up, and barricaded to drown out the constant chaos of modern life. Inspiration can knock, or ring the doorbell all it wants but if the door isn’t open, nothing is getting through.

“The most impenetrable barriers between ourselves and our
own happiness are those that are self-imposed.” – Me

So how do we overcome this, get back into the flow of giving and receiving inspiration?  Blasting away those barriers can be as simple as changing your perspective as well as reminding yourself who you are, what you’re here to do, and most importantly why you do it.

First, we look within. We analyze our values. Maybe we have a list lying around that has a was handwritten in chalk somewhere on the driveway last summer or crumpled and lying on the bottom of our desk drawer… ya know what? Never mind, the outcome is far better when you start all over again anyway!  If you’re looking for help figuring out what your values are, you’ve entered the wrong line; there are plenty of other posts out there in the digi-verse you might be lost for days though…so

Great, now that we’re back and we’ve been sufficiently reacquainted with everything gives us enough reason to live we’d die for it, let’s continue.

Second, start by creating, doing, or making something, anything, that makes only you, and ONLY happy. Whatever it is, intend to impress no one. Your happiness is always defined by you.

What happens next is amazing!!!  The door for inspiration to come pouring back in is blown wide open and balance is restored.  Life starts to flow again, fueling yourself and others with infinite inspiration.

When the door opens, what kind of inspiration will find you… and vice versa?

H Is For… Hummingbirds!

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Image from Creative Commons, used under Creative Commons license.

Hummingbirds make me happy.

We have a feeder right outside my office window, so I can see them coming and going. During the Spring migration, we have to refill the feeders (we have two; one by my office, and one out on Grandpa, an ancient broadleaf maple in the yard) every two days. During normal non-migration times, about once a week will do it. We have native the “Anna’s Hummingbird” here; they’re tiny (even for hummingbirds) and greenish metal color.

Do you have hummingbirds in your valley? If so, do you feed them? If not, what birds do you have that live near you?

Some resources for the bird-challenged:

  1. Merlin Bird App: https://merlin.allaboutbirds.org/
    1. This is one of my favorite apps, because it lets you record bird sounds and the app will tell you what the likely culprit is that’s making the noise. There’s more info on Audubon (see below), but for straight up identification I like this one. My local library turned me onto it.
  2. Speaking of, check out your local public library. They may have classes on birds, especially right about now; our library did a class last year on “online options for outdoors,” which covered all sorts of things – bird apps, nature tracking apps for trees and bugs, even astronomy apps.
  3. Audubon Bird Guide App: https://www.audubon.org/app
    1. If you want to learn about specific birds, this is a great repository of information. Once you know what birds you have in your area, you can come here and read up on them.
  4. Seek, by iNaturalist: https://www.inaturalist.org/pages/seek_app
    1. This is a fun one – it tracks not just birds, but bugs and plants too. They have challenges, and you can track what you find on your nature walks. This is a great tool – especially for our urbanites! You’ll be startled by just how much nature is right around you, even in the concrete jungle.

 

What are your favorites?

G Is For… Graceful!

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Contributed by Adele Fasick.

G Martha Graham

G is for graceful, the beauty of movement that balances motion and stillness in a pattern pleasing to the human eye. Dancing is one of the most ancient arts. Images of people dancing have been found in India in pictures made more than 6000 years ago. Over the centuries, dancing developed in every known culture.

Throughout Europe and America ballet gradually became honored as the highest form of the art of dancing. When I was growing up in New York, high school students could be excused from classes on Wednesday afternoons to attend ballet performances at the New York City Ballet. For sixty cents we would watch performances of traditional classical ballet and dream of becoming dancers. But even as we watched, the dance world was changing.

Martha. Graham was the one of the people who revolutionized dance during the twentieth century. She was born in Pennsylvania in 1894, but moved with her family to Santa Barbara, California when she was 14 years old. It was in California that she first saw professional dance performances and decided to study dance. She soon became a star. During the 1920s she moved to New York where she started her own studio and school in 1926. The school that she started has been an important part of the modern dance world ever since its founding and it is now the oldest active dance school in America.

Most dance performances staged in America before the twentieth century had been based on the European tradition of ballet dancing. Dancers wore gauzy tutus and ballet shoes that allowed them to dance “en pointe” and move about the stage as if they were floating.  Graham’s approach was very different. She developed the concept of “contraction and release” as the major style of movement. Some fans of the more familiar European style of dance considered Graham’s work a betrayal of the traditional culture of ballet. Graham herself felt that she was expressing the spirit of her time. She wrote: “No artist is ahead of his time. He is his time; it is just that the others are behind the times.”

Graham believed that dancing was an important expression of the nation’s culture. She declared that “The body says what words cannot.” Many videos of the dances she created are now preserved in the Library of Congress. You can discover them through their website. Her works continue to inspire dancers and audiences throughout the world. If you want to read more about Martha Graham and the art she inspired, take a look at my blog, Teacups and Tyrants. (teacupsandtyrants.com)

F Is For… Fresh Starts!

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Contributed by Laura Rios.

As I sit to write this, I’m looking out through the patio door at the neighborhood treetops showing all kinds of colors: white and pink blossoms, the reddish color of new buds on the maple trees, and the bright new green best called “spring green”. The varied colors bring a welcome change of scenery after the starkness of winter. Nature is making its fresh start, as it does just about this time every year without fail.

Some fresh starts, like springtime, are connected in some way to the calendar. We’re all familiar with the first of January. Many of us establish New Year’s resolutions, determined to make positive changes in our lives as we set off on a new journey around the sun. Perhaps our birthdays spark a similar motivation in some of us.

Late summer or early fall brings the start of a new school year for most young people. If it means attending a completely different school, it’s truly a fresh start. These new beginnings can be both exciting and stressful; either way, they rarely come as a surprise, and we generally take them in stride.

Other new beginnings have nothing to do with dates or moon phases. These fresh starts can be brought about by the ends of something, often due to circumstances beyond our control, and they can cause major upheavals: perhaps the loss of a job, learning that we suddenly need to move, or finding ourselves newly single. It’s natural to feel adrift in such times and face these enforced fresh starts with some trepidation. Maybe we nurse some self-pity. Where to start? Might we glimpse some positivity in these situations so that we can find a little excitement and less dread in such cases? After all, when one door opens, there is usually another one that opens somewhere else. It may be up to us to figure out where that is.

Or maybe we simply feel compelled to make some changes. Possibly we’ve decided we don’t like what we’re doing, what we’re eating, how we look or how we feel. Luckily, we are largely in charge here, and all we need to do to begin anew is to put one foot in front of the other and set out on a new path.

As we search for the next open door, or to pursue a road untraveled, it can be helpful to view new beginnings in a positive light. Fortunately, we don’t have to do this alone. Many wise people have pondered this very subject, and maybe you’ll find some pearls of wisdom in their words. Here then, in no particular order, are quotes intended to lend support if you’re facing a fresh start, large or small.

So, set all that old baggage down and let the past serve only as a memory from which you’ve learned. Take a deep breath. Ready… set … go!

“Isn’t it nice to think that tomorrow is a new day with no mistakes in it yet?” – L. M. Montgomery

“The next year, the next day, the next hour are lying ready for you, as perfect, as unspoiled, as if you had never wasted or misapplied a single moment in all your life. You can turn over a new leaf every hour if you choose.” – Arnold Bennett

“Holding on is believing that there’s only a past; letting go is knowing that there’s a future.” – Daphne Rose Kingma

“No, this is not the beginning of a new chapter… this is the beginning of a new book! That first book is already closed, ended, and tossed into the seas; this new book is newly opened, has just begun!” – C. Joybell

“Stay away from what might have been and look at what can be.” – Marsha Petrie Sue

“It’s never too late to become who you want to be. I hope you live a life that you’re proud of, and if you find that you’re not, I hope you have the strength to start over.” – F. Scott Fitzgerald

“Success is not final. Failure is not fatal. It’s the courage to continue that counts.” – Winston Churchill

“You may have a fresh start any moment you choose, for this thing that we call ‘failure’ is not the falling down, but the staying down.” – Mary Pickford

“Although now one can go back and make a brand new start, anyone can start from now and make a brand new ending.” – Carl Bard

“The beginning is the most important part of the work.” – Plato

And finally:

“The beginning is always today.” – Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley

E Is For… Exercise!

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Exercise! Love it or hate it, we all need more of it – especially if you, like me, are a person in love with words, reading, writing, and all the other things we do while SITTING.

Sitting is the new smoking.

You’ve probably heard the new buzz phrase: “sitting is the new smoking.” According to the Heart Foundation, they decided to do some research and find out if that’s true. You can see the article from 2019, here.

Turns out, it is.

I’m also sure, though, that you’ve probably heard ad nauseam all the exhortations for how to move more: stand up during phone calls, get up once an hour, don’t sit so much, bla bla bla.

It’s not that those ideas are bad, it’s just that they aren’t addressing the root problem. We aren’t being honest enough with ourselves. We sit because of stress, or because we just can’t take it anymore. Modern life is STRESSFUL. Even if you don’t work a stressful job like a firefighter, we all are feeling it – the pandemic, growing social unrest and polarization, fears about the economy, the climate, our own safety in our communities from epidemic gun violence, spiders…

No really. Spiders are on my list, dude.

Point is, we sit because we crave relaxation, ease from all the noise and fuss and bother.

What if I told you, a simple walk will help with that relaxation?

What worked for me are a couple things:

Gratitude walk

Try going out for a 20 minute gratitude walk. Each step you take, say in your mind, thank you. And get specific and granular. That silly little thing you’re grateful for? Walk it out!

  • Sunrise
  • I woke up this morning
  • I have enough to eat
  • My bills are current
  • There aren’t any spiders on me right now

 

Yes, silly does work. Here’s the magic of it: the silly lets our brain start doing its brain thing and free associating. You may find, as I did, that once I start allowing myself to get silly (I’m grateful for the dark chocolate Dove bites that my family member got for me), then my brain starts coming up with even more things to be grateful about (I have a job, I have a car and enough gas to get around, I love my cats). Also, walking for gratitude doesn’t hit our radar as “Exercise” with a capital E. So it can help us to get around the “doan wannas.”

Be inefficient

Say huh?

No, really!

Take the stuff from the living room to the kitchen in three trips instead of one. Walk the long way around the house. Leave your purse in the car and then go back for it. Take a deep breath and let go the obsession with having to getitalldonerightthissecond. Be willing to move. Oh, crap; my water is in the kitchen. Guess I’d better get up and go get it.

Be willing to befriend others in your journey

Smartphones allow us to do a lot of amazing things, like play solitaire in the bathroom. But they can also be boon friends to us. Why not schedule a video call with a friend and go for a walk together? I’ve done this with friends in other states even. You start up the video call and share the walk. It’s a fun way to get out of the house, off that damned chair, and moving. And when you’re talking with someone, the time passes in a different way than if we’re there, just us an our thoughts, exercising.

Change your language

Don’t let exercise be a bad word. I’ve been up close and personal with someone who wasn’t able to make this shift, and she died a long, awful, and painful death from complications of obesity and immobility. NONE of us want that. We don’t want to fall at the table during a holiday meal and have to call the fire department to come help us back up again. That doesn’t take us down a journey we want to go. But the thing is, we all have to take a journey. It’s up to us whether we want to do it on our terms, or in pain and unable to use our bodies.

We ARE our bodies. It’s high time we acted like it.

Now get out there, and MOVE.