Each year I plan to take on a different writing project. This year it has been “A Year of Living Thoughtfully.” Last year it was “Poetry Challenge.” I’m considering making next year’s project, “A Year of Living Creatively.” We shall see.
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What is the most difficult thing you can do? Perhaps it is…
Read a poem and search for understanding.
Read a poem with just your presence involved.
Read a poem and let it share what it will.
Read a poem and allow it to speak to you.
If you feel something you’re a winner. You’ve been given that which was meant for you. That is a good way to approach everything in life.
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The Stoic Philosopher Epictetus, in 55 BC, said the following:
“Do not seek to have everything that happens happen as you wish, but wish for everything to happen as it actually does happen, and your life will be serene.”
I recently listened to someone describe how disturbed they became each time they drove into their neighborhood and saw something that was not to their liking. The person went into great detail about the emotional distress this caused. I couldn’t help thinking about this quote from Epictetus. Obsession over situations that are out of our control is a waste of energy, not only that, but it will eventually kill us.
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Do this every day to be a better writer and a better person.
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I try (mostly with success) not to use expletives.
What the fuck, who cares.
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I’ve been asking myself a few questions lately. One in particular, where did our Universe come from? I don’t know. I like to think it was created from the remains of a collapsed universe that spit its contents into our realm. Something like black holes and white holes. That begs the issue. All I did was move the question to an earlier point in time.
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I may be losing some memory. That’s ok. I keep a journal. I just need to remember to read it…
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You may have realized I would rather be a writer or poet if I had been given the choice when I was young, and if I had the consciousness then to follow that path.
That would not have been a bad way to live. That said, I am enjoying the experience now immensely.
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Meditation allows us many things, but possibly the most important thing is that it allows us to shift our perception. Instead of thinking about “things,” we can shift our perception so we “experience” what we are thinking — opening new doors to insight.
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It occurred to me that I could use decimals in my numbering scheme to allow me more than one entry on a given day. I promise not to make a habit of that practice…
3 lbs Corned Beef Brisket
1lb Baby Carrots
1lb small Yukon gold potatoes
Beef Broth
2 Yellow Onions
1 head Green Cabbage.
Garlic
Soda Bread
(There’s more to it than that, but that’s the assignment I’ve been given.)
I went to two stores looking for Authentic Irish Soda Bread. It’s a fairly small town but still, I couldn’t find any — so I made it myself.
4 cups Flour
1 Tbsp Sugar
1 tsp Sugar
1 tsp Salt
1 tsp Baking Soda
4 Tbsp Butter
1 cup Raisins (either type, I prefer Golden Raisins)
1 Egg
1 - 3/4 Cups Buttermilk
Whisk dry ingredients. Add cubed butter and mix by hand. Stir in Raisins. Make a hole in the middle of the dry dough mixture and add whisked Egg and Buttermilk. Fold until well mixed. Turn out onto a floured surface and press into a ball, work the dough until it has a consistent texture but do not overwork. Place the dough in a cast iron skillet approximately 8” in diameter. Flatten the dough to an even thickness, score an “X” on the top, and bake for 30 to 45 minutes at 425 until a toothpick comes out clean.
The dinner was delicious.
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I read the poem “Horses,” by Pablo Neruda. It was so beautiful it made me cry. So did the poem “A Blessing,” by James Wright, as did the poem “First Days of Spring — the Sky,” by Ryokan.
Needless to say, I wish I could write poetry (anything really) as beautifully as those poets.
Sidebar: I sometimes ignore Grammarly. It suggested I delete the phrase “Needless to say”. I like my way better. Of course, I am frequently accused of being verbose and not just by Grammarly…
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Don’t use the top.
Don’t use the trough.
Turn on the berm.
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Happy Birthday. I love you. Thank you for being a part of my life. I once got a ride from an Uber driver, and when I told him what a wonderful family I had, he told me he wanted to join my family. You are a big part of that.
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I watch in horror, as
They storm the steps
With no idea
What they are doing.
I am witnessing
The calculated destruction
Of democracy,
One man’s dream.
It saddens me
That so many allow themselves
To become
Ignorant tools.
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Have you ever seen
an elephant standing on one leg
on top of a stack
of tea cups?
I have.
When I looked more closely
I saw a reality
where elephants
weigh less than tea cups.
It was an optical illusion.
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Seek tranquility whenever you can. The thoughts that come to you when you do that are the best guides you can have.
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How you live your life
Says a lot about
How you will be viewed
Once you are gone.
It doesn’t hurt to keep that in mind…
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Today I wrote down the names of 64 poets.
That’s a lot of poetry.
I would like to read them all.
It looks like I may be getting a late start on that one.
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Impermanence. I suppose that sort of sums it all up. One day you are cruising along and the next day a broken water pipe sends you into chaos. The best way to deal with that is to live without water pipes. I’m working on that…
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There is a part of me that wants to live apart from the world. I would like to be alone with my thoughts, surrounded only by nature. I’m comfortable with my thoughts and with nature, but I have never given my thoughts free rein to roam like the open space that nature gives. I’m curious to see where the thoughts would go given that opportunity.
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It doesn’t matter where we are in time at the moment. We are where we have always been, and where we will be in the future — unless we open our eyes.
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Winter has withered everything
in this cold mountain place:
dignity is in
its desolation now, and beauty
in the cold clarity of its moon.
— Saigyo (1118-1190)
Yes, winter has its effect, but behold
the perfectly carved track in the
freshly fallen snow.
This is one man’s compliment to nature’s
cold mountain place.
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Nothing that can be said that is worth saying, can be said in words. That could be why I struggle so mightily with writing.
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I would be remiss if I did not mention my love for my brother in these entries. Of course, I never had a biological brother, but that doesn’t matter. My true brother has been a part of my life for all my best years. He knows me too well. He knows when I last changed the tires on my truck and what size I run. You know who you are. Thank you for being there for me. I love you.
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When I go to see my doctor and the nurse asks me to step on the scale, I like to say: “Do you mind if I take all my clothes off… I’d like to get an accurate reading.” It never fails to get a smile.
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