BE INTERESTED. GET INTERESTED.

I like this from Eleanor Roosevelt (1884-1962) .....  "One thing life has taught me:  if you are interested you never have to look for new interests. They come to you. When you are genuinely interested in one thing,  It will always lead to something else."

Writing is a passion. A passionate interest that has led me to fill up so many notebooks and notepads with so much writing ... some made full and then some left half-empty ... but definitely many. I write long and short, some make good sense and others just ho-hum. But I write. Essays, stories, poems, journals, blogs. Even if it's just a sentence.. a line or two... or a phrase... or an article for a local magazine or e-magazine site. It does not matter. Just to see the words stumble out of my pen on what once was a blank piece of paper or page is enough to get the heavenly stars into my eyes colliding with such ecstatic glee.

Furthermore the plus side of it is to discover that the writing opens other doors of interest which I would usually never have paid much attention to. When writing about creative hobbies one day in the blog my mind took a sudden shift just out of the blue thinking about trying my hand at painting. So I did. Took out a canvass, borrowed my daughter's water colors and paint brushes, and sat down to paint. Happy to say that I have today at least a dozen finished paintings lying around the house somewhere. It was an exhilarating experience that I would truly strongly suggest that you give it a try.

On another day while in the midst of writing, a new thought entered my mind as I gazed at the blue jeans left on the sofa by my daughter (oh yeah, she's a mess hahah...) -- why not sew a bag from an old pair of jeans? Yeah, why not?!! And to make a long story short I have sewn two ladies bags out of two old worn-out pairs of blue jeans. And three more pairs are simply waiting to be transformed by my new-found needlecraft skill. Try it and you just might surprise yourself.

Eleanor Roosevelt is right...  when interest gets hold of you your whole world is transformed by wonderful discoveries one after the other.  Truly wonderful opportunities unfold and present themselves to you.

Be interested. Get interested. With life, with living.

SHARED THOUGHTS - SHARED HUMANITY

Who cares to listen to another's tale of woes and more woes?! Because I have learned that the only tales of woe which we are truly interested in are our own. So I'm not telling mine. LOLS :-)  Sufficient to say that it was a miserable two weeks of being unwell and finally recovery that it still leaves me reeling from it all today. Yet I am going to admit that the week that passed was indeed such a welcome respite which I realize now was one that I needed.

But I'm hellbent on shaking the accumulated cobwebs away and get the Muses back into the writing groove again. Thoughts are wrestling and scrambling to get down into print that I can't decide now which should come first. Actually, all are worthy for the writing. Whenever or every time an experience or an event or an encounter comes into play and gets 'processed' in the mind the end-result that comes out is always worthy. Insights - perceptions  - views - wisdom are born this way. And that is good.

I write about such things knowing full well that it will pull on a familiar string or strings in the hearts of many. After all in spite of our valid differences we are still all basically the same. But what interests me most is your individual authentic original version of your self. We may be looking at the same things, but I would like to know your own thoughts about it. The external trappings of the self serve only to distract attention away from what truly matters. That which lies within is far more essential -- in the core of your being is who you truly are. It's not the gift-wrapping but the gift that brings the sparkle to one's eyes.

Here on my blog page I welcome with pleasure your sharing of your thoughts. Unleash the power of your mind. Because you are far more than you give yourself credit for. That, by the way, interests me hugely. And so with everybody else I believe.  :-)

Blessings to you and your families.

A WOMAN IS LIKE A TEA BAG

Woke up with the sun way up gleefully heating up the face of the earth! But it took a back seat this time when I saw this in my inbox. Thank you, Mr. Quote Man, this one takes the prize. I'm bringing it here in memory of my mom ... a strong person, woman, daughter, wife, and mother.

To quote:

A woman is like a tea bag -- 

you never know how strong she is 

until she gets in hot water.' 

 

--  Eleanor Roosevelt

Unquote.

True, isn't it? And she is right here in our homes, our family circles, our close friends, and even out there on the streets of our big cities or in the far-flung areas of our rural landscape. But it's not always in the huge life drama or battles thrown their way that they shine. It's also in the silent struggles of their mundane battles of life and living day after day... disappointments, frustrations, heartbreaks, broken dreams.... We have a lot of them around us. You will know them when you see them because something within will resonate with that felt or shared in the heart.

 

 

THE POWER OF E-COMMUNICATION

                             

Just here for a bit. I was reading this book in bed ... Well, you have to think of something to take your mind off your helpless self ... and there's nothing better than a good book to do that. Here is one I would like to share with you. Found good stuff in it but I was struck particularly by these lines which I quote. Maybe because I have written something about it months ago. The book is 'The Power of Kindness' (the same editors of Random Acts Of Kindness) ..... Chapter 5 - The Transformative Nature of Community ... an excerpt from page 158, to quote:

" ..... Maybe because of vast number people you can communicate with, most e-communications are just dabbling. A little chit-chat, back-and-forth questions and answers about incredibly superficial and meaningless things and then Poof!, people disappear.

It amazes me how often and suddenly people just drop out of sight. You think there is something real going on and then complete silence, like it never even existed. No explanations, no goodbyes, just silence. The more I checked in with friends, the more I had to conclude this was the main mode of e-communications ----- a brief flurry of e-mails and I-mails going back and forth, the illusion of connection, and the trickling away. "     -- Unquote.

I am sure that many of us have thought about this 'disappearance' ... have observed it on your fb or blog page, respectively. As much as the article above is true, one cannot simply brush off this explanation that people (that's you and me and others more) have lives to live and that life more often than not does take them in other directions too. Sometimes too fast-too soon leaving no room for goodbyes or simple courtesies. Life I think behaves often in that seemingly heartless manner -- you may want to do the right thing but it won't let you thus affecting your life and the people around you in some great or greater manner.

If some people perceive the online community lacks depth, I'll say maybe yes and maybe not. The realities of e-communication are there for one to understand both personally and impersonally. The thing is you can make a difference with your online community in a way which reflects you as a person in real life, in real time. The idea is be yourself.... your best good self the one which God meant you to be by Divine Design. Whatever it is that you do, you can't be anything less than that Divine Plan. The blueprint of our earthly lives, with or without e-communication.

Gosh, I hope this wasn't very long for you. :-)
By the way, see this photo above? So pretty and refreshing to the eyes and soul. Enjoy it as I did. Take care now and blessings to you and your families. God loves you... you know HE does!