“If you think you are too small to make a difference, try sleeping with a mosquito.”
— the Dalai Lama
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Posts Tagged ‘Thoughts’
Not Too Small
Posted in Other, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2022, change, inspiration, Thoughts on July 2, 2022| Leave a Comment »
World Awake
Posted in Writing, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2022, creativity, home, inspiration, Thoughts, writing on June 30, 2022| Leave a Comment »
We rose early. At 5:30 the world was quiet, not just because of the hour but because a heavy blanket of grey fog covered the neighborhood. Houses across the street loomed in the haze, their trees mere outlines.
The fog is almost gone now but the grey sky remains, a low ceiling that dampens sound. The birds don’t mind. A family of grackles is flitting from back yard to front, jays and finches and robins visit for a bath, and a pair of mourning doves make themselves at home on the stonework. The plants don’t mind either. Yellow tickseed flowers stand open and bright yellow even without the sun. And now, a slight breeze whispers through the maple leaves.
The wider world awakes.
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Blankety Blank Blank
Posted in Writing, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2022, Charlie Jane Anders, creativity, Fiction, genre fiction, productivity, Thoughts, Writers, writing on June 29, 2022| Leave a Comment »
If you’ve ever had writers’ block you’ll know that it is, hmm, not fun. In my experience, getting past it requires taking a step back and reassessing your project, your goals, and your self. It can also help to understand what kind of block you’re dealing with. For that, Charlie Jane Anders has some advice:
The 10 Types of Writers’ Block (and How to Overcome Them)
Instead of feeling overwhelmed by the terrifying mystique of Writer’s Block, it’s better to take it apart and understand it — and then conquer it. Here are 10 types of Writer’s Block and how to overcome each type.
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Too Cool
Posted in Food and..., tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2022, creativity, family, food, home, memories, Thoughts on June 28, 2022| Leave a Comment »
My father’s mother baked from scratch, but she always had a container of Cool Whip in the fridge when we came to visit. Did she always stock it? I don’t know, but it was a special treat for us.
I don’t buy it for myself but even now the taste of Cool Whip reminds me of hot summers and warm smiles.
Last week, I whipped up a bit of cream to go with fresh strawberries from a farm down the road. I usually add a bit of Grand Marnier but this time, I decided to try a slight twist.
It turns out that heavy whipping cream plus vanilla, sugar and a dollop of sour cream creates a thick whipped topping that tastes a lot like Cool Whip. Not as it is, necessarily, but as I remember it. Fun, flavorful, special.
Let’s call it Cool Whip for adults. All of the memories, none of the additives.
Thanks, Grandma.
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Shared Wisdom
Posted in Writing, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2022, advice, creativity, inspiration, Thoughts, Writers, writing on June 27, 2022| Leave a Comment »
Not everyone who is old is wise. Not everyone who is wise is old. But it is true that for many of us, age equals experience which equals at least some measure of perspective. There is a reason elders are respected in many societies.
The written word has many benefits, not least that it allows such wisdom to be widely shared. For the past several birthdays, the maverick, artist, futurist and professional optimist Kevin Kelly has made it a point to aggregate advice he wishes he had known. Then, through the magic of the internet, he shares that advice with the world.
“I am extremely optimistic about the future – despite reading the news.”
— Kevin Kelly (I’ll have what he’s having)
Does every suggestion work for me? No, but that’s ok. As he says, “Half the skill of being educated is learning what you can ignore.”
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The Technium: 103 Bits of Advice I Wish I Had Known
• The advantage of a ridiculously ambitious goal is that it sets the bar very high so even in failure it may be a success measured by the ordinary.
• A great way to understand yourself is to seriously reflect on everything you find irritating in others.
The Technium: 99 Additional Bits of Unsolicited Advice
• That thing that made you weird as a kid could make you great as an adult — if you don’t lose it.
The Technium: 68 Bits of Unsolicited Advice
• Over the long term, the future is decided by optimists. To be an optimist you don’t have to ignore all the many problems we create; you just have to imagine improving our capacity to solve problems.
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The Jen Ratio
Posted in Likes, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2022, inspiration, kindness, Thoughts on June 26, 2022| Leave a Comment »
I came across this short little video and thought it was lovely. And while the coincidentally-named concept of “Jen” is not about me, I’ll try to live up to it all the same.
“Three things in human life are important: the first is to be kind; the second is to be kind; and the third is to be kind.”
― Henry James
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Always Tomorrow
Posted in Other, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2022, power, Thoughts, women, Writers on June 25, 2022| Leave a Comment »
The problem with writing a daily blog with a bright-side bent is that not all days are bright. Some days the news is not what you’d hope. And what to say about a society that, despite the wishes of the majority, is on its way to becoming a Margaret Atwood reality show?
But, as I remind myself, there is always tomorrow.
“I do not wish them [women] to have power over men; but over themselves.”
― Mary Wollstonecraft, A Vindication of the Rights of Woman, 1792 (died 1797 of childbed fever)
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Stand Here
Posted in Other, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2022, inspiration, news, Thoughts on June 24, 2022| Leave a Comment »
“I can be changed by what happens to me. But I refuse to be reduced by it.
― Maya Angelou
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Summer Time
Posted in Holidays, Writing, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2022, Thoughts, Writers on June 23, 2022| Leave a Comment »
Note: I wrote this post two days ago but for whatever reason it did not go out for the Solstice on the 21st. Apologies to all the Druids out there!
Happy Summer Solstice!
“And so with the sunshine and the great bursts of leaves growing on the trees, just as things grow in fast movies, I had that familiar conviction that life was beginning over again with the summer.”
― F. Scott Fitzgerald, The Great Gatsby
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Good Afternoon
Posted in Writing, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2022, inspiration, Thoughts, Writers on June 23, 2022| Leave a Comment »
“Summer afternoon—summer afternoon; to me those have always been the two most beautiful words in the English language.”
― Henry James
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