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Keeping current in wellness, in and out of the water
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#WeekendCoffeeShare Fire Rooster Edition
January 29, 2017
— 5 Comments
Smokey Takes A Stand
Welcome to my home on this cold sunny morning in Arizona. Make yourself at home while I put the kettle on. I can serve you coffee, an assortment of teas, and a wonderful combination of grapefruit,orange,and tangerine juice that I am drinking. Citrus season is in full swing here, so we are enjoying our harvest as well as some of our friends’ fruit. I have found a recipe for red grapefruit salsa that sounds really tasty, so I plan to whip that up later today. Please take some citrus back home with you when you go, since we have a super abundance to share with you. Relax and tell me about your life and writing. Did your week turn out as planned?
The year of the Rooster is here to signal a new beginning. Fire rooster is feisty and proud by nature. We have all witnessed the political season and the wild start of the new administration and knew we had crossed some kind of Rubicon. Things have changed radically and quickly in ways nobody really anticipated when the election began. As Hill correctly observed we are more divided that we thought. Although the war with the intelligence agencies was unprecedented, it is nothing in comparison with the National Park Service movement to publish scientific facts. The forms of protest are reinvented and refined daily. The year of the cock is all about reinventing everything. We are seeing that happen, whether we like it or not. Change is here. I did support the women who marched, but I feel very passionate about supporting the scientific community freaking out on behalf of science. I am afraid of dark ages without facts. We can’t afford to wipe out any more knowledge for political expediency. I feel like we all just jumped off a very steep cliff without our flying suits. We need science more than ever.
I wrote another photo prompt piece this week. I went with a free verse. The picture was intriguing, as they always are. That is the point of using the prompt. Maybe this week I will write two pieces of fiction. It is a freeing experience to be able to just make up anything you want from your imagination. My muse will eventually get warmed up to this new way of expressing myself. In the meantime I am retweeting all the @altNationalPark accounts, and joining the army of comedy on twitter.
Baddass Park Employees
War with the Park Service
Thanks for stopping by today to share coffee and some angst. I wish you all a happy and prosperous year of the rooster. May the cock be with us. Join this coffee sharing party each weekend hosted by Diana. Please visit to read, comment, or share your own post with this diverse group of talented writers. Add your two cents here.
Aquarius Sun Sagittarius Moon
January 22, 2017
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Today it will really feel like Aquarius Season with the Moon in philosophical Sagittarius. She spent the night void-of-course in Scorpio and leaps into fiery Sagittarius before daybreak. The only aspect the Moon makes today is a bright, inquisitive sextile to the Aquarius Sun during the morning. Sagittarius and Aquarius are natural allies and share […]
via Sagittarius Moon says think big 1-22-2017 — Libra Seeking Balance
#WeekendCoffeeShare, Faith In Enantiodromia
January 21, 2017
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#WeekendCoffeeShare
Enantiodromia is a concept made popular by the Swiss psychiatrist Carl Jung. Carl is known for being deeply difficult to interpret because of his writing style. He was first friendly but later became a rival of Sigmund Freud. If we were having coffee today, on the day of the women’s march on Washington, I would make an effort to explain this idea. I think if we look at the United States as an entity created by history we can see that our society has become more and more at odds with “the Other”. Carl explains this blame game as transference, or finding fault in others rather than looking into our own responsibility for any given situation. In personal relationships this is common, and now it is the norm for our politics. I have really been thinking hard about this as we approached the inauguration. I share feelings of doom and despair with many, but I am taking solace that we are establishing a new rock bottom from which we can only bounce. Our collective consciousness is a mess, in need of clarity and healing. The United States, the nation, is delusional. We need to face this fact and remedy the cultural issues that we have made such a big deal of establishing. Neither “other” is right. Both are out of touch with reality. This is another way Carl looked at action and reaction. He said there is not so much good and bad as real and unreal. The pendulum has swung to the outer limits of unreality now, and the center is strained to the max. Will it hold?
Please help yourself to tea or coffee, or a big glass of fresh grapefruit juice. It is rainy and cool out, but the wood stove is roaring and the armchair with the ottoman next to the fire is ready for you. Snuggle in and tell me how you are dealing with events these days. I stayed quiet this week, mostly because my car went to the shop for 3 days to be repaired. I wrote another short piece of fiction based on a photo prompt this week. It turned out to be very disquieting, haunted and macabre because my mind was on the national spirit. I am a bit surprised at my own darkness in these short stories. I guess it reflects by subconscious as well as my desire to make up stories. I thought I would be funny in fiction, but I am a bit of a horror writer, much to my own horror.
This is the perfect time for me to segue to enantiodromia, the phenomena. Simply put, it means that any force in overabundance will produce it’s opposite in order to keep nature in balance. If one single aspect of a consciousness is developed at the expense of all others, the equal and opposite reaction will be triggered by the extreme condition of the psyche. Often in individuals this shift precedes a breakthrough into a more integrated personality. Once the “other” is seen in a realistic light an enlightenment can take place.
In Jung’s own words:
The grand plan on which the unconscious life of the psyche is constructed is so inaccessible to our understanding that we can never know what evil may not be necessary in order to produce good by enantiodromia, and what good may very possibly lead to evil. (“The Phenomenology of the Spirit in Fairytales”, Collected Works 9i, par. 397)
I am placing all my hope in enantiodromia to save our society. We elected our shadow, and now we will be forced to view it, ironically against the backdrop of the White House. We can’t blame our shadow into evaporating because it represents (imperfectly) the ideas of “the enemy”. We have to meet it straight on, and see what part we have played in establishing it and then giving it power. This is deeper and weirder than just Republicans vs Democrats. This is real vs unreal, in which everyone has a little of each. We are codepending with everyone and everything. Our journey to balance will require enlightenment and compassion for all those “others”.
Diana hosts the coffee party each weekend from New Orleans. Please visit us to read, write, comment, or just consume a few cups of digital coffee. This party is a wonderful place to keep it real and share your thoughts in a safe, creative atmosphere. Thanks for dropping by this week.
Carl Jung
#WritePhoto, Dancehall Of Dread
January 19, 2017
— 14 Comments
#writephoto
In the darkest moment of winter, heaviness and despair falls on the land. Frightened workers huddle indoors, sharing the heat of a single stove in the dance hall of the dead. The musical sounds drift in from the streets, strings and horns and voices of the past kill time by serenading the future. The dance floor is void of happy feelings but full of feverish dread of the coming days. The waltz goes on forever, the tempo hypnotic, mind numbing. The dancers know all the tribal dances that have been danced for centuries in this place. Circles of spirited colors whirl above the floor. The walls vibrate with deep bass rhythm and drumming creatures representing sacrifices made to tradition. The swift current of time sweeps the crowd up in a cloud of memory and doubt.
The donkey shadow on the wall opposes the one of the elephant wearing a hat. The shadow puppets play the same parts forever, constantly changing costumes to deceive. The audience blends into the puppetry, never minding the strings attached. The glow from the streetlight illuminates the dancing puppets as they pass. The translucent quality of their weary bodies is briefly revealed for a moment. Darkness and bitter cold then quickly envelops each one in dread. Nobody knows if this is real or imaginary. This may be happening in the present, or we may be stuck in each other’s dreams. Is there an escape? Are we under a spell? Will this dance continue? Do we have a choice?
Visit Sue Vincent’s blog on Thursdays to find a photo prompt for fiction. Create your own story to go with this week’s image.
#writephoto
#HookedRX The Medical/Pharma Connection
January 10, 2017
— 1 Comment
opioid facts
The Cronkite School of Journalism at ASU has produced an important documentary about Arizona’s opioid addiction crisis. I live in Tucson where an obvious uptick in junkies all over the place has everyone concerned. From the petty theft to the mental illness caused by addiction to opioids destroys neighborhoods, families, and individuals. The routine overprescribing of pain killers began as a marketing strategy for drug makers. They promoted studies that concluded their products were not addictive, and provide a needed level of pain control. Now we know they are highly addictive, and even a short time on this hard prescribed stuff can lead the patient to seek out heroin as a cheaper alternative.
Pain is a relative thing, so anyone who wants to stay high on opiates can go to a medical doctor and say they are in pain, and easily score drugs. There is also a huge black market in these pills. Many hop on the addiction train by taking pills from the parents’ medicine cabinet as teens. Since the drugs are socially acceptable and widely discussed and well known, there seems to be no stigma for taking pills for any reason. The idea is that no person should ever feel pain, anxiety, confusion, social pressure, or discomfort of any kind. There are pills to insure that real life does not intrude into the self medication. I have never been into pills so this phenomena is really bizarre to me. I understand wanting to get high, but not wanting to feel nothing. So, what is the gateway drug for feeling nothing? A visit to the doctor? This has gone south in the worst possible way.
Beggar Archetype, Self Aggrandize vs Self Respect
January 9, 2017
— 1 Comment
Beggar
Fascination with celebrity grows stronger as we are saturated with all kinds of award-winning (or election winning) famous people. I used to follow rock music and know most of the artists. I was familiar with the television and radio performers as well as the movie actors. There were not very many of them to track when I was a child. I knew all the players on the Pittsburgh Pirates baseball team. The sports stars were not as wealthy or elite as they are today. They acted more like part of the community. Celebrity, in and of itself, had not been discovered as a means to become more famous with no particular achievement or talent. We had not created a crazy delusional world in which we reward self-centered behavior over all else. Now we have made this world and live with the bizarre consequences.
Self aggrandizement, or self-glorification was not an acceptable way to present oneself when I was young. Society today revolves around it in an exaggerated way. Reality television has made every possible conceit and vainglory into entertainment. National politics are now a reality show, with shocking plot twists daily. We have become a nation of beggars. While a large number of our citizens are reduced to depending on others for basic food and shelter, some make a full-time job of begging for attention, love, power, and justice. Dignity is not a consideration for those over zealous needy attention seekers. They stop at nothing to increase their own power and wealth.
The biggest problem I see with this trend is value corruption of the youth. We are teaching our children that fame is a valuable commodity, while failing to teach self-respect and self-care. Healthy self-love is a product of mindfulness, forgiveness, and boundary setting. Taking care of needs rather than frivolous desires builds self-esteem and confidence. Choosing companions and activities that uplift and educate will build self-respect and lay a foundation for an intentional and meaningful life. Let us focus on real value, real merit in order to improve our reality. What do you think, gentle reader?
#WeekendCoffeeShare Transformation Time
January 7, 2017
— 3 Comments
#WeekendCoffeeShare
If we were having coffee this weekend I would tell you my life is healthy and happy with few exceptions. I had a quiet week experimenting with historical fiction and multi camera live streaming on Facebook. I produced nothing of great artistic import, but have challenged myself to develop these skills in order to do so. I wrote one very undeveloped story in which I mixed some outrageous truths about my paternal great-grandfather with some embellishment I created. It was short and kind of silly, but I feel happy to have started down this path. I published it. I have studied my genealogy for a long time, and have many factual stories on which to base my future efforts. I believe in time I will write longer and more involved stories, but also have been reading and studying flash fiction. This burning hot brief format insists on an outstanding title, a perfect last line, and usually the events presented out of chronological order. I want to work up to that too. I started a bullet journal and joined a Facebook group on the subject. This calendar system is a brilliant way for me to incorporate my new writing styles into my regular blogging. I have much to learn from the Bu-Jo peeps, as they call themselves. They are inspiring and highly educational, much like the food preppers.
If you are here in Tucson at my home today I will invite you to drink a hot cup of coffee or tea of your choice. I had a big fire in the stove last night so the house is staying warm this morning. We have not had our first real freeze, so the flowers are still in bloom. Help yourself to fresh grapefruit juice from the giant crop I am harvesting in the garden this year. I am serving a large fruit salad with berries and watermelon. Enjoy our sunny day and some fresh fruit flavors while you tell me how your week has been. I so appreciate sharing this time will all of you on the weekends. In fact, many of my new efforts as a writer have been inspired by all of you. I love to learn about your writing studios, the writing challenges you accept, and the way you make it work with daily life. I admire the fiction writers and poets who tell stories from imagination. I also love to see the photography from your own environments. I get to travel without leaving my office. I look forward to your visits. You have encouraged and inspired me to transform and expand my writing skills. It reminds me of being in beginners’ ski school, where you see that everyone falls down, but with practice they get better. You fiction writers are like the intermediate skiers who make me want to be that good someday. Starting is key.
If you want to share some digital coffee and some relaxation with a group of writers go to Diana’s weekend party link. She holds this regular gathering of inspiring individuals from her home in New Orleans. Please join us to read, write, or comment on your week. Thank you all for stopping by today.
poet
Recommit To Fitbit
January 6, 2017
— 3 Comments
waterproof fitbit
I have used a Fitbit for tracking my movement and sleep for years. Recently the battery has started to lose the charge very quickly, indicating end of life issues for my tracker. I thought about just going without it, but decided to re-enlist by purchasing a Fitbit 2, which is waterproof. I have slacked on recording much of the data on the app since my life is going well. To get the most out of my new device I will put it to full use b giving it data. It is easy to record water and foods consumed in the log. By being lazy at the data recording I fail to notice how I can improve on my dietary habits. This is the simplest step to better health and yet I am not doing it. There are logs for resting heart rate and hours of sleep which I have ignored for over a year. When I needed help with my sleep the knowledge gained from my monitor was of supreme help. I found ways to sleep longer and more deeply by watching my statistics carefully. Once I conquered my sleep issues I stopped recording the data.
I did get a good deal on my new fitness tracker, but it will only be a good deal if I use it to the fullest benefit. I do not accept friends or do challenges with the app, but think I will be healthier if I pay attention to the diet/sleep/water/calorie intake/weight data. When the new apparatus arrives my plan is to give it all the information it can process. If we are fitness partners there is no point in trying to hide from my own truth. Fitness and health are complex issues. They are influenced by habits and social norms. We know what is healthy and good for our bodies, but must practice awareness to stay in a healthy groove. Fitbit 2 will be on my team, but I am still the leader of my own wellness program. Do you use a fitness tracker, gentle reader? Have you been faithful to logging all the data, or have you been a slacker like me?
Float, Sting, Sizzle
January 1, 2017
— 1 Comment
the watcher
I have joined Chris Brogan for several years in pronouncing three theme words for the year as it begins. I have had some random success with this method, but sometimes I completely forget the words. I could look them up, but I don’t know what the words I chose were last year, so it did little good to decide on them. Ironically, I usually have a word on my inspiration list that reminds me to practice regularly, or stay consistent. I believe I have not been specific enough about exactly what I would consistently do or practice. My approach to this year’s words, which I almost did not even do, relate to my wellness and creativity goals. Both wellness and creativity are the summation of small but consistent practices. This year I want to put in minimal effort for maximal results. I want to waste no time, money or effort on anything that does not serve me. If what I find myself doing does not pass the three word test in 2016 I will change my actions. I want to do exclusively three things:
- Float- An efficient swimmer uses glide to stay on top of the water. Getting the most out of each stroke is an art and a strategy for endurance. If I want to live a better life I need to make use of my leisure time to truly fully relax and glide. Meditation, time in nature, yoga, joyous communion with friends, and similar practices feed the soul and allow the mind to center and restore. The float can be active or passive, but in order to qualify as a float it cannot be distracted. We all need the restorative antidote to active lives. This includes sleep and dreams.
- Sting-In an obvious tribute to Mohamed Ali, I plan to sting like a bee in 2017. This represents clean, clear planning and targeted actions. If I am not floating like a butterfly I need to direct my full attention to the task at hand to make it work. I am forever flying by the seat of my pants. This has worked well (??) for me, so I am lazy as hell when it comes to planning. I have so much faith in my own ability to wing it that I do so. Planning and executing a bullet journal to foster ideas for fiction writing I plan to do is an example. I have thought about trying fiction for years, but have taken no action to begin. A sting can be active or passive, but to qualify it must have a target. Stinging involves hitting a predetermined bullseye. It can be a health or a creativity goal, but it is specifically planned to create a desired outcome.
- Sizzle- In order to make any project worth the time it will consume in my schedule it needs to shine. I have plenty of mundane tasks I need to accomplish without adding to the list. This is related to stinging, but is about how the outside world receives my work. If I am to write poetry or fiction worth reading I need to be much more discriminating. In planning what and how to sting I will look beyond my ego and ask the question, “How does this serve the world?” Maybe this will be the year I start to do comedy, which I think I am so good at doing all the time. If I really did comedy on purpose, and actually wrote some material, I could find out if the world would be amused. To sizzle means to score somehow with others to enrich their lives. It can be strangers or people I know, but it has to benefit somebody somewhere.
I think this year I will print the list of words and keep it in my office where I will see it. That is probably the easiest and best way to stick to it. I wish all my gentle readers a healthy and fortunate year.
Ritual vs Habit
December 29, 2016
— 2 Comments
Hygge
I have started to read about the Danish version of minimalism known as hygge. I purchased a few books on sale and have started to read Hygge: A Danish Concept of Cozy Simple Living, by Noah Neilsen. This simple but elegant lifestyle is core value centered as opposed to consumer centric. Keeping a mindful ritualistic pace as well as a clean clear space leads to happiness and contentment with life. This Danish version of minimalism is more multi dimensional than the similar Spark Joy book about tidying up, Japanese style. I believe the lessons and the system proposed by Marie Kondo in her joy through tidying books, but I have not yet managed to follow through with the whole system. Her books have guided me to vastly improve my tidying and set a long term goal of carrying out the system from the first step to the last. She has outlined what I know will be the final solution to clutter in the space and on the schedule.
I am successful at keeping my time to myself and my schedule light and easy to accomplish. I begin early on most chores, like filing taxes. I have certain ritualistic practices at the end of the year designed to make the first of the next year run smoothly. I clear my desk and clean out my files. There is always a pile of paper I can use for starting first in my wood stove. I keep an IRS pertinent file which I carefully fill for my trip to the accountant. I file as soon as possible in order to experience the great feeling of relief from having finished it. I never let it slide because the reward is to be basically finished with the year in taxes until my property taxes are due in November. That is a wonderful vacation from concern. I don’t make resolutions. I work for an early tax return in order to liberate myself from that drudgery for an extended period.
I like the elements of Hygge that go beyond cleaning and clearing clutter. Meditation, simple hospitality, and artistic self expression are part of the Danish happiness template. Dedicating time to pleasurable shareable activities is stressed over using time to consume things. A monk like attention to the meditative qualities of daily work and life creates a person who is fully present. Yoga is designed to train the mind to focus in spite of distractions. There are other practical ways to unplug from the constant clammer of commercial interests to be closer to nature and to friends and family. Any chore can become a source of pride and contentment. The satisfaction in doing little things adds up to a content way of living.
I practice a few rituals upon which I can build my hygge. My gym time, followed by steam room is a part of my life that reward me directly and over time. I also exercise at home in my community hot tub. Few others use it, so I virtually always have the pool deck to myself for a morning or evening stretch and relax in the water. In summer I enjoy using the big pool as well. This lifts my spirits and keeps me flexible. I incubate ideas, but do not allow any worry or distress to enter my work out time. The movement is a remedy which needs to be applied in a pure state. The steam room and personal grooming time that follows the gym time is part of my daily ritual that makes me feel good as well as look a little better. I leave refreshed, relaxed, and ready to face any task. The gym love is probably my strongest positive practice.
I believe the key to happiness is to find contentment in every moment, the face of God wherever one looks. In 2017 I plan to hone and perfect some rituals I love, as well as find some new helpful ways to be present and find joy. I believe that less is more and that simple pleasures are always abundantly available. Here are some examples I find very pleasurable:
- Bathing
- Skin care
- Journaling
- Mediation
- Food sharing
- Writing
- Gardening
- Art
- Poetry
- Exercise
The Danes are some of the happiest people on earth. I had heard that this was because they have low expectations. Now that I am intrigued by the hygge concept I see that they have very high expectations for presence, for authenticity, and for intimacy. I have a couple of other books to read on the subject, but I have already embraced this idea. I believe that coziness and simple abundance are much overlooked sourced of fulfillment in our society. It is no wonder these Danish writers are all the rage now. We need a big dose of it in the United States. How is your own hygge situation, gentle reader? Can you think of ways to leave bad habits in the dust by taking up purposeful happiness?
rest awhile
mermaidcamp 