Qwerki Thoughts & Musings Blog - QWERKI THOUGHTS & MUSINGS

QWERKI THOUGHTS & MUSINGS

Beginning New Beginnings Day 2

1/2/2019

PERHAPS THIS IS THE BEST PLACE TO START

Now that's off on the right foot (read yesterday's post), it's up to me to keep up the momentum. Yes, me. Always me. Why is it always me? Well, I have to remind myself, whom else would it be? So, were we go, Day Two of 2019. How to keep this going....?

Read. I have been downloading all kinds of articles on goal setting, new year's resolutions, building new habits, yada yada, bing bang boom. "How to Crush Your Lack of Motivation and Always Stay Motivated", "50 New Year's Resolution Ideas and How to Achiever Them". and "5 New Year's Resolutions for Writers" are some of them.

Make time for writing.

Step Outside My Comfort Zone

Call Myself a Writer (I struggle with one all the time. I have this image of what a writer is and I don't always live up to my vision of what a writing life looks like. But bottom line, I am a writer...in spite of myself).

Beat Procrastination (Oh, yes, this one is a pet of mine. Sadly I feed the pet too often. Time to stop...).

Write (and Share) Your Goals Accountability. Need I say more?

Practice Gratitude

These are just a few. I'm always inspired to pursue these items. It's easy with a a clean slate to start with. And, yes, I know I write what is on my own slate. I also know, (my fallback excuse I suppose), it is tough to break old habits. But here I go. January. A month for new beginnings. May it be so.

Here we go...

Standing on My Left Foot - Goals for the New Year

1/1/2019

Pilar Morin as clown/mime: full lgth., standing on left foot, facing right

Here are some thoughts and musings on this, the first day of a new year, laden with promises and dreams for the next three hundred sixty five days.

Every New Year's Day I find myself feeling this compulsion to create resolutions and goals. It's as if I have been handed this blank slate and told, "Get busy. Write something wonderful and call it your life." And while January first is an excellent time to do such a thing, I resist with all my heart and soul. So I begin. I stand on my left foot so I will start the new year on, you guessed it, the right foot. Groan.

So here I am, doing the traditional meditation and reflection on what I want the new year to look like. 2019 has a nice ring to it. But then I think every year has a nice ring to it at the beginning. Isn't that why we say "Ring in the New Year"?

But seriously folks.

This year I want to get down to brass tacks. I want put my nose to the grindstone. I see myself pounding the keyboard and capturing the illusive photo images that make you say "Wow". Quit fooling around. Be earnest. Just do it. In 2019, I see myself going to out more, to movies, museums, hiking, arboretums, zoos and more. It would be nice to have companionship, but I can't let that keep me from doing things. I actually enjoy my own company.

Okay, here goes. It's all a balancing act. Not unlike standing on your left foot. Every great year starts where you are at. Here I am. Ready to move forward...one step at a time.

Gratitude Hangover

11/27/2018

Blessed Hangover

I've spend a good deal of this month, and all this month's blogging activity on the subject of gratitude. I've meditated, ruminated, reflected and rejected thoughts, ideas and more, all in the quest to give thanks for what makes my life worth living. Some days it was a arduous task. Sometimes it was rather whimsical. Other days it was soul-searchingly expositorily significant. There were days I drew a blank or I avoided it entirely...procrastinated to the point of exasperation. The good thing is, though, I basically accomplished it, even though I may have bent my own rules. I expect most of you never really noticed that.

So here we are, still in November, but barreling headlong into the end-of-year holiday season. I guess the best we can do is to remember to be grateful that we are able to celebrate somethings so marvelous as Christmas, (with advent leading up to Dec 24-25), Hanukkah, (December 2 to December 10), Kwanzaa, (Dec 26-Jan 1) and the winter soltice, (Dec 21), and so on. Others too numerous to mention but equally worthy of celebration.

I guess what I am taking away from on this is there is so much to be thankful for and to celebrate, that our attitude should definitely be one of gratitude. And if that leads to a gratitude hangover, so be it. The cure for that is simple: gratitude.

22 Days of Gratitude - Day 26 - Yes, 26

11/26/2018

Its never too late to begin again

Okay, so you see, I probably could make all kinds of excuses, but truly, believe me, I have none. I just bailed on the last four days of this exercise. You might call it a failure...but, no, I beg to differ. Failure implies trying. And trying implies intention. Well, yes, I did intend to do all 22 days. A meditation every day leading up to Thanksgiving. Easy peasy? Sure. I suppose. But then easy is not always as it appears.

I set out thinking establishing the goal of a daily reflection of those things I am grateful for would be easy. 22 days. 22 entries. No sweat. Just sit down and the gratitude will bubble up and flow from my heart to my brain to my tapping fingers on my keyboard. Well, that implies time, energy and discipline....all three occurring at the same time. Well, sometimes that just doesn't happen.

I went to me doctor today and we were talking about things in general. I expressed (some might call it complained) about those things I want to do that I seem never to have the time, the energy and the discipline to do what I want to do at the same time. My doctor suggested I was putting other people's needs ahead of my own. What's wrong with that, I wondered. Nothing, but it's important, if it is important to you, to make the time, save the energy and exercise the discipline to do those things that inspire, feed and delight my soul.

So in the vein of its never being too late, I am finishing up this series...just in time I suspect...by declaring I am grateful to be able to do so. Praise be for second chances...and even third, fourth or more. And thanks be for finally finding the time, the energy and the discipline all together once again.

22 Days of Gratitude - Day 18: Rest

11/18/2018

Dedicated as one might be to a project, there does come times when one is just not into it. Just not today...not at the moment...one day is all. That day is today. And it just so happens that today is Sunday, the day the Lord rested. So it seems fitting I suppose: today I am grateful for rest.

Now in my mind's ear I hear the voice of my grandmother. I would say something like "I'm tired," and she would always respond with, "Tired? Why would you be tired? Go lay down then, but remember to take your boots off." "Really, Grandma?" I'd say silently to myself. "I'm tired and of course I will take my boots off." Sigh.

As I am taking this journey of reflections on gratitude, I sometimes feel like I'm really not getting it. Am I really grateful? Or am I just making things up? Do I really appreciate everything I have been fortunate enough to be given, experience, feel and learn? Sometimes, I just want to ignore the whole thing. Gratitude can be wearing. Holy cow, such a blasphemer I am.

When I find myself slipping into this type emotional retrograde, I stop myself and think, a constant state of gratitude can be difficult. A rest is deserved if not absolutely necessary. So I take one. And then I realize just how fortunate I am to be able to take a rest. And once again I am....grateful.

22 Days of Gratitude - Day 17: Writers Groups

11/17/2018

http://writingjourney.co/featured/writing-groups-amazing-every-writer-needs-one/

I am a member of a couple writers' groups/workshops. Even though I don't always attend, I always feel like I am there in spirit. I have made some great writing friends in both groups. No matter how many sessions I miss, these folks are always there ready and willing to take me back and give me the feedback and affirmation and even kindly critiques I need.

Friday Night Writes has been meeting for many years. We alternate meetings in members' homes. We often break bread and drink wine, but mostly to write together. We do "free" writes based on prompts by the host. It is always amazing how our writing resonates with each other. Often the same themes emerge in each of our writings as we share after 20 minutes more or less of jotting down our words. I love this group and treasure my time with them.

The other group is through Inlandia Institute here in the Inland Empire. I.I. facilitates several workshops throughout the IE. The one I attend is in Ontario. The members are inspiring to me in that most of them are in the mix to publish and have been published. They are poets, fiction writers and non-fiction too. I don't think they realize how much it means to me to included even though I often find very poor excuses not to attend. They always welcome me back. We submit something we are working on for an honest, constructive critique by the group. I always leave feeling like a "real" writer.

I need to be more regular in my attendance of these two groups I am so grateful for. And I probably should seek out other communities of creatives to participate in. If I'm ever gonna do something with my writing and buckle down on my memoir and other writing projects, I need all the positive support I can get.

AND THIS INCLUDES YOU, MY FAITHFUL BLOG READERS. I feels so encouraged every time one of you makes a comment, observation, or just checks "Like". For all of this, I am grateful.

http://inlandiainstitute.org/

22 Days of Gratitude - Day 16: Washing Dishes

11/16/2018

As I was washing dishes earlier today it was so quiet, I could hear my thoughts. I was thinking about how such a simple thing as washing the dishes can become a mindful act of gratitude. All it takes it recognizing that while it may seem like a small routine, even mundane things to do, it was so much more. I thought about how fortunate I am to have dishes. It means I have something to put food on to eat. It reminds me that I have food and for that I am grateful. Washing the dishes is a small way of taking care of that which I have been acquired. And the comforting feeling when I put my hands into the warm soapy water and wash away the remnants of yet another meal washed over me.

So in that moment as I finished the last of the utensils and pots and pans, I reminded myself that this is a ritual by which I can give thanks. It becomes a mindful meditation rather than a "chore". From this prospective, washing dishes is a form of worship of that which provides that which sustains us.

Here's an interesting site that talks about how to wash dishes. It is rather a science in many ways,
https://www.livingonadime.com/hand-wash-dishes/

22 Days of Gratitude - Day 14: Technology

11/14/2018

Technology.

It can be our friend and companion. It can also be scary and threatening. I prefer to go with the former while maintaining a healthy respect for its darker potentialities. Without technology, I probably wouldn't be able to create images like you see above: the same image in color and in black and white, transitioning magically from one to the other over and over. And if you put your cursor over the image, you can pause it to study further.

This is just one small example of how technology makes life more interesting and easier. Things like microwave ovens, wi-fi, DVRs and the like. I am old enough to remember our first microwave. I remember my first transistor radio I could carry on my walk to elementary school. And how about those first recording devices that allowed to capture message from missed phone calls and "tape" our favorite TV shows. Imagine life without what technology can do now?

Sometimes it baffles me. I get frustrated when I can't connect my printer right away or my smart phone is a tad slow. How quickly we come to take for granted what not so long ago seemed like a miracle. I remember my grandparents talking about the first crank wall phone with a party line where you had to go through an operator and/or wait your turn for ours who shared your line to finish their call. I seem to recall my grandmother telling me about how her father, a baker, baked his store's bread in a wood-burning oven. Imagine.

So thank you, technology for your advances and conveniences. Life is somewhat easier I suppose. It can be much more fun if you just keep an open mind and are willing to learn the latest ways, hopefully before the next version comes out and makes that knowledge obsolete.

Magnavox Transistor Radio circa 1961 or 62

22 Days of Gratitude - Day 13: Photography

11/13/2018

Photography

About six years ago I became interested in photography. I went on a photo shoot outing with the Redlands Camera Club with my good friend, Marty. Marty loaned me (and later sold me) my first (and only} digital super-duper Canon 50D SLR with telephoto lens. I was hooked.

I have continued to go on various photo safaris with Marty, another good friend, Dave, and on my own. I have taken my lens to Santa Fe, Arizona, Santa Barbara, Joshua Tree, several botanical parks, museums and art fairs and more. I even took a digital camera to Italy last year and Michigan and more. It is amazing what you see when you look at the world with an eye toward photographing it.

I have become more aware of light and color, the subtle changes in each at various times of day. I love to capture random images, like those captured recently above. I like architectural details of buildings. Alleys intrigue. And people...people just being people on the street.

I have also occasionally shared my work in some local galleries and at a few local art shows. To my amazement, I have actually sold some of my images to appreciative "patrons". That is a very nice feeling of affirmation and pride.

This is why I am so thankful to have discovered and pursued this fun hobby. I try to take a camera everywhere, because, as any photographer type will tell you, you never know when you might snap!

If you'd like to see some more of my images, click here: Qwerkipix   I would love your feedback.

22 Days of Gratitude: Days 9, 10, 11 and 12

11/12/2018

http://www.asandbox.org/2011/06/cant-see-the-forest-for-the-trees/

Excuses, Good Intentions and Diversions

You know what road is paved with good intentions, don't you? I guess that is the road I have been on this weekend. Actually, just here was I traveling down that fabled path. I was enjoying the trees it seems leaving me unable to see the forest. There were too many chefs for my broth. I put all my eggs in one basket it seems.

Okay, I'll stop. Old proverbs, maxims, aphorisms, axioms, adages, saws, tags, mottos, epigrams, dictums, expressions, phrases, and formulas can't cover a lack of gratitude. And for that I guess I should be grateful. It keeps me humble.

I set out to do 22 days of dedicated gratitude blog journaling. I got to Day 8 and faltered. For that I can be forgive, yes? No? Maybe? Pretty please?

Is anybody reading? And should I care if they are? If you are? I would hope to tell you it is so.

So today on this Monday the 12th day of gratitude giving, I pledge to return to my due diligence. For to be ungrateful is unacceptable...unforgivable...un....well, you get the point.

I am grateful for four days of excuses, good intentions, and diversions. They remind me how easy it is to get on the wrong track. The signs are always there, just sometimes in a foreign language or faded from the sun. But it is the individual trees that make the forest. And I plan to see as many as I can.