Coffee Time with Lyn

random topics I’m interested in and want to discuss.

Interests Beyond Writing

/ lyncrain / 5 Comments

If you have time to breathe you have time to meditate. You breathe when you walk. You breathe when you stand. You breathe when you lie down. – Ajahn Amaro

Meditation is the discovery that the point of life is always arrived at in the immediate moment. – Alan Watts

Life is a mystery – mystery of beauty, bliss and divinity. Meditation is the art of unfolding that mystery. – Amit Ray

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I’m on round 30 working on my Mandala. It now covers most of my lap and I am only on Mandala Madness Part 4 and the series goes to 10. The directions are easy to follow along though I will admit the sun bursts were not easy for me. I had to work the yarn around to have mine look like sunbursts. What about you Tami, did you have to keep adjusting yours?

The sun has been shining in New Jersey, we’ve had the heat off and the windows open enjoying the birds harmonizing in our neighborhood. I love listening to the birds singing in the morning.  Unfortunately, the bad part of having the windows open is hearing your neighbor’s yapping dog. GRRRR…

Friday, my grandson Chris and I cleaned the lower yard. I enjoy spending time with Chris immensely. He is 8 years old and loves motorcycles, card tricks,  and soccer. He enjoyed showing me a card trick learned. I introduced him to the game of Cribbage. He was getting the hang of the game by the time the afternoon ended. “A grandson is a gift from above. One to cherish, one to love.”

Hope you’re enjoying a peace filled day!

Interests Beyond Writing

/ lyncrain / 2 Comments

 

“Each person’s life is like a mandala – a vast, limitless circle. We stand in the center of our own circle, and everything we see, hear and think forms the mandala of our life.”– Pema Chodron

“Most mandalas have an intuitive, irrational character and, through their symbolical content, exert a retroactive influence on the unconscious. They therefore possess a “magical” significance, like icons, whose possible efficacy was never consciously felt by the patient.”~Carl Jung

 

Mandala (pronunciation mon- dah- lah) means “circle”.  A Mandala represents wholeness, a galactic diagram reminding us of our relation to infinity that extends beyond but also within our bodies and minds. Mandala’s appear to us in all aspects of life, the Earth, the Sun, and the Moon. Our intimate circles of family, friends even community can be considered a Mandala.

Mandalas are circular designs symbolizing the notion that life is never ending. The symbolism behind the creation of a mandala may have significant meaning for many individuals whether they are Jewish, Buddhist, Christian, Pagan or of any other religious orientation.  Most Mandalas are created by people to symbolize their journeys through life. Mandalas tell the story of where an individual has been.  In some cases, they will reveal the individual’s path in life.

Luckily for us, the internet has a wealth of Mandalas and their meanings.  I discovered many sites have mandalas ready for coloring as a free copy or download.  It is always best to select colors intuitively.  In reading about Mandalas because Tami’s latest project looked so beautiful, I discovered this information about what the colors represent.

 

RED for strength, high energy, and passion

PINK for love, intuition and the feminine

ORANGE for creativity, transformation, self-awareness and intuition

YELLOW for learning, wisdom, laughter and happiness

GREEN for physical healing, psychic ability, love of nature and caring

BLUE for emotional healing, inner peace, and meditation

PURPLE for all things spiritual

WHITE for mental focus

BLACK for mystery, deep thinking, and individuality

 

I decided to create my Mandala joining Tami in this exciting project. I love crocheting and find it soothing to do while I am thinking about different poems. It is National Poetry Month, and I am doing the 30-day challenge as well.  I never have idle hands or an idle mind.

I chose shades of orange for the first color of my Mandala because I was beginning a creative project. Yellow because crocheting brings me joy. I chose shades of green to reflect my love of nature and my surroundings. (The lighting in the house makes it look blue in the picture but they are definitely green. One is light and one is dark.) It was in the 70’s the last two days here in New Jersey. I chose red for my passion in life. (I had a great day writing, two poems and 900 words in my short story Death and I.)

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The instructions are very easy to follow along.

I hope you take a moment to check out Tami’s beautiful Mandala. She was my inspiration for creating this project. It’s fun doing projects with other people and buidling relationships along the way.

Crochet Mindful Mandala – Rows 30 thru 34

Poetry and Contest Information

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A good friend of mine Joy Cagil shared this awesome link from Signature Guide To Writing. They have a link where you can receive a free pdf guide to writing poetry. I’m passing it along to you. No one can ever know too much when it comes to poetry.

You can ask for it from this link:
http://www.signature-reads.com/guides/the-writers-guide-to-poetry

Plus if you are like me trying to get your writing out there here’s a link for contests to enter your work.

http://www.christopherfielden.com/short-story-tips-and-writing-advice/essay-contests-and-non-fiction-writing-competitions.php

http://www.christopherfielden.com/short-story-tips-and-writing-advice/poetry-contests.php

 

April 1-April 30th is National Poetry Month. I am excited 30 days, 30 poems. Yay, I can do this.

So can you!

 

A Poet I Enjoy

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From the Garden by Anne Sexton

Come, my beloved, 
consider the lilies.
We are of little faith.
We talk too much.
Put your mouthful of words away
and come with me to watch
the lilies open in such a field,
growing there like yachts,
slowly steering their petals
without nurses or clocks.
Let us consider the view:
a house where white clouds 
decorate the muddy halls.
Oh, put away your good words
and your bad words. Spit out
your words like stones!
Come here! Come here!
Come eat my pleasant fruits.

“From the Garden” by Anne Sexton from The Complete Poems. © Houghton Mifflin Company, 1999. Reprinted with permission.

Outward Appearances

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DSC_0443Do you ever consider what your clothing says about you? How much time do we spend fussing over how we look? I know I’m pretty laid back because I’m a blue jeans girl. My husband teases me that you can take the girl out of the country but you can’t take the country out of the girl.

I was reading poetry. Guilty, I know I do it all the time. I came across a poem by David Ignatow called Coupling. In the poem, he remarks on the importance we place on clothing. I chuckled thinking life would be a lot easier if we did all wear the same thing. In my childhood, we wore uniforms. At the time I hated it but thinking back it removed all stigmas about incomes because we all looked the same. There weren’t the obvious signs that you see in today’s world between the endowed and less endowed.

Life would be a heck of a lot easier without the stress of the perfect outward appearance, don’t you agree?

Coupling – Poem by David Ignatow ~
Against The Evidence, Selected Poems 1934-94

Wherever he looks, standing still in the city,
are people born of coupling, walking in gray suits
and ties, in long dresses and coiffed hair,
speaking elegantly, of themselves and of each other,
forgetting for the moment their origin,
perhaps wishing not to know or to remember.
They dress as if having been born in a clothing store.

They were born of men and women naked
and gyrating from the hips
and with movements up and down
and with climactic yells,
as if losing their lives
in the pleasure and so glad,
so wildly glad.

From this rises the child
from between the wet crotch, blood and mucus,
He stands upright and pronounces himself
humankind and steps from bed and clothes himself
in a gray suit and from the next room of birth
steps a woman in a long dress. They meet
in the corridor and arm in arm walk its length
in search of one room, empty of inhabitants
but prepared for them.

 

World Poetry Day

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“World Poetry Day is on 21 March, and was declared by UNESCO (the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization) in 1999. The purpose of the day is to promote the reading, writing, publishing and teaching of poetry throughout the world ‘to give fresh recognition and impetus to national, regional and international poetry movements’.”

Acrostic poetry is where the first letter of each line spells a word, usually using the same words as in the title.  A twist on the acrostic is using the alphabet as the first letter of word in the line.

In this poem I’ve chosen to use the alphabet acrostic to tell you about me.

A-Z of Lyn Poem

Author of  In My Shoes, My Poetic Journey from Abuse to Victory
Brilliant at times, usually in the kitchen
Crocheter, chef, I love wearing different caps
Deliberate who me, I’m an angel of sorts
Energetic daily, life is to short not to be
Fiber oh please, I am not that old
Grains a bowl of cheerios, how can you go wrong
Habitual why yes I am, guilty of loving routines
Involved in too many things at one time
Jovial usually, negativity does not suit me
Kinky I have my moments ask my spouse
Liberal indeed I am, I am very open minded.
Mom, to four wonderful children and nine awesome grandchildren
Nice that’s been said a time or two
Optimistic more often than not that would be the Irish in me
Pessimistic seldom, and If I am a good Irish whiskey will cure it
Quilter with a serious fabric stash
Reads avidly particularly history and biographies
Silent type not hardly, I am definitely opinionated
Typical never, I’m an Irish lass
Unique very so I am told
Vindictive no, in the long run it is not worth it
Wicked yes I am a Mainer
Xi fourteenth letter in Greek alphabet
Yes I play scrabble, actually very lucky at it
Zealous, I am indeed devoted to my family and friends.

 

 

Proverbial Hell

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I remember talking my grandmother ‘s poor ear off.  Her typical responses to my endless questions were proverbs. I didn’t understand the complexity of a proverb until I was much older. They appear, on the surface, to be gems of wisdom which have been passed down through the ages.  I don’t know how many times I have nodded my head and accepted without further discussion. I still remember the day someone pointed out to the that most proverbs have an exact opposite. I felt foolish because it seemed so obvious to me. Why didn’t I note the contradictions?  Do you catch yourself responding to a younger person with a proverb?

Look before you leap.
He who hesitates is lost.

Opposites attract.
Birds of a feather flock together.

Hitch your wagon to a star.
Don’t bite off more that you can chew.

Many hands make light work.
Too many cooks spoil the broth.

Don’t judge a book by its cover.
Clothes make the man.

The squeaking wheel gets the grease.
Silence is golden.

Clothes make the man.
You cannot judge a book by its cover.

If at first, you don’t succeed, try, try again.
Don’t beat your head against a stone wall.

Absence makes the heart grow fonder.
Out of sight, out of mind.

Never put off till tomorrow what you can do today.
Don’t cross the bridge until you come to it.

Two heads are better than one.
Paddle your own canoe.

Haste makes waste.
Time waits for no man.

You’re never too old to learn.
You can’t teach an old dog new tricks.

A word to the wise is sufficient.
Talk is cheap.

It’s better to be safe than sorry.
Nothing ventured, nothing gained.

Don’t look a gift horse in the mouth.
Beware of Greeks bearing gifts.

Do unto others as you would have others do unto you.
Nice guys finish last.

All Good things come to those who wait.

Strike while the iron is hot.

Cold hands

Warm Heart

Confession is good for the heart

Let sleeping dogs lie

Many hands make light work.

Too many cooks spoil the broth.

What I wouldn’t give to hear your voice again Gramma…. Irene Tenney Poupart.

If you know some other proverbs, please feel free to share.