Quotation Saturday ~ Thanksgiving

Pss. 100:4 “Enter into his gates with thanksgiving, and into his courts with praise: be thankful unto him, and bless his name.”

CHANGE

“Therefore, dear Sir, love your solitude and try to sing out with the pain it causes you. For those who are near you are far away... and this shows that the space around you is beginning to grow vast.... be happy about your growth, in which of course you can't take anyone with you, and be gentle with those who stay behind; be confident and calm in front of them and don't torment them with your doubts and don't frighten them with your faith or joy, which they wouldn't be able to comprehend. Seek out some simple and true feeling of what you have in common with them, which doesn't necessarily have to alter when you yourself change again and again; when you see them, love life in a form that is not your own and be indulgent toward those who are growing old, who are afraid of the aloneness that you trust.... and don't expect any understanding; but believe in a love that is being stored up for you like an inheritance, and have faith that in this love there is a strength and a blessing so large that you can travel as far as you wish without having to step outside it.” 
― Rainer Maria Rilke

“When we least expect it, life sets us a challenge to test our courage and willingness to change; at such a moment, there is no point in pretending that nothing has happened or in saying that we are not yet ready. The challenge will not wait. Life does not look back. A week is more than enough time for us to decide whether or not to accept our destiny.” 
― Paulo Coelho

“We can't be afraid of change. You may feel very secure in the pond that you are in, but if you never venture out of it, you will never know that there is such a thing as an ocean, a sea. Holding onto something that is good for you now, may be the very reason why you don't have something better.” 
― C. JoyBell C.

INSPIRATION

“We are what we pretend to be, so we must be careful about what we pretend to be.” 
― Kurt Vonnegut

“It's not the load that breaks you down, it's the way you carry it.” 
― Lou Holtz

“You need to learn how to select your thoughts just the same way you select your clothes every day. This is a power you can cultivate. If you want to control things in your life so bad, work on the mind. That's the only thing you should be trying to control.” 
― Elizabeth Gilbert

“And still, after all this time,
The sun never says to the earth,
"You owe Me."

Look what happens with
A love like that,
It lights the Whole Sky.” 
― Hafez

“You have power over your mind - not outside events. Realize this, and you will find strength.” 
― Marcus Aurelius

SPIRIT-FILLED

“The greatest disease in the West today is not TB or leprosy; it is being unwanted, unloved, and uncared for. We can cure physical diseases with medicine, but the only cure for loneliness, despair, and hopelessness is love. There are many in the world who are dying for a piece of bread but there are many more dying for a little love. The poverty in the West is a different kind of poverty -- it is not only a poverty of loneliness but also of spirituality. There's a hunger for love, as there is a hunger for God.” 
― Mother Teresa

“Lord, make me an instrument of thy peace.
Where there is hatred, let me sow love,
Where there is injury, pardon;
Where there is doubt, faith;
Where there is despair, hope;
Where there is darkness, light;
And where there is sadness, joy.

O Divine Master, grant that I may not so much seek
to be consoled as to console,
to be understood as to understand,
to be loved, as to love.

For it is in giving that we receive,
It is in pardoning that we are pardoned,
and it is in dying that we are born to eternal life.” 
― Francis of Assisi

“How hurtful it can be to deny one's true self and live a life of lies just to appease others.” 
― June Ahern

“What you are is God's gift to you, what you become is your gift to God.” 
― Hans Urs von Balthasar

THANKSGIVING

“Because thankfulness is the tonic that always cures the cancers of greed, envy and jealousy, it should be taken in liberal doses daily.” 
― Craig D. Lounsbrough

“Not what we say about our blessings, but how we use them, is the true measure of our thanksgiving.” 
― W.T. Purkiser

“I pray for you, that all your misgivings will be melted to thanksgivings. Remember that the shadow a thing casts often far exceeds the size of the thing itself (especially if the light be low on the horizon) and though some future fear may strut brave darkness as you approach, the thing itself will be but a speck when seen from beyond. Oh, that He would restore us often with that 'aspect from beyond,' to see a thing as He sees it, to remember that He dealeth with us as with sons.” 
― Jim Elliot

“The Christian who walks with the Lord and keeps constant communion with Him will see many reason for rejoicing and thanksgiving all day long.” 
― Warren W. Wiersbe

May the Spirit of Thanksgiving dwell in you today and always, God Bless!
~ Joni

Col. 3:15 “And let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to the which also ye are called in one body; and be ye thankful.”

Light In The Dark

Outside my back door!

Pss. 1:1-2  "Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful. But his delight is in the law of the LORD; and in his law doth he meditate day and night.

Light in the Dark

Well, I’m taking a much needed break from the internet activities that had absorbed my world. Hey, I’ve even gotten some cleaning done in the process. It’s pretty amazing what happens when you prioritize your time and eliminate the Black Hole of negativity that tries to consume you on every click. 

I’m still here writing! There is no Black Hole that can take that away from me because basically, it is my medicine to get all the dark out and let the light into my world. I’m trying to be a light in the dark and while some might see me as a self-righteous snob others see me as the inspirational message that they might need to hear on any given day. 

I need to say this in my own defense of my recent ramblings. If there is a person out there reading my words and thinks I’m speaking about them directly and their lives then you need to do a deep soul searching to find the reason you feel that I’m speaking about you in particular.

When there are hundreds or thousands, possibly millions of people on the same conscious stream, meaning everyone thinking alike, you are bound to think I am targeting you in general. That’s what a writer does without pinpointing one person.  We write about the collective whole and finding the vein that pulsates from your weakness. And technically, that is what it is, a weakness you have embraced and not healed from within yourself. 

We all hold a light force deep within us but many allow the black hole of a negative society to own them. The light cannot and will not shine no matter how much you fake the you that you display to the world. There is a healing place and the only one that I’ve found for myself is not from friends or family, because sometimes they are transmitters of negativity and if anyone knows my family, you would say, run for your life child. 

No, my healing place is meditation on the Word. I find positive energy in the Light and love of the Psalms and Proverbs. Yes the entire bible is to be read (Old and New Testament) but to actually find the light force, you need to meditate on the positive elements, not the chronological aspects that might leave you with questions, bewilderment, a need for proof and more answers. 

There’s a healing place that is not meant to be hidden in the bible, but so many get lost with the metaphors or timeline of events and the shroud of darkness that is in the Bible; elements of incest, rape, and murder. They get lost trying to figure it all out when the Bible was meant to be a tool for you to build or rebuild the life you have before you.

Do you think it was coincidence that the chosen ones were sinners among men? Do you think that Joseph, the carpenter, wasn’t some form of symbolism of the life we are to build in Christ? The bible is heavy laden with metaphors and symbolism and God asks us not to get tied up with dissecting them but to hear the word, live the word and build your life around the word. Then and only then will you emit a Light that no dark hole can ever swallow and penetrate. 

As I watch a dark hole swallow up the people in society, I want to reach right in and grab them before they get pulled so far into the hole that they can never get out. You can and WILL lose the battle because the oxygen sustaining life will be sucked right out of you and there is no turning back.

I apologize to anyone whom my words hurt, if any. I write to make you (people in general) aware of the fine line between right and wrong. Yes, I’m a sinner and get tugged on more occasions than I care to mention but I fight, fists first to win a battle of good and evil, for me, good always wins! It’s the optimist in me. I will always see the Light in the dark and BE the light in the dark times. 

Praise be to God!

Joel 1: 15-20 “Alas for the day! for the day of the LORD is at hand, and as a destruction from the Almighty shall it come. 

Is not the meat cut off before our eyes, yea, joy and gladness from the house of our God? The seed is rotten under their clods, the garners are laid desolate, the barns are broken down; for the corn is withered. How do the beasts groan! the herds of cattle are perplexed, because they have no pasture; yea, the flocks of sheep are made desolate.

O LORD, to thee will I cry: for the fire hath devoured the pastures of the wilderness, and the flame hath burned all the trees of the field.

The beasts of the field cry also unto thee: for the rivers of waters are dried up, and the fire hath devoured the pastures of the wilderness.

Quotation Saturday

Rom. 12:2 And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.

DIFFERENT

“I existed on my own terms. I was different my entire life. Some called me divergent, wild, crazy, unpredictable and unconformed—an apostate to the rules of the majority. I called myself God’s creation and found purpose in the madness. When that day came, I didn’t allow other people to dictate how I should feel or act. I learned there was no shame in imperfection because history had shown being different had the power to change perspectives and eventually the world. This is when I realized that flaws had responsibility. This was the day that I learned I was truly BLESSED.”
― Shannon L. Alder

“God has a way of picking a “nobody” and turning their world upside down, in order to create a “somebody” that will remove the obstacles they encountered out of the pathway for others.”
― Shannon L. Alder

“If your not annoying somebody, you're not alive.”
― Margaret Atwood

“For a man who makes his salvation perfect through suffering, is more of a saint and a loving hero of nature.”
― Auliq Ice

NON-CONFORMITY

“My kids are starting to notice I'm a little different from the other dads. "Why don't you have a straight job like everyone else?" they asked me the other day.
I told them this story:
In the forest, there was a crooked tree and a straight tree. Every day, the straight tree would say to the crooked tree, "Look at me...I'm tall, and I'm straight, and I'm handsome. Look at you...you're all crooked and bent over. No one wants to look at you." And they grew up in that forest together. And then one day the loggers came, and they saw the crooked tree and the straight tree, and they said, "Just cut the straight trees and leave the rest." So the loggers turned all the straight trees into lumber and toothpicks and paper. And the crooked tree is still there, growing stronger and stranger every day.”
― Tom Waits

“But human beings are not machines, and however powerful the pressure to conform, they sometimes are so moved by what they see as injustice that they dare to declare their independence. In that historical possibility lies hope.”
― Howard Zinn

“to be nobody-but-yourself in a world which is doing its’ best, night and day, to make you just like everybody else – means to fight the hardest battle any human being can fight; and never stop fighting.”
― E.E. Cummings

“If, living in the world, you refuse to be a part of it, you will help others out of this chaos - not in the future, not tomorrow, but now.”
― Jiddu Krishnamurti

INDIVIDUAL

“The first duty of a man is to think for himself”
― José Martí

“Despair is typical of those who do not understand the causes of evil, see no way out, and are incapable of struggle.”
― Vladimir Ilich Lenin

“I have no right to call myself one who knows. I was one who seeks, and I still am, but I no longer seek in the stars or in books; I'm beginning to hear the teachings of my blood pulsing within me. My story isn't pleasant, it's not sweet and harmonious like the invented stories; it tastes of folly and bewilderment, of madness and dream, like the life of all people who no longer want to lie to themselves.”
― Hermann Hesse

“To know what you prefer instead of humbly saying Amen to what the world tells you you ought to prefer, is to have kept your soul alive.”
― Robert Louis Stevenson

INSPIRATION

“when you're a poet
you can dish out whatever's
on your mind and you don't have to
apologize for it”
― Shannon Lynette

“When we love, we always strive to become better than we are. When we strive to become better than we are, everything around us becomes better too.”
― Paulo Coelho

“The flower that blooms in adversity is the rarest and most beautiful of all.”
― Walt Disney Company

“We delight in the beauty of the butterfly, but rarely admit the changes it has gone through to achieve that beauty.”
― Maya Angelou

It is finished...the year that is

Baltimore's Inner Harbor

Gen. 2:15 And the LORD God took the man, and put him into the garden of Eden to dress it and to keep it.

The year has come and gone in a whirlwind of speed.

As I rip the last calendar month off, I reflect on the year it was. T’was a year of uncertainty, the loss of a dear cousin-in-law and a facebook friend to colon cancer. I think of the sad months and the joyous months also, that I leave behind in a heap of dried leaves left for springtime removal.

I end the year in uncertainty too as I’m not quite sure where I fit into this life anymore. I’m sure my days as an inspirational writer are over. How can I write to inspire when I have nothing to inspire people with? We'll see.

As the New Year rings in at midnight and people will either be glued to their television watching the bane of society dancing and gyrating across their screens, tucked away at some bar chugging in the new year, or huddled in coats and blankets watching the firework shows going off in many cities (like Baltimore) across America. I myself will be fast asleep and won’t wake until six in the morning to see just what went on while I slept.

While horns will be blaring, guns will be shot in the air, pots and pans will be banged on, tooters will be tooting and again, I will be fast asleep as the world rings in a New Year. Do I resent people partying and ringing in a New Year in a fashion that I once, in my youthful years, was an active participant in? Not at all. We all need to celebrate SOMEthing in life and if a New Year beginning is what works for you, don’t you dare judge me for not finding excitement in just another day and night.

As I’ve said earlier, I don’t do resolutions, I no longer party, and as I get older I no longer stay up past midnight for ANY reason. Some people use a holiday, any holiday as an excuse to drink and party it up. In my day, I was one of those zombies. Not any more and I’m grateful for that. I no longer allow alcohol and partying to rule my world.

I guess I grew up somewhere along the line. I became a fuddy-duddy when I was out seeking my soul. I’m still seeking my soul purpose as I’ve always done and it will never end until my time here on earth ends. We’re not born to just diddle and dawdle away our lives, we’re placed here to SEEK. From the very first book in the Holy Bible, Genesis, we were created to be pure and knowing of no evil.

We faltered and fell and it has always been our destiny to seek out and become like the Adam God created, knowing of no evil. While some will linger in evil for their lives, banking on the forgiveness that Christ gives, we are not to be sinners as a rule because of forgiveness, we are to be sinners and know better before sinning again! After begging for forgiveness for a sin committed, we are to turn from that sin, we’re not to commit it over and over again thinking our forgiveness is a get out of jail FREE card.

The soul seeker in me seeks to purify my soul by any means and if that means giving up the wages of sin, if that means walking in the Light instead of the dark, if that means to be the best person God created me to be, then so be it.

Tomorrow I will wake and a new calendar will be in place. A new day will be here for me to embrace and my soul will rejoice in seeking out all that is good in the world. My heart will be light and as fluffy as the newly fallen snow and I will strive to be everything God intended me to be when I was formed. I will not try to be who people expect me to be, I will Be. I will be ME!

Happy New Year to all who celebrate! May blessings abound in this new calendar shift. 

BE SAFE!!!

Inspiration to Write

Now that I’ve made the decision to write, where do I find the inspiration to write and WHAT do I write?

Well first I go to the forum threads at LinkedIn, my new hangout. Topics abound on many different subjects and many ideas for writing topics spring up in my head. I thought about heading into WVU to take some online classes but I’m not ready to immerse myself into that yet.

While Writers Village University is my first love, the dedication I had to the site was lost and I’m having a heck of a time in getting back there. I find I can’t concentrate too well there. I still have ‘friends’ there but getting into a class and writing is just not in me yet. Maybe one day WVU will creep back in like the writing bug? Maybe I’ll find delight in going to class and sharing my writing once again, but for now I think I’ll stick to blog posts and poetry.

I’ve been with LinkedIn for quite a few years now but never felt like a real participant in the community forums. On the site, there are so many writers there it kinda makes your head spin. I’m not talking about wannabe writers, many are published writers, editors, and anything you need to know about writing is found there.

I find great discussions going on way out of my league because these folk seem to have MFA degrees and Bachelor degrees, and slim pickings for the wannabe’s like me. At least at WVU we all seem to be on the same level trying to acquire knowledge and grow as a writer from what we learn there.

While I don’t find inspiration at WVU, there are many that have, if you’re in the right clique. As many of you know, I’m not into cliques and all they stand for. I find more isolation in cliques than inspiration and I think that may be what drove me away to begin with. I’ve always fit into my blogging experience. It’s my haven where I can write share and possibly inspire folk.

I’ve met some great people via the blogosphere and even though you don’t see comments from them all, I know they’re there. They’ll read whatever they can and when I write something that triggers a response, they’ll comment. Other than that, I’m in an isolation booth, the Cone of Silence if you will, where I do all the talking in silent mode, they do the listening in an audience mode and this, my friends, is where our minds meet.

Back to the topic: Inspiration. Where do you find it? For me at this juncture, it has been in the forum groups at Linked In. They ask a question, and people intelligently respond and I feed off of their knowledge. I have written because of them and it is because of them I jumped back in the saddle.

I normally don’t contribute to the topic because most of what is said are things I would have said, so my input isn’t necessary. But I do find it as inspiring as watching the sunrise over the treetops, or the wind bustling through the trees, or the rain (rare to see this year) but rain none the less is definitely an inspiration-filled day.

Inspiration can be found on many different levels; in words, nature, forums and discussions. You just need to see words for all they’re worth and to me words are hidden gemstones of inspirational writing.

What inspires you to write? You don’t have to answer, just mull over the thought for a bit, be inspired and WRITE!

Quotation Saturday

FRIENDSHIP

“Friendship is born at that moment when one person says to another: "What! You too? I thought I was the only one.” ~ C.S. Lewis

“Good friends, good books, and a sleepy conscience: this is the ideal life.”
~ Mark Twain

“Don't walk behind me; I may not lead. Don't walk in front of me; I may not follow. Just walk beside me and be my friend.”
 ~ Albert Camus

“There is nothing I would not do for those who are really my friends. I have no notion of loving people by halves, it is not my nature.”
~ Jane Austen, Northanger Abbey

WISDOM

“Knowing yourself is the beginning of all wisdom.”
 ~ Aristotle

“Whenever you find yourself on the side of the majority, it is time to pause and reflect.”
~ Mark Twain

There is neither happiness nor misery in the world; there is only the comparison of one state with another, nothing more. He who has felt the deepest grief is best able to experience supreme happiness. We must of felt what it is to die, Morrel, that we may appreciate the enjoyments of life.
" Live, then, and be happy, beloved children of my heart, and never forget, that until the day God will deign to reveal the future to man, all human wisdom is contained in these two words, 'Wait and Hope.”
~ Alexandre Dumas

“It is the mark of an educated mind to be able to entertain a thought without accepting it.”
~ Aristotle, Metaphysics

PEACE

“Darkness cannot drive out darkness: only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate: only love can do that.”
~ Martin Luther King Jr., A Testament of Hope: The Essential Writings and Speeches

“An eye for an eye will only make the whole world blind.”
~ Mahatma Gandhi, The Story of My Experiments With Truth

“When I say it's you I like, I'm talking about that part of you that knows that life is far more than anything you can ever see or hear or touch. That deep part of you that allows you to stand for those things without which humankind cannot survive. Love that conquers hate, peace that rises triumphant over war, and justice that proves more powerful than greed.”
~ Fred Rogers

“Peace cannot be achieved through violence, it can only be attained through understanding.”
~ Ralph Waldo Emerson

INSPIRATION

“You've gotta dance like there's nobody watching,
Love like you'll never be hurt,
Sing like there's nobody listening,
And live like it's heaven on earth.”
~ William W. Purkey

“Live as if you were to die tomorrow. Learn as if you were to live forever.”
~Mahatma Gandhi

“Without music, life would be a mistake.”
~ Friedrich Nietzsche, Twilight of the Idols

“I am enough of an artist to draw freely upon my imagination. Imagination is more important than knowledge. Knowledge is limited. Imagination encircles the world.”
~ Albert Einstein

It could be worse...

Inspirational Writing ~

All this talk about genre has me thinking what genre my novel falls under. Well, its a spiritual thriller, mystery laden, ghosts, angels, and toss in some thrilling uncovered mystery, and a possible time warp and you have... a doggone good novel is what you have.

That is what I’ll be working on during my hiatus in mentoring. I’ll begin the task of revising my novel while working on my health issues that are plaguing my days and nights. This way I’ll feel as if I’m still hands on in my writing, while everyone else is at class whooping and hollering and having a blast living it up.

My mother always has a way of saying, “It could be worse.” And I have to agree with her on that one, it could be worse. But let me remind you that she always says that right before things actually do get worse. She means well in her ways, but sometimes I just have a problem with accepting that theory.

It could be worse. Now there’s a concept we need to look at while writing our novel. Keep those words in mind as your hero has fallen out of a tree, crawled to the highway and is signaling for help. Does a savior come and rescue her? Think “It could be worse.” Then make it worse, she crawls into the path of an about to be picked up hitch-hiker, she calls out for help and as he turns to look at her, his face resembles that of Freddy Kruger! Her heart sinks, but just remember, “It could be worse.” She could have met up with Hannibal Lecter, when all of a sudden the man driving the car gets out to help, and it IS Hannibal Lecter!!!

You see, maybe my mother is not all wrong. Maybe she has something there with that, ‘It could have been worse theory’. As I go through trying times repelling the dark force that wants to fill the hole in my life, as I fill it with the Light, the forces tend to battle it out and I’m in the middle, swirling and twirling and in the end, the light wins, at which time I will stand up and whisper under my breath. “It could have been worse.”

There’s a point to be made here, I’m certain. With Inspirational Writing, you can always talk about the good and the light and the love of the Lord, but your audience more than likely is in a dark spot and can’t relate to a word your saying. Reaching out to their level. You have to give them the depths of the hell that you’ve been through; every slimy shimmering taste of it so they relate, then dish out the light so they drink in the benefits of all that was worse and how you fought to make it better.

In a world where people struggle with their Faith, it is quite easy to see all the Light, surround themselves with what they think the light is, but it is too soon that they forget that the dark exists. “The dark only has power if you let it.”  The most untrue words I ever heard spoken. When the dark has its tentacles wrapped around you while you are breathlessly grabbing for that one ray of light. The dark friends, people, acquaintances all feel you and tug you dragging you into the road, only for you to be spotted by Hannibal and Freddy.

It’s a war out there in this world of Light and Dark...but hey, it coulda been worse...

Come on 100th Follower !!!

Let me be your Inspirational Blog...

I began this blog in 2005, deleted 2006 and it wasn’t until 2008 I took it to a more serious level. I started this blog with the intention of writing about the paranoia in this society, then after becoming a mentor and not having much down to earth  assistance out there in the writing world, I decided to make my blog about writing. By down to earth, I mean writing pages that are targeted to the novice. Always plenty of pages on the technical stuff, but the small stuff that we as writers need to know and are eager to learn? I wanted to reach those writers.

Then the followers began marching in like soldiers, and I was well on my way to happy in seeing all the folk enjoying my blog. I care for and appreciate each and every follower, even if I don’t get comments, I know they are there, reading behind their screens, drinking coffee perhaps, and *I* being their morning paper. (wow, can someone say run on sentence here?)

That’s a good feeling of being read. Now I know what drives all those popular published authors onto bigger and better writing days, readers! I wrote a post about me one time and I saw comments appear. My readers were enjoying my writing posts but they also were enjoying hearing about me and my life. I began having post about Writing, but also about Me. This combination drove my followers up, because I think deep down, we all want to know what really makes a writer tick. Even if they themselves were writers, closet writers, they were more about writing, not divulging personal issues about themselves.

I think my followers realized that Joni was a complex writer, spilling her guts about herself, and spreading light through scripture,  love through my heart and soul, and giving some pretty good advice on writing, while sharing very informative writing links.  It was then that One Voice ~Write Right began moving along into a new era. Poetry, Quotations, personal issues and plausible Writing Assistance became a virtual  must read. Okay maybe that is pushing it; Must Read? But it has become an endearing read, and a Good Read, so much so, my hits are up, my visitors are up, I have flags from all the different countries that visit, and with the change of my layout, people are liking what they are seeing!

As my dental woes mount, the needed thousands of dollars for the amount of work necessary, along with the damage to my body and health that the dental woes are causing all the way down to not taking care of myself, will all fall on me in avalanche fashion as the year ends. But I am here, a living testament of true faith, I stand as the miracle of sight was brought into this realm of mine, and I hold my head high and push onto the next leg of this interesting journey God has placed me on.

Now if I could just get that 100th follower, my new year would begin on a high note!

Quotation Saturday

THOUGHTS/THINKING

"Begin challenging your own assumptions. Your assumptions are your windows on the world. Scrub them off every once and a while, or the light won't come in." 

-- Alan Alda

“The person who sends out positive thoughts activates the world around him positively and draws back to himself positive results.” 

-- Norman Vincent Peale

“Nurture your mind with great thoughts; to believe in the heroic makes heroes.” 

-- Benjamin Disraeli

"The most expensive piece of real estate is the six inches between your right and left ear. It’s what you create in that area that determines your wealth. We are only really limited by our mind." 

-- Dr. Dolf de Roos


RESPONSIBILITIES

Learn to do what ought to be done, when it should be done, whether you like it or not.
--Roy W. Haley

What a fearful object a long neglected duty gets to be!
--Chauncey Kent Wright

DREAMS

The best way to make your dreams come true is to wake up.
--Paul Valery
 

A skillful man reads his dreams for self-knowledge, yet not the details but the quality.
--Ralph Waldo Emerson
 

Dreams are the touchstones of our character.
--Henry David Thoreau
 

The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams.
--Eleanor Roosevelt

ON WRITING
 

"I love being a writer. What I can't stand is the paperwork."
--Peter de Vries
 

"A writer is working when he's staring out of the window."
--Burton Rascoe
 

"The secret of popular writing is never to put more on a given page than the common reader can lap off it with no strain whatsoever on his habitually slack attention."
--Ezra Pound
 

"I try to leave out the parts that people skip." 

--Elmore Leonard
 

“The life of any human is to move forward, don’t sweat the small stuff, and lap up beauty in the micro of life!”
--Joni Zipp

A Day of Compassion?

“Compassion is not religious business, it is human business, it is not luxury, it is essential for our own peace and mental stability, it is essential for human survival.”
~ Dalai Lama

Compassion is not much unlike the emotion, love. Compassion fills your heart, warms the spirit and guides you into a blissful spin of the universe in your soul. What, you’ve never felt this before? Then truly you need to get out into the world that is in dire need of YOUR compassion.

Can you imagine, billions of people uniting in one compassionate act a day? Can you imagine a day set aside where we are made aware of such an event taking place? Have you ever had a compassionate act move your heart so much you went out and did something compassionate yourself?

I sure hope you answered yes to all the above questions. Compassion needs to move the human heart and I do believe what the Dalai Lama said, “it is essential for human survival.”

In a world where there is global devastation, like Earthquakes and tsunami’s, hurricane’s and tornadoes all wiping out and leveling the human spirit, has anyone noticed the one thing that rises from the ashes/dust/turmoil? Human compassion!

While we grieve for the dead, we reach out to the living. We shroud ourselves in compassion and forge through the barriers of devastation and bring to life the art of compassion on grand levels that actually shift the tides in the humans capacity.

I have been a receiver of such human compassion. Two years ago when we were basically forced to move to the state of Nebraska, we wondered how all of this would come together and sure enough, when we arrived after the compassionate brother and sister came to Texas and helped move us north on the ten hour trip, we arrived at a house, that had food, supplied by a church that we had no affiliation with, money, to help get us started, and love welcomed us with open arms.

As the two years pass, not without struggles, it is the human heart of compassion that carries us through our days and nights and never releases us from its clutch. Still not having the means to give compassion on a grander level than I’d like, I sit and pray for the   souls that cry out for help. I share the Word with people who might not even read the Book, except when they are in dire straits and turn to the Holy One, to help ease their pain.

Sure enough, my heart is a compassionate heart on many levels. Levels that heal, levels that make a difference. And you too can make a difference in the human fluctuation of events just by having compassion on one person!

Don’t make ONE day, a day of compassion, just like Valentines Day is marked as a day of love, I think these things should be in our arsenal on a daily basis. Not just one day a year. Think about that and act on it, you’ll be relieved that you are a part of a greater whole.

Love and Compassion walk hand in hand through the sands of time. Embrace them.

Quotation Saturday

KINDNESS

"Let no one ever come to you without leaving better and happier. Be the living expression of God's kindness: kindness in your face, kindness in your eyes, kindness in your smile."
-Mother Teresa

"Really big people are, above everything else, courteous, considerate and generous - not just to some people in some circumstances - but to everyone all the time."
-Thomas J. Watson

"If you have not often felt the joy of doing a kind act, you have neglected much, and most of all yourself."
-A. Neilen

"You have not lived a perfect day, unless you have done something for someone who will never be able to repay you."
-Ruth Smeltzer

MOTIVATION/INSPIRATION

"People often say that motivation doesn't last. Well, neither does bathing that's why we recommend it daily."
- Zig Ziglar

"The greatest composer does not sit down to work because he is inspired, but becomes inspired because he is working."
- Ernest Newman

"A mediocre idea that generates enthusiasm will go further than a great idea that inspires no one."
- Mary Kay Ash

"When a goal matters enough to a person, that person will find a way to accomplish what at first seemed impossible."
- Nido Qubein

PURPOSE

The question for each man is not what he would do if he had the means, time, influence and educational advantages, but what he will do with the things he has.
-Frank Hamilton

As far as we can discern, the sole purpose of human existence is to kindle a light in the darkness of mere being.
-Carl Jung

MIRACLES

"The only way to live is to accept each minute as an unrepeatable miracle, which is exactly what it is - a miracle and unrepeatable."
- Margaret Storm Jameson

"The next time it begins to rain... lie down on your belly, nestle your chin into the grass, and get a frog's-eye view of how raindrops fall... The sight of hundreds of blades of grass bowing down and popping back up like piano keys strikes me as one of the merriest sights in the world."
- Malcolm Margolin

"The world is full of poetry. The air is living with its spirit; and the waves dance to the music of its melodies, and sparkle in its brightness."
- Percival

"Ingenuity, plus courage, plus work, equals miracles."
- Bob Richards

Moving Write Along

2 Tim. 3:16 All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness:
***

No friends it’s not a typo! The free creative writing course, F2K , is moving WRITE along. Writers are all writing, friends are being made and the creative juices are flowing in an endless stream of thought and consciousness.

We’re on Lesson three and this is the tell tale lesson. This is the lesson where the folks either give up or keep on trekking in the writing course. I like to see everyone complete the seven week course but life happens a lot of times, people get sick, they get sidetracked, and a writing course becomes second in line to the more important things in life.

I’ve noticed that a lot in life. People become so absorbed with ‘other’ things that they forget what is most important and right in their faces. They question the path, doubt their beliefs, place materials above the one thing that needs to remain constant in ones life, and that is your faith.

Without faith, you’re path is going to be a miserable road to nowhere, full of pebbles, rocks and sometimes boulders that will hinder you from going anywhere. I like to think that when someone enters a writing course, that something deep inside was guiding them to take this path and that they would listen to the inner call to take on writing as if it was handed to them from the Divine One that leads them.

I watch as a lot of writers lack the faith and confidence in themselves. I see one woman stray from writing because she fears sharing her work with others. I watch others after years of study and hard wok, still doubt the very gift that they have within their clutch. An excellent writer, but her lack of confidence has shattered her dream of ever becoming a success in the writing world.

Isn’t  it enough for you to write, receive accolades from your peers, be lifted up by their words of pleasure and joy in reading your work? Why would anyone doubt their own work with all of this positive influx of feedback? Because faith is what is going to carry you.

Trust in your ability! Have faith that you were meant to do this. Not this-that-and-the-other thing! Writing is a God given talent. One of my sons, so called friends, mocked him when he said he was a writer, “Anyone can write!” she taunted. I’m here to clarify and verify for you, that NO, not ANYONE can write. A writer writes! Others spell correctly (possibly) and form sentences but it takes a writer to bring those words and sentences alive!

Moving right along... Writers WRITE RIGHT!

Inspiration

Job 32: 8 But there is a spirit in man: and the inspiration of the Almighty giveth them understanding.
***

Over the years, my following has grown; I’ve been spammed, I’ve been approached to do reviews or maybe even a pay-per-click to garner money, and by and by, I keep coming back to what inspired me to start this blog to begin with.

I’m a writer and have been one for many a year now. I’m also a Christian, and I pray that you, my following, doesn’t hold that against me, because I love you all no matter what you believe in or what inspires you to live each and every day. 

Often times something traumatic happens in my life and I have to share it with you, or maybe something miraculous (like Sassy, my dog, surviving being hit by a truck) happens where I just feel compelled to share the event with you.

Yes this is a writing blog, one where I give tips on writing, teach you a few techniques, but woven in my words are, and probably always will be, the inspiration that moves me. Inspiration is like a warm rise of the sun. It bubbles up within you, feeds your energy, then slips you into a gentle calm, where you are moved into action.

Inspiration can’t be stolen or borrowed but it can be released to where another individual feels totally inspired within themselves and in turn, inspires someone else, and so on and so on. We can all become a chain link of inspiration and we can slowly change the mindset of the world but only if you have the best of intentions, the joy to pass it on, and the legs to stand on when it doesn’t go as smoothly as planned.

Strength will guide you, you’ll find that the flaming shroud of inspiration has reached right through the screen, reached out by the clutching of two hands, been expelled by the warmth of a hug, shared by a kind word, embraced by the open mind, cherished by all who come in contact.

I can display a picture and immediately your mind is flooding with other images, words that want to jump onto the page, feelings that run through your veins like an IV hooked up to the emotional stem of love. Inspiration can be found anywhere and everywhere and it may just cause you to write something brilliant, or inspire another person to write something amazing.

Whatever the case may be...find inspiration in every waking moment, glorify Light and Love, praise the day you were born and Inspire someone today!

Quotation Saturday

ON QUOTATIONS:

When I quote others I do so in order to express my own ideas more clearly.
- Michel de Montaigne


One must be a wise reader to quote wisely and well.
- Amos Bronson Alcott


The maxims of men disclose their hearts.
- French Proverb


To select well among old things, is almost equal to inventing new ones.
- Nicholas Charles Trublet


A well-cultivated mind is, so to speak, made up of all the minds of preceding ages; it is only one single mind which has been educated during all this time.
- Bernard de Bovier de Fontenelle

ON LIBRARIES or BOOKS:

No possession can surpass, or even equal, a good library to the lover of books.
~J. A. Langford

Me, poor man, my library
Was dukedom large enough.
~William Shakespeare, The Tempest


How still and peaceful is a Library! It seems quiet as the grave, tranquil as heaven, a cool collection of the thoughts of the men of all times. And yet, approach and open the pages, and you find them full of dissension and disputes, alive with abuse and detraction— a huge, many-volumed satire upon man, written by himself. . . . What a broad thing is a library — all shades of opinion reflected on its catholic bosom, as the sunbeams and shadows of a summer's day upon the ample mirror of a lake.
~George Gilfillan

ON SUCCESS:

Keep steadily before you the fact that all true success depends at last upon yourself.
~Theodore T. Hunger


We are all motivated by a keen desire for praise, and the better a man is, the more he is inspired to glory.
~Cicero


Success is the sum of small efforts, repeated day in and day out.
~Robert Collier


The difference between a successful person and others is not a lack of strength, not a lack of knowledge, but rather a lack in will.
~Vince Lombardi

ON WISDOM:

It is easier to be wise for others than for ourselves.
~Francois De La Rochefoucauld


The first step in the acquisition of wisdom is silence, the second listening, the third memory, the fourth practice, the fifth teaching others.
~Solomon Ibn Gabriol


Years teach us more than books.
~Berthold Auerbach

Quotation Saturday

“We live in the altered space of man. We thrive in the altered space of God”
-Joni Zipp

***

GOODNESS

Maybe just believing in goodness generates a tiny bit of the stuff, so that by being so foolish as to believe in our better natures, if just for a day, we actually contribute to the sum total of generosity in the universe.
-Julie Powell
Julie & Julia

All good activities which encourage people to learn how to live with one another pleasantly and to develop a sense of humor improve living.
-Leonard Carmichael

"Use what talents you possess; the woods would be very silent if no birds sang except those that sang best."
- Henry Van Dyke


ACCEPT THE UNCHANGEABLE

“Everything that has happened in your life to this minute is unchangeable. It’s history. The greatest waste of energy is in looking back at missed opportunities, lamenting past events, grudge collecting, getting even, harboring ill will, and any vengeful thinking. Success is the only acceptable form of revenge. By forgiving your trespassers, you become free to concentrate on going forward with your life and succeeding in spite of your detractors. You will live a rewarding and fulfilling life.”
-Dennis Waitley

GOALS

One of the key qualities that any CEO (or successful person) needs--a willingness to stretch yourself and go after goals that others think are too visionary, too hard, or too ambitious to accomplish.
-Richard A. McGinn

Goals too clearly defined can become blinders.
-Mary Catherine Bateson

Everything that doesn't kill you, makes you stronger. And later on you can use it in some story.
-Tapani Bagge
 
When I examine myself and my methods of thought I come to the conclusion that the gift of fantasy has meant more to me than my talent for absorbing knowledge.
-Albert Einstein

Quotation Saturday

ON WRITING

"The ability to "fantasize" is the ability to survive. It's wonderful to speak about this subject because there have been so many wrong-headed people dealing with it.... The so-called realists are trying to drive us insane, and I refuse to be driven insane.... We survive by fantasizing. Take that away from us and the whole damned human race goes down the
drain."
- Ray Bradbury

"Don't think. Thinking is the enemy of creativity. It's self-conscious and anything self-conscious is lousy. You can't try to do things. You simply must do things."
- Ray Bradbury

"Love. Fall in love and stay in love. Write only what you love, and love what you write. The word is love. You have to get up in the morning and write something you love, something to live for."
- Ray Bradbury

ACTION

“Achievement seems to be connected with action. Successful men and women keep moving. They make mistakes, but they don’t quit.”
 - Conrad Hilton

“An ounce of practice is worth more than tons of preaching.”
- Mohandas Ghandi

“Inspirations never go in for long engagements; they demand immediate marriage to action.”
- Brendan Francis

YOU ARE UNIQUE

“There is a time in every man's education when he arrives at the conviction that envy is ignorance; that imitation is suicide; that he must take himself for better, for worse, as his portion; that though the wide universe is full of good, no kernel of nourishing corn can come to him but through his toil bestowed on that plot of ground which is given to him to till.”
- Ralph Waldo Emerson

“The greatest good you can do for another is not just share your riches, but reveal to them their own.”
- Benjamin Disraeli

“You were born rich with 18 billion bountiful, beautiful, totally available and in all probability under-used brain cells awaiting your desire, decision and directional compass to take you onward, upward, goodward and Godward.”
- Mark Victor Hansen

Sunshine Award

That best portion of a man's life, his little, nameless, unremembered acts of kindness and love.
~ William Wordsworth ~

***

I woke up this morning in the still of the late night. Four A.M. is quite early to me but I just couldn’t fall back to sleep with thoughts running around in my head. I’ve got a lot on my mind in the way of redefining my future, letting go of my past, living day-to-day in the present.

While it was still dark outside, the birds slept while crickets chirped, I arose to a fellow blogger offering me a Sunshine Award. A sunshine award? Me?

It made me think of my mother whom, back home in Maryland, always sings the sunshine song to me, on one of the many daily calls I make to her. Remember,

“You are my sunshine, my only sunshine, you make me happy, when skies are gray, you’ll never know dear, how much I love you, please don’t take, my sunshine away.”

She tells me I am her sunshine and my calls brighten her day. Well isn’t that a wonderful feeling? To know that you, little ol’ you, can brighten someones day? I’m blessed.

My friend and fellow blogger Doreen, says I inspire her. That is a GREAT feeling also since sometimes you never know if these words are sinking into someone’s brain or are they just being released to the universe. Thank you Doreen for letting me know that all of this hard work is not for nothing, it is truly for something!

Now onto paying it forward.

I’ll list 5 things that bring me sunshine, and try to pass it on to 5 wonderful friends. Now, remember I don’t have many friends but each and every person that touches my life is a little ray of sunshine on a gloomy day.

5 things that bring me sunshine:

1) My Lord and Savior (on any given day, rain or shine, he always brings the Light into my life.)

2) My Fiance (who although blind, can still see light. He gives me reason and pourpose, encourages and fulfills. He’s my everything.)

2) My son (for whom without, I’d have very little reason for living.)

3) My writing (the only dream holding me into place so I don’t completely fall apart)

4) Nature (my garden is a simple pleasure that brings warmth and sunshine into my world in a sunburst kind of way, and a fragrant way.)

5) Family (mine is far away but thoughts of them always warms my heart. My other family, my fiance’s family, is enriching, nourishing, and nurtures the woman I am today.)

Okay I know I have two number two’s but I can not put one above the other. They are my life.

Now to pass on the sunshine...

1) Steven, although the award is futile being he can’t see the awesome bright orange flower. Two blogs! Drums in the Deep and Audio book Heaven

2) Adam, who is turning into a writer just like his mom. Read his, Poems have Hearts blog.

3) June, who is my mentor above and beyond. Quite an awesome lady. She never allows me to stagnate.

4) Benning, another mentor and dear friend of mine who inspires me and eggs me on!

5) To ALL of my followers who keep me presently in their lives. It is because of them, you get posts everyday. Rich content posts too! :) (see links to my friends to the left)

Thank you all and thank you Doreen!

Life is divided into three terms - that which was, which is, and which will be. Let us learn from the past to profit by the present, and from the present to live better in the future.
~William Wordsworth ~

I Love to Blog

Better to write for yourself and have no public, than to write for the public and have no self.

~~Cyril Connolly~~

When I started this blog, many moons ago, it was just a whim. I was going to write about the worlds troubles and I myself was going to stand on my high horse and cut down every non-fruit bearing tree in this world and point fingers and hopefully try to help. Maybe in hopes of it showing a beautiful fruit bearing tree as a result.

Something changed after the first few posts. It felt wrong, so I didn’t blog for a while and continued taking my writing courses, mentoring and writing my stories. Then it slapped me upside the head, write about writing!

I googled writing blogs all the time and found some interesting ones but they seemed so academic. I felt like I was sitting back in school at my desk, only this time, I had a computer in front of me, instead of pencil and paper.

I never wanted this to be an academic type blog on writing. I wanted you to feel like you’ve come into my living room, sat down with a nice warm cup of coffee or tea, whichever you prefer, and I would go on and on about what *I’ve* learned about the writing world.

Write it and they will come, that’s my theory. Like the field of writing dreams? They’ve come, they follow and they learn. Sometimes I go off topic and tell of my life in the here and now, but this is what makes my home here on the blog so comfortable. You not only learn about writing, you learn about this human being that is sitting on the other side of the screen typing her heart out. I hope you gain out of this blog, that I’m a good- natured, spiritual person who loves everything that life throws at me. I see it all as a challenge and I will gulp adversity down, and spit it back out, so I can go on and be a stronger person for everything that comes my way.

I don’t seek out followers, I don’t entice them to visit, I don’t shower them with gifts, I just write, and if they visit, well then, I hope they enjoy their stay. It is all I can ask for in a blog setting. Most of my following is writers, and they understand what makes up a writer at heart. We feel, like no other people in the world feels.

Maybe my topics deter you, or makes you feel uncomfortable? I think that would be my bible topics or headings? Some told me that the page had a hard time loading, and I know it was because of the pics I used, so I switched to scriptures, not to offend but to make visiting my home here easier for you. Navigating is easy too, the links are all helpful in the academic world of writing. I have fellow bloggers writing sites, friends who love to write, and my family here has grown.

So if you feel discouraged in writing, come visit me and sit for a spell. You’ll find something inspiring here and you’re more than welcome to leave a comment, or a tip on the table for my hospitality. ha ha.

I love to blog. If you’re visiting, enjoy. If you’re a regular, thank you. If you’re human too, like me, I send many blessings and positive thoughts your way so that you too may learn and grow in the world of technology. No one said you couldn’t have a cup of coffee and idle banter along the way.

godspeed friends...

The reason one writes isn't the fact he wants to say something. He writes because he has something to say.
~~ F. Scott Fitzgerald ~~

Inspiration?

Job 32:8 But there is a spirit in man: and the inspiration of the Almighty giveth them understanding.

***

What? No blog post today?

That is what happened on the way to my scribbling pad this morning. I sauntered in here, only to be empty of anything to write. So I decided to look for inspiration.

Where does one get inspiration to write, you might ask? Well it is not too hard if you go looking in the right places. Say, someone’s facebook page? I’m finding writer’s links everywhere in that place. My friends write some really good stuff and post it for everyone to see, then I find myself inspired to write!

One word can trigger a heaping helping of inspiration for me to work with. I saw the word ‘bling’ today, and not only did it draw a giggle but it had me thinking of days gone by, in my past when I was young, wild and carefree. The whole comment went like this, “You can tell the cool cattle, because they got the bling.” It was a comment on the cow pics I posted.

There I go, off on a cruise of my past thinking of when I ‘thought’ I was cool but really, I was just fitting into society. Then I grew up to be not so cool but I became an inspiring person, one who shares all the positive things that there is in life. “Keep going on,” I say.

As I read a friends story titled “Colors” I immediately wanted to write a poem on the colors of life. It is just amazing to me to realize how one word can trigger inspiration in the mind. My mind is like an ocean, thoughts come in waves, sometimes they crash on the shore only to be pulled back out to sea, while others keep lapping the shoreline frothing until it becomes one with the sand.

For inspiration, all you need to do is drink from the sea of life. The sea is never empty, never half full, it is always at a continuous flow. That is what inspires us to write, the continuous flow.

Go out today and look at the sky. Allow the funny shaped clouds to inspire you to write. Listen to the different birds playing on the lawn or in the yard, they’ll bring the song of inspiration to your heart. Run your fingers along the bark of a tree, taste the cool moist air playing like a feather on your cheek.

What I’m saying is this, the simplest things can inspire you to write, to feel, to love. All we need to do is be an open air wave ready willing and able to pick up the reception. It is there, my friends, allow life to inspire YOU!

10 Reasons to Blog

Job 13: 6 Hear now my reasoning, and hearken to the pleadings of my lips.

***

1. Because you want to tell your story in all forthrightness, truth and honesty.
 

When you have a blog your mind is like a conduit and the page is where all your  
thoughts flow. The written word is a healing tool (can’t say that one enough)and as you tell your story, you are releasing any emotion attached.

2. Because you can?
 

There is a blog about almost anything. Not almost anything, ANYTHING! Do you have toes that look like a deer? Well let me tell you, somewhere out there, there is a blog on that subject. We blog because it’s free, we can, and because we grow.

3. To reach out to lost souls who need something to read. Preferably  problems and ways of dealing with life, other than their own.
 

Sometimes we get so caught up in our own problems, just to sit down and read how others are getting through, say, the recession, cancer, or any struggle, we connect through a blog.

4. To teach someone something that they might not have learned elsewhere.
 

The blog is a way of teaching others new ways of writing, new recipes to try, new ways of healing. The blog is a teaching tool.

5. To learn something that you might not have been taught elsewhere.
 

With the advent of the internet, we have chosen not to use the library. We can search anything we want, right from the comfort of our homes. I’ve learned more about the Hubble project on the internet than any book could have possibly taught me. (And I get to see pics!) Blogs can be learning tools.

6. To give back to society what it has taken away from you.
 

From the comfort of your home, in your PJ’s, you can write and release all your feelings that you felt were inadvertently taken away by someone saying, “You can’t do that.” or “You’ll never amount to anything.” A blog gives back.

7. To share
 

All of the above can fit right here in this spot. We blog to share. Why be selfish, when you can share with the world? The WORLD!

8. Enlighten
 

Maybe someone is going through the same thing as you. Maybe there is another writer who is looking for something. To enlighten a person, we have to be willing to post all the examples as stated above. It might enlighten someone, somehow.

9. Encourage
 

“If you can’t say something nice, don’t say nothing at all!” People feed off of encouragement while they use a shell when it is reversed. I encourage everyone to have a blog, even if they are not writers.

10. Inspire!
 

If there is one thing in life I would love, that is to inspire someone! This is the greatest gift to mankind that I could give. Through my blog, I try (and mostly succeed) in giving you all ten of these here tips. Not because I have to, because I want to be a part of your life and shower you with blessings. Through my words, my job is...to share,encourage enlighten...inspire!

godspeed my friends!