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 |   Second blog -- answers to an ocean of prompts |
 "Failure is unimportant. It takes courage to make a fool of yourself." CHARLIE CHAPLIN  Sometimes it takes darkness and the sweet confinement of your aloneness to learn anything or anyone that does not bring you alive is too small for you. David Whyte        This is my supplementary blog in which I will post entries written for prompts. |
| “If you can’t fly then run, if you can’t run then walk, if you can’t walk then crawl, but whatever you do you have to keep moving forward.” —Martin Luther King, Jr. Your thoughts on this King quote. ---------- When we take a look at the surface of things, hard work on whatever we can do does not seem like a lot of fun, as some of us, sometimes, stay idle and is not encouraged to take action. As the quote says, we may opt to do what we can do since the circumstances of working hard and keeping up the action provide a huge competitive advantage, and not only with others but with ourselves. Moving forward and challenging ourselves to do more than we think can be possible, as it increases our value as a human being and, most of the time, pleasantly surprises us at what we'll be able to do. Especially when we have a purpose, like MLK, using all the courage and boldness we can muster, especially with things related to our purpose, is highly beneficial. This way we are avoiding being idle and, also with some intelligence, we are helping the society we're in. This way no one, especially our own selves, can accuse us for not doing the best that we could.  “Which is the true nightmare, the horrific dream that you have in your sleep or the dissatisfied reality that awaits you when you awake?” ― Justin Alcala ------------ A dream can be more real than we think. The relationship between dreams and everyday life provide clues as to how our consciousness operates, since our minds are able to turn any information into a multidimensional and sometimes very scary reality. A bad dream is how we look at it, but then, isn't reality similar to a dream by depending on our observation of it? We disregard a close inspection of dreams because they end when we wake up. My take on this is, when there's a horrific dream we should examine it as to what caused it. This is because our minds have a will of their own and they shape and misshape things, and then, throw them at us. It is nerve-tangling to wake up from a bad dream that seemed every bit as real as real life. But then, who can really, exactly vouch for the truthfulness of reality either? As life is a puzzle, so is reality and the dreams it causes. Yet, we should not confuse dreams with reality as this is a borderline personality disorder. Then, for me, I prefer the not-so-great reality, only because I have the option of taking a good look at it sensibly and pragmatically, instead of trying to unknot the strings of a bad dream to see the reason behind its hideousness and dread. |
| Prompt: What does the word adventure mean to you? Write about this in your Blog entry today ---- Adventure's definition in the dictionary is "an unusual and exciting, typically hazardous, experience or activity." In my opinion, this fits somewhat exactly what life is. Except life is much more than that, at least from where we mortals stand. Life can be good or bad, but it is sometimes, annoying, exciting, totally debilitating, dangerous, unusual, and more than anything, fleeting. Life is also a teacher of sorts, whether we learn from it or not. If we do, for what use this knowledge is depends on the imagination or the belief systems we adhere to. In its more condensed forms, adventure may mean a trek, an experience, a voyage, a relationship, etc. But these are like the crumbs with which we feed the birds. Not the whole loaf. The whole loaf, in my opinion, is life itself. Prompt: Take a line from one of your favorite poems and write a blog entry about it. ---- Geez, this is tough because I don't have a favorite poem but many favorite poems. I think I'll go with Jenny Joseph's Warning "When I am an old woman I shall wear purple With a red hat which doesn’t go, and doesn’t suit me. And I shall spend my pension on brandy and summer gloves And satin sandals, and say we’ve no money for butter." Funny, but this poem now reminds me of one of my cousins who had a very conventional life, but in her old age, she is doing everything she wanted to do but didn't while she could have. Her now life so reflects this poem in its entirety! Now, at 78, my cousin sings in a local chorus, acts on stage for amateurs, writes poetry, and paints beautiful paintings and had a few successful gallery shows. She is now compensating for what she wished to do but couldn't or didn't when she could have. Then, fittingly, there's another line to this poem, which says, “And make up for the sobriety of my youth.” I like the contrasts expressed here--especially against society's expectations--and the tenderness and the rashness all bound together. Then, as a coincidence, right now, I am also wearing a purple shirt and purple pants. And the cousin I wrote about is only a year younger than me.  |
| Is anyone else in sticker shock? 9.99 for 18 eggs, 6.00 for a gallon of milk., 4.99 for bread ... What are you paying for basic food supplies? ------------ Yes, everything has gone up together with the gas prices, some more than others. I am a BJ's member and I buy most things in bulk so I don't have to go shopping too often anymore and get annoyed. Also, with gas, also from BJ's, the last time I filled the gas tank was about two weeks ago, and it cost $2.77 a gallon and the tank is still nearly full. If this sounds like an ad for BJs, it shouldn't be because they sell things in large amounts and for those things that may spoil, I still go to the local grocery. Luckily, both stores are nearby, and I am not in love with driving in the first place. I also know how to freeze some of the produce that comes in bulk. That helps. What are you holding on to that doesn’t serve you anymore? Maybe you have fake friends or are in a toxic workplace. These are dead ends that do you more harm than good. Cutting ties and making changes are scary and painful. Imagine how many good things can happen when you free up the space in your mind. Write about something you've let go of....or about too. I don't get rid of friends that easily and I don't make them as easily either. If friends drift away on their own, for any reason, it's their choice. From my point of view, there are no fake people or friends, just those who have different values than mine. Then, there are objects around the house that I haven't gotten rid of because they have some emotional value like my late husband's favorite sweater and things from the family that I don't know what to do with and neither can I part with them. And of course there are photos and albums galore. No one I know keeps photo albums like I do as everything is digital nowadays and I am sure it is a big help for those living in a tight place, but I am still living in the house we owned since 1993 and a few extra memoranda are acceptable to me. The only thing I have to let go could be the armchairs around the dinette that became wobbly over the years, but since they still work, I am thinking about them. I may get new chairs soon. |
| Prompt: The past is no where I want to go back to. That's the only thing I'm running from. ------------ I am not really running away from the past, but I am not going back to it either. Past happened, done away with, and I lived through it mostly with joy or acceptance. Yes, there were hurts, too, but they were lessons, also. Then, there are those many people lost to me, a hundred percent of them "dearly beloved" and I will always rejoice when recalling their joy and what they left in me and taught me about life, sometimes by providing some serious tests and introspection. But as I said, the past is done, finished, and I have to look forward for what little time is left to me here on earth. Prompt: "Celebrate endings for they precede new beginnings." Jonathan Lockwood Huie Write about this in your Blog entry today.Write about this in your Blog entry today. ------------ I am not sure each ending can provide a new beginning. But maybe going on with life, taking things as they come could be more like it. Then, there are always millions of new beginnings in life wherever one turns to and decides to give one of those a go. I don't know if I can celebrate any ending. Neither would I care to. Some of the things that ended were too good to exist forever in this storm-ridden planet, in the first place. Did I feel sad and tormented with such endings? The answer is a big YES, but then, there isn't much I or anyone else can do about it. Endings are endings. |
| Prompt: As Martin Luther King's birthday approaches I remember his I Have A Dream speech and I think of all the things I've dreamed of in my life time. What have you dreamed of in your lifetime? ----------- Whatever I dreamed of for myself in my lifetime either came true or whatever happened in its place was acceptable enough for me. After all, it is a short life no matter how long we are in it, and at the end, who cares! Yet, what I have dreamed of outside myself, very few have materialized. Shall I start with world peace and my wishes for friends, family, and for all people I haven't even met? MLK wrote and delivered this speech about his concerns as to racial justice and equality. I am not sure how to define equality but as to racial justice, I think we're getting there, however slowly. As to equality, we are not all born equal as if factory made, are we? To begin with, we all have different brains, modes, and fingerprints, and our bodies work so differently from one another. Come to think of it, the failing of medical knowledge happens when the doctors fail to think of us as individuals rather than being factory-made. So can true equality be achieved? I think not. |
| Prompt: Imagine your own secret lair. Describe what's inside. ---------------------------------------------- Focusing on what I might like at the time when I build my lair, although I wouldn't bet on it, as I change my mind so often, especially lately--- My lair has to have a bathroom and a large room its sliding doors overlooking a green vista of grass and those plants of mine. Inside the lair, I have a whole wall of books, those that I bought and never got around to read. Who could when there was Kindle? Then, a comfy bed good for sitting in and reading with a nightstands on its both sides and on top of the nightstands a pitcher of water with a glass, a small laptop, pens and notebooks, my phone, and my several eyeglasses in their cases. And nothing and no one to die, malfunction, or give me any kind of grief as I plan to stay in my lair forever and ever. |
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