Marcia’s Meanderings – Forgiveness

Hello Dear Ones!

Just the other day I was chatting with an acquaintance who felt she could trust me enough to share some challenges she was having. Normally I steer any such conversations away from the negative or I walk away – in this case, hang up the phone – if I’m unsuccessful in altering the focus to a more positive influence.

For this particular conversation, though, I sensed something of value in hearing this woman out. I’m still not certain if it was for her benefit or mine. The fact that I’m the one writing about it today indicates to me that it was for my own benefit. Part of me hopes that something in our discussion stayed with her and may have helped her in some way. It is not my place to know.

Here is the gist of the chat: Continue Reading →

He Says, She Says…

Hello, Dear Reader:

Well, today is Sunday, April 25, so this is the last official day of ‘Earth Week 2010‘.  Of course, as the adage goes, we should all make every day Earth Day.  We’ve had some fun this week, taking part in several of the various local activities.  On Earth Day itself we stayed close to home but we were at the Earth Day Parade yesterday and at the local Sierra Club’s Earth Fest today.  So, with that in mind we thought we’d make the topic of today’s ‘He Says, She Says‘ post about ‘Earth Day’.

Have a great week!

Hugs,
M&M

Follow these links to read what He Says/She Says: Marcia’s View / Mike’s View

Poetry Corner – Totally, Poetically Sound

Hello Dear Ones!

Recently I read a wonderfully crazy poem  – a love poem – beautifully crafted and very unique. WoW! I’ve seen poems with weird rhyming patterns, but this one has to take the first prize on the bizarre scale. (This great poem is inset at the end of this post for your enjoyment and perusal.)

With a verbal reading of any poem, the sound of it is essential to add impact, flavour, and mood, plus it enhances the writer’s intent. Most often odd yet rhyming patterns are found in children’s poetry, such as that written by the famous Dr. Seuss. Born Theodor Seuss Geisel, Dr. Seuss used specific rhyming techniques to get the sounds he was seeking: such styles as anapestic, amphibractic, or trochaic tetrameter. These fancy terms certainly required that I research their definition and effect (not to mention their pronunciation!). Here’s the simple and fun version from Wikipedia: Continue Reading →

Marcia’s Meanderings – Writer’s Block?

Hello Dear Ones!

Ever have a day when your mind wanders when you should be focusing? I’ve been sitting here at the computer for a few hours now. Rather than writing this post, I’ve been playing scrabble games with my sisters on Facebook. When I had done all 23 games we share and with none left to do, I added new games. When I tired of that, I went to websites I’ve not looked at for a while.  When all of those had been checked with nothing found there to inspire me as to any specific topic to write here, I went on to something else.  Between all these different ‘things’ I was doing, I’d check back in to see if I had received any new e-mails and tweets.

What I wanted to do was to find something cool to discuss here in my Marcia’s Meanderings. Something creative and uplifting for your enjoyment or your consideration at least. Because this is a creative exercise/endeavour for me, I thought maybe writing some micropoetry for Twitter would help liven up my creative juices. I couldn’t even come up with a single haiku or senryu (definition & some of my own examples) or tanka (example) or even a basic four line poem! Now that is very rare for me! Continue Reading →

He Says, She Says…

Hello, Dear Reader!

If this is your first visit to our ‘He Says, She Says…‘ posts and pages, then briefly what we do is pick a topic each week and write about it individually.  Neither of us reads what the other has written until we’re both finished with what we have to say.  Sometimes we agree, sometimes we don’t, and sometimes we go off in completely different directions.  All of that is encouraged in our home!  For us the start of this idea goes back a number of years, but we’ll leave that for another time.

Our topic today is ‘Transformation‘.  The idea for this comes from a section of a TV show a few months back that was talking about the monarch butterfly migration.  A great book on this is Sue Halpern’s ‘Four Wings and a Prayer: Caught in the Mystery of the Monarch Butterfly.’  In eastern North America every fall, these tiny winged insects fly hundreds or thousands of kilometres to live in several different areas in northern Mexico.  They overwinter there and begin heading north in the spring, laying eggs and then passing on, so that the butterflies that return to eastern Canada for example are several generations removed from the ones that began their flight south the previous year.  Still, somehow those great-grandchildren all begin to turn south in the fall and head to the same locations as their ancestors.  A hero’s journey indeed.

There is perhaps a more incredible journey before this, however, as egg hatches out to become larva (caterpillar), and caterpillar transforms into butterfly.  The same process happens with those caterpillars that become moths.  Spinning itself into a chrysalis (or cocoon), the caterpillar literally liquefies itself, breaking down into base components before reassembling itself into an entirely new form.  Dormant structures such as wings are created, and parts like the caterpillar’s extensive digestive system are given up to different purposes.

As humans we don’t undergo any such physical transformations in our lives, but many of us do undergo intense spiritual transformations that are no less remarkable.  This is what we wanted to talk about today.

Have a great week!

Hugs,
M&M

Follow these links to read what He Says/She Says: Marcia’s View / Mike’s View

Poetry Corner – Opening of the Soul

Hello Dear Ones!

For those of you following me regularly, you’ll know that I am doing a daily journaling under the guidance of a book that arrived in my life with inspiration and laughter. The book is by Iyanla Vanzant and is called “One Day My Soul Just Opened Up“. At the time of this writing I am on Day 13 of a 40 day journey into Self. Such an amazing journey it is!

When I first encountered this book I was enthralled with the poem presented at the beginning – an honouring and dedication of Vanzant’s book to her daughter Gemmia. It is Gemmia’s poem that I am offering to you here for both your enjoyment and for whatever wise gems and enlightenment might arise for you from this young woman’s insight. Continue Reading →

Marcia’s Meanderings – Food: a Love/Hate Relationship

Hello Dear Ones!

My weeks are always so full of adventures and learnings, joy and creativity! This week past was no exception: mountain hiking to view the amazing wildflowers in our area; extensive work on the 4th draft of my upcoming novel; copious micro & haiku poems written (check them out here: Poetry Corner); and my daily journaling as guided by Iyanla Vanzant‘s book: ‘One Day My Soul Just Opened Up’.

There is one more thing that has begun to occupy my time and focus the past two weeks. I mentioned in last week’s post Trusting the Divine to having had a love/hate relationship with food over the course of my lifetime. My weight has fluctuated and varied over the years with the comings and goings of happy, sad and stressful times. I have been as slim as a size 5 and as stout as a 22 1/2. Recently I’ve been registering in at a modest size 15/16, and yet … this is still not a satisfactory comfort zone for me. Continue Reading →

He Says, She Says…

Hello, Dear Reader:

Both of us receive the daily inspirational quotes from Abraham-Hicks, and on April 6 the quote that arrived in our respective Inboxes was:

“”Do I have a responsibility to make the whole world beat to my drum?” No, nor could you. You beat your drum, and the Universe will respond to the drum that you are beating… There are as many different worlds being lived by as many different perceivers of the world as there are perceivers of the worlds.”

Excerpted from the workshop in Phoenix, AZ on Saturday, March 19th, 2005 #401

Using that as inspiration, we wanted to devote this week’s ‘He Says, She Says…‘ post to ‘The Beat of My Drum’.

Have a great week!

Hugs,
M&M

Follow these links to read what He Says/She Says: Marcia’s View / Mike’s View

What is Dying to be Born?

Hi Folks:

I came across the following recently.  It’s an e-book compiled by Lianne Raymond who, like us, lives on Vancouver Island.  Sometimes the threads that connect us are tiny.  As Lianne said, it’s a project she started because it’s a book she wanted to read.  The  stories and poems, drawings and photographs in the book were created by thirty different women, one page each, and celebrate the feminine and the feminine connection to the divine.  In Lianne’s words:

“I am beyond excited to share with you today a juicy project that I have been working on all year!  Though I didn’t write this book, I did compile it because it was a book I really wanted to read.  I’m guessing most of you will feel the same way when you dig into this collection of wisdom, poetry and art from these intelligent, open hearted women. This was a labour of love for me and all the women involved. It is a celebration of the imagination and vision of women.  The ideas in this book are important and my dream is that they will be shared widely and freely, with love, so that they can make a difference.”

I picked one of the works to share with you, not entirely at random (it’s one of my favourites), but it will give you a hint of what the rest of the book is about.  It’s definitely a book worth reading.  You can find the e-book here: “What is Dying to be Born?

Hugs,
Mike.

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Poetry Corner – Poems and Dragonflies

Hello Dear Ones!

Seems that micropoetry (#micropoetry in the Twitter world!) is happily becoming a new past time for me. Short poems, haiku and senryu are all the rage with the folks I follow and who follow me. I wrote about this topic two weeks ago. If you missed that post you might want to take a moment to read it: here.

Just today I discovered (thanks to a new twitter friend) a fabulous website/blog where archives of some of the best twitter poetry are pulled together in the most appealing fashion. Please check out The Dragonfly Collection ~ haiku from Twitter ~ http://dragonflyarchives.wordpress.com/ The site is restful, spiritually nourishing, educational and inspiring! A site definitely worth your time. I’ve now bookmarked them for a daily journey into relaxation and soulful pleasure. Continue Reading →