Be Careful What You Wish For

Mevlevi_Dervishes_Perform..._(469777809) — Photo Credit: Wikimedia

In the late 80’s and early 90’s there was a period of several years when I had a series of mystical experiences. Even though they may have been frightening at times, they were also fascinating and exciting. A whole new world was opening up for me, one that was very different from my normal logical left brain way of being in the world.

Back then, I would frequently enter spontaneous trance states, i.e. altered states of consciousness. I remember once sensing that part of me was at a party, one that the rest of me wasn’t allowed to go to. At the time, I believed that the pain of leaving that “party” would have been so tremendous that my not being allowed to go there completely was my unconscious mind’s way of protecting me from having to feel so much grief. Continue reading “Be Careful What You Wish For” →

Comfort Food

This morning I canned 4 pints of sugarless applesauce and this afternoon I canned 6 more. There are at least enough apples left to make another 6 pints! I decided to leave it slightly chunky and to add cinnamon!

So the jars of applesauce are now added to the jars of unsweetened canned peaches, pears and blueberry jam. While part of this endeavor has been about reconnecting to activities I enjoyed doing forty years ago, I’m realizing what I have also done is provide myself with some healthy comfort foods. Hopefully they will replace the cookies, donuts, ice cream and chocolate anything that I all too often indulge in!

September Garden Moments

My one melon. The plant was given to me late in the season by friend Saroja! Ymmmm. I wonder how many of the tiny melons it would have produced if it had the whole summer to grow.

Almost everything in the garden has finished producing. But I can start preparing for next year; in this case harvesting bush bean seeds.

The plant that is doing its best to ignore the season is the one that produces the big red and yellow dahlias. In the many years it grew in my back yard, the plant produced one flower a year. When I moved it to the sunny front yard two years ago, it took off! The photo on the right is of a part of the plant that was knocked to the ground by wind and rain a few weeks ago. It still is blooming! And so is the rest of it.

Wordless Wednesday

Sanskrit Homework- September 2015

Every week our homework in my Sanskrit class is to write five to ten sentences in Sanskrit. To accomplish that I pick a theme, compose the sentences in English and then translate them into Sanskrit.

Sometimes I publish my homework on my blog. This is one of those weeks!

Generally I don’t show the direct translation in my posts. I included it this time because I thought it might be interesting for you to see that the structure of Sanskrit sentences is not the same as we use when we write in English. Notice also that the Sanskrit meaning is generally more poetic than the direct English translation.

प्रतिजनस्य जीवनं महत्त्वपूर्णं अस्ति ।
Direct translation: Every person’s life important is.
Meaning: Every person’s life is important.

प्रतिजनः विश्वाय योगदानं करोति ।
Direct translation: Every person for world contribution makes.
Meaning: Every person makes a contribution to the world.

युध्दं मा भवतु ।
Direct translation: War no be.
Meaning: May there be no war.

प्रतिजनाय पर्याप्तं आहारं भवतु ।
Direct translation: Every person enough food be.
Meaning: May every person have enough food.

प्रतिजन: प्रसन्नः भवतु ।
Direct translation: Every person happy be.
Meaning: May every person be happy.

प्रतिजनः अन्यान् गौरवेण पश्यतु ।
Direct translation: Every person others with respect see.
Meaning: May every person look at others with respect.

शान्तिः शान्तिः शान्तिः
Peace, Peace, Peace

Weekly Photo Challenge: Monochromatic

The pictures in this post are of a fountain, and the area surrounding the fountain, at Cal Anderson Park in Seattle. The white substance you see is water cascading down the structure.

Written for Weekly Photo Challenge: Monochromatic

Finding Happiness

Yesterday, I discovered a blog created by a fifteen-year-old Finnish girl (This Girl’s Bucket List).) She is signing her posts as “ThisGirl” so that is how I will refer to her.

I thoroughly enjoyed reading the pieces ThisGirl had written. When I woke up this morning I noticed she had published a new post, so headed to her blog to see what she had to say.

In the new post, ThisGirl described the guest speaker who talked to students at her school yesterday. The speaker’s name was Marja Korhonen and she “talked” by looking at a board with letters. A helper then voiced Marja’s message. ThisGirl ended her post with the trailer for Marja’s book.

As I watched the short video, tears started running down my face. Nine hours later, I re-watched it and had the same reaction. Once again, I have been presented with a person whose willingness to live life fully inspires me, profoundly inspires me. A person who teaches me that my life will be of value regardless of the circumstances. One who by example lets me know that it is possible for me to be happy no matter what challenges come my way. As I age, I find I need that reminder more often than ever.

I will leave you with the same video. Be sure to turn on the subtitles by clicking on the CC at the bottom, unless you speak Finnish that is!

Written for Dungeon Prompts: Getting to Our Happy Place

What Is Your Guess? (The answer to the mystery has been added.)

Tell me about the photo I used for this week’s Wordless Wednesday. What do you think it is?

On Friday I will put the answer here…..

Answer: A few days ago I used half of a small jalapeno pepper from my garden. It was dark green at the time. A few days later, I noticed that the remainder of the pepper was turning red and there were tiny fruit flies on it. I was surprised since it had never occurred to me that fruit flies would be attracted to something that was hot instead of sweet. If you look closely at the original picture you will see that there are four fruit flies visible. Two are dark, one is light and for the fourth only one wing is visible.

Wordless Wednesday

broken and ready

I remember a time when Sreejit mentioned in one of his posts that he considered Ra to be his blogging mentor. I, of course, headed directly to her blog to find out why. Since that time, I have discovered for myself what an amazing person she is. In addition to all of her other positive qualities, I have discovered she is a role model for how to live through adversity. I love the post she wrote this morning and decided to reblog it so you have the opportunity to read it too.