Faux and Soul

In a world of faux and soul,

The former live to gain favor;

The latter to live fully.

The foes lack soul:

Life is a strain to impose, force the will, in hopes of some kind of relief

that will never come

from that tactic.

Sinewy necked and sweating, teeth gritting grimaced all that.

The soulful align to remind each other

The best that can be accomplished in the faux world

is to clutch at straws.

Night time, heads on pillows,

Love embraces the soulful, refreshes, reinforces connections intangible but more solid than a mountain.

c.2014jeanosullivan

40 Days of Posts that Make Life Better: #6: Ears!

Thanks to tremendously detailed and delicate instruments inside a hard candy shell (our heads), we get to hear.  Here's how it works: Auditory Transduction (not my own video).  But, that is my own ear. And while I'm on the subject, I made that earring and another one just like it.

40 Days of Posts that Make Life Better, #5: There are Sages Among Us

We live in a culture that promotes snaps to judgement. We like to think we know what's going on inside someone's head based on where we might be in ours, and how they might appear to us as they go along down the street.  That imposed notion can make us miss a lot.  Humans of New York is one of my favorite sites for breaking this illusion. Like, for example, the wisdom this guy had on this day at this moment:

From the album: Timeline Photos

By Humans of New York

"I'm learning to be more careful with my words. Words that seem meaningless at the time can end up having a lot of power. Seeds that you didn't even intend to plant can fall off you and start growing in people."

40 Days of Posts that Make Life Better, #4: We are more than just our memories

We are the present moment. We are our feelings, sensibilities, mannerisms. We endure in the curl around a laugh and the instinct for comfort. We are alive and progressing always, heart and soul---and don't you forget it! 

40 Days of Posts that Make Life Better, #3: listen to where the flow does go

We live in a world of rhythm--heartbeats, breathing, waves on the seashore, wind in trees, cityscapes, birdsongs, dropping things that bounce a couple of times before going quiet. So in life, as we go with the flow, we can also listen to where the flow does go.

Here's a take on Dave Brubeck's rhythmic play in an article in Scientific American.

40 Days of Posts that Make Life Better, #2: Bees!

Walking along today enjoying the sunlight on the dandelions, I was also happy that it's so common to have a camera handy these days.  You can stay in touch with friends, manage the manageable events, and snap a photo of a bee on a flower!  So, our first two posts are the birds and the bees.  What a perfect foundation for a theme celebrating what's good about life: start with the start!

By now in history you don't need me to tell you how important bees are to humans, but in case you are not in the know, follow this link on wikipedia.  Or this one from the Humane Society about how to befriend bees.

When I was a teenager having lunch at a sidewalk cafe with a friend, a bee landed on our table, walked in circles and resigned to exhaustion. My friend poured a little fruit juice into a spoon and set it in front of the bee who drank and drank and flew off merrily.  That is how I learned bees sometimes don't pack enough lunch. They respond well to a little help.  That's a good reminder of how to be.

Ha ha how to bee.

40 Days of Posts that Make Life Better: #1: Birds!

And here we are, Ash Wednesday, the day Lent begins.  Not being religious, but appreciating the idea of moving toward springtime with 40 days of something positive as a reminder of compassion, sacrifice, commitment, gratitude, optimism and of course love, here comes year 3 of: *40 Days of Posts that Make Life Better.

Number one: Birds!  We have birds on this earth!  Birds!  Beautiful musical, pollinating, acrobatic, birds!  See or hear one and wonder what it is? You can identify through lots of sources but I just found this one, and it also has a map for locating the ones birders have logged: http://ebird.org/ebird/map/

Now, last year I kind of dropped off the map after day 17. This year I plan to be 23 times more dedicated to 40 Days of Posts that Make Life Better.

*Sundays off, there's where I'll follow the rules of Lent, unless I decide to do bonus posts.

Take a Picture: it lasts longer

A Public Service Announcement from the Sea Creatures: If you see a beautiful starfish and just have to have it among your collection of possessions, remember: 

A starfish will never be as beautiful as it was alive, aglow through the sun shimmers or suggesting perceptible motion through reflections of clouds on the water's surface, if you abduct it. Verily yes, this will forever remain true--even if-- even if--you make it into a... a... "thing." Thank you.

2014 Begins

I shan't be so neglectful of my webpage now this year
Over the last year I did drop the ball
but until facebook posts become searchable
the important stuff goes here,
at least some, if not all.

Here is an orange.