The Shed Notebook: Little Pleasures

Here is Friday favorite quote from Daily Peace.

"I believe the nicest and sweetest days are not those on which anything very splendid or wonderful or exciting happens- but just those that bring simple little pleasures."

The Shed Notebook: Help, Thanks, Wow

I continue to read books by Anne Lamott this week in anticipation of hearing her speak on Saturday. One short volume she authored entitled "Help Thanks Wow, the Three Essential Prayers" has been an inspiration this week.

What stuck with me today was the "Wow" section of the book. Lamott defines "Wow" as "not dulled by wonder. It is having one's mind blown by the mesmerizing or the miraculous: the veins in a leaf, birdsong, volcanoes."

"wow" can be lower case like the view of a lake, a sunrise, or the first tulip in spring. "Wow" is also upper case when you are in the presence of fireworks, the Northern Lights, or a classical symphony. Such a prayer to say every day in thanks to God. Wow God, you created this landscape on the Palouse. Wow God, you covered this mountain with aspens that light up in autumn . Wow God, you filled the May air with the scent of lilacs.

In response I say to you God : Help, Thanks, Wow.

The Shed Notebook: Bird by Bird

When I was teaching the Northwest Inland Writing Project to teachers we were always searching for books that would not only help teachers with the teaching of writing, but also help them as writers of their own stories.
In 1994 Anne Lamott wrote a book about writing "Bird by Bird, Some Instructions of Writing and Life" that hit the mark for both purposes. It is one writing book that I have read, reread, and revisited since it's publication. Saturday I will hear Anne Lamott speak, so I have been rereading the wisdom in this book.
What Lamott was able to do in this book is make writing nonthreatening. She gives practical advice that a novice writer or a published writer could use.  As teachers in the writing project read and reviewed her book, they felt empowered. I can do this!

One quote that has always stayed with me is "Start with your childhood, I tell them. Plug your nose and jump in, and write down all your memories as truthfully as you can. Flannery O'Connor said that anyone who survives childhood has enough material to write for the rest of his or her life. Maybe your childhood was grim and horrible, but grim and horrible is Okay if it is well done. Don't worry about doing it well yet, though. Just start getting it down."

I have been gettting it down since I read those words. I am eager now to hear what she has to say Saturday.

The Shed Notebook: After a While You Learn

My friend Joan recently sent me this poem. It gave me much to think about it.

After a While You Learn

After some time you learn the difference,
The subtle difference between holding a hand and chaining a soul.
And you learn that love doesn’t mean leaning,
And company doesn’t always mean security.
And you begin to learn that kisses aren’t contracts,
And presents aren’t promises.
And you begin to accept your defeats,
With your head up and your eyes ahead,
With the grace of a woman, not the grief of a child.
And you learn to build all your roads on today,
Because tomorrow’s ground is too uncertain for plans,
And futures have a way of falling down in mid-flight.
After a while you learn,
That even the sun burns if you get too much,
And learn that it doesn’t matter how much you do care about,
Some people simply don’t care at all.
And you accept that it doesn’t matter how good a person is,
She will hurt you once in a while,
And you need to forgive her for that.
You learn that talking can relieve emotional pain.
You discover that it takes several years to build a relationship based on confidence,
And just a few seconds to destroy it.
And that you can do something just in an instant,
And which you will regret for the rest of your life.
You learn that the true friendships,
Continue to grow even from miles away.
And that what matters isn’t what you have in your life,
But who you have in your life.
And that good friends are the family,
Which allows us to choose.
You learn that we don’t have to switch our friends,
If we understand that friends can also change.
You realize that you are your best friend,
And that you can do do anything, or nothing,
And have good moments together.
You discover that the people who you most care about in your life,
Are taken from you so quickly,
So we must always leave the people who we care about with lovely words,
It may be the last time we see them.
You learn that the circunstances and the enviroment have influence upon us,
But we are responsible for ourselves.
You start to learn that you should not compare yourself with others,
But with the best you can be.
You discover that it takes a long time to become the person you wish to be,
And that the time is short.
You learn that it doesn’t matter where you have reached,
But where you are going to.
But if you don’t know where you are going to,
Anywhere will do.
You learn that either you control your acts,
Or they shall control you.
And that to be flexible doesn’t mean to be weak or not to have personality,
Because it doesn’t matter how delicate and fragile the situation is,
There are always two sides.
You learn that heroes are those who did what was necessary to be done,
Facing the consequences.
You learn that patience demands a lot of practice.
You discover that sometimes,
The person who you most expect to be kicked by when you fall,
Is one of the few who will help you to stand up.
You learn that maturity has more to do with the kinds of experiences you had
And what you have learned from them,
Than how many birthdays you have celebrated.
You learn that there are more from you parents inside you than you thought.
You learn that we shall never tell a child that dreams are silly,
Very few things are so humiliating,
And it would be a tragedy if she belived in it.
You learn that when you are angry,
You have the right to be angry,
But this doesn’t give you the right to be cruel.
You discover that only because someone doesn’t love you the way you would like her to,
It doesn’t mean that this person doesn’t love you the most she can,
Beacuse there are people who love us,
But just don’t know how to show or live that.
You learn that sometimes it isn’t enough being forgiven by someone,
Sometimes you have to learn how to forgive yourself.
You learn that with the same harshness you judge,
Some day you will be condemned.
You learn that it doesn’t matter in how many pieces your heart has been broken,
The world doesn’t stop for you to fix it.
You learn that time isn’t something you can turn back,
Therefore you must plant your own garden and decorate your own soul,
Instead of waiting for someone to bring you flowers.
And you learn that you really can endure.
You really are strong .
And you can go so farther than you thougt you could go.
And that life really has a value.
And you have value within the life.
And that our gifts are betrayers,
And make us lose
The good we could conquer,
If it wasn’t for the fear of trying.

by Veronica A. Shoffstall (1971)

The Shed Notebook: One Art

Moving from childhood into puberty, then on to adulthood frames a timeline of losses. A loss of a first tooth, a bicycle key, or the first dollar earned. Between the bookends of puberty is the loss of first love, which may seem like the end of the world. Growing older loss may include a favorite sweater, a much needed assignment, a faded photograph. Pets fill in painful spaces of loss. In this timeline of loss there are people. Young children, a childhood friend, an elderly family friend, grandma, then parents. 

Until my mother died, I read this poem with a whole different meaning. For me, the art of losing is very hard to master.

One Art

BY ELIZABETH BISHOP

The art of losing isn’t hard to master;

so many things seem filled with the intent

to be lost that their loss is no disaster.

Lose something every day. Accept the fluster

of lost door keys, the hour badly spent.

The art of losing isn’t hard to master.

Then practice losing farther, losing faster:

places, and names, and where it was you meant

to travel. None of these will bring disaster.

I lost my mother’s watch. And look! my last, or

next-to-last, of three loved houses went.

The art of losing isn’t hard to master.

I lost two cities, lovely ones. And, vaster,

some realms I owned, two rivers, a continent.

I miss them, but it wasn’t a disaster.

—Even losing you (the joking voice, a gesture

I love) I shan’t have lied. It’s evident

the art of losing’s not too hard to master

though it may look like (Write it!) like disaster.

Elizabeth Bishop, “One Art” from The Complete Poems 1926-1979. Copyright © 1979, 1983 by Alice Helen Methfessel. Reprinted with the permission of Farrar, Straus & Giroux, LLC.

Source: The Complete Poems 1926-1979 (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 1983)

The Shed Notebook: Billy Collins

I can't celebrate National Poetry Month without sharing at least one poem by Billy Collins. He illustated love in beautiful ways in the poem. Enjoy.

Litany

You are the bread and the knife,
The crystal goblet and the wine...
- Jacques Crickillon

You are the bread and the knife,
the crystal goblet and the wine.
You are the dew on the morning grass
and the burning wheel of the sun.
You are the white apron of the baker
and the marsh birds suddenly in flight.

However, you are not the wind in the orchard,
the plums on the counter,
or the house of cards.
And you are certainly not the pine-scented air.
There is just no way you are the pine-scented air.

It is possible that you are the fish under the bridge,
maybe even the pigeon on the general's head,
but you are not even close
to being the field of cornflowers at dusk.

And a quick look in the mirror will show
that you are neither the boots in the corner
nor the boat asleep in its boathouse.

It might interest you to know,
speaking of the plentiful imagery of the world,
that I am the sound of rain on the roof.

I also happen to be the shooting star,
the evening paper blowing down an alley,
and the basket of chestnuts on the kitchen table.

I am also the moon in the trees
and the blind woman's tea cup.
But don't worry, I am not the bread and the knife.
You are still the bread and the knife.
You will always be the bread and the knife,
not to mention the crystal goblet and—somehow—the wine.

-Billy Collins

The Shed Notebook: You Do Not Need to Leave Your Room

Here is another favorite quote from The Daily Peace.

"You do not need to leave your room. Remain sitting at your table and listen. Do not even listen; simply wait. The world will freely offer itself to you to be unmasked; it has ot choice. It will roll in ecstasy at your feet.   Franz Kafka

The Shed Notebook: Need A Creativity Boost?

Recently I did a talk to at a PEO meeting about creativity. After a long winter and a spring starting out with rain and gray skies, I hoped to provide a little seasonal boost to the audience. Yes, we are all creative. Go forth and follow your muse. You might find somethink on the list to spark your creativity.

According to psychologist Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, author of Creativity: Flow and the Psychology of Discovery and Invention "creativity is the vivid expression of who we are in the world—our imagination begets our thoughts, our thoughts beget our words, our words beget our actions, our actions beget our experience, our collective experience and expression begets our culture. Each of us is contributing to the creation of the cultures we participate in."

The world is not divided into two groups of the creative and the uncreative. If there’s a distinction, it’s between those who are creatively productive and those with unexpressed potential. We’re creative by default. We’re genetically predisposed to create. Each of us, to varying degrees, is intrinsically motivated to create, to be original and to solve challenging problems. The question to ask is not, “Am I creative?” but rather, “What inspires me to create?”

Sometimes we are just not inspired to be creative.

Here is a list you can turn to when you want to spark creativity in your day.

Journal

Carry a camera or your phone and take photos

Spend time with a group for the purpose of creating what you love

Coloring and/or doodling

Create something with your hands

Do yoga

Unplug and just do nothing

Try something new: a new recipe, a new stitch, new pattern, new route walking

Allow yourself to have fun

Browse in a fabric shop, yarn store, book store,  pottery shop, or art museum

Create plants into beautiful arrangements in pots or garden beds.

April is National Poetry Month: Good Advice from William Stafford

William Stafford composed this poem twenty-six days before he died. I have read and reread many poems by William Stafford, but I don't recall this one. Now I am thinking to myself, " What is my thread?" When I come up with an answer, it will be another blog post. Enjoy these words.


The Way It Is

There’s a thread you follow. It goes among
things that change. But it doesn’t change.
People wonder about what you are pursuing.
You have to explain about the thread.
But it is hard for others to see.
While you hold it you can’t get lost.
Tragedies happen; people get hurt
or die; and you suffer and get old.
Nothing you do can stop time’s unfolding.
You don’t ever let go of the thread.

By William Stafford, from The Way It Is, 1998

April is National Poetry Month: There Is a Place

There Is a Place

There is a place

where the museum houses thousands of paintings

seen nowhere else in the world,

the colors so bright they grab your eyes

and hold you there, looking,

where the library is filled with brand new books

waiting for you to open them first,

to tell stories only you could know,

where fresh cherries have no pits,

where puppies never grow old.

There is such a place,

hidden deep

in me.

- Janet Wong