Tag: Smiles

Some places and times when I’ve been the happiest

~ Jnana Hodson ~ Leave a comment

Coming from a long line of worriers, I’ve had to learn to embrace moments of happiness. My, but they’ve been there, all along. For instance?

  1. Flying along on a bicycle as a kid or canoeing and kayaking later.
  2. In a good contradance swing or a hambo or waltz, with the right partner. Ditto in a lively Greek line.
  3. At the opera. Or a great concert, meaning for me classical or jazz. Add to that singing harmony with others.
  4. In a “covered” meeting for worship.
  5. Cruising under sail.
  6. Atop a mountain.
  7. Lost in a great book.
  8. With friends over a great dinner. Sitting in my “smoking garden” during the summer, surrounded by friends, family, and good food and wine.
  9. Becoming half-awake, after a remarkable dream.
  10. Abed or not, in the throes of sex.

 

In the end, it is a mysterious process

~ Jnana Hodson ~ Leave a comment

And you wonder what’s behind those stories?

  1. “Remember: when people tell you something’s wrong or doesn’t work for them, they are almost always right. When they tell you exactly what they think is wrong and how to fix it, they are almost always wrong.” — Neil Gaiman
  2. “Everything you could ever think of has been written. That’s worth saying three times. You’re not going to think of a new idea, per se, as far as plot or story. What you can infuse it with is your voice, because while every story has been written, there is only one you. We are unique snowflakes. Be yourself. Tell the story about the teddy bear who can talk, but give it your voice. Don’t try to make it Corduroy or Winnie-the-Pooh. Make it your teddy bear. That’s what you can give the world — give the world your voice.” — Drew Daywalt
  3. “I never tired of learning about the stories of strong women and finding a compelling way to tell those stories. I love to discuss the themes in the book — cultural standards, resilience, overcoming odds, equality, breaking barriers — so even when I’m tired, I’m always energized by the opportunity to have meaningful conversations around this work.” — Haley Shapley
  4. “An adjective habit, or a wordy, diffuse, flowery habit, once fastened upon a person, is as hard to get rid of as any other vice.” — Mark Twain
  5. “Acutely aware of the poverty of my means, language became an obstacle. At every page, I thought, ‘That’s not it.’ So I began again with other verbs and other images. No, that wasn’t it either. But what exactly was that it I was searching for? It must have been all that eludes us, hidden behind a veil so as not to be stolen, usurped and trivialized. Words seemed weak and pale.” — Elie Wiesel
  6. “The writing life is essentially one of solitary confinement — if you can’t deal with this you needn’t apply.” — Will Self
  7. “Dull, awful jobs like laundry, ironing and weeding suddenly feel like an urgent priority when you’re looking at a blank page that needs to be filled with a couple of thousand words before you can sit back and breathe deeply. … Writing is my joy, but not always; much of the time it is my job, and I have to write whether I feel like it or not, whether inspiration strikes or not. Th at is how you make a story unfold.” — Jane Green
  8. “Work on a computer that is disconnected from the Internet.” — Zadie Smith [Oh, but it makes quick research so much easier. I’ve definitely been relying on online dictionaries, for one.]
  9. “Sometimes the ideas just come to me. Other times I have to sweat and almost bleed to make ideas come. It’s a mysterious process, but I hope I never find out exactly how it works. I like a mystery, as you may have noticed.” — J.K. Rowling
  10. “But ‘constructive’ criticism irritates me. I do not object to being denounced, but I can’t abide being schoolmastered, especially by men I regard as imbeciles.” or “Explanations exist; they have existed for all time; there is always a well-known solution to every human problem — neat, plausible, and wrong.” — H.L. Mencken

 

Among my personal fears

~ Jnana Hodson ~ Leave a comment

 Don’t we all have demons?

  1. My fear of jumping in — of doing it wrong, an unfamiliar act
  2. or of falling, physically
  3. or in debt
  4. or on my proverbial face
  5. fear of being subsumed or losing freedom, especially in relation to others
  6. or feeling shamed when I make a mistake
  7. being left holding the bag or unable to get to a plane or train in time
  8. of things breaking down or not doing what they should
  9. unable to find the right word, as in trying to describe a high-tech snafu or somebody’s name
  10. Though not so much now that I’m retired on a marginal income.

Being unlovable has somehow fallen away.

 

Reach for the heights

~ Jnana Hodson ~ Leave a comment

There were no mountains where I grew up, but even then, they rose in my imagination.

Here are ten related perspectives.

  1. “The summit is what drives us, but the climb itself is what matters.” — Conrad Anker
  2. “There’s no glory in climbing a mountain if all you want to do is to get to the top. It’s experiencing the climb itself — in all its moments of revelation, heartbreak, and fatigue — that has to be the goal.” — Karyn Kusama
  3. “I learn something every time I go into the mountains.” — Michael Kennedy
  4. “Going to the mountains is like going home.” — John Muir
  5. “Fresh air is as good for the mind as for the body. Nature always seems to be trying to talk to us as if she had some great secret to tell. And so she has.” — John Lubbock
  6. “Heaven is under our feet as well as over our heads.” — Henry David Thoreau
  7. “It is in the wild places, where the edge of the earth meets the corners of the sky, the human spirit is fed.” — Art Wolfe
  8. “Birds have always had the ability to bring me out of a dark space and provide relief in bad times.” — Jason Ward
  9. “Not just beautiful, though — the stars are like the trees in the forest, alive and breathing. And they’re watching me.” — Haruki Murakami
  10. “Embrace your local nature — it’s not necessarily going to look like these mountain-top moments. There’s so much more than just the baseline of what you think exists. You probably know the biggest park in your city, but you probably don’t know a park that’s within a mile of your house that would blow your mind.” — Pattie Gonia

 

Performers at an open mic

~ Jnana Hodson ~ Leave a comment
  1. J tasted colors, like a connoisseur of drama.
  2. S sharpened stones.
  3. R, who likes to listen, was fondest of springtime.
  4. H came after everyone had settled, hustled her book of bleeding tomatoes, and left early.
  5. E and T had a thing about penises.
  6. X told us he was trying some technical shit he didn’t think worked or was presenting an old or new piece or would like to score later that night.
  7. B marshaled his troops in a half-hour late, like a conquering army.
  8. P bolted, apparently peeved.
  9. W used a tambourine, needed a gimmick.
  10. Z, totally disorganized, spent more time flipping through books or journals trying to find pieces than he did actually reading.

And that’s before getting to musicians who spend the allotted time fussing with their gear and then expect to run longer.