When in Doubt...

Buttercups in the Lower 9th Ward

Photo courtesy of Paulette Madison


One man's creativity is another's brain damage.

- Roland Fischer



Thinking for yourself in the face of doubt

If you accept someone else's idea of reality and personal limits, you'll have no control over your own destiny. You can only go as far as that view will let you. Do you normally accept things as they are, or do you ask "why" and "what if"? Being an individual and thinking for yourself--even while others are calling you crazy--takes courage. For many, trying a new perspective is scary. But if we always stick to the familiar, the known, we never grow and learn. Don't be afraid to go against the grain. Ask the tough questions that everyone else is afraid to ask. Try a new way to do the same thing just to see what happens. We guarantee you that the world won't end. You'll see solutions that nobody else would see if they're all looking at a problem the same way. Practice new ways to combine unrelated objects. After all, somebody had to try peanut butter and jelly for the first time.

Give Us this Day: There lies the time and space in which we live

My special and favorite time is Sunday morning. My usual ritual consisted of upon my arousal I would around 6am spend time nurturing my garden watering, feeding, weeding, plucking away dead leaves, feeling the coolness of the refreshed morning air simply enjoying the sounds lost in my thoughts.. I would then watch CBS Sunday Morning, have my breakfast, read my newspaper, listen to reruns of Girlfriends and write. Many time just a whisper of a unconsciously smiling It may not be unique for some but for me I find it interesting as once upon a time when I was till in my 20’s I dreaded, resented Sundays.

James Baldwin once said: “Not everything that is faced can be changed, but nothing can be changed until it is faced”. It took awhile & some maturing to get why I felt that way, but lets just say I do not feel that way any longer.

I am not, no matter what people may think, a political person. I am however an observer of life and human behavior in all its vastness, its simplicity and its tendency to make things far more complex then needed. . People never cease to amaze me in the things they do with capability to rise so high and then slam bam falling face first into concrete And then adding insult to injury get up and walk away as if nothing has happened trailing bits & pieces of their pride, humility, embarrassment likes so many colorful pieces of chastened confetti behind them making such a mess!

For me watching life & dynamics but staying a respectful distance sometimes shows me at the end of the day that some of the needless-ness has about as much worth as a Confederate bill in the recession. Knowing that preserving the air & energy it takes to expended is as needed as it keeps me from running screaming into the woods if one gets too caught up!

But just like my youthful intense dislike for Sunday that is long gone & reconciled when people rightly or aptly has intense response to something may be a tickling or an agitation of a long repressed or on the surface forgotten memory. And the passion that it arises is a wondrous sight to behold. That memory does not have to be a bad or painful one, though it can be, but it is amazing to see its resurfacing in ways that can indeed bring about discussion, action and ultimately change (hopefully)

I still hold to the belief when all has been said & done, people want to do the right thing, may go about it in screwy ways at times, but want to do the right thing.

Yet there are times when believing that is stretch uncomfortably.

I do feel that good hearted people still outweighs the others, but the "circle" people gets more air time. My lesson from these folks is "this is what you do not want to be & if there's a hint of it in you, eradicate it quickly”.

I am a flawed person 'tis true :=) I do not have the answers or solutions, merely an observer who still believes in miracles... And imagine I thought all of this as I sat in Autumn’s Secret Garden on this given day…
All Rights reservedJHM9-26-09©

Easy Like a Sunday Morning...

One of those waking up at 4 am and unable to return to sleep. I decided to head out at day light and shot my garden before the sun came out. It was very sweet outside and pleasant.

Joy to the World

Rediscover Who You Are
Read full article at:

http://www.oprah.com/article/spirit/knowyourself/ss_lybl_letgo_201

I so love this exerpt. So now I have to see my own Joy List...

Create a "What I Enjoy" List

As simple as this may sound, it is very important for you to make one. This list should include everything that brings you pleasure and passion in life.

If you aren't sure what brings you joy right now, think back to what used to bring you joy?

This may require some exploration, but what did you do when you were a little kid that brought a smile on your face? Did you used to go horseback riding? Walk outside in a garden?

Whatever it may be, write it down.

This list doesn't mean that you have to do them every day. It's just to make you aware that there are things in the world that do make you feel alive. If you are able to do something you enjoy at least once a week, do it and help yourself feel alive in that moment.

You have to behave the way you want to feel before you feel the way you are behaving! It's about opening yourself up to a new experience, or something that you stopped doing.

Try to rediscover what it feels like to look or feel differently from the "not enoughness" you have been putting into your head for a long time now.

When you start doing this you will launch yourself back into aliveness!

Now some of myJoys to the World List:

1.Travel
2. My Moon Garden
3. The Color Purple; Seven Pounds; The Curious Life & Times of Benjamin Button /Divine Secrets of The Ya Ya Sisterhood movies
4.j.California Cooper/Tina McElroy Ansa/ Alice Walker books
5. Good perfumes and perfumed candles
6. Laughter
7. Home decorating
8.Creating art;writing;dance
9.Beautiful jewelry
10. Reading
11. Spending time with people I care about.
12 Shopping at antique stores, thrifts & yard sales.
13. Collecting recipes.
14. Clear nights seeing the stars & the Moon
15 Early mornings
16. Good conversations
17 Smoked oysters on crackers with cream cheese and wine.
18. Cream white Calla lillies, French tulips ;hydragneas', spider zinnias, fushias, irises & impatients
19. Slupees & crunchy Cheetoes
20. Mexican food.
21. Change.

In Moon's Garden & the Cul de Sac