I Bind Unto Myself SJT-NPM2022

Each month, I join the Spiritual Journey Thursday community of writers to ponder a theme that deepens my journey. Karen Eastlund, host this month proposed an interesting topic, "consider what we bind ourselves to in our spiritual journeys". I pondered what it means to bind unto myself. Perhaps, the real question for me is  "What must I do to unbind myself?  

I know that it is essential to let go of stressors. Although I am trying to do so, this is a critical stumbling block. So what do I bind myself to in the pursuit of well-being? The following quote by author Nikki Rowe holds some truth for me. "Solitude is where I place my chaos to rest and awaken my inner peace." This and stannzas 3 & 4 of the Celtic Daily Prayer, Aidan's Readings Karen Eastlund sent influenced my following poem.

I bind unto myself today

the magnificent beauty of nature,

the quiet solitude of eveningtide,

the sweet call of morning birds,

the allurement of earth's seasons.

These and more are songs of life

written on my heart.

I bind unto myself today

the guiding hand of the Lord

leading me to a place of quiet,

His listening ear and support time,

the wisdom of Proverbs 3:5-6:

trust in the Lord, 

not on my understanding.

I bind unto myself today

a pathway to peace with

a destined state of calmness, ataraxia,

the cleansing waters of rain

washing away any negativity, and

the continuance of faith and

perseverance to live life to its fullest.

©CV, 2022

Morning By Morning by Pat Barrett

Thank you Karen Eastlund for hosting here today.

I look forward to reading the community's blog posts.

Poetryliscious Poetry - NPM 2022

I am pleased to say that I successfully completed the 15th Annual Slife of Life Story Challenge with a comprehensive index poem to catalog my month of daily writing. Two Writing Teachers' challenge is a wonderful writing experience in which I met new slicers and enjoyed blogging alongside writers I've known for years. I am grateful for this special group of educators. 

I am now ready to dedicate April, National Poetry Month, to the writing of poetryliscious poetry throughout this month or capturing the "humanity of the moment" in photos to capture the "humanity of the moment".

incessant rain splashes lawns

washes negativity

away as dark clouds hover

springtime reigns-coldness settles

©CV, 2022

🌧

Slicers, I invite you to join me to wash away any negativity in the air as springtime reigns.

I will create a Poetryliscious Gallery viewing of original artistic expressions, such as photos, image poems, inspirational quotes, poetry, etc. to celebrate National Poetry Month.

If interested, please add your work to the padlet I created at 

https://padlet.com/cvarsalona/q1uymnafyupx3w8c

or

send your work to me and I will add it.

The deadline to send your work is Tuesday, April 26th.

Padlet

Thank you Two Writing Teachers for a meeting place on Slice of Life Tuesday to connect with a community of reflective writers.

March Musings Day 31: A Sweet Ending

It is the last day of writing with the Two Writing Teachers community of reflective writers during the March Slice of Life Story Challenge. I started the journey by creating. and connecting with new slicers or friends whom  I've written alongside for years in artful ways. 

Writing is a practice of the heart on a journey of self-discovery. It "brings us back to the uniqueness of our minds and an acceptance of it." (Natalie Goldberg)

31 Days of Writing

Waking very early,

connecting with my thoughts:

scattered singed ashes,

dazzling winter greetings,

namaste, quietness, and the big bad wolf.

International Women's Day passes.

I breathe in Grandma love

trying to make sense of the nature of March.

Snowflakes dance and

nuggets of thoughts float along.

I write my day in six-word memoirs,

pause for right eye cataract surgery

and a few weeks of post-surgery.

The creative process continued

with a touch of green and baking.

I'm ready for the slicers' party

that welcomes springtime,

the shot of inspiration needed

to continue to write.

Late night thoughts surface

before the stroke of midnight.

I write new formats.

An ekphrastic dodoitsu evolves.

Winter in spring roars in.

I dream of capturing the 

sensitivity of the moment

in family pictures,

especially when birthdays are special.

A rambling autobiography

leads to soul-calming moments

and this sweet ending

to yet another month of daily writing.

©CV, 2022

Note

The above index poem catalogs my past month of daily writing for the Two Writing Teachers 2022 Annual Slice of Life Story Challenge. You can click on the words in green to link to my daily slices at my website, Beyond LiteracyLink. 

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What's Up Next?

Since writing is a journey of the mind and heart, I will continue to write poetry throughout April, National Poetry Month, and as a priority, unveil my Winter's Embrace Gallery of Artistic Expressions. Each creation will focus on capturing the "humanity of the moment" in photos as stated by photographer Robert Frank.

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Thank you poet-teacher, Heidi Mordhorst for hosting Poetry Friday. I am heading over to see what poetic goodness she has for April 1st. 

Thank you Two Writing Teachers for this daily meeting place to connect with a community of reflective writers and thank you Amy Ellerman on behalf of Two Writing Teachers for your congratulatory send-off on this last day of the 15th Annual Slice of Life Story Challenge. 

Readers, thank you for joining me at my March Musings 2022 this year.

I appreciate your comments and commitment to writing.

It's been a wonderful experience exchanging slices with you.

#SOL22 March Musings Day 30: Soul-Calming Moments

Some days are just so packed with my laundry list of tasks that I need to step back at the end of the day and find time to be grateful, not perturbed. Today was my day of running from task to task like the jackrabbit that hip-hopped across my lawn last summer. He probably was the one eating my flowers but I am digressing. I really don't like not having time to catch my breath so I seek quiet alone time when this happens. Reflecting on my day, I woke with the inclination to write in the morning but life took a different turn. At 8:00 A.M. the doorbell rang and 3 tradespeople were ready to complete the ticket they were given for my 11-month warranty servicing. But they arrived on the wrong day. While this was not ideal, I went with the flow of a new plan. It would have been nice to start the day slowly and accomplish tasks at my own pace. 

It is 11:19 P.M. and my muse finally caught up with me. She nudged me to pause-think-ink with the beautiful sound of Tim Janis' instrumental music that began with "Blessed Assurance". I read his quote before slicing. "My instrumental music can help you find deep relaxation, relieve anxiety, and find peace." You must indulge me and listen to a few minutes of the song because your day may have been like mine. 

finding time to chill

fits the bill

at the end of the day

the muse shows me the way

soft music flows

I start with prose

my thoughts slow down 

I no longer frown

I hear the sound

look around

I am amidst the flowers

in the bewitching hours

this is my story, this is my song

I am where I belong

©CV, 2022

Thank you Two Writing Teachers for this daily meeting place to connect with a community of reflective writers.

.

Readers, thank you for joining me this month for my March Musings' slices.

I appreciate your comments and commitment to writing.

#SOL22 March Musings Day 29: Rambling Autobiography

I was born in a small town populated by many Italian immigrants and their descendants along the New York State Erie Canal. Not until I was in graduate school did I know that my mother immigrated from Italy in 1921 with my Nonnie when she was a baby. I grew up adoring my Nonnie and spent peaceful summers learning about baking and gardening and taking weekly walks to the library. While I did not buy anything during those summer months, my Nonnie saved her money to purchase me a Katy Keene comic book. From then on, I fell in love with fashion and thought I might pursue fashion design like my mother did but my photographer uncle and mother insisted that I should go to a four-year college. My dream to become a creative person who wrote poetry and studied photography grew from then on. When in graduate school studying curriculum development, my professor asked me to start a reading program for young delinquent boys in a reform school in the country. From there I followed a calling to help others become lifelong readers. My favorite places were different reading corners inside or nature-inspired areas for writing outside. I can still sense the peace emanating from my alone time with a book or pen and paper. While in high school, I started dating a young man on and off this high school/college romance was not sustainable so I continued to search for love until I met my husband when I least expected romance. While walking with one crutch into a birthday party love struck. We conversed about my painful skiing accident and how I fainted in the hospital after being driven from Massachusetts to my hometown of Syracuse, New York. I became familiar with pain and while I was geographically unsuitable for my love interest, love did grow. I gave my heart to him a couple of years later. During the years that followed in a small village on Long Island, New York, we grew in faith as a family of four experiencing heartaches and joy. Becoming resilient through challenges became important when I once had non-Hodgkins lymphoma in 2003. Remission became a blessed word that brought us eventually to the second chapter of life in our beautiful new build in Virginia. Here, we live with my family which is filled with two amazing little grandgirls. Life is fragile and uncertain but "in family life, love is the oil that eases friction, the cement that binds closer together, and the music that brings harmony" (Friedrich Nietzsche)  

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Thank you, Fran Haley, for your awesome rambling autobiography that was inspired by Denise Krebs who took Linda Rief's rambling autobiography and made the following starters for a quick write lesson. 

I was born…
I adore…
I bought…
I have…
I never…
One of my…
When I was (age)…
My favorite place…
I can still (sense)…
I dated…
I fainted…
I gave…
I once had…
I am…
I want to…

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Thank you Two Writing Teachers for this daily meeting place to connect with a community of reflective writers.

#SOL22 March Musings Day 27: Birthdays Are Special!

Do you celebrate your loved ones' birthdays with fanfare? We take birthdays seriously. In our family, it is the birthday person's choice on how to celebrate. We usually go out to dinner or make one at home. We always have a cake, light the birthday candles, sing the birthday song, and take photos. Friday was my husband's birthday. Since we don't eat meat on Fridays during Lent, he bought one of his favorite meats, prime rib on the bone and celebrated with the grandchildren two days later. But my sister treated my husband to a fish dinner on the big day.

We gathered two days after the big birthday to celebrate once again. The dinner was fabulous from the appetizer to the delicious and decadent cookie and creme chocolate cake and homemade cookies. As we sang Happy Birthday, I thought. "You're not older - you're just more distinguished!" 

Birthdays are special in our family. We hope our grandchildren grow up remembering this.

Thank you Two Writing Teachers for this daily meeting place to connect with a community of reflective writers.

#SOL22 March Musings Day 28: Family Pictures

Are you the family photographer? I am always with my camera documenting family events with photos. It is one of my passions ever since I took a photography class in college. Capturing the essence of a moment is something I delight in so yesterday at my husband's "big birthday party, I I took multiple photos to find the right one that shared the joy of the event. This morning, I found a quote that will guide me as I continue to take photos.

"There is one thing that the photography must contain - the humanity of the moment." -Robert Frank

I would like to dig deeper into the photographic element of connecting with people in the moment as Robert Frank did in his photo taken in 1949. 

Capturing the Sensitivity of the Moment

sensitivity touches the soul

moments

connect

to

photographic

moments

life

evolves

around

each

moment

sensitivity touches the soul

©CV, 2022

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NOTE:

I had difficulty synching up my two computers between Day 27 and 28. There were glitches that I just found. The links are correct now.

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Thank you Two Writing Teachers for this daily meeting place to connect with a community of reflective writers.

NOTE:

#SOL22 March Musings Day 26: Winter In Spring

Cherry blossom trees are always the stars of the season in Washington, DC. 

Photos of a beautiful cherry blossom tree In January during winter and March 21st in spring.

-Kevin Ambrose, The Washington Post

With full anticipation of seeing the gorgeous display in the Tidal Basin, I sat in front of my young weeping cherry blossom tree contemplating how beautiful it looked even without full blossoms. Then, today while completing errands, an unexpected rainstorm blew in. A sudden sleet storm followed with swooshing winds and cold air. I thought of my little weeping cherry blossom tree shivering in my backyard and wondered if it and the trees in the Tidal Basin will continue to bloom.

Winter in Spring

©CV, 2022, Virginia

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Thank you Two Writing Teachers for this daily meeting place to connect with a community of reflective writers. 

#SOL22 March Musings Day 25: Ekphrastic Dodoitsu

The Poetry Sisters posted their March Challenge asking poetry peeps to create an ekphrastic dodoitsu. Lucky me, I knew what type of poetry that was since Mary Lee Hahn, one of the Poetry Sisters, gifted me during a poetry swap with a deck of handmade dodoitsu cards and original poems she created from the deck. 

The cards grace my desk and when inclined, I use the cards to create short poems of four lines with a 7-7-7-5 syllabic pattern on topics of love or work. The one glitch for me is writing a humorous poem as the format asks for. This part is a bit difficult for me. Why? Well, my husband considers me to be a serious type of person, not a humorous one. Since I love to play with the Poetry Sisters each month, I gave it a try. 

This is actually a true story and the photo is an original one of the conference hall. It was a March day with brilliant sunshine but towards the end of the conference, the weather shifted and all that darkness at the top of the digitized photo is the snow that came down and made a sloppy mess.

circle of love welcomes all

enter my year-old abode

with careful steps walk slowly

boxes block passage

©CV, revised 2022

Unfortunately, my house looks like the first few months when we first moved in, cluttered with moving boxes. The boxes that are in my dining room and hallway now are holiday decorations that are being sorted and moved from our attic to the garage that is decked out with new organizational systems from The Container Store (that are still not in the completed stage). 

THANK YOU TO:

Poet-author-teacher, Amy Ludwig Vanderwater, who hosts Poetry Friday this week. I am joining Amy at her blog, The Poem Farm, where she is not only announcing her new National Poetry Month 2022 project, Pick A Proverb, but shares her first proverb poem that will start a full month of writing. Amy invites everyone to write alongside her.

Thank you, Poetry Sisters, for the challenge. #PoetryPals

Two Writing Teachers for this daily meeting place to connect with a community of reflective writers. 

#SOL22 March Musings Day 24: Late Night Thoughts

Presently, I am contemplating sleep

The kind that wraps me in a delicious dream,

Takes me to another dimension and

Pauses the check-offs on my to-do laundry list.

A few moments ago, I read through 

Several slices of familiar and new-to-me writers.

Time moves on, put down the pen, fall into a deep sleep,

The kind that takes me to another place and time. 

But right now, I realize my fingers are continuing to

Rhythmically type words that awaken my senses.

Inspiration flows postponing thoughts of sleep.

I find solace in the click, click tempo of one more thought.

Without delay, there is a soft nudge to rest.

The eye patch is no longer needed and sleep is calling.

I anticipate a restful sleep, the kind that refreshes the mind.

I wonder who else is writing late-night thoughts. 

©CV, 2022

Perhaps this song will help me sleep.

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I thank Aggie's Currently slice and Terje Akke's Right Now slice for their writing models.

Thank you Two Writing Teachers for this daily meeting place to connect with a community of reflective writers. 

#SOL22 Day 23: 22 Days of March Musings

• 
• 22 Days of March Musings
• 
  

Waking very early,

connecting with my thoughts:

scattered singed ashes,

dazzling winter greetings,

namaste, quietness, and the big bad wolf.

International Women's Day passes.

I breathe in Grandma love

trying to make sense of the nature of March.

Snowflakes dance and

nuggets of thoughts float along.

I write my day in six-word memoirs.

Eye surgery over,

post-surgery follows.

The creative process continues

with a touch of green and baking.

I'm ready for the slicers' party

that welcomes springtime,

the shot of inspiration needed

to continue to write.

©CV, 2022,

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NOTE:

I composed the above poem after many days of pondering how I could make it happen. Everyone needs some creative fun when writing so I gathered the titles of my 2022 Annual Slice of Life Story Challenge posts in a list format. An index poem to catalog my March writing so far naturally evolved from one title to the next. You can click on any words in green to link to a specific slice that is located on my Blogger website, Beyond LiteracyLink.  

I made one deviation from the order of which I wrote the poems. I started with the 2nd day of slicing, followed by the first.   

Happy Slicing!

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Thank you Two Writing Teachers for this daily meeting place to connect with a community of reflective writers.