“The intuitive mind is a sacred gift and the rational mind is a faithful servant. We have created a society that honors the servant and has forgotten the gift.” Albert Einstein
Paying homage to the rational mind comes naturally in our fast-paced consumer-driven society. We want what we want when we want it. Food, clothes, homes, cars, sex, information—the object of desire matters less than our insatiable desire to possess it; and the rational mind with its controlled intellect and superior abil…
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Added by Phoenix on October 7, 2009 at 8:26pm —
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"I learned . . . that inspiration does not come like a bolt, nor is it kinetic, energetic striving, but it comes into us slowly and quietly and all the time, though we must regularly and every day give it a little chance to start flowing, prime it with a little solitude and idleness." Brenda Ueland
Over the past four months, I have spent a great deal of time building up my social networking sites and writing blogs; and while I have spent some time working on my third novel—I have not been givin…
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Added by Phoenix on August 31, 2009 at 10:50pm —
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“What is the source of our first suffering? It lies in the fact that we hesitated to speak. It was born in the moment when we accumulated silent things within us.” Gaston Bachlard
According to Dr. James Pennebaker, a professor in the Psychology Department at the University of Texas at Austin and a pioneer in the study of using expressive writing as a healing modality, when a person translates a painful experience into language, the experience, itself, becomes more tangible, and the perso…
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Added by Phoenix on August 10, 2009 at 11:26pm —
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I will be posting part three of my “Heal Yourself: Heal Your World,” series in two weeks. In it, I will continue my discussion on the healing aspects of writing by looking at some of the better-known healing for writing practices. For now, sit back; grab a cup of coffee, or tea, which ever you prefer, and have a giggle or two on me.
“I want my children to have all the things I couldn’t afford. Then I want to move in with them.” Phyllis Diller
It’s summer, and the troops have landed. They arriv…
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Added by Phoenix on July 27, 2009 at 2:47pm —
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“The end is in the beginning.” T.S. Eliot
When I was a child, my teachers and parents said I was a daydreamer—that I didn’t know how to focus. They were wrong, well, at least about the focusing part. I had no problem focusing. The truth of the matter was that I just didn’t like their focal points. My teachers’ focal points were rigid and confining. My parents’ focal points were chaotic and painful. I tried to adjust; I really did, but convergence was impossible. I had no other choice. In order…
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Added by Phoenix on July 17, 2009 at 4:23pm —
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I believe the writing process is a healing process. It is with this in mind, that I am beginning a new series of posts entitled “Heal Yourself: Heal Your World.” This is the first installment in that series.
Personal disclosure is not something at which I am very good. To be honest, it scares me. Even so, I realize that it is, at times, necessary. Healing, in and of itself, requires disclosure. The simple fact of the matter is that you cannot heal what you do not acknowledge. Another important…
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Added by Phoenix on July 6, 2009 at 12:22pm —
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There are those in the blogosphere that say that to be successful a blogger must post some type of information at least three times a week. Most also say that these posts should be a certain length and should contain certain strategically placed, platform based key words for blog search engines to latch onto.
According to these experts in all things blogging, a reader will not stay engaged with a blogger unless the blogger meets the minimum posting requirement. If the Powers That Be are correct…
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Added by Phoenix on June 21, 2009 at 2:36pm —
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Like many of you, I am a writer. I can write about anything; and for the most part, I’m fairly confident in my skills. Yeah, I said for the most part. That part I’m not so confident about—well, that would be my poetry. I’ve been writing poetry since I was a child. Some of my poems are neatly handwritten on crisp lined notebook paper--far more are scribbled on miscellaneous bits and pieces of oddly-shaped, multicolored paper. Hey, I use whatever I can find. When the words come to me, I jot them d…
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Added by Phoenix on June 8, 2009 at 5:07pm —
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“It’s only when we truly know and understand that we have a limited time on earth—and that we have no way of knowing when our time is up—that we will begin to live each day to the fullest, as if it was the only one we had.” Elizabeth Kübler Ross
I don’t know if it’s my age or just an odd springtime melancholy that has my mind wandering to the brevity of life. Odd—when I was younger, I never stopped to consider just how short life really is. Back then, life seemed to be a long never-ending highw…
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Added by Phoenix on June 1, 2009 at 3:51pm —
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One day last summer, I walked into the living room and found my six-year-old grandson sitting quietly, head down, coloring a picture. His lips pursed, his small jaw-line tense, he held his crayon tightly in his small balled up hand.
“What are you coloring?” I asked and sat down beside him.
“Diego,” he said, without looking up.
“Are you having fun?”
“Yeah,” he said, “I guess.”
“Well, if you were having fun, I think you’d know it,” I said and ruffled his curly blonde hair.
He took in a deep…
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Added by Phoenix on May 24, 2009 at 4:02pm —
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"Restriction of free thought and free speech is the most dangerous of all subversions. It is the one un-American act that could most easily defeat us."—Supreme Court Justice William O. Douglas," The One Un-American Act." Nieman Reports, vol. 7, no. 1 (Jan. 1953): p. 20.
Readers and writers alike have always known that well-written books can transport the individual to different times and places. But, how many of us truly understand the deep healing power of the words in these fictional narrativ…
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Added by Phoenix on May 18, 2009 at 1:35pm —
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I have done many things in my life because of fear but only a few things in spite of fear. Writing is something I have chosen to do in spite of my fear. It has taken me to places I have never wanted to go. It has pushed me right to the edge of insanity and lovingly pulled me back. It has made me look deep within myself, and it has forced me to excavate the depths of my own darkness.
Writing is my passion. It is my true love. Yet, as with all lovers, there comes a time when the honeymoon period…
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Added by Phoenix on May 11, 2009 at 1:30pm —
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Okay, here it is, prepare yourselves. The gods and goddesses have gone mad. Seriously, they have all lost their minds. Either that or they have taken a vacation. Why else would they let the demi-gods and goddesses get so out of hand? Now, I understand that the gods and goddesses of the publishing industry have to let the demi-gods and goddesses play with us from time to time. You know, make fun of us, tell us we’re stupid because we don’t know how to communicate properly with them—little things…
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Added by Phoenix on May 3, 2009 at 3:28pm —
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When I was a little girl, I used to love spending the night at my grandma’s house. She didn’t have a television set, but she did have an old player piano. It was a magical machine. It could actually make music by itself. My grandma told me the angels were making the music. Lucky for me, she made the little winged bandoliers takes breaks so that she and I could make our own special music. Oh, what fun we had. She would pump the piano’s pedals, and I would bang the keys. We’d play and sing for hou…
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Added by Phoenix on April 27, 2009 at 12:52pm —
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I don’t know if I like this. . . .
I trudged into the room, climbed up on the table, and got on all fours. “Are you sure you want me to do this?” I asked, red faced. The tall muscular blonde standing over me did not respond. She didn’t have to. I could tell by the gleam in her icy blue eyes that I was right where she wanted me. She was in control, and she knew it. A devious grin caused the corners of her thin pink lips to turn up. She took in a deep breath and pushed the buttons on the timer.…
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Added by Phoenix on April 19, 2009 at 12:31pm —
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I think I need a bigger office. This one was just fine when I was writing my first book. I had plenty of space back then. Now, however, two books later—with a third on the way—I am starting to feel a bit cramped. Filing cabinets line the walls. Stacks of books and papers sit haphazardly around the room—some in bookcases, others on tables. The closet is full of office supplies. Newspaper articles, positive affirmations, and yellow sticky reminders surround my desk. My overstuffed meditation chair…
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Added by Phoenix on April 8, 2009 at 8:08pm —
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