Twenty-Two Years
Category Archives: Uncategorized
Monkey-Mind
Over the years, I have done meditation off-and-on. Mostly, it is the “focus on your breathing” type and only for a few minutes. I have a monkey in my mind that swings from branch to branch flinging crap all over the place. I get discouraged and fall out of the practice for a while. Then something prompts me to take it up again.
It has gotten better ever since I took first and second level Reiki training. Self-reiki is encouraged and I must tell you that I always feel good and revitalized whenever I do it. That little monkey swinging and flinging has something to do now as she visualizes energy pouring into and spreading all over my body.
As a result, I meditate in some form more often and for longer periods.
However, there is a consequence too. As my mind becomes more clear, a lot of junk from the past is coming up, emotional baggage that has sat unclaimed and covered with dust for decades. That little monkey has pulled it out of storage and is making me deal with it.
I guess that’s a good thing. I really ought to reward her with a banana.
ljg 2022
What I’ve been up to….
I can’t believe I haven’t posted since last October. Well, yes, I can. WordPress is not nice to me anymore and making a simple post is a pain. I’ve also been in a state of overwhelm created by politics and pandemics and geo-political crises of the last few months.
But I haven’t been slacking. On a lark, I took two courses in Reiki healing. Reiki is a hands-on energy moving technique designed to bring about anxiety-reduction and relaxation. The Reiki practitioner is taught to access universal life energy (“chi” or “ki”) and send it through the client (or the self) to open up energy blockages. Sounds “woo-woo”? Yes, yes, I do admit that. However, I cannot explain why my hands get warm and tingle when I follow the steps to access the energy.
Anyway, I am a Reiki Level Two practitioner now.
Go figure.
ljg 2022
Notebooks
I don’t have much to say about notebooks except that I have a lot of them. Each of these two notebooks contain three separate smaller notebooks. One is for brainstorming and drafting. Another is for morning pages. Some are for research notes and some are for quotations and other commonplace activities.
My question to you all is: have you ever acquired a new notebook for no other reason but to have it around just in case you get inspired and need a fresh place to compose?
I have.
https://wordofthedaychallenge.wordpress.com/2021/10/25/notebook/
My Band of Avian Marauders
I have a family of crows that live in the trees behind my home. I don’t like using the term “murder of crows“ because that just seems so harsh for such a familial group. Yes, they tear up the plants in my garden, befoul the bird bath, and terrorize the smaller birds. But they are so entertaining to watch as they swoop and glide and play and bicker with each other.
I have resisted the urge to feed them because I didn’t want them to lose their fear of humans or to become dependent on me for food. I have been assured by others who are more knowledgeable about corvids that they won’t. So at the moment I am just sticking to tossing them handfuls of raw, unsalted peanuts in the shell in the mornings as a treat. I’ve done this now for about a week and they have already gotten into the habit of waiting for me to come out of the house each morning. It’s like having a bunch of hungry teenagers hanging around the place.
.
LJGloyd 2021
Twenty Years
lgloyd (c) 2021
Drawn to a Cause
My original goal when I gained access to a garden of my own was to grow my own vegetables. That did not work out so well. It is simply more cost effective to buy my own. However, I discovered that with a little work to rehabilitate the soil and a strategic use of water flowers have taken hold. So I shifted my goal to that of creating a bee sanctuary. While I do have bees visit the the flowers, I also have hummingbirds, moths, wasps and hornets, and butterflies. All of these are pollinators too. Okay, let’s shift the intention again: my goal is to create a pollinators’ oasis.
This weekend while visiting a local nature center, I coincidentally came across a lecture by the center’s curator on the monarch butterfly. (If you want to know more about the monarch, see here: ) The center plants a variety of milkweed types, the monarchs’ favorite food, in an attempt to boost their population in the area. The monarchs’ habitat, like for many species, is threatened by– guess who?– us. They also rear a few in captivity for educational purposes which they then release. I happened to be there when they released a newly emerged monarch. See the video below.
Now, I don’t intend to rear any at home, since there is some controversy to that (if you read the Wikipedia article), but I do happen to have two packages of pink milkweed seeds. It won’t hurt to sow them. I will wait to a waxing moon to do so.
Nevertheless, like it or not, I seem to have become drawn to the cause of saving this iconic pollinator.
ljgloyd (c) 2021
Dumping WordPress?
I have a question for my readers: Do any of you post on WordPress? I have blogged on WP since 2006, loved it for a long time, but have come to absolutely loathe this platform now ever since they stopped supporting the Classic Editor on the free package. It has become so difficult to create posts with their incomprehensible “block” editor that it is disrupting my creative process.
I want to switch to another platform that is easier to use. Blogger/Blogspot is easy but they just discontinued their email subscription notification function so there is no way my followers can know when I post. What is the point of having a site there if no one knows you’ve posted?
Do any of you even blog anymore? Is blogging dead? Is it all Instagram now? (which I equally loathe). I don’t know what to do. Comments welcome.
Thanks.
Figs, Melons, and a Green Pepper
A finished Prismacolor pencil still life hanging in my kitchen. From my own photo reference.
Ljgloyd 2021
Day 240: The Sunday After
On the Sunday after the election,
I turned off the chorus of cable news pundits,
and instead
Called a friend and chatted for an hour,
Zoomed to virtual church for a drink from my spiritual well,
Brewed tea,
Made minestrone,
Washed my kitchen floor.
I listened to the wind rattling my windows and stirring up
autumn leaves.
Then I pondered how to rebuild the bridges between
old friends and anonymous adversaries
and then realized how tough
it is going to be.
ljgloyd (c) 2020
https://ragtagcommunity.wordpress.com/2020/11/09/rdp-monday-tough/
Miss Pelican's Perch 