Sunday Scribblings - March 18th, 2012

The prompt this week for Sunday Scribblings is honest.


Today, at morning tea time 
In front of the coffee machine
You will ask me how I am 
And I will lie 
"Okay thanks"
And the day will go on 
I will not have time to ponder then 
How I really am 
That I am not okay today 
Was not okay yesterday 
And will not be okay tomorrow 
Then later when I will have time 
to reflect upon my answer 
"Okay thanks"
Slowly the realisation will dawn 
It was the only answer I could give
A deeper truth 
And honest 

Sunday Scribblings - September 11th, 2011

The prompt for Sunday Scribblings this week is sensation. 


Facebook status 
"I can now safely say I've thrown up at the show" 


September in Adelaide 
The season for seekers of sensation 
Teens hit the showgrounds in force 
Seek bigger, faster, higher 
Push minds and bodies to limits 
and past 
My children return from a busy day 
Full of stories 
to match many others 
before and after 
Names have changed 
The SupaLoop is now the Hangover 
Screams and vomit are still the same 


I imagine knowing looks 
perhaps some judgments too 
My daughter's dash to the bin 
followed by a grab for her phone 
and the amassing of a collection of 'likes' 

Sunday Scribblings - August 14th, 2011

The prompt for Sunday Scribblings this week is forward. It fitted well with a piece I was thinking about writing. 




'It doesn't matter how slow you go as long as you do not stop' 

- Confucius

To move forward is often largely a matter of taking those first steps. Working out a baby step you can take and then doing so. The way it often works for me is that I worry a lot before those first steps then commit to taking a first step, telling myself that's all I need to do at that moment. More often than not that first step leads to another and another and another. 

In the past year or so I have moved forward in many ways. There have been my blogs. I never imagined what the first step of looking into how to begin a blog would blossom into and how rewarding it would turn out to be. It was the same with gardening. Planting a few seeds and seeing some success led to more and more. 

Often lots of preparation goes into deciding what a first step will be and how to take that first step. I was familiar with other people's blogs before that decision to look into starting my own. I started my gardening adventures with some radishes because they are easier to grow and I was more likely to experience success which would encourage me to try more. 

Taking the first step can set you in motion and help dramatically with moving forward with whatever you wish to move forward with. I observed this yesterday. My ten year old daughter really wanted to read a poem at a poetry group I attend. She was very keen beforehand and had definitely prepared. When it came time to begin though stage fright set in. She just couldn't seem to get started. Someone suggested to just say one word. She still couldn't do it so everyone else read and then we returned to her. She managed that first word and kept going, very quietly at first but then gradually she got louder. At the end someone asked if she could read it again in a louder voice. She did. Making the effort to get over the difficult starting point really paid off and she moved forward in a huge way. 

Of course, things don't always work out so wonderfully. I am remembering the time when I was thirteen and ready to dive from a diving board for the first time. I was so nervous but told myself that once I left the board I would just have to keep going. My style was not the best, however, and I hit the water with the hugest belly flop. In that situation I could have done a little more research before taking to the board. 

Usually though I can be prone to keep researching how to do something rather than actually doing it. This week I bought a new camera and really don't know how to use it. I could keep stressing about that and try and learn more or I could choose to begin. I chose to take some photos and experiment with some of the settings. I ended up taking some photos that I was quite pleased with and posted my first contribution to Shadow Shot Sunday. Having a go gives me the chance to learn more and keep moving forward. 

Sometimes moving forward is fast. Other times slower. Sometimes it even feels like going backwards. Sometimes it might involve pausing for a while. It is certainly okay to stop too for something you decide you no longer wish to move forward with. 

Amongst other things, this week I want to move forward with my photography skills. How about you? What would you like to move forward with? Is there a small step you can take to propel you forward? 

Sunday Scribblings - August 7th, 2011

I haven't participated in Sunday Scribblings for a while. It's good to be back. The prompt for this week is: pleasure. My offering is an adaptation of a couple of short pieces I wrote earlier this year. The pleasure of Sunday mornings. 


Sunday morning 


Window slightly ajar 
Light makes art on the screen 
My feet poke out 
From under sheets 
Tickled by a gentle breeze 
Outside - birds sing and squawk 
Sounds paint through my mind 
Thick blobs, blurred at the edges 
Trails of even spaced dots
In the lull I tune 
to the gentle, regular ticking 
of the clock 
A little slower than my heartbeat 
Cocooned between stretch and doze 
I ease my way 
into the day 

Sunday Scribblings - June 12th, 2011

The prompt this week for Sunday Scribblings is 'The next step'. 


The last few years have featured a lot of change for me. There has been a return to University, a return to work, moving house and beginning blogging amongst other things. As a result of these many changes I have spent quite a lot of time thinking about that space just before starting something new. Here is a poem I wrote a couple of years ago about that time just before you take a next step and begin. 


The Start 


Starting right now 
It is time to begin 
Preparation time is over and now 
There is nothing left to do 
But to begin. To start. To go. 
Am I ready? Or not? 
No turning back now 
On your marks 
Get set and 
Go...
Leave safety and move forwards 
Leap and fly, soar towards 
Another safe landing 
Where the climb to the 
Next start begins 

Sunday Scribblings - May 15th, 2011

The prompt this week for Sunday Scribblings: Surrender. 


Do you use Blogger? Even if you don't you have probably read through your internet travels that Blogger was not working for quite a while last week. How did you cope with Blogger being down for rather a long time? How long did you keep trying before surrendering to the idea that Blogger wasn't working and probably wouldn't be for a while. How did you accept being unable to post when you wanted to? Did you, like me, try many, many times to log in and become very familiar with that message 'Blogger is currently unavailable". Did any of your posts or comments disappear? It really made me wonder what was going on when a post I was sure I had published just wasn't there. For a moment I did question my memory. Did I really press 'publish'? 


All of this got me thinking about surrendering. Yes, it was frustrating to not be able to post when I want to. I didn't accept it really easily. I did keep trying. On my blog Pausing to pick up small stones I post a small piece of writing every day. I have managed to post something every day for the whole year. That is, until the Blogger outage. Now there is one day that I failed to post. That is disappointing and got me thinking about failure. Sometimes we fail due to circumstances completely out of our control. Or maybe it's not really a failure but a change of plans. The idea behind writing small stones is to take some time to really notice a small moment and to write that down. Posting those moments has increased my accountability to myself to actually notice and record the small moments. But really I don't need the blog at all. I still wrote a small stone. I was just unable to post it at the time that I wanted to. Often we rely on others to complete tasks and achieve goals. Sometimes we will be let down. We can choose to struggle with that or surrender. For me how much I struggle and surrender (or both) varies rather a lot. It can be very difficult to accept limitations either within myself or placed on me by others. It often feels good though when I do surrender and accept that I cannot do something, even if that means just taking a break and doing something else for a while. An example of this has been the times when the car has broken down suddenly and I have found myself needing to walk to places a lot more. At first I really struggle against doing so but when I do surrender to the idea of walking I find some positives in that. There is more time to notice when walking compared to driving! 


The Blogger outage also got me thinking about appreciation. I do take the availability of Blogger for granted. It was a shock when it wasn't there. Now that it is back I find myself feeling a little more appreciative. How amazing it is really that we are able to write something and people from all over the world are then able to read it instantly. The ability to communicate with others in this way was virtually unimaginable not so very long ago. The ability to do so is due to the work of a lot of people who I really don't think about very much. Thank you everyone who helps Blogger to function so smoothly most of the time! It is similar with the car situation. After going without a car for a while, during those first few trips I am very appreciative. 


Concerning the Blogger outage, as many others have written, I did find other things to do after a while and enjoyed doing them. I am glad Blogger is back and working now though!