• journal,  landscape,  natural areas,  Plants,  sunsets,  trees,  writing/reading

    Winds of Change

    November 8, 2020

    Some of you know I’m living in recovery from alcoholism. If not, you do now. I read a question today that caused me to reflect on my life now that I have a bit of time in recovery. The question was, “What are the important things in my recovery?” Here’s a short list from journaling this morning.

    • living life using the principles of the 12 Steps
    • daily practice of prayer and meditation
    • healing physically, emotionally and spiritually
    • healing of broken relationships and birthing of new relationships
    • experiencing a Higher Power from within
    • able to be more present to life and more often
    • true honesty with others
    • learning to be a better listener, thus a better communicator
    • coming to know my true and authentic self
    • practicing a thorough and authentic daily self-examination
    • seeing with the eyes of my heart
    • uncovering my unhealthy character defects
    • living with and accepting all my emotions
    • the enjoyment of solitude and silence
    • using journaling as letters, prayers, asking deep questions 
    • discovering my value as a human and the value of others
    • uncovering and using the talents and gifts given to me at my conception
    • finding and using my inner observer

    This morning was quite windy. When I stepped outside about 7:00 am, I needed to pause and listen to the wind blowing through the trees. I smiled as the wind blew leaves from branches, enjoying their rustling dance across the ground. I took a deep breath, filled with hope and excitement, because the wind was a metaphor for the winds of change blowing in our world.

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  • coffee life,  coffee shops,  fountain pens,  haiku,  journal,  writing/reading

    Daily Practice

    November 2, 2020
    Starting my day with morning sunlight, a mocha and blank pages

    words from a deep reservoir
    fill pages in a blank journal
    a daily practice

    ms

    I have been making it a practice to open my journal after my prayer and meditation time to write from that deep reservoir. I find my days seem to move along smoother when I practice this prior to reading email or any type of social media. The journaling in this quiet time seems to nurture a rich spirituality, a solid foundation for the day, and set my attitude in a good direction for the day.

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  • coffee life,  journal,  writing/reading

    Words will appear

    October 24, 2020
    Journaling with a Cross pen and a good journal (2012)

    One day back in 2008 I found a Townsend Medalist Rollerball Pen made by Cross on the streets of Crystal City in Washington DC. It was very similar to this one except it was all silver. It was probably one of the nicest writing instruments I’d every used at that time in my life. By having a fine writing instrument I began to journal more and more often. I used it for a few months and then I lost it. I found the exact pen except with gold trim at Reagan Airport a couple weeks later and bought it. That’s what you see in this image. I’ve since moved on to fountain pens for an even more enjoyable writing experience.

    For me there are three factors that have helped me in my journaling. One is to have a nice writing instrument. The second is to find a journal you like, physical size and paper weight. The third is to carry them both with you at all times and use them. Words will appear.

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  • coffee life,  coffee shops,  fountain pens,  journal,  Mary Oliver,  quotes,  writing/reading

    The Beginning of Devotion

    October 20, 2020
    Upstream by Mary Oliver

    “Teach the children. We don’t matter so much, but the children do. Show them daisies and the pale hepatica. Teach them the taste of sassafras and wintergreen. The lives of the blue sailors, mallow, sunbursts, the moccasin flowers. And the frisky ones–inkberry, lamb’s quarters, blueberries. And the aromatic ones–rosemary, oregano. Give them peppermint to put in their pockets as they go to school. Give them the fields and the woods and the possibility of the world salvaged from the lords of profit. Stand them in the stream, head them upstream, rejoice as they learn to love this green space they live in, its sticks and leaves and then the silent, beautiful blossoms. Attention is the beginning of devotion.” 

    Mary Oliver

    I bought a new used book which arrived on Saturday. It’s title is Upstream by Mary Oliver and a series of essays. So far I’m liking it and relate to her spiritual connectedness to nature. So, fair warning you may see a few quotes from the book.

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  • coffee life,  coffee shops,  fountain pens,  haiku,  journal,  writing/reading

    Coffeehouse Writing

    October 11, 2020
    Morning sunlight, journal, fountain pen and new ink

    half blank pages
    find new words in brown ink
    coffeehouse writing

    ms

    Had a friend give me a new bottle of ink yesterday appropriately named, Coffee Break. 😃 It is a soft subtle brown that shades well, one of my favorite traits in inks, and works well with my cream colored journal pages. Using it in my white Pelikan M205 fountain pen. Hope you have a wonderful Sunday!

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  • coffee life,  coffee shops,  fountain pens,  Fujifilm X-T3,  Fujifilm XF16-80mm f4.0,  journal,  lifestyles,  writing/reading

    New Fountain Pen

    September 12, 2020

    A new TWSBI Diamond 580 in Prussian Blue

    This morning I sat in my reserved chair and had a mocha inside Mugs, the first time since March 15th, according to my journal. That’s almost six months. Hard to get my mind  wrapped around how fast time has moved on. And, I still fit in the chair. 😊 

    From my journal during the pandemic:  I wish I’d read more when I was younger but my soul is fertile at this stage of my life for the words I now read. 

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