27. March 2010 by Marie Pinschmidt.

“Either write something worth reading or do something worth writing.” Ben Franklin

“Keep your fears to yourself, but share your courage with others.” Robert L. Stevenson

“Well done is better than well said.” RLS

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27. March 2010 by Marie Pinschmidt.

Michaelangelo said “Lord, grant that I may always desire more than I can accomplish”.  He proved that great DESIRE can bring about amazing RESULTS.  However, desiring to be, thinking or talking about it does not make a writer, artist or world class swimmer. I like to think that I write/paint; therefore I am. It’s the doing that makes it so.

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27. March 2010 by Marie Pinschmidt.

In an era of political and social unrest, breakdown of morals and increased crime, it’s easy to lose our JOY. Lately I have noticed a shortage of individuals who appear to be enjoying themselves. We tend to concentrate on things that are wrong in our personal lives as well as the outside world. We seem to have lost touch with ourselves and most of the things that bring happiness are overshadowed by worry and unrest. I’m not saying the things robbing us of our JOY are unimportant or don’t need to be addressed and dealt with in an effective manner; but in order to preserve our mental and physical health, perhaps we need to reassess our attitude as well as how we spend our time.

How many of you live or have lived on a farm? How many write, paint, dance, decorate, or engage in sports? How many wish you had time for more creative activities ? How many have a great idea for a book. When I talk to a group it is amazing how many hands go up in response to that question.  Do you want to be a writer, or do you want to have been a writer. Most of us fail to do the required work so only dream of the latter.

Perhaps we should approach life like a railroad crossing and stop, look, and listen. How often do you look at the sky and study the constantly changing clouds? Do you ever yearn to be removed from human language, the constant interference by all our modern technological tools?

Like writers and painters, we must soak in or absorb scent, sight, sounds and textures. Get in closer contact with self. How does your skin respond to temperature change, or the brush of a leaf against your forehead? Is it possible to reawaken our nerve endings to the sensations we experienced in childhood?

We humans are the only animals on earth unhappy with ourselves. Does a white-tailed deer want to look like a hippo, or a porcupine like a gazelle? There is too much emphasis on beauty - fitting the mold of acceptability. What if all wild animals looked alike? Can you imagine how boring nature would be if there were only one species of trees or flowers? Can’t we celebrate our uniqueness; open our hearts wide to other possibilities? Even hurting means we’re alive.

We fret about physical attributes. Who decides what is physically acceptable and what isn’t? They should be voted out of office. Why do we allow the opinions of others to rob us of our JOY? We’re too short, too bald, too childish, a stuffed-shirt, a slob, and the most troubling one - too fat. Consider a WATERMELON. It doesn’t mind being fat - we choose the fattest one at the market. A watermelon is GENEROUS - it begs you to eat it! A PEACH is also generous, juicy; its nectar fills you with JOY. Lets show the world we’re a PEACH not a PARSNIP!

DISCOUNT THINGS THAT TAKE TOO MUCH TIME! What if we had to peel grapes? I don’t even buy ones with seeds!

REINVENT YOUR CHILDHOOD: I’ve found JOY in a field of cosmos, or as a child, walking in the woods and finding may-apples hiding beneath umbrella-like leaves,  or picking blackberries. Eating my mother’s fresh blackberry cobblers brought a special JOY. Watching fog lift to reveal a field of Queen Ann’s lace, or fog wrapping itself around a lamp post on an empty city street can bring JOY. Think of a bus driver - a lonely job before the city awakens. I’ll bet he finds JOY in the solitude, the stillness before the traffic and blasting horns invade his day. What is more JOYFUL than seeing, feeling, or smelling the blossoms of orange or other fruit trees? How often do you go the beach and drink in a sunrise or sunset - all by yourself?

Creative action of any kind can bring JOY not only for ourselves but to the observers as well.  In a topsy-turvy world and uncertain future, I challenge you to briefly revisit and reclaim the things in your past that brought you JOY. Only if we open our eyes to the beauty of the world, and embrace nature and all living things, can we expect to maintain a JOYFUL future.

Would you take a moment and share with me how you maintain JOY in your life, and indicate whether I can share your response with others?

Thank you, and may SPRING bring you a special JOY.    ““““` 

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12. March 2010 by Marie Pinschmidt.

Some words are soft, sweet-sounding and melodious while others are harsh, rasping, an assault to our ears. The word FAULT is among the latter. Whether a fault in the earth’s crust capable of causing destruction and chaos, or a human act of violence, fault is a word we find difficult to embrace.  Following the recent horrendous earthquake in Chile, we waited with a mixture of fear and awe for a predicted “great wave”, or tsunami, to hit Hawaii. Our airwaves are polluted with reports of political and personal scandals involving elected officials and other celebrity. We believe their words and trust their good judgment only to have our expectations shaken, broken and cracked open at some later date.

How many of us have the courage to admit blame when we stray from our path and find our character and reputation compromised because we took the wrong behavioral turn?

“It wasn’t my fault” is heard repeatedly from the mouths of people of all ages, from children to senior citizen. In childhood an object is broken, someone sustains an injury, a sibling cries, and the first thing the parent hears is, “It wasn’t my fault”. Often the denial is true, but more often it’s a self-protecting method of shifting the blame. We seem to have been born with this human trait and it follows us throughout our entire life. Being found at fault for childhood pranks, teenage misdemeanors or hard crimes in adulthood is something most of us either fear, or are in a state of denial that we’re doing anything wrong.

If we’re blameless, then where does the fault lie? On an innocent bystander, someone who just happened to be near the scene of the crime? Innocent children are often punished for acts they did not commit, and innocent men and women have gone to prison or put to death for acts that were no fault of their own. Once that awful word “fault” is tethered to a reputation, it might as well be written in indelible ink for the life is usually forever changed. No wonder we are quick to defend ourselves at every turn.

How often do we hear “fault” blamed on parents by their children, or by parents in defense of their children? It’s the “fault” of society, the “fault” of poverty, mistreatment, or lack of education. Fault is often blamed on having too much wealth, too much social recognition, “spoiled rotten by parents or grandparents”, etc, etc. Parents are often unfairly faulted when their children do not turn out as expected by society. Our media celebrities and sport figures fault their fall from grace on substance abuse, physical or mental insufficiencies, childhood neglect or poverty, etc, etc. More and more often members of society accept these explanations, or excuses, and are quick to forgive.

In our political arena, “fault” is placed on an opposing party or one news media over another. The government spends too much money or not enough. One party is made up of brilliant minds and the other a bunch of idiots. Please! It’s like a second grader telling his teacher the dog ate his homework. Where does it all end? Does blame-placing, twisting the truth or downright lying serve any useful purpose? Or does it only postpone the inevitable - a time when truth is finally forced to the forefront for the world to absorb, leaving us disappointed or disgusted, and instilling in us a reluctance to believe anything we hear or read. In an attempt to save face, stall for time, hoping it will just go away, we pray that daddy or mommie will come home, take our side and place the fault on someone else. How often do we hear, “The fault is entirely mine, I accept the blame, and I accept the punishment?” Period! Not often enough, I fear.

FAULT is a hard, harsh word, whether found in the earth’s crust or in the human experience. We can change neither, but perhaps the world would sleep better at night if more of us strived to avoid even the “appearance of evil”. When the fault is ours, let us be quick to claim it, allow the innocent to remain so, and get on with the business of restoring once again our belief in humanity.

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