Thursday, July 28, 2005

Epiphany #2: Goals

15 Kalimat 162 B.E. July 27-28, 2005 A.D.

I have found that I need to write my goals down and display them if I am going to achieve them. I have a tendency to procrastinate and if the goals are not written down, I put them off. Also I need encouragement to achieve them. So I am going to post my writing goals in the Snowflake Chronicles. That way I have them written in a place that I can find them and I have a support team to ask me how I am doing. May also post some of them on this blog as well, but I have not decided yet. If I do post any in this blog it will be those I want to explore here. I will only post about nineteen at a time. OK, I have a tendency to either over estimate or under estimate what I can do at any given time. You would think at my age I would have figured out what my limitations are. Although I do not think the problem has much to do with limitation. I suspect I am trying to stretch. One goal I am going to list here right now is this: I am going to write one hundred words each day for the next week. This a pledge a made to a writing.com group. I am also reviewing book for the next month chapter by chapter for a contest at writing.com. I think that is all for now. I am part of the feature at a poetry reading to night and I need to get ready to go.

Wednesday, July 27, 2005

Epiphany #1: procrastination

15 Kalimat 162 B.E. July 26 - 27, 2005 A.D.

I realized today there are several reasons I procrastinate. First, is fear. Second, I over think when I go to do something. Both reasons are probably related. However, I am not going to go into that right now. In fact the over thinking may lead to the fear or, at least, feed it. I think the best thing may be to just do it. That way I do not over think and feed the fear. Usually when I "just do it" (so to speak) I do not over think the process and whatever I am doing turns out alright (or is it all right).

OK, now that I have written that - what else was I going to say? Oh yes, I am now a preferred author at writing.com. You can click on the Prosperous Snow link to get to my writing.com website. Why Prosperous Snow? Interesting question. Prosperous is the meaning of my middle name and Snow the meaning of my first name.

Tuesday, July 26, 2005

My Thoughts On the Past Few Days

14 Kalimat 162 B.E. (July 25-26, 2005 A.D.)

It has been an interesting few days. I have did a lot of writing, just not in my blog. On one of those days there was a storm. I listened to the rain that day. The other days I reviewed writing at writing.com. While doing the review I learned a lot about review and about writing. So now I am going to approach some essays and other ideas I have. I am not going to stop review I am simply going to slow it down a little and not do as much as I did in those few days.

Yesterday I spent most of the day reading and waiting for my brakes to be fixed. Now I have to raise the money to have the struts fixed. It is always something. Life does not give you a brake. Anyway that is how things have been going.

This morning the birds around my house were happy, extremely happy. The all sing (sang) [which ever] at once, sounded good to hear creatures happy to see the morning sun. While that it for now.

Friday, July 15, 2005

Feast of Word

3 Kalimat 162 B.E. (July 14-15, 2005 A.D.)

Every word has a different flavor. Some words have simple flavors and other words complicated flavors. It is the job of a poet to combine those flavors into recipes that are savory.

Well it is a start. I am not sure where it is going at this time, but it is going someplace. Got this idea a few days ago when I went to Feast and have been trying to work on it. However, I seem to have hit a brick wall. Nothing seems to come. It isn't a case of writer's block because I have written other things and even submitted a couple of items. Not sure what is happening with this piece. Maybe I need to do a free write or try associating flavors with words. This happens every once in a while, I start an essay or poem and it doesn't go any where. I usually let it lay for a while and then get back to the piece I'm writing. I've got other things to work on so I'll let this one lay a while and see what I come up with. It's just bugging me that it won't go anyplace right now.

Thursday, July 14, 2005

Encountered On My Journey

2 Kalimat 162 B.E. (July 13-14, 2005 A.D.)

In my soul's journey toward spirituality, it is carried through this material world by my body. On this journey I encounter many conditions, people and things that either attach me to this material or physical plane or guide me toward the spiritual plane. Each of these encounters - whether it attaches me to the material plane (or world which ever one wants to call it) or guides me toward the spiritual - assist my soul in it journey. One of the recent encounters that helps guide my soul toward the spiritual realm is Joseph Sheppherd's book A Wayfarer's Guide to Bringing the Sacred Home.

Scattered through out this amazing book are quotations and prayers from the Baha'i sacred writings. These quotations and prayers assist my soul in its journey by illuminating the path it is taking. The quotations assist my soul by giving suggestions on the way I need to act and react to conditions encountered. The prayers focus my attention on God and His Glory. Both the quotations and prayers encourage my quest for spirituality. However, this is not a quest that I can achieve without test and difficulties nor can I achieve it by isolating myself from the rest of humanity. For me, at least, spirituality is something that must be achieved while walking through the material world with the rest of humanity.

This is the first in a series of blog entries on encounters on my journey. In the up coming weeks and months I will write about other encounters I have had and will have on this journey. I will also continue to write about poetry and writing ideas I come up with. For me writing is a part of the journey, I can not separate writing from the journey any more than I can separate my faith from the journey. For me both writing and faith are important to the journey and to the achievement of the goal.

Sunday, July 10, 2005

My Blog Journey

Creating this blog has taken a long time. Deciding how I wanted the title to look and what I wanted it to say took a while. This is a journal of faith, writing and transformation; each a component of my soul's journey. I cannot separate faith from my life, from my writing or from transformation.

We are all butterflies emerging from our cocoons as we journey through this material plain. It is not an easy journey, rather it is a process of developing the spiritual attributes necessary to our soul's in the next world. Each of us face tests that help us develop these attributes; each of us face choices and those choices help us learn both trust in God and develop spiritual attributes.

For myself I must write about the journey. I am compelled to write poems, essays and short stories that reflect that journey and, in some way, describe the journey. Each of us must find our own way to describe the journey of transformation.

18 Rahmat 162 B.E. (July 10-11, 2005 A.D.)