Motivation, My Brand

This rock fascinates me; well, most big rocks make me wonder. I like small stones too, but I use to watch large rocks moving around because of workers on tractors and in dump trucks. There were also the boulders we set dynamite in, after drilling, and a lever push made them blow. Georgia is full of rock and red clay. LOL.

Anyway, I took this yesterday with the Sony camera, and I thought which I always do. I wanted to draw, but I think you know creating art intimidates me. I am a perfectionist, and there is desire, but there is fear. The fear I am not good enough at it. This morning I got a sketchbook, drawing pencils, and colored pencils out. I created something. It really has little relationship to the photo, I did not look at the picture except a glance at the file last night. The photo was what drew me to try.

Creativity is not an easy thing, though it is inherent. We all have abilities, we can all do creative things. Maybe you cook, dance, play music or sing, organize items, create presentations, graphs, pie charts, lesson plans, a wardrobe, furnish a house, anything. Liberal arts are not the only home of creativity, life is creative. The thing is to create positive outcomes for yourself and others.

Perfection is a lie, read that again. Perfection can clog the creative flow, it is as close as we get to block. When we want perfect results, we can stop ourselves from doing what we can do. If we do not do, we can never become better. We lockdown and fail to grow or produce.

Maybe we want a tremendous experience, and we devalue ourselves, our lives. Life, creativity, love, accomplishment is in the little mundane things. It is great to do something outstanding, but we have a lot of ordinary moments, and we can choose to recognize that those are precious too. We may find joy, gratitude, in relationships, in the wonderful taste of what is eaten even if it is often eaten, in the fact we can reach others around the world, the songs played, the soft touch of the fabric on the body, writing with an ink pen, the smell of pencils, a warm shower, a safe environment, our pets, the families God gave us, any gift.

Ah, I guess you should see the creation before you go.

I hope you find the courage to recognize the beauty of your life.

2020-01-12_Moonrise with Rock and Trees

Suggestions, Perhaps?

Respectful Restriction

Gates open and close,
Allow entrance and exit,
But they also lock.
Sometimes there is no going
Through barriers facing us.

Neighborly fences
Can save us torturous pain,
Where parties respect
Limits that secure freedom
And borders are not breached.

The gates of morning
Let in the nourishing sun
Lighting life each day,
Night swift falls, portcullis like,
Calling us to wangle sleep.

We live between gates
Though we believe we are free,
The beginning, birth,
The conclusion, death, and yet:
Eternal resurrection.

In this beautiful
Time we spend between the gates
We should live – alive,
We should be real, with the gates
Of experience thrown wide.

We are who we are
And we can create our lives,
Miracles abide,
Even in the dark, some gates
Guide us to places we belong.

© Jo Ann J. A. Jordan

Sometimes people wonder about inspiration. I took the photo this afternoon. I picked it randomly from a selection of several. Afterward, I determined to write a “GATE” poem. You just roll how you roll.

Photo/Tanka Art…

2020.01.11 Opportunities

Before the Rain

Day Eleven – 2020 Creativity Project

This birdcage is at least fifty years old, I had a dusty blue parakeet in it when I was very young. We had birds until Mom decided they were nasty. The mess did not fit her fastidious ways.

These short poems are all individuals. None of them is directly connected. Some were written at different times today. Some in my journal, some at the keyboard as I stood here in front of the screen. They are tanka, and of course, a lone haiku.

Some days hold torrents
In a loose embrace, then let
The sky-bound tears fall;
Sympathy for hearts broken
By losses too great to bear.

I could cage myself
Hide all the feelings away,
But emotions tend
To lead me often in life,
I am tender, edge of knife.

Secret reasons why
I keep trying to catch you
With a picture, line,
But you fast escape the ties
I might employ to bind you.

My heart breaks again
With an ache shot through and through;
The long loss of you.

I almost began
To hope for the future again,
But then I recalled
How the fires seared my skin
And things became ashes then.

Pieces together
Fit the pattern of quiet
Built on peaceful days
When all we needed, we found,
Within one another bound.

The rain came, bucketfuls at once, and walking the dogs was a waste of time. We only got soaked. I did walk awhile before alone with the Sony camera. It is nice to photograph whatever I decide.

I hope, as a prompt, you will create something lovely, and with love. All of us need more kindness, comfort, care.

This scene draws me in, and I am uncertain why. I think the stark lines may have something to do with it. Mysterious allure.

God Bless and Keep You and Yours.

Day 10 – 2020 Creativity Project

Post Three for Today

It always seems days like the tenth are incredibly productive for me. I never understand why the muse, inspiration, whatever you may call the force that pours creativity forth has days when it is like an uncorked fire hydrant spewing everywhere. Actually, if I allow, it is present a lot.

I took the cameras out for a few minutes. I meant to use the Sony, but the battery blacked, and the extra battery was also dead. I took the Nikon out with a telephoto lens on it, and I had been away a while, so I was thrown by it, not taking pictures. The light was poor, my distance was too near. I finally got a few shots. It is terrible that I have been relying on my cellphone’s camera so much.

The above shot is with the Sony, unedited. It is not quite as I would like, but the device went dark, so there I had it.

By Design

I went in search of
Happiness, but came to find
It is not a thing
Hidden beyond me, oh no,
I contain it in my mind.
I choose attitudes
Every moment, every day,
If I am down-hearted
I must make it otherwise
And exuberance I can try.
The clouds and thunder,
Rain – does not determine how
I come to think, feel,
I make a designation to
Positive or negative,
So just now, I pick my joy with love.

This is not to discount depression, because that struggle is real, but we do have some power over our feelings, at least at times. I have Schizo-Affective Disorder, so depression is a home place too. It takes a lot to fight, but fight we must because if we let loose our control, we can be driven deep in areas hard with dark to escape.

I wonder why I am doing this, cause it has been bad days for the site, but I have words, so…

I think maybe learning one of my favorite musicians died of brain cancer made me trot something out. RUSH is a top band in my estimation. I saw them twice in that magical 1979 to 1981 period when I was at a concert or the movies every week. Neil Peart, Rest In Peace. See ya.

Find something, create. Build something beyond yourself, because you are real.

Do well, be active, keep going, you are loved.