What Flames are You Fanning?

Today’s SoCS prompt is: “fan.” Use it by itself or find a word that starts or ends with it. Use it any way you’d like. Enjoy!

 

Fan the flames of peace.

Sing out to bring the dove.

The road might not be straight.

Let me start with my own heart.

 

Fan the flames of justice.

Not with violence, but with strength.

Be persistent.

We can’t always wait for Karma.

 

Fan the flames of love.

Speak your heart’s desire.

Love your neighbor as yourself.

Remember we all belong.

 

What do we want to speak into existence? Our thoughts and our words are powerful! Focusing on what we want, not what we don’t want, brings our heart’s desire. Yet, there are times when we must vent to release and make room for something better. Just don’t linger in the darkness. Don’t let the negativity become toxic.

Imagine the best. 

That’s the fifth step in my new book, From Loneliness to Love, Five Steps for Finding a Healthy Relationship. The e-book will be available on Amazon tomorrow! (June 7) I’m still trying to get the cover right for the paperback. It looks good digitally, but the printed proofs….. Oh well.

I will imagine that this book will help people. The principles work not just for finding a healthy relationship, but for many other goals.  Here are the steps:

1. Clarify Your Heart’s Desire
2. Request Help from the Divine
3. Love Yourself Well
4. Focus on Friendship
5. Imagine the Best

 

On another note:

Fan blades remind me of flower petals. So I’ve recycled ? upcycled a couple.

Painted with alcohol ink and soon to be a sunflower

This one spins in the wind.

 

For more Streams of Consciousness, visit our host, Linda G. Hill at

https://lindaghill.com/2020/06/05/the-friday-reminder-and-prompt-for-socs-june-6-2020/

Here are the rules:

1. Your post must be stream of consciousness writing, meaning no editing (typos can be fixed), and minimal planning on what you’re going to write.

2. Your post can be as long or as short as you want it to be. One sentence – one thousand words. Fact, fiction, poetry – it doesn’t matter. Just let the words carry you along until you’re ready to stop.

3. I will post the prompt here on my blog every Friday, along with a reminder for you to join in. The prompt will be one random thing, but it will not be a subject. For instance, I will not say “Write about dogs”; the prompt will be more like, “Make your first sentence a question,” “Begin with the word ‘The,’” or will simply be a single word to get you started.

4. Ping back! It’s important, so that I and other people can come and read your post! For example, in your post you can write “This post is part of SoCS:” and then copy and paste the URL found in your address bar at the top of this post into yours.  Your link will show up in my comments for everyone to see. The most recent pingbacks will be found at the top. NOTE: Pingbacks only work from WordPress sites. If you’re self-hosted or are participating from another host, such as Blogger, please leave a link to your post in the comments below.

5. Read at least one other person’s blog who has linked back their post. Even better, read all of them! If you’re the first person to link back, you can check back later or go to the previous week by following my category, “Stream of Consciousness Saturday,” which you’ll find below the “Like” button on my post.

6. Copy and paste the rules (if you’d like to) in your post. The more people who join in, the more new bloggers you’ll meet and the bigger your community will get!

7. As a suggestion, tag your post “SoCS” and/or “#SoCS” for more exposure and more views.

8. Have fun!

 

SoCS Take Two: Framing My Heart’s Desires

Today’s prompt for the stream of consciousness is, “frame.” We can use it as a noun or a verb and we are to have fun!

I have to start over. Last night I worked on my SoCS post. The stream took me somewhere I don’t want to go yet. Then I started to edit. I couldn’t help myself. Just a little tweak here. And a little tweak there. And then I realized, this topic is better left for another time when I can edit at will. So here we go again with take two.

Frame. Frames. I buy a lot of my frames at thrift stores. I’ll see a cool frame without a plan sometimes for it, but I’m trying to get away from that. One frame I did have a plan for that I got at a thrift store for probably 75 cents had some mass produced art in it. I took that out. It’s not always easy to find a square frame the right size, but I needed one for my collage, the one that brought my soul mate back to me.

This is one of the collages I’ve done at the beginning of each year. There are several, but this is my favorite. It has no words like the others, except that I wrote 2011 on the easel on the left. On the right is a man walking toward the woman who looks kinda like me. He’s in the distance and coming out of the darkness toward the yellow flowers.  It was in 2011 that David found me again, my first love come back after 39 years when the time was perfect. I hope you’re not tired of hearing about that. Anyway, I like the frame, and now the collage is hanging in our bedroom where it should be.

The collage was made from magazine pictures. I hope this is not an infringement to post them here and apologize if I’m using some one else’s images, but they all worked miracles in my life, so thank you. I will be happy to give you credit for your images if you let me know.

I put the owl up there, because I needed wisdom to not just follow my urges based on loneliness. “Follow your heart, but take your brain with you,” as the saying goes. I needed that owl’s help to make sure.  Now, art and nature are coming back into my life. Maybe art and nature are my original first loves that will always be with me.

What do you want to manifest in your life? Have you ever made a collage or other creative work of your hearts desires? It works! Not always right away, but focus on what you love and desire, and the good things will come. Trust the timing and get ready!

…

For more info on Stream of Consciousness Saturday, visit Linda G. Hill at:

https://lindaghill.com/2019/07/19/the-friday-reminder-and-prompt-for-socs-july-20-19/

Here are the rules:

1. Your post must be stream of consciousness writing, meaning no editing (typos can be fixed), and minimal planning on what you’re going to write.

2. Your post can be as long or as short as you want it to be. One sentence – one thousand words. Fact, fiction, poetry – it doesn’t matter. Just let the words carry you along until you’re ready to stop.

3. I will post the prompt here on my blog every Friday, along with a reminder for you to join in. The prompt will be one random thing, but it will not be a subject. For instance, I will not say “Write about dogs”; the prompt will be more like, “Make your first sentence a question,” “Begin with the word ‘The,’” or will simply be a single word to get you started.

4. Ping back! It’s important, so that I and other people can come and read your post! For example, in your post you can write “This post is part of SoCS:” and then copy and paste the URL found in your address bar at the top of this post into yours. Your link will show up in my comments for everyone to see. The most recent pingbacks will be found at the top. NOTE: Pingbacks only work from WordPress sites. If you’re self-hosted or are participating from another host, such as Blogger, please leave a link to your post in the comments below.

5. Read at least one other person’s blog who has linked back their post. Even better, read all of them! If you’re the first person to link back, you can check back later or go to the previous week by following my category, “Stream of Consciousness Saturday,” which you’ll find below the “Like” button on my post.

6. Copy and paste the rules (if you’d like to) in your post. The more people who join in, the more new bloggers you’ll meet and the bigger your community will get!

7. As a suggestion, tag your post “SoCS” and/or “#SoCS” for more exposure and more views.

8. Have fun!

Hold Out for True Love

Today’s Song Lyric Sunday theme from Helenswordsoflife.com is, “getting old.” In the song I’m sharing, James Taylor must be singing about someone with some age, and since he’s about 7 years older than me, I decided “Like Everyone She Knows” will work. Plus Helen always says we can go our own way with the theme.

I just discovered this song on November 9th while painting. It’s odd that I don’t remember hearing it before, since James Taylor is my favorite signer/songwriter.  I think I missed his whole album, New Moon Shine, in 1991. Regardless, the song came when the time was right, just like my true love. I did a double take when I heard JT singing about me, or who I was 7 years ago, and the main message in my book, Trust the Timing  which makes a great gift, by the way.

Here are the lyrics from azlyrics:

“Like Everyone She Knows” By James Taylor

Like everyone she knows, she’s holding out for true love,
waiting on an answer, ready for a change.
And everywhere she goes, she’s just a little bit on the lookout.
A day might mean tomorrow, questions still remain.
It’s not that she’s so sad, she always was a happy soul.
But lately she gets to wonder to herself, what’s the good of going on anymore?

I see her in her room, sitting at the window,
wondering if she’s pretty, feeling just a little small tonight.
She thinks of going home, giving up on the city,
maybe moving back down to Mobile, it’s not that far to fall.
I know she won’t see me but I might just say anyhow,
if I could be right there right now as I myself was told.

Hold tight to your heart’s desire, never ever let it go.
Let nobody fool you into giving it up too soon.
Tend your own fire, lay low and be strong, wait awhile, wait it out,
wait it on out, wait it out, it’ll come along.

I know she won’t see me but I might just say anyhow,
if I could be right there right now as I myself was told.

Hold tight to your heart’s desire, never ever let it go.
Let nobody fool you into giving it up too soon.
Tend your own fire, lay low and be strong,
Wait it out, wait it out, wait it on out.
Wait it out, let it come along, oh, wait awhile, wait awhile.

(https://www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/jamestaylor/likeeveryonesheknows.html)

 

 

“Wait Is a Four Letter Word.”

When God says, “Wait,” we can control only two things: how we wait and who we become along the way.  __Elizabeth Laing Thompson

Enter for a chance to win a free copy by signing up for my monthly newsletter to the right >>>

It’s always something. If it’s not waiting for your soulmate, it’s waiting for your kids to become independent, or waiting to retire, or waiting for your manuscript to be ready for publication.

I’ve just started reading the book, When God Says Wait, by Elizabeth Thompson. It’s easy to read with well-fictionalized biblical stories, personal stories from the author, and simple exercises at the end of each chapter. I sure could’ve used this book 15 years ago when I was wondering if I’d ever fall in love again, if I’d ever find a partner who’d be a good fit. Still, the messages about “navigating life’s detours and delays” clearly relate to my life now.

Finishing the manuscript for Trust the Timing (see my Work in Progress page) has taken a lot longer than I ever imagined, though I’m getting closer every day. Fortunately, waiting to publish and not rushing have allowed me to work through questions about my own history and about how much of other people’s history to include.

This has been a struggle. Early in the writing process, I was encouraged to dig deeper and to show more scenes, which is fine if you’re writing fiction, and okay when it comes to my own baggage, but not so comfortable when it comes to other people’s baggage, or what I call OPB. Even with name changes and changes in identifying characteristics, there has been an uneasiness about exposing some OPB. Earlier drafts have more OPB, and I’ve deleted and softened quite a bit of that. Yet, there are some pieces of OPB that are important to the story. This is one of the big challenges of writing a memoir.

I’ve been praying hard for guidance every time open the manuscript document. It’s helped to ask this  question:

What does God want me to write?

Things often become clear when I ask that question, or some version of it, and then listen to my gut. God often talks to me through my gut. Sometimes God whispers in my ear. But I have to be quiet and open to get the message.

Waiting gives God time to work things out in us and others. Waiting gives us time to become who we are meant to be, to become ready for our heart’s desire. After all, that’s what my book is about. It seems to be my life-long lesson. And I’m learning, slowly but surely.

For a chance to win a free, signed copy of When God Says Wait, sign up for my monthly newsletter before March 21st by clicking the box on the side bar to the right, or just click here: http://eepurl.com/ch52KT

What are you waiting for?  What helps you wait?

What If Something Wonderful Happens?

My favorite part of Trini’s post at Paths of the Spirit, about dealing with negative thoughts, is about  imagining how we would cope with the negative “what ifs” if we were  operating from our most ideal, best self. I also the love the part about gratitude for what we have now. A comforting treat is to finish up with thoughts about wonderful things happening. I believe putting more positive “what ifs” out there helped my soulmate find me when the time was right. Positive thoughts have also brought me more time to do the things I love. God had something to do with this, of course.

So here’s my question for you:

What if something wonderful happens?

Something wonderful, like  _______________________________________.

I invite you to fill in the blank with as many wonderful details as you’d like. Feel free to write your heart’s desires in the comments here. Or write a whole blog post about wonderful things that could happen and share the link in the comments below.

Have fun!