Tag Archives: Learning

Phoenix Aflame

Phoenix egg design detail

Phoenix designs are my latest affirmation-oriented passion. The first series of designs consists of these four eggs, each with an affirmation printed on the back side. The affirmations derive from my daily writing. Most mornings, I start the day by searching inwardly for an affirmation that fits my my orientation… then I find a picture that corresponds. I post these to my journal.

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Winter Withdrawal

Banner featuring magnifying glass and candle

What to say?
I used to think my writing would foster and help preserve meaningful life events. I further expected that these recorded experiences and discoveries would later prove helpful to people in some way. But what generally happens is this:  During key times of intense exploration and insight, the writing evaporates almost entirely.

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Rhyming Dictionaries

Tools and Fools

“Argue for your limitations and they’re yours.”
~ Richard Bach

Poets should avoid rhyming dictionaries like a pestilence*, I used to think. These “aids” too easily form a crutch, distract, or lead astray. Instead, poets should develop access to their abundant internal writing resources.

Guitar Strings

Lyrics combine poetry and music

A music video converted me from this foolishness. It featured lyrics by Leonard Cohen and showed that one of this renowned poet-musician’s favored tools was a rhyming dictionary. Immediately after discovering this, I abandoned my self-imposed rule of avoidance.

The switch initiated some learning: Continue reading

wayaclan

September 4, 2013

Some key steps I’ve taken so far with this blog (learning the process) are:

  • Doing basic set-up
  • Achieving acceptable photo clarity, sizing, and positioning
  • Controlling spam comments (via Akismet)
  • Limiting the number of stored revisions of posts (via Revision Control)

Next, I’ll probably start using the “Insert More Tag” so that long posts come up as abbreviated teasers instead of full posts. (The “Readers” setting might accomplish this globally, though.) I’m also experimenting with the “Status” format in this very post, expecting that this message won’t even have a heading.  Continue reading

Learning by Doing

“The work will teach you how to do it.”

This Estonian proverb is my motto. In the case of this blog, I’m learning how to produce one by doing it. … I got my first viagara comment today. Since comments are integral to having a blog, that was a good piece of learning.

I’m off to a slow start today but, actually, that is pretty typical. By the time I do what I call my “dailies”—planning, journaling, and everyday chores—the morning is often half gone. The dailies usually include a poem and the time to complete one is always unpredictable … some have taken the whole day.

My daily planning includes a lengthy gratitude list and a fresh affrimation accompanied by a photo. This creative time is my delight and dearest luxury. Of course, if a time comes when this indulgence must be dropped, it will be surrendered. I’m convinced that necessity of letting go (or going beyond) is true of all egoic traits and activities. This was my thinking as I wrote today’s poem.

* * *

FINAL FRONTIER

If I want to be
completely free,
that even means
free from me.

* * *  

Someday, I expect, my blog posts will be read. You may even be the first reader! First or last, I’m thinking of you today and hoping we will connect with good things to share.  ♥ Jo

 

Test to Resize Photo

Poem 130623 Onboard Guidance

I think I’ve solved the size problem. But now the picture is fuzzy, whereas the original is not. Why isn’t this photo as clear as the image you get if you click on it and it opens in another window???

Still struggling. There is SO much to learn, in spite of WordPress and YouTube tutorials that claim setting up a website is easy. For example, the information on backing up data is prodigious.

Guidance for the Launch

Poem 130623 Onboard Guidance

Illustrated Poem 130623

I feel drawn, lately, to launching this website and have asked my heart for guidance. There is so much to learn about these processes–both the design software and the heart intuition.

This poem was written this afternoon. The color scheme turned out more dreary than I’d prefer. I wanted to achieve a “luminous night” color scheme that coordinated with the dusky rose heart-moth, and also to rely on copyright-free source materials. I may have another go at it later. I also need to figure out how to import pictures that retain their original size and clarity. I think you can click on this one to enlarge it.

The moth photo is courtesy of Puravida: http://www.morguefile.com/archive/display/105471