Write Around the Corner Meeting Prompts 5/9/2020 (and song)

#WriteAroundtheCorner

1. Invitation to Write

This section of You are a Bad Ass by Jen Sincero

#2 Choose one of your daily rituals -- anything that is a typical part of your everyday life.

Now write about it -- fictionally or nonfictionally -- what would happen if your ritual got interrupted.


#3.  We all have friends that come and go in our lives, someone who was very important to us and then suddenly was no longer around.

Think about one of those friends and write, beginning with I remember...

Through My Window

#ThroughMyWindow

Rise and Shine prompt

The ripples in the water

the sun filtered by the palm...

Through my window I see 

everything depends on where I stand.

I can obscure the light or

I can stand fully in it.

The choice is always mine.

Through my window I witness

the vibrancy of nature

and I know that aliveness lives in me.

Through my window I know

that I'm always being carried

by the big sky, the wind,

and the very earth that grounds me.

Through my window are all the

elements that sustain:

light

earth

wind

sky

water

1967: A Micro Memoir

The beginning of my adolescence, 12-years-old, sometime around Christmas 1967 and I remember being at my cousin Joni's house, she a year older, and wiser, because she went to public school in an integrated city, where I was a Catholic school girl sheltered in the suburbs of Cleveland, and that night in her bedroom she taught me the new dance called "The Skate," said all the kids were doing it, and we played "Daydream Believer" over and over again and danced and danced until I was called to go home.

Now, years later, somehow"Daydream Believer" has become my lucky song. If it comes on the radio, I'm immediately singing and "Skating," even if I'm driving. And with the advent of YouTube, I can go and watch the "Official Music Video" for the song and enjoy my favorite Monkee Davy "Skate" while singing the song, just like I did with Joni back in 1967.

54. Jumbled Emotions and A Prayer

#64Challenge

So, this is how I walk away from the school year.

Not with the usual joy and relief. But with jumbled emotions that are hard to sort out.

I expected to walk into my classroom and burst out crying.That didn't happen.

I took pictures of what was left on my board at the end, including a couple messages from my 10th period kids:

We walked out that day not knowing what was to come. Then we found out.

I was unable to erase this, so I left it. I also left the words "Find Joy" on the little white board I was using for my monthly motto. It isn't time to wipe out that idea yet!

I had a list of things to do and I got right to work. I was done by 9:15, even though I had more time allotted. There wasn't much else to do.

I sat at my desk, in my new chair, and just stared at my room. I remembered the Creative Writers presenting their poems. I remember a relaxed final day. I remember laughter.

This was the year I hung my Dharma flag as a way to remember that in the challenges are opportunities. Where there is struggle, there is a hidden gift. A bit of Yin and Yang. I considered taking the flag down so I could ceremonially hang it again next year. But then I decided I wanted it there when I walk in next school year (which I pray begins in August as scheduled.)

In cleaning up files, a poem fell out of a folder. I had come across this poem in one of the poetry books I keep in the shelf. It had been put there many years ago, and is a favorite of mine by Clarissa Pinkola Estes. I used to have it memorized. Maybe it is time to commit it to memory once more.

A Prayer

Refuse to fall down.

If you cannot refuse to fall down,

refuse to stay down.

If you cannot refuse to stay down,

lift your heart toward heaven,

and like a hungry beggar,

ask that it be filled,

and it will be filled.

You may be pushed down.

You may be kept from rising.

But no one can keep you

from lifting your heart

toward heaven --

only you.

It is in the middle of misery

that so much becomes clear.

The one who says nothing good

came of this,

is not yet listening.

Walking in a Different Direction Part Two: Lakes Park

Today I finally did it. I pulled myself out of the house, into the absolutely perfect Florida May weather, and took a walk at Lakes Park. I know I have not been there in a long time, and I went with the purpose to do my usual loop through the woods.

Lone Palm Morning

I expected the usual Sunday crowd, but the people were few and far between. The pavilions and play areas are roped off, the exercise equipment fenced off, and the picnic tables overturned.


When I got there I changed my idea of where I wanted to walk. I decided to walk around the lake, rather than go into the wooded area. Very quickly I realized something -- when I have walked around the lake, I tend to start in the same place and walk in the opposite direction than I was walking this morning. And as I wrote about a few weeks ago, I was seeing a lot of things I haven't noticed before, getting glimpses of photo opportunities I rarely see.

Ibis Island

Walking Toward the Rising Sun

I had made up my mind just to walk and listen and watch. What I witnessed was a wildlife that is getting used to fewer humans. I could feel the lack of human dominance I usually associate with the park. (And that is with good reason: it's a wonderful park!)

One instance of this was a Little Green Heron that looked like it was going to walk across the path I was walking. I never see Herons doing that there, let alone the elusive Little Green. I trained my camera on him, but he stopped and eventually flew off.

Anhinga Rock

I took a few more pictures, then headed home with my sun roof open. The radio played a song that made me cry: Jerry Salley's "I Want to Thank You." It made me think about all the people in my life who encourage my faith and belief in myself and the goodness of the world.  It was a perfect way to begin my day.

Great Blue Heron Detail

Great Blue Heron Wide View

Write Around the Corner Meeting Prompts 5/2/2020

 #WriteAroundtheCorner

1. Began with this poem by Samuel Coleridge as an invitation/mentor:

2. Write down 3 nouns. Then write a short verse for each word. Connect the three if possible

3. Found poetry. Go back through any of your writing you have available. Fine some golden lines. Connect together into a new whole.

4. Chat Box Dialogue (repeat from a couple weeks ago.)

53. Ye Tang Che

#64Challenge

The first month of virtual teaching has been so darn stressful. I never wanted to go back to being a "first year teacher" but man, that is how it has been feeling.

The intense pressure to get it right, the missteps, the changing requirements, the frustrations, the exhausting Zoom meetings, the changing requirements, and oh yeah, did I mention the changing requirements?

I know, I know...we haven't done this before, everyone is figuring it out, blah blah blah.

By last weekend I was TOTALLY FED UP.  I was COMPLETELY EXHAUSTED.  So much so, I couldn't even enjoy my weekend. I kept falling into dark pools of tears, unable to lift myself out.

By Sunday, when I wrote ANOTHER depressing poem, my friend Laurie suggested I do something creative. I didn't feel like I had a creative bone in my body. But what I did have was a notebook, an array of colorful fountain pens, and my personal lifesaving device: Chapter 7 of Pema Chodron's book When Things Fall Apart: Heart Advice for Difficult Times.

I could read. I could make notes. I could doodle. Color always feels creative to me, so yeah, I'm was being creative.

But mostly it was the message I needed to hear from this wise work. Abandon Hope. Be Fearless.

It was easy to see what was bringing me down. It was my HOPE THAT THINGS WOULD GET BETTER.  The hope that I'D FINALLY FIGURE IT OUT.  The hope that OTHERS WOULD UNDERSTAND MY PLIGHT.

Guess what? Everyone else is feeling the same way. How are they going to save ME?

Pema says, We're all addicted to hope -- hope that doubt and mystery will go away. Abandon hope.

This upsets people. They don't want to hear it. In fact, I posted "Ye Tang Che" on Facebook and got "friendly" comments that I can't give up hope, blah blah...as if I was suicidal.

Ye Tang Che is the opposite of suicidal.

It is facing the realities we live with. The reality of who WE are. The reality that WE DON'T KNOW.

We can't escape that. Or ourselves. Hope that we can is what leaves us COMPLETELY EXHAUSTED.

Did I mention the title of this particular chapter in Pema's book is entitled "Hopelessness and Death."

The title alone would scare anyone away. But Pema promises early on:

If we're willing to give up hope that insecurity and pain can be exterminated, 

then we can have the courage to relax with the groundlessness of our situation. 

This is the first step on the path.

So, I decided to take the step. The step into Ye Tang Che. The step that does not include any ground under my feet.

I made a list for what I'd do Monday. A doable list. A list of things I know how to do. And I told myself -- just this, and nothing more. And I did the same for each day of the week.

I didn't look to anyone else to solve my problems. Or prop me up. Or make me feel like I'm doing it "right."

When something frustrated me -- I just bore witness. I would think, hmmm, I don't agree with that, but there it is.

I became a constant observer of myself. I made sure I got out of my chair. I looked and listened and followed through and ignored the dumb stuff.

Pema says that Hope and Fear are two sides of the same coin. Boy, don't I know THAT!

The steps I took this week has helped me lose the fear I was experiencing. The fear that I wasn't good enough, that I couldn't do this, that I was not doing as well as others, that this is never going to end.

Pema suggests we abandon hope to become fearless.

Now I am just letting the mystery be. I'm letting the doubt be. I'm observing. I'm listening. I'm not attaching myself to any wish list or certain outcome.

Years ago I made these for my team at Lehigh when we were going through a tough school year:

These four words are all I need right now. We have 4-5 weeks left, and with Ye Tang Che as my guide, I will not only make it through, I will survive AND know more about myself and getting through a difficult time than I ever thought possible.

There is a gift here. And it will serve me.