Honeyanne

the road is life...

"Our battered suitcases were piled on the sidewalk again;

we had longer ways to go. But no matter, the road is life." – Jack Kerouac

a poem or something...

Motherhood by a mother

I see my life as a simple offering, more often felt than recognized.

Like the bend in the lane; the sun in the trees;

the green in the moss; the soft in the breeze.

I see myself genlty, gracefully, joyfully unfolding in every situation.

I am gentle and joyful and kind through and through.

I am listening and lauging and lifting and true.

change is in the air...

Wow!  It would appear I have forgotten about this little blog.  I haven't.  Truth is, it's been on my mind continually.  I'm in a quandary because I feel like I'm outgrowing Honeyanne. I feel like I want to move in a new direction.  How typical of me.

Just the other week I stupidly opened a nasty virus which wiped out my hard drive and I lost all our family photos.  Of course, I had nothing saved to disk.  This makes sharing photos difficult.  I suppose I could set up a bunch of photo shoots this week and restock my photo banks (which I will save to disk!!!)...but as I blurted out previous, I feel like I'm moving in a new blogging direction and I don't quite know what that direction looks like just yet.  Does this mean I'm moving sites again?  I'm not sure.  But I think, for the new year I will retire Honeyanne. 

 

  

what's your comfort food?

 

(Tee hee - did you see how I used a play on words with "comfort food" and pictures of my little Comfort eating? Isn't that great?  I'm just so witty sometimes I scare myself. Ahem. Anyway...)

Ah, yes.  Comfort food.  My best friend and my worst enemy.  Too much of a good thing is, well, a lot of something good, which is good right? It feels that way at the moment but eventually it catches up with me, I am finding, which is not - um - good.

Moderation in all things.  Moderation is the name of the game.  Often, when I am unsure exactly what a word means I go to the synonyms to clarify.  Here are a bunch of synonyms for moderation:

• balance
• calmness
• composure
• constraint
• patience
• poise
• quiet
• restraint
• sobriety
• steadiness
• toleration

Hmmm...interesting, especially in connection with comfort food because, I am trying to achieve a sense of balance, quiet, restraint, self toleration etc. when I turn to food for comfort.  Can I use food to achieve this? 

Just for fun, lets look at some of the antonymns of moderation:

• indulgence
• intensity
• outrageousness
• severity
• unlimitedness
• violence
• wildness

Violence?  Really?  Can eating be a violent thing we do to ourselves?  I've heard of this before actually.  Let us suppose over doing it on the kraft dinner, cookies, Haagen Daz or whatever food you go to for comfort, is an act of violence on yourself.  Haagen Daz is not the evil here - it's the outrageousness of the indulgence which is the evil.  Too much of a good thing is violent.  Hmmm, when I consider it in these terms everything changes.

When I turn to food for comfort it is usually because I am lacking something - I'm bored or sad or worried or mad.  Sometimes I am celebrating too. If I turn to food in moderation to comfort myself, can I assume I will experience a sense of quiet, calmness or balance?  That is the hope, isn't it?  Why do we get up in arms about comfort food as an enemy.  It isn't.  Food is our friend.  It is unrestrained appetite which is our enemy. 

I don't know, maybe I'm way off here.  I think I need to study the topic more but the pictures are cute so at least this blog entry has that in it's favor.

Leave a comment if you have any insights on the topic of moderation and food...

set sail...

 

I've been reading  As A Man Thinketh by James Allen.  I usually read it every year.  This book, simplified in my own words, explains how thoughts are extremely powerful and important in a person's life. 

The other day I watched Inception staring Leonardo DiCaprio.  There were 3 lines in that movie which stood out to me - kind of grabbed hold of me. 

"An idea. Resilient. Highly Contagious. Once an idea has taken hold of the brain it's almost impossible to eradicate."

"The seed that we plant in this man's mind will grow into an idea. This idea will define him. It may come to change...well, it may come to change everything about him."

"An idea is like a virus, resilient, highly contagious and the smallest seed of an idea can grow. It can grow to define or destroy you."

These little lines in a movie, crammed full of car chases and explosions, started to mix with the lines in As A Man Thinketh.  I started to really wonder what one idea has taken root in my mind.  What one idea is growing in there and defining me? 

I searched my mind and, to my upset, found an idea which has been growing for a very long time.

I can't.

There it was. I could see how it has defined my life in so many ways.  "Holy crap!" thought I (please excuse my potty-mouth). This one little thought, contagious and resilient has taken hold of me and has held me back for most of my life.

But also, as I examined my mind a little further,  I found another idea that had been growing and weaving it's way up and around the dense thicket of  the first idea. 

I can.

Of all the things I have accomplished in my life, this idea has been the catalyst and the hope.

I realize how I need to nurture this little idea that has taken root in my mind.  I need to tend it and feed it and water it and encourage it and shelter it.  It's quality of life matters more than anything else. 

The power of one idea - no matter how tiny - can grow until it changes everything. It can define not only myself but the world around me.  We've seen that happen over and over in history.  One idea can define a whole nation.  Such a thought is worth nurturing, don't you agree?

I am discovering how subtly an idea starts in the mind.  We can be nurturing it for a life time without even being aware it's there.  Once we start to awake to the ideas, we can nourish and encourage what is right and empowering and reject those ideas which are base and damaging.  We can resist the low notion and turn our gaze to more nobler ideas.

My dear friend Amber sent me this quote once.  She was longing to cast off and explore her potential and find adventure and meaning in her life.  As I think on this quote, I too long for distant shores. I long for the sea of possibilities in myself.  But something often holds me back and these past few weeks I've been able to explore what it has been. 

I challenge you, dear reader, to search inward and see just what ideas are defining you...happy sailing!

on being gathered...

 
There is nothing so gratifying as sitting around a table with good women,  feeding each other physically, emotionally, spiritually and mentally.  I was at a feast last night.  It was fantastic, dear reader, to spend time with truly amazing women.  We were celebrating birthday style - just a small gathering of kindred spirits eating, sharing and laughing.  I didn't want to leave the table.

I can't account for the cake but it is a good thing great conversation doesn't have calories!  I would have been in some serious trouble otherwise.  Ralph Waldo Emerson was so right, my best thoughts have come from others. I have grown so much because of the women I love. When you have the priceless opportunity to sit at the feet of wise women the only option you are given is to grow.

Between Debra's puppet show to Audrey's reading about the humble nobility of  No Moccasins to Cat's vivid reflections to Karina's keen insights I ate raw seed cake, zucchini cake, potatoes from the garden, organic humus and drank infused iced tea. Dear reader, every day should be like that.  I'm a bit bereaved that it isn't.  I can't tell you how deflated these moments are while I sit at home - alone - with only the dishes to share their stories and let me tell you - dishes are soooo boring!

I crave the circling influence of others.  I crave the telling of stories.  I crave the diversity of potluck creations.  I have to say with all the gratitude I can muster, since I was very young, I have always been gathered by wonderful women.  Really, that is what the whole experience is about - gathering and being gathered - circled round about by the wisdom, compassion, empathy and humor of soul sisters.  Thank you. Thank you. 

Let's gather ourselves tomorrow - bring your best conversation and I'll bring a plate of something tasty...

writer in residence ...

 
  

The story I am writing exists, written in absolutely perfect fashion, some place, in the air.  All I must do is find it, and copy it.  ~Jules Renard, "Diary," February 1895

lazy days are essential...

 
 

This art of resting the mind and the power of dismissing from it all care and worry is probably one of the secrets of energy in our great men. Captian J.A. Hadfield

Whenever I feel myself teetering on the edge of melt down I have to let everything go and rest.  I have to say no to the incessant to-do list of life.  Kind of like turning the "Open for Business" sign to, "Be back at 2:00. Sorry for the inconvenience" in my front window.  I leave the demands to demand and the laundry piles to slide.  I even let my personal ambitions wait in line while I take a siesta.

There is magic rejuvenation in a nap - even if it's for 15 minutes, wouldn't you agree? I can face almost anything after a rest. 

look what I can do...

I just  love love love  Ez from Creature Comforts  and all the fabulous work she does finding beautiful images all over the world wide web.  She's a treasure seeker.  My favorite posts are from her Inspiration Daily category.  OMgosh, I love them soooo much that I had to learn how to do it myself.  And she, being so generous and ingenious shared her secrets.  So, I took a bunch of pictures and followed her instruction and guess what... 

Now I can pull the colors out of the sublime I see in the world around me and, I don't know, sit back to gaze at them, looking pretty-as-you please all in a row.  I can't think just what to do with them right now but it's scrumptious eye candy.  Don't you just want to pop a square in your mouth and give it a chew?  Or is it just me?

oh to be young ...

 

“There is a fountain of youth: it is your mind, your talents, the creativity you bring to your life and the lives of people you love. When you learn to tap this source, you will truly have defeated age.” Sophia Loren