Pilgrimage/Journey Ideas

Image via Wikipedia

Most of MindSieve's readers know that there's a big voyage for me beginning later this month.  In preparation, I've been reading fiction regarding the South Pacific, Michener, Melville, etc. and a book on pilgrimage mindfulness; being in the present moment, being conscious of the sacred that surrounds a traveler on the journey.

I'm currently pondering thoughts of some small, meaningful treasure that I will take along in my luggage to leave on each island that we visit.  Has to be non-harmful to the environment, not showy, ornate or obvious - just something that I will know I've left behind.  Any thoughts or brainy ideas that come into your head(s) regarding the item?  Have you left treasures as you've made especially meaningful journeys somewhere in your life?  I would love to hear about those treasures.

I'm planning to prepare several soul collage pages to fit in my new journal - pages that I'll "listen" to from time to time while we travel.  The journal - oh, yes, I have a new journal and of course, I have several books downloaded on my Kindle for those days at sea made for relaxed reading, napping, reading.   I'm wondering about a daily book of readings/devotions/contemplative writing for the trip.  I know that you readers have favorite "reads" that you use seasonally, yearly, daily and I'd love your suggestions about a small volume (I might just Kindle it).  So, please give this some thought and send me your list of favorites - there must be one out there that is just yearning for my attention.




Now, lest you think that I'm overworking this pilgrimage stuff, you're probably right.  On the other hand, the planning is so delightful and it seems to be putting a couple of my creative activities in gear - i.e. the writing and as it happens, the painting as well - so I'm letting the planning do its thing and I'm going along for the ride:)

Again, put on your thinking caps and send me a few thoughts about the treasures to be left behind and the volume of daily reading.......I look forward to the thoughts that come from you!

Photo - Wikipedia - Storm in the South Pacific

Listening for the words

When asked "why he wrote?" Thurber replied.....

"I don't know what I think until I read what I have to say." 

For those who think they have nothing to say, who can't imagine writing a blog, a poem, even a simple letter to a friend, my encouragement is for you to write and write and write.  I think I agree with Thurber in that we might often think the muse is nowhere in sight, that we have little to say on a subject.......and yet, all that has to be done is to begin - they're there, the words are there.

Don't be afraid to listen to yourself - the listening may be from a place you never imagined or from a Creator that you've never given a thought to.  The words may only be between you and that Creator - don't be afraid to write, and most of all, don't be afraid to listen to your own words or to the words that reverberate back to you!

Photo courtesy Lucy - SS at Camp Cross - caught listening:)

Soul Collage Sunday

A simple Soul Collage card spoke out to me this week as I sat in prayer and listening.  In the language and discipline of Soul Collage* - I asked "Who are you?"

I am the child, the Christ Child

I am God, I am the Trinity

I am the new child, Child of God

confident in my ability to breathe in 

all of life's mystery

I am naked, vulnerable, loved and

unafraid

I am the one who stretches, who

flexes, who climbs to absurd, unheard

of high places

I am the one who builds strength on

the gifts you have given me

I am intentional, purpose-filled,

holiness driven

I embrace the white bird, the Holy Spirit

The blue of baptism, of rebirth, of openness

Of the vast universe surrounding me

 

 

*Soul Collage - www.soulcollage.com

One Small Town's Labor Day Parade

I haven't been to one of our small town parades in a number of years and today I actually was a marcher.  Yes, today I was marching with a group of women representing the YWCA  and its mission of enriching the lives of women and their families.  It's a great cause one that encompasses many aspects of that enrichment.  As one of our signs today stated, "the Y helped out in 645 cases of domestic violence last year in this small town of ours."  Heaven only knows how many women were not helped in their situations of fear and oppression.

As the announcers along the parade route stated, "here comes the YWCA helping this community 's women and families since 1913."  It was rousing to hear the applause and see the smiles from the crowds lining three major streets of our little town.  Of course, many of the onlookers were kids responding to our smiles and to our waving back to them, unaware of the Y's mission and not needing to understand such a subject at their young ages. I know there were those viewing the parade who have experienced first hand the Y's involvement in their time of need.  They know the terror of leaving their homes in the night, seeking shelter from an abusive husband, father, or boyfriend.  Such a sad note to consider in the euphoria of a small hometown parade.

Of course, there were lighter things to consider - one being a local plumbing company's float with potties and toilet paper adorning its truck.  Kids sitting on the closed appliances and waving like crazy to the smiling crowd.  There were dogs with cowboy hats, roller derby women in their fishnet stockings, tutus, and fancy hair colors - the women rolling along the edge of the crowd high-fiveing every little person that bravely put out their hands.  The marching band, the cheerleaders, the  drum majorettes, the Harley-Davidson hog riders, the Democrats for Patty Murray, the Republicans for everyone alive who isn't a Democrat, the rodeo princesses, the classic cars, the ponies pulling small wagons, the "Onion Mascot" of our new Walla Walla Sweets Baseball team, and lastly, blessedly lastly for all of those on foot, the beautiful horses brushed and shined to a polish pooping their way down Main Street with dignity and stature.

    

Yes, it was a beautiful day for a parade and for happiness and for all the good stuff of the last weekend of summer - a wonderful small town gathering!

Blankie anyone?

Image by MarkOMeara via Flickr

I went to my favorite American Heritage Dictionary today to check out the word blankie or blanky and there was no record of the word.  Thinking it impossible that no publication has picked up this common toddler term, I typed the word in at Wikipedia's Dictionary site and sure enough - here's their definition:
A blanket, especially a security blanket; often spelled blankie in this context.
 

Now, you may be wondering what the MindSieve is up to today with a discussion of blankie......well, as a matter of fact, last night as I was tucking that extra pillow firmly into its position next to my body curvature, I chuckled a bit and thought oh, isn't it funny that we adults presume that we gave up our blankies years ago?  Did we?

I had a young female sales executive who sent her husband home from the hospital delivery room to fetch her blankie - it was going to be a long labor and she needed it.  She had then, and may to this day, a scrap of her favorite baby blankie (blanket) that was always with her at night - at home or away.  I suspect her babies, now maybe teens, still have a remnant of their toddler years as well.  I know people who hold something in their hand all night, a handkerchief, a tissue, a grasp of a silky pillowcase.  Once on a NYC Midtown bus, I watched a young teen work and work and work what looked like a piece of yarn - over and through his fingers again and again - not frantically, but caressingly.  As we approached his stop, I observed him carefully rewind what looked like a piece of dirty yarn and place it deep in his jeans pocket.  I KNOW in my heart of hearts that that piece of yarn was what was left of his blankie.


I think many children attach themselves to a soft silky stuffed toy early in their lives.  My kids had blankies or substitute blankies - one of my daughters had a Raggedy Ann doll that I had to capture and wash in the washing machine occasionally - it was a stinky little thing but she loved it to pieces - literally to pieces!  I'm not sure when it made its last appearance.  I made the absolutely wretched mistake of throwing out one of my step-daughter's blankies in her early college years.  I had asked that her room be cleaned - she said that she had made a pile of keeps and a pile of throwaways.  In her absence, I mistakenly threw away the "keeps."  Oh my gosh, I'll never live that one down!......but the raggedy, green blanket was awful and I didn't know it was a treasure! 


So how about you?  Did your kids have blankies and did you?  Do you still have a blankie of some kind - something you never travel or sleep without.  An extra pillow is occasionally missing in a hotel room or a friend's guest room - I substitute a bath towel in my pillow's place if necessary.  It's not nearly as comforting or sleep-inducing as the real thing at home but I honestly can't see myself tucking my own feather pillow under my arm on every journey....well, maybe - there are certainly a lot of teens with pillows in their arms boarding flights these days.  Maybe not under my arm, but in the suitcase?
So tell me some blanie stories or disguise them as though they're someone else's blankie and not really your own.  Oh, come on, pleeeeaaassseee!:)

September 1 Countdown

Cover via Amazon

Countdown to what you might ask?  Well, three weeks from today we will depart on a long dreamed of cruise to the South Pacific.  We've refused to succumb to counting away the days but now with September 1 arriving we are preparing each day in fun and for us, interesting ways.

 For example - I finished my re-reads of James Michener's HAWAII and TALES OF THE SOUTH PACIFIC early this summer.   I'm now reading William Manchester's OUT OF DARKNESS ( see Country Parson today for that book's review:))  I'm also re-reading a fabulous book by Phil Cousineau entitled THE ART OF PILGRIMAGE.  Similar to the first time I read it, I've been intrigued from the first words of the Forward and marvel each day at what Cousineau has to say on the subject of travel and pilgrimage.  For example in the introduction he writes, and I quote:

"Within these chapters are stories, anecdotes, quotes, and vignettes interlaced with practical suggestions from travelers, artists, and pilgrims thoughout history.  Connecting these voices are a series of meditations or contemplations that suggest different ways to practice what pilgrims and poets and keenly perceptive travelers have done for centuries, to see with the "eyes of the heart," as the Sufis say, and transform the inevitable ordeals of of your journey into opportunities to learn something about yourself and the wide world around you." 

And a quote in the book from Mark Twain -  "Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness."


So it goes in the beginning of my studies toward knowing more about the vast Pacific and yet another part of this globe that we will be visiting, sailing through, resting upon, etc.  I find these topics fascinating - maybe you'll like hearing about some of them also - particularly for ANY trip of consequence, I recommend the Cousineau book.  Anyone out there read anything of Mr. Cousineau's?