July 9, 2021
“Perseverance is a great element of success. If you knock long enough and loud enough at the gate, you are sure to wake up somebody.“
– Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
July 8, 2021
Today, I am re-minded that a ray of sun can be like the gift of a thousand smiles. And the rain can feel like a thousand tears. Yet, both are the blessings of life. Everyday, I have the opportunity to see the gifts of life and nature before my eyes, and I am grateful. – Pamela Leavey
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July 7, 2021
Bird Highway, by Pamela Leavey Bird highway with lots of fast food stops all around the house. Cardinals in pairs, Sparrows by the dozen. Why lately we’ve spotted six Bluebirds almost daily. The Bluebirds are special. They are of course— The Bluebird of Happiness. Look, look at me, said the bird in the tree. What if you were like me flying free. Fill the suet, stock the seed we will all be by to sing our songs. All different, our colors. All vibrant our feathers as delicate as a breeze. If you build a bird highway, They will make it their regular flyway.
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I’ve been in the place in my life many times that I need to ask for help. For some of us, just asking for help can be difficult. I know this, because it’s often been hard for me to ask for help in the past. Sometimes even now. I do what I can, when I can, to help others, because it is always the right thing to do…
In a world filled with uncertainty we can all strive to make a difference. With every step we take towards lending a helping hand we can all pray that our helping hand is welcomed. We seek not for acknowledgement for we know in our hearts what we do is right and good. That is the blessing we receive, the knowledge in our hearts that we have done something for someone else. May I give to someone who needs my help today.
– Pamela Leavey
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July 6, 2021
In recent weeks I have been working on the things I carry around with me that I need to release. I struggle with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome and Fibromyalgia, along with Osteoarthritis. Add in General Anxiety Disorder, and you’ve got a sometimes debilitating mix of fatigue, stress, and pain. Two weeks ago, I started repeating a daily mantra to release the emotional aspect of health issues wearing me down. Our emotions play a big role in our health. When we can release our emotions that are affecting us, it makes a huge difference in the way we feel. I hope this simple affirmations helps others as it has helped me…
“Today, I release the stress and pain I am carrying. When stress and pain arise in my day, I take a moment to acknowledge what I am feeling and release it. With a deep breath in, on my exhale I let it go. Each time throughout the day that I release the stress and pain I am carrying, the burden becomes a little lighter.” – Pamela Leavey
Our intent can be very powerful when we put it to work… Intent makes manifest.
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July 5, 2021
When prompted, in my graduate studies class, Theory and Criticism of Literature, to write about why I turn to literature, I cited literature as a source to understand the human struggle. This question, “what does literature do” was posed after reading an excerpt of Plato‘s Republic. My response follows…
I believe that literature is capable of expanding our minds as it reaches into the depths of the soul of the reader and invites them in to view a glimpse of the human soul from the eyes of the writer and the characters who they write about. Furthermore, I contend that literature can be a great source of comfort and joy to readers and it can also shake a reader to their core causing the reader to feel discomfort, confusion and sadness. To further clarify my own beliefs and broaden my understanding of what literature does, I turned to Plato to examine his beliefs on the topic.
Plato is not terribly concerned with the human struggle. Indeed, the human struggle in literature is only a representation of that struggle in Plato’s opinion. He says in the Republic, Book X that “a representer knows nothing of value about the things he represents” (Plato p. 71). In this Plato asserts that a writer can not know anything about what they are writing about, because writing is a form of representation and “representation and truth are a considerable distance apart” (Plato p. 67).
I would tend to disagree with Plato on this, as I believe that writers are capable of translating their own experiences into literature whether it be poetry, fiction or nonfiction. In fact, in today’s world, which is so vastly different from Plato’s time, the memoir, which falls into the creative nonfiction genre, is a very popular form of literature. Yet, in Plato’s view, “a good poet must understand the issues he writes about, if his writing is to be successful, and that if he didn’t understand them, he wouldn’t be able to write about them” (Plato p. 67).
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