Friday, July 13, 2007

captured reflections.......

captured reflections

What I love more than anything about writing is the opportunity I have to take a snippet of my life, and to find the words to expressively reflect my perceptions of it. Whether it's an older memory or a recent one that has occured during the course of the day a chance to capture it with a net of descriptives fills the reflection with another dimension. A poem, a quote, a concept, a memory, or one single thought are all seeds which grow in my imagination. Writing empowers the growth of the seeds. Writing about it brings the reflection forward.


An unexamined life is not worth living..............who said that? Though I have a tendancy to analyze ad nauseum because well, that's just how my brain is wired, taking the time to reflect on the day, the week, the year feeds my learning. Reflections offer refreshed perspectives which in turn allow for broadening how I view my world or the world beyond my front yard. It helps me understand human behaviour........my own as well as others. Using my net to pull in the words, I can make an attempt to put my reflections out there for others to consider.
Writing may be considered a solitary pursuit, but it doesn't feel isolating or lonely to me. Rather, it's the activity of conjuring up the original idea before it is integrated with the right words where solitary is found. I feel more alone when I'm still "in my head" so to speak than when I'm sitting at the keyboard allowing it all to flow out of me. It's like I'm holding my breath as the ideas solidify. Writing lets me exhale..........it breathes life as I go through the process of directing the flow of the oxygenated words stored inside me and then out through my fingertips. And as I breathe, I feel more alertly focused and spiritually connected to others.........past and present.
And when one feels spiritually connected, one never feels alone.
captured perspectives


20 comments:

Unknown said...

This is a beautiful tribute to your writing and I am glad that you choose to 'exhale' each day here.
I too am a habitual thinker, always in my mind, and without writing, I don't think I would be able to make sense of anything.
Yeah for writing!

Becky68 said...

I love the picture at the top! Very pretty.
So true about gaining new perspectives through thinking about the past.
Here from Micheles.

BreadBox said...

Those are beautiful photos too, awareness! Where in NB were they taken? My father grew up in Woodstock, and I just spent the winter in Halifax, NS before coming back down to the SE US: it was great to be back in the maritimes for a few oh-too-short months....

N.

awareness said...

Hi Tori...am glad you exhale your thoughts daily as well. here's to brainwaves....

Welcome Becky....i really liked it too...have a few others I took that turned out to be blurry in an impressionistic way....will probably post those too somewhere along the line.

Welcome breadbox....the photos were taken from the deck of a friend's house in Keswick Ridge one night this week. It's located upriver from me between Fredericton and Woodstock! I live one street up from the "old Trans Canada highway" which hugs the Saint John River just out of the city and also have a view of the river which I like to take in while sipping on wine :) If you've been to Woodstock, you've most likely driven right by my street and house...small world!!

BreadBox said...

I drove the old Trans Canada last April --- when there was still snow on the ground, the weekend before it hit 27 degrees C on the Monday! It was beautiful and brought back lots of memories: I worked at Kings Landing in 1981, and actually walked that route from Fredericton to KL one night... long story best left untold... until I have a g&t or two more:-)

One of my dreams is that one day I'll be able to move back to NB... I spent a morning walking round the St George street area of Fredericton, photographing all the houses I'd love to buy:-)

awareness said...

Love it!! Hope your dream happens.....you could sell your bread at the Saturday market...which is one of my favourite places to go....and HEY it's on George Street!! There's a yellow house on George I have my eye on....AND every time I drive by that B&B on University Ave (at the end of George) I DROOL!! I have always wanted to live there and run it....

My office is downtown, not far from this area....will go for a walk next week and take some photos...

ps. I remember that April Monday when the temp went that high...it brought life into the city.

BreadBox said...

Awareness: next time you are in Woodstock, check out Fusion on Main St downtown (open long hours 7 days a week) --- an amazingly nice restaurant for such a small town.
I'll look for the photos next week!

N.
ps. I like the blog: mind if I blogroll it?

N.

Teena in Toronto said...

What a coincidence ... I'm having a glass of white wine right now!

BTW, Michelle says hello!

awareness said...

breadbox....Fusion will do....there's a great bakery in Woodstock too that I always stop into buy those pull apart rolls...for some reason my family calls them "monkey bread"...don't know why.

I would be honoured it you did the blogroll thing :) Will link you too.

Teena....ME TOO!! It's tasty. Welcome and CHEERS!

BreadBox said...

Fusion is right downtown -- next to the pharmacy, Newnham and Slipp, if I recall the name correctly (it has been nearly umptytheve years since I lived there, though the name hasn't changed). It's right round the corner from the farmers' market, I believe.

N.

utenzi said...

Michele sent me over, A.

I believe the quote is attributed to Socrates by Plato--but it was so long ago who really knows? Of course Thoreau worked on that strategy quite a bit too and he used writing as the tool to work it.

Keep up the writing momentum. It sounds like it's really working for you.

carmilevy said...

This entry is going to resonate strongly in my head as I fall asleep tonight. You speak powerfully about the lot of the writer, and how a person of words interacts with the surrounding world.

This is beautifully pure, and oh so representative of what it feels to spend one's life wrapped up in the pursuit of words. Thank you for sharing this on your blog. Consider me touched.

awareness said...

breadbox...I know exactly where it is....will check it out.. thanks :)

Utenzi...i will google it and find out....it has bugged me since I wrote it this morning. Momentum is still felt....and will do...thank you.

Carmi...i too am touched by your feedback. it means a great deal to me. thank you. have a wonderful weekend.

Thumper said...

Writing lets me exhale ... I like that. I think it's part of why I write. The exhalation, the falling into someplace else, the getting the voices out of my head...

Awesome pictures, too!

Here via Michele's :)

St. Kevin & the Blackbird said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
St. Kevin & the Blackbird said...

That last paragraph is, it seems to me, a beautiful account of the experience of writing. Word, words, breath, prayers, spirit, exhale, inhale, liturgy, solitude, communitas, its all far too fantastic...

Karen said...

I love your perspective on life Dana and I love that you share it with us.

Matthew said...

Lots of good stuff in this post. I think you accurately portray that movement of thought in head to word on paper. Without directly saying it you attest to the wonder of the blog format and the truly wonderful experience of writing something and having almost immediete feedback.
This is a writer's paradise!

It makes me wonder about all of the past writers who needed to wait for publishers to accept their work. For good or bad now we all can write publicly to our heart's content.

awareness said...

robin...i love your list....it tells me that writing is simply another way of praying.

Gypsy...i'm glad you take the time to read my musings and leave me such supportive comments. thank you.

Matthew....You are so right! This is a writer's paradise....which is why it pulls me in so. Thank you for pointing that out. I often describe to a non bloggie friend that it feels like I'm attending an interactive ongoing writing course with a wonderful bunch of motivated people. And yet, I still don't think they get it. :)

awareness said...

Thumper.....I missed you....sorry. yes....I can relate to the niggling voices.....who have a story to tell.... here's to sanity. :)