"The key is to be here, fully connected with the moment, paying attention to the details of ordinary life. By taking care of ordinary things-our pots and pans, our clothing, our teeth- we rejoice in them. When we scrub a vegetable or brush our hair, we are expressing appreciation: friendship toward ourselves and toward the living quality that is found in everything."~Pema Chodron
Today, many hundreds of people all over the world will start our River of Stones mindful writing challenge. They will write their first small stone.
They will notice one thing properly, and write it down. They'll write it in their notebooks, or on their blogs, or on Facebook or Twitter (#smallstone). They'll stick them on their fridges. They'll write them into the snow.
Pema Chodron's quote encapsulates our small stone philosophy perfectly.
We want you to start paying attention to ordinary things, and to extraordinary things. We want you to notice the burnished colour and metallic texture of your pots and pans. We want you to appreciate the menthol smell of your toothpaste and the feel of the brush on your gums. We want you to look at the stars.
We want you to become intimate with myriad things, and to be friendly towards them.
We want you to slow down and fall in love with the world.
We hope you'll share some or all of your small stones in the 'write your small stone here' posts we'll be putting up each day, like the one below this one. Do feel free to share the url of your blog too. Do visit each other's blogs, and tell other small-stoners what you like. Support each other. We're in the River (and the river of life) together.
We also hope you enjoy the fine guest posts we have lined up for the rest of January. They will inspire you, encourage you, and make you happy.
Keep spreading the word. Late joiners can commit to a month from when they start.
And above all - enjoy your time in the River!
26 comments:
1.1.2012 ~ Winter weather temperatures here in Southeast Texas vary as much as the stock market. This year allows me to stand at the end of my driveway in cargo shorts and sleeveless shirt, listening to the revelers across the area bringing in the New Year with fireworks and the occasional discharge of firearms. While the residents a mere 3 doors down and across the street are congregated outside, the front door swings open revealing a homemade sparkler and smoke bomb assembly destined for a birthday presentation to a designated New Years Day baby of years past….with echoes of Happy Birthday to you fading away, allowing the finite beeping of the smoke alarm to escape from inside the residence, where the sparkler and smoke bomb assembly had been set ablaze. The new year is here…Happy New Year and welcome 2012.
The washing machine churns in syncopation to the murmur of conversation and soft music messily weaves all the sounds together.
Jake, D.J, do copy these across to the post before this one which is where the small stones should go :) Happy New Year to both of you.
Spruce up
New year's day.
Time for a spruce up on the crazy golf course.
He hoovers away old leaves.
Gives those greens a good sweep.
Happy writing to everyone taking part and have a very Happy New Year.
My first small stone,
http://lucidgypsy.wordpress.com/january-small-stones/
At 5am this morning I am sitting in bed, comforting my sick baby, my head is full of flu, listening to the thunder and lightening that surrounds us. I feel blessed.
January 1st:
http://coosacreek.org/amputated/2012/01/01/a-crow-sits-solo/
a crow sits solo
in a bare-branched tree
black against a silvered sky
caw and branch creaking
sighing in a wintery bleakness
"The sun caresses my eyelashes behind the window, but going out, I regret not putting on a hat. Further down the street, I start regretting not taking a thicker shawl. When on the children’s playground, I regret I went out in the first place."
Ooops I didn't see the other post!
I'm joining the challenge too! Thank you for the inspiration! My fisrt small stone: http://mylifeincontradictions.blogspot.com/2012/01/river-writing-challenge-day-1.html
First light. Her
body, his body,
tangled in the bedsheets.
Warmth
of the familiar.
Good morning love.
Midnight moment
Ancient bells clear in cool air, peal the change from old to new
Fireworks flash light the sky, silhouette silent standing trees
Steady dripping from the gutter punctuated by woosh and roar of
Rockets exploding in the neighbours’ garden.
SO grateful for the opportunity to focus, observe and appreciate...
At the start of another new year, pause, anchor, steady and then cautiously set sail into the unknown....
Warm air is rising outside my front door, with a grassy smell, and I see one red and one yellow rose blooming, raised high on the tops of spindly stalks like the statue of liberty's torch.
Laura Hoopes
New Year,new day,the birds are outside singing away.
A grey-damp day - rain-laden, scurrying clouds form a backdrop for skeleton trees, white light seeps through the shifting forms
Eight-thirty a.m., New Years Day, and I awake to a pitiful,whimpering sound. Kalina, my one-year old Beagle is desperate for her morning walk. When she sees me sit up in bed, she pauses momentarily, looking at me, with hopeful brown eyes, tail wagging,then continues running through the house, with increasingly frantic cries. All my maternal instincts are stirred. I have to make her feel better NOW!
My two sons ages eleven, and fifteen and my husband sleep deeply,oblivious to her noises.
I force myself to leap out of bed helped by my adrenaline, quickly and desperately searching for her leash, clothes to wear, gloves, bags, tissue. Why am I not more organized!!!
This is a race! "Almost Ready!", I call to her as if she can understand. Dash to put shoes and socks on,continually talking to her, as my other Beagle, age ten, quietly and slowly stands and saunters to the door. Just a few more minutes, and she and I will be happy, and filled with total relief. Finally, both leashes in place, I open the door, and the moist,cold air hits all of our faces. She flies out the door, joy showing visibly in every part of her being. Billy walks out slowly and less enthusiastically, but perks up when they both spot a small grey squirrel in our yard, eating. In seconds, they are both standing at the bottom of a tree, staring upward with puzzlement.
Every morning, is like Christmas for them, and for me watching them! All the agony of the wait is forgotten instantly upon leaving the house!
Watching a Spanish, brain-sucker flick seems a delightful way to begin a new year. Tea water quietly bubbling in the background.
Tonight, I stood at the kitchen table,contemplating the trash of my son and husbands Chinese food containers. My stomach felt in knots at the stress of the spills, and mess which I knew would be left indefinately unless I cleaned it. Before I realized what I was doing I was dipping crispy,crunchy fried noodles in Sweet Duck Sauce.I felt a mixture of pleasure and pain. Now my diet is ruined.I had gained weight, and my pants were too tight,and the snap was hurting my stomach. I refused to wear a bigger size.Those noodles were delicous,but was it really worth the guilt?
The owls have returned, briefly, to the tree by our back door.Three soft, fluffed-up shapes that only slightly break the outline of the branches.Speckled grey plumage fits so well with the bark that it takes a sharp eye to see them.Mother, and two almost-grown young; father not yet found, but probably in a nearby tree.Soon, the young ones will be sent on their way, to make their own lives and create their own territory elsewhere.We will miss them.
Morning.
A watery sun and a gentle breeze.
A tangle of ivy
A bevy of birds
Trees silently breathing.
http://limetreelegends.blogspot.com/
The laughter of children playing in the puddles outside intrudes my afternoon silence like silver marbles bouncing merrily across the floor. Staccato honks and beeps from the roadway punch through the residual steam of an unexpected midnight rain; the weeping memory of a faraway Indian typhoon. The light’s reflection on the tile floor opens the doorway back into myself.
(will be posted to my blog tomorrow with appropriate links/credits)
Reading the Word of God
I look up
Out the window the tree waves it's branches at me.
Without thinking--I wave back.
I've been keeping track of this on Facebook on and off and look at it longingly. Sometimes I leave a small stone on Facebook but have not been able to do this every day. Still, I love this idea and may commit to it eventually. My Mom is undergoing treatment for breast cancer right now, so I am quite busy with helping her as well as writing my 4 other blogs! Still, in my heart of hearts I am a writer and a poet and this idea appeals to me. I hope it is okay if I pop in here from time to time. I have added you to my blogroll on my Poetry blog, Kathie's Poet Tree.
Kathiesbirds - you're always very welcome. Love to you & your mum.
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