Any stima will do to beat a dogma

I found this interesting quote .
So here goes
A dogma is: a belief , a conviction, a persuasion ,a view
A stigma is :glory, honor,credit , distinction ,crown, laurel.
 I do not agree with this quote .I find that you must first have a belief ,conviction persuasion or viewpoint ,to achieve any glory , honor , credit ,distinction or laurel crown.

Nature worship or worshipping in nature

I was thinking how different these two things are to me. I do not worship the sun but I do worship the creator of the sun. I do not worship the trees but; I do worship the creator of the trees. I do not worship the waters but: I do worship the creator of the water. I am very thankful for all the beauty the creator has given me.
 I love to worship in nature . I love the breeze on my face or the warmth of the sun coursing through my body as I think about things of a spiritual nature orGod and how much I love him. I love the viewing point of  mountain or the cathedral feel of a forest. I love the rippling of the waves and sand under my feet. They put me in the mood to sing songs of praise to the author of all life and every good thing.
I do feel water , sun and quiet are healing ,also the sounds of birds or water running is soothing to the soul . I am ever mindful of who gave these gifts to me.

Are Soul and Spirit different ?
I feel that sprit is our very breath.

Spirit my dictionary tell me is my breath . "Aha! got that one right. "
My vitlity . How I am animated . My psyche.
My essence "Oh ,this agrees with soul."
My soul "Oh maybe it is the same."
My spirit can be what makes me bold ,enthusiastic or courageous .
Or it can describe my frame of mind ,temper, mood or humor .
Or spirit can be my ghost .


I think our soul is our innermost being.
Soul in the dictionary means my essential nature , my spiritual being." Hey! there is that "spirit "word . "
It goes on to say spirit is who I am as an indivisual, my substance and my force . Did Luke Sky Walker mean" May your soul be with you? "
This is probalby the life force we see in Tai Chi and Reiki that makes every thing alive ,live.
 Spirit means my very essense, my genius, what I think and know.Spitit is my principles ,what I stand on , my ego , my psyche, my very life, my courge, love ,affection ,honor ,duty and idealism. It is what I think  about and honor most. It is my art, my singing , poetry ,writing, story telling and my reverance. It is my sense of what is beautiful like kitties , children ,sunsets , family, red, yellow and stars. My person, my very fact of being human .
 When we are told to honor God in soul ,spiit and body think of these things . 

Writing or Charecters Verses Living People


Hemingway in Death in the Afternoon, which I  have never read says ,
" When Writing a novel a writer should create living people not characters.
A character is a caricature " Unquote
 Being me, I looked up what this could mean. I have also listened to renowned authors this year at the library with my writers group" Creative Endeavors "friends . One said characters are very important and must be developed well and the other said he never uses characters. What ? It leaves one thinking.
 Now if I read a story, I want my character to have humor ,be an indivisual, have a good nature,  personality, temper , soul , spirit, courage , intellect, intelligence, a great mind ,an interesting situation ,in good standing ,maybe fame or rank.  With at least a name, resoluting to do something wonderful. You will find most of these qualitys in the dictionary under character. 
  I do not want to read about a caricature who is a mockery,sham, farce, imitation and phoney. No wonder I do not like caricatures even in art .
 A real person is a common man for all of us to look up too, maybe an extrodinary man.
 I think artist in the field of writing , better write about real men or women who have a lot of character .

Pickford Pickers

Pickford Pickers is a delightful event that happens on Saturday at the Community Hall in Pickford . Pickford is a small town in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. Today I watched an listened to a a couple so lovingly sing  a song about a home. She did the singing he did the picking. All the while she was caressing his strumming arm and it was so obvious their love was running deep as her voice was soaring high. I watched another man pay tribute to his dad who had walked on while he sang a song in his honor. No doubt that this son still loves his dad.Here the old time songs are sung and it is a great place to just listen, sing or strum . For me it is a place that reminds me of my grandma's front porch and my Uncle and cousins singing along on a summer evening. What fun!If you are looking for an old fashioned place to have a good time come join us.

Risk and Dare

I could not resist the risk so I dared myself to write this .
 This blog came about as a result  of a discussion of  risk and dare at my creative writing group Creative Endeavors. This group who meets in Sault Mich., way up in the north, are  very good writers. 
They are an energetic fun group of thinkers.When an idea is presented  they will fly with it. We have many artists, professional and non, painters, sculptors, craft makers, writers who write poems, stories , books, story tellers. singers,actors, teachers, all different ages.
 We  had a fun time with these two words. One of our members said we should to consider 'calculated risk' as another part of the idea.
Now think about that. Is there calculated dares ?
As my readers know I love dictionaries.I got mine out .I did not have to dust it off.
There was some discussion that young people are more likely to take a dare and older ones will take a risk . Is there a difference?


OK young people,
If someone challenges you and you accept it, that is a dare.
If you defy the stars, as Romeo did ,that is also a accepting a dare .
If you' double dog dare' someone to climb the ridge pole and they accept the dare ,they dare.
If you are willing to make a change which may be hazardous, that is a dare .
Do you describe yourself as a daring young man or woman, like the daring young man on the flying trapeze?
Are you adventuresome , a daredevil?
Are you fool hardy, making rash decisions?
Are you reckless, perhaps with your heart?
Are you  venturesome ,you need a new adventure, you need to see the world?
Do you take the bull by the horns?
Then  you  dare.

Now for the older set.
If you don't mind danger ,hazard, putting yourself in jeopardy or peril, you may be a risk taker .
Think police or fireman and rescue work.
If you take a chance, seek your fortune, rely on luck, you may be a risk taker .
If you love adventure and change you  maybe a risk taker. Note: the daring young also love adventure.
If you will will take a gamble or wager you may be a risk taker. We do see a lot of seniors at the casino.
If you find yourself diving into ticklish,touchy sensitive, chancy or perilous situations on purpose. You may be a risk taker.
If you will go out on thin ice .
You are a risk taker.

Calculated Risk means: you have thought this risk over, in a guarded, safe ,wary, cautious way. It is almost the opposite of risk .
This makes you not a risk taker or maybe not a dare taker. What do you think?

In conclusion I think we all  of us, young and old take some risk and some dares.
We dare ourselves to risk.We rise to the challenge. Life  is a risky business.

None of us benefits by literally taking a bull by the horns or walking out onto thin ice, but; sometimes we are called upon to do very brave things.
My artist  friends risk themselves every day by putting their work out there to be considered or critiqued. Risk Takers ,you are living the life many people wish they were brave enough to live.

Story Telling

Today I had the privilege of going to our local library to attend a meeting that I coordinate called Story Spinners. Our goal at Story Spinners is to keep the art of story telling alive. We as local artist come together to share our stories. Many of these are original and some are read from other artist works. We  have a variety of ages and abilities . It is the most charming group of people.
 After several meeting we intend to come together to hold an event to share the magic of the story telling with others. This time it will be in a local restaurant. We try to find places that are 'cozy' with a fire place, then we call it' Fire Side Stories.'
It is my joy to listen to these wonderful story tellers as they find their voices. I love encouraging them . I love watching them encourage one another. We have such a marvelous variety. Local history, family stories, ghost stories ,children's stories, imaginative stories and true life adventures.
 Come if you can sometime to join us. We have so much fun  as we laugh , listen and create.

New Age

I had a friend ask me if I had studied New Age.
As World  religion yes, and not in a good light.
I decided to look it up it in my Roget's.
It  means: new consciousness or new wave. 
I do study Tai Chi and and I do get massages.
I do open my mind a lot more these days.
A lot more then my old way of black and white thinking that was destroying me.
I am interested in Native American thoughts . I respect many, many kinds of people.
I hope I am growing and changing every day for the better.
I incorporate all that is good for me into the way I pray, live an worship.
I deep down believe that Jesus is my Savior and Lord. I believe that He loves me and I am following Him .  Christ is Lord of my life. When others see me I hope they see Him in me.
I use these new' waves' new thoughts, to worship Him in my own way.
I take care of me so I can serve others.
I strive to make healthy choices.
All that is good in this world comes for our Creator.
Am I New Age?  I really don't think so.
I think I am more open minded happier, healthier and relaxed.
Am I a Christian ? Yes. I know I am .

Disciplne VS Indulgence

I came across the statement
Discipline is not abusive.
Indulgence is abuse.
I replied since it was on face book," It depends on your definition of discipline" My dear friend disagreed  with me.
Thinking this was a pretty broad statement, I decided to publish my thoughts.
I looked up the words in the dictionary, yes , I take after my Dad.
My friend Sharon would say" Inquiring minds want to know. "
Discipline is first defined as : punish,chastise , correct , overcome , retain.
This is why I thought this statement" Discipline is not abusive. Indulgence is abuse." was not neccessarily true.
This definition even had' rod' as a word for discipline.
Second definition , more in line with my friend, said : thought ,teach, guide educate , instruct , school, train, lead, direct, manage.  I get this. It is how I wish all parents disciplined .
Now for indulgence.
Indulgence definition is: to give free rein, curiosity, desire, gratify, humor, favor, oblige, satisfy, delight , please, regale .
Second definition : cater, coddle, humor, pamper, merciful, tolerate , kind , gentle, mild.
Kind, Gentle, Mild , sounds like Jesus.
The opposite of indulgence: being stern, rigid, harsh.
Now I feel justified in my thoughts,' too broad a statement' "discipline is not abusive- indulgence is abusive"  One would have to know their audience rather well to make this statement. It could be taken in a very wrong way.
Wow! See how careful we must be with thoughts and words?
Mary

American Dream

I am reading through he Thesaurus Phrase Book and I came to American Dream.
Roget's tells me American Dream definition is Material Wealth
I think this is not correct. What do you think?
 We all want two chickens in every pot and two cars in every garage. We want  more for our kids then what we have or had. but... we want  much more.
We as Americans, even if the eagle is our emblem, believe it or not , we want peace today and in the future. We want harmony, happiness. Pursuit of happiness is in our Bill of Rights.
We want equality.LOOK AT OUR CONSTITUTION COME ON ROGET GIVE US MORE.  We hold these truth to be self evident that all men are created equal , that they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights ,that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. We want freedom,we value freedom  enough to go to other nations to fight for their peoples freedoms ,their pursuit of happiness and equality. Enough to give our sons and daughters as a sacrifice for these ideals.
We want  good education and higher education that is affordable .
We want health options that are affordable.
We want a job that can support us and our families. We want a roof over our head , food on our tables and heat in our homes or air conditioning depending where we live.
We are a huge nation.
We want running water and electricity. We want to know how to use technology as it is developed .
We want to be better. We want be good ,caring citizens. We want to protect our environment.
 Roget's Thesaurus what is our dream really?
A dream of a better World for our children. Where they can live, love, learn and pursue happiness. Where they are free and equal and not afraid. Where they matter as much as any one else. Where they have enough of everything they need.
 What is your dream?
 Mine is to live here,  in our own United States as an American, safe, happy and healthy .
 I dream this for my children too.
 I feel safe in saying most of the Americans I know have this dream.