RE: Memoir Monday: Whatever you choose to be and to do, it will be accomplished

[carolkean]

"I have crossed many rivers" - is that an opening line to a novel? If not, I'm stealing it. :)
It reminds me of "I once had a farm in Africa...."
I love this too:

I also believe that the word, spoken and written, magnetizes, has the power of attraction. We are magnets of the universe and through words we can attract whatever we are interested in and pay attention to.

Well dang. "Too many words," my family said, and I stopped writing ... (I really did cut back drastically, anyway! Barely posting a few times a year!)

Thanks for the inspiration and the reminder that we CHOOSE some things even if it appears our only choice is to accept ("It is what it is") or wage Quixotic battles against things we cannot change.

Comments

[carolkean]

I have crossed many rivers

<blockquote> <p dir="auto">Salvador Espinas writes in the manner of Robert Frost and Maximo Ramos, but occasionally, and this is when he is really good, he writes in the manner Salvador Espinas, who lives in the mountains, who farms a little farm, who has lived a hard life, and has known a great deal of want, but who still knows beauty when beauty comes along. He writes: <pre><code> “I have crossed many rivers Wide and rough, Braved many a tempest Over atrocious rocks But conquest is ever far; At dusk Now vicious rivers rise Wider and rougher.” <p dir="auto"><a href="https://raffibanzuela.blogspot.com/2013/08/sagpon-barrio-of-writers-by-bienvenido_18.html" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener" title="This link will take you away from hive.blog" class="external_link">SAGPON: BARRIO OF WRITERS<br /> By Bienvenido N. Santos<span><a href="/@owasco">@owasco, you might enjoy the rest of the post:

[carolkean]

Shared this quote from your post on X (Twitter) but the image didn't come through. If I check back later, I might see the preview pane.

[nancybriti1]

My grandmother used to say that from so much thinking and saying things, they came true. At one time, it became fashionable to write “maps of desire”, I don't know if you knew about this. On those maps you would put everything you wanted from the universe and that is what it is all about: to make visible what we carry inside. Say what you want.
Thank you for such a detailed comment and I would like to read something of yours, so I am going to “curucutear your blog”. Greetings from Venezuela.Hello, @carolkean! A poet used to say that when we read and we find ourselves in what we read, the writing ceases to be the writer's and becomes the reader's. Regarding to stop writing, it's sad if you did it for others, but if it's a period of aridity, of demotivation, it's normal. It has happened to all writers, good and bad. There are moments of great demotivation, but the advice is to always seek to write, even if it's a little, almost nothing. As in any lover's relationship: writing is sometimes elusive, but when it is delivered, the delivery is total and pleasurable.

[carolkean]

God bless you - what a wonderful reply! We've all read about manifesting, but your map of words and your grandma attesting to it - that's the kind of motivator I can relate to. Thank you for the kind words.

"The Connection Cure" by Julia Hotz, devotes a chapter to the healing powers of fishing... but that's a whole other story.I did shut down and retreat - mostly due to my family (but not my husband! He's awesome! and our youngest daughter!) - too many of us died young, and unlike @myjob, I didn't soldier on. Maybe I should have taken up fishing! A wonderful book I often quote,

Thank you Nancy!

[nancybriti1]

We die every day, dear Carol, but we also live every day. If you were near here, I would have already invited you for a coffee or a beer to talk and talk about books. A hug

[carolkean]

I'd love to mee over coffee or a beer!!! Thank you. And hugs to you. :)
Wondering if I'll ever book another flight in my life... 2019 was the "never again" flight! So far, I have not ventured near an airport since then.

[myjob]

@carolkean I do not think fishing had anything to do with my "carrying on", it was only the desire not to quit.

[carolkean]

Well, many recommend FISHING as a prescription for whatever ails us.
Even Moby Dick opens on that note:

Call me Ishmael. Some years ago — never mind how long precisely — having little or no money in my purse, and nothing particular to interest me on shore, I thought I would sail about a little and see the watery part of the world. It is a way I have of driving off the spleen, and regulating the circulation. Whenever I find myself growing grim about the mouth; whenever it is a damp, drizzly November in my soul; whenever I find myself involuntarily pausing before coffin warehouses, and bringing up the rear of every funeral I meet; and especially whenever my hypos get such an upper hand of me, that it requires a strong moral principle to prevent me from deliberately stepping into the street, and methodically knocking people’s hats off — then, I account it high time to get to sea as soon as I can. This is my substitute for pistol and ball. With a philosophical flourish Cato throws himself upon his sword; I quietly take to the ship. There is nothing surprising in this. If they but knew it, almost all men in their degree, some time or other, cherish very nearly the same feelings towards the ocean with me.
There now is your insular city of the Manhattoes, belted round by wharves as Indian isles by coral reefs — commerce surrounds it with her surf. Right and left, the streets take you waterward. Its extreme down-town is the battery, where that noble mole is washed by waves, and cooled by breezes, which a few hours previous were out of sight of land. Look at the crowds of water-gazers there.

–Herman Melville

[amazon asin=1613823231&template=book-link]

[myjob]

People who find fishing relaxing do not do it for a living. When I go what I call "play" fishing I am more relaxed and enjoy it, if I need to pay the bills, I am stressed.

[carolkean]

That makes sense!
I've seen your amazing daily freewrites - oh, the work!
The toll it has taken on your hands - wrists - bones -
I hope you're still on the mend from all that.