Words from the Heart

Sacred Geometry / (Photo credit: Sarjana Sky ) For the next few weeks, I will be teaching a class on symbols.  In preparing for the class, I came to realize that our life is deluged with symbols, but we don't even know it! Like jumping head first into a snow pile, symbols surround every part of our life.  For instance, the shape of things are based on symbols found in Sacred Geometry.  Squares, triangles, circles, rectangles, etc. are in everything we touch...the keys of the computer, the computer screen,the speakers, the planter, the bottles of vitamins, the bits and pieces of paper and even the books all on my desk at the moment, are shaped based on these simple geometric symbols or designs. Our alphabet is a series of symbols for the sounds we use to make words.  Those words can be linked together to make sentences, paragraphs and entire texts, which symbolize what we think and why we think it. The other day, as I was preparing to find a poem on women fo...

January 20: John F. Kennedy is inaugurated as the 35th President of the United States. (Photo credit: Wikipedia ) I was all of eight years old when John Fitzgerald Kennedy was sworn into office as our 35th President.  The one thing I remember most was that Robert Frost , another New Englander, read a poem - the first ever read at an inauguration.  From that day on, Robert Frost was one of my favorite poets.  In an article on the Poets.org site, I learned that Frost, presented the President with a manuscript copy of the poem "Dedication," which he was not able to read at the inauguration due to the glare of the sun. He wrote on it, " 'Amended copy. And now let us mend our ways.' He also gave the President the advice: 'Be more Irish than Harvard. Poetry and power is the formula for another Augustan Age. Don't be afraid of power.' At the foot of the typed thank-you letter Kennedy sent, he wrote, 'It's poetry and power all the way!'...

Just before Christmas, I got a notification that I have been dreaming of receiving for many years.  One of the stories I had written had been accepted by Chicken Soup for the Soul!  I was extremely elated, especially because I had been trying to get published in Chicken Soup for the Soul since the anthologies first began calling for submissions!   The best part of all this is that the anthology my story is appearing in is Chicken Soup for the Soul: Angels Among Us .  (You can find my story on page 222.) As many of my readers know, I believe in angels and have a deep love for them - something that I have had since childhood, which is long before angels had become something of a fad. As I have cruised through my copy of the book, I have noticed stories from people from all walks of life - those with religious connections and those who have none.  How wonderful to read of these encounters that can only be termed "angelic." Angels Among Us is now out in...

When my daughter, Elizabeth, handed me the star that she drew at age 5, something told me to save it - it was special.  This past holiday, when my granddaughter handed me her star at age 5, I realized why I had saved Elizabeth's star all those years ago.  As you can see from the photo below, they look incredibly similar, yet, my granddaughter had never seen Elizabeth's star, nor had any of us asked her to make one.  She simply presented the drawing to me as a gift.   Elizabeth, from the time she was very small, loved to draw, create, and design.  After many years, she is doing just that as a designer from a local company with high fashion clients.  Her wish became her reality. My little granddaughter, also, tells us she wants to create things.  She loves drawing and, since very early in life, has created some of the most beautiful works of art, one of which my daughter and son-in-law had made into a necklace for me this Christmas. My Family...

Sitting at the window, I am watching the chickadees dart back and forth like magical winged puffs of the Creators breath.  The fly so fast, stop, grab a seed from the feeder and then speed off again.  I wonder at their ability to move so quickly without seeming to focus on obstacles in their way. A wise man once told me to look at Nature for lessons.  I have found that when we are quiet and simply observe, Nature has many lessons to teach us.  The four-legged, winged and finned inhabitants of this plant have so much to give, if we but stop awhile to ponder.  Even the trees, bushes and flowers have lessons to share. Last week, as I walked through the woods at my daughter's new home, I came across this tranquil spot.  The woods were silent, but for the occasional bark of the dogs or the distant swish of cars passing along the nearby road.  On this beautiful morning, we walked through the woods, our breath streaming behind us in the cold air. ...