Words from the Heart

As part of my attempt to support local artists, I began interviewing some of my artist friends.  This is the latest of these interviews. INTERVIEW WITH REV. CYNTHIA McCARTHY: Minister and Artist   Linda:  Hi, Cynthia! I am so excited to share your multi-talents with my readers. To get us started, could you tell us a little bit about yourself?  Cynthia:  I’m an interfaith minister, guest speaker, and writer. I live in Rome, GA. I give talks and lectures based on new thought principles. (These days you can find me at CSL Midtown Atlanta the third Sunday of every month on their Facebook Live.)  I own a company called Spirit on the Spot, which makes products like magnets, keychains, tiles, original artwork, and pendant necklaces that affirm good things—it’s all based in the positive, new thought philosophy that God is good and our thoughts are things. We create our reality. It’s a ministry to uplift and inspire the world.  Linda: We fir...

Roger often brings me home "treats" from the library.  He knows that I seldom have time to peruse the stacks.  In fact, I usually only go to the library if I know what I need. So, his frequent "findings" are always a delight! Last week, he came home with a real treasure of a book, Find the Good: Unexpected Li f e Lessons from a Small-town Obituary Writer , by Heather Lende . Yes, you read correctly, "obituary writer!"  I was intrigued and delighted from get-go. Heather writes about how being the obituary writer for her small town in Alaska brought her wisdom, which she lovingly shares in this book.  These are great life-lessons like, "Be sure your dog walks you, or Put on a costume now and then, and , one of my favorites, "Listen to your mother," to name a few. In her telling of the lives of the people she knows, loves and respects, she finds the lessons that she relates to her own life.  She tells her tales as one would if they w...

More Poem-a-day poems to share.  These are from the prompt to write a seasonal poem.  Haiku is perfect for this prompt.     verdant sprouts push  up through the thawing tundra  messengers of hope  ___    beside lapping waves  children play long into day  late to bed the sun  ___   on the forest floor  two red leaves cling together  too soon for goodbye ___  poor little sparrow  huddling at my window  blizzard winds roaring  LMRN © 2015

Image by Auntie P via Flickr The Dreaded Blank Page I am pleased to welcome guest blogger, Amy Souza to Words from the Heart .  Amy is a freelance writer and editor in Arlington, Virginia. She founded SPARK in 2008. The project began with 20 participants—10 artists and 10 writers—and February 2011 marked the completion of its eleventh round. In total, 279 people have taken part, many of them multiple times, resulting in (at last count) 738 new works of art, writing, music, and video. Learn more about the project at getsparked.org . Think Inside the Box by Amy Souza Have you ever felt fear when faced with the blank page? You want to write, but can’t decide where to start. Or you get deep into a story or poem but something’s not working and you’re not sure what to do next. Setting a few limits might help. We like to dream of complete creative freedom to make anything we want and great swaths of time devoted to nothing but our art. But I’m a big believer in parameters. Wor...

Image via Wikipedia   Creativity blossoms when the seeds of inspiration are brought to fruition. Who goes around planting seeds of inspiration?  We all do.      Parents and teachers plant seeds of inspiration each day with simple statements like, "What a great writer you are!" and "Wow, this is a lovely picture. Can I hang it up?"  Friends inspire us by being there through thick and thin.  Strangers inspire us when their lives cross ours in unexpected ways. For example, witnessing a young woman helping an older woman who appeared to be homeless inspired a story I wrote several years ago. Whatever we say or do can inspire others.  Just as there is great diversity in plant seeds, so too is there diversity in the seeds of inspiration we sow; this is the reason why it is so important to be mindful of our words and actions.  A child that is constantly told negative things, grows up believing these things to be true unless others are ab...

As we progress through Poetry Month, I have been reading many of my old poetry books. Some are journals into which Momma placed her favorites poems, which are now my favorite poems. One of my absolute top ten poems is: If of thy mortal goods thou art bereft, And from thy slender store two loaves alone to thee are left, Sell one, and with the dole Buy hyacinths to feed thy soul. This beautiful verse was written by MOSLIH EDDIN (MUSLIH-UN-DIN) SAADI (SADI ) , who was a major Persian poet of the medieval times. It is just one of the many beautiful verses in his book Gulistan ("The Rose Garden") . (Photo Credit) ~~~~~~ Also from Gulistan, is the verse which visitors find at the entrance to the United Nations Hall of Nations. It reads: Human beings are members of a whole, In creation of one essence and soul . If one member is afflicted with pain, Other members uneasy will remain. If you have no sympathy for human pain, The name of human you cannot ...

Every human has heroes. These are the beings we look up to, we emulate, we forget are human. I have several heroes. My parents are heroes. They have struggled with poverty, disease, addiction, and a host of other obstacles throughout their lives. Growing up was hard, but hindsight being 20/20, I have come to realized that they gave me so much! It is through my mother that I came to know and love writing, art, theater, music. Four generations: Me, my daughter, granddaughter and my Mom It is through my father that I learned to create something from nothing. My Dad Both my Mom and Dad helped me see that no matter how little I had, there was always enough to share with others who were worse off than myself. His Holiness the Dali Lama is another hero. His gentle manner, true humility and extreme compassion are inspirational to me. This is the official website for His Holiness: http://www.tibet.com/DL/index.html It tells his incredible story and has many great links to Tibetan history. ...