My 3-months visitor’s visa to the United Bloglands is up for renewal. According to the Bloglands Visa Renewal Form, I have to come up with a list of 10 good reasons why I want to extend my stay.
Based on the following quote (sorry all, not a poem this time. According to my profile, the expression “carefully arranged language” should cover me here, if only just...) this is an attempt to start such a list.
“Children, I have come here like the rest of you, to hear what I have to say.”
- Sojourner Truth
Sitting down in front of the screen two days ago, my insides wobbled. To be quite honest, the call for an important decision took up far more brain space than a modest blog post.
Then Max, my loyal camera (nestled quietly next to me here on the desk), urged me to open the Aperture program. So I did. I selected photos to illustrate Karin Boye’s poem Yes, Of Course It Hurts When Buds Are Breaking. I adjusted exposure, altered contrast, added green. I held the two in my palms, the photos and the poem, and trusted something to happen. Gradually the screen filled with letters and colors, sentences and images, with content I could understand.
The action of my fingers on the keyboard, and my eyes on the screen gradually marked out a direction for the day - To let go, if only for a moment.
As I pressed “View post” I hadn’t even noticed that my insides had stopped wobbling and my heart had returned to its normal pace.
So my # 1 reason for blogging (to be copied onto Visa Renewal Form) is this:
I write and blog because my fingers and my eyes are so much wiser than my mind. I come here to view what I have to say.
Wherever this “here” is. And whoever the “I”.
Photos © Grete S. Kempton
I think that is so true Grete, that writing helps to order and clarify our thoughts and feelings ... forces a discipline that merely looking/thinking/wondering/pondering does not.
ReplyDeleteAnd yet sometimes we must be careful too ... not only because the way we chose to order our thought affects the outcome ... but also that sometimes it is a way of blocking out one or other voice in the heart vs mind dialogue.
UB is a funny place in a way. You strip parts of yourself bare in ways that sometimes seem impossible in everyday life. And then people come and say things, and bring you gifts from their own unique perspective.
I had to smile when reading that your trusty camera has a name! xx Jos
Jos -
ReplyDeleteI used to think only good came from writing. As you, I see that it can also have the opposite effect and actually work contrary to our well being. By repeating certain ideas and experiences we can in fact, make ourselves stuck. There is power in writing, and it must be handled with care!
James Pennebaker has done a lot of research in this area. His work is widely used in what can be called a Journaling movement. I have myself studied with pioneer Kay Adams - http://www.journaltherapy.com/ - and will be giving courses in Journal writing later this year. Fascinating work!
Yes, United Bloglands is a weird and wonderful place to travel to. Being personal in a public domain is something of a contradiction, but at the same time it has its own, special rewards. Sharing this way is a continual opening of heart and mind to include other people’s perspectives. To give and receive in a never ending cycle......
Max the Camera is a favourite companion. We go for walks together, hold hands, hug cheek to cheek, look into each others' eyes :-) My cute, little grandson of 6 months is already quite familiar with the lens. He probably thinks it’s my toy. He is right, of course. the only difference between his plastic rattle and my black thing, is that I don’t need to investigate mine with my mouth. Otherwise we’re pretty similar..... :-)
Grete
Grete, I can't help myself. I am covered in waves...what you wrote in response to a post...about your father. I want to post it again. Can I post it? Can you post it? Please. What you wrote needs to be read. I will write this to you...
ReplyDeleteAnd now I'm here writing this almost begging you. Post your comment/letter to me. What you do, how you see...I feel somehow as if our souls have met somewhen before.
xo
erin (Oh, and now to read this piece...)
You are wise. It took me three years to learn why it was that I came, and by then I was a new person. I am now looking back and picking up my bread crumbs in reverse. They're a little hard now and mostly unpalatable, but oh, what a surprise this journey has been/is. And so I birthed a new place, the tiny leaf, with a piece of the awareness you have started out with. This thing, blogging, which so often is so easily dismissed, can be a pulse of self, a way to self diagnose, a way to see.
ReplyDeletexo
erin
Grete, it is not about useful. Not useful at all. It is beautiful. It is honest. It is life, beautiful honest rich and raw real life, Grete. It makes me ache and rise every time I read what you wrote. It is not because it is useful.
ReplyDeleteYou think you read poetry. Grete, you are poetry.
xo
erin
Erin -
ReplyDeleteThank you. Your words throw me ever so slightly off balance.
My mind is a beehive, all these ideas flying to and fro. Pollen on my feet. Nectar in my mouth. My heart says - fly high and far and initiate growth. Return to produce honey.
My shadow whispers different stories.
Then the word useful.
Again you push me, if only kindly, gently.
I thought it was all about being useful. Or perhaps I didn’t. Sometimes trees cover for the sun and the moon and the star lights. I wasn’t quite sure of the path.
Which leads me to writing. To blogging. To the exchange and the sharing. They can ignite a warehouse of fireworks. Right now I’m too close to the explosion to fully enjoy the excitement, the patterns, the colors.
Perhaps it is, as you say, about being honest. I have never completely trusted my honesty. I thought that would be to reveal. To reveal the non-desired.
Yet what I look for in others is just this quality. Honesty.
Whatever honesty is.
I will breath your words, Erin. I will walk them, think them. Live them.
And you will be that bee with pollen on your feet. Initiating flowers.
Grete
(I will post this on your site as well. The word blog is wrong altogether. This is not merely about keeping a log on the web. This is about letting logs come together to create new material. I need to think about that as well. A new word. Something to do with conversation.)
There seems to be a curious kind of alchemy in this process we call blogging - all the ideas and feelings that come together from all corners of the earth. It creates a unique energy, I think, and ignites some very provoking ideas.
ReplyDeleteGrete, I'm so glad you've decided to travel among us, and equally glad to have encountered you on this path.
Hello Grete :)
ReplyDeleteI always think that serendipity is one very influencing Master when it comes to blogging. All the 'falls' and 'stumble upons' into blogs like yours is one thing I cherish most. To me, written words are never merely letters lined in together to form a meaning, some even have the ability to expand your heart slowly and naturally. Your words, if I may say, have that ability. They flow and mesmerize ever so gently.
I will take my time to wander around your garden of words, which I'm certain will be a very rewarding experience. It's nice to have found you here. :)
Your words are magic, your imagery evocative. You have the ability to transform language into something more. I am happy to hear you are renewing your visa, because you have a lot of beauty to share.
ReplyDeleteI once read that an idea is not real until we share it with another person. A thought, a secret, a dream.... if it remains within us yet silent, it does not yet have life. So the "blogs" -- for lack of a better word at the moment -- is a place where we can express ourselves unabashedly and give life and validity to our innermost selves.
Thank you so much for your visit and your generous comment. I'm so happy to have the chance to discover your world!
Becca -
ReplyDeleteThree months ago, I had no idea what this blogging was all about, what it impact it would make on me. Now, three months after, I’m just starting to understand.....
....and I’m very happy to have found your virtual home as well. See you there......
Amalia K -
Thank you for entering my garden gate and speaking your kind words. I’m so happy to meet you!
Serendipity is a strange phenomenon, and one that I view with both curiosity and respect. Sometimes winding back the yarn of important happenings, you arrive at what at the time, seemed mere details of life. But detail built on detail can lead to major events. Which is no less that Weird and Wonderful.
Bella Sinclair -
Thank you for visiting and for encouraging words!
I love what you say about sharing. “... if it remains within us yet silent, it does not yet have life”. Perhaps we need to sow ideas and dreams into the world for them to grow roots and foliage and fruit?
And the Blogland is definitely a worthy field to sow and reap.....
Grete