I have a feeling I should paint what I am supposed to paint.

So I sit.

And there my hand moves and I made a picture.

-- Norval Morrijeau

The writer sits, head in hands, amid a mound of crumpled paper wads. The deadline is tomorrow and not even the first paragraph is written.

The writer has been working nonstop since the early morning hours. Frustration pushes the writer up from the chair and out on a long walk in the woods to the stream. After an hour of plunging through lush woods, a rest by the stream listening to the sounds of the rippling water is refreshing.

Back at the typewriter, the fingers move, the words flow, the job is done.

Sometimes we need to quiet ourselves to let our inner resources flow through our outer noise. We are always doing what we are supposed to do. Even when things don't seem to come together just right, there is a purpose, even if only to let us know we need to do something else for a while.

How much simpler our lives can be if we only have the faith to accept what happens as a guidepost along a path that is naturally correct.

Drag your thoughts away from your troubles . . .

by the ears, by the heels or any other way you can manage it.

It's the healthiest thing a body can do.

-- Mark Twain

Inspirational Short Story, Female Fantasy Art, Relaxing Music

It requires very little effort -- and no imagination -- to start feeling sorry for ourselves.

Often, it is easy to feel sorry for ourselves in our families.

Instead of being inspired by the sports talents of an older brother, the popularity of a lovely sister, or the fame of a parent or relative, we often take the easier attitude: "I'm denied all that he or she has."

If we work hard at developing our own abilities so that we can excel, we will find ourselves proud of, and applauding, what others do.

If a personal problem brings us self-pity, we must remind ourselves that all people have problems.

We can cope as well as the best of people if we learn from them and think positively.

Inspirational Short Story, Female Fantasy Art, Relaxing Music

Withdrawal is a preparation for emergence.

-- Nor Hall

Inspirational Short Story, Female Fantasy Art, Relaxing Music

A man lost his family in a car accident and wanted to be alone for a while, but he worried whether he was doing the right thing.

Then one day a friend told him that when pine cones fall off the lodge pole pine trees, they are sealed shut so the seeds inside can't get out. The pine cones lie on the forest floor -- sometimes for decades -- until a forest fire sweeps through.

Heat from the fire melts the seal and the seeds fall out and finally grow, and that's why the lodge pole pine is called a "fire-origin species."

The man felt good about himself when he heard the story.

"Fire-origin species" is a good name for people who've been burned by life and find new growth as a result.

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10/30/2024

Some dividers from Jeanne's Home Page (dead link 06/21/11)