The up and the down, life a blend of light and shadow.
Today, can you write down five things for which you are grateful?
Prompt: Make a bargain with yourself to create something each day, any medium, any way.
There is enough time
To shine a light deep within,
Find yourself again.
Thank you for visiting here. May your day be blessed. Please come back again.
I have been contemplating letting the large traps of social media go. There is much about those sites I find annoying. The commercialization, the fiction that they are social, and the fact there is so little of my friends’ original content I see when I visit, confound me.
Here, I can write without much worry of plagiarism. I can always post my links there. Another thing is that it is an election year, and the politicization of the whole social media universe is worrisome.
I have not posted here in some time. Most of what I have written has gone on social media; that is shameful of me. Will I do better? I should hope so. Seeing the wide open field of white, awaiting my words, almost convinces me I am at home.
A writer, should to earn the title, write. I would be well served to remember this fact.
What of you, are you allowing your creativity to shape your days, or some few spare moments, at least?
To what conviction
Do I owe fascination?
Grackles the breeze own.
Gratitude List
I am thankful:
1. No ads chase me here.
2. Wearing shorts in April (all Winter, in fact).
3. Air-conditioning.
4. I have the Explorer.
5. It is Friday.
© Jo Ann J. A. Jordan
Friday, April 26, 2024
I finished ‘However, Whatever, Wherever, Whenever, Why? Volume 13,’ a few days early. After careful deliberation over my choices, I chose this journal handmade by Disabled and Homeless persons. It may have been stored for as many as 25 years. ( I keep things forever.)
I am considering beginning a new Creativity Project on Haphazard Creative and Chronicles. I do not know where 2023 will open doors or lead me, but am excited to begin it.
I hope the New Year will bring us all many blessings and joy. If you like, join me here, and we can explore possibilities together.
Best wishes for your wellness and growth. Be prepared to accept the abundance coming your way.
We are all treasures from the hands of the Creator, and good things are stored up for us. We must be courageous to grasp the opportunities that come our way. Walking into the future with Love, good fortune will find us.
Always and Ever,
Jo Ann
Starting and ending are easy, but the middle gives life to the story. The morass of details, building, deconstructing, together and apart, is where we find meaning for the first and last. As creators, we test ourselves and find the elements we are made from in the uncharted country that stretches infinite inside our boundaries.
Sometimes, the mistakes are where we learn the best and the most when we create. Never be afraid of failure or the line that goes awry. We can recover, but never beginning or stopping when things get difficult serves no one. Perfection is a myth; it can hold us prisoners; creation is the goal, and sometimes the process is messy.
© Jo Ann J. A. Jordan
Writing can be bizarre. We work on one thing, then find parts and pieces, fit puzzle-like with our other work. Such was my experience today; it was like chunking ideas at a mind map.
Urgent Origin
1.
Love sometimes silent
Makes one wily and wary;
Trust, a butterfly,
Some pick the brightly colored
Wings off and set them aflame.
Slaking emotion
Within a stranger desire,
Holding back the truth,
When unbeknownst, tears fall warm –
Milk curdled in noonday sun.
2.
Some secrets have ways
Of bleeding out over time,
Leaving stains behind
Hard to cover in the mind
Or in person, once you find.
Everyday becomes
Barred captivity with no
Date set for release,
Creativity invents
Dialogues, reasons, endless.
Tears you comprehend
But cannot ever explain
To those who must pry
Into the brown-paper wrapped
Packages under bleary eyes.
3.
Who knows the flashes
Of memory making you?
Is your life managed
In black boxes mentally?
Can anyone explain fear?
When you smile, statements,
Does someone care, understand?
Years play melodies
Like guitars, dice, ivory –
Peddle pleasures, distant names.
No pictures remain
Glass burst, broken, twisted frames;
To travel back, no,
Claims upon the shattered heart
Too costly to rearrange.
Winners rode away
Without regret meant to say –
Drowning in bottles
Forsaking the meaning – Love –
Ravens, dark dirges – black sing.
Still, shrill the ailing,
Lonely wails, no one listens,
The darkness alone
Harbors shadows whoever
It was and somehow might be.
Castaway – leave shore,
Dump boxes full of shame, woe,
Let bad temper go,
Find the self anew, made free
Voyage into what agrees.
© Jo Ann J. A. Jordan
Prompt
As you work, see how you handle middles. Do you have beginnings and endings within them? Create inside, but aside your boundaries. Share your experience if you wish.
Gratitude
I am thankful:
1. Today, I had an opportunity to talk to my son, Alex.
2. The weather may become colder again.
3. I created a lot today.
4. I can determine how I employ my creativity.
5. Life is like origami; every fold adds value to the whole.
Call to Action
I hope you have enjoyed your visit to Chronicles, please see my current site, Haphazard Creative. Should you wish to share, please ask permission; all material here is © Jo Ann J. A. Jordan. Please hit the like and follow buttons if you have not already. I hope to keep this project going all year; your comments, ideas, and suggestions are welcome. All the best to you forever.
I hope you enjoyed these creations from my photos. I hope you have an awesome day. I encourage you to create something today. You are capable of making whatever you desire and it will enrich your life. The world needs more of us to share our originality.
I am grateful today:
1. I was accepted for a Creative Writing Specialization with Wesleyan University on financial aid.
2. I have the technological devices I need to do creative work.
3. I have access to multitudes of books through my local library.
4. I had my eyes examined and have new contacts and glasses that make the world clear for me.
5. We have plenty of food to sustain us.
6. I have some beautiful clothing.
7. Our home is temperate and comfortable.
8. Some of my creative work was published in the Chapel Hill News & Views.
9. We have had our Explorer a year, and it is one of the best vehicles I have ever driven.
10. I have some wonderful, supportive friends around the world.
Now it is your turn. Make a list of at least five things for which you are grateful today. This will have a positive effect on you even, and especially, if you are going through a difficult time. Life looks better when you count your blessings. It makes you appreciate what you have, in spite of what you may lack.
Here is a picture I took a while back that I call, “Meet Me Here.” Your creative challenge is to write a story that might happen here, or one about this photo. Have fun, and do not allow your inner critic to stymie your work. You have the ability to create something wonderful.
Finally, if you enjoyed what you have seen here, please subscribe to my blog. I would love for you to share this blog with your friends if you feel it would add quality to their lives.
All the work found here is originally created by Jo Ann J. A. Jordan and is covered by copyright. Should you wish to share please credit the work.
All the best to each of you,
God Bless,
Always,
Jo Ann
01/04/2016
You get your prompt at the beginning today. You were not expecting that, were you? I usually make you wait so you read what else I have written…
Climbing is hard work, but each milestone along your path brings special gifts which encourage you to continue. What have you gained as you work to fulfill your dream? What has inspired you to reach greater heights? Share your accomplishments to motivate yourself and others.
Now create something from this prompt. You are a creative person and have the ability to complete anything you desire. This is a simple exercise.
Get busy!
I stayed up all night. This seems to be becoming a pattern. One crash night and day, then one night and day into night and on to the morning staying up. Might be a little manic going on here. Watching it closely. I also seem to have an overabundance of ideas soaring through my mind.
Going to share a few thoughts I have been entertaining with you all. I have never considered journalism as an outlet for my talents, but since I have been reading The New York Times and Atlanta Journal – Constitution fairly regularly, I have come to think I might have something to contribute in this format. I know many writers got their start in the business through newspapers and periodicals. I am a little afraid my credentials will not stand me in good stead in this market, but all they can tell me is no. I have heard no before, and guess what? It has not killed me. I am tough, well, at least I can dodge with the best of them. I have no college degree, but have done a great deal of self-motivated learning through reading and free courses online. I have no particular publishing credits, but I have edited and published a desktop produced magazine. I have written since I was a very young child. This is my life. Words carry me, nourish me, move me toward achieving my purpose.
I have worked as a volunteer Publicity Chairman for Sweetwater Camera Club doing page layout and design for almost four years with a local ad funded magazine called The Chapel Hill News & Views. I doubt they will pay me, but I think they might be willing to publish some articles. I have not asked yet, but I have some ideas. I am thinking of doing some public interest pieces and some health articles. I have ideas of people to interview.
The question is; do I have the skills necessary? If you have an opinion, please share it with me in the comments below.
I am reading a new motivational book, which I will cover in more detail later, but it reinforces the ideas I have been having about doing something that gets me more into public view. I cannot have significant impact on people’s lives without widespread publication. Blogging, and social media alone are not enough to reach many. I want to encourage, inspire, motivate, and empower others to become creators who influence their destinies through what they create. I think I have ideas worth sharing.
I hope that by helping others I can also help myself and become self-sufficient. I want to share my challenges, but I want to overcome them so they no longer define me. I want to be measured by what I accomplish, not a disease I cannot control. I have struggled, but I want to shine. God willing, I can do things that in my own power are not possible.
I am doing a gratitude list again today. Join me by noting your blessings. It seems to bolster my positive attitude and you may find it helpful to you too.
I Am Grateful:
1) I went to physical therapy, although I really did not want to go.
2) I gave the staff some bookmarks and a box of cookies.
3) I helped a friend today.
4) Even though I have been very negative lately my best friend has not deserted me.
5) I started reading a great motivational book on Kindle.
6) I did not lose my stylus though it dropped out of my phone case several times.
7) Hope talked to me when I came home. She is so adorable.
8) My mentor and I talked a while this evening.
9) Since SunTrust was closed, I came home sooner than I planned.
10) The SYNC system in the Explorer worked better than ever.
This space held a poem yesterday. I am not convinced I can poem today. I shall try:
As I Climb
I am blessed with
A gift the Creator wants
Me to share freely,
Or I do not believe He
Would have given it to me.
I need to pull up
Through my depths of poverty,
Becoming myself
Sufficient to support my
Own needs without assistance.
I am strong enough
To carry my own heaviness
Without you others
Looking after me without
Wanting to do, charity.
I know I have worked
And my benefits are mine,
But some are jealous;
They see me as parasite
Unworthy of such little.
I want more, freedom,
Choice to have the many things
Denied me so long,
I want health, I want wealth, and
I want to hold my head high.
So now undaunted
I will climb much higher up
Reaching lofty prize
Of the life I have long dreamed
I deserved to live and share.
I am blessed with
A gift the Creator wants
Me to share freely,
Or I do not believe He
Would have given it to me.
© Jo Ann J. A. Jordan
Monday, January 4, 2016
I finished up just at midnight. Pardon this poem if it is a bit crass. I hope you enjoy most of this bit of thinking in ink. I have done a poor job, I am afraid, but I am a bit tired this late. Sleep, the pillow and sheets call.
May each of you create your dream come true. Please take time to subscribe to this blog if you enjoyed reading it. I would love to hear from you if you would leave a comment.
Always,
Jo Ann
01/02/2016
We are together for day two of this adventure if you are reading this right now. That is exciting because I want you to follow along. More than that I hope you will also take action on your own. I would like you to take a few minutes each day to write. Maybe it would just be a simple recounting of your day, or you could write a poem, story, memory, anything you want really. Just be creative. You have so much to share with the world, which only you can communicate. You are so unique and we need your voice. It adds so much to our communities, please get busy.
Once upon a time I wrote an entry on this blog every day for a year and a half. I cannot promise I will do that again. If you look at the past entries here, you will see that I have taken quite a while off. I think I am going to do things a bit differently this time. I want to do the entries on my tablet or my computer instead of handwritten journal pages. This may change, but it is my current modus operandi. Look at that, I actually used Latin, ha ha.
I stayed up all night. I seem to do this quite often recently. I enjoy the peace and quiet of the hours when Mom is sleeping. I am also able to keep watch over her. I need time to myself, I steal it in the darkness. I seem more creative in the wee hours of the night. Sometimes I write what I consider very good statuses and poems on Facebook overnight. If you follow me here, you might like to friend me on there. Send me a message and I will answer your request.
I have managed to keep my weight to 135 pounds for over a year now, down from over 200 pounds on December 6, 2013. I believe having a Samsung Galaxy Gear and the MyFitnessPal app have helped a great deal. Walking miles each day has been instrumental too. Here is a picture to illustrate the difference in my appearance…
The second photo is me today. Not the best lighting for taking a good picture. I am not great at selfies. Cannot ever seem to get that right. I try, but it seems an impossibility for me.
I am going to add a gratitude list today. I hope you will join me in taking a few moments to note your blessings. It seems to help me stay more positive and you may find it works for you too.
I Am Grateful:
1) Christmas is over.
2) The new year has begun with all its open days to fill with accomplishments.
3) I am able to read and write because of an excellent public education overseen by some outstanding teachers.
4) I have begun working on Otherwise Entertained again.
5) Mom has finally started moving around a bit more after almost two months of mostly inactivity.
6) I have some wonderful tools to employ in creative activity.
7) My dog, Hope, who is nine and a half years old is doing well. She is a joy in my life.
8) I have been listening to more music lately.
9) The weather is cooling off after unseasonable warmth and I am able to wear long sleeves.
10) God is good all the time and in all ways.
Now I am going to ask you to do a few things. First, if you enjoyed reading this, please follow my blog and leave a comment if you have time. Secondly, get your own self busy and do something creative today. You have all the talent you need for it. I have faith in your ability and you should too. Share your ideas and creations with the world. The world needs everyone’s input. You will change lives, including your own.
Always,
Jo Ann
If I could change it
I am not quite sure I would
For from the deep pain
Has come more compassion than
I otherwise would have known.
I have seen the dark
Inside the very heart of
Intense happiness,
And I have lived the death of
The sweetest most precious gift.
Losing your children
Without watching them grow strong
Or even later
Is an agony beyond
All human capacity.
What more pain it must
Be for all-knowing, all-loving
God to contemplate
The loss of those who shun the
Mercy freely given them.
We are not able
To comprehend suffering
Deeper than our loss,
But Christ died, in agony,
That we might gain eternity.
One day, I will hold
The hands of those now missing
And experience
The joy of glad reunion
Because Jesus loves even me.
© Jo Ann J. A. Jordan
Monday, January 20, 2014
Are they memories, or the delusions of my mind? So hard to say, and no one to answer… so I will pray that I make it through another day. I know God holds the answers and knows me completely, so I give it into His hands and remember Christ has the power to calm every storm.
Faith must trust in midst of turmoil, even if the turmoil is internal. God is greater than any trial, God is greater than any disease, God is greater than any person, and His love reaches out to each of us in our need. He sent His Son to save. Jesus became the sacrifice for sin in every life choosing to accept grace. His death, His blood, redeems. Christ’s resurrection shows the great power of Almighty God and how very great a love He bestowed upon us in giving us a future hope. His Spirit abides with us, bringing us to acknowledge Christ’s call upon our lives and then sealing us forever. No power can snatch a child of God from His grasp. Love enfolds us…
These things are sometimes hard to hold onto, but we are made strong through Him despite our weakness…
I stumble over words, but I pray God reveal Himself…
The following did not go on Facebook; I wanted to share it here first:
I went to Sunday School this morning, and it was Sanctity Of Life Day, which is a difficult day for me. Had I known that, I probably would not have gone. Someone said she could not imagine how anyone could have an abortion, and my heart broke all over again. My mind began to shatter as it always does when I think of choices I have been forced to make.
If you have read this blog much, you know my life has been a struggle and an adventure, but for those of you who are newcomers I am going to digress a bit. This is going to be sketchy, so if you have questions ask them in the comments.
I was once totally against abortion. I had to fight against it during my pregnancy with my wonderful son, Alex. I thought I might never have an opportunity to have a child, because I had wanted one for years, but never had one. When I got pregnant with Alex, I refused to terminate. He was born in 1988.
I had a miscarriage later, then in 1999 I became pregnant. I was carrying twin girls with Twin-to-Twin Transfusion Syndrome, which is a rare disorder where both babies share the same blood supply. Google it for more details… It rarely goes well. I was very sick all during the pregnancy and on bed rest. We knew the babies were developing at different rates and the neonatologist was very concerned. One day I went in for a sonogram and the smallest twin had died. The neonatologist recommended we terminate the pregnancy because the outlook for the remaining twin and myself was rather grim. I went home to make the hardest decision of my life.
Because there was no hope of a healthy baby being born and every indication that there would be severe problems for both of us, and because there was an almost certainty of losing the second baby, I chose to terminate. I cried, prayed, and suffered through agony. When we went in and her little heart was stopped, it nearly destroyed me. Then my ob-gyn refused to deliver the babies and told me to go to an abortion clinic. This was heartless and cruel of a highly respected doctor who serves politically. I did not want this outcome, but made the choice because of the health consequences. While devastated and emotionally in agony I had to try to find someone to deliver my twins. After two days, one of the other doctors in the ob-gyn practice had mercy on me and mine and delivered the girls in the hospital where I had hoped to have healthy babies.
I got treated with some respect for the grief I was suffering, but I felt overwhelming guilt. I continue to experience it. I doubt I made the right decision and wonder if the doctor could have been wrong. I hate myself for making a choice I feel only God can make, but I also know I was very sick and weak.
So I have come to believe there are circumstances where a woman may find herself almost forced to terminate a pregnancy… I am no longer totally against abortion. As I have often come to realize, life sometimes intervenes and brings unhappy choices. Not everything is always simple, there are gray areas.
I wish I had been strong enough to carry Katherine Rose to term, but after Melissa Faith died, and the blood was still flowing through her body as it decomposed, there did not seem any hope. I wish my babies had been healthy and I had born them. My life would no doubt be very different, but that was not the situation I was given. I made a tragic choice in a tragic situation.
Maybe others would choose differently, maybe I was wrong. I hope God can forgive me, and that perhaps my story can touch someone and make some hearts a little tenderer toward those who make hard choices in life. We are, after all, only human and prone to error.
We talked about the Sanctity Of Life on the other end, when caring for the elderly among us. I have dedicated the past thirteen, almost fourteen, years to the task. It is a hard job. My mother has a variety of health issues and I am her full-time caregiver. I, myself, suffer from Schizo-Affective Disorder, so am not without personal challenges daily. I will continue caring for my Mom as long as I can.
Sometimes, a little care and compassion can go a long way.
Always,
Jo Ann
Chronicles 