Reading Response:

Chapter 9

• To me, this chapter is about avoiding reductionism. Don't reduce a story down to action, solely plot, or vigorous planning, but realizing that there are stories waiting to be made from anything, essentially, hence her Willie Nelson reference: the air is full of melodies [stories] you just have to reach out.


• this chapter also kind of reminded me of the quote "you owe reality nothing, and your imagination everything." Avoid reductionism. :p

random impulse

wking up and gainig consiousness with the feelings and emotions lingering from the reams that are slowly dispersing. I can hear the curtains besidemy window expanding and contracting against my open window as if they were breathing. Eyes still closed, the birds sound louder than usual. I open my eyes and catch the time: 9:30am. The sun is shining through my sheer curtains coloring my room baby pink.

Junkyard: An Old Indian Saying

It doesn't interest me what you do for a livingi want to know what you ache for,and if you dare to dream of meeting your heart's longing.It doesn't interest me how old you are.I want to know if you will risk looking like a fool for love,for your dreams, for the adventure of being alive.It doesn't interest me what planets are squaring your moon.I want to know if you have touched the center of your own sorrow,If you have been opened by life's betrayals or have become shriveled and closed from fear of further pain.I want to know if you can sit with pain, mine or your own,without moving to hide it or fade it or fix it.i want to know if you can be with joy, mine or your own, if you can dance with wildness and let the ecstasy fill youto the tips of your fingers and toes without cautioning us to becareful or realistic or to remember the limitations of being human.It doesnt interest me that you insist the story you're telling me is trueI want to know if you can disappoint another to be true to yourself;and i want to know if you can admit dishonesty to be true to another;that you can bear the accusation of betrayal and not betray your own soul.I want to know if you can be faithful and therefore be trustworthy.I want to know if you can see beauty even when it is not pretty every day and if you can source your life from god's presenceI want to know if you can live with failure, yours and mine, and still stand on the edge of a lake and shout to the silver of thefull moon, "Yes"!It doesn't interest me to know where you live or how much money you have.I want to know if you can get up after the night of grief and despair,weary and bruised to the bone and do what needs to be done for the childrenIt doesn't interest me what mistakes you've made, or how you came to be hereI want to know if you will stand in the center of the fire with me and not shrink backIt doesnt interest me where or what or with whom you have studiedI want to know what sustains you from the inside when all else falls away i wan to know if you can be alone with yourself,and if you truly like the company you keep in the empty moments

Random Impulse -- Maybe sensitivity is the real backbone of strength

Random thought: I'm an extremely sensitive person. I think that's a blessing and a hindrance at the same time. It's a blessing because it's proof that i'm not jaded. It's a reminder that i dont hold the illusion that i'm above growth and change.It's a hindrance because it can be so consuming and destructive at the same time.but then again, maybe it's not a hindrance at all because if i'm pushing through the pain that often accompanies that sensitivity, that's just proof to myself and others that i'm stronger than we think.

Random Impulse -- Maybe sensitivity is the real backbone of strength

Random thought: I'm an extremely sensitive person. I think that's a blessing and a hindrance at the same time. It's a blessing because it's proof that i'm not jaded. It's a reminder that i dont hold the illusion that i'm above growth and change.It's a hindrance because it can be so consuming and destructive at the same time.but then again, maybe it's not a hindrance at all because if i'm pushing through the pain that often accompanies that sensitivity, that's just proof to myself and others that i'm stronger than we think.

random impulse -- Humans are like atoms...maybe

I was reading an article on Gaiam.com by Jack Canfield about people’s individual life purposes. There were a couple of lines at the beginning that stuck out to me: “We are all here for a reason, and we are all here to serve each other. We are like individual cells in a body, each of us performing our own unique functions and collectively serving the being as a whole.” People spend so much time thinking about what God is, if there’s an after life and wondering how it all works. WELL, I’ve been saying for years that all i think God is a collective energy source that binds us all. (so many of us are so oblivious to how powerful our collective energy is) Okay, on the small scale there are atoms that are made of really tiny particles that each have their own unique jobs and are saving a bigger purpose…WELL, what if Humans are just really tiny particles working together with their own unique jobs towards something bigger like, or i don’t know, Heaven. We all work together and affect each other daily. So many people think that we’re all so separate from one another (it’s all about extablishing your place in our social hierarchy, right?) , but in reality every little thing we do or dont do affects everyone on a larger scale… And maybe the things that all of us humans do collectively affect that bigger energy source/being that many people refer to as God (or Gods) We’re all in this together. We’re not separate from one another, or better, or whatever. That’s just an illusion. We’re all working toward something bigger. And i think it’s quite obvious that we’re all oblivious (just like the little atoms) to what ever that big picture is. This world IS important. If we ignore it, dont you think that there is a possibility that we’re stunting the growth of the bigger picture/higher power/God? Maybe this higher power couldn’t exist without all of the beings on earth, just like we couldn’t exist if Atoms didnt exist. And if atoms didnt do their jobs and spent thier time thinking about what the next life is going to be like, then we wouldnt exist. I feel that if we are to become closer to what ever this superpower / after life is that we hold up so high on a pedestal, we need to become closer to each other first and work together. Our assumptions about what/who God and what/where the after life is are just that, assumptions. BUT, one thing that we can be sure of is that this world is real, and that we have each other, and we need to pay more attention to what we have here.

Junkyard

• You can shake the world gently"


• "if you're growing, you're always going to be out of your comfort zone"


• "write to be understood, speak to be heard, read to grow"


• be who you need to be


• You are told to love your neighbor -- but you have never loved yourself. And a person who has not loved himself, how can he love the neighbor? From where can he get love? First you have to have it. You are loving the neighbor -- you who knows nothing of love because you have never loved yourself. The neighbor is loving you -- he has never loved himself. Such insanity is happening in the world: people who know nothing of love are loving each other. It is like beggars begging from each other, each thinking the other is the emperor. Both are thinking in the same way: the other is the emperor. Both are beggars. Sooner or later the reality manifests itself; then there is misery, suffering. Then you think you have been cheated, this beggar has been trying to prove himself an emperor

-osho