Writing | Creativity | Challenge
My Secret Weapon, a Challenge and a Review
July Stories
“Your mind is the best weapon you have.”
-Farengar Secret-Fire
When Timothy Key challenged us to summarize our July stories in his July 16th challenge, I missed the boat. When I noticed it today, I thought I’d better get on it before the end of the month.
It might be daunting for you to meet this challenge, as Medium doesn’t make it easy to copy and paste all the links to your stories into one place.
But I had a secret weapon.
Reading and commenting on stories you enjoy builds a connection between the reader and the writer. For me, it’s the best part of belonging to Illumination.
Here’s one way I build community.
It takes a bit of time, but it shows intention and real connection. When I comment on a story, I take the time to say something meaningful.
I treat all my comments as stories so I add an image to match the words and I always link back where I can. I collected all those links and comments so I had a convenient file to draw from. That made this challenge easier.
Relationship building is the key to success as a writer.
Here are my July stories from newest to oldest up to the 21st.
I’ve received a flurry of enthusiastic challenges from many talented poets to participate in the never ending poem challenge. Here’s my response.
Love, Hope, Life, Friendship, Season, Children, Infinite, Vision, Integrity, Medieval and Camouflage.
Relationships | Mental Health | Life Lessons
A Cloak, Invisibility and Judgment
“When you judge another, you do not define them, you define yourself.” Wayne Dyer
“We see how someone dresses and quickly decide what kind of person they are. A sloppily dressed person is not responsible. A man in a suit knows what they are doing.”
A Mirror, Some Debris and My Beliefs
–Ask yourself: Show me what I need to know.
Relationships | Mindfulness | Mental Health
When the urge to make someone wrong comes up in a relationship that you want to nurture, recognize that something else is going on.
Quaran-tinted lenses are for social interactions you might have opted out of back when being introverted was a valid choice for self care.
Self Care and Social Contact with Rose Colored Glasses
— Poetry | Haiku | Relationships
Seeing the world through Quaran-tinted lenses
This summer, I’ve been managing a campground on a small lake in western Canada. Tonight we wandered out onto the dock in the dark, armed with a flashlight and an air horn. Instead we found a Comet.
Dazzled by a Once in a Lifetime Event — Once in 6800 years
Astronomy | Science | Neowise
Super Extra Frowning Face Shows a Victim Orientation — Easy Signs to Look For
Relationships | Mindfulness | Mental Health
When I start getting too serious about something that doesn’t matter in the big scheme of things, I know it’s a signal that things may be out of whack. I know I need to have a closer look at what my debris is doing.
Allowance is the Powerful Antidote to Judgment — It’s also the Lube to Change — Relationships | Mindfulness | Mental Health
Your orientation in life determines how you see and feel your life experiences. Orientation also affects your choices. Look closely at your beliefs to discover where you are judging others and yourself.
The Crazy Dating Scene of Quarantime — Quaran-Tendrils
Poetry | Haiku | Relationships
As we all settled into the lockdown, I realized I wanted to write about the changes I was seeing in the world. I felt it was important to capture the strange and unexpected results of our collective reactions. I felt haiku expressed these feelings well.
The Collection:
When You Long For The Bonds of Home — Hiraeth is the Welsh word for a type of longing for the homeland or the romanticized past. This poem is one of a series where I explore words that don’t directly translate into English.
Whispers of the Universe Will Seduce You — Make a Choice
Aliveness is a way of being that fills you with energy. When someone is living in their aliveness, they glow. They exude energy that you can see in their face and body. You want to be near them; to be part of that energy.
Your Relationships Have An Energy Vibration — So Does Everything You Create
Relationships | Inspiration | Creativity
When you begin to create the consciousness of something, like a blog or a website, a new relationship or a job, you attract things that match the energetic profile of what is being created.
It’s not what you do, it’s how you do it.
This story was curated in Topics: Spirituality and Creativity
When They Are Never Satisfied With the Result — Kaizen
Poetry | Haiku | Japanese
The word Kaizen describes the Japanese concept of never-ending improvement in search of perfection as processes are streamlined.
Finding Your Truth at the Treeline — Will You Cross Over
When you search for truth there’s a line that must be crossed. There is a treeline in the north where you can cross but there’s no going back. Once you know something, you can’t unknow it.
This poem was curated by the Medium editors into the Topic ‘Poetry’.
Beware of the Green Eyed Snake — She Bites, is about Jealousy and how it breeds other harmful feelings like resentment and anger.
I had a bit of fun with this at the end and wrote a short fiction piece exploring the feeling from two sides.
Feeling Like A Flower Planted in a Clearcut — Depaysement is the feeling that comes from not being in one’s home country; being a stranger in a strange land. It’s an intense feeling that you don’t belong.
This poem is one of a series where I explore words that don’t directly translate into English.
Poetry | Haiku | French
Powerful Needs Change What We Want From God -They Reflect Our Different Views of Life
Over time, our views and beliefs tend to change. Our concept of God has always been a reflection of our changing needs over the centuries.
We work so hard to refuse receiving and it often turns into drama. Opening yourself up to the full allowance of receiving creates a vast space where anything can occur. True receiving is allowing possibility to come to you.
The Surprising Ways You Keep Score In Your Social Life — Receiving with Love
Curated in: mindfulness mental health relationships and self
“But if you choose to linger in
the garden filled with all your dreams
you risk the languor of the wealth
and might be hiding from your fear.”
Take a Chance With the Key of the Maiden — Fate Beckons
This poem describes the way we can let fate determine our life or how we can choose our own path instead.
It’s Their Destiny To Love But Remain Apart — Yuánfèn
This poem was curated into Poetry by Medium.
Language is a powerful tool and there are so many words that express our feelings in a way that can’t be expressed by a simple thought. I love finding words that don’t translate directly into English.
Sometimes we blame ourselves for choices we’ve made in the past and go into a space of deep loneliness and shame. We spiral down in a self fulfilling funnel where we blame ourselves.
Demonstrating Your Love Is Energy in Motion
When you are able to be kind to yourself in small ways, you’ll begin to notice big changes in your life.
The Gift of Love is a Powerful Force for Healing -Self compassion is key.
My Powerful Memory -I went on a field trip with my local college. In a single day, I encountered a Greek God and a Castle Wall. I disturbed the Gods — Zeus, in particular.
This one was Curated in Travel
This is a poem that explores the multitudes and the possibilities to be seen in the blades of grass in a field.
Images In Your Mind Make a Spiral of Dreams
The pieces in a collage can represent how your mind jumps and moves from one thought to the next, some related, some not, until you circle back to where you began.
Wabi-Sabi. “We Are Perfectly Imperfect — Embrace Your Flaws” explores the Japanese concept of beauty in imperfections.
A Few Powerful Haiku in the Time of Covid-19 –Collective Reactions
As we all settled into the lockdown, I realized I wanted to write about the changes I was seeing in the world. I felt it was important to capture the strange and unexpected results of our collective reactions. I felt haiku expressed these feelings well.
I’ve recently become fascinated with words that express powerful emotions but don’t translate directly into English.
Ya’aburnee is an Arabic word that describes the hope that you will die before your loved one because it would be unbearable to live without them.
Find Secrets in the Science of Form — Calculations of the universe
The combination of science in nature explored in a haiku.
The journey from Fan to Follower can lead you to unexpected places. I love getting lost in the connections here on Medium.
In the Field of Wrong and Right — Mindfulness
This poem was written in response to a prompt by a member of the Kubili Cafe, The words were inspired by Rumi’s poem “A Great Wagon”.
Words that Don’t Translate Directly into English — A Collection of Haiku
I’ve recently become fascinated with words that express powerful emotions but don’t translate directly into English. Here are several of the results in a haiku format.
Look For Mystery in the Moonwake- Spirits Dance, is a haiku inspired by what we can see in reflections. This Haiku is one of a series about nature.
The hive mind. “The Magic of Your Heart’s Desire” with the image of the bee king from Myanmar. This Haiku is one of a series about nature.
“Eagles Are Falling From the Sky”. This Haiku is one of a series about nature
This is Timothy Key’s original challenge. I think it’s worth it because you can reuse this information over and over again. I challenge you to summarize your July stories! I want to see them together in one post so I can read them at my leisure!
TAG me if you respond to this challenge so I can cheer you on!
Alejandra Vlerick, Suzanne V. Tanner, Paroma Sen, Rachael Hope, Ejuen Armstrong, ColeTretheway, Michael Lubinski, QuadConjures, Erin M. Singh, Agnes Laurens, Dr Mehmet Yildiz, M.C. Commander, Samantha de Mattos, Ejuen Armstrong, Amritansh Sagar, Dennett, Robert Bush
I’m happy to write for Share The Love and I’m an editor for ILLUMINATION and Whispers of Magic. Tag me @treelangdon or add a message to this post if you’d like to connect. I’m a‘Top Writer’ in Poetry on Medium. Find me on Twitter and Facebook.*
Here’s a recently curated story:
