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Sunday, August 28, 2022

For The Writer


Yesterday, while waiting for my computer to reset, I opened Natalie Goldberg’s book Writing Down the Bones, now in its 30th anniversary. It was one of the first books I bought on writing, and her comment, “Writing will take you where you want to go,” has stayed with me all these years. I left it behind in California when we moved to Oregon, but wanted on my shelf, so I re-bought it—an actual paper version. 

 

Goldberg was one of the first people who said, “Writing is available for everyone, that it could be practiced, and that it wasn’t only for special chosen few.” 

 

She sent it to seven large New York publishing houses. Four actually took the time to send her rejection slips. They also penned in the margins several paragraphs mocking what she had proposed.  

 

Shambhala, then a relatively new publishing house, picked it up. Thirty years later, Writing down the Bones is still going strong.  

 

Opening her book was my morning oracle reading, which means I just open a page and see what it offers.  

 

“If you can capture the way things are, that is all the poetry you need.”

-- Jack Kerouac

Since I don’t feel very poetic, this was a refreshing find.

 “If you walk in the mist, you’ll get wet.” –Basko, seventeenth-century Haiku Master.

 If you want to write in a particular style, novel, short story, or poem, read a lot of writing in that form. It will become imprinted inside you, so when you sit down to write, it will flow out of you. 

 

Words from wise people.

And now, as Steven Pressfield says, “Put Your Ass Where Your Heart Wants to Be.” (Now a Book.)Which means, of course, do the work that makes your heart sing.

You know it doesn’t have to be writing.

Tuesday, August 23, 2022

From My Little Corner of The Globe

How's your corner?

This morning I poured the last of last night's coffee over ice, loaded it with half and half, and aimed for my office in the Wayback. On the way out the door, I casually said to my husband, "When breakfast is ready, call me."

I really didn't expect him to do it, for my husband is about as lost in the kitchen as he would be if dropped on the moon. No, I take that back. He knows more about the moon. Except that a few minutes later, he appeared bearing oatmeal, cream and brown sugar. What a guy.

I read through "Money Talk," a "course" I have worked on steadily for the past two weeks. If you happen to read it, those bold lines are to emphasize them for myself.  (You see, I’m trying to get the message.)

Since I read it and did some last-minute fixes before lunch, you can see it doesn't take long. However, changing one's mindset takes longer.

I am broadcasting this information regarding my take on money. (Broadcasting, as in throwing seeds into the wind.)

Thanks for sticking with me.

Joyce

 

If you ask your higher self what the message you

need right now, and it admonishes you—that is not your higher self.

Your higher self is always kind, supportive, and wise.

 

    Here is the Introduction to Money Talk.

 


 Once upon a time, there were two monks whose order required that they do not touch a woman.

​As the two monks sauntered along a path, they came to a river where a woman was walking up and down the bank, searching for a way across. One of the monks, to the horror of the other, picked up the woman and carried her across the river.

​As the monks continued on their journey, one monk admonished the other for picking up the woman. "That wasn’t allowed," he said. "You should not have done it."

The lady-carrying monk said, “I put her down long ago. You are still carrying her.”

When I discovered that the fear of Poverty is the number on fear. And, imagine this, it stands above the fear of ill health and the fear of death.

​I thought, well, that is something we ought to put down.

​Have you ever seen a person in Poverty? Even if they are dressed in an expensive suit left over from earlier, more affluent days, they walk with their head down. Their eyes are listless, and they feel depressed, let down, not as good as others, and miserable.

 Why talk about money?

 “It’s not spiritual,” says one.

 “It’s a hot button,” says another.

 “You will alienate people."

No. we need to talk about it. This subject is on people’s minds more than any other, except maybe relationships.

​I’m not addressing the insanely rich who do insanely ridiculous things like eat endangered animals or have homes so large they can hardly visit all the rooms in one week. I’m not talking about rich people who become spoiled and egotistical—that scares us too. For we are afraid if we become rich, we will become like them.

​I’m here to tell you there are rich people you wouldn’t recognize on the street as wealthy. And those people are kind, considerate, and generous.

​While I’m not a guru, a preacher, or anyone who knows about savings, stocks, or the stock market, I do know this:

You are a divine being with a pipeline to the source, the same as everyone else.

​Some wise author contributed this to the Christian Bible: “It is the Father’s good pleasure to give you the Kingdom.” “Ask, and you shall receive, Seek and you shall Find. Knock and it shall be opened unto you.”

​And I’m not a Bible pusher. It took me a long time to become friends with God.

​I’m not religious in the traditional sense, but I’m spiritual in the best sense. I’ve gone through the fire of doubt and non-belief and come out the other side. I will use biblical tales when it suits my purpose. (Isn’t that the reason for a parable?) And I will throw out antiquated beliefs of a vengeful God who believes in an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth. I once argued with a minister over the Job story, for he believed the story was true. Yet, right up front, the writer states that it is a parable, meaning a fictional story to teach a message. Blame my philosophy professor. He made me read the Bible as literature.

​Really, I take responsibility. I just talk as though someone else is to blame. Like I blame Jen Sincero (bless her heart) for starting me on this journey. I should bless my cousin, and I do, for she sent me Sincero’s book, “YOU ARE A BADA**, How to stop doubting your greatness and start living an awesome life.”

​When Jen talked of the year in Southern California when it rained non-stop for what felt like forty days and forty nights, I knew the year. We were there. My brother, driving down the I-5 freeway to visit us, said the cars stopped on the freeway because it was raining so hard the windshield wipers couldn’t handle it.

​Jen’s rain story was really about getting a new car, as she was driving a twenty-three-year-old convertible with a leaky roof, no grill, a back window that was duct-taped shut, and a front tire that went flat every three days. As she sat in Safeway’s parking lot with a trash bag under her rear, the deal was cinched. She had to have a new car.

​And she did, and that process catapulted her into a new mindset. Do you settle for what’s practical or decide to get what you want? And can you create the money to pay for it?

Her story sent me on this money-talk adventure, for I figured if I wanted to manifest money into my life, I needed to first clean up my act.

I’m also confessing that I often wanted to chuck the whole idea of writing this course. It meant facing my fears. It made me afraid I couldn’t write it, people wouldn’t read it, and I couldn’t follow my own directives.

 “Let’s just move to a tropical island and live frugally,” I would say. My daughter reminded me that I did that once. Ah shucks. That took away my fantasy.

And then I would reset. The late George Russel, a famous Irish editor, and poet said,

 “We are what we contemplate.”

Contemplate the good, the uplifting. Know that The Source has your back. And here we will address the subconscious mind. It’s that little bugger that can help you or hinder you. And trying to get a handle on the subconscious is harder than catching a wet slippery fish with your bare hands—a wild fish, a big fish. And if, as people say, our subconscious mind is a recorder and that it will play back what we have put into it, we definitely need to catch it.

Remember, many of our ideas, and the thoughts we think, are not of our own making. We are molded by the opinions of others.

How many times have we heard that “#Money doesn’t grow on trees?” (No, but it grows from our creative ideas.)

When we were children and wanted something, our parents, who thought they were teaching us the value of money, said, “We can’t afford it.” Or perhaps, “When you earn it, you can have it.” Or, “What do you think we are made of, money?” And then some thought the more you wanted something, the less apt you were of getting it. I can hear them, “Yeah, people in hell want ice water too.”

Now, how screwy is that?

Our parents were our source. Where else would we go to get what we wanted?

Did they teach us that The Source is limited, yet it grants its bounty to a special few?

If a few can get it, so can you.

We must remember that our parents were influenced by their parents, and those parents were taught by their parents, and so on. And all those people had the voices of the world in their ears. The Great Depression (1929-1939) sent off a wave of fear that permeated generations. People killed themselves over their loss of money, which says it was more important to them than life. That instilled such a fear that it lasted into the next generation. The thought was, be frugal, for you never know when the next crash will happen.

Consider this quote from Claude M. Bristol’s book,

 "There will never be another business depression if people generally realize that it is with their own fear thoughts that they literally create hard times. They think hard times, and hard times follow.”

“So, it is with wars. When peoples of the world stop thinking depressions and wars, they will become non-existent.”

 In 1932 an article appeared in The Commercial and Financial Chronicle,

“A country rich beyond all precedent in gold and jewels lies at every man’s feet. Your luck is ready at hand. All is within; nothing is without.”

  …Man, individually and collectively is entitled to live in all abundance.”

I’m back on track and ready to go the distance.

 

Remember,

If you ask your #higher self what the message is you need right now, and it admonishes you—that is not your higher self.

Your higher self is always kind, supportive, and wise.

What you can expect to find within the pages of this course:

Chapters

1. All is Within.

2. How Can I get from Where I am to Where I Want to Be?

3. Practice/Repeat/Do It.

4. A Love Affair.

5. Five Steps to Riches

6. Imagination

7. The Challenge

8. Mastermind


Are you with me?

Please go to moneytalkbyjo.blogspot.com


                                                         Soon to be moneytalkbyjo.com
 

 

 

Saturday, August 20, 2022

Have you heard of having AI (Artificial Intelligence) Write Blogs?

 This is the most insane thing I've heard this week.

 

Are people so desperate to have a blog they will let a computer write it for them?

 

What happened to the expression of oneself?

What happened to the need to practice to perfect one's skills?

What happened to pride in one's own accomplishment?

What happened to use your brain to create content and complete it even if it stinks?

 

Guess I'm from the old school.

 

A reader asked me this morning that since they were having trouble coming up with content for a blog, should they use AI?

 

I wanted to scream.

 

I told them that writing with AI stinks. 

 

Our phones can write messages, and now AI can write blogs for us. Pretty soon, AI will have our babies for us. 

 

We bloggers who, through blood, sweat and tears, have muddled through with content, some good, some bad, but genuine, can just get wiped out.

 

And will that AI content be fascinating to read, and will it meet all the SEO clicks necessary to get ranked at the top of the google bot lineup?

 

Yeah, I know; why do we bloggers blog?

 

Why does a muskrat guard his musk?

 

Because it's his, he appreciates it and wants to preserve it and share it with others. Presumably, the Creator didn't give him his musk for his olfactory senses alone.

 

This brings me to a project I've been working on.

 

Does it smell like musk? I don't know. 

 

I need to look into this miraculous programming of the subconscious mind. We all know it can help or hinder us, for since it is a recorder, it gives back what we have put into it. Or what has been programmed into it by others.

 

We want control of it, and since the fear of poverty is the number one fear, even above the fear of illness, or death, talking about money is an excellent place to begin. 

 

It isn't spiritual to talk about money, say some.

It's a hot button, say others.

People will turn off if you talk about money.

 

I don't think so.

 

I think money is on our minds, whether people have it or don't, and everybody needs at least some of it.

 

I'm talking about how one's mind sets them up for a certain level of wealth.

 

This Money Talk began as a Newsletter, and then I took it down, and the next thing fell into place. I listened to a presentation on how we ought to write a course. Everyone has an experience or information, unlike others, that can be entertaining, fun, or beneficial. And we ought to share it.

 

I chickened out a few times, for while this writing fell into place, it also fell apart. But then that's my style of writing. I put it back together again and named it "Money Talk." 

 

The Hawaiians have a phrase called "Talk Story," which means to catch up or discuss something, and sometimes talk story can go on all night. I first heard that phrase from the building inspector, who offered several options on getting our Tiki room approved for a permit. She told my husband and me to "Talk Story."

 

Here we're talking money. 

 

I'm mentioning it now because I'm releasing Money Talk this coming Tuesday, August 23, 2022.

 

And I'm not putting this course of 8 chapters, 8,999 words, out indiscriminately, only to people who think they might benefit from what I offer, or are willing to gamble. It will come as an attachment in your email file. So, I will need your email address. 

 

I'm charging 12 bucks, cheap for clearing your private streams—as muskrats, like beavers can do.

 

The Free Introduction will come out on Tuesday. 

 

Tell me what you think.

 

Thanks once again for joining me. I appreciate you.

Jo

 

What makes a King out of a slave?

Courage! What makes the flag on the mast to wave?

Courage! What makes the elephant charge his tusk, in the misty mist or the dusky dusk?

What makes the muskrat guard his musk?

Courage! What makes the sphinx the seventh wonder?

Courage! What makes the dawn come up like thunder?

Courage! What makes the Hottentot so hot? What puts the “ape” in apricot?

What have they got that I ain’t got?

Courage!

--Lion from the Wizard of Oz

 

                                                                 Muskrat


 

Tuesday, August 16, 2022

Velkommen*

*Welcome,

It's been a quiet week here in Junction City. Strains of Garrison Keilor (Prairie Home Companion with its news from Lake Wobegon) just wafted through my head. I found some old cassette tapes and have listened to that master storyteller.

I drove our pickup truck to my dental appointment because I wanted to listen to tapes. I had broken a tooth, but now I have a beautiful totally white crown—no more need for a gold base anymore, so it seems. I don't want to bore you with my tooth story, but the making of the crown was fascinating, especially for an old dental assistant from the dark ages.

No more taking impressions with gunky stuff in trays that stretch the limits of your cheeks. No more need to cast plaster in the gel mold. No more hand-carving of the wax image that will be your new tooth. And no need for melting the wax to cast the gold that will make your crown.

It's done on the computer, with pictures and a CNC mill in the back room. Water sprays on a block of porcelain the size of a sugar cube while burrs carve out your beautiful tooth. (One visit, you're done.)

And all this high-tech stuff is right here in Junction City.

Saturday, (I guess it wasn’t so quiet) we took in the Scandinavian Festival that happens every year here in Junction City—except for the years when viruses shut it down. 


The temperature was reasonable, a bit hot, but okay. My main reason for going is for the fresh potato chips. Well, I throw in a bratwurst with sauerkraut, and dinner is handled. The potato chips are the best. A genius man with a cutting device places a potato on a spit, affixes his hand drill to a rotating cutter, and zip he spiral-cuts an entire potato. They fry it up in oil (that has to be reasonably fresh for the Festival only lasts four days.), add salt and viola', a treat.

 


Sixty-one years and counting.  

Between 1890 and 1900, thanks to the completion of the railroad, Scandinavian immigrants, tired of droughts and grasshopper plagues of the Midwest, came looking for a place more like home. 

They found it in the Pacific Midwest.

In 1961 after the freeway cut off visitors to Junction City, residents organized the first Scandinavian Festival.

 Four thousand visitors were expected. Ten thousand came.