Ligo Haibun Challenge – Mirror Image

November 10, 2013 / Penny L Howe / 35 Comments

Such an interesting turn of phrase “mirror image” as compared to … oneself. More incongruous than the image appears (visually speaking), we (humans) always tend to “see” more than what is really visible to the naked eye.

Still, the person on the outside looking at the same person (on the inside of a mirror) has the distinct advantage of being seen in a two dimensional platform – which is, of course, never the actuality of life.

Wading deeply through the stream of reality, I could look down at life’s liquidness and see my own mirror image reflected in the fluidity of all life as it swirls around me. Ebbing waves of ‘this or that’ moment of experience exhibiting – all that I appear to be.

But I rarely do – look. I selfishly do not stop the train of thought, (my personal perception of life experiences) and indeed my ability to continue on with an absorption, immersion and captivation of life which I find quintessential to my own well being and improvement.

In summation, a true mirror image of self might be viewed as a matrix where each new bit and piece and layer of the “who I am” rearranges and renews – at will, (my ‘true image’ being of constant change) – as it should, because with each subsequent change I become more of who I truly am.

life’s true potential

mirrored in streaming nature

from dream to reality

Penny L Howe, 2013

. . . .

For more details to this weeks Ligo Haibun (writing) Challenge click here!

Thanks for stopping by, sending love, prayers, much hope and courage to those in the Philippines for their many loses. Please support them in any way that you are able to!

Penny

Taking a Second Look!

October 16, 2013October 16, 2013 / Penny L Howe / 47 Comments

There is beauty to be found in all things … if we but notice. A rose is always a rose, even when laying suspended and partially submerged in smooth flowing water. Might that also be true of many we meet? Slow down, pause, breathe in deeply, and then …

Take that second look. There is beauty in ALL things. Beauty that nourishes and lifts us up. You may be pleasantly surprised with what you view (and feel) if you just take the time to do so!

May your day be a good one for you.

~ Penny

Because – That’s Why!

September 20, 2013 / Penny L Howe / 20 Comments

Rhyme and Reason

“If there truly is a reason we (humans) exist. We define

it through our creative expressions of understanding.”

~ Penny L Howe, 2013

I know there’s a reason in life and I know there is also a rhyme. So we think and we feel. Two types of things. Thoughts and feelings.

Thoughts for when we think on things, organizing what we’ve learned into pieces of understanding. Feelings for when we contemplate our thoughts expressing and emoting about them. In humans the two are closely entwined. Hard to have a thought without a corresponding emotion connected to it (although I must say, sometimes it does feel as if one can have a very strong emotion with very little reasoning thought being involved, lol).

Summing things up – the rhythms from our heart (emotions) and the thought processes from our mind create the symphony of our life experiences. How we orchestrate them defines who and how we are.

Therefore, we are all artists – creatively speaking, poetically endowed to convert our reasoning mind into beautiful expressive renderings (any art form) from the soul. So how cool is that?

Infinitely! – at least from the view of my eyes.

Have a great weekend everyone! Feel good about who and how you uniquely are. It’s what others “love” about you! Please share yourself – a joyous thing to do!

~ Penny

The Brain: to bee…or not to be!

September 18, 2012September 18, 2012 / Penny L Howe / 43 Comments

To Bee or … to Be

Some interesting news my friends, you know those chemical messages I keep talking about when I refer to our senses and the input we receive from them?

Well, recent information by Johns Hopkins researchers have linked potential dna “recoding” according to behavior patterns.

It appears that a bee’s behavior patterns (and other living creatures) are linked to the body’s mechanisms and are reversible by the use of chemical tags on their genes.

We are not hardwired, therefore the things we originally understood and were told regarding how our bodies operate isn’t so.

Simply put, the interactions between mind and body (chemical messaging to/from our brains) make our own bodys conditions changeable. Who knew?

these studies do relate to us, the researchers believe, and will shed more (scientific) light on complex behavioral issues in humans, such as memory, stress, learning and most important – comprehension.

So they are suggesting, in my humble opinion, that those physical/mental/emotional “things” going on inside us, are not only affected by our experiences but also how we interpret them. We change or alter (with this theory) how our mind and body functions! We have much more control over ourselves than we knew! How we think and interpret is how we will be.

“Through Awareness and Understanding,

We become who we need … to be” ~ Penny L Howe

***

~ – ~ – ~

For those who are interested there is very specific neuroscience information relating to the latest John Hopkins reseach on bees and their behavioral patterns.

http://www.nature.com/neuro/journal/vaop/ncurrent/full/nn.3218.html

On a different note but very important. The plight of the bee is serious. In the past 50 years the number of bees on this planet has been drastically reduced. We depend on bees for much of the pollination of our plants. Bees are an important and necessary part of our planet’s ecological system and our own survival.

The loss of so many bees is the result of industry, mass commercialization and pesticides. We can do small things to help.

If you have a garden grow your plants as organically as possible. Try to use less inorganic products in your life. Little things make a difference my friends!

thank you for dropping by,

Penny

Copyright © 2012 by Penny l Howe

Sensual Prelude 2 – Power of the Heart

August 30, 2012August 31, 2012 / Penny L Howe / 46 Comments

The Power of the Heart

The heart is the most vital organ we have. The one we rely on to pump needed blood flow to our body. The one that beats to the rhythm of our soul – metaphorically speaking (lol) And the heart represents one of the most powerful “symbols” both historically and today.

Hello and welcome.

As we venture through life with our senses, our mind is organizing and filing away each memory with the aid of symbolic references, like the heart.

Okay, this is where if you’re skimming this post quickly so that you can reach your quota of blogs to visit you can go ahead and skip to the last cool graphic and the poem unless you are actually interested in learning a little something new which will be a nice thing but either way…

This subset of activities goes on in our mind at an unconscious level. This is true for everyone. There are numerous symbols that our mind comes to recognize and use during this filing and sorting process. Sounds like a computer doesn’t it?

The mind takes its cue from the feelings we are experiencing during each event in our life, Creating a link with “symbols” through an emotional association, so whether we are having a happy or sad (or hurtful, angry, scary, romantic…the list goes on and on) moment subconsciously our mind is connecting this emotion to a symbolic reference.

This means when our senses are invoked, the appropriate “symbol” is already ‘there’ in our mind as a reference point to assist our senses in relating to that being felt (seen, heard, touched, smelled, tasted). If it sounds like I’m suggesting that our senses, memories, thoughts and actions are all interconnected -THEY ARE! (hello? One body here! So everything contained within is directly connected to everything else inside our body!)

I will use the “symbol reference” of the heart for my poetic illustration today. Pretty much all of our senses engage with this symbol for many reasons – my reference point will be Love. Don’t get all sappy on me this is serious stuff here!

I’d like you to feel the following poem through my words, if you will…

my beating heart

listen

do you hear,

come closer, please, my love

put your strong gentle hand just there,

touch the beat of my heart

beating a song for only you,

hear my desire, know my need

a million heartbeats strong,

the Universe hears – the beating,

listen to my heart’s

singing pulse

for want of you,

beating to the only rhythm

it hears – you my love,

I am

Queen and servant,

my heart beats for only you,

forever

So did you skip to the poem or did you read all my words, no matter, either way I’m hoping you enjoyed yourself, always my goal when I write, Take care of you my friends, Penny ♥