The Reoccurring Echo of Misspoken Words

October 26, 2016 / Penny L Howe / 5 Comments

photo by Annie Leibovitz Más

Misspoken Echoes

“Echoes that are heard

after misspoken words

create resonance sweeping,

leading often to weeping

in sadness despaired

but words never cared.

And once they’ve been spoken

more words become token

of aftermath’s reflection,

and perhaps introspection

of poorly said words

that should’ve never been heard:

Misspoken words are like yesterday’s songs

always remembered for oh so ere long.”

~ Plh, 2016

Take care of you and if you’ve the time take care of a few others too.

With affection,

~ Penny

Within Whispers of Hope – Your Strength

July 2, 2016 / Penny L Howe / 14 Comments

“When my heart gets weary and I cannot seem to breath,

life whispers hope. ~ Plh, 2016

♡

Deep within your heart is the determination and ability needed to carry on, in spite of fatigue, weariness and the feeling of being completely overwhelmed with life – your life, in particular.

Look inward. It’s there. Feel the rhythm and pulse of hope’s existence. Sometimes almost imperceptible. Sometimes so subtle, so slight but always there, a greater belief that things will be okay as it has been in the past and can be again.

Notice and accept the hope within you. It is succor, aiding in the taking care of oneself. Hope will strengthen your resolve and assist until once again you recognize those unspoken promises that accompany your life.

♡

With affection,

~ Penny

Rainy Day Blues

August 13, 2014 / Penny L Howe / 20 Comments

It has certainly been a week filled with sad and depressing news, coupled with an amazing amount of rain in many places.

Not surprising, it becomes very easy during these times to feel melancholy. Blue. Even depressed. We all have them. Those sad days. Today is not one of my sad days, I’m having a very good day today, but I was reminded as I watched the news of the day and the weather channel that “rainy day blues” can happen at any time, to any of us. So I thought I’d post a few words on this subject!

“Some people feel the rain, others just get wet!” Bob Dylan

They can be “okay” days if we are reflective during these times. Be “in the moment”. Experience the melancholy. Understand that those feelings shall pass, they are helping you emotionally vent that which you have been unable to adequately express or release in any other way.

And should you encounter other melancholy souls, perhaps a little bit of cheering and companionship may be just the thing to help them move beyond the sadness of their day.

On life’s lonely days recognize them for what they are – a brief passage of time where your loving heart is being made aware of it’s sadnesses and understands the importance of that recognition so that you can love more fiercely and with greater conviction.

And although you may feel lonely, know you are never alone. You are one of many and are loved!

With warmth and affection,

~ Penny

In Your Night of Days … know there will be light!

August 21, 2013 / Penny L Howe / 20 Comments

The children of the densely treed forest dozed, curled about one another among twisted roots, snuggled near the base of a tree. They could hear her words of wisdom, words whispered through the night among drowsy thoughts in their sleepy minds. Mother Nature knew her children and smiled down on them, nurturing as they slumbered.

“…and there will be those days of sunlight … and there will be those nights of darkness. Do not fear the darkness of the night, for in the morning of the day, the sun will shine again.

But when Darkness steals into your life to take from you, your precious heart of love … then know (and she reached out and embraced them all – every single one) … I will be there to shine for you as the sun shines on a blue-skied day. I will not let the Darkness carry you away.

Rest easy on those night of days. Know all will be well, little ones … all will be well.”

And the children of the forest slept, safe in her loving arms for another night of rest!

“Believe that in your night of days

When Darkness enters in,

There is hope do not despair

The light will shine again.”

~ Penny L Howe, 2013

Alastairs Photo Fiction – If Idols could cry

July 7, 2013July 7, 2013 / Penny L Howe / 31 Comments

The Idol

Lovingly carved by my human creator, I stand posed in quiet contemplation on a shelf, in a room, in a house. My permanently, etched eyes “wide open” watching life take place around me.

Removed from my birth home, from where my body originated, I am far from the natural elements of nature’s flow, and yet it still survives within me. So it is now, with great sadness, that I silent and helplessly watch the hardships humanity lay upon themselves; confronting each other and their own selves, but without the nourishing rhythm and balance of nature – that they now willfully deny, much as wayward children not wanting to learn life’s important lessons.

I watch as they try and fail to come to terms with their errors of judgement, losing their precious connections to one another and to mother nature herself, even as they (with sometimes innocent intent) tear down the very infrastructure that lead to their existence and survival as a species.

I can see so very clearly and there is a great sadness within me as I sit on this shelf in solitary confinement. If I could, I would cry. But my tears would not be seen, either.

Penny L Howe, 2013

Yes definitely way over the 150 word limit, But I am hopeful this short written piece is still one you will find an interesting read. To join Alastair’s Photo Fiction writing challenge, (who’s weekly prompt is one of his wonderful photographs), click here! Go for it – you’ll have fun!

~ Penny

Are You Thinking Asleep?

June 15, 2013June 15, 2013 / Penny L Howe / 28 Comments

When you think, are your thoughts busily reviewing the list of “to do’s” that aren’t done yet? Are you dwelling on things that have already happened or are happening around you now? Are you thinking “awake” or thinking “asleep”?

Our thoughts, become words, (whether stated or written) becoming actions. And more and and more of us today are thinking asleep with our actions. We go through life’s daily chores in an almost robotic type of modality where even our emotions are repetitious in nature.

We are thinking asleep. We are mostly in a response mode. We are stuck in a groove. Yes, most especially the “I have too many things to do, so I’m not sure what to do next” groove. The other popular groove that many are caught up in today is the “poor me, I have too many problems to deal with and other people don’t care” or “I’m in a strictly reactionary mode as it refers to me personally, everything else I relate to is at a distance, from a position of security.” Voicing concerns but staying uninvolved at a personal level, because that’s what’s Safe.

Well guess what? Wake up! Life is happening all around you.

When you think awake, you think a thing and then YOU ACT ON IT! Put it into affect. You stop spending time on what’s wrong with yourself and focus on what’s right. The world’s problems begin with you!

No more thinking on what your missing in life (with a myriad of excuses you give to yourself and others each day) because (here’s the biggy)

… YOU DETERMINE WHAT DIRECTION YOU’RE GOING TO HEAD IN. HOW YOU’RE GOING TO FEEL ABOUT THE DAY AND WHAT YOU CAN MAKE OF YOURSELF IN THE PROCESS. THAT’S YOU. IT IS PERSONAL BECAUSE YOU’RE THE ONE STANDING GUARD OVER YOUR LIFE, AND IF YOU AREN’T, WHY NOT?

You belong to you before anything else. You came into the world and breathed in life as a single entity and you’ll depart the same way. This is a simple truth. No one’s going to crawl in the coffin with you, but I guarantee you there are many out there more than happy to help you dig your own grave, but only if … YOU LET THEM.

The Sleeper must awaken! (always wanted to use that line)

Start by thinking awake. Look directly at what you’ve decided you haven’t been doing AND START DOING IT!

No, life isn’t safe, it’s filled with risks (going after most worthy things have risk involved.) No, life won’t suddenly become wonderful, but it will begin to head in the direction you want it to.

Life happens whether you involve yourself in it or not. You decide how much control events will have over you. YOU DO!

When you start thinking awake a whole new world of possibilities awaken. You become energized with renewed feelings of hope and anticipation.

And you’ll be living your life to it’s fullest, not regretting in bitterness or sorrow what you didn’t do, when you could have, because you were thinking asleep !

~ Penny

The human vessel ~ the contents within

June 10, 2013 / Penny L Howe / 28 Comments

We are human beings, carrying so many things inside ourselves as we travel along the various pathways of our lives. Each of us is a vessel. Filled with all manner of thoughts, wishes, hopes, dreams, experiences, memories. The essence that will shape us and those around us during our travels.

Each vessel has a unique shape. Yet, it is only an outer shape formed to hold the contents within. And while the outer shape of this, our human vessel, may change with the years, it is the contents of the vessel that are of importance.

Experience teaches us many things. What we decide as a result of our personal experiences will determine the nature of the contents inside – what we ultimately decide to fill our own vessels with: Courage, Empathy, Good Will, Love, Joy, Hope or Duplicity, Disappointment, Resignation, Hate, Fear, Despair, hopelessness.

While we are on this planet and alive, our vessels become a reflection of our vessel’s contents.

Most of us begin our live’s with Joy and Love. Not all, but most. I’ve found it interesting however that those who face adversity squarely in the face and emerge triumphant, bone weary often, but still a survivor, do tend to fill up their human vessel with so much love and courage that they spend much of the rest of their lives sharing these contents with others.

And I’ve found it to be inversely true. Those who have suffered disappointments but chose not to rise above their individual misfortunes, tend to go through life with their vessels harboring ill will, blame, and discontent for their own perceived shortcomings. They feel the need to bring people down to a hurtful level as indeed they themselves are feeling from the contents they’ve chosen to fill their vessels with. The appearance of their vessel may appear lovely but the contents are not.

The contents of our human vessels are so very precious. They decide our level of happiness, the joy we are capable of receiving and giving in any given day.

Be very careful how you fill your own vessel.

It’s contents are the most important thing in your life. And to the lives of those you love and who love you.

Not the appearance of the vessel that matters but what’s inside!

~ Penny

Lullaby of Hope and Love (for my friends)

May 30, 2013 / Penny L Howe / 58 Comments

Love’s Lullaby

Just as a mother feels the beat of unborn child

I feel the rhythm from your heart ~ you are loved.

The music of you heartbeat so piercing and so sweet

you are special and unique and ~ you are loved.

Yes there are those bad days, bad times,

(hard, hard, hard ones too),

but, hush now, hush now, do not cry ~ you are loved.

I sing for you a heart song to nourish you within

You are safe, and you are cherished ~ you are loved.

Let my strength pick up your spirits

carry you along.

You aren’t alone, you aren’t forgotten ~ you are loved.

You my friend so beautiful

I sing to let you know.

Do not be sad, I’m here for you ~ you are loved.

“On those loneliest days when you feel such despair

Reach out your hand, a friend will be there!”

~ Penny L Howe, 2013

And so I wondered

April 13, 2013 / Penny L Howe / 27 Comments

… the musing of it all!

Unrequited Love ~ A sad but noble situation or so Nietzsche believed.

“Indispensable … to the lover is his unrequited love, which he would at no price relinquish for a state of indifference.”

But should there be a distinction made between love never returned and love that you thought (were told) was there, but never was?

And which heart is more broken? The one whose love was never returned or the one who thought it was?

For humans going through this often confusing condition of ‘to be’ (loved) or ‘not to be’ (loved) my muse offers her thoughts on the subject in verse, for no purpose other than she chose not to be jolly, oh the folly! Sorry got carried away with the melancholy (rhyme of it all)!

And so I wondered …

Am I the one you dream of

Your very sacred heart of love.

Am I the one your heart beats for

The one you said you so adore.

Those were the words you used to say.

I know, I’d hear them every day.

Eternal love was ours to share

You swore we made the perfect pair.

Are now those tender loving words,

Being said, and being heard

By another love that’s true.

Off with the old love, on with the new.

How very easy it seems for you.

Just one question – what should I do

with the love inside I feel for you?

Yes, now that I’ve finished writing this piece I believe that a broken promise of love trumps unrequited love! And just so we’re clear on the subject, I am personally heart whole, no worries there, just musing with my muse, hope it was entertaining!

~ Penny