Below

Below the surface there’s always more than meets the eye.

Cliché, sure, but also true. Especially when it comes to ourselves.

We always have more going on than even we can see on the surface. Our pasts informing our present in actions that ripple through time and take as long to unlearn as they took to learn in the first place, if not longer.

We get so used to who we show on the outside that we begin to doubt the voice below. The line between the real and the projected become blurred until we don’t know which is which.

But when we listen to what’s below, when that voice get pulled out of the blur we can make some of the best decision in our lives. We can hear the real us, follow our hearts and find what will make us truly happy. Something that’s largely under valued.

In listening to what lies below we can raise above.

Books

another day, another discovery prompts free write

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Books are the only true magic in the world. Or more accurately writing is. There is something about the written word that has the power to be transformative. Ideas, emotions, feelings can go into it that can’t take place in the process of a conversation.

Words can be manipulated, edited, re-written until one thinks their meaning is crystal clear. Until everyone reading it feels and thinks the same thing. And yet, there is no way to ever truly be 100% on the same page with anyone.

We all bring out past to the words we are reading. Soon can mean very different things to different people. “Fun” can be genuine or sarcastic. Language is ever growing, changing and evolving both within regions and globally.

A book that transports me clearly to the streets of New york, a place I have traveled to as well as read about may have a blurrier image for someone who’s never actually been and have that person lacking nieance and understanding. The same way I’ll never fully accurately picture the streets of London or the Irish country side.

Meaning is always hazy, but if you get close, if can bring people worlds a part, together, if only for a moment. In a world where we’re all torn apart, we need that false closeness and trasporative nature of a good book now more than ever.

 

Slow

Another day another freewrite discover prompt.

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Slow is not something we come by naturally in this day and age. Society is all about faster, better, stronger.  But, it’s something I get forced to rediscover regularly and something the world has been forced to come to terms with as of late.

Shopping is slow, there is no where you don’t have to wait in line.

Food is slow and at home.

Days are slow and lazy more often than not.

Shops are often closed at least a couple days a week which is something that hasn’t been the case since I was my son’s age.

And as the world starts to open up again many of us are histant to go back. Partly because of concerns around the realities of reopening, but also because as you get used to living slow, living that fast again becomes unimaginable.

And we shouldn’t have to move that fast again either. Why should we commute when most jobs have been successfully done from home. Why should we work longer days when shorter ones have proven better for many. When closing stores has been manageable.

We all want to keep stepping out on our lunch breaks to walk with our families.

And we should. We need to find more slow in our lives going forward. I’m not sure how but I do know it needs to happen.

We all need to find out calm in the storm of life, and realize that these moments of slow create memories that are precious beyond measure.

Hands

Another day, another discover Prompt. Enjoy!

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Today I got back inside from a dog walk and this happened. My smart watched buzzed and started a wash your hands timer. I was equal parts amused and creeped out. I mean, who wouldn’t be. It was good to see the reminder, but also creepy as hell that the devices are getting this smart and are being programmed to remind us to take care in COVID times.

As an immunocompromised person, part of me was thankful for this little buzz. Another part was terrified of it. How long before it turns on the speaker to record compliance. Would there be penalties if I used hand sanitizer instead? How much do we really want these devices reporting back and running the world?

We’re living in the dystopian future now if we want to admit it or not a year ago all of this was the stuff of science fiction. Now apps in Wuhan are determining if citizens can travel or not, and in the west, they are reminding us to comply with Health Canada regulations.

It’s good, but it’s also terrifying. Big brother is truly watching and one has to hope the power isn’t placed in the wrong hands.

Light

It’s impossible to think of light without also thinking about hope. The light at the end of the tunnel, the beckon that draws you forward, the reason to keep going.

As the days are starting to grow cooler and shorter again, as the light of summer starts to leave we’re seeing a different kind of light enter. The hope that all this might be over soon. That with luck vaccines are coming. That every day we know more about how the prevent the spread and head back towards  normal. The tunnel in front of us seems less endless little by little. The world seem more and more light.

And yet, surrounding that light there is still the darkness of fear and what ifs. Of second waves, of colder nights. Of the threat of evictions and other kills coming for those we spent the last six months protecting who now no longer have jobs of roof over there heads. We’ve also seen how dark this can get if it goes unchecked. Moments have brought both the best and the worst out in people

A return to normal may mean a return to ignoring or social problems, and that, perhaps, is the biggest ball of darkness threatening to snuff out the light.

Joke

Working on the Discover Prompts for April since I’m still working on re-wakening my creative side. I’m backdating to the start of April, because why on earth would one waste a good prompt.

These will all be free-writing ish… though the genre and style of writing will vary depending on what the prompt inspires for me. For this prompt, it’s going to be non-fiction as my 4 going on 5 years old kiddo gave me the perfect little thing to write about for this.

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This year is the year my son started to “get” things. Kiddo knows what Christmas is now and looks forward to it. Kiddo has been planning his 5th birthday since the day after his 4th. So, of course, when April 1st came along it was time to tell him what April Fools was all about.

There is something truly magical when you tell a 4-year-old that they are allowed and encouraged to joke that day. Often their jokes are full of potty humour, often they are told no or to tone it down a little. There is a time and a place for jokes after all, and for the type of jokes, a 4-year-old wants to tell it’s rarely the time or the place.  Kiddos eyes lite up like he had just been given the keys to the kingdom and the joke began.

It started with multiple rounds of “I GOT YOUR NOSE!” then graduated to knock, knock jokes. Finally, Kiddo realized that mommy, who’s a little squeamish around bugs, got genuinely skin crawly for a second if you told her she had a bug in her hair. And that stuck and became the joke for the rest of the day.

He enjoyed every second, and we all laugh more and louder than we probably have in weeks. It was pure magic, what a morning of jokes and a child’s laugher can do. Many said April Fools was cancelled this year because you couldn’t out prank the real world. But for our household, it was very much on and was the escape from the darkness into the playful and innocent mind of a child we all needed.

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If you enjoyed this I also have a parenting blog over at: villageinstinct.wordpress.com that’s more of the same.