Honie Briggs

It’s very early Saturday morning and I am awake. This time not because I couldn’t sleep. I just woke up, rested, how about that! The light from the “filter needs cleaning” light on the air purifier created a weird shadow on the wall because of some clean laundry stacked on the dresser. (This is where the process began.) I lied there looking at it, thinking about my physical therapy exercises and the song from the JC Penney flash mob video started running through my head.

I decided to get up and – what else – blog around a bit. I was thinking about this week’s posts, about all of my posts really. I was thinking about a comment I made on a post entitled Did My Post Suck Today? There were eight hundred or so comments and Sweet Mother!, the blogger took the time to reply to mine. All of them actually.

(maybe I’ll just Google creative process and see what pops up) The house is quiet. motivation solitude…yeah, solitude.

Solitude: a poem by Ella Wheeler Wilcox

Laugh, and the world laughs with you;

Weep, and you weep alone

For the sad old earth must borrow its’ mirth,

But has trouble enough of its own.

Sing, and the hills will answer;

Sigh, it is lost on the air;

The echoes bound to a joyful sound,

But shrink from voicing care.

Rejoice, and men will seek you;

Grieve, and they turn and go;

They want full measure of all your pleasure,

But they do not need your woe.

Be Glad, and your friends are many;

Be sad, and you lose them all –

There are none to decline your nectared wine,

But alone you must drink life’s gall.

Feast, and your halls are crowded;

Fast, and the world goes by.

Succeed and give, and it helps you live.

But no man can help you die.

There is room in the halls of pleasure

For a large and lordly train,

But one by one we must all file on

Through the narrow aisles of pain.

People don’t want to hear bitching and whining. They’d rather hear something that makes them happy. laughter is better than pain – laugh through the pain – we experience greater joy after we endure pain…

oh I hear some birds in the fountain just outside the window and an airplane. Aircraft noise – jets – flight – air – fuel – oh and oil. Filters!

Filters are important – necessary – essential for optimal performance. Oil, fuel and air filters prevent contaminants from causing damage to our vehicles. We have whole system of filters that function much the same way to keep our bodies working properly. Filters are used to remove harmful bacteria from the air and chemicals from water so it is safe to drink. Cold filtered beer…(beer? what does that have to do with anything? there are filters on cigarettes, that doesn’t keep them from being harmful, where am I going with this?)…Coffee filters keep the grounds contained…(oh I need coffee…I’ll just stop here and go make some.)

Okay where was I? This week’s post, no, I’m past that – wait – is that the correct use of past? Whatever…back to filters. When we manage to filter out the crap like, people who don’t ever follow any rules and over-bearing, snobby asses well-intentioned experts who know all the rules, we can prevent ourselves from getting bogged down clogged up side-tracked and focus on the discovery of something meaningful. Perseverance!

When we acknowledge that not everything in our lives is exactly the way we want it right at this moment and do not allow disappointment to grip us, limit us or prevent us from pursuing our goals – world travel, air travel, space travel, time travel, okay that one is out there a bit, but wouldn’t it be awesome? – we discover that forces believed to hold us down may in fact propel us upward. It’s all relative.

My second book is being conceived. With a small reserve of confidence and precious little feedback for Summoning The Strength, I am pressing onward. The feeling in my left hand is beginning to return, so it must be time to push the limits. This time though I will take care to use my head while I follow my heart. Without the all nighters and certainly with better understanding of my abilities, I am taking some time to travel, research and hopefully have some good stories to tell when I return. In the meantime, I may post. I may not. I haven’t decided. After all, we already know I cannot give it up cold turkey! I have no idea why this text is italicized. I cannot change it no matter what I do. I’m pretty sure it doesn’t matter. Peace.