Glow Word Books »

Monthly Archives: September 2012

Daily Morning Pages

Diary

About 5 years ago, I started writing daily morning pages. Morning pages are a journal of free-flowing thoughts.

It was most helpful for me to slip in some affirmations… mantras that helped me remember I’m an author and that it’s the little things in life that matter. Those have slowly morphed into sporadic lists of things I’m grateful for.

But I usually write on the bus to work, which made it all a bit awkward. I needed my favorite back corner bus seat or else I worried a nosey neighbor would question why I was gushing about myself.

It also meant my book of mental confessions was leaving the house. I always wonder what a thief would think if they stole a backpack filled with affirmations. Would they be inspired to like their self, or think they robbed a nutter?

Either way I have found morning pages are a great way to get everything off on the right foot. I can frame the day how I wanted it framed — instead of letting others tell me how my day will good. And best of all, a la Stuart Smalley, I’m always Good Enough, Smart Enough and Doggone It — People Like Me!

Differences in Mum and Dad

Woman Man Silhouette
For the last five years, my wife and I have been in sync… we had a lot of the same experiences, similar reactions and always understood where the other one was coming from.

It’s been interesting having a baby because we have had radically different experiences. She had to strain to birth the baby — I applied counter-pressure here and there. My sore arms vanished in a day — she’s still not 100%. I have gotten good sleep every night — she has chosen to breastfeed the baby and thus had fragmented sleep. She is exhausted simply feeding the baby and napping — I’m in charge of everything else around the house.

But all of this has been a very good lesson in understanding and patience. Even though we’ve been together the last few days, we’ve also been apart. I need to remember where she’s coming from. A bit of understanding probably isn’t a bad thing — I hear it occasionally comes in handy with children….

The day my son was born

Moon, Tree, Night

Birth is much more practical than I had ever imagined. Because the birth of a new life is so spiritual and ceremonial, I always had a fantasy that it would be calm, peaceful and meditative. My wife and I would sit under a tree with moonlight shining down on us… and through a zen-ed out bliss, we would finally get to look at our new son (who would instantly smile at us and then use baby-sign-language for milk).

It was quite a surprise to see how messy, raw and intense it was. A wave of guilt washed over me looking back to see the array of towels soaked in blood, amniotic fluid, and pooh we left as we checked out of the birthing center. I have never been surrounded by so much bodily goo before in my entire life!

I also will never forget the look of pain/pure-focused-purpose/exhaustion/determination on my wife’s face as she worked through the final few minutes of labor. It was such a piercing concoction of emotions.

And looking at my child for the first time — it’s the definition of pure happiness. Somehow the whole 8 hour ordeal seemed worthwhile for one moment of holding your son.

When did you meet your muse?

I never thought much about my muse(s) until I took a year off to write in New Zealand. I was unemployed and poor — just like all struggling authors should be. But then I stumbled across this Ted Talk which changed my view about creativity.  In it she claims that all creativity comes from your muse.  If people don’t like what you wrote, you probably had a bad muse assigned to the case.

It’s freeing to think that creativity can come from a muse and all I need to do is show up and write. I don’t need to be poor and depressed — worrying if the world will like me. I just had to write. Just show up and write.

Creativity from a muse feels right… so many ideas pop into my head without ever purposefully thinking them… that makes it much easier to believe in muses.

So thanks, muse, for all the hard work… see you tomorrow!

Saving Energy for the Baby

CLF Bulb

My wife and I are supposed to be saving energy for the delivery of our first kid, so this week we:

  • Replaced regular light bulbs with CFL.
  • Filled preserving jars with static electricity.
  • Reduced our Air Conditioning consumption.
  • Removed the keys we had put in our electric plugs. (If our electric plugs had keys and paperclips in them already, we thought our kid would be safer since they couldn’t put things in the electric plugs.)
  • Flew all of our now-unused keys from kites off of our balcony.
  • Walked more and drove less.
  • Converted toaster to Coal, so we could use left-over briquettes gathered from the park BBQs

Scared to be funny?

Laugh

Have you ever come across a laugh so cold and menacing that you were actually afraid of being funny?

Walking through a parking lot, I heard a woman in a white SUV laugh a crueler cackle than any Disney villain. The whole time I walked by her car, I consciously held my mouth tight so no accidental quips from a passing stranger would set her off.

Give me a strange honk or snort any day!