For this Colleen’s Weekly #Tanka Tuesday #Poetry Challenge No. 94, the prompt is “Beliefs & Strange,” #SynonymsOnly. I use Trust for Beliefs and Unknown for Strange.
The spring came late this year. The winter rain kept the sun away when the plum trees needed the warmth to bring out the blossoms. Regardless, the hard-working bees pollinated the blossoms as much as they could. It looks like the trees promise a fruitful harvest in the summer. The top right photo is apples and the bottom right is plums.
Just thought that I could relax to look forward to the harvest, I found out that the homeless and hungry cat has eaten three mourning doves in my backyard. The doves are not very alert. The cat hid behind the flowers and dashed out to the doves. I’m heart-broken and try to do my best to fence in some area for the birds. He’s behind a gate my neighbor installed to keep the dog in their yeard. The cat is flexible to go through any tiny area to get into my yard.
I was a student at Seattle Pacific University, Washington in May 1980 when Mt. St. Helen had erupted. The ashes drifted over many states and could be seen from Chicago. Mercy, Will and I went to visit in September 2016 and saw a lot of plant growth. This is a great illustration of the force of destruction and the force of life.
This is the 4th day into the new year of 2018. It’s an open book. What memories do I want to fill into this book?
I do not know about tomorrow. I face each single day with my mind open to learn, my heart open to love and accept, and my hands open to give and receive.
With that mindset, I pray for growth as an individual, as husband and wife, as well as a family. I pray that my husband and I will grow deeper in loving and caring for each other, learn to be considerate and thoughtful parents and grandparents.
As for Mercy and Will, I pray that they grow in their love, respect and admiration to each other. Every day brings new learning and new joy as parents with their precious baby Autumn. Autumn is now 3 months and 1 week old. She found her fingers and loves to put them in her mouth. She is laughing, cooing, and grabbing objects with both hands. She would love to play board games as much as her parents and grandparents.
This new year will be a great growing time for all of us!
From ashes and dust of earth
Beautifully and wonderfully we are made
Eyes to see the majestic sky, mountains, and sea
Ear to hear His voice and harmonious sounds of music
Nose to smell fragrance of flowers and scents of trees
Mouth to sing praises and speak of peace
Hands to serve and extend the healing touch
Heart to feel acceptance, compassion, and love
Feet to trot spreading the good news
Walking the path that is less traveled
Faithfully and gratefully we roam
Till the day He calls us home
Don’t Let Your Anger “Mature” Into Bitterness, by Leon F Seltzer Ph.D.
“Bitterness is unforgiveness fermented.” (Gregory Popcak)
The Cause of Bitterness
All bitterness starts out as a hurt. Your emotional pain may well be related to being victimized. Someone has wronged you and caused you grieve. Anger and resentment readily came along. When left to fermentation, anger eventually becomes the corrosive ulcer that is bitterness. Stephen Diamond, Ph.D. defines bitterness as “a chronic and pervasive state of smoldering resentment,” and deservedly regards it as “one of the most destructive and toxic of human emotions.”
The Cost of Bitterness
Prolong your mental and emotional pain
Lead to long-lasting anxiety and/or depression
Precipitate vengeful acts
Prevent you from experiencing the potential joys of living fully in the present
Create, or further deepen, an attitude of distrust and cynicism
Interfere with your cultivating healthy, satisfying relationships
Compromise or weaken your higher ideals
Rob you of vital energy
Undermine your physical health by taxing (or “overloading”) your immune system
Bitterness puts the focus on the person who wronged you. Yet you don’t have any control over the other person. You do have power over yourself. By redirecting your focus inwards is precisely how you go about empowering yourself, to reprieve the entrapment of bitterness.
(1) Identify the source of your bitterness and what this person did to evoke your resentful feelings;
(2) Develop a new way of looking at your past, present, and future—including how resentment has negatively affected your life and how letting go of it can improve your future;
(3) Write a letter to this person, describing [their] offenses toward you, then forgive and let go of them (but don’t send the letter);
(4) Visualize your better future having neutralized the negative impact of resentment; and
(5) If bitter, resentful feelings remain, return to Step 1 and begin again
