High Coo – Dec 23 – National Roots Day

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What are your national roots? What are your parents’ and grandparents’ national roots?

It doesn’t take long to discover how diverse your ancestry is AND how different it is from what you may have assumed.

For example, I was under the wrong assumption that my father was the first person born in the United States, his father was born in Canada and my paternal great-grandfather was born in Ireland. I remember hearing something about my mother’s family also being of Irish descent, so I just assumed that was it. I’m an Irish American with a brief stop in Canada.

Well, it’s not as simple as that. Even the Family Tree chart displayed above quickly shows that my parents had parents who had parents … with just 8 generations the number of ancestors quickly escalates to 256. See https://nationaltoday.com/national-roots-

I had been under a misunderstanding that my first paternal great grandfather had emigrated from Ireland.  What I learned was that my eighth paternal great grandfather was born in New York in 1639 and that every subsequent descendent was born in North America. My paternal ancestors have lived here for many generations.

While I do have a lot of Irish DNA, I discovered direct ancestors born in England, France, Germany, Scotland and The Netherlands as well. And the number of maternal (aka maiden) surnames quickly added up to 140. I’m surrounded by relatives!

Today’s senryu: National Roots Day

no pure bloodline here,

I’m a blend of many seeds

and stronger for it

If a zoo keeps a male lion and a female tiger in the same enclosure, a liger can result. It has a mix of its parents’ traits. https://www.snexplores.org/article/mixed-world-hybrid-animals

High Coo – Dec 22 – RIP Samuel Beckett

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Samuel Beckett b. 4/13/1906 – d. 12/22/1989

Thirty-three years ago today, Irish playwright, novelist and poet, Samuel Beckett died. He was 83.

“One of the most influential and widely-discussed avant-garde writers of the 20th century. His most famous plays, “Waiting for Godot”, “Endgame” and “Happy Days”, display his absurdist, anti-realist traditions. https://www.onthisday.com/people/samuel-beckett

Today’s senryu: RIP Samuel Beckett

no cure for failure

that’s what earthlings do – so let’s

“dance first – think later“

See Samuel Beckett quotes here: https://www.goodreads.com/author/quotes/1433597.Samuel_Beckett

Check out Beckett’s most popular books here https://www.amazon.com/s?k=samuel+beckett+books.

Dec 21 – Don’t Stop Believin’

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It’s the Winter Solstice – shortest daylight of the year in the Northern Hemisphere. Daylight grows longer starting tomorrow.

Today’s senryu: Don’t Stop Believin’

my world is tilted

now ev’rything is better –

far as I can see

Hanging on to positive expectations: HOPE. Check out this article to raise your view: https://www.calmsage.com/why-hope-is-important/

Is There More to You Than What I See?

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Today’s senryu: More to You Than What I See

Who are you, really:

the person you think you are,

or who others need?

Two separate encounters took place yesterday. First, a woman in my cardio class came up to me after the workout and said, “I just want to wish you happy holidays.” This woman lost her husband three months ago to Alzheimer’s and is facing her first holiday season without him. She stuck out her hand to shake mine and with sad eyes waited for my response. I took her hand and lightly drew her in for a platonic hug and said, “thank you, I wish you happy holidays, too.” She smiled and said, “You’re a good guy.”

Second, a woman in my Tai Chi class came up and started talking about responding to an invitation to join a non-profit board. She’s a lawyer and her resume’ would easily qualify her for membership. She said she had some reservations about accepting the invitation because of some “PTSD issues” which she shared vaguely with the board chairperson, and they agreed that this wouldn’t be a good board for her to serve on. She added that the chairperson stated, there would be many similar “issues” that would come up in board discussions that might trigger her past traumatic experiences. She didn’t tell me what those “issues” were, and I didn’t ask.

Perhaps the senryu above is unnecessarily dualistic. Perhaps we can be AND serve others’ roles simultaneously. Perhaps, the writer Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. was wise when he said, “we are what we pretend to be so we must be careful what we pretend to be.” Kurt Vonnegut (2009). “Mother Night: A Novel”, p.5, Dial Press

CYE Countdown – Dec 19 – Avoid Predictability

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Thirteen days remaining in 2022. Will this year end with a feeling of success or with a sigh of disappointment? Or can you choose to take the middle way and delight in whatever happens; not waste time fretting over “outcomes?”

Today’s senryu: Avoid Predictability

How will your year end?

Plot twist, Deus ex machina

or lame out again?

Remember the encouraging words of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow: “It is too late! Ah, nothing is too late …”

https://www.goodreads.com/quotes/7599367-it-is-too-late-ah-nothing-is-too-late-till

One more thought; perhaps 2022 is one more chapter in your life story. What makes a good story? Check out this post by Jordan at https://www.nownovel.com/blog/what-makes-a-good-story/

Good News – Hidden in Childhood A Poetry Anthology

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Hidden in Childhood: A Poetry Anthology – Front Cover Reveal
https://literaryrevelations.com/2022/12/18/hidden-in-childhood-a-poetry-anthology-front-cover-reveal/#respond

Gabriela Marie Milton, an Amazon bestselling poet and an internationally published author, is publishing another anthology early next year. https://www.amazon.com/stores/Gabriela-Marie-Milton/author

I’m also happy to report that two of my poems will be included.

High Coo – Dec 18 – Ball of Confusion

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What a crazy world we live in! What a crazy Christmas/X-Mas season.

https://edgeofhumanity.com/2022/12/18/ball-of-confusion-the-temptations-1970/

Thank you, Edge of Humanity! Your song recommendation and YouTube link brought back some great memories. I especially enjoyed the current, this century, photos in the music video that corresponded to last century lyrics. I highly second this creative recommendation.

Today’s senryu: Ball of Confusion

mental dissonance

seasonal competition

non-violent night?

Another fun and confusing seasonal YouTube worth checking out is this Violent Night movie trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a53e4HHnx_s

universalpictures.com

Is Jesus the Reason for the Season?

CYE Countdown – Dec 16 – Love All the Way

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We are halfway through the final month of 2022. Let’s make the most of the time remaining.

Today’s senryu: Love All the Way

we are still alive 🙂

our very breath can be joy –

let’s love all the way

Today’s daily meditation from Richard Rohr, Love Does No Harm, is a great reminder of why we can be joyful. (https://cac.org/daily-meditations/) Here’s a brief extract:

Father Richard invites us to trust the Inherent Goodness of the universe:

The goal of the spiritual journey is to discover and move toward connectedness on ever new levels. Of course, we won’t become vulnerable enough to connect unless we learn to trust over and over again. We must ask ourselves, “Is the universe a friendly place or not?” The spiritual experience is about trusting that when we stop holding ourselves, Inherent Goodness will still uphold us. Many of us call that God, but it isn’t necessary. It is the trusting that is important. When we fall into such Primal Love, we realize that everything is foundationally okay.

(Adapted from Richard Rohr, Essential Teachings on Love, selected by Joelle Chase and Judy Traeger (Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books, 2018), 104–105.)

High Coo – Dec 15 – A Benevolent Universe

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Today’s senryu: A Benevolent Universe

what we see reveals

our perspective shapes belief

see good and enjoy

Below is a beautiful sharing from Richard Rohr‘s Daily Meditations referencing Satish Kumar‘s thoughts on A Benevolent Universe. (https://cac.org/daily-meditations/) Hope you enjoy this.

Satish Kumar, a former Jain monk, is an activist and educator who has studied both Eastern religions and Western economics and cultures. He writes that recognizing a benevolent universe helps us participate in the flow of generosity:   

We live in a benevolent universe. . . .  

The benevolence of the soil is endless; it helps one single seed to multiply into millions of seeds for hundreds of years, producing colourful, aromatic, juicy and delicious fruit, feeding birds, bees, humans and animals. The tree celebrates the benevolence of the soil and becomes benevolent in return, offering its fruit to whoever is in need, without condition and without judgement. . . .  

The benevolence of the sun is beyond the capacity of words to describe. It burns itself to maintain life. . . . It provides conditions for photosynthesis for the whole plant kingdom to nourish itself and give nourishment to bacteria, insects, birds and animals. 

The moon is benevolent. It maintains the cycle of life and cycle of time. Time and tide are sustained by its presence. . . .  

Rain is benevolent. It . . . delivers itself to every farm, field, forest, mountain and human habitat, free of charge, without needing any external supply of energy. It moistens the soil, quenches the thirst, fills rivers, ponds, lakes and wells and in partnership with the sun it feeds the world. . . .  

Air is benevolent. We breathe, therefore we are. Air is related to the spirit, to inspiration, to spirituality. . . . Air is breath of Brahman, breath of the universe, breath of God. In Sanskrit air is prana, which means life itself. . . . 

Space is benevolent. All and everything is held in space and by space. All movements, all changes and every kind of dynamism are sustained in the stillness of space. We always need to be mindful of reducing our clutter and maintaining spaciousness in order to be detached and free. 

Soul is benevolent. Compassion, kindness, generosity and inner luminosity are the qualities of the soul. Mind, intelligence, and consciousness are held in and processed by soul. Soul is the seed of life. Feelings, emotions, sentiments, intuition and reason pass through soul and manifest in the world. . . . It is not only humans who have soul; animals, birds, insects and microbes have soul. Soil, trees, rocks and rivers have soul. . . .

The world is how you see it and what you make of it. If you look at the world with benevolent eyes, the world reciprocates with benevolence. If you project suspicion and self-interest, you get the same in return. Trust begets trust and fear begets fear. Recognizing the benevolence of the universe is not to deny the shadow side, but seeing nature as red in tooth and claw and people as selfish and greedy makes us respond in similar vein. If we sow seeds of malevolence, malevolence will grow; if we sow seeds of benevolence, benevolence will grow.

Satish Kumar, Soil, Soul, Society: A New Trinity for Our Time (Brighton, UK: Leaping Hare Press, 2017), 160, 161–162, 163. 

Satish Kumar at The Convention on Modern Liberty, London, 28/2/2009 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Satish_Kumar