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September 27, 2015
I really enjoyed and valued Elizabeth Gilbert’s previous two books
“eat, pray, love” and “The Signature of All Things”
And now…
September 2015 ….
a wonderful new book…
“Big Magic”
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After reading those first two books,
“eat pray love” and “The Signature of All Things”
I had “experienced”
several rather amazing “coincidences” and unusual “opportunities”
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“eat pray love”
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“Eat, Pray, Love” Some time after reading “eat, pray, love,” a book filled with experiences that I was interested in and curious about..especially her meeting and being guided by the holy man…. and sometime after hearing the Cold Play song, “Kingdom Come” ….“For you, I’d wait ’til kingdom come, Until my day, my day is done, Say you’ll come, and set me free, Just say you’ll wait, you’ll wait for me….say you’ll wait, you’ll wait for me…”... a song that the first time I heard it, I had an extremely strong sense that something or someone who would be very deeply spiritual…. which, at that point, I was not…..would be coming into my life…but absolutely no idea what or when that might be…. And then…. I “serendipitously” met a Buddhist monk, Ven. Jampa, in 2009, when he opened another person’s front door… an unusual, coincidental (???) meeting…. a monk who became, and continues to be, a very dear friend… Wow!!!…talk about “eat, pray, love!”
The blog Reflections from a Friend contains a background photo of a very, very lovely Lincoln, New Hampshire pond, Greeley Pond, (near the much loved river, where we stay).
Greeley Pond…the background photo on the blog, Reflections from a Friend, ideas I’ve received from Ven. Jampa….a pond that’s a one hour, uphill, rocky, moss covered hike from an isolated road….a pond where I’ve sensed many deeply spiritual experiences… and where my husband and I enjoyed a picnic lunch on that little beach this summer, 2015 …..and then…right there!…a very disoriented woman wandered out of those woods…..and we actually participated in helping to save the life of that woman who had unsteadily wandered out of the woods onto the little beach…right there at Greeley Pond… “eat…pray…love….” …now THAT’S FOR SURE!
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A second very special book by Elizabeth Gilbert,
published October, 2013
“The Signature of All Things”
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Wow!
More unusual coincidences and special, unusual opportunities!
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In early August, 2014, I read Elizabeth Gilbert’s wonderful book “The Signature of All Things,” while staying on the beloved Pemigewasset River in Lincoln, NH…. a place where the woods, even right there in front of the condominium where we were staying…..C-201….are carpeted with abundant, exquisite mosses…moss….a major topic of the book, The Signature of All Things!
I LOVE moss
I love, love, love, love moss!
and actually have taken…and continue to take…
1000’s of photos of the many amazing mosses I see.
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After reading the book, I put my ebook tablet down onto some exquisitely beautiful moss, near the front of the far corner, 3 bedroom condominium where we were staying.. and had stayed for 25 years….that week….(see below… January 2016!) ….and took photos of the ebook….with some magical “beloved“ clay faces embedded onto bark and moss…along with the very lovely background moss…
I took so many photos…
because I loved this book…
because I love that someone else admires moss…
and because I LOVE this moss so much!…
ahhh…the pondering of…..the nature of all things….
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While taking the photos, a man came up to me and asked “why?” I was taking these somewhat “unusual” photos. One conversation topic led to another and I mentioned how much we love staying there in that specific building above the river…that we were loving staying in the far corner unit….and how difficult it is to find a place to rent in that building.
A few minutes later, he introduced me to 2 different women who happened to be right there!!!…. right then!!!……women who live in Massachusetts and were there for only a few hours…. and each woman owned a condominium unit in that particular building!
One woman was selling her condominium, in the wonderful complex we were staying.
We could buy a place!
And…the other woman explained that she sometimes rents out her lovely 3 bedroom place… C-208…. in that complex on the river…..and said that she’d be happy to rent her place to us for the summer of 2015, for however long we might like to stay. She gave us her card, which I later also put on the moss, and took another photo! It’s really difficult to find rentals in this wonderful building that’s right on the river…so that was like a miracle!
We could rent a place!
We took her card and arranged that rental of C-208… and came back this….summer 2015, for 5 magical, transformative weeks…reflecting upon “the nature” of so many things …
The summer of 2015…the simply amazing opportunity to rent that lovely condominium (c-208) and to stay in that magical spot….an opportunity that had happened because I was taking photos of that book Signature of All Things, nestled on top of the lovely moss!
And because we had that opportunity to be staying right there at that time….we were able to be hiking on one particular day to Greeley Pond…and were able to be “in the right place at the right time” on that little tiny beach….to be able to help save a vulnerable person’s life… ohhhh, my goodness! ……….. soooooooo many interconnections of circumstance, serendipity and opportunity ……….. wow!!!!
helping to save that woman’s life…
…it felt a bit bewildering…
and it sure felt like a bit of “divine magic” …
“divine intervention”……
“eat….pray…love….”….
“the signature of all things”
the nature of survival…
the nature of altruistic actions….
amazing blessings!
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…..Wow!…..
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And now, September 2015,
I’m reading Elizabeth Gilbert’s new book
“Big Magic”
……hmmmm……???
….I wonder….???…
I wonder if there’ll be some more “big magic” entering my life…???
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I wonder????
“Big Magic”
a wonderful book….about nurturing ones creativity and inspirations…and having the courage and trust to put one’s creative ideas out into the world… to share one’s creative projects with others….because…it might bring some benefit to someone..somewhere!
And…I continue to wonder…. I wonder if there’s more “big magic” coming along??? …strangely enough…..it feels like there might be…a little twinge… a tiny sense that “something might be in the works” …. I have no idea what!…. what an odd sense… I dunno… I suppose…..time will tell……………………
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“Big Magic” is jam packed
with wonderful insights, observations and “ideas,”
…ohhhhhhhhhhhh…
the joy-filled magic of ….. “ideas”
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I’ll continue reading and rereading the book
to “take in” more of Gilbert’s impressions about…
creativity…inspiration… “ideas”….
living ….. breathing ….. ideas!
….I trust her…
I trust what she says…
I trust what she writes…
I trust what she’s encouraging us to do
I trust her
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(added several days later)
I had NOT, as yet, read the later chapters in the book
when I wrote those 5 lines about “trust….”
The next day, I read the later chapters, which turned out to be in an actual section called… “trust”…
with several individual sections about nurturing that “trust”….
Wow!…how about that?
how odd…how interesting…how serendipitous
……..trust……..
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So…………….
?????………hmmmm……….?????
inspiration…??? …..synchronicity….??? …. creative ideas…???….
nurturing a sense of trust….???
“hmmmmmmmmmmmmm…..I wonder…………?”
I wonder if any more “magic” might happen after reading Big Magic????
I wonder if there’ll be some NEW…. “Big Magic”…..?????
“hmmmmmmmmmmmmm…..I wonder…………?”
I’m filled with curiosity! ….. I wonder…………..????
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10/25/2015
Big Magic…
nestled among the autumn leaves
at that same magical place…
under that same magical tree…
on top of that same magical moss….
beside the same magical rocks….
on that same magical river….
in New Hampshire
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We were staying there at the river in late October, to join my cousins in “A Celebration of Live” for my Aunt Okie who had died in September 7, 2015, at the age of 98. Little did I know that my own mother would pass away on November 20, 2015, at the age of 97….so surprising…………..
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Supporting my own sense of creating under the influence of….”big magic”
whimsy….curiosity….imagination!
moss…leaves…trees…earth…color…
“beauty and grace”
“ohhhhhhhhhh….of course!” ….. “maybe not so!”
flexibility of heart and mind
gems…beads…rock…stone…wood
possibilities
the mysteries of the universe
immersed in the midst of…..big, big magic!
I wonder…is some big magic emerging????
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Added a few months later…still wondering….
???….hmmmm…. I wonder….???? I wonder AGAIN….????
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January 22, 2016
Ohhhhhhhhhhh my goodness…………ohhhhhhhhhhhh my goodness………..
Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh…..wow!!!!
January 22, 2016
???? …. “Big Magic?”…. ????
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Oh Wow!!! January 22, 2016….A place on that beloved river…in that same building…on that same floor…at the far corner of the building… looking down at the little rapids we love to watch!!!…. will be coming up for sale…now! … C-201….a place we’ve stayed in on so many happy vacations for sooooooooo many years…since my daughter was a little girl… the past 26 years!
Lincoln, NH…where my father grew up….where I grew up….my original home…where I played in that beloved river….. where I lived until I moved to California in 1971… when I was 22 year old….45 years ago…. Lincoln, NH…..2500 miles from our home in Northern California…….home…….. home……. home……. home……. home…….. home………………………………..
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Seemingly, out of nowhere…an email arrived from a realtor in that little town, saying that unit… C-201 … will be put on the market…soon….right now! Do we want to make an offer????
Wow!!!…Big Magic??? The Signature of All Things???? Wow!!!!…..
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Below…. the view from the actual deck!
of the condominium that we have the “opportunity” to buy…
if we choose to take the chance!
Looking down on that actual part of the river that we love so dearly!
Here you go……………Big Magic….!?!?!
(This booklet created in 2007… 9 years ago! )
The BIG MAGIC of being….
a life long “River Rock Walker… A River Rock Girl” = me
Loving walking on that river, since I was…..
a baby…a toddler, a little girl, a teenager, a young woman,
a loving mother, a maturing woman…
loving that river throughout every single moment of the stages of my life…
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Right there,
….C-210….
right above that lovely spot, on that lovely, rocky river!!!!
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hmmmm…. I wonder????
Yes….???… No…??? …Yes…??? No…???…. Yes….???
???….Yes….???
Yes!!!!
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What a SURPRISING!!!… completely unexpected!!!…. opportunity!
Yes!!!!
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…..Yes!!!…..
Wow!…. sale is closing….April 15, 2016…Wow!
Wow!!!
You just never know….!!!!
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????!!!!????…….Big Magic…….????!!!!????
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Musings from November….11/22/2015 hmmm….???….Big Magic??? …. I was just reflecting and I realizing there has been some very inspiring, deeply meaningful “big magic” emerging ….perhaps….“divine inspiration”…”the mysteries of inspiration” …. “forces of enchantment”….”glorious mystery”….4 beautiful booklets I’ve been creating throughout the past 3 months…. some mysterious forces seeming to be guiding me through the process of adjusting to the deaths of my Aunt Okie, 98, (her blog: Poems by Okie https://poemsbyokie.wordpress.com/ ) who died September 7, 2015 and my own mother, Kay, 97, who died just 2 days ago on November 20, 2015. (post about Kay and Okie “Sisters Sisters Let us be, Friends forever til the sea, Gathers waters, fills the lands, Sister, Sister take my hand” https://poemsbyokie.wordpress.com/2015/11/20/sister-sister-let-us-be-friends-forever-til-the-sea/ )
The beautiful booklets below …emerging out of some magical inspirations???…. seem to be gently, insightfully, carefully and wisely guiding me through the sadness of these losses and my reactions to the losses…leading to a deeper and richer wisdom about life, the exquisite beauty of the flow of life, the human mind and the dynamics of love and wisdom.
Here are links to four related “booklets” I’ve created in the past 3 months, as I’ve been supported by the abundance of positive influences of Elizabeth Gilbert’s ideas in Big Magic…. “creating…under the influence!” …..maybe there has been “big magic….”
Link: “Beauty and Grace” This booklet was created after my Aunt Okie died on 9/7/15. I was soooooo sad…and then, after a few days, I started noticing such amazingly exquisite beauty everywhere I looked…in all the people I saw each day, nature, music, art, ideas, the mind…everywhere I looked and and in everything I saw, heard and felt. I was bewildered by how that deep sense of beauty might relate to, or be set off by, a deep sense of sadness and grief that I was in the midst of…and so… “Beauty and Grace….”
And now, 11/22/15, 2 days after my mother dying, immersing myself again within the wisdom and inspirations of this deeply felt beauty. I’m so thankful these images, understandings, ideas and awarenessess arrived…….
Link: pdf of Beauty and Grace within the Flow of “Comings and Goings” of Our Lives (pdf)
Link: to the Pocket Perspectives post: Beauty and Grace in the Flow of “Comings and Goings” of Our Lives (a few lovely images below from that “Beauty and Grace” selection)
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Link: pdf copy of ” Turbulence! Ohhhhh….of course! ….BUT….Maybe NOT so….!”
Link to post ” Turbulence! Ohhhhh….of course! ….BUT….Maybe NOT so….!”
This selection/booklet emerged out of an experience of strong turbulence, flying back from New Hampshire in August…the awareness of and understanding which seemed to lead to a parallel wisdom about the emergence and dynamics of perceived “turbulence”… “turbulence” in the sky and the ongoing perceived, possibly disruptive “turbulence”in our minds. Thank goodness the wisdom and understandings of this booklet arrived! The awarenesses in this book are much needed and deeply appreciated…………
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Link: pdf copy “The Blue Sky: Understanding Our Reactions Dynamics….Awareness, Realizing, Shifting….Leading to a More Positive Mind
Link to Post: “The Blue Sky: Understanding Our Reactions Dynamics….Awareness, Realizing, Shifting….Leading to a More Positive Mind
This booklet seemed to emerge out of my ongoing observations of what goes on in my mind….the surprises as I was observing how one thought, feeling or state of mind leads to another to another… out of habitual patterns, beliefs, experiences and ways of thinking. Deepening this awareness seems to be leading to seeing this dynamic in action…slowly leading to greater understanding and so much more welcomed peacefulness in my mind…
Again…thank goodness these ideas arrived….I’m so thankful!
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Link: pfd copy of “A Continual Flow of a Sense of “I”….coming together….here for awhile….dispersing…..”
Link to Post: “A Continual Flow of a Sense of “I”….coming together….here for awhile….dispersing…..”
This booklet/selection emerged as I consistently watched a sense of a strong sense of “I” emerging “in me” in some predictable situations…of watching that strong sense of “I” emerge, developing a deeper and broader understanding about what the underlying dynamics are of that emergence…and realizing that the process involves: “…. coming together of factors…an emergence of a strong, felt sense of “I”…and the dispersing of that sense…”…. moving onto a bit of quiet in the mind…or, sometimes, the setting off of another continuing and continual sequence of this progression. The goal…more peace of mind, kindness, compassion and wisdom… through understanding this dynamic.
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“Creating”….under the influence of …big magic!
Yes…….I think maybe so…
I think “big magic” DID happen!
…is happening….
and hopefully will continue to happen!
I welcome it! I embrace it! I appreciate it!
The beauty of the ideas in the 4 booklets sure seem like very, very, “big magic” to me…
big magic, indeed!
…..blessings, for sure…..
I’m filled with a very deep sense of gratitude and appreciation
………thank you………
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Pocket Perspectives 