Jan Krause Greene's Blog, page 3
April 11, 2014
Mindful
Thanks to Ivon for posting another great Mary Oliver poem. This one is worth thinking about!
Originally posted on Teacher as Transformer:
Mary Oliver
is one of my favourite poets and this is likely my favourite poem that she wrote.
Whenever, I get stuck this is a poem I turn to and get unstuck. I had bogged down in my writing and it simply was not moving. This morning, as l listened, ideas flowed into my conscious view. Most of what I was looking for was waiting to be seen.
Interestingly, I did not rush and write things down. I took time, finished sitting, and by the time I wrote things down more appeared. I often look for things in places they are not and they appear as part of what is waiting to be seen.
Poetry’s beauty is it does not always speak directly to what I am looking for, but approaches me in different ways and I encounter it afresh in those moments.
Every day
I see or hear
something
View original 113 more words
April 2, 2014
HALO Trust brings hope and healing
I just happened upon some haunting photographs about the aftermath of war. The pictures are the work of Fiona Willoughby and they document the important work of HALO Trust, a NGO that dedicates itself to getting rid of landmines around the globe.
Even though this exhibit is focused on landmines and those whose lives have been affected by them, it is both hopeful and inspirational. It shows not only the heroic work of those who risk their own safety to get rid of landmines, but also those who have been injured by landmines, or forced from their homes due to the risk of landmines and unexploded ordances.
The new exhibition Getting Landmines Out of the Ground, For Good is being hosted by the World Affairs Council of Northern California. You can stop by their office at 312 Sutter Street in San Francisco to see the exhibit for free any time during their office hours. I just walked in off the street this morning.
If you want to hear the photographer and her husband, Guy Willoughby (founder of HALO Trust) speak, you can attend the reception from 6:00 to 8:00 pm, tomorrow night (April 3) Tickets are $15 for the general public and $5 for students. You can get tickets online at http://www.worldaffairs.org
In case, like me, you have never heard of the HALO Trust, here are some pretty impressive stats about the work they have done in the 25 years since their founding:
Over 1.4 million landmines destroyed
Over 11 million items of larger calibre ordnance destroyed
Over 208,000 cluster munitions destroyed
Over 53 million bullets destroyed
Over 3,400 heavy weapon systems immobilized
Over 165,000 assault rifles destroyed
Over 10,423 minefields cleared
33,460 hectares (82,682 acres) made safe from landmines
144,616 hectares (357,353 acres) made safe from unexploded and abandoned ordnance
14,491 kilometres (9,004 miles) of roads cleared
http://www.halotrust.org/
Finding out about this organization makes me reaffirm my belief that even in the worst of situations there is always hope. As I looked at the very moving photographs I was reminded of two quotes from Anne Frank’s diary:
“It’s really a wonder that I haven’t dropped all my ideals, because they seem so absurd and impossible to carry out. Yet I keep them, because in spite of everything, I still believe that people are really good at heart.” (This brought tears to my eyes the very first time I read it, back in 6th grade, and it has every time I have thought about it since then. To have such faith in the goodness of humanity in her circumstances is so incredible to me.)
“How wonderful it is that nobody need wait a single moment before starting to improve the world.” (These words have often reminded me that we can always try to make things better, whether in big ways or small, it is never the wrong time to help make the world a better place.)
I feel fortunate to have stumbled upon this exhibition and to be reminded that there are many people who dedicate their lives to healing both the people and the land in countries devastated by war.
March 31, 2014
What if the world stopped spinning?
What if the world stopped spinning?
If it just stood still on its axis and refused to move?
If at every latitude and longitude, the sun and moon stayed still?
What if somewhere it is always sunrise and somewhere else the sun is always setting?
What if some live forever in total darkness and others in unrelenting light?
What if the earth just took a stand and said, “I will not turn once more, not one degree, not even the 100th of a degree, until you learn to love me?”
What if the earth were to shout to us, “I have done all I will do for you. I will not provide succulent morsels for your wasteful tongues after you rape me with violence and pollution?”
What if she told us that she was finished with the struggle, that it just was not worth it anymore?
What if she screamed in anger and in pain, “I have no more tears to shed for you. You have hurt me more than I am willing to endure. You come to me for everything you need and give nothing in return.”
What if she said in a voice full of despair, “ It is too hard to sustain life when you choose to kill and maim each other as a way to solve problems.”
“I can not keep spinning. I will no longer enable you to destroy us both. I have given all I have to give. It is your turn now.”
What if in the bright light of the un-turning world, we could never stop seeing all that we have taken from her, if we were forced to stare at desolation?
What if in the perpetual darkness we could never again see the beauty of a flower, a tree, a mountain stream, waves breaking on the sand?
What if some lived in the glory of an eternal dawn or the beauty of an eternal sunset, knowing that the rest of the world would never ever see it?
If it was you, could you stand to know that you were one of the few to be so lucky?Knowing that so many are denied light and so many others never given the respite of the dark?
What if we had no choice? What if the earth just stopped giving? What if there was nothing we could do to change her mind?
No pleading, no promises, no planting trees, no conserving energy, no cleaning polluted waters, no small gestures to show we care.
Would we realize how small these gestures are? Would we be sorry that we did not do more?
What if it was too late? What if the world just couldn’t take it anymore?
~~~
I wrote this more than two years ago and complacency about the environment is still widespread. Yet, I am hopeful. I see more news stories about climate change than I did two years ago. I see more about the environment on social media. So, I think change has begun at a grassroots level.
This makes me hopeful because I truly believe you and I and many millions across the globe will be the ones to accept the honor and privilege of transitioning our species to a new way of living in harmony with nature. We are the generations that will figure how to use our technology to protect, rather than destroy, and we will also figure out when using technology is not the best solution for our health and the health of our planet.
A book that gives us some solutions and lots of hope is Cows Save the Planet by Judith D. Schwartz. http://www.chelseagreen.com/bookstore/item/cows_save_the_planet:paperback
What books would you recommend?
March 30, 2014
Letter to a Person on Their First Day Here
Take the time to watch this video. I love this kid! A lot of profound stuff here,,,,and just plain fun too!
Originally posted on Ramblings From Jewels:
I don’t share videos here too often, but when I saw this one I just had to share it. I love absolutely everything about this…
~
✿~Peace & Love~✿
March 28, 2014
Just a little poem
Hi Dear Readers,
I have not posted a blog in awhile because this month I have been really busy going to book events. It has been a great month of meeting people, reading from my book, participating on panels, and increasing my sales. I have thoroughly enjoyed every minute of it. But now I need to rest a tiny bit and then turn my focus back to writing.. In the meantime, here is a poem I wrote a few years ago. Shortly after writing this, I signed a contract with a publisher.
In My Dreams
In my dreams I fly – in and out of windows, above mountains, between trees.
I don’t need wings to carry me.
I fly because I am light and free.
In my dreams.
In my dreams, I swim in deep, blue waters.
I jump off cliffs into the waiting ocean.
I rise to the surface and keep on going, up, up!
Right up to the sky.
I fly at night, the stars and moon lighting my way.
In my dreams, I am the leader of important causes.
I speak truth to power.
I bring healing to the hurt.
Food to the hungry.
Justice to the oppressed.
In my dreams, I make a difference.
What I do matters.
I am making the world a better place.
I will be remembered for what I have done.
In my dreams.
In my waking life, I do laundry.
I sweep, dust and vacuum.
I shop. I cook. I eat. I sleep.
I drink lots of coffee and not enough wine.
I take care of my mother.
I babysit for my grandchildren.
I go for walks with my husband.
I watch TV. I read.
Sometimes I even write.
In my waking life.
I tend my garden.
I watch the sunset.
I think great thoughts.
And I long to be the person in my dreams.
I long to do the things that matter;
To make a difference -
To know that in some way the world is better because I was here.
In my dreams, there is no question about this.
I am a person who can fly.
That is proof enough.
But in my waking life,
I measure my importance in small things -
A word of gratitude from my mother.
A smile when my grandson sees me at the door.
My husband’s warm embrace.
This is my real life – the life that says
“You are no different from anyone else.
You can not fly. You are earthbound;
tied to the earth by those you love.”
And sometimes, not very often, but oh so gloriously,
I feel myself rising to the sky on wings of joy
and, oh yes, I am awake!
This is my real life too.
JKG
10/12/12
March 7, 2014
Prayer
Since my blog’s name is inspired by all that a heart can hold, it is not surprising that I was awestruck by this beautiful poem.
Originally posted on Teacher as Transformer:
I had not heard of the poet,
Clarissa Pinkola Estés
, until a couple of days ago. I found her work and it is inspiring.
Expanding horizons is part of life. We cannot experience or know what is outside the horizons. Moving towards new horizons is an act of faith drawing people towards something in life. Life, in this sense, is a constant prayer, a listening event about what is important and seeking it out.
A Prayer
Refuse to fall down
If you cannot refuse to fall down,
refuse to stay down.
If you cannot refuse to stay down,
lift your heart toward heaven,
and like a hungry beggar,
ask that it be filled.
You may be pushed down.
You may be kept from rising.
But no one can keep you from lifting your heart
toward heaven
only you.
It is in the middle of misery
that so much becomes clear.
The one who says nothing good
came of this,
is not yet listening.
March 2, 2014
February 23, 2014
Is the First Great Drought happening now?
We have been given the incredible gift of access to knowledge and access to each other. We are in this adventure called life together as members of the only real race, the human race.
Dearest readers,
I have to share something important with you. The more I learn about the drought in California and other states, the more I am convinced that we are actually experiencing the First Great Drought I wrote about as fiction in I Call Myself Earth Girl. While I was working on the novel in 2010 and 2011, I was aware that the western and southern states were experiencing severe drought conditions, including more and longer-lasting forest fires. At the time, I did not think that these droughts would still be going on in 2014.
In the book, Gloria is a contemporary woman living in Newport, RI. She is disturbed by recurring dreams in which a young girl who calls herself Earth Girl speaks to her. Gloria eventually becomes convinced that she is pregnant with Earth Girl’s child who was conceived in another lifetime. In the dreams, Earth Girl recounts the story of her life to Gloria. She tells of living in a bleak and barren time.
She first mentions the drought this way: My father told once told me that they stopped putting pictures in books when he was a boy. … Once, I heard him tell my mother that he thought they kept the pictures out of books because they didn’t want the next generations to know how beautiful everything had been before the first great drought.
Later in the story, Earth Girl recounts her father’s fears that a Second Great Drought had begun. He predicts that millions of people will die because the second great drought is happening before the earth has had time to recover fully from the first one. He knows how bad things became during the previous large scale drought. He tells his daughter that “people didn’t pay attention to the first great drought until it was too late.”
Earth Girl also tells Gloria what her mother told her about the droughts and famine: But people weren’t very smart, she said, because if the famine was in a different country, they would just thank God it wasn’t happening to them. They didn’t even notice when bigger parts of their own countries got drier and drier and they had less drinking water and less water for hydroelectric power. … She said that people kept on doing all the things that hurt the earth and then they were surprised when the earth could not recover.
I think that we are the people to whom Earth Girl’s parents were referring. We are not paying enough attention and soon it will be too late. If you find this hard to believe, please do a Google search on droughts. I will include some links to articles at the end of this blog, but if you do your own search, you will be amazed at what you find. There is a wealth of information, and yet, there seems to be a dearth of concern in the general public.
At first Gloria did not pay attention to the mention of the droughts. When she finally does, she is distressed to discover that in 2011, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration published this report: An intense drought has gripped the southern tier of the U. S for several months, accompanied by destructive wildfires, low water supplies, and failed crops. Dry conditions emerged as early as October of last year and culminated in one of the driest winter and spring seasons in the observed record for the region. … At the peak of this year’s drought in July, exceptional drought conditions were spread across nearly 12 percent of the U.S., from Arizona to Florida, reaching the highest recorded level of drought since the U.S. Drought Monitor began reporting conditions 12 years ago.
This excerpt is not fiction. I copied it directly from the report. Gloria is alarmed by what she reads, but she does not want to believe that it really matters. She asks herself if this could be the beginning of the first great drought that Earth Girl keeps talking about in the dreams. She tries to convince herself that it is not: Get a grip, girl! Don’t let some crazy dream make you think this stuff really matters. If this was really serious, the government, the scientists and politicians would be all over it. There is no way they would ignore this stuff.
Is Gloria right? Would the government ignore something this serious? Wouldn’t politicians on both sides of the aisle devote hours to this? After all, the drought and its effects – including lack of clean water and failing crops – are major problems.
And if that drought were continuing, wouldn’t it be a major news story? If we were really in a serious drought, wouldn’t the networks devote as much time to it as they did to Justin Bieber egging a neighbor’s house, or Paula Deen’s lawsuit, or the birth of the newest heir to the British throne?
Of course, they would! But, they didn’t. So I am.
In the first of the Earth Girl series, a young girl named Ella does pay attention and she begs grown-ups to pay attention too. In the sequel, Ella’s father, one of the many who did not pay attention, is now dead and living in three different realities. Two of those realities are in the future, but they are very different from each other. One is the future that may result if people don’t pay attention. The other is the future that may be ours if people do pay attention.
I feel compelled to draw people’s attention to the seriousness of climate change and the impending water crisis in my novels, in my blog, on Twitter, facebook, and in general conversation. Just take a moment to think about what life would be like for you if water were a scarce luxury instead of something you take for granted. (I realize that in some parts of the world this is a reality right now.)
Think about this: Today, one-third of the world’s population is living without access to adequate supplies of freshwater. By 2025, up to two-thirds of people in the world may be facing serious water shortages, including people in 35 percent of cities in the U.S. (Statistic from WATER CONSCIOUSNESS)
Take a moment to picture some of your favorite natural places. How different will they be without water? California is already finding this out. Why aren’t we alarmed by this?
Of course, being alarmed really counts for nothing. Figuring out how we, as individuals, can make a difference is what really matters. One way is to let your local, state and federal government representatives know that environmental protection matters to you. I’ll be blogging about this in various ways throughout the rest of 2014.
If you’re with me in this, please spread the word. Share this blog or re-blog it. Write your own blog about it. Put this on facebook. Bring it up in conversation with your friends.
It matters. Let’s not wait to discover how much it matters. It will be too late by then.
As I have written a few times in my blog, we have the privilege of being the people who are on earth right now at this critical juncture in human history. Thanks to the internet and the ease of communication across continents we can transcend national barriers and collaborate together to solve these problems. We have been given the incredible gift of access to knowledge and access to each other. We are in this together as members of the only real race, the human race.
Let’s use these gifts now. Let’s revel in our privilege of being alive right now when we have the power to improve the present and shape the future.
Do it for your loved ones. Do it for my loved ones. Do it for everyone who has loved ones. Do it for those who struggle with lack of water now. Do it for those who will live in the future that our choices create for them. Do it because you can. If you don’t, who will?
Available as an ebook and paperback at online retailers and in bookstores.
Dry reservoir photo: http://darkroom.baltimoresun.com/2014/01/california-suffering-possibly-its-worst-drought-in-a-century/#1
Forest fire photo: http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/capital-weather-gang/wp/2013/10/17/report-western-wildfires-growing-more-intense-insurers-deeply-concerned/
http://www.utsandiego.com/news/2014/feb/18/california-drought-as-seen-from-space-nasa-picture/
http://www.usatoday.com/story/weather/2014/01/16/drought-west-disaster-declarations/4522651/
http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Features/DroughtFacts/
WATER CONSCIOUSNESS – How We All Have to Change to Protect Our Most Critical Resource
AlterNet Books, San Francisco, 2008
February 21, 2014
February 19, 2014
Come join me in the mission of the new millenium
We are the lucky ones who get to participate in the most amazing adventure of the new millenium.
My dear readers, I have come to a turning point with this blog. I started it when I was looking for a publisher for my book. I named the blog What a Heart Can Hold with the general intention of writing about all sorts of different things and building up a readership before I actually signed with a publisher. It turns out that I found a publisher sooner than I expected (yay!) It also turns out that writing a blog about all sorts of different things is not necessarily the best way to promote a novel. So, I intend to reinvent this blog over the course of the next few weeks (well, let’s be truthful…the next few months).
I noticed looking back on my posts that there are topics I just naturally wrote about the most: the environment, peace, and the power of love. Although I only wrote once directly about my book, without even being consciously aware of it, I was writing most often about the three major themes in my novel. This makes sense because these are topics that fill my heart to overflowing.
Now I am working on the sequel to the book and I find myself frustrated by trying to promote my first novel while writing the next one. I feel that I spend too much time on promotion and not enough on writing. I have the uncomfortable feeling of letting my passion be dulled by the need to promote. In the past few weeks, I have been moved to finish this book and get its message out SOON because I believe that every one of us is being called to create a new and better future.
Although I never would have predicted this, I feel that my purpose in life is to get people to pay attention to this. More specifically, I feel that I have a message for all of us who are living right now: We are all now, at this very minute, living through a transition of enormous significance. I believe that we have been chosen by God, or the universe, the spirit world, or random chance to guide ourselves and this planet on which we live through a period of vast change.
In the last 5 years, almost all continents have experienced extreme drought conditions. We need to take this seriously and we need to do whatever is needed to reverse this trend. If the trend can not be reversed, we need to figure out how to make sure everyone has access to clean water. This should be a major concern of all governments and all citizens, everywhere.
This is our task as the people who are living on the planet right now. It is our responsibility. But it is more than a task and a responsibility. It is a privilege. It is an honor to be the people who are living on this precious planet right now. We are the lucky ones who get to participate in the most amazing adventure of the new millenium.
We have been chosen to usher humanity into a new and better way of living. We, yes my dear reader, you and I, were born to be living here now for a reason! We are the leaders we have been waiting for.
The earth has been placed in our hands.
Do you see how beautiful it is? Can you feel the life that pulses through it? Look carefully at it. Its beauty is majestic. Yet it is fragile and growing ever more so. It needs our care. It needs our love. It needs us to learn to work together to protect its resources. This is our challenge. This may even be why we are here!
We can do this. Let’s begin right now. Together.
Available as a paperback in bookstores and all online retailers. Available in all ebook formats, including Kindle and Nook.
