Emilie Richards's Blog, page 25

Sunday Inspiration: The Guest House

“The Guest House” by Jalaluddin Rumi
This being human is a guest house.
Every morning a new arrival.
A joy, a depression, a meanness,
some momentary awareness comes
As an unexpected visitor.
Welcome and entertain them all!
Even if they’re a crowd of sorrows,
who violently sweep your house
empty of its furniture,
still treat each guest honorably.
He may be clearing you out
for some new delight.
The dark thought, the shame, the malice,
meet them at the door laughing and invite them in.
Be grateful for whoever comes,
because each has been sent
as a guide from beyond.
Did you happen to read the Dear Annie column last month that included this 800 year old poem by the Muslim mystic Rumi? The letter Annie is responding to is from a man (help my insecurities) who is driving his girlfriend crazy because he keeps asking her if she’s happy and ok? Annie points out that he’s projecting his own feelings of insecurity and sadness and suggests that he start every morning by writing down his feelings and welcoming them. To emphasize her point she includes the Rumi poem as a spiritual source for acknowledging and accepting our feelings.
The poem rang true to me for two reasons. First, the title of the poem is so similar to the title of my next novel, The House Guests, which will be published in June and really lines up well with the theme of the poem.
Secondly, Annie’s advice is fitting for all of us as we face the pain and grief of dealing with Covid and its many repercussions. The first step towards healing is welcoming our feelings, no matter how dark and difficult they may be, and then once they’re acknowledged we can appreciate them for the gifts they bring.
What feelings do you welcome into your guest house?

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Sunday Inspiration: True Generosity

“That’s what I consider true generosity: You give your all and yet you always feel as if it costs you nothing.”

— Simone de Beauvoir, author

Did you see this  inspiring story about Dolly Parton’s generous gift of one million dollars for Covid research? Dolly is one of my favorite people anyway, because of her creative and generous spirit, but I’m especially pleased to see this incredible gift that will help so many people.

As we move from the season of thanksgiving to the season of generosity, I want to follow Dolly’s example of true generosity, a gift that feels as if it costs nothing. And don’t forget that Tuesday, December 1st is Giving Tuesday.

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Sunday Holiday Inspiration: Happy Thanksgiving!

‘Thank you’ is the best prayer that anyone could say.

I say that one a lot.

Thank you expresses extreme gratitude, humility, understanding.

When you rise in the morning, give thanks for the light, for your life, for your strength.
-Alice Walker, author

This will be a difficult Thanksgiving for many of us. We may be unable to be with family because of the pandemic. We may be suffering from COVID or someone we love may be ill. We may have lost our job or fear we may lose income. We may be feeling the pain of this tragic time in the lives of so many.

But no matter how difficult our lives may be, expressing whatever gratitude we feel gives purpose and meaning to our lives. A popular internet meme (anonymous) claims the following. I think I’m going to suspend disbelief and just say amen. How about you?

Did you know GRATITUDE:

~shields you from negativity

~ makes you at least 25% happier

~ rewires your brain

~ eliminates stress

~ heals

~ improves sleep

~ boosts self esteem & performance

~ enhances the law of attraction

~ improves relationships

I wish you a Thanksgiving filled with gratitude and all the blessings that flow from it, straight into your heart.

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Once in a Blue Moon

At the end of the day faith is a funny thing. It turns up when you don’t really expect it. It’s like one day you realize that the fairy tale may be slightly different than you dreamed. The castle, well, it may not be a castle. And it’s not so important happy ever after, just that it’s happy right now. See once in a while, once in a blue moon, people will surprise you, and once in a while people may even take your breath away. -Zane Grey

This quote from Zane Grey appeared in our local paper about the time we were experiencing a real blue moon on Halloween night.  You probably learned, as I did, that a blue moon isn’t what it sounds like. The moon remains it’s normal color A blue moon refers to the second full moon in a calendar month.  Our last blue moon was March 31, 2018 and the next will be August 22, 2021.

A “real” blue moon only appears when particles wider than 900 nanometers scatter red light and the result for us is a moon of any size that looks blue to the human eye. More about that here.

I’ve never been particularly fond of astronomy. When I’ve looked through telescopes I’ve never seen anything that made me dance a jig. However since Covid-19 came to call, astronomy and I are on much better terms.

Take planets, for instance. One morning a few weeks ago–before the time change–unable to sleep, I got up to watch the sun rise over the state park behind our house. A brilliant light hung over the park. I knew immediately this wasn’t any old star. I was reminded of the Star of Bethlehem and figured that if shepherds and wise man saw this one, they’d be on their way to Florida.

The light, of course, was Venus. And she’s been there every morning since–if I get up in time to greet her. She’s moving and won’t be a permanent feature of my mornings, but while she is, I’m enraptured.

Then, there’s Mars. When discussing Venus with Proman he said Mars was supposed to be visible in the night sky, too. We went outside and wow! No mistaking Mars that night or any since. Mars is red. It really is. Did I think this was an old wives’ tale? I guess I did. But you don’t need a telescope, an iPhone app or even good sense to know that’s Mars glowing amber in the sky.

Then, with only a tiny bit more work. I realized that Jupiter and Saturn were probably those huge shining “stars” not far from Mars. One night I was sure I could see rings…

Throw in the blue moon. Astronomy reigns in our household

Two nights ago I got up at 1:45 and 4:30 to see the Perseid Meteor Shower, which was supposed to be at it’s peak from midnight to six AM. Unfortunately we had cloudy skies on the horizon. Proman, who got up once, too, didn’t see any shooting stars. I saw only one, but that was enough to make me feel that missing several hours of sleep was worth it.

Zane Grey’s quote at the beginning of the blog is about faith, about the way things are rarely perfect and almost never live up to our expectations. But people can still surprise us and sometimes take our breath away. These days the sky, the stars, the planets and the blue moon have me gasping in awe. And my sudden interest in all of them is nothing less than a mysterious gift.

I commune with the skies almost every day now, early in the morning or late at night. And as I do, my own faith in something far larger, far more important, than my tiny speck of a life grows and expands.

I hope that my own recognition of how amazing our universe is and my gratitude to be part of it doesn’t just happen “once in a blue moon.” I hope I’ll remember these nights and mornings and always be grateful.

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Sunday Inspiration: Imagination encircles the world

“I am enough of an artist to draw freely upon my imagination.
Imagination is more important than knowledge.
Knowledge is limited.
Imagination encircles the world.”
― Albert Einstein

As an author, I know how important knowledge is. Without knowledge of everything I’m writing about, without an understanding of the individuals and the time and place, my story will be confusing and shallow.

But without imagination my story can’t enter the heart of the reader. My story can’t give flight to promise and possibilities. As an author I can’t express the priceless wisdom hidden in each one of us.

Albert Einstein, a man who possessed possibly the greatest knowledge of humanity, valued imagination even higher. As a scientist he knew that imagination is the treasured source of genius for anyone who seeks to discover the secrets of the universe. And as a novelist, I know that books kindle all our imaginations, readers’ and authors’ both, as nothing else can. Imagination encircles the world.

Where will your imagination take you today?

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Social Media: What Should You Say and How Should You Say It?

Let’s take a little quiz, just for fun:

How much time do you spend on social media each day? Add in all the platforms you use, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn and more.
How much of your news do you get from social media?
If you use social media as a news source, do you trust it more than traditional sources like television news or major newspapers?
Do you have specific sites or accounts you go to whenever you log on? Groups you visit, pages you want to catch up with? Or do you stick to your own newsfeed–on the platforms that have a newsfeed.
Do you believe that most people you interact with use good manners? If they don’t, do you avoid them (unfriend or unfollow them) in the future?

There are no right answers, of course. But I found asking  these questions helpful. As for spending too much time on social media? That one is probably the stickler for most of us.

The last question seems most important to me today. I’m aware how lucky I’ve been on my Facebook Page and the Read Along With Emilie Richards Facebook Group. My readers are thoughtful, supportive of each other, and just thoroughly nice folks. Until this week I never even knew that as the administrator of my page I could delete comments and in some situations ban people from posting. Then this week, a post I made that I considered to be positive and conciliatory about the results of our national election infuriated a visitor who, in my opinion, stepped over the line of polite behavior.

I didn’t know what to do. So I researched. In the end I deleted my post and all the comments that had followed, explaining in a new post that I want my page to be a fun, safe place where my readers can be together with stress and anxiety. While the poster insisted that she could say anything she wanted because my page was “social media,” I learned that indeed I can make sure she can’t say those things on my page.

Obviously since after many years I just learned this, restricting my readers’ rights of expression has never been high on my to do list.

I did begin to wonder, though, if there are any good rules each of us need to think about before we post, comment or simply pop on to read other people’s thoughts. This is a time of high anxiety on so many fronts. It’s easy to say things we wouldn’t usually say. So here’s my take on it.

In a nutshell I believe we need to think of social media as a party we’ve been invited to. We’re anxious to go and we want to make a good impression. Face-to-face with new acquaintances, we use our best manners. If we’re stuck interacting with someone we dislike or someone whose opinions infuriate us, we excuse ourselves and head for another conversational group. We don’t scream and yell and call them names because they’ve said something we disagree with. If we can’t tolerate their opinions, we seek out people we do feel safe and comfortable with.

In that small, safe group, we can make ourselves heard, and even argue a little because we know these people and what they can tolerate. We know how far to go before our friendship is in danger.

In addition to forming that analogy, I decided to do a little research. Here are some good ideas/rules for each of us to consider. You may know them already. But they  bear repeating.

Don’t be offended if a person you try to friend doesn’t accept your request. They may need to keep their friend list short. I know that I save most interaction for my Author Page and my short list of friends on my profile page are mostly family and very old friends. I rarely post there. I just want to keep up with them.
Be sure you will be comfortable allowing a potential friend to see your content. Maybe they’re too young, old or too different. Give it some thought.
Reserve friending for people you truly care about and trust.
Adjust your settings frequently, especially those related to tagging and security.
Don’t type anything you wouldn’t say to a person in real life.
Remember tone is hard to discern from a post. Watch exclamation points and all caps. Use sparingly if at all. Be sure your meaning is clear.
Name calling, insults and unproven conspiracy theories do not belong on social media. Remember your words may come back to haunt you, even if common decency doesn’t make you think twice.
Don’t abuse hashtags. (If you don’t know what a hashtag is, then you are not guilty, so relax.)
Don’t overshare.  Remember that party I mentioned? Would you tell a stranger every detail of your last labor and delivery and pull out graphic photos of the birth? I didn’t think so…

While there were many interesting articles about good manners on social media, most of them were related to marketing products. But I found help at Facebook and Agora Pulse.

So did you answer the questions at the beginning? Are you happy with your answers? If you feel like “sharing” we’re listening.

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Sunday Inspiration: Be Curious!

“Be curious, not judgmental.” -Walt Whitman

I heard this quote on the charming television show Ted Lasso on Apple TV the other night, and it struck a chord, especially during this time of significant change in our nation. The character Ted Lasso was responding to a man who was obnoxious and a bully by sharing that quote and telling him that many people had dismissed Ted in his life because instead of asking questions about who he was and what he believed, they made judgments based on their own biases and prejudices.

I’m hoping that all of us — including me — whether we consider ourselves blue or red, purple or chartreuse can set aside our judgments about each other and begin asking questions about who each of us is, what we believe and why we believe it. This is the challenge I accept for myself, and I ask you to accept it as well so that we can build a better life for ourselves and our world.

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Sunday Inspiration: Their brilliance continues to light the world

“There are stars whose radiance is visible on Earth though they have long been extinct. There are people whose brilliance continues to light the world though they are no longer among the living. These lights are particularly bright when the night is dark. They light the way for humankind.” – Hannah Senesh, poet
I’ve been rising early in the morning and going out on our lanai which faces east to look at the dark sky and ponder my life. What has greeted me every morning lately is a big bright star that I discovered is the planet Venus. I think of these words by Hannah Senesh when I gaze at Venus, and I remember the people in my life who are no longer a physical presence but whose love and creativity and compassion still burn brightly within me.

All Saints Day on November 1st and All Souls Day on November 2nd are both days in which we have the opportunity to contemplate death. All Saints Day is in honor of all saints known and unknown, and All Souls Day commemorates loved ones who have passed on. Both events strengthen the spiritual bonds between us and those who belong to the “great majority.”

I have lost too many friends this year, and their stars are especially bright this time of year.  I am comforted by their memories and inspired by their love at a time when, because of quarantine, I have been unable to honor them in person at a memorial or graveside service.

I also honor all those who have died in the pandemic, and I hope their lights continue to burn brightly in the lives of those who loved them. We can all honor their sacrifice by taking care of each other, using science and logic as our guides and not pretending that their deaths mean nothing.

What lights burn most brightly for you?

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Psst… What Do You Think About My New Cover?

The House Guests, at bookstores in June 2021.

Authors wait, hope and pray while a new cover is in the works. We don’t always have a lot of choices, but Mira’s cover art department made some welcome changes on this one between the initial concept and this final version. The book (June 2021) is set in Tarpon Springs, Florida, and I was so delighted to see a marina and a sunset.

What do you think about the concept, and how does the cover make you feel? Can you tell from the artwork alone what kind of story it might be?

When it comes right down to it, what’s the most important part of a cover for you? The art work? The concept? The fonts?

Or the author’s name.

I’m listening…

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Sunday Inspiration: “Courage is the most important of all virtues…”

“Courage is the most important of all the virtues because without courage, you can’t practice any other virtue consistently.” ― Maya Angelou

Who needs Halloween when there is so much to be afraid of every single day? I think we all feel a little like the cowardly lion struggling to find his inner courage.

But Maya Angelo is correct: without courage all the other virtues are meaningless because courage empowers everything good that we do.

When I’m looking for my inner courage I search for others who have found theirs, whether that be the cowardly lion or heroes and heroines in novels or real life heroes who have the courage not only to be kind and compassionate but who act on those virtues to help those around them.

I’m not sure how people have the courage to fight for their lives against the merciless coronavirus or how they have the courage to stand by loved ones who are suffering during the pandemic. How about the politicians who are trying to stand firm against science deniers who ridicule and humiliate others for doing their part to keep the rest of us healthy? And what about the courage needed by nurses and doctors who risk their lives to treat those who are already stricken?  I hope my courage will never be tested in those way.

I will try to grow my courage little by little in the hope that when and if I am tested by fate, I will be able to use my courage to empower kindness and compassion.

Have you been called on to be more courageous since the pandemic began? Do you have thoughts to share how you’re coping? Has someone in your life showed courage you admire?

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