Wednesday, April 22, 2015

Siouxsies Musings has a new home!

Siouxsiesmusings has moved to the following web address:

clearingspace4joy.wordpress.com

Do stop by anytime. We love visitors and comments!

Love,
Siouxsie

Wednesday, April 15, 2015

M is for maintenance

Please see today's post at https://clearingspace4joy.wordpress.com/2015/04/15/m-is-for-maintenance/

Tuesday, April 14, 2015

Literal Thinking and Lateral Thinking

Dear Readers, My blog is  moving to ClearingSpace4Joy.wordpress.com. I will be posting on both blogs for the remainder of the A to Z challenge, but do visit my new digs! It's a really lovely place. Love, Siouxsie



Early in April, I posted a poem about how I welcome being wrong and mistaken after starting out thinking I had to be and always was right.

I don't know if it's just a brain-wiring thing or a temperament or a habit, but I tend to think VERY literally, taking things at face value. I have to work pretty hard to remember that taking things too literally is one of the ways I end up misunderstanding someone.

Just as I have realized my strong tendency toward literal thinking, I have also begun to learn to practice lateral thinking. Wikipedia tells me . . .
Lateral thinking is solving problems through an indirect and creative approach, using reasoning that is not immediately obvious and involving ideas that may not be obtainable by using only traditional step-by-step logic. 
Just today, I had a disappointing experience of literal thinking going awry. Someone I love is headed to jail tomorrow for a five-day stay. I had googled “how to prepare for jail.” One site said inmates are not permitted to take books into the jail, as they can be a place to hide drugs, but that books can be shipped from Amazon. With that, I spent quite a bit of time looking for books that he might like, and then I reserved like 87 books at the library, toted them home, and he went through them and chose five that I was going to buy and ship to the jail. Once I had them in my Amazon cart, I decided to double check the website for the rules and regs. Well. This particular jail does not allow books to be sent to inmates.
Seems like Albert Einstein was onto this idea way before Mr. Edward deBono coined the term lateral thinking, when he said, 'We can't solve problems by using the same kind of thinking we used when we created them."

Coming to accept my natural way of thinking as being quite literal has allowed me to move beyond it into new methods of solving problems, asking questions, finding solutions, and communicating. I don't criticize myself anymore for this; I just understand it's the way my brain works. And if there's one thing I'm all about, it's being creative in my life.

Are you more of a literal thinker or a lateral thinker? Or something else?

Monday, April 13, 2015

Karma

Dear Readers, My blog is  moving to ClearingSpace4Joy.wordpress.com. I will be posting on both blogs for the remainder of the A to Z challenge, but do visit my new digs! It's a really lovely place. Love, Siouxsie



Like so many big concepts in my life, I learned the word "karma" from the Beatles, in their song, "Instant Karma." I didn't bother to find out what karma was. Considering the amount of fear I carried around as a child, I only knew that if it was gonna get me, I probably didn't want to get too close to it.

Even the Bible's version of this was frightening and ominous: "Do not be deceived. God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows." (Galatians 6:7)

There are other places on the internet and in books where you can read all about karma. The manner in which I am using this word is similar to the idea of sowing and reaping, and has to do with the energetic connections of our actions.

What I was taught was that bad things happen to good people, and while I don't disagree with that, there is great power in giving out compassion, kindness, goodness, patience, love, peace and joy to the world. When we are radiating these types of characteristics, we are going to draw those same things to ourselves.

I see it again and again. When I approach people with a smile, and a genuine caring heart, they are much more likely to be open to me, to help me with what I am asking for, and to take in the positive "vibes" I am giving out. I've seen the opposite as well -- when I'm resentful or already angry before I come into contact with someone, the interaction is of a complete different quality.

So, I've accepted it. I love knowing that the energy I give out has an impact on others, and also impacts what comes back to me. This belief motivates me even more to come to people and situations with an open heart, as a perpetual beginner, and a lifelong learner.

How do you experience the concept of sowing and reaping in your life?


Sunday, April 12, 2015

To my Readers!


I really, really, really, really, really, really like you!

Sunday Musings

http://la-chapeliere-folle.deviantart.com/art/Freedom-336262938

I am the bird and I hold the cage.