Think of February as God’s special gift of time sandwiched between all the hubbub of past holidays and the upcoming arrival of a busy spring. To me, February is the ideal month to regroup . . . to review where I’ve been and to rethink where I’m going. I have found it is the best time of the entire year to pause for several concentrated weeks of deliberate reflection.
Chuck Swindoll, Insight for Living 1999
February is merely as long as is needed to pass the time until March. — Dr. J. R. Stockton
LOVERS
Marionettes from Prague – Books from all over
MUSIC: The Mozart Effect (Notes from Lecture) March 2000
Classical music, like Mozart or Hayden stimulates Beta waves suited for high-quality, analytical thinking.
Jazz: like Miles Davis or John Coltraine, creates order from chaos, good for thinking that does not lend itself to simple linear solution. Generates theta waves: highly creative brain consciousness associated with out-of-the-box creativity, spiritual insight.
Rock: Makes a statement about TIME, especially suited to people who need to be vigilant like those in an inner city environment. Sharpens awareness!
New Age / Alternative: Music organized around SPACE; suited for people who live in a highly mental structure.
Music creates a current on which images flow. It can catch an image in its nets so it can be looked at, analyzed. Glamour, January 1999
IN THE ZONE/ATTITUDE
I learned that you should feel when writing, not like Lord Byron on a mountain top, but like a child stringing beads in kindergarten, happy, absorbed, and quietly putting one bead one after another. Brenda Ueland
And frame your mind to mirth and merriment / Which bars a thousand harms and lengthens life.” Wm. Shakespeare, The Taming of the Shrew
We do not see things as they are; we see things as we are. Anais Nin
Your turn:
Add a quote? Comment on one or two you have just read?
As you know, the dated comments are selected from my journal jottings of long ago. As one very wise woman (!) counseled me: “It’s all about retrieval.” The two-year-old stringing beads is a little boy in my Sunday School class. Those little fat fingers learning new maneuvers. Love it! Thanks for the comment as you are recovering from arduous travel back home.
It’s all connected, I think. And I like the idea too that music bypasses the brain and goes directly to the heart, something to remember when dealing with a loved one’s sickness or grief or our own wayward emotions. Thanks for checking in today, true blue friend.
Marian – New to me, I love the Brenda Ueland quote:
“I learned that you should feel when writing, not like Lord Byron on a mountain top, but like a child stringing beads in kindergarten, happy, absorbed, and quietly putting one bead one after another.”
A few years ago I spent a week up at a writer’s conference at UW-Madison. Sitting lakeside working on a manuscript for days on end, watching gorgeous sailboats catch the gusty breeze, I wrote in my journal:
“Writers are the wind that sail words across the page.” — Laurie Buchanan
I love how one idea sparks another – and another. Thank you for the original quote from you. You are the wind beneath many writer’s wings, for sure, with all of your encouraging words, Laurie. Merci beaucoup!
Since I know you’re a discriminating TV watcher, I’ll throw in a Downton Abbey quote from the Dowager Grantham: “There can be too much truth in any relationship.” I’ve been pondering that one 🙂
And that’s why we should call ourselves “Women of Mystery and Allure.” I say. Granny Grantham always gets the best lines, don’t you think?
It’s safe to say I know what you are doing Sunday nights at 9:00. Even if the plot weren’t so riveting, there are the costumes by Ralph Lauren. Exquisite! Thanks for stopping by to read and once again adding to my quota of quotes.
Plain and Fancy 
Loved the music lecture notes. Thanks for those. And the quote about stringing beads. Certainly that is what a memoirist does!
LikeLike
As you know, the dated comments are selected from my journal jottings of long ago. As one very wise woman (!) counseled me: “It’s all about retrieval.” The two-year-old stringing beads is a little boy in my Sunday School class. Those little fat fingers learning new maneuvers. Love it! Thanks for the comment as you are recovering from arduous travel back home.
LikeLike
“Music is what feelings sound like” is actually a line in my WIP, or something similar. I love that…the reverberation of emotion through music.
LikeLike
It’s all connected, I think. And I like the idea too that music bypasses the brain and goes directly to the heart, something to remember when dealing with a loved one’s sickness or grief or our own wayward emotions. Thanks for checking in today, true blue friend.
LikeLike
Marian – New to me, I love the Brenda Ueland quote:
“I learned that you should feel when writing, not like Lord Byron on a mountain top, but like a child stringing beads in kindergarten, happy, absorbed, and quietly putting one bead one after another.”
A few years ago I spent a week up at a writer’s conference at UW-Madison. Sitting lakeside working on a manuscript for days on end, watching gorgeous sailboats catch the gusty breeze, I wrote in my journal:
“Writers are the wind that sail words across the page.” — Laurie Buchanan
LikeLike
I love how one idea sparks another – and another. Thank you for the original quote from you. You are the wind beneath many writer’s wings, for sure, with all of your encouraging words, Laurie. Merci beaucoup!
LikeLike
Since I know you’re a discriminating TV watcher, I’ll throw in a Downton Abbey quote from the Dowager Grantham: “There can be too much truth in any relationship.” I’ve been pondering that one 🙂
LikeLike
And that’s why we should call ourselves “Women of Mystery and Allure.” I say. Granny Grantham always gets the best lines, don’t you think?
It’s safe to say I know what you are doing Sunday nights at 9:00. Even if the plot weren’t so riveting, there are the costumes by Ralph Lauren. Exquisite! Thanks for stopping by to read and once again adding to my quota of quotes.
LikeLike