SJT & Poetry Friday: Attitude Musings

 With thanks to Bob Hamera for hosting this month on the theme of "attitude." Check out Bob's post here and the links to posts from other members of our Spiritual Journey Thursday community.

When I shared our topic for this month (attitude) with my daughter, she recalled an oft quoted saying of my dad (that I shared often with her and her brother): "You can get glad in the same pants you got mad in."

He also used to tell us that it takes more muscles to frown than to smile. He was an optimist who looked on the bright side of life. He was taken from us far too soon, but I've tried to keep him alive in the stories and sayings I share with my family. It amused me that my daughter thought of the same saying I did in relation to attitude. 

It's been a tough beginning to 2026. Conditions in our world leave me wondering what to do and how to cope. I find myself surrounded by friends and family with severe trials and the deaths of loved ones. My sister is having a slow recovery from her surgery. We've had two weeks without school (well, nine days, we'll see if they have school tomorrow). And to top it off, my husband got the flu and a week after him so did I. The good thing is that we didn't miss much since everything was pretty much cancelled after our ice one week, followed by 8+ inches of snow the next week.

I turn to a small book that I won during the 2014 SOL Writing Challenge. Handmade by fellow blogger Stacie Evans (Girl Griot), I fill it with thoughts and quotes, many of which come from our community of writers. 

I copied these words from Anita (Learning to Be Writers and Readers In the 21st Century) which she shared in her 10/11/2014 post:

"I am grateful for the energy to do what I can

The faith to let go when I can do nothing

The wisdom to know whether to intervene

To wait or to pray." 

And these words from JoAnn Early Macken, posted on Friday, September 19, 2014 to Six Teaching Authors Who Also Teach Writing:

 

 

I like this quote from Stitches: A Handbook on Meaning, Hope and Repair by Anne Lamott: "A great truth, attributed to Emily Dickinson, is that 'hope inspires the good to reveal itself.' This is almost all I ever need to remember. Gravity and sadness yank us down, and hope gives us a nudge to help one another get back up or to sit with the fallen on the ground, in the abyss, in solidarity."  

 

Finally, I'm sharing my golden shovel poem, "Moving Forward" that I wrote during the pandemic,  Golden shovel poems are inspired by a line of poetry or text, constructed so that the ending word of each line when read top to bottom composes that line. This poem utilizes a sentence opposite Irene Latham's "Compassion" poem on page 15 of  

Dictionary for a Better World.

Moving Forward

When I find myself at loose ends, it
is time to look for my purpose, for it is 
by being intentional that I can often
shake off the doldrums and begin the 
journey toward hope. The smallest 
movements to action can be the moments
of catalyst to move us forward. Drink a glass of 
water, go for a walk, read a book, make connections
with others, think happy thoughts, create something that 
you can share. These are the actions that will carry 
us during times of isolation, that help us 
"hear a humming," the call to muster through
the challenges of the day, to find the 
way to thrive, to "get on with it" in spite of tough 
times, to make today one of the good times. 

- Ramona Behnke, March 2020

"hear a humming" - from the poem "Freedom" by Irene Latham on p. 38 of Dictionary for a Better World

"get on with it" - Charles Waters quoting the landmark Monty Python group, p. 17 of Dictionary for a Better World.  

May you feel moments of connection and hope to carry you through the tough times. May the words I've shared bring solace and inspiration and the impetus to move forward, "to make today one of the good times."