Veronica was the love of my life. We married within two months of our first date. A week later she was dead.

I sat in the hospital chair holding her lifeless hand. The doctor, his comforting hand on my shoulder, offering words of consolation.

” Such a tragedy for one so young. All the scans indicate that she was in perfect heath except for those few seconds when her body denied oxygen to the brain. A very unusual case of cerebral hypoxia”

I was wrapped in a nightmare. This can’t be happening, my vibrant, beautiful sweet Veronica replaced by a lifeless corpse. I was sure that any moment now she would rise from the bed with bubbling laughter and say “fooled ya”. Staring at her…

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I came across this song by chance maybe a year ago, and it had the effect of making a space at the top at the back of my skull start tingling and it’s tingling right now as I listen to it. Of course I had to know more about the singer, the instruments, and about the music played live in a place in Spain called Alhambra. I bought the album and DVD and am transported to another place when I experience music that is what I consider spiritual and otherworldly at the same time.

Nights from the Alhambra is a live album and DVD from the Canadian singer, songwriter, accordionist, harpist, and pianist, Loreena McKennitt and is her first live concert DVD. It was recorded in September 2006, live at the Palace of Charles V, in the Alhambra, Granada, Spain, and released commercially in September 2007.

Amazingly, all…

First off, Happy Diwali!  I’ve seen shapes like this one in my coloring book but didn’t know it was associated with Diwali:

Now I know.  I can see a yin-yang quality to it with my “new eyes.”

It is also the season for Halloween, which is coming up on Thursday, so please enjoy this scary Halloween tale.

Mary Jo talked me into joining the group on a Halloween adventure, The Cave of Horrors. Unlike a lot of the haunted whatevers that proliferate at this time of year, instead of visual scares, they would be tactile ones, as the haunted cave we would be going through would scare by touch and sound as it would be 100% dark! Being a cautious person, I was afraid of stumbling and falling or running headlong into something if I got too scared.  Against my better judgement I agreed to go.

That night, as the…

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This week, write the haikai poem of your choice (haiku, senryu, haibun, tanka, haiga, renga, etc.) that states or alludes to withering wind (kogarashi).

making trees barren

The mighty withering wind 

Blows off all the leaves

———————-

 clinging  to the trees 

leaves know not how to survive 

the withering wind

———————————————-

cling on to the truth

fear, not the withering wind

fight with all your might

Sue Vincent from the inspirational blog Sue Vincent’s Daily Echo is the author of a number of unique and interesting books which you can find along the sidebar of her blog.

Sue is also a director of the Silent Eye, a modern mystery school which you can find out more about on the website Dare to Awaken to Being

Sue is kicking off my poetry readathon series of blog posts by sharing her poem, My Quest, written in French and English, as well as how she came to write this poem and its meaning to her.

‘My Quest’ was written many years ago. I had gone to work in Paris, eventually married a French musician and we set up home in Vichy where our eldest son was born. It was during this time that my schoolgirl French matured and became fluent, though not always completely correct!

Although I had…

REENA SAXENAhosts Reena’sExploration Challenge.

~*~

“I think therefore I am”

Cogito, ergo sum

Descartes

What is the difference between the mind and the brain?

My brain is my physical organ of thought. It is visible and material. Whereas, my mind is not visible and not material. It is my conscious thought, my attitude, my feelings, my belief, and my imagination. My mind has power all over my body, overall my cells and it governs how I am going to be.

The capability of our brain to think it’s translated into conscious thoughts by our minds. This is what sets humans apart from the rest of the creation. To think, then to imagine and feel and then convert that into abstract and practical concepts. That we can think, is a function that humans possess in common with other animals. But that we…