Since after 14 hours I finally won Staring Contest #1 a while back, I decided to challenge a master, former GSU legendary head football coach Erk Russel in Staring Contest #2.
Oh I forgot to tell you, before the struggle of the two titans began, I invoked the time-honored tradition of rubbing the coach’s head to ensure victory.
(Hours, days pass.)
Yes!! Triumphant once again! So why is his name still up there?
I love students. They’re so “learny” and all. Well today I gave my first of three finals of the week here at Georgia Southern. My Everyday Creative Writing class is such a wonderfully cool and fun group of students. (Although I could easily say the same about each of my classes this semester.)
Here they are at the beginning of class today, writing the reflection portion of the portfolio:
Such hard workers.
And here they are, soon after I began a little lecture comparing taking a final exam to running the race of life (Lesson 42 of my Listen to Neal and Learn series):
And, look, here they are when I stood in front of the room and asked them the first fifty-point exam question: “Who is the best professor in the universe?”
They REALLY are a SMART group of students! I’m just so very proud of them.
And, look again, here they are when they received the second fifty-point question: “Who is wearing the coolest shirt in the room?”
I have to say that some of their facial expressions got on my nerves a bit. Like THEY had on hip shirts!
************************************************************************************************************************
One of the most incredible benefits of being a professor is that students teach the prof SO much about life: about being excited and interested and vibrant. About believing that all things are possible. (I forget that from time to time.) About taking risks. About taking naps. About being happy. About enjoying NOW. About enjoying hot, fresh french fries from McDonald’s. About living life with fervor.
Simply put, my students lift me, they raise me up.
(Can you tell I’m sort of horizontal there?)
I dedicate this song to all my WONDERFUL students who daily lift me up. Thank you. You add much joy to my life.
Friday, Friday! Here’s what I’m happy about today:
1. Breakfast this morning at a cool diner on Abercorn (here in Savannah), named–appropriately–The Diner on Abercorn.
2. The following quote from one of my creative writing students this semester. (Part of a reflection letter with one of the assignments.)
“I would recommend my friends take this class, but only my magical friends. Not the dull, unimaginative type.”
3. This invention from my just-turned-five grandson Daniel:
He calls it a Mouth Shutter. Daniel explained it this way–“If somebody is talking or yelling, and you don’t want to listen to them anymore, put this on their mouth and they will shut up.”
Here’s the back of the Mouth Shutter, with tape for securing to the loud person’s mouth:
This makes SO much practical sense to me.
4. This right-on-the-mark quote from the Abraham-Hicks folks:
“A very good career choice would be to gravitate toward those activities and to embrace those desires that harmonize with your core intentions, which are freedom and growth—and joy. Make a ‘career’ of living a happy life rather than trying to find work that will produce enough income that you can do things with your money that will then make you happy. When feeling happy is of paramount importance to you—and what you do ‘for a living’ makes you happy—you have found the best of all combinations.”
5. The promise of weekend.
HAVE A TERRIFIC ONE!
Did last weekend’s Earth Day register in your world? After talking to a number of folks so far this week, I saw that many were not aware of the special day which is dedicated to raising awareness of our most precious natural resource. So I decided to repost my Earth Day post (silliness and all).
Since everyday should be Earth Day, here’s hoping you have a great EARTH WEDNESDAY with me!
One of the most FUN aspects of living in the beautiful city of Savannah GA is enJoying the wide variety of festivals and events celebrated in the city (Savannah Music festival, Jewish Food Festival, Asian Festival, that big green one in mid-March, etc.). Well yesterday heralded another great celebration–Earth Day 2012–held in Savannah’s living room, Forsyth Park.
Let’s be honest–so often we take this amazing planet for granted, like air, and forget that our Earth is alive–and continually giving us life. Indeed, our JOY as humans is inseparable from the health of our planet. I love the Native American proverb, “We do not inherit the earth from our ancestors, we borrow it from our children.”
I hope you have been taking the time this week to reflect on the beauty and generosity of our planet–and to consider ways to make her healthier and happier.
Last Saturday morning, I arrived at Savannah’s Forsyth Park about eleven, and the place was already packed with Earth Day-ers. For some reason (which I should probably discuss with my therapist) I headed straight for the little alligator and the big owl.
Confession: I stopped at the next tent initially because I saw a book being prominently featured, Holy Sh**: Managing Manure to Save Mankind by Gene Logsdon. (Should I start using it as a text in my comp classes?) I met a very cool guy named Andy Schwartz, founder and compost chief of Grow.Eat.Repeat., a Savannah-based sustainability organization.
Check out his fascinating and encouraging website at www.grow-eat-repeat.com. Andy also has a blog, so we’re blog brothers!
Next I ran into my buddy, the always hip, happy and upbeat Ellie Covington. (I want Ellie to help me buy some hats.)
Still sort of meandering aimlessly around the park (a major life strategy of mine), I saw these girls wearing tutus and fresh from their 5K run. Sometimes I don’t ask questions–I just try to go with the flow. (I noticed their breast cancer awareness ribbons, and then it hit me that they had participated in the Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure. I plan to run in it next year … or maybe walk.)
(I think they thought I was famous. I might have told them I was.)
Walking around a corner I literally bumped into Mrs. Helen Cobham who asked if I wanted to play a game and win some vegetable or flower seeds. (Actually I misunderstood and thought she said vegetables or flowers, not just seeds. And I don’t have a yard. But wanting to be nice on Earth Day and all, I thought, why not?) In the game I had to name at least two of earth’s cycles in order to win a prize.
Okay, now listen, let me tangent talk a bit and explain an issue I’ve had all my life. If someone asks me a question out of the blue, I go blank, like Lady Gaga at a beef gorging festival, or answer quickly and foolishly before thinking. For example, in the 8th grade by a MIRACLE OF GOD, I made it to the one-word final of the class spelling bee. I was given the word, “Georgia.” I knew I had won as I immediately jumped up and down and blurted out “J.E.O.R.G.I.A.”! Face beet red. But really, J and G are sort of alike.
Earth’s cycles? Hmmm. All I could think of was the word “motorcycle” at first and then the “cycle of life” and finally the “cycle of seasons,” which I knew HAD to be the right answer, so I yelled, “THE SEASONS!!,” like Oprah shrieking for her audience members to feel under their seats for a new Ipad. Helen looked at me with pity, and at the same time a man nudged me and pointed at the game poster board (I got the impression he thought HE was about to win a truckload of vegetables and wanted the competition gone). Looking at the board, I saw that the cycles (nitrogen, carbon, oxygen, etc.) were actually written in various sentences there. End result:
(Which, when all is said and done, makes me feel a little better about the spelling bee.)
Feeling on a winner’s high, I kept going, stopping in awe (really) at Elizabeth Conlon’s amazing display of herbs and vegetables growing from a tower planter device:
Take a look at Elizabeth’s tower gardens at www.elizabethc.towergarden.com.
Here I am with two fun and friendly bread and pasta makers:
One of my favorite stops was a short visit with gentle-spirited and wonderfully encouraging (as well as talented) Matthew Cooper and his didgeridoos, the grand instruments in the pics below.
Listen to his music at www.DreamtimeSynastry.com.
At one point I saw an empty tent booth, decided to take advantage of it, and offer a service of my own:
Oh, my service?
All I can say is I know a WHOLE lot of folks who are going to be sorry one of these days.
Seriously, I LOVED the message of the festival: let’s all take part in the loving care of our planet.
A hardworking fun group of eco-students from Savannah State:
Oh and I won the door prize!
(Helicopter rides available soon … with famous blogger.)
WHAT A HAPPY, HAPPY EARTH DAY!
P.S. If I missed any vendor that I visited with, and you would like your info added, please share it in the comment section, and I will make amends.
For those who are interested, I’m including a wonderful poem, “Planet Earth.”
Planet Earth
It has to be spread out, the skin of this planet,
has to be ironed, the sea in its whiteness;
and the hands keep on moving,
smoothing the holy surfaces.
‘In Praise of Ironing’, PABLO NERUDA
It has to be loved the way a laundress loves her linens,
the way she moves her hands caressing the fine muslins
knowing their warp and woof,
like a lover coaxing, or a mother praising.
It has to be loved as if it were embroidered
with flowers and birds and two joined hearts upon it.
It has to be stretched and stroked.
It has to be celebrated.
O this great beloved world and all the creatures in it.
It has to be spread out, the skin of this planet.
The trees must be washed, and the grasses and mosses.
They have to be polished as if made of green brass.
The rivers and little streams with their hidden cresses
and pale-coloured pebbles
and their fool’s gold
must be washed and starched or shined into brightness,
the sheets of lake water
smoothed with the hand
and the foam of the oceans pressed into neatness.
It has to be ironed, the sea in its whiteness;
and pleated and goffered, the flower-blue sea
the protean, wine-dark, grey, green, sea
with its metres of satin and bolts of brocade.
And sky – such an O! overhead – night and day
must be burnished and rubbed
by hands that are loving
so the blue blazons forth
and the stars keep on shining
within and above
and the hands keep on moving.
It has to be made bright, the skin of this planet
till it shines in the sun like gold leaf.
Archangels then will attend to its metals
and polish the rods of its rain.
Seraphim will stop singing hosannas
to shower it with blessings and blisses and praises
and, newly in love,
we must draw it and paint it
our pencils and brushes and loving caresses
smoothing the holy surfaces.
From Planet Earth: Poems Selected and New, by P.K. Page
Copyright © P.K. Page, 2002
You can also hear the poet read her work:
One of the most FUN aspects of living in the beautiful city of Savannah GA is enJoying the wide variety of festivals and events celebrated in the city (Savannah Music festival, Jewish Food Festival, Asian Festival, that big green one in mid-March, etc.). Well yesterday heralded another great celebration–Earth Day 2012–held in Savannah’s living room, Forsyth Park.
Let’s be honest–so often we take this amazing planet for granted, like air, and forget that our Earth is alive–and continually giving us life. Indeed, our JOY as humans is inseparable from the health of our planet. I love the Native American proverb, “We do not inherit the earth from our ancestors, we borrow it from our children.”
I hope you take the time this week to reflect on the beauty and generosity of our planet–and to consider ways to make her healthier and happier.
Yesterday morning, I arrived at Savannah’s Forsyth Park about eleven, and the place was already packed with Earth Day-ers. For some reason (which I should probably discuss with my therapist) I headed straight for the little alligator and the big owl.
Confession: I stopped at the next tent initially because I saw a book being prominently featured, Holy Sh**: Managing Manure to Save Mankind by Gene Logsdon. (Should I start using it as a text in my comp classes?) I met a very cool guy named Andy Schwartz, founder and compost chief of Grow.Eat.Repeat., a Savannah-based sustainability organization.
Check out his fascinating and encouraging website at www.grow-eat-repeat.com. Andy also has a blog, so we’re blog brothers!
Next I ran into my buddy, the always hip, happy and upbeat Ellie Covington. (I want Ellie to help me buy some hats.)
Still sort of meandering aimlessly around the park (a major life strategy of mine), I saw these girls wearing tutus and fresh from their 5K run. Sometimes I don’t ask questions–I just try to go with the flow. (I noticed their breast cancer awareness ribbons, and then it hit me that they had participated in the Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure. I plan to run in it next year … or maybe walk.)
(I think they thought I was famous. I might have told them I was.)
Walking around a corner I literally bumped into Mrs. Helen Cobham who asked if I wanted to play a game and win some vegetable or flower seeds. (Actually I misunderstood and thought she said vegetables or flowers, not just seeds. And I don’t have a yard. But wanting to be nice on Earth Day and all, I thought, why not?) In the game I had to name at least two of earth’s cycles in order to win a prize.
Okay, now listen, let me tangent talk a bit and explain an issue I’ve had all my life. If someone asks me a question out of the blue, I go blank, like Lady Gaga at a beef gorging festival, or answer quickly and foolishly before thinking. For example, in the 8th grade by a MIRACLE OF GOD, I made it to the one-word final of the class spelling bee. I was given the word, “Georgia.” I knew I had won as I immediately jumped up and down and blurted out “J.E.O.R.G.I.A.”! Face beet red. But really, J and G are sort of alike.
Earth’s cycles? Hmmm. All I could think of was the word “motorcycle” at first and then the “cycle of life” and finally the “cycle of seasons,” which I knew HAD to be the right answer, so I yelled, “THE SEASONS!!,” like Oprah shrieking for her audience members to feel under their seats for a new Ipad. Helen looked at me with pity, and at the same time a man nudged me and pointed at the game poster board (I got the impression he thought HE was about to win a truckload of vegetables and wanted the competition gone). Looking at the board, I saw that the cycles (nitrogen, carbon, oxygen, etc.) were actually written in various sentences there. End result:
(Which, when all is said and done, makes me feel a little better about the spelling bee.)
Feeling on a winner’s high, I kept going, stopping in awe (really) at Elizabeth Conlon’s amazing display of herbs and vegetables growing from a tower planter device:
Take a look at Elizabeth’s tower gardens at www.elizabethc.towergarden.com.
Here I am with two fun and friendly bread and pasta makers:
One of my favorite stops was a short visit with gentle-spirited and wonderfully encouraging (as well as talented) Matthew Cooper and his didgeridoos, the grand instruments in the pics below.
Listen to his music at www.DreamtimeSynastry.com.
At one point I saw an empty tent booth, decided to take advantage of it, and offer a service of my own:
Oh, my service?
All I can say is I know a WHOLE lot of folks who are going to be sorry one of these days.
Seriously, I LOVED the message of the festival: let’s all take part in the loving care of our planet.
A hardworking fun group of eco-students from Savannah State:
Oh and I won the door prize!
(Helicopter rides available soon … with famous blogger.)
WHAT A HAPPY, HAPPY EARTH DAY!
P.S. If I missed any vendor that I visited with, and you would like your info added, please share it in the comment section, and I will make amends.
For those who are interested, I’m including a wonderful poem, “Planet Earth.”
Planet Earth
It has to be spread out, the skin of this planet,
has to be ironed, the sea in its whiteness;
and the hands keep on moving,
smoothing the holy surfaces.
‘In Praise of Ironing’, PABLO NERUDA
It has to be loved the way a laundress loves her linens,
the way she moves her hands caressing the fine muslins
knowing their warp and woof,
like a lover coaxing, or a mother praising.
It has to be loved as if it were embroidered
with flowers and birds and two joined hearts upon it.
It has to be stretched and stroked.
It has to be celebrated.
O this great beloved world and all the creatures in it.
It has to be spread out, the skin of this planet.
The trees must be washed, and the grasses and mosses.
They have to be polished as if made of green brass.
The rivers and little streams with their hidden cresses
and pale-coloured pebbles
and their fool’s gold
must be washed and starched or shined into brightness,
the sheets of lake water
smoothed with the hand
and the foam of the oceans pressed into neatness.
It has to be ironed, the sea in its whiteness;
and pleated and goffered, the flower-blue sea
the protean, wine-dark, grey, green, sea
with its metres of satin and bolts of brocade.
And sky – such an O! overhead – night and day
must be burnished and rubbed
by hands that are loving
so the blue blazons forth
and the stars keep on shining
within and above
and the hands keep on moving.
It has to be made bright, the skin of this planet
till it shines in the sun like gold leaf.
Archangels then will attend to its metals
and polish the rods of its rain.
Seraphim will stop singing hosannas
to shower it with blessings and blisses and praises
and, newly in love,
we must draw it and paint it
our pencils and brushes and loving caresses
smoothing the holy surfaces.
From Planet Earth: Poems Selected and New, by P.K. Page
Copyright © P.K. Page, 2002
You can also hear the poet read her work:
Friday! Five Things:
1. Rainbows. I saw this double rainbow on my way home from work from Statesboro to Savannah.
2. Elephant Ears. (There’s a long true story here involving New Orleans, Cafe Du Monde, a fortune teller and late night. But that’s for another post.)
5. Being able to breathe deeply and feel the essence of life flowing in and out of my body.
HAPPY WEEKEND TO YOU ALL!
So far I have introduced two wonderfully effective strategies for increasing the frequency and intensity of happiness in our lives: JoyInciter #1–the Thanksgiving Book and JoyInciter #2–the Walking Into strategy. Are you practicing with either of them? The third JoyInciter–the Happiness Box– is both fun and transformationally creative. Let’s talk about it.
Recently I (along with Mr. Happy) presented a workshop for the Georgia Southern Writing Project and The Thinking and Learning Institute at City Campus in downtown Statesboro. (Gosh, that’s a mouthful.) (By the way, City Campus is a very cool entrepreneurial outreach of Georgia Southern.) This workshop, titled “Happiness in a Box,” is based on today’s third JoyInciter.
(Am I too old to wear that shirt? That VITAL question just occurred to me.)
(June Joyner, the Director of the GSU Writing Project, Mr. Happy and Yours Truly)
Before we discuss the “how” of the Happiness Box, let’s briefly examine two “why’s.” First, theoretically speaking, that which we consistently place our “gaze” upon, we will SEE in our world, in our reality. (And all our realities are in constant morph mode, depending on where and how long we place our “mindsight.”) My school, Georgia Southern, for example, is a party school for those who choose to see it in that light. However, GSU is a rigorous academic institution for eyes which view it from that perspective. I suggest to you (and what I’m about to say is the HEART of this blog) that we need to take great care about where we place our consistent, ongoing attention.
The second Happiness Box “why” is childlike and fundamental: making and maintaining this box is FUN and makes one happier, more excited, hopeful, and expectant of good.
To start, find a shoebox-sized box. You can choose to decorate it if you like, but at least write a Statement of Intention on the box somewhere. Here’s one of my Happiness Boxes:
And my Statement of Intention (written on the underside of the box cover) is simple: “The contents of this box make me happy.”
Next, go through magazines, brochures, newspapers, etc. and find pictures of that which gives you joy. Anything. I suggest that you DO NOT worry about trying to organize or structure this process–have fun with it. Look for pictures, colors, words, abstractions that “light you up” in some way. Cut them out and put them in your box. Also look for photos, little items, paint samples, memorabilia which cause your heart to sing. You have thus started the Happiness Box strategy.
Keep adding to your box, and from time to time, empty it onto your dining room table or your bed or floor. Look at all that you have accumulated. If you are like most of my students (and me), you will see categories of happiness begin to emerge: family, material desires, spirituality, food, goals, accomplishments, hobbies, memories, sports, pets, etc.
The more you add to your happiness box, the greater the sense of joy and expectation. A wonderful added benefit is that by creating the box, you begin to get CLEARER about that which you really want. It’s so much fun to look through your accumulated desires.
Here are some workshop participants working on their boxes.
(Amanda Hedrick and Mr. Happy at the workshop.)
(P.S. In my classoes at school, there are various writing prompts and assignments connected to this project.)
Hey, hey, it’s wonderful Friday once again, and here are Five Things I’m happy about:
1. Today, enjoying so much a great lunchtime experience at Back in the Day Bakery on Bull Street in Savannah. I’ve eaten there before (oh gosh, their cupcakes!) but noon today was especially fun and scrumptious. I ordered the meaty State Fair sandwich, two lavender cookies (yes, lavender) and sweet tea. While at the counter, I noticed a brand new Back in the Day Bakery Cookbook and learned that the owners are on a book tour and will be appearing on Martha Stewart on Monday. (I want to appear on Martha Stewart.)
Here’s cool and hip Stephanie serving the State Fair:
Sometimes our “visionary capability” needs to be increased–in other words, we need to affirm and believe (as best we can) that we are meant to be joyfully prosperous. That we are meant to live in an abundance of all that we consider good.
But how? How do we “get there”? Start this way: make a list (even a quick mental one) of five ways you are already prosperous RIGHT NOW. For example, I feel prosperous because I can breathe in all the oxygen I need to enable my body to be optimally healthy. Take in a long, deep breath right now. Feel that avenue of wealth!
Tell me some ways in which you are prosperous, wealthy, abundant right now. Doing so moves us into receptivity for greater measures of that which we want. Doing so “grants permission.”
“Prosperous”–just saying the word feels good.
NealEnJoy 