NaPoWriMo – day 19
Card 83, Gallery 2
Map of Awareness
Each night, or just before
dawn, our traveler bends
to daily task of note-taking.
Jots and dashes, sometimes
lines of verse, her private
soul journey of telling words.
Lets just past moments float
through mind, taking time
to choose steps passed
and passing, connecting dots
between then and now, what,
who, where and sometimes how.
Whatever strikes her fancy.
There are times when pen
dances over paper, leaping,
prancing like a thoroughbred.
Others when it nags, snags
page and won’t let go, or acts
her age, leaning hard on cane
of supportive hand.
Refuses to move on until at
least one sheet is filled, inked
thoughts spilled, often-times
in willy-nilly fashion. Defines
this action variously as
dropping bread crumbs,
erecting mile markers,
or distilling memories both
large and small, yet overall
knows it has become the map
of her awareness.
Elizabeth Crawford 4/19/11
Notes: Have been keeping a daily journal for over thirty years, count it a priceless companion and friend. Want to thank all who prayed, lit fires of thought and positive energies. Sister was out of surgery almost two hours before expected. Doctor said all went fine. She slept, but was awake in the evening enough to smile and hold hands, and complain about pain in her back. Nurses were speaking of getting her up and perhaps into a chair for a few minutes after we all cleared out. Your care was and is deeply appreciated.
Soul Cards: both galleries may be viewed by clicking on image. The Soul Cards were created by Deborah Koff-Chapin, and her site can be found here: http://www.touchdrawing.com/
Soul's Music 
I keep returning to markers and places in your map of awareness! I think I have visited some of them more than once! Beautiful poem!
Gemma, don’t we all return at some point? Glad you enjoyed and could relate. Thank you for your generous words,
Elizabeth
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Writing/reading – just about the most important tools in teaching/learning…
Positive thoughts continue for your ssters speedy recovery.
Stan, I soundly agree and thanks for the positive thoughts. They are deeply appreciated,
Elizabeth
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I like the idea and the mental image of a ‘Map of Awareness’
and the line ‘dropping bread crumbs’.
Memories, I think we’re made of them!!
This image always makes me think of body memories and how they are stored in different muscles, tendons, and various limbs of our being. How they can be triggered by simple touch, sound, smell etc. Thanks Andy for following my journey,
Elizabeth
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Glad your sister is recovering well.
I like the idea of a daily diary freewrite, which is how your poem registers with me. You’re a conscientious and gifted journey-er or journaler? journalist?
Lol, Viv, I just say writer. Natalie Goldberg and Julia Cameron both advocate a regular morning free-write. Natalie says that will take us past 1st, 2nd, and even 3rd level thought process, helping us find and uncover the wonderful gold mine beneath all that surface stuff. I believe she is 100% correct on that one. Julia says it gets rid of the garbage we drag in from the day before and clears a path to what lies deeper. I find both ideas constantly proven in my journal pages. Thanks for your comments and prayers,
Elizabeth
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So glad to hear good news about your sister! She will be better than ever! And I loved the use of the map, like sheet music, or the diagram for the dance. These things anchor us, otherwise we would fly…..
Actually, Annell, without that ancor, I’m sure I would just keep drifting further and further away.
Elizabeth
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I had a friend who told me once. She used to keep a journal, but found she wrote the same thing everyday. So she quit.
When I get stuck, I do several things. Mostly I just start writing about not wanting to write, but sometimes I get up and give myself about five minutes to move around then go back and finish. Writing the same thing every day is a clear message that one might be stuck in a rut and maybe in need of a new path to wonder. Journals are a dialogue with self. They do no good if no one is listening,
Elizabeth
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It definitely resonates with me that there are times when the pen (or keyboard) dances, and also times when it is STUCK. Refusing to move on is good. Bum glue sometimes FORCES the words to come!
Glad your sister is doing well. I had hoped/ prayed for this. We are so fortunate to live in the age where this kind of miracle-working surgery is possible.
Mary, yes I agree that we are fortunate. There are so many ways to get unglued. I no longer believe in Writer’s Block. It’s simply a feeling and feelings are not facts. They can be changed, worked through, resolved. Or can be explored to find both cause and effect. We do that with words and find ease in the process. Thanks for your prayers and continued support,
Elizabeth
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I love her private soul journey of telling words. It says so much for all of us this month. I’m happy to hear your sister is healing nicely. Thirty years of journaling is impressive, Elizabeth. Your words here are certainly appreciated.
~Brenda
Confession? I started writing everyday because I had dreams of being a writer and that’s what writers do. I didn’t call it a journal back then. Just a seed I was planting in my own mind to claim the vague image I wanted to make more concrete. There are gaps in those pages, and they speak more clearly than many of the filled ones. I listen to all of them. No one is more surprised than I am that it has become a foundation of my everyday existence. Words are tools. The more we use them, the more proficient we allow ourselves to become. Thanks for your comments and well-wishes, both are deeply appreciated,
Elizabeth
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Beautiful, Elizabeth, the map of awareness, which you read so well. I love writing mine, then coming to see what you saw in the image. A wonderful journey, a reflective one , one I needed to make and didnt know it till you set it in place for me to hop aboard. Bless you for this.
I am so glad your sister is doing well. The pain will lessen day by day – the body works so hard to heal, it is amazing.
Sherry, bless you, my friend, for choosing to come along on this journey. In myths there is always a trustyworthy and stalwart companion. You be my sidekick lady and there are few who would do what you have done. I’m glad you have found value in all of this. There is always a reward for that companion. And thanks for the thoughts about my sister, just glad the surgery is behind us,
Elizabeth
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Elizabeth, First of all, I am so happy things have gone well for your sister, and my continued positive energy is sent her way.
Thirty years of daily writing, certainly lends itself to the beautiful verse that you turn out.
Pamela
Pamela, thanks for the positive energies. Hard to believe it’s been that long, but even I can see that it has made all the difference,
Elizabeth
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Beautiful piece I can truly relate to… the ins and outs, ups and downs of the writer!
Thank you Laurie, there certainly are a lot of them, aren’t there?
Elizabeth
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Happy your sister is doing well~!
I love this; these cards are so beautiful and unique! YOUR words extend this journey~
I love “connecting dots between then and now, what,who, where and sometimes how.
Whatever strikes her fancy” I am trying to do that now ;-D
Thanks for your well-wishes, Ellen. I do think of writing as connecting the dots between me, the words, and whatever it is I want to say. Intuition brought me to writing and plays a big role in all of it. Keep up the good work, it pays off, I promise,
Elizabeth
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Glad that all went well with your sister.
I love the idea of pen dancing. Also impressed with thirty years of journal keeping.
Thank you Linda, mostly now it’s my fingers dancing over the keyboard, but paper and pen carried me for more years than any computer, so that’s the way I image it. Still resort to that older way on occasion. It works well,
Elizabeth
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Great description of the moods of muse and pen….I am enjoying the traveler’s journey.
Also, I’m so glad your sister came through the surgery okay. I will continue to keep you both in my thoughts and prayers.
Gloria, thank you for keeping us in your thoughts and prayers. And glad you are enjoying this journey. So am I, in both new and old ways,
Elizabeth
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I am behind; I didn’t realize the seriousness of her surgery! I hope n’ pray, for your sister n’ you! Your poem was touching… Yes, keep the pen dancing, it reveals the magic of your muse, an emotional release and nurtures your remarkable talents~
Ellen, I couldn’t agree more. Thank you,
Elizabeth
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I’m glad your sister’s surgery went well. I hope she continues to recover well. I really like the third verse of this and particularly this ‘Others when it nags, snags
page and won’t let go,’
Thank you Earlybird, and glad you are enjoying what you find here,
Elizabeth
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