Tag: daydreaming

What Do You Daydream About?

~ humoringthegoddess ~ 8 Comments

daydream      noun
day·​dream ˈdā-ˌdrēm

a pleasant visionary usually wishful creation of the imagination

How often do you daydream? How far do your daydreams take you?

I believe we all escape our reality now and then. Whether it’s by thinking of days gone by or stopping at the grocery store on the way home, our thoughts often wander helter skelter away from our current activity and into a pretend world of coulda and shoulda and what if.

There are books and movies about daydreams: song lyrics, names of paintings, and even sites on Google that tell you how to do it.

Why does our mind want to wander around the planet so often?

Facebook likes to pop up memories from “this day” one or 10 years ago, and a lot of my posts were about wishing I were retired or sitting by a lake or in a café in Paris. Seems like I was proficient in daydreams time even back then.

Well, here I am, 70 and retired, and still wasting moments  talking to Claude Monet about his gardens in Giverny or flirting with Antonio Banderas or hosting an elegant garden party for 18. Silly stuff I’d never do in real life.

I mean, what’s the point?

Is this dreaming about changing choices you’ve made? Forgetting painful parts of your life? Is it about pretending and wishing some things were different? Is it fantasizing about some other life style, some other place or moment in time other than the one you’re stuck in?

I think daydreaming is just a part of your genetic make up. A pressure valve that let’s off emotional steam. A chance to relate to people and places that are not part of your world. A chance to work out ‘what if’ from a different perspective.

Those of you who are artists (and I’m sure that’s most of you!) know that daydreaming is healthy for your creativity. The imagination is as solid a part of you as drinking water, and it needs exercise as well to keep it going. It’s an extension of your physical world. 

You  may think that once you’re older or retired you’ll have more time to daydream. To wander through enchanted woods or have a high powered job in Manhattan or be noticed by those whose attention you crave.

Let me tell you. You will be just as busy being retired than you ever could be working. And not just because you finally don’t have to punch a time clock or put up with obnoxious co workers or attend weekly unproductive meetings.

You will be busier because your daydream door is finally open, giving you a chance to read, to research, to experiment with your own and others daydreams. The more you learn, the finer tuned your thoughts will be.

Don’t wait for this day to come — come on in today! The water’s warm, the beach is open, and I’ve got that umbrella table over there where we can have lunch together!

 

 

 

 

If I were a …

~ humoringthegoddess ~ 10 Comments

In one of my endless wandering stages (this time looking for a picture for my feature Faerie Paths) I  came across this post from a 2010 blog Being Alive called “Only If …”

Quite interesting. Quite revealing. Quite fun. Not as easy as I thought it would be. I wonder what your answers would be?

I wonder if you would change your mind once you thought about it?

IF I WERE….

 

If I were a day, I would be … Saturday. Every day.

 

If I were a planet I would be … Earth. Fertile, green, bursting with life.

 

 

 

 

 

If I were a month, I would be … May or October? Spring or Fall? I’ll take May. Eternal birth. The Merry Month of May.

 

 

 

If I were a time of the day, I would be … If I could wake up naturally, 5:30 a.m. The world comes alive about that time. I also love 1 a.m. The world is still then. Pick one. 5:30 a.m.

 

If I were a season I would be … Fall. Which is totally opposite of which month I would be. Go figure.

 

If I were an animal I would be … a lot harder. Eagle, so I could soar high above the world.

 

 

If I were a bird I would be a … Wait! I just answered that! 

 

If I were a piece of furniture I would be … a TV tray. Mobile, invited to every party, always holding food, can even watch TV now and then.

 

If I were a liquid I would be … I should say water, as it is the basis for life. But I’d rather be a Cookie Crumble Frappé. Sweet and strong and dancing with a bit of whipped cream on top.

 

 

 

 

If I were a tool I would be … a tool like a hammer? Or a creative tool, like a paint brush? Clarify, please … 

 

If I were a tree I would be … the obvious choice is Oak. Strong, long living, solid base and big arms. But you know me — I opt for a Weeping Japanese Maple Tree — delicately cut leaves, colorful, dramatically weeping — the whole shebang.

 

 

 

If I were a flower I would be … a Double Delight rose. The most beautiful bicolored rose in the world, its large creamy blossoms are edged with striking red. It is also renowned for its intense spicy fragrance. That’s me.

 

 

 

If I were an element I would be … I had to go to the periodic table for this one. An element can be a distinct part of a composite device; any of the fundamental substances that consist of atoms of only one kind and that singly or in combination constitute all matter. Any of the four substances air, water, fire, and earth.  I’ll say water (an answer I passed on above), as it is the basis for life.

 

 

If I were a gemstone I would be … no thought. Diamond. Ultra sparkle, ultra hard. Can be part of saws and drills, rings and necklaces, and record needles. Just think — I could be pressed hard against the Beatles album Meet the Beatles!

 

 

If I were a musical instrument I would be … a piano. I love the music that comes from such a beautiful instrument. Plus I’d be big and strong and it would take a lot to push me around. 

 

 

 

If I were a color I would be … Royal Blue. My favorite. A close second is purple, but we’re only talking one choice here.   

            

 

 

If I were a sound I would be  … a baby’s giggle. What could be closer to heaven?

 

If I were a Scent I would be … I thought about bleach, as it is a purifier and sanitizer, keeping the world around me clean and fresh. But I think I’ll go with lavender. My favorite.

 

 

If I were a Song I would be … another almost impossible one. Something sappy like “A Wonderful World”? My favorite rock n roll song, “Kick Start My Heart”? A wonderful classical delight like the “1812 Overture”? Ack! Music is too personal subject. Pass to the next question.

 

If I were a Body Part I would be … forget this one. I AM my body, every chubby piece.

 

If I were a place … Is this a specific country? A view? The place I met my husband? The place I took my kids and grandkids? Another Ack — I’d like to be the shoreline of a hidden lake in the woods. With a flower garden not far from sight. And a fountain. And some windchimes. And a good book. And a pillow. And and and …

 

If i were an emotion I would be … Easy Peasy. Which emotion would you want to be? 

 

See? I can’t even play the “If I Were …” game right! Oh well — how about you? Pick one or several — tell me what YOU would be if you were … I’d LOVE to hear your answers!

 

 

 

Faerie Paths — Layers

~ humoringthegoddess ~ 4 Comments
Yunnan Rice Terraces, China

 

… as we travel again between life and death,
Waking and dream, blinking, while layers within layers,
None better, none worse, unravel and knit up before us …
― Jay Woodman

 

 

 

Who Are They Singing About?

~ humoringthegoddess ~ 11 Comments

musicI’m sitting around this kinda warm Saturday afternoon, resting my pulled back muscle (which now is mostly my sciatic nerve), listening to music, trying to beat down the A.D.D. part of me that wants to run around and do a dozen things at one time.

I’ve been listening to the Rock Show on Sirius, and they’ve been playing a lot of great tunes from my youth. Ah, yes. My youth = my choices = my alternate choices. What could turn out to be a melancholy trip through the 70s through the 90s (I don’t consider anything past 2000 as my “youth”), actually turns out to be a voyage into song lyrics.

This time the words that haunt me are lyrics that sing about magical, powerful, beautiful women and whatever they did to have a song written about them. The song that struck me first was Hollywood Nights by Bob Seeger:

She had been born with a face
That would let her get her way
He saw that face and he lost all control
He had lost all control
Night after night
Day after day
It went on and on

What kind of a face could make a man lose his mind for days and nights and nights and days? Or one of my favorites, Rhiannon by Fleetwood Mac:

Rhiannon rings like a bell through the night
Wouldn’t you love to love her?
Takes to the sky like a bird in flight and
Who will be her lover?

All your life you’ve never seen
A woman taken by the wind
Would you stay if she promised you heaven?
Will you ever win?

She is like a cat in the dark and then
She is the darkness
She rules her life like a fine skylark and when
The sky is starless

What kind of woman is thought of as taken by the wind? Does she fly? Do her thoughts lift her higher and higher? What about:  Rhiannon rings  like a bell through the night — clearly an analogy to her solid, musical soul breaking the silence of the night. Pretty powerful.

There are better examples than the ones I’ve given. But you get my drift.  Super women. Gorgeous, powerful, mystical women. Ruling and running their lives just the way they want to.

What would it be like to  born with a face…That would let her get her way? To be so beautiful, talented, genuinely breathtaking that you could have anything you want? You could go to any department store and pick something off the rack and actually wear it. You would barely have to exercise to keep your marvelously thin and voluptuous body. You would have men and women at your feet. Loving you, wanting you. From a distance — right next to you. You’d always have a date for dinner or the movies. The flowers would bend in reverence to your awesomeness.

I myself have always suffered from less-is-really-less syndrome. Unfortunately, I do not suffer from extreme beauty, brains, physique, or mobility. I’ve always been on the average Joe/Joelyn side. But I’ve always wondered what it would be like to be the best — truly best — at anything. From modeling to brain surgeons to ballet. To be sooooo great because everything came naturally to you.

Alas, I will have to leave those wonderings to the mystics. We make the most of who we are and what we have and leave the rest to mystics. Or writers.

But it would be great if they’d write a song about me…

and no…not Fat Bottomed Girls by Queen…