Computer Games

I have a confession to make.  I play computer games.

Okay, they're not the big massively multi-player online role-playing type.  In fact, there's nothing big about the two little games I indulge in.  They are arcade style, made for just one person, with no bells and whistles, just an opportunity for quiet thought and pretty graphics.  And the best thing about them is they are free!

Finding Your Inner Wolf

I recently re-read a book that I enjoyed as much the second time around as I did the first. And so I would like to share it with you. "Women Who Run With the Wolves," is written by Clarissa Pinkola Estes, a Jungian analyst who urges modern women to get in touch with their inner, intuitive selves. There is, Estes tells us, in our contemporary culture, the injunction for women to be perfect - that is, to behave, be nice, be modest, be polite. This injunction is not only nonsense, it is impossible, because to be perfect means you have to sit perfectly still and that nothing about you can ever change. To live such a life would be boring to say the least, and not at all productive.

Walking Through Stories

I went for my daily walk this morning, and as I followed the streets in my neighborhood, where it is quiet except for the call of a kestrel falcon and the bark of the Wilsons' Rottweiler, I was reminded of the heroines in my novels, who are on quests that take them on exotic roads to distant places.  I think about those ladies, whom I named Joanna and Samantha and Selene, and I imagine their journeys as they pass through towns and villages where houses and cottages and huts glow with lights from within - dwellings that are filled with the sounds of people laughing for joy, shouting in anger, wailing with grief.

Message Of the Day

I received an email today from one of my nieces in Australia, and it contains a lovely, uplifting message that I would like to share.

Remember this: every minute that you spend being angry, upset or sad, is a minute of happiness you will never get back.  Life is short.  Break the rules now and then.  Forgive quickly, kiss slowly, love truly, laugh uncontrollably.  Enthusiasm is contagious.  Practice being excited and soon you will be.  Count your blessings - they are the savings account of your emotional bank and someday you can draw on them.

Earthquake

To my friends in Chile.  I was shocked and saddened by the catastrophe that befell you this weekend.  I am worried about all of you.  Please e-mail me, or post in my Guestbook, and let me know you are all right.

You are in my prayers.

Barbara