James Joyce

James Joyce inspires me. Some people say he was pompous but even if he was I find so much joy reading his works. He shares in a defiant way but it’s so creative I let it happen. How freeing it is to create. He seemed to take full advantage of his ability to string scenes together and present it in a unique way to his audience.

That reminds me, I should pull his book out and take some time to read it again.

James Joyce wrote some experimental fictions like Ulysses and Finnigan’s Wake. He also wrote literary fictions a couple titled The Dubliners and A Portrait of an Artist as a Young Man.

James Joyce’s subtle yet frank portrayal of human nature, coupled with his mastery of language and brilliant development of new literary forms, made him one of the major figures of literary Modernism and among the most commanding influences on novelists of the 20th century.

https://www.britannica.com/biography/James-Joyce/Finnegans-Wake

If you haven’t yet, take some time to venture through his works. Even if you don like them, you’ll see how Joyce ventured outside the box. And if that’s not art, I don’t know what is.

Mama’s Existence

Today was a chaotic Monday, but it ended up with a nice ending- eating yellow frosted cake with my mama. I’m super proud of my mama and I. We have both come so far. She’s got a great place that’s clean and nice She has been taking wonderful care of her dog. And she’s going to get her hair did tomorrow. She’s spent a lifetime healing from traumas no child should ever have to endure. A few years ago, she lost both parents very close together and we grieved their loss while living in the same house, just getting through the best we could. But here we are, celebrating another amazing year. For 365 days, she chose to get out of bed and show life she’s enough. Her smile is enough. Her presence, with all those beautiful feelings and emotions, is enough. Everything she brings to the table is enough. And you know what, that is exactly what we all need to be reminded of.

I love you mama! Thank you for letting us how valuable we are just by being you.

Sunday Mood

I woke up exhausted then drank coffee. So I decided to paint a wall in my kitchen that I’ve been meaning to paint for a while now. I was energized on the outside but exhausted on the inside. It really made no sense. I felt better off painting by myself because I didn’t have the energy to think clearly about how to communicate with others in an efficient manor. Not having the energy to communicate makes me grumpy. Being grumpy makes me feel like a bad mom. On the wise side, it’s important for the girls to know we all have bad days and bad moods.

On the plus side, I love my wall and can’t wait to decorate it. 😀

Todays lesson, it’s ok to not be in the mood. It’s not okay to be mean to the people I love because I love them and I don’t want to hurt them.

Need some more bad mood reads here’s a link to Life Hack’s

How Not to Ruin Your Relationships When You’re In a Rotten Mood
by June Silny

https://www.lifehack.org/articles/communication/how-not-ruin-your-relationships-when-youre-rotten-mood.html

The Library

A place to sit and take in what thousands of other people have to share with the world, is a place where I feel most human and most free.

I spent my today at the library and it was amazing. I felt myself again. I’m still feeling in a bit of a slump but while I was there it didn’t matter anymore. I looked at art books, business books, and I ventured out into the mystery section. My grandmother always loved a good mystery. So I wanted to try and find one for myself.

I stood for hours in between the shelves taking in the voices and subjects of so many authors. I always like to walk through the fiction section and think about what books catch my eye. It’s usually pretty books, author names, and symbolist words that get my attention. But at the end of the library visit, it’s the dust jacket book description that wins me over.

What have I learned?

Taking myself to the library just to look at all the books, counts as self care.

Expanding

I’m learning to have a more stable home life.

Our home life is generally pretty stable. We aren’t a perfect family but we’ve been blessed to be able to stay home with our two year old. But let’s talk about unstable homes and housing insecurity.

Housing insecurity will really have you coming out of your character or in other words, it causes a decline in mental health. Unstable living situations also also cause a decline in mental health.

Having a safe place where you can get a good nights sleep and feel safe enough to be yourself provides individuals with the foundation they need to pursue success. Having a stable home with healthy individuals who lead with love and self love creates a safe place where individuals can learn to live and work with others.

You can be successful when you don’t have those things. It just takes more work. People who worry about where they’re going to sleep safely at night have less energy to worry about how to fill out a college application. Their energy is spent trying to figure out how to manage the family or where they’ll keep their stuff or whether they will get any sleep at all.

What does a secure and stable living situation look like?

I’m working through this for myself right now. I was very loved growing up but naturally when you’re in a single parent home and your mother is struggling with severe depression, that is not a stable living environment. Don’t get me wrong, I’d always choose my mom. I love her very much and I’m so grateful that she took time out of her life to raise me and my brother. There are worse situations and better situations. For me, it’s naturally going to cause a block or a limitation on what I have access to when it comes to a stable living situation. Generational limitations are taught through behaviors that create our own internal belief systems. Then those behaviors are proven right through experience due to our limiting belief systems which bring us back full circle to the original belief. Here that belief is unstable living situation.

I say all this to share that I’m working expanding the amount of stability in my home. I want to expect more and set the bar higher for my home with ease. No stressful yelling matches. No burn out. Just some good ole fresh and clean stability in my home. From relationships to finances.

Trouble Getting Motivated

I poured a lot of my energy into the beginning of my day so now I’m rushing about getting my daily writing goals done. But I did share an old piece that was originally published on Know Thyself Heal Thyself. I got a couple pennies for this one. Check it out.

https://jayne.press/2022/03/02/did-you-answer-the-call/

I had fun writing this one and it even lit my fire a little bit.

Did You Answer the Call?

A post inspired by Joseph Campbell’s Hero Journey
Photo by Quino Al on Unsplash

The Call to Adventure sets the story rolling by disrupting the comfort of the Hero’s Ordinary World, presenting a challenge or quest that must be undertaken. -Christopher Vogler from Excerpts from Myth and the Movies, Stuart Voytilla

Discomfort is the sign of an awaiting opportunity. You said, yes. Here’s the truth, you could quit. You could turn back now and not even think twice. But you would only make more work for yourself. You answered the call, so now it’s time to show up completely and utterly yourself.

Did you refuse the call?

A Hero Refuses the Journey because of fears and insecurities that have surfaced from the Call to Adventure. The Hero is not willing to make changes, preferring the safe haven of the Ordinary World. -Christopher Vogler taken from Excepts from Myth and the Movies, Stuart Voytilla

We all have fears. It’s not ok when we allow those fears to keep us from the places we’re meant to be. Successful people have fears, broke people have fears, writers definitely have fears. No matter where you are, fear will be lurking. Do the things you are passionate about and do them even when fear’s lurking.

Photo by Cristian Escobar on Unsplash

Need Encouragement?

I’m here to remind you of all the amazing things you’ve already overcome. You’ve showed up to much scarier things. I know this, because you were once in the warmth of your mother’s womb and here you are surviving outside of it like a pro. No seriously though, if you got the call, you’ve already acknowledged your own magic. Now it’s time to trust yourself.

Let’s keep going.

Sources:
Excepts from Myth and the Movie, Stuart Voytilla

My Silly Little Dream

I don’t know what it is, but I want to own a community laundromat pretty bad. I gained the dream and it never went away. It lingers around and pops up from time to time.

What drove it home was this post below from Wild Women Sisterhood.

I think it was Brene Brown who told a story about a village where all the women washed clothes together down by the river. When they all got washing machines, there was a sudden outbreak of depression and no one could figure out why.

It wasn’t the washing machines in and of themselves. It was the absence of time spent doing things together. It was the absence of community.

Friends, we’ve gotten so independent.

We’re “fine” we tell ourselves even when in reality we’re depressed, we’re overwhelmed, we’re lonely, and we’re hurting. “We’re fine, we’re just too busy right now” we say when days, weeks, months, and years go by without connecting with friends. I’m fine, I’m fine, I’m fine. It’s so easy to say even when it’s not true.

We’ve become so isolated and it’s hard to know how to get back. It’s so hard to know how to even begin to build the kind of relationships our hearts need. And I think In our current culture, it’s just not as organic as it once was. It’s more work now.

Because you know, we have our own washing machines. We don’t depend on each other to do laundry, or cook dinner, or raise babies anymore. We don’t really depend on each other for much of anything if we’re being honest.

In Brene Brown’s book Braving the Wilderness, she says that being lonely effects the length of our life expectancy similar to smoking 15 cigarettes a day. I don’t say that to freak anyone out, but to let you know that the longing for connection is LEGIT. I think we’ve treated friendship like a luxury for far too long; friendship isn’t a luxury, it’s a necessity.

We don’t want it. We kind of need it.

Be independent. Be proud of it. But be an independent woman who realizes the value and the importance of opening the door to other good women.

You can do it alone, but you don’t have to. Islands are only fun for so long.

There is true magic when women come together and hold hands and share ideas and share stories and struggles and endless bowls of salsa. You use your gifts, and I’ll use mine, and then we’ll invite that girl over there who brings a completely different set of skills to the table we are building, and we’ll watch together as something miraculous unfold.

Author: Amy Weatherly

Art: Darcy Lee

Instagram.com/wildwomansisterhoodOfficial

I had to share the whole thing. This post was so inspiring to me. I’m not sure completely why because I appreciate doing my laundry in solitude but I think it’s important to note that we’re missing things in this age of information. And connection is definitely one of them.

I love doing laundry. I love the smell. I love to fold warm towels that are fluffed, so soft, and sweet smelling. I’m not a huge fan of folding all the time. But I appreciate laundry. I also love to write to the sound of the washing machines. It makes complete sense. Why not open a laundromat? So now here I am with a silly little dream and a story to back it up and make it something special.

I would have never in a million years thought that I’d ever wanna own a coin laundromat.