Engaging with Gratitude

Posted on November 29, 2013 by engagingly yours

This poem sings out to be heard, even if only whispered to yourself…Happy Thanksgiving! XXOO

A List of Praises

by Anne Porter

Give praise with psalms that tell the trees to sing,
Give praise with Gospel choirs in storefront churches,
Mad with the joy of the Sabbath, 
Give praise with the babble of infants, who wake with the sun,
Give praise with children chanting their skip-rope rhymes, 
A poetry not in books, a vagrant mischievous poetry 
living wild on the Streets through generations of children.

Give praise with the sound of the milk-train far away 
With its mutter of wheels and long-drawn-out sweet whistle
As it speeds through the fields of sleep at three in the morning,
Give praise with the immense and peaceful sigh
Of the wind in the pinewoods, 
At night give praise with starry silences. 

Give praise with the skirling of seagulls 
And the rattle and flap of sails 
And gongs of buoys rocked by the sea-swell
Out in the shipping-lanes beyond the harbor. 
Give praise with the humpback whales, 
Huge in the ocean they sing to one another.
 
Give praise with the rasp and sizzle of crickets, katydids and cicadas, 
Give praise with hum of bees, 
Give praise with the little peepers who live near water.
When they fill the marsh with a shimmer of bell-like cries
We know that the winter is over. 

Give praise with mockingbirds, day's nightingales.
Hour by hour they sing in the crepe myrtle 
And glossy tulip trees
On quiet side streets in southern towns.
 
Give praise with the rippling speech
Of the eider-duck and her ducklings
As they paddle their way downstream
In the red-gold morning 
On Restiguche, their cold river,
Salmon river, 
Wilderness river. 

Give praise with the whitethroat sparrow.
Far, far from the cities, 
Far even from the towns, 
With piercing innocence 
He sings in the spruce-tree tops,
Always four notes 
And four notes only. 

Give praise with water, 
With storms of rain and thunder 
And the small rains that sparkle as they dry,
And the faint floating ocean roar 
That fills the seaside villages, 
And the clear brooks that travel down the mountains 

And with this poem, a leaf on the vast flood,
And with the angels in that other country.

– See more at: http://www.poets.org/viewmedia.php/prmMID/20501#sthash.Uuiu0Kno.dpuf

Posted in Hearing, Senses | Tagged Beauty, Gratitude, nature, poetry, Soul food for the Senses | Leave a comment

Inspiration Thursdays <3<3<3

Posted on November 21, 2013 by engagingly yours

Posted in Eye Candy, quotes | Tagged Art Journaling, Collage, fear, healing, inspiration, quotes, senses | Leave a comment

Inspiration Thursdays

Posted on November 14, 2013 by engagingly yours

Posted in quotes, Senses | Tagged inspiration, mindfulness, philosophy, quotes, Soul food for the Senses, spiritual growth, unbroken, whole | Leave a comment

Silly Scents or Something Sinister?

Posted on November 7, 2013 by engagingly yours

Aloha Lovlies.

Our sense of smell is considered by some to be our most primal sense. It corresponds with our root chakra (at the base of the spine), Cedarwood, Myrrh, Patchouli, Sandalwood, and Frankincense essential oils, and the color red. Numerous studies have demonstrated its power -both negative and positive on every thing from our moods to the selection and rejection of suitable mates, to the identification of our newborn babies. It’s good a thing to know we can identify the exact scent of our baby should count we or the hospital lose track of them.

Root Chakra location:
Tailbone/base of spine. It centers upon our core needs for survival, security and livelihood.

Seriously though, a recent study showed that “immediately postpartum, odor-based cues direct the newborn babies orienting decisions in the environment afforded by the mother’s body.” This process is reciprocial and bidirectional. Eg. Human adult caretakers experience heightened bonding in response to infant sensory cues as well as to infant-elicited behavior. This in turn releases nurturing attitudes and responses, and the correlative neural and neuroendocrine cascades, mainly within the dopaminergic reward system. This is neural pathway associated with addiction, and with the good feelings that are activated by engaging in reward-inducing behavior.

Under normal conditions, the circuit controls an individual’s responses to natural rewards, such as food, sex, and social interactions, and is therefore an important determinant of motivation and incentive drive. In simpler terms, activation of the pathway tells the individual to repeat what it just did to get that reward. It also tells the memory centers in the brain to pay particular attention to all features of that rewarding experience, so it can be repeated in the future. Not surprisingly, it is a very old pathway from an evolutionary point of view. The use of dopamine neurons to mediate behavioral responses to natural rewards is seen in worms and flies, which evolved 1-2 billion years ago.

“So the reaction to a newborn’s scent may be a hard-wired bonding mechanism between mothers and infants—a biochemical reward for mom in the midst of all her hard work”, according to Erika Beras, and an Oct 21st 2013, podcast from Scientific American.

The example above is one of the more altruistic examples of how our sense of smell impacts our behaviour. A less pure motive is probably behind the use of scent by retailers, and real estate agents –think wafting scent of home-baked chocolate chip or oatmeal cookies– who are hoping to use scents to induce us to buy things. With this in mind, the upcoming release of the Scentee accessory for smartphones shouldn’t come as a surprise.

The plug-in accessory attaches to headphone socket on both iPhones and Android smartphones and, when told to by the companion app, releases a burst of fragrance, paired with a customizable LED light.The current model delivers 100 bursts per capsule, and additional ones can be bought for $5 / 500 yen a piece, online.The available scents and aromas include rose, mint, cinnamon roll, coffee, curry, jasmine, ylang-ylang, lavender, apple, coconut, strawberry and strangely enough, corn soup. But that’s not all. A special limited edition range of scents called the Korean BBQ collection will be available on November 15 and includes three extra ‘flavors’: two different type of meat and, well, baked potato.

According to Endagadget.com, scent release can be added to social networks, SMS, games and alarms, and developers are also working to tie-in location-based release. Hardware development, meanwhile, is aimed at further miniaturization and (if possible) the ability to embed multiple scents into a single accessory. Anyone for some lavender, rose, mint? I’d take that over corn soup any day.

I’ll be talking about a simple engaging practice for balancing your root chakra and for engaging your senses of smell in an upcoming post. Until then keep on smelling the roses and the baked potatoes. We like ours stuffed with broccoli and parmesan cheese. Yum!

Engagingly yours,

Sabrina <3 <3 <3

Aromatherapy: Brief List of Scents to Manipulate Basic Emotions (undergroundhealth.com)
Calming Scents (apecewamogo.wordpress.com)

Posted in BlogPosts, humor, Senses, smell | Tagged App, dopamine, iphone, Japan, LED, newborn babies, Plugin, reward system, root chakra, Sandalwood, scentee, smell | Leave a comment

Engaging with James Franco

Posted on October 26, 2013 by engagingly yours

In this short, smart interview from Cannes, James gives us insight into his inspiration for bringing Faulkner’s literary masterpiece to the screen. Given that a recent study performed by the New School for Social Research suggests that readers may benefit more from electing to read literary fiction over popular fiction, as the former seems to instill a better understanding of human emotion, I think the same benefits could be said to be true for ‘literary film’. Though I’ve yet to see the whole movie, what I’ve seen so far engages my senses in the best possible way!

Posted in BlogPosts, Eye Candy, Resources, Senses, Sights for Sore Eyes, Treasure Chest | Tagged As I lay Dying, Cannes, Empathy, entertainment, Faulkner, Hollywood, Independent film makers, James Franco, Literary fiction, Movies, senses, Thatshollywood, videos | 1 Comment

Birdsong day or night!

Posted on October 25, 2013 by engagingly yours

Aloha Chickadees,

I mentioned in my last post that I was deprived of birdsong and other pleasures while recovering this summer. Well one day during this unwanted ‘detour’, my daughter entered my bedroom and immediately stopped to hear more closely what sounded like birds singing. She looked around at the half drawn curtains and then at me. “Are those real birds… or what”? “They are” I said, smiling. “It’s a live recording of the dawn chorus from birdsong in the UK from Birdsong.fm. I wasn’t able to get outside today so I thought I’d play some birdsong to cheer me up and help me relax.” This was just the sort of situation Birdsong’s creator had in mind.

“When I launched Birdsong.fm my friends thought I was barking mad,said James Mulvany, the man responsible for creating this special ‘station’. But I think it’s great for anyone who works in the city or lives a busy lifestyle. Call me eccentric maybe, but I’ve had countless people write to me.. saying how much it has benefited them. I see it like a sort of secret haven on the internet where you can escape to.”

According to Eleanor Ratcliffe, a Ph.D. candidate in environmental psychology at the University of Surrey, past studies found that bird songs have a number of positive attributes. They make traffic noise more tolerable, make people feel less crowded and can even mediate circadian rhythm, but few have looked at their broader impact on mental health.

“A great deal of anecdotal evidence suggests that we respond positively to birdsong,” she told the Guardian newspaper. “However, currently there is a lack of scientific research on the psychological effects of listening to birds.”

With funding from the U.K. National Trust and the Surrey Wildlife Trust, Ratcliffe will begin by interviewing a representative sample of the public to gauge their perception of natural sounds, including bird calls. She’ll try to find out if avian arias “can improve mood and attention after stress or fatigue,” she explains on her website.

Later in the study, she’ll seek test subjects via social media — including tweets, of course — to assess the effects of bird songs on their brains and behavior.Beyond that, Ratcliffe hopes to learn more about which kinds of bird songs boost mental health, and in what ways. After all, not all birds sing the same song. So she’ll be sussing out which songs are the most beneficial. She’ll also test reactions to recorded bird songs, an effort to see how the study might apply to daily life. If a city dweller listens to birds on an iPod, for instance, could it mimic hearing them sing in person?

If you’d like to do your own test or just enjoy some birdsong on a grey autumn day, you can get the app or mp3 and listen for yourself!

Love, S

Posted in Hearing, Resources, self care, Senses, Treasure Chest | Tagged Birdsong, deep relaxation, mental-health, nature, SAD, senses, University of Surrey | Leave a comment

Baby Steps and Bird Song

Posted on October 21, 2013 by engagingly yours

“It is very hard to be brave,” said Piglet, sniffing slightly, “when you’re only a Very Small Animal.”

Aloha Lovely Readers,

Recently I have felt a lot like Piglet. Things have been hard. Harder than hard. A setback. Yes another one. And just when recovery was almost in sight. Strained psoas muscles and a agonizing bout of bursitis in my hip cost me the very little bit of freedom and independence I had gained since returning from surgery in May.

This time it was serious, and scary, because it meant I couldn’t make my own meals. Even opening the heavy refrigerator door was difficult, and I was already almost dangerously thin. One evening home alone, I dropped the plate of food someone had prepared for me on my way from the kitchen to the table. That night I ate my dinner off the floor-a definite low point. It also meant I could no longer walk or stand without a cane (and even then it was only for minutes at a time),use my camera-you try doing this while leaning on a cane-, art journal, take even the shortest walk, or sit down long enough to work on the book, or to post more than the occasional inspirational quote.

I tried to keep my spirits up, but after while no matter how much meditation I practiced, interesting books and articles I read, or images I viewed, I began to wilt and to slowly die like a flower in a waterless vase. Sunsets came and went without my ever seeing them. Ideas came and went without being written down. Mail and bills piled up in the post box. One day blurred into the next, sometimes without my even making it outside onto the lanai for a sip of fresh air. One week blurred into the next, until months had passed and summer was over.

I feared for my life, and for my daughter’s health and well-being. I knew I couldn’t give up, but I didn’t want to go on. Not like that anyway. All the while, my senses cried out to engage with the ‘medicine’ my soul so desperately needed as an antidote to the ‘endless’ pain. This medicine, was and is, the beauty and poetry of the natural world. The reflection of the light on the water. The sweet, almost jasmine scent, of the Mock Orange blossoms.

The warming touch of the sun and the feeling of the cooling breeze on my skin. The music and sway of the trade winds through the palm fronds and dark green waxy leaves. The sight of the tropical blue sky, and the milk-white clouds, drifting. The sparkle of the stars in the soft inky night sky. The sight and sounds of the birds as they gather at the end of the day…especially this, I missed. (I don’t want to live in a world without birdsong, or a world without bookstores!) Such simple things really. Simple and priceless. And incredibly necessary to well-being.

I tell you all this not because I want you to pity me (empathy is welcome), but because I want to Thank You, dear ones. I want to express my gratitude and my appreciation to all of you for continuing to come, or for finding me for the first time. For ‘visiting’ and ‘liking’ and ‘following’. For continuing to engage your senses, and for giving me a little glimpse of the Beauty that You Are, and for letting me know that in spite of everything, I still had (and have) something worth giving.

Discovering and sharing in your stories and dreams is one of the unique gifts of blogging, one I delight in and feel privileged to receive. So I also want to express how sad and truly sorry I have felt at not having been able to respond to your comments and visit your sites regularly, like I used too. And to say, that soon I will be able to again- as baby step by baby step, I rebuild my body, my health, and my life!

I’ll keep you posted on my progress, I promise. In the meantime, I wish each one of you, every good and beautiful thing,as well as the ability to mindfully engage with and appreciate them.

Namaste,

Sabrina xoxoxoxo

I’m singing in the rainforest: Researchers find striking similarities between bird song and human music (phys.org)

Posted in BlogPosts, Musings, self care, Senses | Tagged advice, blogging community, Gratitude, healing power of beauty, health, inspiration, loneliness, nature, Piglet, rehabilitation, senses | 2 Comments

Go in the direction of your dreams, trust that things happen when they are supposed to and remember….

Posted on October 4, 2013 by engagingly yours

Keep up the good work!

Posted in Musings, quotes, self care | Tagged encouragement, inspiration, quotes | 1 Comment

Eating Poetry and other ways to Engage your Senses

Posted on September 29, 2013 by engagingly yours

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Eating Poetry

Ink runs from the corners of my mouth.
There is no happiness like mine.
I have been eating poetry.

The librarian does not believe what she sees.
Her eyes are sad
and she walks with her hands in her dress.

The poems are gone.
The light is dim.
The dogs are on the basement stairs and coming up.

Their eyeballs roll,
their blond legs burn like brush.
The poor librarian begins to stamp her feet and weep.

She does not understand.
When I get on my knees and lick her hand,
she screams.

I am a new man,
I snarl at her and bark,
I romp with joy in the bookish dark.
From Selected Poems by Mark Strand.

Before Mark Strand became one of the great contemporary American poets, he trained as a painter. At Yale in the nineteen-fifties, he studied under the color theorist Josef Albers, and throughout his life he has continued making paintings, prints, and collages. In recent years, Strand, a former Poet Laureate of the United States and professor of literature, most recently at Columbia, has moved away from writing altogether to focus on art. A collection of his collages, made in Madrid and New York, is currently on display at the Lori Bookstein gallery, in Chelsea. To read more about his process check out Mark Strand’s Playful Collages : The New Yorker.

Posted in Eye Candy, poems, Senses, Sights for Sore Eyes, Taste | Tagged Art Journaling, arts, Collage, Contemporary American Poets, handmade, inspiration, Mark Strand, New York City, personal growth, poetry, senses, United States Poet Laureate | Leave a comment

Love in mid-flight

Posted on September 22, 2013 by engagingly yours

Love is the voice under all silences, the hope which has no opposite in fear; the strength so strong mere force is feebleness: the truth more first than sun, more last than star… E.E. Cummings