Mythos & Marginalia

life notes; flaws and all

j.g. lewis

original content and images ©j.g. lewis

a daily breath...

A thought du jour, my daily breath includes collected and conceived observations, questions of life, fortune cookie philosophies, reminders, messages of peace and simplicity, unsolicited advice, inspirations, quotes and words that got me thinking. They may get you thinking too . . .

I'm like a pencil;
sometimes sharp,
most days
well-rounded,
other times
dull or
occasionally
broken.
Still I write.

j.g. lewis
is a writer/photographer in Toronto.

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Better Days Ahead
Posted on January 31, 2017 by j.g.lewisLeave a comment

Blessed are days when the Sun shines,
and lately there has been far too few.
So many dark days, you begin to lose
count.
  Cold thoughts defy temperatures we
would otherwise be fortunate to know.
  Without the sun everything seems
bleary, even lifeless, and we grow tired
of the terminal darkness.
  It’s amazing how a single day with a
little more light, brings about a change
in mood and attitude.
  The Sun denotes good health, vitality,
and a better day emotionally.
  We could all, especially now, use a
few more sunny days.
                                                                       j.g.l.

Mondays are just young Fridays
Posted on January 30, 2017 by j.g.lewisLeave a comment

The thing is; you can keep looking (or trying) to sort it all out, as you go about inserting yourself into other situations to try and prove the merit or worth of the random actions.
  You may uproot yourself and move, even take on another life under the advisement of an old friend, tarot card reader, used car salesman, or by-the-hour soul-healer. All the time you question what went wrong.
  As you recall past mistakes and wonder if they really were (or are), you still ask yourself what’s going on?
  In all these gestures you gallantly stumble forward, stepping through cracks in the surface and the emotional battlefields that lie below. Deep down you know it’s not right.
  You know you have to do what you said you would do.
  So come on, make it happen. Do what you can and wipe the slate clean.
  You are much better when you are honest with yourself, if you know what I mean.
                                                                               j.g.l.

Posted on January 27, 2017 by j.g.lewisLeave a comment

“How wonderful it is to be
able to write someone a letter!
To feel like conveying your
thoughts to a person, to sit at
your desk and pick up a pen, to
put your thoughts into words
like this is truly marvelous.” 


                  – Haruki Murakami

 

 

You’ve Got Mail

Do you write letters?
  I almost wrote ‘Do you Still write letters’, but it sounded far too negative. It made it sound like letter writing was something people don’t do any more, like it was old fashioned, out of date, and irrelevant in these days of instant communication.
  Thing is, most people, or many people, don’t write letters. It’s far too easy to type out an email, tap out a text, or squeeze all your sentiments into a 140-character Tweet and press send. Certainly it is a helluva lot quicker than finding a pencil or pen that works, grabbing a piece of paper, scribbling out your thoughts, folding it into an envelope, finding a stamp, and then trudging out to the post box.
  It seems so ‘90s, or ‘80s. . . or ’60s.
  How far back do you have to think to remember when the post box was the main way to communicate with the written word.
  When was the last time you received a letter? No, I’m not talking about something from the bank or real estate agent, or the regular donation request from your alma matter; I’m talking about a letter from an old friend, or your sister, former lover, or Dad?
  Do you remember how you smiled the last time you did?
  Few people write by hand in these digitally-enabled days. It’s not that we don’t communicate, its just that we don’t do it in the same way that we used to.
  I believe in the merits of email and such; hell, I reply upon it. But it is not the same.
  All this electronic stuff does not contain the same quantity or quantity of communication. You don’t send huge emails now, you say what needs to be said, maybe add an emoticon, and you fire it off. If you forgot to ask something, you send another, and another, or text something out while you take transit.
  It is convenient, casual, fast, and easy.
  Writing a letter takes time, and knowing it will take time to arrive at the intended destination, you put a little more thought into it. You might write several paragraphs on one subject, then a few more on something else. It may even take most of the page to get the ‘Hi, how are you’ and state of the weather out of the way before you get around to writing what you intended to write?’ You might even indent to make it more formal, or to make it look important and more like a real letter.
  Then there’s a few sentences in the P.S. and ‘one more thing’ with the P.S.S.
  You sign off with a ‘warmest regards’, ‘thinking of you’, or something that sums it all up. Then you sign it.
  That’s a letter, and it takes time.
  You actually sit (and slow) down to make it legible and worthwhile.
  That’s the kind of letter I’m taking about.
  It is all about slowing down.
  It’s about communicating at a humble pace, thinking, and doing, and writing.
  I’m sitting down right now to write a letter to a long distance friend. I actually had to email to get the new address, but I’m going to now take the time to write a long letter. It’s a letter with no real purpose; one to simply catch up. It might not even be about anything you would classify as important, but the actual act of writing a letter is.
  Letter writing is more humane, perhaps more civilized in a certain way, but it is more intimate. And I suspect it will be given a little more attention than an email would. I even think there will be a smile at the other end.
  Yes, it will take time, but maybe that is a good thing. Isn’t everything else moving too fast these days?

I am curious. Do you still write letters? How often? Send me an email, let me know how often your write, and whether you’d be interested in writing more. I have a plan, or a thought or . . . well, send me an email and I’ll tell you all about it.
jglewis@mythosandmarginalia.com