Conversations,
ruminations, noise,
nonsense and
contradictory advice
comes with a price .
What was said
and what was
meant were
two completely
different things.
By all means
say what you mean
but please try
your best to mean
what you say.
12/08/2023 j.g.l.
With the wars, chaos and conflict, and proliferation of hate speech that surrounds all of us right now, it is difficult to subscribe to the familiar mantra espoused in this season:
Peace on Earth, good will to all men.
We can only wonder if this will ever be possible. More so, how have we even believed for so long that it could ever be probable. Globally or locally, peace and good will are notably absent from our lives.
Few of us are even in a position where we can affect enough change, and those who have any sort of ability are caught up in fruitless negotiations within the politics of it all.
Hatred has too much power
Love thy neighbour; who even tries? Locally or globally is anyone attempting? I do not wish to sound pessimistic and know there is nothing I can do personally to resolve the global catastrophes and calamities, but I am going to do what I can to create, or acknowledge, peace in my own little world.
In these coming weeks I intend to connect with family and friends who have been there when I needed them. I will reach out, even to those from a distance, to let them know I am thinking of them and what they mean to me. I should have been doing this long ago, and more consistently. I have neglected thanking people when I should have.
I need to be more thankful. I need to express my gratitude more often than I have been.
We can all do such a thing, even if it is something as simple as sending a Christmas card, dashing off an email, or picking up the phone.
We can all pick up the peace.
Yes, there are big problems on this planet we cannot avoid on the news of the day, but by making a daily attempt to reach out to those we care about our world can become a little smaller.
I believe we can find our own peace even in the absence of probability.
I still believe that peace is possible.
12/04/2023 j.g.l.
Personal accomplishments,
practiced perseverance,
following your own voice
even as it becomes muffled
by the world surrounding you.
Pride is not often easy, but it
is always possible.
12/03/2023 j.g.l.
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.
Last Friday, the weather warmer than we deserve, I jumped on my bike and rode down to the lakeshore.
A November bike ride is rare.
It felt more like September, or August. I took my paint box with me.
During August I’d been making this same trip weekly.
I’d ride down to the lakeshore to paint. It was part of my August Art Immersion, and my ‘non-judgmental paint sessions’ were part of simply returning, or respecting (or rediscovering) creativity.
In August, this pandemic was weighing heavily (as it is now) and I needed to do something to break or disrupt the dysthymia I’d been feeling. Each day in August I immersed myself in something artistic.
Last Friday, it felt good to go back to the lakeshore, and to painting.
It doesn’t matter what I paint — even though the tree directly ahead of me was the same tree I visited in August — it matters only that I paint.
I can’t be critical of what appears on the page because that defies the object of the process, or the object of painting… or of art
It must just be there.
Yes, I always seek to improve, but on ‘non-judgmental’ painting days I am looking only to improve my mood.
It is what it is.
I am what I am.
Art reminds me.
11/09/2020 j.g.l.
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.