Artemis

Happy Birthday Baby

joyceelaine — Thu, 19 Jan 2012 11:12:20 +0000

Nineteen years ago today I gave birthday to a beautiful and perfect little baby. As she left the delivery room, the nurse looked into your face and exclaimed “What beautiful eyes.” What we didn’t know at the time was that the sparkles in your eyes were Brushfield spots and an indicator of Down Syndrome.

You have grown into a sweet, funny and good young man and your hold on my heart is indissoluble. You have taught me more than any teacher, you have influenced me more than any philosopher and you have given me more pleasure in knowing than could any celebrity. This is your day, my sweet boy. To me, every day is your day and I look forward to making the rest of your life as wonderful as you have made mine.

How Does This Story Turn Out?

joyceelaine — Sun, 15 Jan 2012 12:00:17 +0000

The last stage of one’s life is that in which we sift through the events of our lives and try to tell ourselves a coherent story of our lives in order to extract meaning.

All my reading life I have preferred mystery stories, starting with Nancy Drew all the way through Perry Mason up to and including Law and Order. Mystery is differs from Suspense (which makes me extremely anxious) but contains the element of suspense ameliorated by the existence of clues. As long as there are clues there is the option of anticipating the end of the story through your own mental efforts and understanding. The more clues we can pick up on, the less suspenseful the mystery. Even if you get it wrong in the end, you can recall the clues that you missed first time through and feel that the mystery is satisfactorily solved.

So it is in advancing age: we go back through our story to find clues about the final outcome. And like a good mystery story, we find out at the end what has been staring us in the face all along. Life is the process, not the outcome.

How Do I Be My Own Best Friend?

joyceelaine — Wed, 11 Jan 2012 12:01:29 +0000

1. Always be sure that what you’re telling yourself is the truth.
2. Allow spa days.
3. Acknowledge what you do and how great that is.
4. Encourage.
5. Laugh at your own jokes.
6. Cut yourself some slack, believe me, all your other friends do this for you.
7. Try out new things with you.
8. Have fun.

Am I Living The Most Meaningful Life Possible?

joyceelaine — Tue, 10 Jan 2012 11:49:53 +0000

If you are striving for meaning and your focus is on creating what you understand to be meaning in your life, then yes, you are living the most meaningful life of which it is possible for you (bizarre grammar that).

What I mean to say is that the possibility of meaning to create a life is real, that we are able to each live the most meaningful life conceivable and insofar as it is conceivable, it is possible.

What the mind can conceive, it can achieve.

Insofar as we can conceive meaning, it can exist.

If you are thinking about meaning in life, then you are giving meaning to the life you are living. You are living the most meaningful life possible for you today. Yay!

We Had A Good Time, He Said He’d Call And He Never Did. What Did I Do Wrong?

joyceelaine — Mon, 09 Jan 2012 11:09:41 +0000

Nothing, other than being sane, self-regulating and independent. A person may say that they want to have mature and meaningful relationship, but if they behave like this they are not telling the truth. They want adolescent obsession, mistaking drama for meaningfulness and maturity for boredom. By saying he would call and then not calling he is rendered a coward and a liar.

When you happen to see him again, be all graciousness. Scratching his eyes out may get his attention, but do you truly want it?

Q & A

joyceelaine — Sun, 08 Jan 2012 12:38:18 +0000

Artemis Advises is the new name of this blog.

Artemis will try to advise you on matters of decision. She will not make the decision for you but attempt to give you the skills whereby you can be satisfied with the decisions you make.

She is not a Ouija Board but now an old crone, doing her best to tend the family fires, advise the young women and care for the babies. These are her sacred trusts.

Starting tomorrow, she will answer your questions, or have to make them up herself.

Following Your Bliss

joyceelaine — Sat, 07 Jan 2012 12:19:18 +0000

There is nothing to which you can attach yourself in this world that will not change and pass away. There are none so mindful of this than those who live in a climate of changing seasons. One summer is not absolutely like another, nor any winter, and yet they are able to trigger in our minds the sense of continuity. So too our dreams and aspirations come and go, but within them we can learn to decipher a sense of destiny in how our imaginations trigger our emotions. By attaching ourselves emotionally to those ideas and images make us feel peaceful and fulfilled, we access our bliss. It is always accessible to us if we not allow ourselves to be distracted from our feelings of peace and fulfilment. The agitated emotions of anger and frustration will try to intrude on your consciousness. True emotional maturity comes when you can assign these emotions to the furthest reaches of the boundaries of the universe and allow them to disappear in the miasma of infinity.

These emotions have the ability to ruin your day, if not your life. Thinking: ‘I will be happy when…’, takes away from the contentment and fulfilment you are capable of feeling now.

So, dream along with me, in peace and good-will, during these long winter nights and live in the prospect of a burgeoning spring. We need winter dreams to stave off the threat of nuclear winter, or the Nothing of The Neverending Story. We need to be fully engrossed and excited by the story of our own lives and learn to fully appreciate the stories of others’. Develop good listening habits. Listen with all of your being. This is the way that truth is divined.

Tend to your body like you do your car, it’s what’s getting you around. It may get old and may not allow you the experiences of your youth, but it can still generate interest. If you get old enough, you’ll be absolutely mythical, especially if you still keep house for yourself. Do not lose interest in taking care of your home, no matter how humble; next to your body, it is the second most important physical element to life on this plane of existence. Home means food, clothing and shelter. Prepare your own food, create your own clothing, and tend to your shelter.

It is not necessary to go out into the world in order to make an impact on the world. Many are called, but few are chosen. Sitting by the side of the road and being a friend to man has its place in the grand puzzle too. If this is what your soul dictates that you do, don’t struggle and don’t let anyone make you think badly of your choice.

Now that I’ve got that cleared up, I can get ready for ceramics class.

When I Do Not Post

joyceelaine — Fri, 06 Jan 2012 12:57:33 +0000

I do not post on this site when I am down, when my thoughts are negative. Looking back over the last three years that I have posted, I am relieved that there are only few occasions on which I could not post, when I was blocked and could not write what was in my heart. Recently, it has been anxiety and frustration that I have allowed to get in the way of my creative vision. The solution, I have found, is to maintain focus, in whatever way possible, on the desired outcome of any situation and apply energy in the form of plans, organization and productive action. Television cannot cure frustration and illness is not a good coping mechanism.

Each day is a gift and another step on the journey forward. It is rife with potential and possibilities if we choose to see them. The fulfillment of our destinies is within each day’s grasp if we accept all that we are presented with as potential for the day. So, today, whether or not I receive that particular item of information, the lack of which is causing my frustration, I will: forge a deeper and more fulfilling relationship with my son, my daughter and my granddaughter. We’re going shopping! Out for a meal! Maybe even a movie! and if that other bit comes floating into view with the tide, that will be mere frosting.

What Is Important.

joyceelaine — Thu, 05 Jan 2012 10:45:42 +0000

To the cosmic mind that would be able to imagine a universe like this one, no one thing is seen as more important than another; it is just a matter of what the mind is focused on. In this matter, we get to choose. Why would we focus on something that causes us such pain and suffering as the pursuit of wealth? Mind you, wealth is not in and of itself the cause off suffering, it is the misguided pursuit that causes the damage.

The acceptance of our wealth as birthright and existing in and around us before we are conscious of it is a means to prevent pursuit…it removes the motivation. I’m wealthy enough, I don’t need any more.

There are many more things to focus on that may be much more rewarding: intellectual curiosity, dancing, families and loved ones, architecture, botany… We get to choose.

My Hometown

joyceelaine — Tue, 03 Jan 2012 12:12:49 +0000