This Side of Invisible

Fun Facts about Hand-Writing Letters:  Results from several studies have shown that both children and adults learn more and remember better when writing by hand. Now another study confirms the same: choosing handwriting over keyboard use yields the best learning and memory. ( Neuroscience News )  A few experiments have shown that the brain only recognizes symbols that it learned if they were printed by hand, not if they were typed. When we are learning new letters, math symbols, or other symbols, it is much better to print them by hand than to type them. ( Frontiers for Young Minds )  The ability to read cursive matters. As Michel Martin points out on NPR, "many of the most important historical documents in the U.S., everything from the Declaration of Independence to the Bill of Rights, are written in cursive." What happens when we require a translator for our most precious founding documents? ( Treehugger.com )  Writing by hand makes us slow down. When you write b...

In the memorable words of Dr. Ian Malcolm played by the incomprable Jeff Goldblum, "Life finds a way." Even when we don't want it to, when we can't keep up, when we're exhausted... it just keeps coming. Life simply happens. But we must remember that we are created to be agents of action, not simply objects to be acted upon. Life comes at us unbidden, but we too can create the life we want. We can be the life unbidden. Life isn't merely something that happens around us, it's not just a force happening to us. Life happens within us. And with each exhale, we can speak life into existence all around us. We just have to be intentional, choosing moment to moment how to expend our energy. You are a child of God, the Great Creator; the DNA of creation makes up your every molecule. Don't wait to be bidden. Don't wait for approval. Listen to the beating of your own lifeforce. What life will you release into the world today? Now available: Life...

Mixed Messages by Aimee Rae Ellington MIXED MESSAGES      MIXED MESSAGES           MIXED MESSAGES Dinner is served.     "All is well."              All is not well!     "Stop whimpering! You are fine!"             I am NOT fine.                 NO, I'M IN PAIN!!!     "Sit down and eat your supper."             It hurts to sit down                    can't you tell                            didn't you hear my screams                                     can't you feel my PAIN??? "Clean up your plate.      Don't you appreciate how hard your mother...

A few posts ago, I shared The Parenting Manifesto by Brene Brown.  Now it's time to share my own Manifesto. I wrote this sometime ago, in the Spring, I think.  I wish I had dated it, so I could pinpoint that exact moment when I chose to make my life my own.  I didn't.  I jotted this down one day in Relief Society in the back of my manual.  I don't remember the lesson that provoked these thoughts.  And for time, I forgot that I had even written them down. But just yesterday, I found them again.  And I cried.  I want so much to live this life.  It's time to take the bull by the horns, to dare greatly, to give myself what I want. So here it is: My Own Manifesto I choose to live by choice and not by chance. To make changes, not excuses. To be motivated, never manipulated. I choose self-esteem, not self-pity. To be useful, never used. To excel, not compete. I choose faith, not fear. I choose to listen to my own inner voice, To ne...

I've done a lot of writing lately, though not on my blog.  It helps me relax and unwind, escape when I need to, channel my emotions into something else when they are too many or too big for me to get a grip on in this world.  Writing takes me to new places and helps me gain perspective.  If you don't write, I highly recommend it.  It can be very therapeutic.  And I find that a lot of self-discovery happens when pen is put to paper... or fingers to keyboard, whatever you may choose. Life is a highway... write about it. Recently, I've been working on my WIP (the novel that still isn't finished), and on revamping a short story I wrote a few years ago (with the intent to submit it for publication), and on a new short story (which is turning into a much more in depth story... I should know better, I am very wordy) and poetry. I love poetry.  It's a way (for me) to use imagery to express my emotions.  Sometimes my poetry can be quite dark and creep...

I've recently started participating in a women's group devoted to overcoming shame.  The idea of shame is new to me.  Not that I didn't know what shame was, I simply didn't think I had any.  I don't have conscious thoughts of self-loathing, self-questioning, feeling incompetent (not overly anyway), feeling worthless, etc.  I don't look in the mirror and hate myself.  I don't often get embarrassed or worry about what others think.  Very little in my conscious thought process suggests shamefulness.  However, I have come to discover that a lot of my behavior suggests that I don't value myself as I should and that, in fact, I do suffer from a shame-based identity. I am working, really hard I might add, to do a 180 and obtain a worthiness-identity.  I want an identity that says, "I am good.  I am enough.  I am worthy of love and belonging.  I matter."  I want everything I think, say, do to emphasize that.  I want the way I co...

Triumph Truth Prevails                                 When Hope Prevails You should all know that means writing.  My kids are too old to blame my few hours of sleep on them. A good friend and I recently made a pact that we are GOING TO FINISH our WIP's (works-in-progress) in 6 weeks... that was about a week ago, so we have 5 weeks left.  Hold me to it, please! I have lost a ton of sleep over my WIP the last 2 weeks, but last night, I lost sleep over this: "What is this?" you say.  This is Spine Poetry.  I found the contest on  LibraryThing.com.   So I thought I'd try it.  Here are the rest of what I've been playing with.  Tell me what you think.  I can enter as many times as I'd like, but I want to put in the best entries that I can.  I started to get really frustrated.  I really wanted to go to the library to check out book...

Orange glow and apple crisp, Leaves drop down like flies. Sweet love and nature’s kiss for the winter’s long goodbye. Wind and mist sing and mourn, counting down the days ‘Til cold and quiet bid the world to sleep, to hide, to fade.