C - Notes Archive

Virtual Conference!

Sat, 28 Mar 2009 03:08:19 GMT

Don’t Miss this Virtual Conference!

Sign-up for A FREE teleconference sponsored by

The National Association of Memoir Writers

On April 23rd starting at 10 AM PDT.

You will receive the conference call information after you register.

Guest Speakers for this teleconference are:

Kay Adams, Dr. James Pennebaker, Lucia Cappachione, Christina Baldwin and Marina Nemat.

Hosted by Linda Joy Myers.

To learn more and sign up visit NAMW.org

To Have or To Be, Part I

Wed, 25 Feb 2009 08:24:04 GMT

Very recently, I was given a copy of Enrich Fromm’s To Have or To Be, by a loved one. Great! Another good read to add to my library, from someone close to me who knows how much I love good books! Well, this was my initial thought, not realizing that this book would very much be the demise of my precious library as I knew it. Ironically, I’ve been sloughing off chunks of it daily since I began reading Fromm.

I have always taken much pride in my vast library of hundreds and hundreds of books of all kinds. I’d dote over my library much like a gardener would their garden, carefully keeping it well rounded, neat and beautifully categorized. For years I have been a bibliophile in the true sense of the term -- as one who is a collector and lover of books. My library consists of subject areas (not unlike any public library) with headings including Classics, African lit, African American lit, Foreign Studies, Biographies/Memoir, Reference, Psychology, Health, Cookbooks, Art, Philosophy & Religion/Spirituality, and so on. I even have a section dedicated to my yearbooks from middle school through university years.

My library has been characterized by over a dozen bookcases packed with volumes ranging from autographed first edition collector’s items to select historical magazines, to my children’s books, books of my peers, and mentors, select text books from my undergraduate and graduate studies, and a collection of film and software. As a lifetime diarist there are my journals of three decades, as well as the collected journals of famous and obscure persons; and as a writer, of course there are books I’m writing and have written.

Fromm studied sociology and psychoanalysis and immigrated to the United States in the early 30’s as a member of the Frankfurt School of Social Thinkers. To Have or To Be was written back in 1976, and it is described as “one of the seminal books of the second half of the 20^th century.” In it, Fromm posits this notion of two modes of existence =>

the having mode consisting of those who concentrate on material possessions; and the being mode, consisting of those engaged in loving, sharing and productive activities of the Self and others.

To Have or To Be, Conclusion

Tue, 24 Feb 2009 10:18:06 GMT

When I first started reading this work, it immediately reminded me of the hilarious George Carlin’s “STUFF” skit on how much “stuff” we tend to produce, buy and keep. As with any good comedian, he put a hilarious spin on the truth, and allowed us to take a look at our stuff-hoarding ways as Americans. Stuff we put in storage, stuff we drive around in our cars, stuff we tote and on our persons, stuff we garage, stuff we keep in our closets, pantries, attics, stuff, stuff, stuff. It also reminded me of a book a friend had given me upon leaving the Patent Office to commence my writing career – Your Money or Your Life, by Joe Dominguez & Vicki Robin (which of course I’ve since revisited).

See, I’ve always considered myself pretty much a minimalist. Not keeping too much ‘stuff’, with the largest quantity of my possessions lying in my books (and of course apparel). Not long ago, as I made a cross-country move from the Pacific Northwest to the Coast of Georgia. I pretty much left everything behind. Granted, I was undergoing a major life change at the dawn of a divorce, but it wasn’t too difficult for me to leave much of my possessions behind: furniture, clothes, hot tub, automobile, etc. However, the one thing that I did ship across these United States was my library.

Reading Fromm now has reminded me of the balance I’d like to strike between my having and being modes of existence. So as I’ve challenged myself on having versus being with what I consider my most valuable possessions, a sizable portion of my library has been dismantled. I’ve gone through scores of my hardbacks and paperbacks and begun the being-process with my library. So far, I have given hundreds of books away. Books that I never really thought about parting with are now with Goodwill, friends, neighbors, family; and many are selling right now as you read this on Amazon.com:

Visit CoCo's Amazon.com Bookstore

But lo, I am only in the second chapter of Fromm, I shudder to think about what other changes I may undergo in my paradigms of thinking and living and being! However, if they pertain to continued personal growth, I welcome them all.

Writing The Big Read

Thu, 22 Jan 2009 06:40:25 GMT

FragLit

Sun, 14 Dec 2008 11:03:34 GMT

“Fragments represent the state of in between-ness, the source of all creative thought.”

~ “FragNotes” by Lauren Albert, Issue 2, FragLit on FragLit.com

This quote from the wonderful new journal dedicated to fragmentary literature,

FragLit .

You must take in the collage and read the literary art by Carlos Reyes Letters to Strangers and the Dead . This Carlos Reyes is a thinking-journaling soul. Not convinced, check out

A Life in Habits or MazeMapping .

The latest issue bears the scrumptious title of Philosophical Notebooks.

Want a taste? Check out this List, of sorts, comprised of personal philosophy,

see Tephra 1 by Clint Frakes.

If you fancy any of this, you may also dig anything from Impassio Press.

Impassio Press is an independent literary press devoted to publishing a variety

of fragmentary writings, with a focus on journals, diaries, and notebooks.

SUBMIT

Tue, 04 Nov 2008 02:55:35 GMT

FIND A Dot Com to submit to:

Announcing new ways to share your

creative, expressive personal writings

Your Story, Your Way

Journal Entries and Memoir

3 Websites to post on

3 Anthology Projects

3 Literary Contests

www.UltraShortMemoir.com
www.ShortMemoir.com
www.TheDiaryBank.com

A Great Day in America

Wed, 22 Oct 2008 10:11:24 GMT

When the I got into the booth and the electronic screen lit up this afternoon and the candidates for United States Presidency came up on the screen -- I actually froze for a moment. A lot of thoughts flashed through my mind and most of them weren't pretty. I shook them off and came back to the moment as tears welled up in my eyes. I just wanted to stare a bit at the nominees and take it all in. Then the thought hit me that if I didn't hurry up something could go awry and I tapped the screen to cast my vote.

While doing so, I thought about the elderly black men and women in the room with me voting and wondered about their inability to vote in the past due to America's stained past (and in some cases present).

When I walked out, I could barely see clearly with my watery eyes to reach for the cheesy "I'm A Georgia Voter" sticker which meant so much for me today. I immediately called my mom who immediately recounted being a Clark Atlanta University student trying to vote with other students downtown in Atlanta and how they were accosted. But they did it anyway. She told me of the bus routes that Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. would devise for the students to ride in protest and would be spat on and cursed at. But they did it anyway. She told me of the times they would organize and sit in the Woolworths lunch counter downtown for service and would be ignored and blasted. But they did it anyway. Unfortunatley, that list goes on for that Atlanta native...

Which is why with any ounce of reverence of the past and the future, this black woman voting today under these politcal circumstances, was such a great day in America!

PEACE

Tue, 14 Oct 2008 03:41:48 GMT

Here’s a response I got to the I Think Therefore... blog of Oct 5^th pasted below.

This is such a great meditation that I wanted to share it and I got permission from the author to do so before posting this. Just reading it promotes an energy change…

CoCo,
i read your blog about mindfulness vs. thinking. very interesting. it reminds me of a time when i attended a mindfulness meditation session lead by a spiritual guru who was trained in the middle east. here a brief explanation of the mindfulness meditation he taught ...

   sit quietly for a few moments while focusing on your breath.
   call up the seed of peace from deep within your soul (where it is always available) and bring it into your mind.
   welcome the seed of peace and focus on it.
   feel the seed of peace flowing through your body.
   feel the seed of peace in every cell of your body.
   breathe in peace and exhale peace to all living things.
   commit to honoring and cherishing the seed of peace.
   thank the seed of peace and return it back to your soul (where it is always available).
   repeat for the seed of joy, loving kindness, patience, compassion, or whatever you wish.

of course this is not exact, but some of what i remember. just typing it out is bringing me a deep sense of relaxation. i suppose mindfulness is heart/soul thinking. you have given me a great reminder! thanks!

Faces of Change

Tue, 14 Oct 2008 03:08:06 GMT

There I am right smack in the middle of Atlanta Society this weekend at an engagement party and I am again grateful for running into more fantastic information. Well, one of my homies, acclaimed artist Radcliffe Bailey, is marrying screen star and author, Victoria Rowell, and I had the fortune of attending their smashing event this weekend.

It was hosted by of Coca Cola Exec Vicki Palmer in her beautiful gallery of a home in North Atlanta. My best friend and I admirably call women like her a “bad broad!” It was actually great peaking my head out of the Atlantic sea air of the South Georgia Golden Isles to attend this nice affair containing all of the good ingredients for a dashing evening => great weather, great food, a fantastic venue and vibe, and great folks all around. I just couldn’t resist going up to the mic and giving my classic toast that I’ve done for over 20 years to Vicki and my high school buddy whom for all these years I simply call Rad.

If you don’t know Rad’s work, he’s probably in your airport or in one of your buildings downtown or you may have viewed his work in your local major museum/gallery. As for Vicki, pick up her memoir The Women Who Raised Me if you don’t recall her long time roll as Drucilla on the Y&R soap along with several other movies. It was great seeing their mutual adoration for one another.

It was also great running into old high school buddies from the beloved SWATS (South West Atlanta) doing their thing, and doing well. One such is photographer and community advocate Bruce Morton. Another being Tony Owens, Director of the Foundation for Educational Success. He and his business partner have really got something going on very positive in the area of education which is particularly geared toward bridging the gap between teacher/educator/parent and student in an effective manner. Their book Faces of Change is a resource sold on their website which provides adults with tools to talk to the students rather than at them.

Tony is one of the funniest guys you could have the pleasure of standing next to at a party. Your body will thank you for the endorphin release from the incessant laughter. While huddled around having several laughs with him and others, I could only imagine his energy in their various Workshop Series [ The “IT” Factor, Developing team/School Culture, Bridge the Disconnect Between Educators and Students, etc.].

In the midst of these conversations, I think back to our idyllic Beecher Hills Elem. (Go Bees!), Southwest Middle School (Go Wolves!), and of course Benjamin E. Mays High School (Go Raiders!) days of yesteryear in Atlanta and savor the very fond memories they evoke. This is parallel processing in the background as the laughter of the conversations grounds me and reels me back into the present moment full of joyful banter with one another -- adults looking into each others’ faces of change.

I Think Therefore...

Sun, 05 Oct 2008 10:54:57 GMT

Yes, yes, it was Rene’ Descartes who said, “I think, therefore I am.” Cogito Ergo Sum. This was his philosophical theory that was based on the fact that if he doubted things (via thinking) it proved his existence.

If you are one of the few souls with my personal number and get my voicemail upon a missed called, you will hear this thought; not the Latin version of course. In my reading last night, I came across the passage by the 16^th century Saint Teresa of Avila:

“…thinking is not the same as mindfulness.”

However, she also pondered the idea that if the mind is one of the faculties of the soul why then is it sometimes so restless? I can totally relate.

Yesterday sitting a few feet from the shoreline allowing the waves to speak to my soul, my mind was restless. I had come there to think -- both actively and passively. At one point, I’d gotten into a phone conversation with a dear friend about a topic and, they reminded me not to over think the issues at hand.

You see, I am a thinker. This includes actively guiding my thoughts when solving problems at my desk, as well as being passive sitting before the ocean as I did yesterday. But as a natural scientist and engineer, thinking is the essential tool – and critical thinking at that. Moreover, as a creative artist I am always thinking of the endless possibilities of plots, articles, entries, essays, character sketches, dialogues, etcetera.

According to Descartes’ deduction -- I AM. Maybe I should have one of those sculptures of that Greek chin resting on fist ‘thinking’ guy with my own face etched in. I’m cerebral; both hemispheres – the engineer and the artist. I love thinking and figuring things out, just as much as I love writing or sketching or painting. Descartes was a philosopher, mathematician, scientist, and writer – arguably a master of dual hemispheres. How great is that?

In the book How to Think Like Leonardo da Vinci the author, Michael Gelb, provides an introduction to the essential elements of genius derived from Da Vinci’s notebooks and his celebration of an insatiably curious approach to life and willingness to embrace uncertainty and paradox.

The New Age era ushered forth the idea of thinking things into being with concepts such as creative visualization techniques. Nowadays, we have books/films such as The Secret teaching the concept that our reality is ultimately shaped by our fundamental thinking patterns and the energies we attract by our thoughts.

But there’s more. Or less, shall I say…this is perhaps what Saint Teresa of Avila was getting at -- this notion of mindfulness. I personally understand this more as a passive mode of thinking, or better yet, being, versus active thinking. Mindfulness allows for the intuitive processes of the soul to come into play. It’s best characterized by a heart thinking, versus mind thinking. Saint Teresa teaches a further step as she wrote back in the late 1500’s:

“...the important thing is not to think much but to love much,

and so to do whatever best awakens you for love.”

Yes, I will always, always be a thinker. I am most grateful for this. But better yet, I am more grateful for the insatiable quest for knowledge and incessant thirst for spiritual awareness and soul-growth.

So as I am reminded by friends (and saints) one of my primary goals in life can be most articulated as the desire for mindfulness and the desire for my soul to be whole within its quietude, its love, its longing, and its clarity of consciousness. I whole-heartedly feel that mindfulness has much to do with the absolute personal development of humility entwined with intuition.