1. Avoid carrot sticks. Anyone who puts carrots on a holiday buffet table knows nothing of the Christmas spirit. In fact, if you see carrots, leave immediately. Go next door, where they’re serving rum balls.
2. Drink as much eggnog as you can. And quickly. It’s rare.. You cannot find it any other time of year but now. So drink up! Who cares that it has 10,000 calories in every sip? It’s not as if you’re going to turn into an eggnog-alcoholic or something. It’s a treat. Enjoy it. Have one for me. Have two. It’s later than you think. It’s Christmas!
3. If something comes with gravy, use it. That’s the whole point of gravy. Gravy does not stand alone. Pour it on. Make a volcano out of your mashed potatoes. Fill it with gravy. Eat the volcano. Repeat.
4. As for mashed potatoes, always ask if they’re made with skim milk or whole milk. If it’s skim, pass. Why bother? It’s like buying a sports car with an automatic transmission.
5. Donothave a snack before going to a party in an effort to control your eating. The whole point of going to a Christmas party is to eat other people’s food for free. Lots of it. Hello?
6. Under no circumstances should you exercise between now and New Year’s. You can do that in January when you have nothing else to do. This is the time for long naps, which you’ll need after circling the buffet table while carrying a 10-pound plate of food and that vat of eggnog.
7. If you come across something really good at a buffet table, like frosted Christmas cookies in the shape and size of Santa, position yourself near them and don’t budge. Have as many as you can before becoming the center of attention. They’re like a beautiful pair of shoes. If you leave them behind, you’re never going to see them again.
8. Same for pies. Apple,Pumpkin,Mincemeat. Have a slice of each. Or if you don’t like mincemeat, have two apples and one pumpkin. Always have three. When else do you get to have more than one dessert? LaborDay?
9. Did someone mention fruitcake? Granted, it’s loaded with the mandatory celebratory calories, but avoid it at all cost. I mean, have some standards.
10. One final tip: If you don’t feel terrible when you leave the party or get up from the table, you haven’t been paying attention. Re-read these tips; start over, but hurry, January is just around the corner. Remember this motto to live by:
“Life should NOT be a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in an attractive and well preserved body, but rather to skid in sideways, chocolate in one hand, body thoroughly used up, totally worn out and screaming “WOO HOO what a ride!”
Monday Inspirations—Here are 3 weekly ideas for song lyric, poems, instrumental titles, photos, video, short story or anything they inspire you to create.Use the title if you like & make something! It is yours for free. A gift.
76. Let It Go
catch the wind in your hand, then Let It Go catch the rain on your face, then Let It Go catch the starlight in your pocket, then Let It Go
77. Fastening To You Everything you do is fascinating
So I’m Fastening To You No more waiting
Any time will do
Any place is cool
When I’m fastening to you
78. Whimsy Tale, My Whimsy Tale, Whimsical, Whimsy Queen
My Whimsy Tale is about a little mouse, a Christmas mouse.
She sings a Whimsy Tale like a clowness on parade. Whimsical and fickle, your soul devours my heart. Be gentle,
my Whimsy Queen, be gentle with your desire or let me be.
Monday Inspirations—Here are 3 weekly ideas for song lyric, poems, instrumental titles, photos, video, short story or anything they inspire you to create.Use the title if you like & make something! It is yours for free. A gift.
73. It Ain’t Pretty Being Easy While searching on-line for Melva Le Blanc & The Blue Groove’s CD titled It Ain’t Easy, I came across this here title. Now you can’t copyright a title but you surely can get inspired by a title and use it anytime, anywhere. So this one is yours now. I sort of see Kermit the frog singing his famous - It Ain’t Easy Being Green song. But I think It Ain’t Pretty Being Easy means, a. I’m nice to you and you scuff me up or b. I’m too nice to a lot of people and it melts my mascara. Your rub.
74. Can’t Get My Miracle To Work, Get My Miracle To Work, Work My Miracle Once again I found this title in print. Since it is coming upon Christmas, how about a holiday tune! Oh Santa Oh Santa, Can’t Get My Miracle To Work. Put a miracle in my stocking, one that fills the earth - with joy and love good tidings all around. Work My Miracle oh Santa, cause I believe oh I believe.
75. Blue Lady Dance, Blue Lady Groove
She waves her hands in the midnight sky
Her scarf touches my cheeks and she grooves on by
Eyes on heaven feet so light Blue Lady Dance into my arms
In the bright starlight
Today’s tasks consisted of:
1. Accepting 14 friend requests. Listening to 1 song at each of their music MySpace sites. Only 1 was not a music related request & I delete that one. Found a couple artists that had the sound that will cover a song of ours well and told them. Heard a couple songs I’d like to read the lyric & listen for possible acceptance into our song and music licensing catalog, and told them.
2. Got a wonderful phone call from a co-writer about a great opportunity he has been offered and is moving across the USA country to accept. A big moment.
3. Loaded one new song at the website. Typed up his lyric and posted that too. Found out a second newly accepted song CD would not open correctly. Not finalized. I’ve gotten CDs I can’t open before. So I’ll have to tell him.
4. Changed a song in the front music player at the S2S website. Put Schroeter/Estevez’s Spanish A Donde Va’ in the music player on the front home page. Beautiful song that perhaps I’ll tell Anna from Trigger Gospel about. She’d be a great vocal & pianist to cover the song.
5. Found 1 typo and 3 song credit mistakes in the Cover Songs at the S2S website. Need a CODER!!!
6. Browsed the websites built by another coder who has answered the Craigslist ad for coding work in exchange for company equity. Sent the last prospective coder an e-mail and the main interest coder an e-mail too. Working the coder thing.
7. There are currently 10 different songwriters’ songs in the Songs2Share song upload box. We’ve got songs in there from July, August, September, Ocober, November and December. 14 song uploads in all. Now a few songs have been deleted or accepted or both so we did received more submissions than this - these are the songs been hanging around and I’m cleaning out the upload box, making room for more.
Of these songs 4 were signed into our song and music licensing catalog with 1 additional song from an accepted songwriter who had not uploaded the song. One songwriter has submitted a lyric for my critique & revision suggestions. I’ve asked another songwriter to do so (a co-writer’s personal song ) & we’ve got 7 pieces, 5 songs 2 instrumentals (I think) coming from Jeffrey Butzer of Germany. They’ll be available for license shortly.
1 more holiday song titled Hot In Here which has A LOT of any genre potential. Rew has agreed we will work the lyric after the holidays. I gave her a suggestion to make the verse & chorus tighten up and she agrees. But I love the groove so accepted it into our catalog as is for this holiday season.
8. Answered a couple business e-mails & MySpace messages. Always doing that.
Actually got a new title. Anywhere. Jotted down a couple lines today. I have NOT written a new song all year…..// I’m going to have a blue Christmas if I don’t get 1 lyric finished. That’s my goal. I wrote other stuff this year and we did get 3 new recordings of my/our co-writes - which are all 3 lovely+ but I just goo-goo over finished manuscript.
===Oh the title was inspired because I got a 3:30am accidental phone call last night from one of the above co-writers. You know, the phone somehow makes a call without the caller knowing. His phone has been doing that over 5 -6 times this past year. I am letting the dog out at that early hour and answer the phone immediately. I hear him in the background say “I can go anywhere in the world…” in his heavily accented sing song voice, a lovely love song voice - then a female answers in Spanish. I wait about 20 seconds to see if he’s going to talk to me which he doesn’t so I hang up and go to bed. But today I’m laughing hysterically at the image and wrote the title and a few lines. Wow.
9. Before the night is deep I’ve gotta post 3 ideas under Monday Inspirations at the S2S website. These are my free ideas to you for songs, stories, paintings, poems, whatevers. Missed a couple Mondays and really want to get on a schedule. Now that I have a clearer vision of what Songs2Share is going to be, is already becoming, committment is necessary to achieve goals.
While cleaning through some paper mountains, I came across a paper that has the name of about 5 book titles. So I checked out amazon.com for the one below. Found this at some website and thought it is good information. I’ve made flower essences in the past and believe that plants can heal, even the flowers of plants. I also use color healing and have given my children tonations as well as myself. Shining colored light on the body also makes changes at the cellular level. So here’s what Partricia has to say about flowers.
Affirmations: The Messages of the Flowers in Transformative Words for the Soul
What are Affirmations?The word affirmationcontains the core meaning of “firm,” suggesting that which is strong and secure. Significantly, this word connotes two simultaneous directions - downward to the terra firmaof the earth on which we stand, and upwards to the vault of heaven, the enveloping firmamentof the universe. Affirmations bridge heaven and earth by engaging the soul in a creative process through which the archetypal “Word becomes flesh.”
Affirmations are a specialized activity within the larger field of soul processes such as meditation, contemplation and prayer. They are elegant and evocative words which enable the soul to initiate positive goals of inner development. It is a tenet of all spiritual teachings, as well as business and professional training programs, that the ordering of thought and the harmonizing of feeling has powerful impact on our ability to manifest change, both within ourselves and within the world.
The unique value of the affirmations written for this project of the Flower Essence Society, is that they are correlated to specific flowers. Throughout human culture, many poets and mystics have attempted to express a language of flowers. Even the most hardened among us can recognize that the flowers embody an exquisite language of the soul. This is why we use flowers to express our inmost feelings in all forms of human celebration and commemoration - from birth, to marriage, to death.
Flowers are Spiritual Messengers
If flowers are capable of rousing refined feelings within the soul life, perhaps it is because the soul itself is akin to a blossom. Many spiritual teachers have likened the chakras or energy centers of the spiritual human being to “lotus blossoms” or “petals” which unfold and become activated through earnest moral development.
Flowers are spiritual messengers, or living archetypes of divine creation able to reveal themselves within human consciousness. The pathway toward understanding a flower is much more than the accumulation of “information.” To appreciate the spiritual dimension of Nature, one must be prepared to change one’s heart, one’s method of perception.
Human souls who sojourn in the spiritual world cannot behold a flower as we do here on earth; rather the soul must be able to inwardly realize the virtuewhich a flower radiates. Here on earth we take the living beauty of Nature for granted through our innate physical perception. But the spiritual dimensions of Nature can only be revealed if we are committed to a path of moral development through inner seeing, hearing, and knowing.
Working with Affirmations in a Living Way
In our age, we are inundated with many “positive thought” programs which may appear to be similar but can have markedly different results. The affirmations written in this series are of spiritual intent. They are not materialistic means for health, wealth, or fame. To wish for a specific thing or condition in the physical world is ultimately fruitless if it is not in harmony with the valid needs of the soul. True fortune is that which brings wealth to the spiritual life, enabling the soul to acquire the priceless jewels of virtue and moral strength. Therefore the right use of an affirmation is to precipitate inner changes that are in harmony with soul destiny. In this manner, the soul will attract what it needs in the material world for its welfare.
Furthermore, affirmations must work in such a way that they reflect our conscious choice and inner willingness to change. Many forms of hypnosis and subliminal programming bypass awake willing and comprehension. These programs may achieve limited success in modifying outer behavior, but only mindful inner work which strengthens and deepens soul consciousness can bring enduring transformation. There is an old proverb which states:
Sow a thought, reap an action; Sow an action, reap a habit; Sow a habit, reap a character; Sow a character, reap a destiny.
Viewed from this vantage point, affirmations are an important beginning step along the pathway of genuine character development and life manifestation.
Working consciously with affirmations can be a challenging process. Taking self responsibility for inner change quickly brings the recognition that there are no panaceas which can instantly cure. True healing is an organic step-by-step process which gradually leads to inner mastery. At the first stage of engaging an affirmation, we typically need to open to the pain of our predicament. For example, an affirmation may champion courage and clarity, yet inside we may feel confused and afraid. Rather than avoid the affirmation or suppress one’s conflicted feelings, the opportunity is there to live with the sting and tension of the contradiction.
The “interval” between one’s spiritual potential and the present situation is an enormously fruitful area for healing. As the soul registers and acknowledges this dissonance, it strives to find a harmonic concordance. Through this creative process, the words of the affirmation work incrementally to become true and firm. As the plant grows and blossoms in its dance between light and dark, so also do the creative forces of the human soul emerge.
Therefore, the affirmations are intended to lead the individual from an honest recognition of a state of mind or feeling, toward a process of soul alchemy. They suggest past, present and future potentials of consciousness. The soul is called to acknowledge the present pain or conflict and work toward resolution and integration. Ultimately, the soul radiates the awakened virtue.
The affirmations call upon the “I AM” awareness of the Self. This is not the lower personality or the ego, but the voice of the Higher Self which has divine awareness of the spiritual world. Regardless of one’s religious or spiritual affiliation, this awareness of the I AM is a sacred and eternal truth.
Practical Techniques for Anchoring the AffirmationAffirmations are best utilized in a gradual, incremental way. It is ideal to select a single affirmation which is central to one’s developmental journey. If several affirmations are used, they should be applied in rhythmic intervals—such as consecutive days, with every third or fourth day beginning a new sequence. Rather than cluttering or overwhelming the mind, it is best use the affirmations in a spacious and graceful manner, so that the words move from the surface intellect to the deep space of the heart-mind.
It is not necessary to repeat the affirmations constantly, in fact this can deplete their inherent strength. Choose a time in daily life when there is a space for dedicated inner work and meditation. In this tranquil atmosphere, you need say the affirmation so that you breathe your entire being and focus of attention into the words until they ignite as a living fire within the soul.
It can be helpful to write the affirmations and keep them in a sacred place in your bedroom or office. You may also want to carry the affirmations with you, and call upon their power at a point in the day when you most need to be reminded or fortified. Most importantly, make a steadfast intention to return to the affirmations on a regular basis, much as you would plant a seed and water it conscientiously.
The length of time during which you use an affirmation can vary. Be mindful of building a rhythm—weekly or monthly intervals are excellent ones to consider. You may want to come back to a core affirmation again and again over a series of months or years so that its inner reality anchors into deeper strata of the soul.
It can be very beneficial to explore and expand the meaning of an affirmation through artistic means. Mandalas can help to integrate the various aspects of an affirmation or the tensions and polarities which emerge while working with it. Simple washes of color which evoke the mood and feeling of the affirmation can help the soul to imagine its activity in the aura. Journal writing can be an especially illumining way to explore the nuances of feeling and the inner dialogue which may accompany the transformative process. As one encounters the affirmation, additional words naturally emerge, and the core affirmation can be re-crafted with personal emphasis. However, keep in mind that the entire structure should be as direct and clear as possible.
Integrating Affirmations with Flower Essence Therapy
Many practitioners report on the profound impact which the affirmations have in their therapeutic programs with clients. For example, just holding the flower essence and saying the indicated affirmation during a healing session can initiate remarkable insight and emotional awakening.
Using flower essences and saying affirmations are two synergistic modalities with complementary points of origin. The affirmations begin in the conscious thought life, and gradually penetrate many levels of body-soul reality. The liquid “nature words” of the flower essences are directly absorbed into the body-soul and then work to illumine the thoughts and feelings.
Most choose to work with the affirmations in tandem with the flower essences, while others may prefer to continue with the affirmations even after the essences have been discontinued. Some clients may feel that the affirmations require too much conscious focus and prefer instead to experience the direct action of the flower essences. In some instance, practitioners may need to modify the affirmation to make it accessible to the particular needs of a client. In cases with children or where there is mental impairment, the affirmations will need special adaptation.
Even when the affirmations are not used by the client, they can generate a great deal of insight for the practitioner regarding the subtle properties and transformational capacities of a given remedy.
Concluding Thoughts: Affirmations as Seed Words
However they are used, the affirmations are offered as a way of experiencing a deeper communion with the subtle realm of flowers.
It is with real joy, but also angst, that one attempts to script living archetypes of Nature within the frail and fragile limits of human language. Therefore, please consider the affirmations as only a starting point for your inner process. Let them be approached as seed-words and place them in the soul-soil of your own heart. Your garden will bloom with its own unique blossoms.
Karl & I have been delivering shoebox presents to the Samaritan’s Purse Operation Christmas Child for three years. It is a wonderful organization and a growing program that provides kids who might not get a Christmas gift with a shoebox filled with presents. In looking at the newletters from Samaritan’s Purse, of the children with their shoeboxes, some of these kids live in such impoverished countries and neighborhoods that it brings tears to my eyes to know I’ve contributed something of value to them.
We have chosen girls aged 10-14 every year. I feel these are the kids I can relate to as being children who really need to know they are loved and cared for and special. These are the girls that will go on to become mothers one day and boy-oh-boy, we need to teach our young girls they have great value in this world. Their self-esteem and the benefits that gives their families will be felt for years to come. So right after Christmas, I’ll start shopping the clearance shelves for our next year’s Christmas shoe boxes.
One of the thrills I get in watching this video is seeing how happy Karl and I are. We really enjoy this activity and it shows. Don’t you just love looking at photos and movies and videos of events or holidays when you look really happy!!!
In reading the books, songs come and go in and out of style. Like actual book writing styles of yore = when long sentences where stylish, now short sentences are stylish. Same with song titles. You ever look at a CD just to read the song titles? Many are now one or two words. Back in the day titles where much longer. Being aware of trends is always good. Just like being aware of rules is good before you break them. If you know the most popular way, then you can mix it up and come out with something even better. Well, hopefully even better.
After writing song lyrics seriously, so seriously that I’ve found over a dozen composers to put their time & energies into composing great melodies around my lyrics = for nearly 8 years now, I’m finally + seasoned. I say that because only now do I feel like I know the rules enough to break them with the necesary finnese to come away with a good song.
This month (coming soon 12 songs on- Holiday Punch by VariousArtists), next month & every month after, Songs2Share will promote a digiSong CD. Our website coders are working on getting a paid song downloader up as I work the accounts at other websites.
In January we will be promoting my co-written songs. It’ll be great for ya’ll to see my skills at writing lyrics and the skills of those composers I’m working with. I’ve titled that CD First Flush because I feel these songs are the beginning of my songwriting career. They are great songs. Several top drawer and a lot of middle drawer. The driving beat here is - it takes a while to really get the know-how to go on and let it rip. For me, anyways. I’m a Taurus and I go kind of slow and steady, but I do get there and “get it” good.
Song titles are now shorter than they used to be. That’s the style. But not the rule of God. Here’s a rule of God:
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“A Memorable Title
A memorable title: Is identifiable after one hearing - Resounds with one meaning - Summarizes the essence of the lyric’s statement.
The title is the name of your product - what the listener asks for at the store. Skillful songwriters know how to make a title both unmistakable and unforgettable. To make it unforgettable, you must put it in the right place and then repeat it often enough. That’s easy to do when you’re familiar with song forms - which we’ll take up soon in detail. To make your title unmistakable, make sure that no secondary phrase competes with your intended title. One heavyweight title is better than two or three middleweight titles….
ASSIGNMENT NO. 3
A Verse/Climb/Chorus with a One-Word Title
The Purpose
To design a top-40 product by fusing a commercial title to the most commercial song form.
The Assignment:
Write a verse/chorus lyric featuring a strong, compelling, memorable, provocative, platinum CD, Grammy-winning, one-word title. No limp, forgettable abstractions like Time, Hope, You, Then, Love. Pick a concrete noun or action verb to grab your listener’s ears. “The” is not allowed. And no names, please. Your word should flash in the mind like a neon sign: “Pressure/Pressure/Pressure,” “Hypnotize/Hypnotize/Hypnotize,” “Criminal/Criminal/Criminal,” “Wannabe/Wannabe/Wannabe.”
The verse/chorus/bridge form has become virtually a formula. Writing with a climb instead of the predictable bridge will give your song a fresher contour. Shape the lyric this way: Verse/climb/chorus/verse/climb/chorus…”
from Successful Lyric Writing by Sheila Davis
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Confessions of a virtual formula lyric writer - yes, I love the verse/chorus/bridge formula and probably half of my song catalog is that format. I learned it and now I’m ready to leap onto the bigger stage and try something with a - fresher contour. Songwriting is a fun expression of an emotion or idea. I love & have written tons of poetry and lyric writing is an extension of that skill.
I was shopping around for songs and came across the band named Mazzy Star. After listening to their song titled Blue Light I ordered their CD titled So Tonight That I Might See. Here’s their song titles from that CD. See how the titles tell you the flavor of the CD?
1. Fade Into You
2. Bells Ring
3. Mary Of Silence
4. Five String Serenade
5. Blue Light
6. She’s My Baby
7. Unreflected
8. Wasted 5:31
9. Into Dust 5:36
10. So Tonight That I Might See
When I come to a MySpace music site in response to a friend request, I listen to at least 1 song in the music player. Alls I’ve got to go on are the song titles. When someone is considering listening to an MP3 for licensing or paid download, their selection of WHAT TO LISTEN TO is based on your titles. Titles are important. How are your titles looking & sounding? You’ve got one chance to get the USER to click on your songs. Make it count.
) & we’ve got 7 pieces, 5 songs 2 instrumentals (I think
) coming from Jeffrey Butzer of Germany. They’ll be available for license shortly.
