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Thursday, March 1, 2012

Inspiration.


This is how it is with me:
I start with a feeling I want to write about. Yes, a feeling. This morning, the feeling was "Neglect".
I open the "New Post" link and click on a picture link.
I survey the pictures that come up, looking for just that connection to my initial feeling.
Then, I proceed to write about the concept, the feeling, elucidating around the picture.
Usually, I use my own pictures,easily retrieved, and totally accessible without anybody else's permission.
When I take a picture, I'm actually writing about what I see, storing that picture in my memory cells as though each picture is about a bigger story.
For this one, I noticed how I had abandoned this corner of my garden, all of my gardens, for months and months. I had no time, nor interest in anything else except my pain and grief at that time. I noticed how my self-absorption affected the rest of the world around me.


You know how there are seven deadly sins?  Neglect should be right at the top of the list. Neglect should be the original sin! Every evil deed starts with No Deed at all. A baby that is not loved and cared for, and cherished, that baby is doomed from the start. A teen who is not asked about her day, her activities, her friends, her concerns, will find attention elsewhere. So will a wife, a husband, even a pet.


Especially a pet. If you don't care for your pet, he'll end up being mean and disruptive when you are not around.  


Neglect is a negation of love. It says, I don't care.
Neglect is like rust. It will slowly eat up the core of that being, until nothing is left.




How about You? How is your process for writing your blog?

26 comments:

Brian Miller said...

ugh. so true...i see this often and sometimes it is insideous, and they think they are not, i mean i am in the same room so we are together, but they are not...neglect is def a sin on many different levels.

Diane said...

I normally have not a clue what I am going to write about until I think it really is time to write another blog. Then I just think where have we visited recently or what have I cooked. Now spring and summer are on there way, I can bring house and garden back into the equation. I struggle to get inspiration unless there is something positive. Diane

cheshire wife said...

Do not feel guilty about neglect. Life is so busy today that sometimes there simply is not enough time to do everything and somethings get neglected. That's life.

My inspiration ususally come from a recent incident. I try to see interest in everything, but sometimes it can be difficult.

erin said...

rosaria, through this we learn. be kind to yourself. there is no right or wrong, only where do we go from here:)

me - all feelings, too, rosaria, a practice in being here, but then you already knew that.

xo
erin

Joani said...

When I write in my blog it is usually with pictures so, if I'm not taking photos, I'm not writing for the blog. They both need more of my attention. Thanks for reminding me.

Roberta Warshaw said...

Yes, I think you are right. it should be at the top of the seven deadly sins. Maybe we should now say that there are 8 deadly sins.....

Dawn said...

I like how you think. When I USED to write more on my blog entries...I wrote similar to this...and I miss it.
Good thoughts on neglect. I completely agree.

Linda Myers said...

When it's time for a blog post, I've usually got a couple of ideas I'm mulling over. Which one actually appears depends on what's bubbled up to the surface.

It's about that time again for me.

dianefaith said...

I started blogging after my daughter's family gave me a small digital camera (for Christmas, a year ago). The pictures drive the words for me. I can't believe this little laptop is holding the hundreds of images I've downloaded. I keep them, though, because sometimes I need to do as you describe -- go back through the images to find one that fits what I want to say.
I'm of two minds about neglect. Yes, it can be an awful sin. I see that especially with children and young teenagers who are neglected. But, the word can also push us to do more than we can reasonably do.

Perpetua said...

Thought-provoking post, Rosaria. Neglect of people is profoundly wrong, but neglect of things or places just happens sometimes and we shouldn't beat ourselves up if other matters take precedence.

Inspiration for my posts comes in many ways. I have a folder with an A4 pad and a pencil in it and I jot down ideas as they occur to me -sometimes just a thought or a possible title. When it's time to write something, either because it wants to be written or I feel my blog deserves to be updated, I write it in Word first, as I find it so much easier to compose and revise like that.

Then I find the images I want to illustrate what I've just written and paste the post into Blogger. It's interesting how differently we all work.

rjerdee said...

It's always about taking a picture, one that might have general interest and still fit within the realm of what my blog is meant to do~~discovering ordinary enchantments, simple things, serenity...a place to pause for a moment and find something good about life. Sometimes I can't really write a story or do any explaining. If that happens, I go to wise persons who have said beautiful things.

Dr. Kathy McCoy said...

I love how you arrive at your topics, Rosaria and also the thought-provoking posts that result.

You're so right about neglect -- particularly of living creatures -- people or pets. I've seen more damage in people from neglect and lack of caring than from tempestuous relationships.

And a neglected animal is so sad -- and so heartbreaking in its ability to forgive. Four years ago, we adopted a wonderful cat named Marina who, in her first 22 months, had been abandoned by two different families for ridiculous reasons. When we embraced her, she purred and trilled and thrived. Though she had contracted leukemia before we met her -- and was not diagnosed until a year and a half later -- Marina was so happy, so loving and so giving every day of her tragically short life.

Elisabeth said...

I write 'freefall', Rosaria. I try not to have any preconceived ideas about what I will write. I simply sit down at the blank screen and write. Invariably my writing takes me places but it is entirely unpredictable. I prefer it that way, but your way of writing seems fascinating to me, too. I like the idea that images can help you to develop ideas. There as as many ways to write as there are people.

Thanks, Rosaria. I think the idea of neglect as akin to rust is a powerful notion that will stay with me.

#1Nana said...

You've left me a lot to think about. I agree about neglect...anything that is ignored or overlooked will eventually wither.

As for writing, for me it's the words. I usually try and find an appropriate picture once I've got the writing done. I usually have a story or incident that I'm going to tell, but sometimes it turns into something else. i go where the words take me.

Rob-bear said...

Sorry. I can't seem to be able to reply meaningfully to your post. Not neglect; just a bit depressing, though.

I neglect way too many things. That's because too many things come after me all at once. Sometimes. They hide in the corner, and wait for me to be crawling across the floor. Then they spring out of wherever, while I'm down, and dance all over me. And they wear golf shoes with all those little spikes.

yaya said...

Neglect can be corrected. Your beautiful garden will bloom again when you're ready. My blog post reflect what I'm up too at the moment. Since I use my blog like a journal it can seem pretty boring! My fun comes from reading others wonderful thoughts...like yours today. Thanks for sharing.

the walking man said...

Neglect of anything that needs life is perfection in your analogy rust, slow rotting away until the heart is gone.

When I write I don't know exactly what prompts me, today it was pure political essay and the prompt is easy enough to see. But when I go for the straight poetry I honestly don't know, a word or phrase crosses through the vast blank spot between my ears, a ship on the horizon backlit by the moon, is the only way i can explain it.

ellen abbott said...

I say I have to agree with you. If you are so busy that you start to neglect things then you are too busy.

Jenny Woolf said...

That is so very true. I don't know why neglect isn't one of the deadly sins. It drags everything down, in every way. Great post!

Jenny Woolf said...

I meant also to add that it is good how you are inspired by neglect to think the OPPOSITE. I hope that corner of your garden will soon be blooming again.

musicwithinyou said...

A beautiful post, thank you. We have all been there about neglecting something or even worse, someone. Stop and look around and take that moment to see what is before us. :)

xxx said...

Truly beautiful post Rosaria.
I figure you must feel yourself healing to recognise neglect.

I like what Erin has said here in the comments too.

In relation to writing on my blog... I'm not a writer... it's mostly about the pictures for me.

big love to you
xx

potsoc said...

Rosaria is picking up,eh?

Maggie May said...

I agree with you about neglect.

I take my camera everywhere and usually I write my post round the picture.
Other times I write a post & then have to look for a suitable photo. I generally only use my own photos.
I suppose inspiration is what drives me as a rule.
Maggie X

Nuts in May

That gentleman's lady said...

With me it is a thought, or a phrase or a person that pops into my mind. Or a memory. Then I toss a few ideas around and pick one and go with it. Many posts lie half abandoned as drafts. Others make it through.

shopgirl said...

Amen!

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