Manual for Living ~ by Cynthia Land, RYT

The Gita Deck

Almost as long as I've been teaching the physical postures of yoga, I've wanted to study the ancient yogic tome known as The Bhagavad-Gita.  It is a yogic philosophical manual for living.  

Some find solace in The Bible or The Koran or name your religious book of choice.  I have never strongly aligned with any organized religion, but I have found alignment with many of the moral and ethical discussions found in these holy books.  The Bhagavad Gita really pares life down to the basics.  It actually comes from a much larger book.  The Gita, as it's lovingly called, comes from the Mahabarata an epic tale from ancient India.  If you think the current TV show Succession is good, it's got nothing on this wide ranging novel of the struggle of two royal families.  

I won't put too fine a bead on it, but suffice to say; at one point in the story the families decided to have a battle to end all battles.  One of the princes, Arjuna, has such a case of the jitters that he can barely get himself to the battle grounds.  His best friend just happens to be the Hindu god Krishna.  They've known each other since childhood, but that's another story.  Anyway, Krishna agrees to drive Arjuna to the battle ground and the Bhagavad-Gita is the conversation that ensues between the two once they arrive.  

The Gita discusses the difficulty of doing the impossible.  How does one go forward knowing you must accomplish a task so heinous you can barely step one foot forward.  This is what Arjuna must do in this story.  He must get out of his chariot and begin to kill his cousins.  Krishna understands the weight of the task but tells Arjuna that it is his dharma, or his life's journey, to go into this battle, there is no other way.  What's important to take away here is that we all have very difficult situations in our lives that must be done.  Situations where everyone seems to lose.  We do these things because they simply must be done.  

The Gita Deck

The conversation between Krishna and Arjuna continues, ranging from lust to sacrifice to the importance of maintaining balance in life.  Each chapter of the Gita focuses on a form of Yoga.  There are many versions of the Gita, all translated from the original Sanskrit.  I'm currently using a version written by Stephen Mitchell.  However, I was recently turned on to a cool tool; The Gita Deck.  This is a deck of 68 inspirational cards, all taken from The Bhagavad-Gita.  You can just shuffle the deck, pick a card and be inspired by something from the book.  Reading them is a great way to learn the Gita if you don't want to sit down and read the book 

Life is hard enough to get through, Yoga with a capital "Y" has helped me understand my body, quiet my mind and relate to the world around me.  The Bhagavad Gita, especially studied with others, has had a profound and long lasting effect on me.  

Meet Our Members ~ American Artist Ralph Duncan

Ralph Duncan

Ralph Duncan is an artist in a variety of mediums. He resides in the Pacific Northwest. Please click HERE to learn more about the artist, his artwork, and to read his prior blog posts.

Breathing In the Elements ~ by Marj Ivancic

I have a goal to meditate one day. But that will be no easy feat for me. I’m an introvert, a storyteller, and sadly, a dweller.  I can beat a thought to death, resurrect it, and kill it again with all the skill of a necromancing Van Helsing.

photo courtesy of WillyWoodTeaching

So, knowing that, I’ve decided to start small and focus first on deep breathing. Not only is this a significant part of the meditative practice, it boasts a host of benefits all its own—reducing risk of heart attacks, easing muscle tension, increased energy, etc. And it can be done anywhere, anytime. It doesn’t require a gym membership, special clothes or equipment. Nor do I have to carve out hours of my day to dedicate toward it.

There are many breathing techniques from which to choose, but the one I like best incorporates the four elements: Earth, Water, Air, Fire—the bars and notes that constitute the hymn of Life.

photo courtesy vectorstock.com

EARTH - Inhale through the nose; exhale through the nose
WATER – Inhale through the nose; exhale through the mouth
AIR – Inhale through the mouth; exhale through the mouth
FIRE – Inhale through the mouth; exhale through the nose

As I follow the cycle—three of each of the above for a total of twelve breaths—I focus on what those elements mean to me:

photo courtesy elementalicons.org

EARTH - Not only the dark, rich soil that is the backbone of the natural world but the natural world in its entirety. The full cycle—the seed, the soil, the sun, the rain, the tree, the fruit, back to the seed. It is birth and growth and death. It is a return to, a recognition of, our animal selves.

WATER – The essence of life without which all things would shrivel and die. It is the flow and continuation of our lives, of time. Of the world. The persistence to overcome as a drop of water shapes the rock bed over time.

AIR – The food that feeds our lungs and our heart’s blood. The cleansing breath that blows away the toxins poisoning our bodies and minds. 

FIRE – The light in the dark. The flame at the core of earth that warms us. The heat of our passions both of mind and body as well as spirit. It is our creativity. Our sexuality. The relationships we cherish.

photo courtesy pinterest

While I’m focused on the order of the breath and what the breath represents, I am not thinking about my To Do list, or that conversation that went awry, or that afront taken or given. I’m remembering the most basic of things.  I am free of the clutter that wedges itself between our souls and truth. 

Honestly, I’m not sure I’m doing any of this right. But then again, I’m not sure there is only one right way. Like most things—what works for one person may not work for another.  All I know is that those few minutes of practice give me a respite from my overactive brain, which may one day lead to true meditation.

Whatever Possessed Me to Become a Writer ~ by author Elizabeth Keysian

Apart from writing to the Puffin Club when I was about nine—saying I wanted to be an author, and looking for advice—and producing some awful poetry full of teenage angst, my writing journey really began in 1997.

Some of my inspiration came from all the crushes I’d had (I was a sucker for unrequited love and admiring from afar.) I’d lie awake and picture scenarios where the exalted one would suddenly notice how wonderful I was, and whisk me off to bed/into the sunset/to the altar (depending upon how healthy I was feeling at the time.)

The rest of my need to write resulted from frustration with other authors and script writers. I would read or watch a potential love scene that didn’t play out the way I wanted, so I’d rewrite it in my mind.

Well, that accounts for the romance part of my writing journey. The historical part has always been with me. My father used to take me to castles and museums when I was a child. He had to really, as he was a headteacher and therefore in sole charge of me during school holidays (my mother worked). He also encouraged me to be quiet during these long vacations—I was an only child, with few friends in the village where we lived so I didn’t get out much and was always under his feet. He achieved the calm he needed by burying me in books (mostly published by Puffin, as mentioned above) and providing stacks of blank white paper upon which to write or draw.

I did try the drawing, and managed some passable stuff in pencil, but I was too messy to work with any other medium. Besides, both parents had been to art school, so I had to rebel, and choose writing over art, right?

Sadly, the creativity died when I had to prepare myself for the real

world of university (a history degree, naturally) and the need to earn money, which I did as an archaeologist, an illustrator, a special needs teacher, and a museum professional. The catalyst to start writing again came in 1997 when I moved county for a new job and had to leave my partner behind for six moths while he finished up his own job as archaeologist on a Knights Templar site in Essex, England. Coming home to an empty house each night was making me drink too much of the local beer and eat too much hard goat’s cheese (I have an allergy to cow), so writing was a great distraction. 

The other incentive was that we’d been to Cape Town that summer

to visit family, and I wanted to raise enough money to go again.

I started putting my fantasies and daydreams into words and submitting to Mills and Boon, in hopes of making enough money by the year 2000 for the flights back to Cape Town. I shall pause here, to allow the reader time to laugh at my naivety. Yes, I got some interest from that publisher and was asked to submit several complete manuscripts, but I just couldn’t get the formula right. I now know it was because I fleshed out my stories with too many subsidiary characters. Whoops.

Then came the illnesses, which meant there were long spells of time when I couldn’t write at all. Chronic fatigue in 2000, worsening migraine and chronic daily headaches shortly thereafter, then RSI in both wrists as a result of working too hard on a museum exhibition.  NaNoWriMo kept me going when I was well enough to write, and then I broke my foot. 

Having to sit in a chair all day with your leg propped up can be a bit boring, so I started tapping away on my laptop and trying to finish some of the stories I’d begun. Finally, in 2015, after eighteen years of failing to be published by Mills and Boon, I entered Harlequin’s So You Think You Can Write contest, which operated via the Wattpad platform. Hurrah! People wanted to read my stories! I wasn’t a complete failure! I didn’t qualify in the contest, but I met some awesome fellow writers and learned about pitch contests. 

In 2016, just after losing my job due to the chronic illnesses, I entered several stories into the #PitMad contest and got a bite from Nina Bruhns, senior editor at Entangled Publishing. I went on to publish five books with them, one with Soul Mate Publishing, and a few novellas which are self-published. 

This year I was diagnosed with Hashimoto’s Thyroiditis (an autoimmune disease I’d never heard of before) that can mess up your health quite badly AND I damaged my back, which made writing difficult yet again. But there IS a silver lining—while lying in bed in pain, or unable to move or sleep, you can cook up some pretty stonking plot lines! I’m getting treatment for hypothyroidism now, which has helped a bit, and my hunger for writing is returning. You have been warned, people! There’s life left in this old dog yet!

My latest offering is A TREACHEROUS ENGAGEMENT, Book #2 in the Marry in Haste series, and I’ll be finishing Book #3 and writing Book #4 during this November’s NaNoWriMo. I hope…

If you’ve stuck with me and read the above ramble, thank you. 

**Note: All photos are property of Elizabeth Keysian and may not be reproduced without permission

Bestselling author Elizabeth Keysian adores history and archaeology, and writes romances that give the reader an experience of travelling back in time.

Elizabeth Keysian

She feels very British-despite her Viking ancestry-and loves creating rich backdrops for her stories based on real places and actual experiences. She used to be a re-enactor, so has sampled the living conditions, clothing, and smells of the past. She’s also sampled the food, which was actually pretty good.

Her characters battle their problems with both tears and laughter, but she always guarantees them a Happily Ever After, no matter what she’s put them through.  You may connect with Elizabeth by clicking on the links below.

AMAZON

FACEBOOK

WEBSITE

TWITTER

Happy Birthday Originality by Design! ~ by Joanne Jaytanie and Grace Augustine

Photo Courtesy of YesBirthday

Eighteen months ago, we developed a concept…one that included visionaries, creatives, and those who spend their days immersed in their art. Our goal was to produce a different type of blog. To have daily posts that were interesting and would engage readers to come back day after day.

Hence, the birth of Originality by Design (OBD). One year ago today we went live. Our brainchild was out in the cyber ether for the masses to read. Since November 1st of last year, OBD has had over 37,000 views, along with reviews through text or voice messages. OBD has been fortunate to host many incredible guests ranging from photographers, authors, musicians, and even coffee roasters.

Thinking back to the birth of Originality by Design we were a bit skeptical that it would be well-received and wondered if we would find people who wanted to jump on board as members or guests. Those fears were short lived, thankfully, and as of today OBD hosts an average of eight to ten guests each month plus posts from OBD members.

Without your continual support and encouragement, Originality by Design wouldn’t be as successful as it is. For that, we are deeply appreciative and plan to bring you even more interesting guests and posts in 2020 and beyond.

Joanne Jaytanie and Grace Augustine

Co-Creators/Administrators of Originality by Design 

Encouraging Inspiration to Flourish

Active Members:

Jacquolyn McMurray

Ruth Ross Saucier

Ralph Duncan

Linda Boulanger

Marj Ivancic

Kim Hornsby

Cynthia Land

Kristine Raymond

Darlene Kuncytes

Lexa Fisher

Lori Crecelius Roberts

Chad Elliott

Regular contributors

Jennifer Daniels

Andi Lawrencovna

Minnie Birch

#Originalitybydesign #OBD