Does your room have a view?

A room with a view

that has no window

A heart filled with love
that no one seems to want

A worthy cause
that no one is fighting for

A splendid rainbow
that no one is seeing

A moment of happiness
that no one is witnessing

The success of a lifetime
that no one shares with you

The greatest idea
that no one is supporting

A room with a view
if you only break the walls down
to see through


(c) Mindful Mimi - August 2010
Thanks to Sunday Scribblings for triggering this post with their VIEW prompt. 

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Deep summer is when laziness finds respectability. ~Sam Keen

SUMMER

Soft feel of a hot breeze
Seasoned smell of barbecued food
Gentle touch of naked feet in the grass

Summer is here.

Flower prints of girl's dresses
Colorful crowds lingering on terraces
Daily activities transferred to the outdoors

Summer is here.

Juicy fruit and cool drinks
Green lawn slowly turning yellow
Thunderclouds building at the horizon

Summer is here.

Delightful splashing in the pool
Endless lingering in a hammock
Lazy reading books and dozing off

Summer is here.


Thanks to Weekend Wordsmith for the Summer prompt.

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“To get through the hardest journey we need take only one step at a time, but we must keep on stepping” -- Chinese proverb

The Journey

One day you finally knew
what you had to do, and began,
though the voices around you
kept shouting
their bad advice—
though the whole house
began to tremble
and you felt the old tug
at your ankles.
“Mend my life!”
each voice cried.
But you didn’t stop.
You knew what you had to do,
though the wind pried
with its stiff fingers
at the very foundations,
though their melancholy
was terrible.
It was already late
enough, and a wild night,
and the road full of fallen
branches and stones.
But little by little,
as you left their voices behind,
the stars began to burn
through the sheets of clouds,
and there was a new voice
which you slowly
recognized as your own,
that kept you company
as you strode deeper and deeper
into the world,
determined to do
the only thing you could do—
determined to save
the only life you could save.

~Mary Oliver

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Life isn't a matter of milestones but of moments - Rose F. Kennedy

Milestone

An important point in your journey
a deadline not to be missed
a project's go or no go decision
a marker on the road in the mist.

The happiest day in your life
your wedding, your child's birth
the saddest of days it can be too
showing you what it's all worth.

Some of the stones you plant yourself
some are put in place by others
reaching them can become quite a battle
often creating strong bands of brothers.

A stone every mile along the road
to tell you where you are heading
and if you decide to take a different turn
does that mean you're in for some tough sledding?

A milestone is a reference point
of value only to those
who know what it's referring to
they reach it and can repose.

Some of those stones become a burden
to reach, get rid of or try to displace
what if we ignored them and went on our way
to explore all corners of life's beautiful maze?


(c) Mindful Mimi - February 2010

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Laugh a lot, and when you're older, all your wrinkles will be in the right places

Laugh, and your day will be brighter,
laugh, and your burden will be lighter.

Laugh, and make it contagious,
laugh, and become courageous.

Laugh, and the pain becomes bearable,
laugh, and anything is wearable.

Laugh, deep down from your belly,
laugh, till your legs turn to jelly.

Laugh, and tell something funny,
laugh, and don't worry about money.

Laugh, and create joy around you,
laugh, and touch if only a few.

Laugh, and create an instand bond,
laugh, and even pygmies will respond.

Laugh, and if you don't remember how,
click here and it will teach you now.

Laugh, and if you need some inspiration,
laugh, and try this anti-frustration.


(c) Mindful Mimi - December 2009

Thanks to Weekend Wordsmith for triggering this post with their Laugh prompt.

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In nature, nothing is perfect and everything is perfect. Trees can be contorted, bent in weird ways, and they're still beautiful -- Alice Walker

WEIRD

From his birth they knew something was off,
the doctor said so with an irritating cough.

He was slower than other kids his age,
he could so easily work himself into a rage.

His mother told him she loved him every day,
trying to keep others' harsh comments at bay.

When he grew up kids would make fun of him,
saying 'you're weird' and pushing him at the gym.

He talked slowly and walked in a funny way,
hence becoming everyone's easy prey.

They sent him away to live in a special place,
where he was allowed to move at his own pace.

There were other kids who thought he was funny,
making the new place suddenly seem sunny.

'Am I weird?' he asked his teacher after a while,
'Weird and wonderfully beautiful.' she said with a smile.

(c) Mindful Mimi - December 2009

Thanks to for prompting this poem on the theme of Weird.

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Departed

Is it the time of year?
Or why is death so near?

Leaves are falling,
the earth is calling.

The sun is not bright anymore,
rain and fog have the winning score.

The trees look faint,
there is no color to paint.

Those who are sick get weak,
prognosis seems bleak.

Leaves fall and return in spring,
people go and just leave an empty swing.

It balances with each souvenir,
of the person we have held so dear.

A moment spent happy with laughter,
never to be forgotten thereafter.

(c) Mindful Mimi - November 2009

Thanks to for prompting this poem on the theme of Departed.

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Art is a mould in which to imprison for a moment the shining elusive element which is life itself -- Willa Sibert Cather

Happiness is a concept so elusive
that many a search for it is inconclusive.

Happy moments can show their faces
in a subtle instant, in many places.

Those who recognize the fleeting seconds
notice they happen more often than one reckons.

Those who are able to add them all up
little by little fill their happiness cup.

Ending the day with a list of gratitude
will slowly but surely change your attitude.

(c) Mindful Mimi - October 2009

Thanks to for prompting this poem on the theme of Elusive.

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In Summer the song sings itself - William Carlos Williams

I went running through the woods yesterday and nature just looked so inspiring that I had to write it down...


August ending

How dark it gets in the woods on the shadow side of the hill
A fresh breeze of air and how it makes your skin feel

The leaves next to you are moving but you don’t feel the wind through the heat
The earthen smell of summer ending makes your heart skip a beat

A clear blue sky and a playful wind tousles the cornfield
Look at those trees and all the fruit they yield!

The sunshine through the leaves draws a kaleidoscope of color
It makes the forest look so much taller

The pretty spectacle makes you want to say thank you
You feel like hugging a tree and then you just do


(c) Mindful Mimi - August 2009

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Love the questions

Have patience with everything unresolved in your heart
and try to love the questions themselves ...

Don't search for the answers,
which could not be given to you now,
because you would not be able to live them.

And the point is, to live everything.

Live the questions now.

Perhaps then, someday far in the future,
you will gradually, without even noticing it,
live your way into the answer.

-- Rainer Maria Rilke

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There she sat...

There she sat, on the slide
looking for a place to hide

an adult among children at play
yet a child around grownups she'd stay.

She felt very often sad
and most of the time just mad

at the world and everyone
she couldn't remember when happiness had gone.

She wanted to do so much
conquer the world and such

her diary full of imagination
searching for some sort of salvation.

Confused and scared around boys
they were mainly just a lot of noise

a refuge in books she would find
allowing her to leave the world behind.

There she sat on the slide
Remembering the tears she'd cried

when she was just a young girl
trying hard to find her whirl

(c) Mindful Mimi - May 2009

***
Prompt 'There she sat' from Pictures, Poetry and Prose
Picture by AVR

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Don't underestimate the value of Doing Nothing, of just going along, listening to all the things you can't hear, and not bothering - Winnie the Pooh

Photo by Rachmaninoff

LISTENING

Lying on the couch
in a silent, darkened living room
my body fights the flu

Trying to sleep
dozing off into a subconscious state
my mind seeking rest

Brain switched off
children taken care of by the grandparents
the house is silent

But I hear something
birds singing joyfully outside
I imagine the sun

A car passes on the road
a string of sound from left to right
I cannot see, but it is there

The computer buzzes
the wind brushes through the hedge
the wooden roof aches

It is amazing
the sounds you hear when you close your eyes
and start really listening

(c) Mindful Mimi - April 2009

Thanks to for prompting this poem on the theme of Listening.

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Fragments came floating into his mind like bits of wood drifting down a stream, and he fished them out and fitted them together- Elizabeth Gray Vining

“Creativity is a lot like looking at the world through a kaleidoscope. You look at a set of elements, the same ones everyone else sees, but then reassemble those floating bits and pieces into an enticing new possibility -- Rosabeth Moss Kanter

I have been writing since I was a little girl. I even wrote a book when I was 14 and sent it to publishers. It got refused for various reasons. I always thought those pages were in my parent's attic, waiting for me to be old enough to revisit them.

I was unable to find that manuscript again.

So before loosing the poems I have written lately, I decided to put them together in a little booklet which you can now buy here:

FLOATING

By POEMS by Miranda ...

Book Preview

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Consider this...

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The next thing to saying a good thing yourself, is to quote one -- Ralpho Waldo Emerson

Today I found a little booklet full of interesting quotes from blogger on Tinkerbell's site.
If you click on the image below it should start downloading the pdf file.


It not only gives you interesting quotes, but also lets you discover some mindful blogs.
Happy reading.

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Show me a man who cannot bother to do little things and I'll show you a man who cannot be trusted to do big things - Lawrence D. Bell

The Little Things

Mary Dawson Hughes

It really is the little things
That mean the most of all...
The "let me help you with that" things
That may seem very small
The "I'll be glad to do it" things
That make your cares much lighter,
The "laugh with me, it's funny" things
That make your outlook brighter...

The "never mind the trouble" things,
The "yes, I understand,"
The interest and encouragement
In everything you've planned
It really is the little things,
The friendly word or smile,
That add such happiness to life
And make it more worth while.

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In order to act, you must be somewhat insane. A reasonably sensible man is satisfied with thinking -- George Clemenceau

Working on a dream

I am working on a dream:
it is sensible,
not ostensible.

I am working on a dream:
which makes sense
to make compensable.

I am working on a dream:
it is significant,
not dispensable.

I am working on a dream:
it is perceptible,
but hard to reach.

I am working on a dream.
I am sensible:
satisfied with thinking.

I am working on dream:
which I have to wake up from
in order to be insane enough
to make it come true.


Working on a dream by Bruce Springsteen

Poem and image (c) Mindful Mimi - January 2009

Thanks to Weekend Wordsmith for triggering this post with their Sensible prompt. And thanks to The Boss for helping us dream.

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Philosophy - A Guide to Happiness

Happiness is like a butterfly;

the more you chase it,
the more it will elude you,

but if you turn your attention to other things,
it will come
and sit softly on your shoulder

-- Henry David Thoreau


Today I want to share this video with you on philosopher Epicurus' view on happiness.
According to him we don't know what we need.
We only needs three things to be happy: Friends, Freedom and An Analysed Life.
He also explains why shopping does not make us happy...




This video is part of a six part series on philosophy presented by popular British philosopher Alain de Botton, featuring six thinkers who have influenced history, and their ideas about the pursuit of the happy life.

In the same series:

Socrates on Self-Confidence
Seneca on Anger
Montaigne on Self-Esteem
Shopenhauer on Love
Nietzsche on Hardship

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It is rewarding to find someone you like, but it is essential to like yourself - Jo Coudert

It is rewarding to find someone you like, but it is essential to like yourself. It is quickening to recognize that someone is a good and decent human being, but it is indispensable to view yourself as acceptable. It is a delight to discover people who are worthy of respect and admiration and love, but it is vital to believe yourself deserving of these things.

For you cannot live in someone else. You cannot find yourself in someone else. You cannot be given a life by someone else. Of all the people you will know in a lifetime, you are the only one you will never leave or lose.

To the question of your life, you are the only answer. To the problems of your life, you are the only solution.

- Jo Coudert

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We wander for distraction, but we travel for fulfillment - Hilaire Belloc

DISTRACTIONS

SEE

Through the slits of my eyes

I see diffraction

fringes of light and dark

flood in as distraction

TOUCH

Muscles in my body

thicken into contraction

when you touch my skin

immediate distraction

HEAR

Trying to concentrate

my ears pick up a fraction

of conversations around

a welcome distraction

TASTE

Someone is talking to me 

I'm in a state of inaction

chocolate in my mouth

melts into distraction

SMELL

Thinking of tomorrow

something triggers reaction

the smell of cut grass

grows into distraction

(c) Mindful Mimi - December 2008

Thanks to  for prompting this poem on the theme of Distractions.

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