Daily Prompt on WordPress ~ 2nd JANUARY 2016 ~ NOW

Take Care
When you’re unwell, do you allow others to take care of you, or do you prefer to soldier on alone? What does it take for you to ask for help?

HAVE A CARE

by John Yeo

“Take Care” is a fond farewell greeting nowadays as people take their leave of each other. The obvious meaning is to be careful as you proceed onwards in life, carefully avoiding the pitfalls and dangers that can be apparent as you travel the unknown road ahead. “Look after Yourself.”
In the present context to ‘Take Care.’ refers to the way one takes care of oneself, or alternatively should one allow others to take responsibility for their care, in the event of illness or a sudden indisposition. My first inclination would be to look after myself, and allow others to become involved at the very last possible minute. I think the up-to-date method of taking care, is to fight any illness wth the self medication that is available everywhere over any Pharmacy counter. There is much advice available to begin to understand the onset of a minor illness, and fighting on alone is the only way to proceed. However the time to ask for help is when the symptoms do not clear up and fear for your personal health sets in. This is the time to ask for the professional help and advice from the trained medical personnel.

Have a Care!

Daily Prompt on WordPress ~ 18th December 2015 ~ THE ARTIST’S EYE

Posted on Dec 20, 2015 by John Yeo | 9 Comments

The Artist’s Eye
The Artist’s Eye Is there a painting or sculpture you’re drawn to? What does it say to you? Describe the experience. (Or, if art doesn’t speak to you, tell us why.)

Images from the Net

Auguste Rodin’s “The Thinker”

by John Yeo

Wherever or whenever, I have ever seen a reproduction of this incredible work of art, I am entranced. I am sure this is a very allegorical piece of work, full of hidden alternatives. My thoughts are with the mind of the sculptor.
What was in the mind of the sculptor as he constructed this work of art? What was he trying to reveal through the deep concentrated reflection of thought revealed in the face of the subject?
When I ponder on the ponderer and think about the mind that is reflected in the depiction of a mind, set deep in thought. It is difficult not to equate the creative process, reflecting the mind of the creator with the creator of this work of art. Was the sculptor in a creative trance that guided his mind and his hands to portray such an intense reality? The figure of the man has his head bowed resting on his right hand in a position that can only be viewed as deep concentrated thought. One wonders what was actually in the mind of a man who could produce such an incredible piece of work.
In the mundane world of most people’s reality, survival and the normal processes of day-to-day living fill the crevices of an average mind to the exclusion of almost everything else. The dedication required to simply create something as intense and perfect as this amazing work of art must be phenomenal.
To me this represents the complete dedication and incredible mind power that is required to start, build, and complete any complex project or creative accomplishment.
Auguste Rodin’s depiction of a thinker always sets my thinking processes off on a wild stream of thought. I can only begin to guess how other minds are affected by this incredible work of art, that would be like trying to read the mind of a bronze statue that is obviously deep in thought.
According to historical legend Auguste Rodin originally created this statue as part of a much larger piece of work. Apparently the figure was supposed to represent the Italian poet Dante Alighieri thinking about his incredible epical story of Paradise and Inferno.

DAILY PROMPT ~ 2nd SEPTEMBER 2015 ~ ETERNAL LIFE

Posted on Sep 2, 2015 by John Yeo | 2 Comments

Image © Copyright ~ John and Margaret

DAILY PROMPT on Word Press ~ Sept. 1st 2015
Golden Age
If you had to live forever as either a child, an adolescent, or an adult, which would you choose — and why?

~~~~~

ETERNAL LIFE

By John Yeo

Living forever is a very wide, frighteningly difficult prospect to imagine indeed.
The three categories all raise some very difficult and probably unanswerable questions. My first impulse was to think adult, certainly, but even so this choice raises some very formidable questions.

(1) I will start with the prospect of living forever as a child? The questions leap off the page. Would I forever have the mind of a child? I don’t think so. A steady accumulation of knowledge gleaned from every source would certainly alter the thinking process, the mind surely would develop and grow. Would living forever as a child require the same dependence on adults to shelter, feed and provide for the needs of the everlasting child. As the birth parents would inevitably live for a normal average lifespan, who would take on the responsibility of caring for an everlasting child at their deaths. Then any potential carers would also die and replacements would have to be found continuously through the succeeding generations.
One of the dreams of the idea of living as a child would be the magical world of discovery, a continual living within the dream of fairy tales and exploration. Sadly this could never happen as the magic and the glitter and gloss would soon wear off and I suspect there would always be an adult inside of the person who opted to live life as a child.

(2) I think the prospect of living forever as an adolescent would be even worse than the prospect of living forever as a child. Adolescence is a time of discovery and finding the path through the pitfalls and heartbreaks that one inevitably encounters on the road to adult-hood. A time of falling in love and facing rejection or a long relationship of give and take, ups and downs with the person desired. Adolescence is a time of hard study as the future beckons and the choice of which road to take beckons the young person. Adolescence is a time of discovery of both good and bad experiences. Friends made now are usually friends for life as the young men and women grow up together, sampling and discovering the pitfalls of this world together. The worst aspect of an everlasting adolescence would be the fact that your closest friends would outgrow you, as they made their way into adulthood. I am writing these words in the belief that I would stay with the physical looks and outlook of an adolescent. Sadly my early friends would slowly die as the limits of a natural lifespan took their toll and I would be hampered from making new adolescent friends as my inevitable growing mind wouldn’t allow for the boredom that would ensue by going to college again. Once again as eternity slowly passed, I suspect that I would eventually become an adolescent in name only.

(3) So far, I think most people who have read this far would say then, the answer to the question is obvious. Alas nothing is as easy as it looks, living forever as an adult could be just as frightening and difficult as the other two alternatives, if not more difficult. As one enters adulthood, there is no actual borderline between adolescence and adulthood as many people become adults at very different times in their lives. Some grow up very fast and to some the phase of adulthood comes very slowly perhaps with a nasty shock as new responsibilities become apparent. I will say that an adult is a person who has developed an individual way of life, settled in a chosen career, or not, as fate would dictate. Perhaps they are in a relationship with a spouse or a very good friend, and they have children, or perhaps they are loving and living an individual lifestyle with a circle of firm friends. Now comes the difficult harsh truth, you are going to live forever! Loved ones will die, your children will age and die, your friends will age and die.
I suspect living forever in any of these three stages of life could be the loneliest prospect imaginable.
Unless the whole generation and the following generations were all going to live forever as fully matured people. I am sure that from childhood through adolescence to adulthood is an unalterable natural progression and to be stuck in any one mode would be sadly unnatural.

DAILY PROMPT ~ A WORD WE CAN DO WITHOUT~

Posted on Aug 27, 2015 by John Yeo | 2 Comments

This was written on a very wet rainy afternoon in response to a prompt on Word Press. I suspect the inclement weather influenced my thinking processes.

Image © John Yeo

26th AUGUST 2015 ~ DAILY PROMPT ~ A WORD WE CAN DO WITHOUT~

DAILY PROMPT on WordPress
No, Thank You
If you could permanently ban a word from general usage, which one would it be? Why?

CAN’T

by John Yeo

If I could ban a word from general usage and my very own thought processes it would surely be the word can’t. In my opinion there is no situation or scenario I can think of that can warrant this cop-out.
Can’t, a shortened version of the two words, can and not, abbreviated by the insertion of an apostrophe, is known in grammar as a contraction.
Can’t is used in most people’s vocabulary as an alternative to won’t or a way to get across a polite cop out.
When I am faced with an impossible situation or something that is out of my physical possibilities, I would make the reason quite plain without the use of this irritating word.
For example when asked if I could cross a raging, roaring, rapidly flowing, rock-filled river. Instead of saying, “I’m sorry I can’t!” I would far prefer to say, “No! That is impossible, I am unable to swim.”
To say that one can’t cross this river would be to infer that getting from one side of the river to the other side is impossible. This rules out the use of flight or walking along the river-bank and crossing the river, using the nearest bridge.
When the Jones’s ask us to attend one of their interminably boring tea parties. The response should be. “Not this time, I’m sorry we have another engagement.”
To say that we can’t attend is again to give the impression that our attendance is impossible. We should make it quite clear that attending the tea party is within the bounds of our possible courses of action, but for various reasons we shall be unable to, on this occasion.
The internal use of the word can’t can be a severe drawback in many ways.
The sentence, “I can’t do this,” is to convince yourself that the task is impossible, constant internal references to can’t, is to rule out the attempt altogether and continually convince yourself you are not up to the task in question.
Psychological pressure is brought to bear on your possible courses of action as you are insisting to yourself that the task in hand is impossible because you have internally ruled out any prospect of even attempting it.
“I can’t do this,” seems to suggest that there is no way you will ever be able to tackle the task in hand.
If one were able to insert the word “won’t,” in any situation where the use of “can’t,” has been applied in the past, an incredible clarity would descend on the thought processes as the real reason why many tasks are not getting attempted becomes clear.
This infernal word is responsible for weakening many persons self-resolve, and allowing a huge self-built wall to hide behind, positively reinforcing a feeling of inadequacy and a lack of self-confidence in very many day-to-day situations.
The self-esteem can be severely weakened by contrasting your present situation with the finished product in any form of creativity.
To admire a painting by Van Goff or any number of the Great Masters of art, then to step back and say, “I wish I could paint like that but I can’t,” is to possibly rule yourself out of even attempting to apply paint to a canvas.
To read a great novel or a series of the most beautiful sonnets by one of the greatest writers of all time, then to convince yourself internally that you can’t write poetry or prose like that is to give up the attempt by an impossible contrast.
The greatest hurdle to get over in the race that is run to gain a full, well-rounded self assurance, and a positive attitude to life, is to be aware of the damage that a hidden meaning in an everyday word can inflict on the internal structures that go to make up the thinking processes.
Can’t to me is a four-letter word in every sense of the meaning of a four-letter word. A curse that should banned from the thought processes totally and forgotten.

Five Senses of Wistful Thinking

Posted on Sep 13, 2014 by John Yeo | 2 Comments

FIVE SENSES OF WISTFUL THINKING

By John Yeo

SIGHT~SOUND~SMELL~TASTE~TOUCH

What do you want most in the world?
The sage old Guru asked, when I met him for lunch in the college refectory.
I pondered for a few seconds, my mind racing over the many possible answers to his question.
I began to think and value the things I already have. My lovely wife and our happy relationship, our simple lifestyle that we already value so much
Our family, I would want them all to be very healthy and happy in their unique individual ways. Good health for the rest of our lives would come top of the list for both Margaret and myself. Enough to eat and an absence of thirst would also be there, along with the peace of mind that comes with freedom from worry and stress. The peace that comes from valuing one another and respecting each others opinion and point of view, would certainly be there sharing the top spot of any answer to a most wanted requirement from life.

SIGHT~ Globally, I would like to see, Peace all over the world. Nations living side-by-side, with freedom from fear. Accepting each other in friendship. An impossible dream? Perhaps.

SOUND~ I would like to hear the silence, following the fiinal cessation of the bombing of the innocents. Then the birds singing the dawn chorus in Spring.

SMELL~ I would like to smell the scented Spring flowers in my garden and the smell of a newly mowed lawn. Masking the imagined stench of death and bloodshed, that is the present reality in many parts of the world.

TOUCH~ I would like to feel and touch the raindrops, falling on our skin as we drink the fresh water from a Spring shower. Washing away the fear of sudden death from war or sickness or famine.

TASTE~ I would relish the taste of very cold clear fresh water that has flowed from a mountain stream to nourish the earth. Then the taste of the fruits and food that spring from the clear refreshing rain. I would taste the salt in the tears that are shed for the lack of understanding in this world where many people go hungry and die of thirst.

What do I want most in this world?~

EQUALITY IN THE PEACE OF FAITH ~THE HOPE THAT THINGS CAN ONLY GET BETTER FOR ALL

ART EXHIBITION POETRY AND PROSE

Posted on Jul 13, 2014 by John Yeo | Leave a comment

We attended the Cley Arts Exhibition with our Creative Writing Group~Here are my thoughts.

https://docs.google.com/document/d/15adn0iVlBp50X4CXn6G2XzLIp8pnZQK9EbmN-QjKRsE/edit?usp=docslist_api

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26	27	28	29	30	31

	John Yeo on Spring Flowers
	John Yeo on Just Because
	ladyleemanila on Just Because
	notestowomen on Spring Flowers
	John Yeo on HAPPINESS

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Category Archives: General

Daily Prompt on WordPress ~ 2nd JANUARY 2016 ~ NOW

NOW

Oh! No, please go away you lazy old crow, leave the straw in my body alone. I refuse to become part of your nest. There are two of them now pecking away and stealing my stuffing to breed. Help! Leave me alone. you crazy vermin it’s a good job scarecrows don’t bleed.

Daily Prompt on WordPress ~ 18th December 2015 ~ TAKE CARE