Category: Writing and blogging

25 October 2021 Planting Seed

by saymber, posted in Art and Poetry, Leading Life by Example, Nature, Spirituality and Religion, Veteran Affairs, Writing and blogging

Hello there! How are you? It’s gray and wet this morning but I managed to get a mile in. The air smells so good. Most of the trees have lost their leaves and everywhere is red, orange and gold.

So this morning I asked for a topic and my mind was clear enough to hear the answer. It was planting seed. Not the kind of seed you plant in the dirt but the kind of seed you plant in another’s spirit. It’s the feeling of warmth you get right in the center of you when you have an idea. For example watching drum circle videos and how to make drums planted a seed in me to try and start a Meetup group. Every time I think of what could potentially happen I get a warm feeling in my chest. The seed planted in me by others is growing!

A long time ago I was taught by my Quantum Touch teacher “ that if it ain’t light it ain’t right!” Meaning if you are doing something and your heart is not centered in your chest like if you feel it in your throat or stomach, chances are something isn’t right! We each have a way to check in with ourselves to see if we are where we are supposed to be. Sometimes seeds are passed on to us just to be stored… to be carried to the right person.

The trees teach so much. Back in Texas there was a cottonwood tree that used to put out tons of seed every year. The seed went everywhere and got into everything! To many it was a nuisance. After I got over being annoyed I started to see something. Very little of the trees seed actually landed on fertile soil but that didn’t stop the tree from putting out so much seed. Each of us could be like that cottonwood but so many of us just give up on our dreams….the fertile soil is just so overgrown and crowded! You see this especially in the worlds of the arts. It’s so hard to break through the soil and get noticed. Like I’ve talked about in a previous blog about niches.

“Oh to do what makes us glow! That feeling of being right where God wants you to be. There really isn’t another feeling quite like actually being able to bloom where your planted. “

24 October 2021 Tiny Drum

by saymber, posted in Home, Music, Spirituality and Religion, Veteran Affairs, Writing and blogging

Hi there! I couldn’t wait til tomorrow to tell you about the new addition to my home! My drum arrived just a few minutes ago and boy was I surprised . My new drum is tiny!!

My tiny drum

It’s tiny but makes a great sound. I can imagine playing it shoulder to shoulder with bigger drums. It was kind of a mess when I unwrapped it – covered with dust but I was able to get most of it cleaned off.

The other exciting thing that happened today was I bit the bullet and started the Meetup group. It’s called Connect Middleton Idaho. I planted a seed and hopefully it will bear good fruit. Part of me is really nervous about it but I feel it in my heart. In my heart this feels like the path God wants me to go.

All of this is me trying to find myself again. Thank you for taking this journey with me .

24 October 2021 Sunday

by saymber, posted in dreams, Home, Leading Life by Example, Money, Nature, Spirituality and Religion, Veteran Affairs, Writing and blogging

Hello there! How are you? As I write to you it’s gray and wet. We are getting some much needed rain. I took some extra Vitamin D this morning to help out with SAD (seasonal affective disorder). I just want to hibernate like a big ol grizzly when the seasons change. It’s dark by 7 pm right now and the lights don’t really come back on til around 8 am!

So I’m hoping my drum arrives today. A friend of mine said his Amazon delivery hasn’t showed up . It was supposed to be at his place yesterday. I imagine this is the supply chain problem?!! It would be nice if they let people know there was a delay! A positive side to the delay is it gives me more time to think about things!

I had trouble falling asleep last night. I kept hearing drums in my head! I kept imagining the lawn chairs on my porch being filled with people playing a drum or some other musical instrument . Then my thoughts got bigger. They expanded out to seeing a group of people meeting at one of our local parks. I could see a community of like minded souls praising God together outside or inside if there was a place to do it.

“Start small. If you grow too big too fast you’ll fall.”

Is this a God thing? When your someone like me you have to be careful that passions aren’t just mania manifesting itself. I don’t want to plant this seed, in this case put money down to start a Meetup Group, and then lose interest. Judging by the fact there aren’t any groups for Middleton I’m nervous that I’m not going to reach the people here. I guess this is a time for faith. A belief in what can’t be seen. If this is God at work I have nothing to worry about and just have to practice what I preach! Patience!!

23 October 2021 Patience

by saymber, posted in Art and Poetry, drawing, Leading Life by Example, Music, Spirituality and Religion, Writing and blogging

Good morning – least that’s what it is here. How are you? I’m sitting here with a cold cup of coffee thinking about the word that came to me on the morning walk. It was patience.

“Adopt the pace of nature; her secret is patience. “ Ralph Waldo Emerson

Patience has never been one of my strong suites! Especially when it comes to waiting for God. I will talk to God about something and more times than not expect an answer right away and that’s just not how things work . There are so many pieces that have to move to answer a prayer! Like for instance what I have been talking about with starting a meetup group in my town. Even if I pay the money to start the group there is no guarantee people will just magically appear! It could take months or even more before even one person signs up. How much patience do I have? I’m not sure if people in my town even know Meetup exists! Will anyone here want to play a drum?

All I can do is try!

Will anyone join me ?

“Little drummer girl blowing in the wind, where does this journey end when it has yet to begin? Take your drum and play a beat trust in God new souls to meet. The lonely days will soon pass away for just how long only you can say. Be patient drummer girl your on the path to new days. You will soon be shoulder to shoulder where everybody plays .”

22 October 2021 Baby Steps

by saymber, posted in Music, Writing and blogging

Hi. It’s me again. I’ve been doing some thinking about the drum circle idea. I watched a few videos like this one that talks about how to facilitate a drum circle: https://youtu.be/aIkPn6FPpGE

A friend of mine suggested the meetup group idea again. Just invite people to show up at a local park with their instrument. I liked that idea but we would probably have to wait until spring and summer to do that unless there was some other place to meet! It gets pretty cold here!

Baby steps……. Drum ordered….check!

I also watched several videos today of actual drumming circles. When you hear the sound of drums you can’t help but want to dance. I saw one done in Garden of the Gods and wished I could be there. That was one of my favorite places to visit when I lived in Colorado Springs: https://youtu.be/DBtopjy46Mw

Gradually something is manifesting. Currently there are no meetup groups for my town. They are primarily in Boise which is our largest city. I am currently wrestling with the idea of being the first to want to try and get something going in Middleton. Do I want the responsibility?!

What I like about the idea of a drum circle is you don’t have to read music to participate. I am going to try and learn some of the patterns but no matter where I’m at I can join. What I noticed in the videos I watched is the range of ages participating. You have little kids to seniors that play. I really like this idea. It makes me warm inside to think of meeting with like minded people in one of our parks and having a jam session!

I’ll keep you posted. Like I said something is manifesting and it’s going to be good!

I would love to hear from you if you have ever been part of a drum circle or have organized one.

22 October 2021 Drum Circle

by saymber, posted in Bipolar life, Home, Mental Health, Writing and blogging

Hello from Middleton Idaho! How are you doing today? I’m feeling pretty good. I got the grocery shopping done early and that was interesting. It looks like our Ridleys is doing some changes. All the greetings cards were removed and also the section of the store where you scoop your own stuff was dismantled. I found everything I was looking for minus jugs of drinking water – there was only one left! Today is an overcast day. They say it’s going to rain and I hope it does. My car is filthy!!

Have you ever played a drum?

So I did something special today. I ordered a drum to replace the one I broke. It’s a Djembe drum: https://youtu.be/aLeede5z1vQ – this is a video about how these drums are made. It’s not an expensive drum. I’ll see how it sounds. It should be here Sunday – it was in stock. I have this reoccurring thought of getting people together to play music or even just a drum circle. These thoughts stem from some fond memories I have of a Christmas solstice gathering I had many years ago with my “tribe.” A part of me knows what we had was once in a lifetime but who knows! I took a step today towards trying to manifest a reality I want to live in. You can’t have a drum circle without a drum! I want a circle of friends again and I’m hoping it can happen. I’ll be sure to take a picture of the drum when I get it.

So who were these friends I had that meant so much to me? Who was my “tribe?”They were not the kind of people you would meet here in Idaho. It was a surprise to meet them in Texas which is also a conservative state! One did acupuncture out of her home, another was a hospice nurse, one was a massage therapist, one was a co-founder of a place called The Earth School and one was a teacher of Philosophenoma. There was also a woman who taught the energy modality Quantum Touch . I found this group through the acupuncturist. I’ll never forget the day we met – her smile! She did an acupuncture treatment on both my husband and I. It was the first time either of us had experienced that! From that day a friendship was born but sadly we are no longer in touch . My friendships with these people were a casualty of my being bipolar – the stuff I talked about in my blog yesterday. We lived in Texas for 12 years and for the last 4 or 5 I was in and out of the hospital for mania. It was for this group of friends I had bought my original drum.

As cutting edge as my friends were, they couldn’t handle my manic episodes. During one of my episodes I was convinced Alvarado, where I was living, was going to blow up. I made my husband pack up our animals and go over to the acupuncturists home. She really didn’t know what to do. I think she felt sorry for my husband. Like I said stuff like this kept happening! I lost my husband and most of my friends because of this condition. I can’t blame them for leaving me.

So now I am mostly alone. A dog without a pack. The friends I have now are mostly virtual. Part of me is afraid to reach out again. If I get close to people will I go manic again? One of my triggers is spiritual stuff. I was trying to get certified in the energy healing modality called Quantum Touch. I attended a couple classes and a lot of strange experiences came out of that – strangely wonderful. I actually helped people! But it was fleeting. I needed the second class to get certified and just wasn’t willing to fly to another state to get the class done. The experiences I had kind of went to my head. May be it’s good I didn’t get certified- especially if it was going to trigger me .

God has a place for me. May be this drum will be a fresh start. I know I’ve run a bit long today. Thank you for your time.

21 October 2021 Labels

by saymber, posted in Bipolar life, Health, Mental Health, Spirituality and Religion, Veteran Affairs, Writing and blogging

Hello! How are you today? It’s another crisp fall day. Many of the trees in our neighborhood have lost their leaves. A few have resisted and are vibrant shades of red and gold yet. My sidekick Link is here beside me. I’m so grateful for him.

Labels. I have them.

I am 53 years old and have been a product of the mental health system since about 1991. My primary diagnosis, the primary label is that I’m bipolar. If you are unfamiliar with that term it’s basically having high highs and low lows and the battle is to keep things in the middle or balanced. The primary medication I take is lithium. I’ve tried a lot of other drugs but they didn’t work. The other part of my particular label is anxiety and I take zyprexa for that.

This condition has really fucked my life up.

Something that happens to a bipolar person is what’s called episodes. We can get manic or really high and there really isn’t any reasoning with us. For me I got it in my head that I didn’t want to be on medication anymore. The past couple of years I was manic (high) and refused to take medication and be admitted to a hospital. There was a terrible price to be paid for that- my family was torn apart. I ended up losing my husband, one of my dogs and my house. Something similar happened to my first marriage.

So the common theme of my episodes was the spirit world. This last time I thought I was channeling spirits. People like me are vulnerable to these sorts of things. I wonder if my faith had been stronger if that sort of thing would of happened . There are energy forces at work in all directions. I felt like I was a play thing of these energies. I would get extremely angry. For about two months I was channeling a Joker like energy. It was exhausting because such an energy could see every side to an argument – it just went on and on! During one of my earliest episodes I thought I was Jesus! I guess that sort of thing is common with people like me .

I have been medically retired from the Air Force since 16 Sept 2002. I have not had a job since then. I have done volunteer work but it almost always ended up in a manic situation.

I’m sharing this part of myself to may be help someone else who is either like me or has someone like this in their life and they don’t know what to do.

https://youtu.be/snI9ggCp5xE – Bipolar wars channel on you tube

20 October 2021 Temple Grandin

by saymber, posted in animals, books, history, In the News, Leading Life by Example, Mental Health, Science (Keshe Foundation and other innovations), trust, Writing and blogging

Hello. How is your day going? Today I got to see a current interview with someone I admire a lot – Temple Grandin: https://youtu.be/mycMFcrJ3po. She has a new book out to help parents with autistic children. If you haven’t seen the movie about her life this clip gives you an idea of what it was like. It was really good: https://youtu.be/YeWks6cgJ-k.

My blog used to be As I See It. What’s interesting about that is during one of my hospital stays I found Temples book with a similar title! I had never heard of Temple before . After I learned more about her, I began to think of her on the same scale as Nikola Tesla. She is a rare human being who has managed to do such great things with what many would refer to as a disability. Temple has proven beyond a shadow of a doubt that she is far from disabled!

Temple is someone I would love to meet. She seems to have a real strong sense of her identity and what she wants out of life. I imagine she’s the sort of person that would give somebody like me a swift metaphorical kick in the pants! You don’t get to be who she is sitting on the back burner.

If your interested to learn more about Temple there are a bunch of videos like I found on YouTube and she has written a bunch of books namely on the subject of autism. Her latest book is Navigating Autism 9 Mindsets for helping kids on the spectrum.

20 October 2021 Niche

by saymber, posted in Art and Poetry, drawing, Leading Life by Example, Money, Writing and blogging

Hello! How are you today? I didn’t want to get out of bed this morning. It’s real windy here. The clouds are playing with the leaves. It’s really quite magical to watch.

“When someone tells you to “find your niche,” they mean you should find the very specific activity or position that sets you apart and in which you can find success or fulfillment. … Much less commonly, niche can be used as a verb meaning to place something in this kind of niche.”

When I asked what I should write about this word came to mind. Lately I’ve been watching a lot of YouTube videos on how to make things . What I’ve noticed is when a particular video gets a lot of views there will be a bunch of other people who come behind trying to do the exact same thing. You see this in our economy too. It’s not enough that Crayola makes chalk and writing instruments. A bunch of other companies have to make them too and usually on the cheap.

“To each there is a message and a messenger.”

My niche has always been drawing and writing. Both over saturated worlds. I have been doing these things ever since I was like 4 of 5 years old when I would write short stories for my classmates. I used to spend hours drawing portraits and writing poems. Sadly in many ways I have regressed in my niche. I’m not as good as I should be by this stage of my life. I think it’s because I have never done what I do for a living. Nothing or no one has pushed me to be better.

I think we are all looking for our niche. Where do I belong? How do I fit into this complex puzzle of existence? Some people actually find it and lead fulfilled lives and others of us keep puttering along trying to find it. I believe a lot of people never find their niche or find it but haven’t the ways and means to break through and be seen. There are some who are seen and can’t handle what breaking through entails. There is a loss of self. There is a loss of the purity of why the niche began in the first place. From my own personal experience, money can taint a niche.

I am hoping, God willing, that I always will have my mental and physical faculties to be able to write and draw. Even if I reach just one other person I’ve accomplished something. It is validation enough that my particular flavor of niche is worth something. You will laugh but some days the only person reached is my own self! “What the hell is she going on about today?!!”

19 October 2021 Comfort Zone

by saymber, posted in animals, Bipolar life, Health, Home, Mental Health, Writing and blogging

Hello to you. How’s your day been? My day has been long. I am happy though. Mr. Link was willing to take an afternoon stroll with me without much resistance. My knees didn’t ache either!

So today I got a call from my doctors office to reschedule my appointment. The kicker is he won’t do it via telehealth so I have to go in to the office! So that means I have to drive there.

Those of you that know me know I don’t like to drive. Driving in Middleton where I live is no big deal but once you have to venture out to Nampa and Caldwell things get stinky! So I have been forced out of my comfort zone with this. It’s good for me even if I don’t like it!

Why don’t I like to drive? Part of it is the accident I had this past Christmas and part of it is well before that. My husband used to do all the driving to my appointments and stuff. I got really used to that. When he left me last January my whole world turned upside down . I started having panic attacks when I had to drive places. Sometimes I had to be talking to a family member on the phone just to get to the grocery store. Things have gotten a lot better since I moved here but I still have a long ways to go! There is a lot of baggage wrapped up in what some think is the simple act of driving.

Part of leaving my comfort zone with driving is leaving my Link at home by himself. For some reason it’s stuck in my head “what if I don’t make it home?” I have had a problem with leaving animals home alone for as long as I’ve had pets which is most of my adult life. Cats were by far the easiest! They are so much more self sufficient. You can’t leave a dog alone for more than a day before you are going to come home to a mess! Worrying about Link does sometimes keep me from doing things.

Do you have a comfort zone? Is there a line inside of you that you don’t like to cross? For me it’s oftentimes a visceral thing. There are physical feelings involved. For example I will get hyper aware and feel like my eyes are separated from my body. I will have like an out of body feeling! What’s frustrating is I don’t feel like I have control over it. Someone will suggest something that is out of my comfort zone and that feeling will come. It didn’t used to be like this for me!

If anything here resonates I would love to hear from you !