Category: meaning in life

meaning in life

Does Life Have A Meaning?

carolyncordon

For some people their family,and caring for them gives a meaning to their life, for others it’s their job, or the work they do when they’re home from work – volunteers. For parents raising their child or children brings meaning to their life …

At various times in our lives we would answer this question differently, and all of those answers could be true, for that particular time. But what does ‘having a meaning’ actually mean? And what does Life mean? Making it to work five days a week, for as long as we have a particular job, is that a life with meaning? Is work an overarching worthy thing for a person to do? Yes, for sure, for some people, with some jobs, that could be true.

For others, work is merely the thing that pays for the important things in their live the things that mean the most to them, the things that bring meaning to their lives. We are all alive, but for some, truly living a life is a dream, and they are merely existing, rather than living. I’ve had a full time job early in my life. I worked as a clerical assistant, going straight from finishing high school, to working in an office in a government department.

At that time, I certainly didn’t feel it gave a meaning to my life. I liked the money, I liked the friends I made at work, but it was only a job, it didn’t feel like it was giving me a meaning in my life. I was existing, and I was learning how to be an adult. The meaning there for me, was to move from child to grown up, and do my work as best I could. No overarching meaning that felt overwhelmingly important.

Then I met the man who became my husband, and we began showing dogs together. For many people, being involved in the dog show world, and breeding dogs gives their life a meaning. They give their all to their dogs, and working their way to the top of the ladder, in Dog Show terms. Becoming a judge, travelling the world to judge the dogs of others, becomes a greater meaning for them. That was never a thing that felt like a thing I wanted to give my all too, and so wasn’t worried when we gave that world away.

Dog showing for some years was a fun thing to do, we made some friends, won ribbons, bred dogs, became friends with some of the people who bought dogs from us, but it wasn’t a thing with meaning for my husband and I. It was fun for a while, but we weren’t upset to give it all away. We had a son, we had other things that were or more interest to us than winning ribbons with our dogs was. Our son, being parents to him, gave us a far more overwhelming meaning to our lives.

Our son has grown up now, and is living his own life. Being a parent is now a different thing, not an overwhelmingly important thing. We succeeded in raising him to be a good person, and he is his own person now, a friend, as well as our son, but not again, not an overwhelming thing in my life, not anymore. Being his mother when he was young certainly was, but is no longer. I’m his mum we love each other, and that’s good, but not huge.

I have other things I do, now, and my writing life grows ever larger for me. Writing, bringing new books into the world, and being involved with others who do the same, that brings meaning to my life. Sharing my words, though my writing, that feels like the meaningful life for me, for sure. Connecting with other people who care about thoughts, and sharing their thoughts through their words, these things feel good, very important things.

And writing now, through this blog, has now stepped up another mark. In the light of the coronavirus, in the shape of Covid-19, we are all now living different lives, lives in Lock Down, or in essential services, when any connection may bring the virus and its consequences into our lives. Having a chronic illness that could potentially mean I may face bigger danger than others, perhaps, has meant I’m taking this isolation seriously, for sure.

But in my isolation, I’ve had more time to think about the important things in life, in my life, and in my thinking, I realised their was a thing I could do, a big thing, that could bring more meaning to my life. I love my life, but is there big thing there, a thing I do that brings greater meaning to my life? Perhaps not, but now, this new thing, could be that thing.

I came up with a phrase, it lit up my brain, and so began my current obsession, that of producing an anthology that looks at the locked in lives and the possibility of being sick from, or dying from Covid-19. The phrase was ‘plague invasion’, and so started this book – “Plague Invasion – Creative Writing Responses to Covid-19”.

But an Anthology needs words, many more than an idea, and a title, and so began my call to the world – send me your words, in the form of poetry and/or prose, and I will consider your words, and make this now book, an exciting relevant and important look at an historic time in the lives of us all, one that will go down in history, to be remembered, and written about further, perhaps referring to the Anthology I will produce and publish.

So if you’d like to become a part of the written history of this time, check out the details about this book here, and we’ll make history together!

meaning in life, New Ideas

Feeling More Open!

carolyncordon

These are very strange times, with the Covid 19 virus wreaking havoc on our lives, and on the economy. Fears of death, having to stay away from each other, not hugs to friends, or even family not living with us. What weird times we’re in …

Not poetry readings in hotels, no book launches in libraries or other venues. No getting together somewhere nice for a writing group meeting. Sure, there are many online options for all of these things, but there are no hugs between friends and peers. No chances to catch nuances in conversations, and body language.

I’ve been feeling quite low, about these things, but today my mind is getting out of that mindset, and I’m looking more outward, outside of the window, up to the sky, which is a beautiful blue, that I so much love to see!

lovely blue sky, with trees

Looking out of my window, seeing what Nature is up to, living, breathing, being, these are still going on. And although there is death happening here, it is only pesky mice getting caught in traps, and that is a normal kind of death that happens at this time of year, when colder nights bring mice inside at night time … Normal.

And having and doing things that are ‘normal’ feels good, because so much of what is happening right now is far from normal. The song from the early eighties by The Specials, is in my head, and the lyrics leaping out when I see and hear the latest restrictions … The governments are doing what they have to do, I guess, but it feels like we’re being punished for being naughty, when we don’t really know what we’ve done wrong …

But sky and trees, and the birds, they’re all keeping on too, doing their normal things, and this lovely Autumns day, mild and only a gentle breeze, but with rain forecast for later in the week, normal weather for this time of the year. And even though the writing group I’m involved with won’t meet up ‘for real’ this afternoon, at the Prince Albert Hotel in Gawler, as is normal, we’ll be meeting up for the second time, online, and will try to conduct a meeting as normally as possible.

Reaching out to others, keeping an eye out, and helping, via the internet, or phone, these are things we do, because we’re all human, even now, when life feels far less ‘humane’. The absence of touch is hard on people who love to hug, or shake hands, clap each other on the back. But we find other ways now, a kind message via email, a comment on Social Media, a blog post such as this one. Reaching out to others, because we’re people, and that is what is natural and normal, for people to do.

I’ll go on thinking about finding normality, and how and why it’s so important, and this afternoon, I’m thrilled that my writing group friends will be there with me, online, and still connected, just without any hugs … People need people. Best wishes to all, struggling through this Ghost Town of a world …

meaning in life, Philosophy

Thoughts of Death Haunt Me

carolyncordon

In these troubling and almost surreal times, I’m finding myself thinking about death, which would be fine, if the deaths were of characters in the Cosy Murder Mystery I’m supposed to be writing. But the deaths are not fictional deaths of some characters in my work-in-progress ‘Winds of Death at Talloola’, instead the deaths are real deaths, as the total of deaths from Covid 19 rise, and rise, and rise …

And there was a death in our house recently, one not caused by plague, but in response to something that sometimes becomes plague-like. It was a mouse, a not yet fully grown mouse, that made the mistake, as mice too often do, of coming into my house, my kitchen, and falling victim to our range of mouse traps.

This mouse fell victim to not just one, but two traps, both at once, and while it pains me, it is also good that it was trapped, and will never again invade my kitchen, possibly spreading disease … I’ve taken the mouse out of the traps, and released the body back to Nature, where other creatures will welcome the carcass, as much as I definitely didn’t welcome the living creature.

Mice are cute as pets, I suppose, but I don’t want them in my house.

There was another death too, this one caused entirely by me, and the guilt I feel is magnified by the esteem in which I hold the creature I killed. I was driving home from a needed visit to pick up something, and a quick visit to see my mother. The car I was driving has cruise control, and I was cruising along, on cruise control, when I saw this creature, but I didn’t slow down quickly enough, and crashed into the magnificent owl standing on the road, too close to where I was headed.

Crash, bang, an explosion of white feathers, and another owl fell victim to man’s most dangerous weapon, the motor vehicle … I’ve looked at some photographs and from what I’ve seen, it was quite likely an adolescent Barn Owl, out at the wrong time, and in the wrong place. There is a little less traffic out and about at the moment, but it only took one car to kill this magnificent bird. My car.

My heart aches, but that is nothing compared to the destruction of this bird’s life … There was going to be a poem written about this, but I am still too shaken about what happened to write that poem. It may remain inside my head forever, and I hope, may make me even more careful, when I drive. Cruise control is great, but I must be the one doing most of the ‘control’, and slow down when I need to …

The Barn Owl is a common bird, all around the world, but that doesn’t lessen this particular owl’s importance. To say I’m sorry is an understatement, but my sorrow, while comforting to acknowledge, does nothing to bring back the life of this bird … I can spread a little knowledge about the bird, and encourage other drivers, as well as myself, to be aware of all of the living creatures on and around the roads, when we are driving, human, animal, and particularly confused owls, who would have been safe at home in their nesting place, not standing on the road in the mid afternoon …

Some information about these owls : https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Barn_Owl/id

Life, in these times of Covid 19 virus-driven deaths, feels even more precious than ever.

Cozy Mystery, meaning in life

From Poet to Writer of Cozy Mysteries?

carolyncordon

OK, so I’m relatively well known, in certain circles, as a poet, with two published poetry collections, and single poems published in various places, as well as a good many unpublished poems written. I like writing poetry!

I also have a first draft of a novel for children, that may never go anywhere, which is a little sad, I think, but not sad enough for me to actually do anything about it, not at the moment, anyway. I also have an unfinished novel, a thriller, that I have decided, just a few days ago, that will never ever be sent to a publisher, and I am not unhappy about that, not at all.

I love my main character (Meredith Webster) from that unfinished novel, and I love my other characters, and I absolutely adore the setting. I just don’t feel the ‘thriller’ genre is one that will work for me, it’s a little bit too much for me, getting the thriller aspects written. It isn’t a genre I’m drawn to as a reader, so the idea of doing it as a writer was probably not a great idea.

I do like murder mysteries though, to read. I started my serious reading life as an eleven or twelve year old lover of Agatha Christie’s cozy murder mysteries, but never thought of writing anything in that genre, until just the other day, when I had a brilliant thought. What about, I thought, I have Meredith, my main character in my thriller, as an amateur detective, solving murders that happen in her little town of Talloola? This feels to me like I have a new meaning in my life!

I did a little bit of study (ie, googled it) and discovered the name of the ideal genre for this, “Cozy Mystery”, and BANG! I had my answer on what to do with my failed wannabee Thriller, and all of the work I’ve already done with it. I have thousands of words written with my main character, other characters, and my setting, and if I can find ways to use them, I won’t have been wasting my time, I’ve simply been exploring my options.

So, at the beginning of this week, I began my proposed new career as a writer of Cozy Mysteries! I’ve got a list of over ten books, with ideas for most of them, and the order of publication organised for the first few books already. I’ve even begun writing the first two books, have planned how many words there will be for each book, how many chapters and how many words in each chapter. This feels like it’s going to work, and I’m excited!

I’ve been an avid reader of Sue Grafton’s Kinsey Millhone series of books, and I’m looking forward to becoming known as Carolyn Cordon, with my series of Meredith Webster books, set in the fictional town of Talloola in the mid north region of South Australia. If this sounds exciting to you, it feels a gazillion times more exciting to me!

I love doing this writing, it flows along easily, and I am so much enjoying my writing of this. I loved doing the little pieces I’ve been doing at my weekly writing group, my friends there were always interested to hear what I was writing using the prompts given at the group, that I would write about, thinking on how they could relate to my thriller main character, and others in that unfinished book.

So now I can think about possible cozy mystery ideas and Meredith from now on, and it will be an easy way to get bits of writing done, with stories fleshed out, and new ideas played with. I’ve change the point of view too – the thriller was in Third Person POV, the cozy thrillers are in First Person POV. I’m very much enjoying pretending I’m an amateur sleuth!

dog pet cute
Photo by Pixabay on Pexels.com

Some of Meredith is like me, some isn’t, but she’s someone I can imagine being friends with. We both love dogs, although she’s never actually had one of her own. She has  special way with them though, and that is an asset in her mystery solving, at times. It also means she has someone to talk through her ideas with, which means the reader, as well as the dog currently with her, can follow her thought processes too, as she works on finding out who done it!

meaning in life, Philosophy

Searching for Your Soul

carolyncordon

Today, I’m a bit excited, because I’m giving a poetry workshop on the theme of searching for your soul. We will look at what the soul is, what it means to those present, and ways it fits or could fit into our lives.

Doing good for ourselves, in materialistic terms is ‘good’ to do, but the good in that is only temporary, and does not much at all for the soul, as far as I see things. It may seem different to others, and of course, we can all see things in different ways.

Living a safe life, with money matters all under control, so that you always have food and shelter, these are certainly important things in life. But that is what animals aim to do every day, we are humans, and surely we have a need to search for more than that?

That is where the search for the soul comes into things, as far as I see it. The soul, higher purpose, raison d’etre or however you refer to it, that takes you much higher than mere animal level of existence, into the more thinking levels of being, into ideas of more Spiritual leanings. These are the things I expect we will be talking and writing about today.

I have another workshop with the same community group next month, which if it goes as I plan, we will be looking at the words we write today, and turn them into absolutely perfect poetry, meaningful and magical!

Finding words, talking about things, writing things down, these are the first stages in the writing of meaningful poetry, and of course if your theme is ‘Searching for your soul’, you would expect much of meaning to be written about for the session.

20190901_124204

The process of editing words into something better, that is where mere words can become literature. Using poetic devices such as assonance, alliteration, rhyme, simile, metaphor and such things, this is what can turn initial words into fine poetry.

Helping other people to do this, that surely is a part of my own raison d’etre! Helping others to turn the everyday and ordinary into more meaningful and important things, finding the soul, examining ways to do the best possible thing in life, these are surely what every person should be working toward? I thing so, and I’d love to know how you feel about these things. Please leave a comment, we can discuss these higher matters here.