Tag: Philosophy

inspiration, poetry, Story Ideas

My Next Book

carolyncordon

My next book is with the Publisher (Ginninderra Press), and it’s out now!  The book, “Angles on Ankles” proves to me, yet again, that writing about the less than lovely things that are in our lives, can give widespread interest to readers, and that has to be a good thing, right? Right!

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This book is a chap book, a small collection of poems I wrote after I recently broke my right ankle. I fell over, breaking two bones in the ankle. An ambulance took me to one hospital for treatment, then I went to another hospital, for more treatment for a day or so, and then I went, by ambulance again to a third hospital, where I had my ankle operated on, and fixed.

While I was in hospital a friend gave me a small notebook (many thanks Laura), and I wrote a couple of poems about my broken ankle experience. Then once I was home, and having to keep zero weight on my right ankle, I spent lots and lots of time sitting around, with my right foot up, and healing.

There are 21 poems in this book (more really, but I’m including the page of Senryu, as just one poem). So even though a writing friend didn’t think there was that much to write about breaking your ankle, I’ve certainly proved him wrong! I forgive him though, and have invited him (John Malone), to launch this book for me!

In this little collection, I mention pain, gratitude, friends, things that happened, or things I saw or was a part of during this time, as well as my thoughts about the whole process. When you have to sit and you’re unable to do much because you’re not supposed to put any weight at all on your broken ankle, it gives you lots of time to think.

And think I certainly did. I was fortunate, that my pain has been minimal, apart from the extreme pain when I fell over and did the actual breaking part of this drama, that was the worst pain I’ve ever felt. Once the ambulance and medical people got involved though, zero pain.

I was given extreme pain relief at the very start of all of this, when my ankle was initially treated, to get the ankle back into its proper position, and then after that at the hospitals, I was given medication so I could be comfortable, and pain free. Once I came home, I had the pain medication I picked up at the last hospital I attended, all good and all pain free now.

Some of these things are in this book, “Angles of Ankles”, and I hope I get many sales, and many hugs too, from people who want to have a copy of “Angles on Ankles”. I think this book would certainly be of interest to other people who have broken their own ankle, or perhaps sustained some other break of a limb. There are also thoughts about being in hospital, and about the resting and rehabilitation process.

This is the link about how to get yourself a copy of this book, if you’d like to. The book is not for sale by the publisher to people out of Australia, but as soon as my own copies of the book arrive, that I’m going to order, I will be able to see copies to people from anywhere, as long as those wanting a copy are prepared to pay for the postage costs, as well as actual book cost.

Because these chap books are so small, they only cost around $5, so that minimal size, and cost, means even with postage overseas, the cost isn’t high. And below, for your interest, is one of the poems from my book, I hope you enjoy it!

And if you have your own stories about injuries, and extended and unexpected times of rest and recovery, Please leave a message, I’d love to commiserate with you!

 

Tibia & Fibula

 

Boredom, 

ding! bang! 

people talking,

I remain here, 

still wriggling 

& wiggling my toes,

and learning a truth 

about time –

Hospital Time 

is not the same

as normal time, 

& plans made

by hospital staff, 

while worthy,

are as brittle 

& breakable

as a bone, 

or two bones 

at once.

poetry

A Chapbook Underway

carolyncordon

If you don’t know what a chapbook is, I’ll tell you – a chapbook is a small volume of poetry, usually somewhere around 15 to 40 pages, and in a size smaller than a common paperback size. They are a handy size to fit in a pocket, and usually sell for $5 or so, or are given away at times.

I’ve been thinking about putting together my first chapbook ever since I became aware of them, but until now, have never had a theme I could decide on, that seemed suitable. Until now. Now, I have a theme, I have a title, and at the moment I have 10 poems I am happy with, and hope to have at least one or two more poems before the end of the day.

I have written about this proposed chapbook on another of my blogs, the most relevant blog for this proposed book. Here is the link for that blog post. I plan to have this small book ready to send off for possible publication by the end of the month.

I know I can have a good book launch, in Gawler, where my writing group meets every week (usually), and where two of the group members (I’m one of them), hold a monthly poetry reading. All of this fun happens at the P/A Hotel on the main road in Gawler, and we have had many happy times with poetry there.

The idea of having a theme for a poetry collection always seems like a good idea to me, as it helps to hold poems together in some way, even if, as in my proposed collection, there are different poetic forms. Some of these poems are rhyming, others not. There is one page of Senryu (a Japanese poetic form, similar to Haiku). Some of the poems are serious, others not so serious.

The theme is very personal to me, as it relates to my most pressing thing for me right at the moment, the theme is my broken right ankle, which happened at the end of September. It happened on a date I will always be able to remember, it was the day of the AFL Grand Final, and it happened after the game was finished.

I suspect I should write a poem about that … Hmm, Yes, definitely, it will be a kind of wryly amusing poem, I suspect … I’m enjoying doing my wryly amusing thing, if feels right for me, and this kind of thing goes down well when reading poems to others, a bit funny, but not too much, something to connect with people without overwhelming them.

So who would have thought a broken ankle could lead to a new poetry book? Actually it isn’t that surprising. I’m a poet, I’m having to spend lots of time just sitting around at home as I heal, and my ankle and immobility are taking up a lot of my attention.

They say ‘write what you know’ and I sure know “Broken ankle”, now! I’d appreciate any thoughts about this project! It won’t be a morbid little book, I have a bit about having a Stoic attitude in there, and I’m aiming at wry rather than wretched …

 

Story Ideas, Writing

Writer and Stoic, Thinking …

carolyncordon

I’m enjoying a new philosophical journey these days, now for me anyway. The Stoic movement has been around for over two thousand years, but it’s only this year, that I’ve begun looking further into it. And in looking into it, I was inspired to begin a new blog about it. Thus My Stoic Life.

Some of ideas and ideals of Stoicism definitely appeal to me, and my way of being, and I wonder whether I had somehow become a Stoic accidentally, and am just now realising it. Stoics have been mislabelled in the past, and written off as being people who merely humourless and uncaring.

I mentioned my interest in Stoicism, and was thrilled to receive this book “How to be a Stoic” by Massimo Pigliucci for my birthday, earlier this year. It is an eminently readable and interesting look at being a Stoic in the modern age.

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Stoics can certainly enjoy life, they are not uncaring people, or party poopers. The opposite is true, to some extent. Stoics do care, and they like to enjoy life. But the Stoic way to enjoy life, is to do so in moderation, not going over the top, and suffering in the morning. The Stoic would partake in all in moderation, and so be capable of doing the same thing the next day, instead of suffering from the previous day’s over indulgence!

The Stoic will care about their family, fellow citizens, and friends. They will humane, caring and be sociable. If there were to be a Stoic society, it would be a kind and caring place, with no-one striving for more than anyone else had. People would freely give anything they had in abundance, knowing others wold share their excess freely too.

Stoics value reasonable and rational behaviour, and all things in moderation. Thinking on these things led to creating a new blog, feel free to visit and explore what I have discovered,and what I think about this whole Stoic thing.

I’d love to know what you feel about my Stoical ideas!

Philosophy

Thinking About a New Niche

carolyncordon

This year has been a good year for thinking about who I really am, and what I believe, and believe in. Writing always helps me to do this, as does reading things, that are new to me, but set off the bells in my brain, and light up my mind in new and good ways.

One of these new to me things is something that’s been around for more that two thousand, and goes back to Ancient Greek and Roman times. This olden times thing is something that resonates with many of us still, and is something that I want to look into as deeply as I can, and to bring it as completely as possible into my life.

So what is this wonderful thing, and will I make lots and lots of money from it, you may ask, breathlessly. Well, let me be brutally honest here, and deal with the money aspect first. No, I will not make lots and lots of money from it. But the more I adopt this thing, the less the fact of not making all of that money matters.

Money is a tool, a useful too, in this day and age, and of course having the money to pay for all of the bills that keep me fed, and sheltered, these are important things. And being able to move around from place to place is extremely important to me too. So, food, house, car, my current situation easily ticks all of those boxes for me.

And my writing life gives me little bits of money too, at certain times of the year, so that helps to pay for extra non-necessary things. But the thing that is firing up my synapses (metaphorically, and perhaps literally too, maybe …).

To get to the ‘guts’ of this blog post then, the thing that has been exciting me these past months is something many people consider to be a dull and boring thing. Those people though, fail to see the full depths of the idea, I feel. The Roman Emperor, Marcus Aurelius, considered as the last of a line of great Roman emperors, firmly believed in this thing, this thought process, this way to live a good life.

So finally, here it is. The wonderful thing is Stoicism. Being a stoic, is explained well on the website that gave me these words to share with you:

“A brief synopsis and definition on this particular school of Hellenistic philosophy: Stoicism was founded in Athens by Zeno of Citium in the early 3rd century BC, but was famously practiced by the likes of Epictetus, Senecaand Marcus Aurelius. The philosophy asserts that virtue (such as wisdom) is happiness and judgment should be based on behavior, rather than words. That we don’t control and cannot rely on external events, only ourselves and our responses.”

If you’d like to read more, the site the above description comes from would be a good one to read. I get emails from this site from time to time, and appreciate the insights I gain from the words I read. This particular part of the site gives some ideas to practise in life, to assist in achieving a more stoic attitude to the things life throws out. I was given a fantastic book for my birthday, and it told me much about how to be a stoic.

20190611_162519This is the book, and I thoroughly recommend anyone interested in Stoicism should get their hands on a copy of the book, and learn more there about it, as seen by the author Massimo Pigliucci. 

So that is what I am, or trying to be, a Stoic. I like ideas, I like philosophy, I like the idea of scaling back the ‘stuff’ in my life, and increasing the valuable things in terms of living a life that meets properly with Stoic ideals. An idea I like a lot, is to think on what it is I want to achieve in the day in the morning, first thing, and then to think on whether these things were achieved, and if not, to think on the reasons why they weren’t achieved. I’m not at that level yet, but I’m trying to get there. In small ways, both Facebook and Twitter prompt me to think on things wished for and actually achieved.

And of course, regular blogging can cover some of these ideas/ideals too, but in a rather slap dash way, I must admit. So my idea is this – to begin a new blog, focusing on Being a Stoic. Do I need to do this? Of course not. But looking at it as a stoic should, I can see this would be of assistance to me, to do regular posts about things I want to do, and then look at what I achieve. Like a diary in fact, but one that has an aspect of honesty, both to myself and others, as I put my thoughts and words up for consideration and comment, by others.

I will talk about this journey on this new blog, considering ideas, giving opinions, thoughts, and other things, always from the point of view of myself, and how I see things as I learn more about stoicism. I have thought about this plan, and can see no obstacles to achieving it.

A note to anyone not certain about the meaning of the word ‘Stoic’ or ‘Stoical’ the dictionary definition below gives clues, but doesn’t say much about the fuller truth of this philosophy:

“STOIC”

 noun
sto·​ic | \ ˈstō-ik  \

Definition of stoic

 (Entry 1 of 2)

1capitalized : a member of a school of philosophy founded by Zeno of Citium about 300 b.c. holding that the wise man should be free from passion, unmoved by joy or grief, and submissive to natural law
2: one apparently or professedly indifferent to pleasure or pain

stoic

adjective

sto·​ic | \ ˈstō-ik  \
variants: or stoical \ ˈstō-​i-​kəl  \

Definition of stoic

1 capitalized : of, relating to, or resembling the Stoics or their doctrines Stoic logic
2: not affected by or showing passion or feeling especially : firmly restraining response to pain or distress  – ‘stoic indifference to cold’

So there you are, the word stoic is not only to be indifferent to cold, there is much, much more about it, and I hope you can learn more about it in my new blogsite!

The name of my new Blog will be “My Stoic Life”. When I have set up the new site, I will post a link to it on this post, and on other relevant places online. So please feel free to follow me on this new path in my life. And feel free to comment here, if you have anything to assist me in this journey!