Saying Goodbye to Joyful Paws “Blog”

Posted by Barbara Techel

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I was up early this morning and caught this photo of the moon as I looked out the west side of my writing cottage window. Two words on my brain lately are New Beginnings. Capturing this photo spoke that to me.

Speaking of new beginnings…I’m saying goodbye to Joyful Paws blog. Before you panic and think I’m leaving you, my dear readers, rest assured, that is not the case. I adore each of you for being a part of my life!

As I continue to evolve in my creativity, I recently came across an article that really spoke to me titled, “The Trouble with Blogging.” Writer, Esme, talks about how “blogging is something that, according to hundreds of self-proclaimed online experts, has definitive best practices.” She also mentions how it is also plays into SEO search results and achieving the goal of others signing up for your newsletters, buying your courses or services.

Ever since I began writing, first for my local paper, and then taking it online, and writing my books, it has always been about making a difference. I’ve been about encouraging and inspiring others. This is what matters to me. It also matters to me to leave a positive legacy behind.

While yes, I welcome those reading my thoughts to check out what else I have to offer, I also truly enjoy coming to my little spot right here on the wide world web several times a week to write. I don’t necessarily have a “set” schedule of days I will share something, but I can say, I look so forward to coming here often.

The past seven years my writing has been about how animals play a huge part in my life, helping me to become the person I am today. That remains and I have a pretty strong feeling it always will.  Animals are such an important part of my soul and who I am!

But I feel like I’ve evolved over time, incorporating writing about other ideas and thoughts that intrigue or inspire me, of which I’ve been sharing here on my website (with my built in blog) for awhile now.

I’ve also been giving thought to the fact that I don’t always like to go with the flow of how things “should” be, but rather, what feels right for me, and speaks to the heart of who I am.

I’ve learned so much from a mentor of mine and many on-line classes I’ve taken from him for the past three years. It also goes back to my being coached in 2005 and taking the time to give thought to how I want to play a part in this world.

Making a difference. Building Meaningful Relationships. Leaving a Legacy. This is what is so important to me.

Maybe this is a huge round about way of sharing something that might seem quite simple in regards to the change of a mere word, but for me it encompasses a lot of depth of how I want to continue to evolve in what is authentically me.

So I’m saying goodbye to the word blog.  I will now call this place of my own, with you my faithful readers who come to visit me, Joyful Paws Journal. Because I consider this a place to express my personal thoughts and encourage others to pause and listen to their inner voice, and embrace the wisdom of our animal friends to live a more meaningful life. I also especially love Esme’s definition of journal which is — A journal is something that permits, and often expects, experimentation.

And when I think of experimentation it brings up the words creativity and play for me. Writing is that for me and also how I can share freely what it is I wish to express.

So WELCOME to Joyful Paws Journal, those who have faithfully followed me for years, and those new here. I appreciate and value each and every one of you… and here’s to New Beginnings.

Please feel free to leave a comment…

The Art of Stillness

Posted by Barbara Techel

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Last week I met with my friend Linda for coffee. She gifted me a little book called, The Art of Stillness – Adventures in Going Nowhere.

Based on a Ted talk by travel writer, Pico Iyer, he says, “In an age of speed, I began to think, nothing could be more invigorating than slowing down. In an age of distraction, nothing could feel more luxurious than paying attention. And in an age of constant movement, nothing is more urgent than sitting still.”

I read this 66-page book in one sitting, with the mistress of stillness herself, resting beside me — Miss Gidget. Something about each of my dogs has really stood out for me of what they brought to my life, and I continue to see how Gidget is my reminder to slow down when life can feel like it is going too fast.

But the book is a beautiful reminder too. Iyer shares in his book something he learned from Leonard Cohen about stillness and that “it isn’t about turning your back on the world; it’s about stepping away now and then so that you can see the world more clearly and love it more deeply.”

I’ve also thought more about how we are all so reactive to life, which is coming up in a 4-week course I’m in. We’ve gotten so addicted to thinking we just have to check our email and/or social media pages the minute we get up. Then we find ourselves in a reactive spin, sometimes the whole day gone before we know it.

We don’t remember what it is like to be still and find it hard to even think about being still because it feels then like we are doing nothing and we are getting nowhere.  I don’t know about you, but it just made my heart race writing these last two paragraphs as if in an adrenaline rush.

Reading Iver’s book and being in the on line course, I’m finding my way back to what it is that matters most to me. Email and social media can wait. Writing for my blog first, or doing a project I’m excited about, is what matters to me and brings me joy. And interestingly enough, when my day plays out in this way, I find so much more stillness in all that I do.

Gidget, my class, and the book have been great gifts to me lately, as I see gold in slowing down and incorporating more stillness again into my daily life. Because honestly, when I do, I feel more alive and yes, even more productive.

In case I have momentarily relapses, all I need do is look over my shoulder when sitting at my writing desk, and observe the Mistress of Stillness curled up in her bed, and as if fairy dust sprinkles down from the ceiling, it puts me back in a state of calm and peace.

Please feel free to comment…

A Poem: Our Bench of Memories

Posted by Barbara Techel

the bench

This bench outside our olive green cottage home,

held none, then one,

to two, then three.

 

Within its wooden slats,

wrought iron arms and back,

echoes of laughter still ring,

tears also shed, but washed away and absorbed into the earth below,

moments of life’s contemplation’s worked through,

problems dissolved away,

a channel of love opened,

and hearts expanded.

 

Many a sunrise caught,

sitting upon this bench.

The light of a fresh day filtering through the trees observed in a new way,

the warmth of the sun kissed our skin,

and the many full moons left us in awe with the promise of a new day.

 

From three, then two,

to one, and now none,

our bench now rests in the season of stillness.

 

The landscape before it bare, while a hush of quiet falls all around it.

The full moon still making an appearance during crisp nights,

blanketing our bench with memories still warm in our hearts,

and the promise of hope of new beginnings,

in the next season of our lives.