Tag: contemplation

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Coffee and Contemplation: National GOE Day

The Sunday of the first full weekend of October is National GOE Day. Growth. Overcome. Empower. This national holiday encourages people to support safe spaces for healing and connection for those who have been victimized by abuse and trauma. Art is often encouraged as a tool to help those who have suffered from abuse and trauma to heal and recover. I started this blog to help share my story and my art; my writing. It is through writing poetry and fiction that I’ve been able to heal and learn more about myself. And I encourage others to do the same. It doesn’t matter how good you are or how long you’ve been doing it as long as you enjoy it. 

The My CARE Initiative founded National GOE Day. The program began on May 15, 2015. I continue to find programs like these as I search for new topics for my blog. Even though I have come a long way, finding these new things helps me heal a little bit more. The rest of my life will be a continual journey towards healing and recovery. And along the way I discover new creative expression and strengthen artistic skills I have with my writing. Today is a good day to grow, overcome, and empower.

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Coffee and Contemplation: World Tourism Day

Today is World Tourism Day. Today is also my birthday. I decided to take a trip to the Grand Canyon for my birthday weekend. The Grand Canyon National Park was free to enter yesterday, September 26. I spent the last couple nights in Williams, AZ about an hour South of the Grand Canyon on historic Route 66. I was told I had been to the canyon when I was young but have no memory of that trip.

This was a fun adventure for me as I’ve never done much for myself on my birthday. I had a nice little road trip. I explored some new places. And I got some great pictures. I’ve shared a few of them below. If you’ve never been, I recommend seeing the Grand Canyon at least once in your life. And all the towns nearby are fun to explore too. For any of you wondering, I turn 34 today. I hope to have another fun adventure next year.

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Coffee and Contemplation: Mabon the Autumnal Equinox

This year, the first day of Autumn is September 22, this Tuesday. Throughout human history, this was the time of the harvest. Many festivals were held to celebrate the harvest and give thanks. Mabon is a pagan holiday and one of the eight Wiccan sabbats. This is the second of three harvest festivals celebrated. Oktokerfest originally began during the last week of September when it began in the 1700s. During the mid-harvest, farmers would know how well their Summer crops did. This would also tell them if they had enough food for the Winter.

The original American Thanksgiving was celebrated on October 3. Thanksgiving was never given an official day on the calendar until 1942. This is the time to have feasts with friends. Drink and be merry and all that. Feasting and giving things at this time of year makes more sense to me than at the end of November. I think I’ll call this Proto-Thanksgiving. Though I don’t have any feasting plans coming up. What I enjoy about living in the desert is any time of year is good for barbequing. Most common folk don’t go out harvesting food like farmers, but this is the appropriate time of year to be thankful for having food. Although one should appreciate this every day.