Tag Archives: 2021

Jeff Flesch 6:00 am on December 30, 2021
Tags: , 2021, 2022, , contemplations, , , , , , , , , , , , wordweavings, , year in review   

A Few Reflections on 2021, Contemplations on 2022, and a Twitter Poem

As I reflect upon 2021 and contemplate 2022, there are so many wonderful things to write about. Choosing among them is difficult, yet worthwhile. Let’s take a quick look at this past year.

2021

Living Alone

Personally, this past year was one in which I learned about living alone. Now that the boys are grown, and I am recently divorced, after being married for over 20 years, living alone has been painful and beautiful. Both, wouldn’t you know.

It’s been a time of great reflection for me, contemplating my life up to this point. A time of grieving, and a time of great joy. I’ve learned more about myself as a human being on this planet this past year than I have in the past 20 years. Solitude is like that. A gift.

I am looking forward to more time alone, and to the learning that comes as the days, weeks, and months unfold this next year. I look forward to all of it.

The Team

The team is healthy and well, and is, quite frankly, one of the best noncredit education teams in the State of Oregon. Some would argue in the Nation; and, I wouldn’t argue, as it is quite possibly true.

We’ve been through a lot as a team these past 4.5 years, and the resiliency, innovation, and heart this team has displayed and continues to display is astonishing.

We are currently working on many new projects, the output of which will continue to increase access to education for many populations that face barriers to education in this country. That we continue to create bridges to education for our local community, and across the state, nation, and globe through our new remote program models fills my heart with joy.

The Blog

Develop. Inspire. Transform

Well, if someone would have told me in the summer of 2020 that at the close of 2021 the blog would have acquired almost 2,400 followers, which it has, I would have listened carefully, yet would have set a more realistic goal, which I did.

My goal to close this year was 1,600 followers, and we have surpassed this number quite substantially, and I owe that to each of you. You have built this blog and the wonderfully thriving space we share together, and I honor and appreciate each of you for being here.

Thank you from the bottom of my heart for supporting me, and for creating a space full of love, light, and compassion.

Writing

Never in my wildest dreams could I have imagined that I would be writing poetry at the rate I am today. Writing poetry began in the summer of 2020 as a way to continue to process my own internal work, which is a part of my spiritual practice.

It started with a poem I wrote in response to another blog, I think, and from there began to blossom in my mind and heart, and today, I write poetry all day. Seriously. You should see the post-it’s I have laid out everywhere. It’s quite comical, and lovely.

This year I was blessed to be a part of our beloved Astha’s Anthology, Utmost Feelings, and several other Anthologies through True Dreamster. I was also blessed to have been published at Spillwords Press three times, at Word Weavings, and at MasticadoresUSA, and MasticadoresIndia, several times each. As you know, I am now a regular monthly contributor to MasticadoresIndia, which is a dream come true.

I am grateful to each of these wonderful editors for believing in my work, and for supporting me. They are amazingly talented people, and I am lucky to know them and to have my work published in their respective publications.

2022

I look forward to this coming year and know that there will be challenges, just as there will be many blessings. I’ve learned a lot this year, and I am grateful for each lesson.

I plan to continue to learn more about myself this year, continuing to dive deep within, uncovering more aspects of my human beingness, and the love I have for everyone and everything on this planet.

The team will continue to thrive and grow this year, as we set our sights on making 2022 another year of exceeding service capacities to our local community, by making noncredit education available to everyone, everywhere.

The blog will see a lot more poetry this coming year, and will likely see the Blogger’s Diary post continue, yet I am reflecting upon iterating the latter. I’ve not yet had the insight needed to do so, however, so we will see.

I am currently looking for new publications to submit poetry to this next year, and have already happened upon one, which I will submit to soon. I was planning to compile a book over this winter break, alas, that is not going to happen. Thus, it may be in 2022 that a debut book is forthcoming. All I can write now is that I will know when the time is right.

I am closing this 2021 reflection and 2022 contemplation with a Twitter poem.

as the earth swallows me whole
it is our love to
behold

a spotlight drowned

like
in the east
the sun rising &
the love deep within me
arising

a destiny ground
as mind & heart
are brokered with peace
no sound

needed
for it is in this display
of love where we are
found

You can see the original Twitter poem here, amongst other poems, and follow me on Twitter here.

I want to thank each of you again for being a part of my life. Being here is a blessing, and I cherish each interaction I have with you. You are appreciated immensely.

Alright, that’s all for now.

May the New Year bring you joy, peace, love, and many blessings.

Sending you all my love.

Photo by Tumisu, Pixabay

Photo by MAKY_OREL, Pixabay

#poetry, #2021, #2022, #blogging, #contemplations, #development, #leadership, #life, #love, #masticadoresindia, #masticadoresusa, #noncrediteducation, #poems, #publications, #reflections, #spillwords, #wordweavings, #writing, #year-in-review

Jeff Flesch 6:00 pm on January 3, 2021
Tags: 2020, 2021, , , newseries, , , , ,   

A Blogger’s Diary 1/3/21: On Writing, 2 New Series, and Reflecting

Photo by Florian Klauer on Unsplash

Alright, as we embark on a new year, it only seems fitting to, yes, take a look at last week’s writing real quick, and then? Well, we’ll take a look at two new series I am working on for this new year; one launched, and one in production. And, then a small reflection on this past year, and my hopes for 2021. Let’s get started, shall we? Good. Here we go.

Writing

Though I did work a little last week, I was on official holiday, as it is the only time each year that the college closes. Meaning, I had more time to write. A few more posts were published, and I did some writing for future weeks, which was really nice. Here then, is what was published last week.

Nice. Funnily enough, one of my favorite posts this week was the baking post. Different, and fun. Next week? Yep.

I’ve got two posts scheduled already, one for Friday morning, and one for Saturday morning. The former is the second installment, though it is written as the first, in the My One Thing series, which I’ll write more about in a minute, and then the latter is the second-half of the second installment in the Leadership series.

I also have several poems written, and am also working on scheduling those in advance. Though, again, with poetry, I like the space to create on the fly, as insights occur. I’ll be managing that balance as we move forward this year.

Alright, new series time.

Photo by Danielle MacInnes on Unsplash

New Series

I describe the insight behind the My One Thing series in the upcoming installment. Yet, real quick, will write that I am excited about a series that will cover, and capture, a moment in time, and expand out to, well, life, I suppose. The main idea behind the series is to focus and write about My One Thing of the moment, or evening, morning, afternoon, day, week, month, quarter, year, or longer.

You can see an example of this new series in the baking post above. And, the second?

I’ve been looking into and researching haikus, and I have to say they are quite beautiful. I’ve read many from your amazing blogs, and am currently reflecting upon creating a haiku series.

Though I love the stream of consciousness involved in poetry, there is also something quite magical about a 5, 7, 5 syllable sound pattern that is exquisite in its creation and manifestation. I am going to create a few haikus over the next week, and then, we will see.

Alright, how about a quick reflection.

Photo by Sergey Shmidt on Unsplash

Reflection

As I look back at last year, I see a lot of pain, anger, frustration, worry, sadness, grief, and, well, many other emotions and actions, which I definitely felt and worked through this year, and I know were present for people around the world.

We were taken on a world upending, in many ways, tour de force of the power of nature. And, though the aforementioned emotions and actions were a reality, I did also see other emotions and actions in play this past year. Such as?

Acts of kindness, generosity, love, compassion, empathy, reciprocity, and many more. Yes, it was a tough year, yet even in that toughness there was also beauty.

Which leads me into my hopes to see more kindness, generosity, love, compassion, empathy, and reciprocity this coming year. As I’ve mentioned before, there is a lot of work to do in this country from many perspectives, equity and justice being one of them.

I look forward to progress this year on the continual dismantling of the, still in place, systems and structures of oppression in this country; and, I have hope that the vaccine will, at the very least, prepare a runway for us all to be back together again at some point this year.

Until then?

Continue to take the actions we can to create the world we all want to see and live in. It doesn’t matter how small or large the actions are. It’s not about that. It’s about taking that one step, that one action.

And, on that note, I’ll leave you this week with a quote that speaks to that point.

“Just as ripples spread out when a single pebble is dropped into water, the actions of individuals can have far-reaching effects.” -Dalai Lama

AZ Quotes

Have a lovely upcoming week everyone.

#2020, #2021, #bloggers-diary, #blogging, #newseries, #pandemic, #reflection, #socialjustice, #takingaction, #writing