The Keys to Happiness...

The Keys to Happiness
by Robin Kelsey

Friends and loved ones by your side...
people who are going to treasure every
      memory they get to make with you.
Wonderful surprises in your life,
Beautiful sunrises in your days,
Opportunities that come along.
Chances you've hoped for.
Goals you've been striving to reach.
Changes you've wanted to make.
A song in your heart.
A wish that comes true.
And reminders of how much nicer
       this world is... all because of you.


Happy Thursday.

See you in print,

Linda Della Donna
"...And sometime when I wasn't looking, I got a new life."

X, Y, Z is for The End

It's over.

Fini.

Done.

The 2013 A-Z Writing Challenge has come to The End.

As a lover of quotations, writer of memoir, and innovative woman who celebrates endings because, for me, all endings herald new beginnings, in honor of the 2013 A-Z Writing Challenge, today I share my personal The End quotations--things said to me at one time or another that marked The End and helped make me the person I am and the better person I continue to be. I hope you enjoy reading them as much as I enjoyed remembering and sharing them:

"It's me; it's not you."--A lover

"You're fired!"--An ex-boss

"I'm ready to move on and I want you to move out."--Boater Bob

"What a kicker, we don't have a choice."--Edward Louis Sclier

"Give up writing, and you can be my girlfriend."--Boater Bob

 "This is a one time offer. You must sign on the dotted line now."--Car Salesperson

"Get out of my way."--Something I tell myself every day.



Writing Tip:

Break structure. Look for the underbelly. Don't be afraid to do it your way.

Writing Quote:

"All of literature is gossip."--Truman Capote




See you in print,

Linda Della Donna
"...And sometime when I wasn't looking, I got a new life."

R, S, T, U, V, W is for Relax - Start Thinking Universal Validating Words

In order for me to write, I need to slow my brain. In preparation for today's 2013 A-Z Writing Challenge daily entry, I did something unwriting related. I went skiing. Then I repeated my mantra, "I am good, I am kind, I am beautiful, I have a talent and I can write."

Whenever I think I can't squeeze one more word out my pen, I remember:

Relax. Start Thinking Universal Validating Words.


What about you dear reader?

Thanks for stopping by.

Thanks for reading my blog.

See you in print,

Linda Della Donna
"Come journal with me; your book is yet to be."

Q is for Quotations

Quotations inspire me.

In light of recent tragic events in Boston, today I am thinking about words of lovingkindness. Here are quotes about that. I hope you enjoy reading them as much as I enjoy sharing them.

See you in print,

Linda Della Donna
"Come journal with me; your book is yet to be."

"By practicing meditation, we establish love, compassion, sympathetic joy and equanimity as our home."--Sharon Salzberg

"Don't ask me to be kind.
This is not how I feel.
This is stupid."--Jack Kornfield

"May you be well, may you be happy, may you be at peace, may you be at ease, may you be healthy."--Marguerite Manteau-Rao

"The perfection of loving-kindness is the wish to provide for the welfare and happiness of the world, accompanied by compassion and skillful means; literally it means benevolence..."--Parami Practice Program

"So with a boundless heart
Should one cherish all living beings:
Radiating kindness over the entire world."--Blue Buddah Quote

"When loving-kindness practice matures, it naturally overflows into compassion, as one empathizes with other people's difficulties; on the other hand one needs to be wary of pity, as its near enemy, as it merely mimics the quality of concern without empathy. The positive expression of empathy is an appreciation of other people's good qualities or good fortune, or appreciative joy, rather than feelings of jealousy towards them."-Venerable Pannyavaro

The highest wisdom is loving kindness."--The Talmud

N, O, P - Needing Other People...

"Can we all just get along." --Rodney King

As we all work at wrapping our heads around the latest disaster of death and destruction at the Boston Marathon, I take this opportunity to distract myself. Performing an act of lovingkindess is my way of coping in times of crisis. This writer knows in order to bring about change in this lopsided upside down mad mad mad world, change must first begin with me.

It is a given. No man or woman is an island. We all need someone, sometime, some place. As a widow, if there is one thing I am proficient in, it is Needing Other People, if only to share encouraging words over a cup of morning coffee.

In honor of the 2013 A-Z Writing Challenge daring me to log in, log on, and blog BookOrbust, I honor you dear reader:

Because I Need YOU. I do. I really really do.

Your stopping by BookOrBust, your taking time to read my writing, view my photographs, and leave a comment encourages me to pick up my pen, and my camera, and follow my passion and dream hopefully.

Needing Other People is all about me. What about you?

I also need, Z.

Z is my granddaughter. I love Z  unconditionally.

I don't know what I would do if something were to happen to Z.

I need H. H is my grandson.

Same goes for H as what goes for Z.

Today as I click the clicker on my TV set to off, push back from my writing desk, I share a latest photograph of one just-purchased item--my birthday present to 2-turning-3-year-old Z.

It is my hope dear reader that you enjoy viewing it, as much as I enjoyed snapping it.


N, O, P, is for Needing Other People...

See you in print,

Linda Della Donna
"...Come journal with me; your book is yet to be."

Writing Tip:

Break structure. Do it your way.

Happy Birthday, Z!