March  6,  2021

OUR  FACE

 

Where did we get our face?
Do we like it?
Compare it to our mom’s and dad’s.
How much does geography sculpt us?
What about relationships?
Who puts a smile on our face?
Who puts a scowl?
Did you know there are people
who don’t know the color of our eyes?
What name do we like to be called?
Do we have a safe mirror?
Has anyone said, “You look beautiful?”
Give me a name? Who?
Whose face lights up when we arrive?
When we do we look our best?
What’s the greatest thing
anyone ever said about you?
Tell me about that moment?
What did it do to your face?

 

© Andy Costello, Reflections 2021

March  6,  2021

Thought for the Day

 

“The Four-Hour Workweek by Tim Ferriss was rejected by 25 publishers. It has now been translated in 40 languages with more than 2.1 million copies sold."

 March  5, 2021

CONCENTRIC  CIRCLES

 

I am part of somewhere –
culture, community, circles ….
My DNA mixes with millions
of others. We are part of the
dance of life. Our hands are
joined with millions of others.
Just listen to me speak.
Just look me in the eye.
Just check out my face.
We are one. We are many.
Put down the erasers.
Melt down the rifles.
Head for the hills.
Fill up the valleys.
Meet each other.
Start singing the songs.
Start playing the music.
Start dancing the dance

in our concentric circles. 

© Andy Costello, Reflections 2021

March  5,  2021

 

Thought for the Day

 

“Starting when I was fifteen I began to send short stories to magazines like Esquire, and they, very promptly, sent them back two days before they got them! I have several walls in several rooms of my house covered with the snowstorm of rejections, but they didn’t realize what a strong person I was; I persevered and wrote a thousand more dreadful short stories, which were rejected in turn. Then, during the late forties, I actually began to sell short stories and accomplished some sort of deliverance from snowstorms in my fourth decade. But even today, my latest books of short stories contain at least seven stories that were rejected by every magazine in the United States and also in Sweden! So, dear Snoopy, take heart from this. The blizzard doesn’t last forever; it just seems so.”

 

Ray Bradbury

 March  4.  2021

PRACTICE,  PRACTICE,  PRACTICE

Practice, Practice, Practice,
Dedication, Dedication, Dedication,
Time, Time, Time,
Sacrifice, Sacrifice, Sacrifice,
Watch, Watch, Watch,
Determination, Determination, Determination,
Learn, Learn, Learn,
Tradition, Tradition, Tradition,

Culture, Culture, Culture,
History, History, History,
Innovation, Innovation, Innovation,
Dance, Dance, Dance,

Music, Music, Music, 

Want to, Want to, Want to.
  

© Andy Costello, Reflections 2021

March 4,  2021

Thought for the Day

 

“I love my rejection slips. They show me I try.”

 

 Sylvia Plath

 March  3,  2021

WHAT  DO  YOU  HAVE?

 
You never know what the other has
till they are called out onto the floor.
 
Sing, dance, step up to the plate, let’s see
what you can bring to the game of life.
 
Write the book, get on stage, get the job,
do the dishes, cut the grass, tell the joke.
 
Feed the hungry, clothe the naked, lead
the crowd, make this a much better world.
 
See the smiles, watch people shed their fears
as they are called onto the dance floor of life.

 

 

© Andy Costello, Reflections 2021

March  3,  2021

Thought for the Day

 

“By the time I was fourteen the nail in my wall would no longer support the weight of the rejection slips impaled upon it. I replaced the nail with a spike and went on writing.” 

 

Stephen King

 

March 2, 2021

MARCH  MORNING

 

Going outside this
morning – going out
into the cold crisp air -
heading for my car –
stepping on the
crushed tan grass
that feels like a
a WELCOME mat -
without the word
“Welcome” on it.
 
It’s still winter – but
within me is the 
warmth of God – because
this morning I took a
short moment to pray
in the early morning
to God and then that
feeling became a
WELCOME mat word
to the first person I met.

 © Andy Costello, Reflections 2021

March  2,  2021

 

Thought for the Day

 

“Chicken Soup for the Soul was rejected by 144 publishers. If we had given up after 100 publishers, I likely would not be where I am now. I encourage you to reject rejection. If someone says no, just say NEXT!”

 

Jack Canfield

March 1, 2021

 

INTERESTING WORDS FOR MARCH 

I just sat down and decided to come up
with 31 interesting words to use this month.
 
What I want to do is to slide them into various
conversations I have without being obvious.  
 
Here they are: oomph, kiosk, mayhem, biopic,
coy, chunky, artifact, vectors, slab, silhouette,
callow, squat, caste, protagonist, acrobat, frenetic,
percussion, wry, shag, mahogany, hallucination,
barrage, target, bandwagon, lavender, tacit,
trance, advocate, shriek, jobless, redistribution ….
 

 © Andy Costello, Reflections 2021

March  1,  2021

 Thought for the Day

 

“You must keep sending work out; you must never let a manuscript do nothing but eat its head off in a drawer. You send that work out again and again, while you’re working on another one. If you have talent, you will receive some measure of success – but only if you persist.” 

Isaac Asimov

February 28, 2021

THE  SEVEN  SACRAMENTS
OF CREATION 

What would you choose as
the 7 sacraments of creation?
 
There are many possibles:
water, fish, shells, shores,

lakes, rivers, waterfalls, 

dewfall or frost on the grass,
birds, trees, earth, plants,
bread, wine, apples, oranges,
tables, rocks, mountains,
rainbows, rain, snow, ice,

polar bears, lions, giraffes,
dogs, cats, wheels, bridges,
ladders, stairs, homes, sky,
the moon, the sun, and the
stars in the dark night and
there are so many more.
 
What would you choose as
the 7 sacraments of creation?
 
Today, these would be my seven:
water, wind, rock,  plants, sky,
a baby, and an old person just
sitting there waiting at the first
floor elevator in a nursing home.

Tomorrow, it might be others.

I'll let you know as I look around.
 

© Andy Costello, Reflections 2021

February 28,  2021

 

Thought for the Day

 

“Work like hell!  I had 122 rejection slips before I sold a story.”

 

F. Scott Fitzgerald