Maniac Mondays: Let's Clean the World!

Photo courtesy the Clean the World website

The Purple Elephant and the Little Mouse have stepped away from their writing desks and come out of the library as today on Meady’s Musings we take a break from our writing themes as we join tails, whiskers, trunks and hands with a worthy cause! However before we go on about the cause let’s first apologize for missing last week’s Tumultuous Thursdays post but we had slipped down a rabbit hole and couldn’t return in time to write. So this coming Thursday for sure you will hear about those ‘characters in our heads’ as we continue our series on writing! But for now on with the cause…

Since the head of our Production House was off on vacation in Shanghai earlier this year she had emailed the production house to let the entire house know that when she was back we would be sure to do a post about this marvelous charity she had found out about but we’ve not put paw to keypad or trunk to pen since! She had stumbled across this charity while searching online travelling sites to find fun and interesting things and places in Shanghai…and here is what our lovely leader found…

SOAP!

Yes readers…SOAP…lots and lots of it! For years our leader and others at the production house had often ourselves wondered what to do with the little bits of soap that remain before the bar is all done…many of us tried to use it right down to the end…but so many of use don’t and what about all that extra soap and shampoo at hotels? It’s why these people could be found advertising on travel sites because hotels must be the biggest source….after all many guests don’t stay to use the bars to the end and well most guests won’t continue to use old bars…no siry they want new ones…so what can a hotel do with all the extra left over used soap and shampoo?

Well send it to these people if they don’t already!

The lovely people at CLEAN THE WORLD!

Six Million bars and counting! :)

And already all these hotels as listed on this linked page are Participating Partners with Clean the World.

Clean the World and their Participating Partners make us here at the Meady’s Musings Production House so happy!

And we here at the Production House are going to be stepping away from our writing desks this Friday as well to join other bloggers to celebrate Blog Action Day 2010! And guess what we are talking about...water…getting water to all the world over…aah and you know what they say about soap and water …so it’s quite fitting that those guys at Clean The World are also celebrating Global Handwashing Day on Fri 15 Oct 2010 as well! Aah…anyone for a bath?! The purple elephant is washing...he already has his scrubby thingy in his trunk!

But the reality is that many in the world don’t have clean and safe supplies of water nor enough soap! And if they did it could help reduce the risk of many a disease!

So get those pens out or fingers to keyboard and sign those petitions, send those emails, blog on! As we gear up to celebrate Blog Action Day and Global Handwashing Day to get water and soap to all the people of the world! The Purple Elephant already has his spongy thingy in his trunk as I told you and the little mouse is gathering all his old rags and buckets to collect water...as we hear the news that the UK Foreign Office and the White House also plan to join in on Fri...HURRAY...WATER FOR THE WORLD! :)

Maniac Mondays: On Writing and Location

As promised in our Funtastic Fridays post today we plan to explore the impact that the location at which you're at has on your ability to write.

Members of the production house themselves have been considering the pros and cons of it and here are some of their thoughts...

First of all location can affect our writing ability in two ways and so we shall analyze it as such:

1. A location's ability to inspire us to write. (Sometimes the location also ends up in the story as a result.)
2. A location's ability to enable us to write or not write i.e. based on it's comfort, noise level etc. (this can be summarised as a writer's workspace)

Of course often a location can serve both purposes as well...but for now let's look at point one first...

LOCATIONS THAT INSPIRE WRITERS

A. A. Milne himself had his enchanted place that the head of our production house herself visited earlier this year...see picture below....



And the place not only inspired him to write but it also appeared as the Enchanted Place in his literary works about that silly ole bear called Winnie the Pooh!

It must be true that awesome sights and sounds of nature can inspire writers...especially the ones who are writing about nature or animals in children books say...surely it was the significant time that Kenneth Grahame spent in the English countryside that enabled and inspired him to write about a toad, a river mouse, a mole and a badger! :) And it would have been that same countryside that inspired the stories that Richard Adams told to his children which became Watership Down! (and at the mention of that book several members of the production house screw up their faces after having to labour through its study in high school...can't say it's a fav here at the production house but certainly The Wind in the Willows and Winnie the Pooh are!)


LOCATION AS IN A WRITER'S WORKSPACE


Now everyone is not the same (just recall this blogpost that we keep having to draw reference to time and time again)...we are all unique and here for a unique purpose! So in the same way each writer is different and writers aren't all writing in the same genre. So one writer might be able to write comfortably on a train while one might need a comfy desk...one might be fine writing on a beach while one may prefer to be in a log cabin in the Canadian Rockies...some can write at home while others need to be away in a separate space...away from everyday distractions...

So here's a look at the writing spaces of some popular artists as it appears in a Guardian series called Writer's rooms.


But just remember in the end the most important space or location is the one in your head or that virtual space that you visualize where your novel pans out...where your characters meet in your head! Just remember that J.K. Rowling made do with writing her novel where ever she could afford to...because in the end what's important is...them...the characters...in your head like zombies! LOL! It's why they will form part of our Tumultuous Thursdays blogpost later this week...look for it...as we plan to combine two blogs into one in a way...we will still keep metaphysics in mind yet talk about writing...you can't miss it! :) But in the meantime those characters are getting into you head...ZOMBIE! "Oh no...I'm not the same as I was when I woke up this morning" (and that just reminds us so much of something Alice said while in Wonderland! LOL!)So we leave you to it until Thursday...ZOMBIE!

Funtastic Fridays: I'm Writing a Book and Getting Into Character!

We're sorry for this late edition of Funtastic Fridays (back dated and really done on a Sunday) and that we've not posted anything else on Meady's Musings for the week. We've been thinking, researching, travelling about a bit (perhaps looking for ideal writing locations) and as a whole wondering about two main things:

1. the location from where writers write

2. the ability of writers to become the characters which they write about while they are going through the writing process!

Our Maniac Mondays and Tumultuous Thursdays blog posts this coming week will cover our thoughts and experiences on these two topics but until then we thought we'd lead up to it with these two hopefully at least slightly funny cartoons you see above! Which we did using the Hasta Milan website:)

Maniac Mondays: On Reading and Writing

Copyright Meady's Musings Production 2009

The animals are all excited at the Meady’s Musings Production House. The Purple Elephant is using his giant trunk to pull books down from the highest shelves while the little mouse is scurrying around picking up the ones that his sometimes clumsy trunk may drop...but luckily so far...no injuries!

You see we’ve decided to write an experimental novel here at Meady’s Musings and allow our readers to join in the process. Perhaps you can even drop by the Deliciously Divine cafe! We know it's been open in the past but it was closed for renovations and has re-opened once more! :)

Now most great writers will tell you they are also avid readers though...and so we’ve been following suit and pulling down the books to peruse...but we’re just passionate readers anyway and to be honest sometimes when we write not a word we instead read many! But seriously, we doubt you’ll find many writers who aren’t also readers and so today on Meady’s Musings as we start the experimental writing process we share with you our top ten fav reads ever! We may have shared them somewhere or the other before...perhaps when we had our Books and Films Corner blog active (which by the way may become active again for our 2010 Advent calendar so it's not altogether dead) but here are those books again!

-Midnight's Children by Salman Rushdie
-Red Earth and Pouring Rain by Vickram Chandra
-Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Grahame
-The Narnia Chronicles by C.S. Lewis
-The Road Less Travelled by M.Scott Peck
-Joy: The Happiness that Comes from Within by OSHO
-From Sex to Superconsciousness by OSHO (aka Sex Matters...the truth is you can just check out the whole OSHO library in a virutal way here and save some of those trees!)
-By the River Piedra I Sat Down and Wept by Paulo Coelho
-The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho
-The Witch of Portobello by Paulo Coelho

Also you might want to check out this book on Amazon where famous writers talk about their favourite reads!


We've also asked several of our monkey friends to come over who hadn't visited since Christmas as their prehensile tails (you know we've always wanted one btw) can come in handy to move those books around! :)

And guess what most and foremost we've taken out the Meady's Musings reading and writing bears if you look above! :)

Dreams and Dreaming Series: Creative Visualizations and What 's Next at the Meady's Musings Production House

A man sits during a break from his work admist the bustle that is Shanghai's main Financial Centre...in a small park...meditating...it was whatto us here at Meady's Musings something we took away as a hallmark of the city!:) Meady's Musings Production 2010.

Today on Tumultuous Thursdays we bring the Dreams and Dreaming Series to a close at least for now...we hope it was fun and this post will send it off with a bang! We know we never did do any cartoons or Funtastic Fridays postings during the series and so from time to time we may put a cartoon up on a Friday that has the same theme as the series if we feel so inspired to create one...but for now let’s say goodbye to the Dreams and Dreaming series folks!

As promised when we daydreamed on Maniac Mondays we said we’d continue on about Creative Visualizations today on Tumultuous Thursdays. Now what we were saying on Monday is that Creative Visualizations can come about as a result of a form of day dreaming or we can be in a dream like state when have creative visualizations. In fact not only that though some of us can have creative visualizations in our fully asleep dreams as well...just look at how Kekule had dreamt up the benzene ring and remember one of the our dreams over on the UCP desk...here about Shiv?

So for sure in the dream like state we can create...you see here we are free from the restrictions of the ‘real world’ and so our mind feels freer to challenge the status quo, innovate, bend the rules and push the envelopes. So for sure it is a place where the newest and grandest things can be born...

Many of the great achievements of the world must be born in this state...some of us call it meditation but as we were saying on the day dreaming blog post...sometimes day dreaming in its highest state can be meditation...because you see to meditate we don’t have to officially sit in yoga position and close or eyes and all of that...although it is a sure fire and grand way to do it and Shiv is always our friend and the supreme yogi to learn that from if we so desire...but there are many pathways that can bring us to ‘the state’ and it is ‘the state’ that is important not the path that we take to get there. ‘The state’ we refer to is when we think of nothing and our minds are totally blank and then...creation just rushes in and flows through us and what we see then is the ultimate in creative visualizations....

So here at the Meady’s Musings Production House we are going to be very busy and so the blog is going to take a different turn...for the next few weeks we are going to finally use the inspirations we had in the dreams and dreaming series and in particular our day dreaming fest over last weekend (that we blogged about on Monday) and all the things we have pondered on and learnt about over the years and our creative visualizations are going to be bursting forth as we finally start work on our book!

As we are working on it we will give you snippets of it and the process on Mondays and Thursdays and from time to time we will still shoot you a cartoon or some Purple Elephant and Little Mouse fun on a Friday. We will on a Thursday from time to time still get metaphysical so don’t worry you metaphysics fans...the Reincarnation Series is still there to carry forth and we will visit many a Parallel World yet...so in fact we might mostly confine our writing blogs to Mondays and on Thursdays we’ll try as much as possible to keep up with the metaphysics! As aah...it can be so much fun! And will try for some fun on the Friday too OK so do continue to tune in!

Maniac Mondays:Dreams and Dreaming Series-Day Dreaming!:)

So far on the Dreams and Dreaming Series we've only focussed on the kinda dreaming we do when we close or eyes...but what about the kind that we do with our eyes open...day dreaming?!:) In fact that to me is the most beautiful kind of all!:)And if you couple it with the kinda sleeping we like to do on a Slumbering Saturday i.e. like you day dream then you doze off a bit for 'cat nap' or a 'doggy doze'...well it's just oh so sweet!:)It must be so much fun for cats and dogs...but I feel it's even funner for us people folks if it is true that our brains are bigger...although who knows if we are really smarter but if we are with all that extra activity going on in there...boy the fun!:)

So today on Maniac Mondays when let's face it we more feel like the song says... 'It's just another Manic Monday' and who wants to get out of bed at 6 o' clock... and in reality many of us at the Meady's Musings Production House need to get up well before that o' clock...so it's a fitting post isn't it?

So here we go dancing and spinning into it...

When we doze off into the dreaming state it can be oh so lovely...

DAY DREAMING OF NOTHING-THE HIGHEST FORM OF MEDITATION?
First of all day dreaming in it's highest sense is to us here at Meady's Musings when you think well...of nothing really...and this kind of day dreaming can happen well whenever...it has happened to one of us at the Production House here already...we were just standing in a line and waiting and not knowingly we just started to stare at a spot on the floor and twirling the hair we sort of drifted away well into the spot...we don't know how long we were 'there' and had not a clue what we were thinking about so it must have been 'nothing' when we were aroused by it seems someone staring away at us staring away at a spot in the floor...hmmm...perhaps could it be that...that person was day dreaming of us as we day dreamed? Hmmm...it is something we will never know...but what we have since read and heard of is that this kind of thing can be the highest form of meditation...you just slip into a place of thinking of nothing really...now the funniest thing is people who are all into meditation, strive and aspire for this highest form of meditation...when really look at some of us at the Production House...we just twirl our hair away and slip there without even adopting a yoga position even! :) You see we've since experienced and read as well that some do consider the twirling of hair to be a deeply relaxing, meditative kinda thing...yep I know people might also consider it an 'air headed girly bad habit' or something girls do or even grown women do to let men know they are interested i.e. flirt...or some see it as a sign of distraction...but really it could also just be the nicest, sweetest, twirliest thing to do while we slip away into nothingness and come out of it all brand new!:) Also tough, twirling the hair can be done when we are at the deepest points of contemplation so nothing 'air headed' there! :) Also no twirling of hair is necessary of course...the point is sometimes we can dream of nothing at all and when we do this we are perhaps experiencing what is the highest form of meditation!

DAY DREAMING OF THE DIVINE OR SOMEONE OR SOMETHING SIMPLY SUBLIME!:)
Now secondly there is the kinda day dreaming where we focus solely on this one thing or person or some of us like the guys who work the UCP desks over on our sister blog perhaps the Divine Infinite One it/him/herself!:)On one end of the spectrum this kinda day dreaming might take the form of infatuation,lust or obssession but on the other end of the spectrum it can be seen as the ultimate form of love! So perhaps this kinda day dreaming...hmmm...is a kinda yoga in itself too...well at least when done on the love end of the spectrum especially when it's for love of the Divine Infinite One then for sure it is Bhakti (Love) Yoga...but what of it on the other end of the spectrum? Dunno...I guess then it can be bad if it gets out of hand...I mean it can't be good to obssess so much on one thing or person...funny thing though...it's not good to do it unless it's the Divine Infinite One...but this makes sense you see...because when you day dream about the Divine Infinite One you are then seeing 'all as one and one as all' so you are really not at all obssessing on one thing anymore because you are seeing this one thing in everything so you end up just into it all and that can't be a bad thing! But let's face it most of us are obssessing on one thing and one person...but we'll not beat up on ourselves here...and if done with control and we can come out of it with a clear head without harming anyone or ourselves...it's great to do it sometimes...once not for very long! LOL! And yes indeed sometimes as we do that we exhalt these things or people so much that we make them something of the sublime! Even when sometimes they're not...in fact sometimes they're total weirdos that we make out to be all of this and that...LOL!...but hey that's the fun of existence isn't it? Aaah...to be in love even if in the end it is all in vain...aah!:)

DAY DREAMING AND CREATIVE VISUALIZATION!
Finally the third kinda day dreaming is the kind where we don't just sit in awe and wonder about a thing or a person or the Divine Infinite....no we dream up things...activities...actions...whether it be with the things or persons we discussed in the second kinda day dreaming above or just all and all out 'movies made up in our head' of just totally arbitrary or imaginary things and people! Now in a sense this can be seen as the lowlest level of day dreaming...if we are looking at it from the point of view that in this realm of day dreaming you are really furthest away from the realm of 'spirit' when compared to the other two types discussed above...because in this type of day dreaming you interact the most with the material world...it is the most 'real' kinda day dreaming you can do...so in one sense it's 'low' in that it is the most materialistic. But in another sense it can be seen as the most productive kinda day dreaming in that it is with actions and plans and this and that...it is the most 'real' kinda day dreaming...it is the realm of day dreaming where you can get the most 'realisitic things' coming out of it. We believe that it is on this realm of day dreaming where we can do our most and best creative visualizations as well! :) So really in a sense it has to be the funnest kinda day dreaming! Here we can think up things we want to see happen...we can build castles in the air even!:) And on that note we leave you to your day dreams of whatever kind you like as on our Tumultous Thursdays blog post this week we shall explore more of creative visualizations...

So until then keep building Castles in the Air and being a Day Dream Believer! ENJOY! :)

Tumutuous Thursdays:Dreams and Dream Series-Do the Blind See in Their Dreams?

Approximately a year and a half ago when Meady's Musings Production in the persona of Babita Dubay used to hang out tons on the Intent online community. An interesting discussion emerged on the topic: Do the Blind See in Their Dreams? So today as part of our Dreams and Dreaming Series we thought we'd re-blog this post for you as it for sure was a very insightful discussion and most fitting metaphysically for a dreams and dreaming series on this a Tumultuous Thursday! :)

Enjoy!

"You need to go here to view it as all the discussion takes place on the Intent community itself. However below is the introductory post we wrote that got it all started! :)

Here is something I want to ask of the Intent community. I'm not posting this from any of my blogs just asking here...Do the Blind See in Their Dreams?

I got to wondering about it today...I mean I know people who are currently blind but at one point could see I've been told that they see in their dreams. What they see are memories of when they were sighted. I've not met anyone who is blind in person and asked them so I get this information only from what I've read about it etc. So it would be interesting to hear about this.

Because was now reading about something where a person who was blind all his life describes his dreams as being in sound only like listening to the radio...although in his dreams he didnt need to be helped he just got to one place from the other automatically when he wished it.

Then it got me to thinking if dreaming is like that for someone who was blind all their life on earth doesn't it bring into question how metaphyhsical a dream can be? I mean if there is a level of dreaming where we can connect with the divine and or the spirit world wouldn't we then be able to see?

Would love to hear what you all think about this or experiences or information you may have about this..."