michaeljarmer

On the Second Day of 2024: Notebooks

Morning meditation two days in a row after nearly a year and a half without. This morning my feet didn’t fall asleep as I sat cross-legged on the cushion, but I did find myself somehow less focused than I was yesterday. If opening my eyes to look at the timer is any indication of aContinue reading “On the Second Day of 2024: Notebooks”

On the First Day of 2024: Meditation, Bicycling, Music, Reading and Writing

I tried as best as I could to have a great day, a day that included at least a sampling of all the things I love to do and all the things I’m committing to do more of in the new year. I’ll make a quick list here for your generous perusal. So that, inContinue reading “On the First Day of 2024: Meditation, Bicycling, Music, Reading and Writing”

Mindfulness in 2023: A Reflection

It has been five years since I have written one of these end-of-the-year reflections. I’m coming into this one after rereading what I wrote in 2018. In the intervening half a decade, I must have been just too overwhelmed by COVID and the ending of a career in education to be bothered to do aContinue reading “Mindfulness in 2023: A Reflection”

16 Days into a Dry November, 30,000 Words into NaNoWriMo

I had my last drink of alcohol on October 30th before attempting a dry November and embarking on my second effort two years in a row at writing 50,000 words of fiction for National Novel Writing Month. As of this morning, exactly one half of the way through the month, I reached 30,000 words. IContinue reading “16 Days into a Dry November, 30,000 Words into NaNoWriMo”

Writing in a Zoom Room with Friends

If there is anything I miss about teaching during the pandemic school shutdown, it’s sitting virtually with a group of human beings I care about, in absolute silence, and in the comfort of my home, while every student in the Zoom Room writes. A silent classroom, no doubt, is better, because not only could youContinue reading “Writing in a Zoom Room with Friends”

It’s Been A Long Time . . .

. . .since we rock and rolled. So long, in fact, that my hair color has changed from purple to blue and then to silver. Apologies to anyone who might have missed me. It was April the last time I posted something new. I’m not including July’s essay “Reflections on 37 Years of Marriage” becauseContinue reading “It’s Been A Long Time . . .”

A Reflection on 37 Years of Marriage

Note: I wrote this little essay one year ago today on the occasion of our 36th year of marriage. At the time I thought it could probably use some revision, and thought that I would later think of other things to say. But I reread it today, on our 37th wedding anniversary, and I thinkContinue reading “A Reflection on 37 Years of Marriage”

#472: When I taught “The Red Wheelbarrow” . . .

Here we are on the last day of National Poetry Writing Month, or, in my neck of the woods, National Write A Sonnet Every Day Month. It has been a trip, to say the least, this project of committing oneself to a particular form over and over. I think I would recommend it. Outside ofContinue reading “#472: When I taught “The Red Wheelbarrow” . . .”

#471: What if May is the new January . . .

Twenty-nine (I) What if May is the new January? How would you move forward if that were true? Think of things you want and those things you don’tAnd make a list or chart to catalogYour life in this moment; don’t forget smallStuff: the dogs, deep breathing, the way it feelsTo put new records on the turntable,Sitting outsideContinue reading “#471: What if May is the new January . . .”

#470: I look up at the index of my life . . .

You would think I might be running out of steam, but after posting today’s poem I looked in at the NaPoWriMo website, out of curiosity, to see the prompt for today, and I could not help myself. The prompt was to write a poem inspired by, modeled after, or found in an index. I thoughtContinue reading “#470: I look up at the index of my life . . .”