personal revelation Archives - Page 2 of 3

July Blog: Sometimes I Just Want To Run Away…

READY? What's that old line about "the world being too much with us"? Sometimes the obstacles laid along the road create a wall too high to scale. Sometimes they force us to confront truths we would rather avoid. If you're a little like me, maybe they cause you to contemplate, if only for a moment, running away, and summer provides the opportune moment to try a faux escape. After all, it's July, summer's highpoint in the northern hemisphere. In this month of heat, humidity, and [...]

By irvinjgdm|2022-06-30T15:36:54+00:00June 30th, 2022|Essays|0 Comments

The Heart of it All

Once upon a time, the slogan for the Buckeye State was "Ohio...the heart of it all." While the P.R. guys and gals have moved on from that catchy phrase, I find myself returning to it this February...not for the state but for myself and my passion. What, I ask myself, is the heart of my writing? Here's what I came up with... 1. exploring the motivations that prompt human actions, good or bad 2. optimism...despite the chaos that threatens our world 3. a belief in [...]

By irvinjgdm|2022-01-31T17:19:51+00:00January 31st, 2022|Essays|0 Comments

Resolutions — A New Sense or a Nuisance?

Ah, the pressure of a new year...the overt or subtle messages from friends, family, the media to change your ways, make a fresh start, replace old habits with new ones. Do I or don't I make that list? Some days the desire to simply 'be' overshadows everything else and raises questions. Why must I push myself forward? What do I hope to accomplish in this moment? Do I need to always be chasing after something more? During December, I spent much of my online time [...]

By irvinjgdm|2022-01-01T14:50:08+00:00January 1st, 2022|Essays|0 Comments

An Attempt to See Clearly in the Fog…

In May I had surgery on the muscles in my left eye to correct the strabismus that has dogged me since before and after my brain surgery on the torturous blood vessel rubbing against one of my cranial nerves. (Yes, that is the official wording on the MRI analysis...torturous!). I also had the cataract removed. In August, the surgeon completed the trifecta by implanting a new lens in the right eye. Wow! I can see to infinity and beyond...if infinity is the sky above the [...]

By irvinjgdm|2021-08-31T14:52:01+00:00August 31st, 2021|Essays|0 Comments

PANTSING THROUGH AUGUST

If I have learned anything over the past eighteen months, it is the simple fact that life can change in unexpected ways in the space of a hiccup. Making plans to travel, sending deposits for tickets, and planning to attend conferences, may or may not work out. Yet I persist, penciling in dates and researching airplane flights, trusting in the belief that things will work out as they should. In other words, I'm an optimistic pantser! Is this any way to go through life? Let's [...]

By irvinjgdm|2021-07-31T17:32:38+00:00July 31st, 2021|Essays, Uncategorized|0 Comments

Are We Really Back To ‘Normal’?

As I sit to write this post, Independence Day beckons. News stories about picnics, gatherings, and fireworks abound. How comfortable do we feel moving among a crowd when we know so little about the health and vaccination history of the people crowding around us? I confess to a bit of trepidation, yet I have already stepped out, joining other writers for an event in Columbus June 24. Almost everyone removed their masks, and the atmosphere was one of celebration and thanksgiving. We the people were [...]

By irvinjgdm|2021-06-30T13:17:11+00:00June 30th, 2021|Essays|0 Comments

Don’t Stop Believing

As I write this note, the two-inch snowfall melts outside the window, and the weatherman predicts temps in the twenties tonight. I have covered all my tender peas, lettuce, and spinach, but my heart quails at the prospect of losing blossoms on the tulip pear or on the pansies in the window box. Still, beneath the coverlet of white, spring trembles, preparing to begin again the rites of renewal and growth. And then that song plays in my head..."Don't stop believin..." I step away for [...]

By irvinjgdm|2021-05-01T23:13:23+00:00May 1st, 2021|Essays, Uncategorized|0 Comments

In This Giving Season…

It's snowing, and the child in me dances for joy. Being a December birthday girl, my earliest memories remain infused with the delight and wonder of snowfall, the way it covers all the imperfections we humans have created on the earth, the way it prepares us to believe in miracles. I realize this love of cold and snow is one of my eccentricities, but I refuse to surrender it. During my teaching career, this wintry month always created a special spirit in the classroom. Students [...]

By irvinjgdm|2020-11-30T18:10:50+00:00November 30th, 2020|Essays, motivational, seasonal, Upcoming book|0 Comments

A Thanksgiving List of Blessings

I admit to trepidation in trying to form a list of things to be thankful for during this strange, maddening, sad, unprecedented (how often have we heard that word over the last four years?) time. So, I'll start with the things that have enriched these past nine months of house hiding: wine, both white and red; ice cream; movies on streaming services; virtual streaming of the arts; posts from friends on social media; a husband who likes to cook fancy; the nature park and pond [...]

By irvinjgdm|2020-11-24T17:59:06+00:00November 24th, 2020|Essays|0 Comments

A Discourse On Loss

"No man is an island." John Donne, Devotions upon Emergent Occasions As 2017 closes out its run, I struggle through the immensity of unmooring that the year has brought. My bubble life of structure and belief in the common decency of man has suffered a knock-out punch. As a child of the sixties, I am no stranger to turmoil. However, the bouts of political insanity that rock the country strain my belief that goodness will triumph. A minority should never determine the course of the [...]

By irvinjgdm|2017-12-31T11:59:00+00:00December 31st, 2017|contemplative, emotive, Essays, inspirational, philosophical|0 Comments