Be Your Own Sun When It's Cloudy

Decades ago, during cloudy wintry gray days, I would tell people to be their own sun. They would be focused on how bleak and dreary it looked outside instead of trying to find a way to make the day better. I would be focused on the day count until spring.

Cloudy days are the best writing days. Those days slowly steer your mind into the writing zone. The thoughts start standing in line waiting for their turn on your page. The more thoughts that pour in, the faster you write. Who cares about the time it's going to take you to edit what you write. You're getting those magic thoughts.

Other people have an imagination too

It disappointed me to discover other people say be your own sun too. Out of curiosity, I searched for this phrase on the internet and found it. What? You mean it's not my phrase, my very own phrase?

There's an album for sale by Lia Jung entitled, "Be Your Own Sun." There's a woman who makes items like phone cases and sofa pillows with this phrase. Good for them! But still going back in my head, you mean it's really not just my own phrase?

What about my other phrase?

I also say be the beach when someone is feeling stressed. The sounds of the beach are such a calming influence, so be the beach.

I'm scared to search for that phrase. Someone might be painting it on ladder back chairs on some beachfront back east.

So, it's a little selfish to think other creative minds in the world can't say the same quirky, yet positive, phrases.

I do what I can to lift myself up, or to help others--at least influence people with small methods to help them on their big journeys every day. Some people don't have strong coping skills, so sometimes you have to help them out.

I used to think of my little phrases as mantras, but that's not what they really are because they're more like tools to help bring in positivity, not the beginning of routine meditation.

The effects of winter

Winter is an example of how a season can affect someone's demeanor. When I was working in an office, I sat adjacent to a large window. You could see a main street going all the way to the highway. If it was a gray day, you would see all the dismal colors on the buildings blend in. Your mind could go gray if you let it.

I don't like cold weather. I don't like it when the sun isn't shining through the glass, a sun that highlights colors outside.

I take my own advice. Be your own sun. I start counting the weeks until spring as soon as December arrives. I have heard many times, "at least the sun's out." The sun just brings a sense of warmth and gladness.

Wanna play marbles?

That's what I used to say to my 15-month younger brother when we were kiddos. Boredom would creep in with little to do, so wanna play marbles? lifted the day.

And this was when we lived in Kauai resulting from an Air Force transfer of my dad. One would think that there's no such thing as boredom on a tropical island. You're still limited on what you can do when you're a child.

So you cling to the imagination.

Draw a circle in the dirt and then with your fist in the dirt, start flicking the marbles inside the circle with your thumb. And then you try to knock your opponent's marble out of the circle by hitting it with your marble00your boulder marble. This could fill up an hour. Did you play that game too?

Whatever it takes to get us through the day.