d. ellis phelps's Blog

Photo by Meg Boulden on Unsplash

The smell of cheap, store-bought popcorn, the smell of crayons and glue, the smell of freshly-cut grass on a summer evening: these among many others, are strong olfactory triggers that, if consciously engaged, can take a writer swiftly to another place and time.

In this Idea Box exercise, we explore the power of following the nose to create sensory-rich snippets of memoir writing that can, if diligently pursued, result in many pages of memoir.

If you are already a part of our Idea Box community, congratulations! If not, click the subscriber content box below and you’ll be prompted to join us. For only $10 annually, you’ll have access to monthly writing workshop syllabi, including this month’s smell-fest, complete with writing warm-ups, writing samples, and writing exercises. Plus, you’ll be eligible to submit to fws: writer’s idea box for publication.

I can’t wait to read what you write!

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Once, my son-in-law, asked me “How do you pray?”

All I could think to say was, “I breathe, mostly.” That is still true today, but I would add: I sit. Especially in nature and as one Buddhist friend says, I listen for clues. This poem is one example of one such morning, me sitting in the shade of the ligustrum in my backyard.

this too–a prayerin the exact crook
of the chaste tree
that leans itself into the light
like a warm conversation
over tea and bread

a cardinal cadmium
lit like a bulb sits
on the branch
bright in the sun

but just for an instant
and then he is gone

flown over my shoulder

as i watch him go
—a yellow finch aglow
on the sunflower
feeding on this common seed

just beyond a frond of grass
plays in the light
this too
—a prayer

& the thrum of this mud
under these bare feet

like the anole
his red dewlap
establishing his territory

i am established in this mud

how the hummingbird flirts
with the turk’s cap

and now the swallowtail
butterfly black and yellow flash

a breath
a breeze
the song of the wren

6X6″ watercolor with mm on paper, (c) d. ellis phelps, 2025

Own this original painting now…

Woods, vessels, florals, and figures, especially faces, hands, and feet are recurring images in my paintings. Trees become dryads, vessels become bodies, bodies become spirit guides, floral impressions become bounty, fertility, and beauty.

In this painting, vessels seem to become trees in a dark wood, their canopies full of bountiful fruit, blooms, and leaves of many colors, reminding the viewer of the fertility, mystery, and abundant life.

Let this painting bring beautiful mystery into your conscious awareness and remind you that you are surrounded by abundant life! 

Own this original now…

I have been practicing light work or energy work for decades. I began with Reiki Level 1 in the early 1990s (yes. I’m from the 1900s). I have continued my studies and practice of energy healing since then and have found it to be the singular most important thing I have ever done. As a tool for healing on all levels, emotional, mental, spiritual, & physical, it is beyond comparison. I highly recommend these studies to anyone wanting to healing trauma, to heal from injury, illness, or surgery, or to heal the body-mind in any way.

As you might imagine, knowing and understanding, experiencing, myself as an energetic being manifested in a physical form has influenced every area of my life, especially my art and writing. The more of my artist statements you read, the more you will see what I mean by this.

Light workers or energy-healing practitioners often see color or light frequencies when they are working with clients in healing sessions. I have not generally seen color, but I often see (visually) light particles and see color only intuitively; however, my paintings are a different story. The color seems to jump out of the brush!

Indigo is the color or light frequency associated with the third eye or spiritual insight often known as intuition. It is associated with the energy of clairvoyance and connection with the divine, the ability to see clearly from the highest vibrational frequency. When I paint, I often feel this connection strongly and thus, the painting carries that energy too. Let bringing this painting into your space help you to feel the same high vibrational frequency and know that intuition and clairvoyance are your divine birthright.

Namaste,

d

Photo by Fabian Burghardt on Unsplash

Writing warm ups can be of enormous value for developing fodder for future in-depth explorations. This month, I depart from the standard syllabus I usually offer to offer, instead, a rich writing warm-up exercise I call “writing horses.”

This exercise, it may surprise you, has nothing whatsoever to do with actual horses, the animal, but is instead named after an exercise athletes sometimes do. The prompts may stimulate any genre, but can be especially helpful to someone interested in writing memoir.

After you’ve warmed your writing muscles up with these prompts and embellished and polished a piece of writing from them, be sure to submit to fws: writer’s idea box here!

If you’ve already subscribed to the Writer’s Idea Box, yay! If not, today’s the day! Join us.

Subscribe to get access

Read more of this content when you subscribe today.

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Image credit: Annie Nyle via Unsplash

[believed that] healing the world requires healing the self, and that global change must arise from deeply rooted spiritual awareness.

Kosmos

So do I.

I never met Nancy Roof but I admire her work and aspire to create in fws, a journal, that like Kosmos

publishes a diversity of voices that reflect the complexity of our time and the depth of our shared inquiry.

Explore the latest issue of Kosmos here.

Namaste,

d

Image courtesy of Dibakar Roy via Unsplash

Whatever message is inside this being in its personal fragrance [me] that is the root cause and maybe unrecognised cause of suffering within me, I pray ‘Please delete this message.’

~Mooji

I have been “attending “ satsang almost daily with Guru Mooji Baba since 2020, when during quarantine, I knew I had to find a teacher or I would come unglued.

I thank the Supreme Being for inspiring this Guru and for guiding me to him via the most unlikely channel:

YouTube.

Tonight, this quote spoke to me and is my prayer indeed.

One can watch many free satsangs (teachings) there.

That is where I started. Now, I belong to the online Sangha (community) known as Sahaja Express, named after Sahaja, Portugal, Mooji’s home the location of the community’s retreat Center.

Maybe I will see you there…

May All beings know peace.

Namaste,

d

Photo by Egor Myznik on Unsplash

a thing of beauty is a joy forever

~John Keats

Beauty heals. Here Keats explains how:

A thing of beauty is a joy for ever:
Its loveliness increases; it will never
Pass into nothingness; but still will keep
A bower quiet for us, and a sleep
Full of sweet dreams, and health, and quiet breathing.
Therefore, on every morrow, are we wreathing
A flowery band to bind us to the earth,
Spite of despondence, of the inhuman dearth
Of noble natures, of the gloomy days,
Of all the unhealthy and o'er-darkened ways
Made for our searching: yes, in spite of all,
Some shape of beauty moves away the pall...

~John Keats
from: Endymion, Book I

In the current issue of and ongoing publication of fws: international journal of literature & art, random beauty ii, you will find the “shape of beauty” to which Keats refers. This issue features poems and art that explore the concept of beauty…finding it in a thrown clay pot, a rose garden, fog, piles of trash, and more.

Poets are here for us, pointing, summoning, reminding us that there is beauty everywhere when we are awake to its happening.

So far we have featured poets Jennifer Lagier, Terry Dawson, and David Radavich and we are publishing poems and art as pieces are accepted through Dec. 31, 2025. So, if you haven’t submitted, please do below.

Until then and for inspiration and respite, read published poems here.

Namaste,

d

Photo by Sam Jotham Sutharson on Unsplash

I simply adore a good box, a unique box. I have four boxes in which I keep jewelry: three are music boxes, one is antique and belonged to my great-grandmother, one is mid-century gold and was given to me by my father.

I have a box I collaged with re-purposed materials, jewelry, buttons, wires, greeting cards and so on. This is a throw-back from the “vision-board” era, when we were all intending our hearts out. This box is full of wishes, intentions, and desires.

I could go on and on about my boxes!

I wonder about you? Do you have boxes? Or, other “keeping places?” Of course you do!

In this Writer’s Idea Box experience, we explore the notion of place: keeping places, living places, places we’ve been, and on and on in the myriad ways the concept of place can be imagined.

If you’ve already joined the Writer’s Idea Box community, YAY! Here’s this month’s syllabus, complete with quips and quotes, a writing warm-up, writing samples that illustrate the focus of our writing, and two writing exercises.

If you have not joined us, please do! Subscribe below.

I can’t wait to read what you write!

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circular meditation for clarity, 2012

I’m delighted to have found this journal page from 2012 on which I’ve practiced a form of writing meditation, this time seeking clarity. I had forgotten all about this way of working. I remember it being very helpful, so I’m happy to share it with you here, tho I do not remember who taught it to me. I gratefully acknowledge that person or book now and take no credit for having developed the process.

Here’s what you do:

First, determine what quality or state of being you are seeking. Find your journal or any paper like a sketch book. I like sketch books because the pages do not have lines and I like working in 11X14″ size sketchbooks because there is more space!

Secondly, draw a small circle in the middle of the page and write your desire in that circle.

Thirdly, start with the phrase that goes something like this: “When I have clarity (or peace or balance or whatever you are seeking), I am…. Then, begin the next phrase in the way the first phrase ended. You’ll see what I mean when you read the meditation transcript below.

Fourthly, write on lines that extend out from the inner circle and all the way around the circle.

Lastly, be surprised at what you’ve discovered. I always feel better and learn something, too. Try it! Let me know how it goes.

Here are the gleanings from this meditation for your consideration:

clarity

when i have clarity, i have no sense of lack
when i have no sense of lack, i have no fear
when i have no fear, i have clarity
when i have clarity, i can remember my soul's purpose
remembering my soul's purpose induces right action
right action satisfies the purpose of soul
& brings me to a higher level of vibrational frequency
when i come into a higher level of vibrational frequency, i am one
when i am attuned to a higher level of vibrational frequency, i can sit in deep stillness
when i sit in deep silence, i get clarity
when i am honest & listening to my body, i get clarity
when i follow my thoughts, i feel confused
when i feel confused, i do not own my power
when i sit in deep silence, i sense the presence of spirit
when i sense the presence of spirit, i realize spirit in action
when i realize spirit in action, i have no need to act
when i have no need to act, i remain centered in stillness
when i remain centered in stillness, i realize the source of power
when i realize the source of power, i can claim it
when i claim the source of power, i know who i am
when i know who i am, i have clarity

Namaste My Loves,
d