Conversations with Calliope- A Fuzzy Tale

(Fuzzy the Clown)

When people talk, listen completely. Most people never listen.~Ernest Hemingway

JOE: Good morning Calliope.
CALLIOPE: Good morning Joe. What news?
JOE: Yesterday I mentioned my search for a name badge for my lover, Fuzzy the Clown.
CALLIOPE: Yes?
JOE: I wanted to tell you more about the search.
CALLIOPE: Be my guest.
JOE: I started at an office supply store which I knew did a variety of printing tasks.
CALLIOPE: Sounds logical.
JOE: I thought about how to explain what I wanted although it seemed obvious to me.
CALLIOPE: I see.
JOE: I approached a very attractive young clerk and looked forward to our transaction.
CALLIOPE: Were you disappointed?
JOE: I explained that I wanted a personalized name tag for a clown. She went to consult one wiser than she and returned to say that they had plastic sleeves with pins in a certain aisle. I explained that I wanted to provide my own graphics and also wanted a more substantial tag. This seemed to flummox her. She called a still wiser person and then showed me her catalog which did not seem to offer the option of providing my own graphic, even though there were examples of what seemed to be customer provided graphics. I again explained that I would like to provide my own graphic. She offered to have me fill out a form which they would send to their reproduction company to create the badge. She seemed annoyed when I asked her how a form could convey my graphic. I offered to provide it on a disc or by e-mail. She said she would have to check into it and call me back. We both ended the discussion frustrated. So far I have not heard back from her and have made other arrangements on the Internet.
CALLIOPE: The moral being that listening is not so easy?
JOE: It is. Talk with you tomorrow.

Conversations with Calliope- Dealing with Frustration

(Vigo Reconquista Parade)

JOE: Good morning Calliope.
CALLIOPE: Good morning Joe. How are you today?
JOE: Less confused about frustration than I was yesterday.
CALLIOPE: You said you would ponder this issue. What did you discover in your mind?
JOE: I discovered that keeping concerns locked in my mind makes them bang into the walls of my awareness and damage delicate ideas taking shape.
CALLIOPE: What led to this discovery?
JOE: Sharing my concerns with you and our readers yesterday helped me put them behind me and get on with life.
CALLIOPE: Glad to hear it. Sounds like a simple solution.
JOE: Simple does not always mean easy. I sometimes become so wrapped up in the complexities of issues that I don't realize I am making things more complicated and could just let the concerns float until they reveal their secrets and simple solutions.
CALLIOPE: Sound profound. Are you talking about things like meditation?
JOE: I am. Letting something reveal itself often works better than trying to tear it apart.
CALLIOPE: How does that apply to the concerns you talked about yesterday?
JOE: Doing something counterproductive such as dosing boredom with junk food just creates new problems.
CALLIOPE: So you found talking with me about it more productive?
JOE: I did. Thanks for being there to listen. Talk with you tomorrow.

Conversations with Calliope- The Writer as Transmitter

(Ship Communication Tower)

JOE: Good morning Calliope.
CALLIOPE: Good morning Joe. How are you today?
JOE: Energized.
CALLIOPE: On what account.
JOE: I'm proceeding with my latest project.
CALLIOPE: Which is?
JOE: A series of recordings on wisdom for various ages.
CALLIOPE: Sounds interesting. Where are you with it now?
JOE: Back to working on technology. I found a good microphone and editing software as well as a company to reproduce and distribute CD's.
CALLIOPE: Sounds like the mechanics are coming along. How about the substance?
JOE: I have been wondering whether I have enough to say. Then I read Julia Cameron's wisdom in The Right to Write. She sees creativity as a process of listening, recording and transmitting rather than trying to think everything up yourself.
CALLIOPE: Sounds like a humble stance.
JOE: It is but I can identify with it. I often wonder where I get ideas. Then I realize that if I pay attention they come to me. My job becomes a simple task of taking dictation from my experience.
CALLIOPE: Interesting way to put it.
JOE: It's a lot less responsibility and more fun to boot. Talk with you tomorrow.

Knowing You are Right

There seem to be plenty of topics on which people are sure they are right and others are wrong. I can remember times I thought I had my facts right and others were mistaken. In addition to remembering facts, which can usually be proven one way or another, are opinions to which we hold just as tightly. We can be just as sure of our opinions, although there might be no way to prove them correct. Our opinions come from our experience, what we have heard from others we trust, or maybe from what we know "must be true." Wars, fights and arguments are often based on these differences. What would the world be like if we all followed the adage "Never deny, seldom affirm, always distinguish?"

(Rainforest Cafe- London)