A Haiku Poem: Seasons Of The Heart

The Seasons Of The Heart

By: Jean-Phylipe Theriault

A cold heart,
Is like winter,
Waiting for the warm embrace of spring,
And the heat of summer.

A warm heart,
Is like summer,
Waiting for the cold embrace of the fall,
Shattering in the winter

A broken heart,
Is like spring,
Waiting to flower like a rose,
And rise like a phoenix.

I decided to write 3 little Haiku’s. It does not follow the traditional Japanese format, but for a specific reason. The heart never follows the same format. Love is a never-ending cycle of seasons. I was inspired by Becket  a brilliant author, whom was holding a Haiku contest for an autographed copy of his work. I decided to elaborate my Haiku (俳句) and post it to my blog.

My Theory About The Afterlife & Our Souls

One of the most discussed questions of all time is ” What happens when we die. Do we go to heaven or just stop existing”

And this is what i personally believe to be true. My truth may not be yours, but please do respect it. I am always open to change my thoughts, if i agree with the argument in a rational way.  This article is in no way mean to demean any type of religious and cultural beliefs. I have great respect for the beliefs of others.

First off, lets take a look into a few scientific facts, that i use to rationalize my way of thinking about the afterlife.

1) The law of conservation of energy states : Energy can be neither created nor destroyed, but can change form, for instance chemical energy can be converted to kinetic energy in the explosion of a stick of dynamite.

2) The Construct Of The Brain: The brain constructs what our world looks/feels/smells/sounds and tastes like. Dreaming is a form of seeing and experiencing the world while our eyes are shut. It’s a construct of what the world is without following all the rules of the physical world.

3) Memories & The Soul : Memories are made by the flaring of neurons in the brain to record “clips” of memories, events, information and other concepts of speech, and thought. simply put out brain & body works on electricity ( Energy ). Every single interaction, thought, and concept that we live in our lives are memories forming the person that we are. Memories are who we are, they are what i believe are what we call our souls. 

Death is a very powerful thing, it can be harsh and brutal, or beautiful and meaningful to others. But what happens when we die. Do we go to a place that we call heaven, or a place we call hell. do we become angels or ghost. do we reincarnate of simply decay away in the ground. No one can truly prove the existence of the afterlife, But they can’t prove the absence of it either. Religions each have the specifics of what goes on after we die. But I’m not a religious type of person. I am spiritual by all means, but i do not put my faith in one thing more than the other. I believe in science, and spirituality.

Lets take into consideration the scientific facts i mentioned:

#3 Our memories, events, and life experience are what make our souls. The soul is Energy.

#2 The world as we see it, is a construct of the brain. The brain and body work by energy.

What im saying is that we are beings of energy, our self-awareness and sense of self are produced by the energy, and construct of the mind which in turn form our souls. And this is where #1 comes into play.

#1 Energy can be neither created nor destroyed, energy can only be converted.

Following my reasoning. We are made of energy. Our souls are made up of our memories, which are energy. If energy cannot be destroyed, and only converted. This means that when we die, our energy(soul) is not destroyed but converted into a different type of energy. Which means that we never truly die, we pass onto a different type of existence which i call the afterlife.

 

 

My Philosophy To A Good Life In 3 Steps

Dear readers,

I thought i would post something that means quite allot to me. My own personal philosophy to life, and growth.

1) A Quote that i truly admire, which i picked up from my french teacher and author Laurent Fadanni. ” Il reste toujour un peut de parfum a la main qui donne des rose.” Which means; There is always a hint of perfume left behind by the person who gives roses to others. This quote is about Karma, It means the good that you do onto others out of joy and a sheer random act of kindness will always stay with you. The good you put out into the world will come back to you. Send out positive vibrations into the world, and the world with respond positively. Give out negative vibrations, and the world will respond with negativity.

2) You need to let go of anger, revenge, grudges. During your entire life people will be mean, heartless, cruel and careless towards you. If you hang on to those emotions of anger towards that person, they win. Theirs no point to keep feeling those emotions. They bring you down, make you sad, depressed, and focus all your time and energy to hating these people. when you could be devoting it to love, kindness, and having fun with this short life we have. Here is an example. ( A bully comes up to me. Calls me a fagot, whore, slut and circulates rumors around the work place about me that just makes me blow a fuse.)  Then this Bully quits for no reason, and yet i still sitting on these emotions of hate, and anger towards this person who did this terrible thing to me. For all i know the bully could have quit, moved on with his life, forgot about what he said, and kept being happy. but here i am thinking about this bully, and devoting time thinking of arguments, and payback, when this person has moved on already. If you give into this then that bully won, because he is happy where ever he his, he’s moving on with his life and not looking back. He has a hold on you, without even being near you,  and your still there, unhappy, and stuck with the scenario going round and round in your head. When you could have spent your precious time having a good time, enjoying life, and looking in the positive side of things.

So letting go, is the most powerful thing you can do. It means you’re not letting that bully control you anymore, you’re taking control of your emotions, and deciding that letting go to be happy is better than sulking in the grudge.

3) An Open And Educated Mind, Is A Sane Mind. Be open to change, and acceptance. This world is a world that is in constant change. You cannot close your mind off to things that you do not understand or fear. Keep an open mind to new things, people, and ways of life. The moment you close yourself off from change, you become stagnant in life. Stuck and un able to move with the flow of everything. Life is about growth, and change, love and kindness. Acceptance, and evolving. Educate yourself, in this day and age, you have access to all the information around the world. Why keep a simple mind, when you could have a great and powerful mind that is able to think and grown for itself. Do not allow parents, teachers, superiors or governments dictate what is right and what is wrong. Think for your self, and only for yourself, find the good and the bad on your own, know the facts, make decisions based on clear reason, and try to view every perspective before you decide.

 

My Fear Of Love : Philophobia

Philophobia: is the fear of being in love and falling in love. The risk is usually when a person has confronted any emotional turmoil relating to love in the past but also can be chronic phobia

I must admit that finding love, a true and great love is something that i’ve always wanted in my life. But when it comes to me, this quest comes coupled with a crippling fear of it. (i.e Philophobia )

I’ve been through a few dating websites in my short time in adulthood, and a select few men that i could see myself with for the rest of my life. Taking steps to meet them, date them and start a connection is hard for me. I’ve only ever seen 3 men, in a relationship/dating sense. Each time a connection is made, the guy starts to have feelings for me, and as soon as i can feel it, or they let me know…. BAM!! like someone slapping me a cross the face, Philophobia kicks in.

The worst part of it, is that in the perspective of these men, i’m leading them on, playing games. I seem cold, distant, uncaring. But in my perspective, its because i’m feeling something towards them, that i start to distance my self from them, in fear of love. And i cant seem to let them know.

My mother went out of her way to make sure that i know im loved, my father on the other hand wasnt part of the picture much in my life, and doesn’t express many emotions, its hard to even know what he feels. I have been loved, and loved others, but when it comes to dating, its a fault that i cant seem to shake.

This is something that i work on every single day. not in the sense that i try to connect with other. but in the way that i have to work on loving myself first. In the famous words of RuPaul ” If you cant love your self, then how in the hell are you going to love some one else.”

I wrote this to let people know, that this is a serious issue, and when a guy you love, that doesn’t seem to love you back, could possibly have this fear. and that you should try to understand it. For people like me, with this fear. its hard to give your heart away. And its even harder when your aware of the issues.

In my life, 21 years of life. I’ve only fallen in love twice. Once when i was just 14, with a very kind guy in the US. It was a long distance relationship that i had for a long while. And the second was when i was 19, with a handsome man. only i fell in love with him about much later. Strange that i never met him even though we lived in the same province, never spoke to him over the phone, and yett  ive kept contact with for a long time since that time. I can’t tell if i love the person he is. or the ideal of him. In any event, ive never told him how i felt, nor will i ever. I haven’t been in a place in my life that im ready to start dating. No job, no place, no extra education, distance is an issue, family problems. and the list goes on.

 

When is the perfect time to start loving, and how can you get over this fear. These are things i constantly ask myself.

 

 

Personal Recipe: Canadian Maple-Walnut Banana Bread

This is a recipe that i came up with and have been using for years. Its my very favorite way to make banana bread. There are hundreds of ways to make it, and ive tried quite a bit of them until i found that mixing them together is a fun way to make one. I’m the type of guy that likes a thick, more cake like banana bread. Fluffy bread-like is nice, but not my favorite.

Ingredients:

3 Large Ripe Banana’s (Frozen over night and defrosted) .

1 Large Egg.

4 table spoons of  Grade A or B Maple Syrup ( Dark colored Maple Syrup. ~ not the cheap glucose syrup.)

Half Cup of Wall-nuts.

1 and a half cups of white flour.

1 cup of brown sugar.

1/2 Table Spoon Baking powder

1/2 Table Spoon Baking soda.

a pinch of salt.

2 Table Spoon of Vanilla Extract.

4 Table Spoon of Butter ( Room Temperature)

1 Large Teaspoon of Instant coffee grains.

How To:

In a bowl crush 3 defrosted Banana’s. Mix in the Vanilla, Syrup, Butter and Instant coffee until you create a paste. In a Different bowl Mix the flour, salt,brown sugar, baking powder and baking soda together. Add the Dry ingredients into the banana paste. Mix together with a fork until the paste thickens and there is no more dry ingredients. Add the walnuts.

Preheat oven to 350. Add mix into a greased little bread pan. Cook for 1hour. when there is 20mn left until the baking time is over. Coat the Banana Bread with Maple Syrup. This will create a crispy and sweet exterior.

Tip: A fun little trick, dice some walnuts, add to the top of the mix once in the pan. combines with the maple syrup added in the end. it makes an awesome combination.

 

 

Anne Rice: The Inspiration That Pushed Me To Write My Novella

Dear readers,

One of the greatest inspirations i have ever had in regards to becoming an author is Miss Anne Rice. Creating a universe of my own, and bringing my characters to life has been a struggle but has become a great achievement!

When i first wrote Children Of The Moon: Andrew’s Origin, I never thought i would ever publish it or put it out there for people to read. But then i found a video on youtube about Anne Rice giving some advice on writing. The Moment i finished that video i just knew that i should self publish my first novelette as an e-book. It may be just the prologue to my main novella, but it has opened up doors to publishing, reviews, and countless emails of good and bad. Just knowing that someone out there is reading my novella, and giving life to my characters in their imagination is truly amazing to me.

Since Andrew’s Origin i have been working on my next novella Children Of The Moon, The Curious Death Of Miss Rose. And i just love following the adventures that my characters are going on, and this is thanks to Anne Rice. Without that little push i would have never of gotten good, positive outlooks on my little project. Even the negative is a good thing to me. From that i can grow, and change.

Thank you Anne Rice for the inspiration!

Partial review of The Wolf Gift :  Click Me! 

Anne Rice: The Wolf Gift Partial Review

The Wolf Gift Chronicles

By Anne Rice

Dear readers,

Its been such a long while since I posted something on my blog, and I wanted to let you know I’m back, and I’m starting with a review of an amazing book by Anne Rice! I haven’t finished the entire novel, but so far I absolutely love every aspect of it.

I would like to start off saying this is the first Anne Rice novel i have had the pleasure of reading. The characters are extremely well written, and seem to take on a life of their own. The interaction between them is fluid and somewhat imperfect at the same time. Almost like their holding back from divulging what the other wants to hear, which is a good thing because a dialogue between two people; in real life, is not a linear thing that flows together with the goal of mutual interest. This is something alot of authors do. Their characters speak too perfectly allowing each party to interact together in a linear way, each saying exactly what is on their minds. Something normal humans do not do, they hold back, and keep pieces of information from the other for personal reasons that are affected by life experience and personality.

Miss Rice seems to take this into consideration when writing her characters. They hold a conversation together, but they hold back from speaking their minds, each not knowing the others intentions. The author then  gives the reader insight into the minds of the characters. Altogether it makes the interactions between them authentic, adding to the exquisite experience that is The Wolf gift.

Something that i truly admire from Anne Rice is the way she describes so perfectly the scenery, emotions, thoughts of the beautiful universe she created while setting a vivid mood. This is something that i have trouble with while working on my own self published novella Children Of The Moon. It truly does create a very visual aspect to the words. Imagination is a big part of reading a book. The fact that Anne Rice has such a strong imagination and is able to apply it to the novel, allowing her readers to visualize almost exactly what she see’s while creating this universe is simply delightful. Some reviewers say that this is simply to fill up word count and thicken the novel. I personally believe that this is her style, it’s what lets all her readers be able to visualize the same universe, it creates a constant base visual that any reader can follow but allows each to have a variation of the same universe while maintaining the basic structure that Miss Rice depicted.

Since i purchased this novel from the Kindle store. I fell in love with every aspects of it. I cant wait to finish it, and be able to start reading the second installment!  For Christmas I’m going to ask for a physical copy of the book, and hopefully get it signed by Miss Rice once she visits Montreal once again.

Thank you kindly readers of the blog, and i truly hope you have the pleasure of reading this novel someday.

Photo from Anne Rice’s Personal Facebook

 

The Inspiration For Children Of The Moon

The Inspiration For Children Of The Moon.

 

New blog for my Children Of The Moon series (novella)

Hey to all my faithful readers out there. its time i get back to blogging and back to continuing my novels!!

i hope that you will keep with me as i go further and create a beautiful novel series based on the dreams and nightmares that have been haunting me, begging me to bring them into this world.

So i created a new blog just for my novella and whom ever would like to stick around with me as i battle the blank page and chase down the dreams that have wanted to manifest them selfs.

Children Of The Moon | A place for the Author of Children Of The Moon to rest his ideas and thoughts.
https://childrenofthemoonauthor.wordpress.com/

Working On My Novella: Werewolf’s & LGBT People

Werewolf’s & LGBT People

Is it a choice?

Hey people of the blog,

I’ve been working on a novella lately and I’m falling in love with it. I may not be a naturally born writer but i love writing with a passion nonetheless! It’s amazing how i feel towards my characters. I write, and write, and i keep wondering whats going to happen next. How am i going to contribute to his personality, and how is it going to affect the story. Whats his past, his present and his future. These are all amazing aspects that i never thought i would come by. And i am amazed at what im finding out about them, and myself at the same time. I’ve actually come to realize that my writing style is dark, twisty and a little Gothic. But at the same time i feel im giving a loving, longing, beautiful voice to Andrew. If this is how writers feel when their creating a piece of art; i want to take this further! I’m writing the first chapter, and im jam-paking it with foreshadowing. and its thrilling!

I’m writing a supernatural epistolary novella/novelette (I’m not sure of the size yet) The first chapter starts out with Andrew’s origins, and how he came to be a werewolf.  This is about a young gay 20-year-old named Andrew. He is an artistic, kind, loving, unusual person whom suffers from insomnia. His mother, Anne is a kind loving woman. His father, Jack is an abusive drunk. Together they live in a small town, out in the middle of a vast forest. one night Andrew sneaks out of the house to go write in his journal (that’s the epistolary part i’m using) He talks to the moon and documents his emotions, thoughts and more importantly his dreams(when he has them, of course). On that night he is attacked and mauled by a wild beast. He then has recurring dreams of a strange wolf asking to come into his home. The story is about an old wolf spirit that manifest its self through his dreams. He will be given the choice to become a “werewolf” or to remain the way he was before. Strangely, the spirit has a scent that he knows. A smell that he’s always known since he was a child. This spirit was gifted to him from someone very close to him, But who? (Theirs much more that happens in this chapter, but i want to save that for when it gets published)

2 years later after he’s run away from his home town. He starts writing in his journal again. He writes of another man he’s met. this man is very special because he to is a werewolf. This story is about their love, growing strong. Evolving into something greater and more beautiful. In some ways i’m using being able to choose to become a werewolf or to refuse it as an allegory to being gay(LGBT). Some of you are probably already thinking. ” what do you mean, being gay is not a choice!!” I know this, and i strongly advocate that it is not a choice. However there is a choice involved in being gay. And that is the choice of accepting it, or refusing it. This is the only choice that i feel exists in this subject.

Andrew was born into a very old family. In this family they shared a special gift. The gift of a wolf spirit. He was born to a family that was being guarded by a very old and wise wolf spirit. This spirit is passed down from generation to generation. When one has the gift, and one gives the gift. One looses the gift and one receives it. The spirit dewls within the dream realm of that person. In my story being a werewolf is not an infection, a curse of a horrible fate. It’s an honor.

I haven’t found a tittle yet. But this is something special to my heart!

I made a video reading some of what ive written ( ive changed his name to Andrew, from Robin)