Drops of Inspira

 Hello! I know last week's post was a bit heavy, so this week, I wanted to tackle another angle of patience that is near and dear to my heart: Patience and How it Affects Mental Health. If you've followed my blog for awhile, you know that I struggle a lot with both anxiety and depression. As a kid, I never thought I would be dealing with either, but it happened.  Lately, I've been fascinated by just how much impatience takes a toll on the mind and body.  Did you know that impatience can raise your blood pressure, raise your cortisol levels and adrenaline? When these are raised, your body enters a fight or flight response and your stress levels raise. When your stress levels rise, your body is prone to physical illness as well as mental illness. Many illnesses start in the mind. It controls more than we realize. And no, I'm not saying it's all in your head. That saying is one that has been going around for far too long in my opinion. It basically means that the sick ...

 Hello! Lately, I've been thinking a lot about my childhood. It wasn't all rose gold, but there was a lot less stress. I didn't have to think about bills or the state of the world or having a job yet. Things were simple. I remember when I first noticed that something was wrong. I think it was about 2011 and there was something different. A darkening of the air. A sense of foreboding that heralded adulthood. A few years later, my state was devastated by wildfires. My home was spared, but we lost a few sheds and the ground was black. It looked like Mordor from The Lord of the Rings.  I mention all of this because we look back and idealize the past. We tend to forget the bad and just remember the good. The grass is greener in the past. Or so we think.  But the past has its cracks and its weeds. It's not what we think it was.  I'm learning that instead of looking forward with hope and joy, I'm idolizing my past. It's blown way out of proportion, so I dwell in it...

     Hello! This past week has been a hurricane week.  What do I mean by that? I mean, this last week has been full of events that have slammed into me with all the force of a hurricane.They have left me bewildered. I want to run and hide in a cave until it's all over.  I will not go into all the details, but what I will say, is that the trials have made me look for the light in the darkness. Because, even in the darkest periods of our lives, there is hope.  It's one reason I love the stars so much. They're beautiful and glittering. Like a king's crown, but they are so much more than that. Stars are a reminder that even in a dark sky, there is light. And it's untouchable. Darkness cannot win. Not ultimately.  Yes, there are times when it looks like the darkness will have the victory. Times, you want to give up hope. But there is light in the darkness if only we will look for it. I'm not a pie-in-the-sky girl. I will not pretend that everything is okay....

  Set the Stars Alight by Amanda Dykes  &  a few other books by another favorite author. ISBN-13: 978-0764232671 Author: Amanda Dykes  ©  Bethany House Publishers; 6/1 edition (June 30, 2020) "Set the Stars Alight" by Amanda Dykes (available on Amazon.com) This is the kind of book that inspired me to write my own novels at six years-old. It's full of hope and light in the midst of darkness. It makes you feel seen. It reminds you that you are not alone. Set the Stars Alight by Amanda Dykes feels like home. Like magic. And starlight and mystery. Family and found family. Redemption. And the slowest, sweetest slow-burn romance ever created in one book. This book came at time where my creative well was drying up. Like a dry leaf, I started to curl up on myself, to shrivel and die. This book changed all that, and I'm not being dramatic.  After reading Set the Stars Alight , my heart began to open up again. To unfurl and to believe that there is still good in...

  Hello! Today is usually the day when I show a bit of poetry that was inspired by a prompt, but I'm going to do things a little differently. A few weeks ago I posted my first poetry anthology on Wattpad.com. If you aren't familiar with Wattpad, it's a free site that allows you to read and comment on other peoples' books and to post your own for others to read.  I've been on Wattpad for years, but only as a reader. Lately, a friend posted her own poetry on the site and it inspired me to post my own. So here is the cover (link below): The Shadow Wars by Julia Garcia The Shadow Wars is a poetry anthology of darkness, hope and my struggles with mental health. Trigger Warning: Some of the poems may contain allusions to self-harm. I've written these poems over a period of five or more years. Some of them I've posted here on the blog, so for those of you who have been around for a while, they might be familiar.  In life, there is darkness, but there is always ligh...

 Hello again!  So, we've full circle again. It seems hard to believe that it's been a year since February (last year seems like it had several Februarys in it. Maybe that's just me, but I doubt it.), but here we are again.  So, the month of love. Valentine's Day, hearts, candy, cards... Yeah. That's what most people think of this month, but February is also International Friendship Month, which is pretty great. I mean, an entire month devoted to celebrating friendship? Epic.  I've got a few things brewing on the back burner of my mind. One is a post about friendship on the fourteenth of this month. The other is my Poetry 15th . I might do something besides the poem this month. It's still undecided. I wanted to talk about something that surprised me last month. So, every month I take out my small corkboard that lives on my wall and paste inspirational quotes on it. Usually, I find these quotes from the page-a-day calendar at work or just things I see online t...

  Okay. Seriously.  Who stole the first half of the month? It's hard for me to believe that January is halfway gone already. Didn't it just start? Just me? Alright. Moving on.  This month's prompt is a little different. Here it is: Pink might be an odd color to associate with January. I know it's associated with February and Valentine's Day, but to me, I've always associated pink with beginnings and with hope. I'm not entirely sure why. I'll have to think more on it, but that's why "pink" is the prompt for this month. In case you were wondering. Here is my response: Feel free to use the prompt to generate your own creativity, whatever that may be: a poem, a song, a piece of art, a sculpture... Go wild!  Unless something occurs, this will be the last post for the month. I'll be back next month for International Friendship Month. Until then... -Julia Garcia / Arysta Henry

It's been a very rainy, foggy April. About every other day it rains from sunup until sundown.  One thing I love about the rain and fog is that they intensify the surrounding colors. The fog drifts through the tall pines, wrap its fingers around the red barn on the hill and floats over the pond.  However, I am glad for days like today where the blue sky spans the horizon, the beautiful flowers are seen clearly and the wind blows through the trees carrying with it the scent of growing things.  Even during the rain, hope is tangible. It's just around the corner. This brings me to the poetry prompt for this month, which is hope. In a world that seems to get darker and darker, I'm clinging to the hope that this is only temporary. One day the night will end and morning will be here. Please feel free to use this prompt to do your own creative thing. Here is my response taken from my poetry archives. I wrote this poem several years ago and thought it was fi...

The old rhyme goes, "April showers bring May flowers."  Lately, the world seems to be experiencing a lot of "showers", both rain and disasters. As I'm writing this, the Corona Virus, or COVID-19, is killing people every day.  Many, including myself, have lost jobs as a result, lives have been disrupted, weddings canceled, sports put on hold, etc. The list goes on. The point is, life hasn't been normal in a while. I'm tempted to look at my "forecast" and see nothing but endless rain.  At this point, quarantine is supposed to last through April. Maybe even beyond, God forbid.  Even the weather has been weird. It's been raining on and off for three weeks now in my part of the world, and more rain and snow are in the forecast for next week.  Yet, as the rhyme goes, with the showers, brings flowers. I'm hoping and praying that something beautiful comes out of this. I don't know what it will look like, but I know it will come....