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Golden Specks by Anne Neill 117 pages; quality trade paperback (softcover); catalogue #01-0310; ISBN 1-55212-908-X; US$15.00, C$17.99, EUR12.50, £9.00 Grounded in lived experiences, "Golden Specks" is a quick read of one-liners about wisdom, wit and inspiration that I value as a reference of a life well lived, combined with photography.
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about the book
about the author
sample excerpt
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About the Book
I began writing Golden Specks in October of 1999 and finished it one year later. I wanted to record the little bits of precious thoughts and combine it with some of my favourite photographs. When I was on page nineteen and ideas kept coming to be, I realized that I was going to commit to making this book come true.
I have searced for beauty and knowledge in all that I have ever lived. Most of these thoughts came to me as I walked through nature trails in Timmins, Ontario. It was my active form of meditation except the quiet place inside of me kept talking!
My desire to write came by necessity in my first book As I Am. With this book, my writing was like a secret gift that came to me, every single day.
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About the Author
Anne graduated from the University of Hard Knox.
She received her 'honorary' degree in sociology by surviving and striving.
Anne believes that no matter what hardships you are given, life is a treasure hunt of precious moments and learned lessons. It's all in the searching and finding!
The author has also written As I Am, an autobiography on Manic Depression. She is currently writing "Colours of Golden Specks".
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Sample Excerpt
Absence:
A void is most felt when we are missing what we take for granted.
Acceptance:
Some people fear therapy.
A good therapist really listens, assesses your life and asks questions for you to reflect on. It's like they hold up an invisible mirror so you can see yourself better and find your own answers.
The fear comes from not being able to recognize the person in the looking glass.
True love, true friendship will take you as you are.
A confirmation of our own opinion is like giving ourselves permission to think the way we do.
In the disintegration of marital unions, sometimes, depending on the fabricated circulating stories, one is treated by old acquaintances, like one has the invisible plague...the illness of social acceptance.
I like being me. I like the way I feel, the way I think and the people I've surrounded myself with.
I'm lucky.
Acclamation:
A caressing heart,
an open mind,
an exuberant soul,
who could possibly need anything else?
Accolades:
Words of praise are like a song for the recipient.
When I was little, Mom used to say to me: "Listen to me, I'm your mother!"
Now that I'm grown, Mom said to me just lately: "If I could change one thing about my childhood, it would be that I would have been less obedient. The choreography of my life was designed to please my parents. What I admire about you, Anne, is your own will. I'm glad you knew when not to listen!" That is the greatest compliment she gave me.
Applaud any action that is deserving of your praise.
Applaud any great performance of life well lived.
More is accomplished with an encouraging word than with a whip.
Careful of the sweet talkers. They might want some of your nectar.
Genuine effort is deserving of praise.
A compliment is the fuel that gets the job well done.
Accomplishment:
The only barometer to measure will is accomplishment.
Accord:
Apologize even if the fault was not yours alone. It opens the passages for discussion.
Achievement:
Nobody can have it all, but you can have what really matters to you.
The achiever always accomplishes more than one thing with every task.
Actuality:
At our house, the toilet seat is left up, except when used by the minority, me.
Adaptation:
If you do it long enough, the snowshoes become part of your feet.
Shock diminishes with exposure.
Admiration:
Admiration isn't always acquired by what we do but by how we correct what has already been done.
Adultery:
The highest priced pleasures are the secret ones!
There are some people that are not for us to have and to hold!
To commit adultery one must be able to forget all that has come before the "moments of desire" and all that will follow after the consuming of it.
Adultery taints.
Advantage:
Don't make yourself accessible to those who are simply takers.
There are many people that will make your life harder for you, to make their life easier for themselves.
Adventure:
Get in your car and drive until you run out of gas!
If you have a teasing desire to travel, scratch the itch of the adventurer that camps inside of you!
It has been many adventurer's plight, to find a leaf big enough!
Thrill yourself with a new quest. Make it come true.
Advice:
Mom says that spoiling yourself once in awhile makes you a better person.
Learned lessons aren't silk and satin.
Affection:
A hug should feel like a safe place.
Age:
A birthday is a celebration of your growing self.
You know you are getting old when...clothes look better on than off!
Some people look like the lines of age on their face are looking to multiply.
Old age is the palace of experience.
Infancy is to many "firsts" what old age is to many "lasts."
You know you're getting older when your kids know all the latest musical hits and you don't!
We have to take better care of our old people. They "broke trail" for us.
The greatest reference is in our elders.
Reduce the excesses with every decade.
Alcoholism:
I'm torn by witnessing the sea of despair that alcohol brings. Even the greatest swimmer cannot tread indefinitely.
Sometimes, the hardest is not in being in trouble,
but in being on the outside of it,
helpless,
witnessing someone else's struggle, with your arms stretched out,
untouched.
It bothers me to know there are drunks that stagger through life, crawling on all fours by choice, when I know quadriplegics who'd do anything to stand up straight, even for just one single day. It bothers me.
Alert:
Not only keep your eyes and ears open, but take a deep breath as well.
When you are knee deep in it, you'll get a whiff.
Alteration:
The best way to change someone is to just change your opinion of them.
Ancestry:
Ancestry is a relay in which the present is the last link.
Anger:
Anger can be used effectively as diffused energy. My house is never so clean as when I am angry.
Anger is a passage emotion that takes you to a place of action.
Do not add a link to the chain-reaction of anger.
Don't let fuelled emotions colour your judgment and integrity.
Annoyance:
When certain people have a problem, they make it a point to make it everybody else's problem.
"I told you so" counts for nothing after the fact.
Anticipation:
Anticipation is like a tickle without a touch.
Enjoy the sensation of expectancy.
Live fully before the doing.
Apologizing:
Be proud but never hesitate to say, "You're right, I'm sorry!"
Appearance:
Used feet makes for rough touching, but they will get you wherever you want to go.
Ever notice that a genuine smile is always accompanied by a twinkle in the eye!
Appreciation:
Know the words "THANK YOU" in more than three languages.
You will be a welcomed traveller wherever you may wander.
Record your learned lessons, as precious golden specks of wisdom!
Forget not where you come from and what made it possible for you to be where you are at.
Life is a game and I caught the fly ball!
In the appreciating, we validate that we were worthy of the receiving.
Asking for Help:
Accept help.
Remember even the geese flying south for the winter take turns being the leader.
When you ask for help, you aren't weak. You have the gift of survival.
Besides, you'll be helping yourself. You'll just have someone beside you who believes in you.
Assistance:
The best way to help someone is to help them, help themselves.
Assumption:
Never start a sentence with: "I speak for everyone when I say..." unless you've spoken to everyone!
Don't assume. You could be as wrong, as you think you are right.
Attention:
Focusing on the last hurdle straddled might make you stumble on the next.
Every time you interrupt, you are lessening the value of other people's words.
When someone needs to talk and is telling you their story, resist the impulse to tell your similar story and just listen.
The best gift of all is undivided attention.
Attitude:
Sprightliness is contagious. Transmit life with your enthusiastic mood.
Hardened attitudes aren't easily changed.
Make the mood fit the moment.
A bad attitude is like a rotten apple in a bushel.
A rainbow without colour...
Life without enthusiasm...
Attitude is like underwear.
You change them as often as you like in order to feel comfortable in your skin.
When you've got it, you can't easily loose it!
Sure I've had my share of severe trouble, but I wake up every morning with anticipation in my steps and a sigh in my heart. Not only did I turn my lemons into lemonade, but I became the entrepreneur of a lemonade stand.
By joining wonder and anticipation, let it be the first time, again, every time.
Attitude doesn't just happen.
Sometimes it is fed by inconsideration and indifference.
Attraction:
We attract who we are. Seldom do we find a pea alone in a pod.
Nothing turns a man on more than a woman who's arms are reaching up high in total submission to passion!
Authenticity:
Make sure your distinguishing mark is not a superficial one.
A thief of reality is one who does not utter real sentiments.
When we wear masks, even the greatest performance is obstructing living "life in the moment."
No one else can be you. Be genuine.
Availability:
Don't put yourself on hold for someone who can't be reached.
Awareness:
Be aware.
The beating of your heart
The freedom of exhaling deeply
The pulse of your drive
The choreography of your moves
The nuances of your passions
The tune that plays inside your soul
The acceleration of your desires
Be aware of what makes you, you.
In slowing down your day, you can see more clearly.
Being aware of this reality gives you added creativity.
Balance:
In anything, the trick is in finding a balance and as we see-saw, we realize it isn't as easy as it seems.
Extreme devotion to one's career leaves little room for the devotion to one's self!
Value your good experiences but treasure your humbling adventures.
The bad days are easier to take when you have good days in between.
Bashfulness:
Shyness limits.
Beauty:
There is nothing more beautiful than a bare-footed wrinkled old woman.
A woman's best attributes are hidden.
It is not always the flower in full bloom, that is the prettiest!
He knows not how handsome he is.
I witness an old woman with loose gray pants and a cane in her left hand.
She walks unsteadily and her pride tells all that she chooses to move forward.
Her son, walks firmly one step to her one, not ahead nor behind her.
He holds her cream coloured straw purse as he accompanies her.
As they walk away, I cannot see his face.
He knows not how handsome he is.
Little should be determined by appearance alone.
The dirtiest of hands have the purest hearts.
Beginning:
Every morning you have a clean slate and you decide what colours you'll bring to your day.
Behaviour:
What follows immediately after an accusation is a denial!
Just remember when you are about to blow off steam, the people around you might not want the heated mist.
A simple outfit can change your look. Just think what an attitude check will do for you.
A dog can tell time. Our dog always knows when it's time to wag his tail.
Remember the three C's: calm, collected, and in control.
The quiet types are the strongest. They don't waste any energy on their roar.
If you have nothing nice to say, make sure what you are about to say, is worth saying.
Know matter how smart we think we are, we keep learning the same lessons over and over again, through different experiences.
As soon as we think we can't have something, we are tempted to want it.
The antidote to being in a rut is to do something totally different than what you've done.
Assess the motives of the person in front of you.
Most people don't listen well but will pick up their ears at the first sound of a whisper.
Some people cannot support you when your behaviour does not live in accord with their standard.
Sometimes, I'm just niced-out!
Don't do someone else's thinking for them. All life lessons have their own time-table.
Why do we take for granted all the bonuses of our lives and feel bitter that our life is balanced with reality?
A teenager's interrogation: Should I? Shouldn't I?
Having a great day? Pass it on.
Catalogue Information
