Blogs by Joni Takanikos

In Search of Truth and Beauty || Quantum Entanglement and Spooky Action at a Distance

by Joni Takanikos in Blogs

A wise friend once told me that our children are a piece of their parents’ hearts, walking around completely exposed. I agree with this sentiment, and that is why, when Jasmine flew off to Greece, part of me accompanied her every step of the way.

She is there now and, thanks to modern technology, we have clear conversations, both voice and visual, and send lots of pictures and videos, too. Quantum entanglement, or as Einstein called it, spooky action at a distance.

I am in Greece with Jasmine and also here in Brooklyn with Max and his fiancée Natasha, being wined and dined and walking the enchanting neighborhoods.

In Search of Truth and Beauty: At Home Among the Trees

by Joni Takanikos in Blogs, Literary, Nature

I have a confession to make. I am a dendrophile, defined as one who loves trees and forests, mine is a profoundly reverential and spiritual love and hence a completely uplifting relationship. You may also call me a tree hugger.

One of my earliest memories is of the giant willow in the front yard of my grandparent’s home. The willow’s branches climbed upwards before arching and curving downward to reach all the way to the ground. I parted the curtains of its supple branches and spent most of my day inside this willow house. I recall sitting very still and watching the green leaves as they waved and danced with the particles of sunlight. I was completely sheltered without being separated from the beautiful world of “outside.” I was inside the realm of the outside and it was magical!

In Search of Truth and Beauty | The Birthing of Spring

by Joni Takanikos in Blogs, Literary, Nature

It’s hard not to be hopeful in spring. It feels like the season where hope is born. Spring is the season of such continual change. It seems the least static of all the seasons. It is easier to stay truly present, watching new lives gaze at the world with force and fascination. Witnessing this presence allows us to reignite the places in ourselves that may have grown stagnant, frozen, or hidden away in the hibernating nature of winter.

What bulbs of color and bloom lie within our psyches ready to break through onto the spring field? Let’s go easy on ourselves in these beginning days of spring. Rather than rushing too hastily forward, let’s take our time to nourish these new shoots. Spring rain can be the perfect musical accompaniment for reading, writing poetry, or simply gazing out the window.

In Search of Truth and Beauty || Yes We Can!

by Joni Takanikos in Blogs, Literary

Rise and Dream a better Dream … for the earth and all her people

Support and nurture inclusion,
Stand strong in our convictions
Of equality and choice.
Lead with courage and compassion,
Loving ourselves enough to stay
Awake and fearless.

In Search of Truth and Beauty || Riding the Collective Wave from Here to Where?

by Joni Takanikos in Blogs, History

I find myself unable to translate the current political situation we find ourselves in. We have never been so divided along the lines of how we perceive right and wrong, both morally and politically. There is also so much “news” being published by Facebook and other media outlets that has no connection to facts. I am finding it difficult to find the “silver lining,” but I am on the lookout for it, however hidden it may be right now. There are glimpses of truth lighting our way, that can–and never will be–overlooked.

In Search of Truth and Beauty || A Modern-Day Horse Whisperer

by Joni Takanikos in Blogs, Community, Feature

What is it about horses that fascinate humans of all persuasions?

In Search of Truth and Beauty || The Ephemeral Dance of Spring

by Joni Takanikos in Blogs, Feature

BY JONI TAKANIKOS
May 11, 2016

Spring is the perfect backdrop to practice seeing and experiencing change in every moment. It’s on the ground—we can practically watch the grass growing from hour to hour and, certainly, day to day.

In Search of Truth and Beauty || Memories of the Green Realm, My Romance with Spring

by Joni Takanikos in Blogs, Literary

I am hopelessly in love with a land far, far away. My heart conjures this distant landscape most readily in the spring. It was March of 2011 when I met Ireland for the first time.

In Search of Truth and Beauty || Finding Shelter

by Joni Takanikos in Blogs, Community

Sometimes the past knocks on the door of your present moment and demands attention.

In Search of Truth and Beauty || Life is but a dream—Somewhere over the rainbow

by Joni Takanikos in Blogs, Community, Theater and Dance

Anyone who lives or visits Whidbey Island enters a magical realm, a pure realm. If you doubt this statement, and you are here on Whidbey right now, then go outside and take a deep breath of pure, sweet island air. That is the proof of purity but what about the magic?

In Search Of Truth and Beauty || Wandering the Fields of Meditation

by Joni Takanikos in Blogs, Community, Literary

I have practiced meditation since I was a teenager. It has anchored me while providing a lift to my life and, at times, sheer transcendence.

In Search of Truth and Beauty || The Green Fields of Home

by Joni Takanikos in Blogs, Literary

I returned to Whidbey Island from a short trip to Amsterdam in mid-April. Although I was only gone for ten days, it seemed like everything had changed; the green was so alive it almost made me cry. Spring is full of such promise that it is also bittersweet.

Island to Island, the Big Apple of Manhattan comes to Whidbey

by Joni Takanikos in Community, More Stories

It all began in May 2013 during a yoga teacher training in Costa Rica on the Northern Nicoya Peninsula.

In Search of Truth and Beauty || The roots we cultivate on our travels

by Joni Takanikos in Blogs, Literary, Visual Art

I am writing this from far afield—although these days we are never too far in terms of communication, are we? I am writing this in a tightly packed alley of backyard garden in a quiet residential neighborhood in Amsterdam.

How did I get here? Am I dreaming?

In Search of Truth and Beauty | The Nature of Stuff

by Joni Takanikos in Blogs, Literary

I will be the first to admit how much I love my possessions, my beloved treasures that hold beauty and memory. They reside in two places at once, past and present, straddling the worlds both visible and unseen.

In Search of Truth and Beauty | Witnessing Autumn

by Joni Takanikos in Blogs, Literary

It has been raining off and on all day, a percussive steady rhythm with a few long silences, and then once again the rain builds its case to the sky, so sure of itself and of its falling. As night descends, the autumn wind has rushed in to add its message to the rain. It must be the second act in this dramatic northwest fall saga.

In Search of Truth and Beauty | Resting in the Nest of Impermanence

by Joni Takanikos in Blogs, Literary, Theater and Dance

In these last days of summer my mind is often caught in a daydream. And although September is now close enough for us to hear its whisper of classrooms filled with summer endings and schoolbooks opening to the pages of fall, somehow the yellowed grass of summer begs for a kind of semi-permanence, held fast by our skin and bones.

In Search of Truth and Beauty | Traces of the Oracle in Late Spring

by Joni Takanikos in Blogs, Literary

We are all seekers of one kind or another. Some find their answers in church or the Sunday Times, or perhaps both. We may climb a mountain, walk a beach, or maybe get lost in a rich and compelling novel. Sometimes we may seek out an oracle to point us in the right direction like a spritual compass.

In Search of Truth and Beauty | Cycles between Here and There

by Joni Takanikos in Blogs, Literary

Spring is a dangerous time of year. Delicate buds form on the branches, new shoots push up from the dark underground and we human beings clean out our closets, wash the windows and picnic on the warm green grass. But amidst these gentle breezes and warm sunny days, a thundercloud may suddenly form or a roaring wind blows from out of nowhere, it seems.

In Search of Truth and Beauty | Endings and beginnings

by Joni Takanikos in Blogs, Literary

After the spinning top of these sweet, literally sweet, festive holidays, it is time to take stock of what to bring forward, and perhaps what to leave behind.

In Search of Truth and Beauty from the Costa Rican jungle

by Joni Takanikos in Blogs

There also was the ocean backdrop with its wild and beautiful surf, and all of it reminding me to take note that life is indeed a beautiful dream inside certain moments.

In Search of Truth and Beauty: Don’t fret the antics of a horse

by Joni Takanikos in Blogs

The other horse is really a pony and, as I now have learned, ponies can be mischievous.

In Search of Truth and Beauty, with memories of the desert and Glitter Gulch

by Joni Takanikos in Blogs, Literary

But now I proudly admit that Vegas was the main character that influenced my early years.

A poet explores the in-between of seasons

by Joni Takanikos in Duff 'n Stuff

“In Search of Truth and Beauty” returns with my guest blogger, poet Joni Takanikos and her ruminations on the time between seasons, when our senses are alive with anticipation of what will come next.

The truth of poetry

by Joni Takanikos in Duff 'n Stuff

Some people say that they don’t “understand” poetry. Even my sister, who has her master’s degree in English, claims to not understand poetry.

Truth, beauty and wherever they may be

by Joni Takanikos in Duff 'n Stuff

Duff ’n Stuff, Aug. 7, 2012 This week I welcome my first guest blogger, local poet and friend Joni Takanikos, who has given her poetry blog the title of “In Search of Truth and Beauty.” It seems appropriate that a poet should ever be a seeker of both the truth of things, and all things […]