Positive Thoughts: a Utopia

Posted on by Teagan Riordain Geneviene

Saturday, November 29, 2025

Utopia Sci-Fi city blue domes sunrise by Teagan via Night Cafe

Hello, all.  For those in the United States, I hope you enjoyed a lovely Thanksgiving holiday, and maybe some sale shopping too.  After all, it does make me feel grateful when I am able to give a little gift to someone. There’s no shame in enjoying gift shopping, or the challenge of the hunt for a bargain. 

I can understand why people use the term “retail therapy.”  Although, my “therapy” comes from making images.  I don’t mean real art, painting or drawing. My skills are limited so that ends up becoming downright stressful for me.  I relax making computer generated images that are created based on the detailed description-prompts I write for them.  Lately I use Night Cafe.  There’s actually a pretty good community there, although that’s not as good as our WordPress community — at least not for authors and bloggers.

Utopian sci-fi city blue domes at Sunset by Teagan via Night cafe 11-2025

Recently in comments to Resa about my dystopian Mnemosyne story being difficult (mentally) for me to write, she brought up the idea of writing a utopian story.   I’d certainly much rather create a sparkling positive reality, and that caused me to mention an Edwardian Era poem,  As a Man Thinketh by James Allen (published 1903).  The use of language in long past eras can be… mind-bending.  The first time I encountered the poem, I read it repeatedly before my mind could accept the phrasing and cadence — it was nothing to do with the actual words.  It seemed to fold in upon itself as I read it.  However, knowing that it was reaching me deeply, even though it seemed to twist back and forth, my mind was open to it.  Oddly, I still get tongue-tied when I try to read it.

As a Man Thinketh

“Mind is the Master power that molds and makes,
And Man is Mind, and evermore he takes
The tool of Thought, and, shaping what he wills,
Brings forth a thousand joys, a thousand ills:—
He thinks in secret, and it comes to pass:
Environment is but his looking-glass.” ― James Allen

Beautiful Utopian sci-fi city blue tomes moons by Teagan via Night cafe 11-2025

“Yes, my environment is my looking-glass,” I thought.  “When I hold my mental mirror with it facing all the bad things in the world, and those things constantly fill my mind, I really am bringing forth a thousand ills.”

I’m not up to the challenge of writing a utopia story though, but…  Making images is very therapeutic to me, so instead of writing the story, I opted to make images of it.  We’ve gone from sunrise, to sunset, to early evening, to night in this safe, peaceful place of wellbeing.  I hope you’ve enjoyed this little stroll along one of the streets in my utopian city. 

Friendly comments are welcome.  Thanks for visiting.  Hugs!

♦ ♦ ♦

Oh, but wait — I have to include the obligatory shameless self-promotion: 

The Delta Pearl

Image collage by Teagan

Universal Purchase Links

Series Link:  Kindle and Paperback:  relinks.me/B0D34H5BYT

The Delta Pearl: A Steampunk Riverboat, Book 1

Kindle:  relinks.me/B0D4NPS5LP

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The Geostrophic Pearl:  The Delta Pearl Book 2

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♦ ♦ ♦

This is a work of fiction.  Characters, names, places, and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, locales, or events is entirely coincidental.

Copyright © 2025 by Teagan Ríordáin Geneviene

All rights reserved. 

No part of this work may be reproduced, scanned, or distributed in any printed or electronic form without permission.  Please do not participate in or encourage piracy of copyrighted materials in violation of the author’s rights.

All images are either the property of the author or provided by free sources, unless stated otherwise.

57 thoughts on “Positive Thoughts: a Utopia”

  8. I always love to see your images, Teagan. I find that same joy in combining my poetry and photos and lately making them ready for my store. Never thought I’d enjoy that! I’m with yiu I am not in a utopia writing mode. Sending huge hugs xo

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    1. Thanks, Denise. Dystopia, utopia, myopia (can I blame it on nearsightedness?) whatever-opia, I just can’t seem to make myself write lately. I guess it’s at least in part the holidays. I always have difficulties with everything at this time of year. Best wishes with your store. Hugs winging back to you.

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  9. Teagan, a lovely Utopia City…and one I really enjoyed wandering through. Lots of lovely detail throughout. James Allen’s poem was an excellent addition to the tour here. Hope you are having a lovely weekend, and hugs to you and the kitties.

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  11. I enjoy creating on NightCafe very much too, I only wish I had much more time for it. Wonderful images, Teagan, I love the utopian vibe in them, but especially the different skies and light in each of them… so beautiful!

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    1. Hi, Nicole. It’s very easy to lose track of time in NightCafe, I know. Especially for someone like me who gets stubborn about trying to get the image I had in mind! LOL. While I was trying to perfect one image, I got the thought that it would be fun to show several different times of day. I’m happy that you enjoyed it. Hugs.

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  15. Dear Teagan,

    Thank you for embracing the idea of Utopia in our world of the opposite!

    I like your images, the first one being my fave. I suppose, when I think about it, Utopia seems like daytime, with plants and flowers. But that’s just silly and just me. Utopia would be always and everywhere.

    Thank you for this beautiful post, and for mentioning me! To me, the mention is a tiny, personal moment of Utopia.

    Hugs!

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    1. Thank *you* Resa for planting the utopia thought in my head. That first one is my favorite too. (Although it was far from the first image I generated.) I have to agree about the daytime thing. In my mind, utopia would sparkle with sunlight and color. Most of the sparkle (even with moonlight) and color would be lost at other times of day. Thanks for visiting. Hugs winging back to you.

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    1. Thanks, Noelle. Yes, there’s a ton of trial and error, phrasing and rephrasing. It reminds me of the first time I moved to NM, and was trying to get coworkers in Albuquerque to define “What is a mesa?” Come to think of it… maybe AI isn’t that difficult to communicate with… LOL. Hugs.

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  18. I enjoyed the stroll and the poem. What made the stroll so enjoyable was picturing in my mind the many descriptions that you must have needed to make your visions become a reality on the screen. The art form that gives you comfort requires intense mental focus and patience. Of course, the results are amazing and a joy to see.

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    1. Thanks for this lovely comment, John.
      LOL, the moon! The moon(s) tripped me up. The moons were driving me loony. I did the first (not shown) image several days before. I asked for 3 moons in the background. No matter what I did, it generated two equally sized moons. It just looked wrong, distracting. Days later when I tried again I didn’t specify any number of moons. Communicating with AI is as difficult as talking to humans! 😀 Big hugs.

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    1. Thanks very much for that feedback, Suzette. It was my hope that making the city at different times of day/night would add to the sense of being there. I just wished that I had realize that whatever I did to the post did not allow them to be enlarged. I think they needed to be in individual blocks for that… Anyway, I’m happy you enjoyed the stroll. Hugs.

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  20. Belated Happy Thanksgiving, Teagan. Loved both the poem and your delightful renderings.

    There is a little red haired girl

    whose imagination is atwirl.

    Her art and stories both are thrilling

    we’ll keep enjoying them, long as she’s willing

    To keep her creations in her whirl. 💯🌹💞

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  21. I like that poem, a lot, and I love your images, Teagan. I have always believed (and this was confirmed by Star Trek Next Gen) that thought is the most powerful force. I am often amazed by the images you create, and the thought behind them is the true artistry. This much, I know without Star Trek’s help — I wrote computer programs (in school and work) for well over 50 years, and it’s never the computer creating the output (even though it is). It’s the design, the thought behind the program, and in today’s world, it’s the prompt behind the AI rendering. AI has reduced the distance between thought and outcome. Personally, I’d love the opportunity to walk along the bridges connecting places in your utopian world.

    I hope you have a wonderful weekend.

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    1. Heartfelt thanks, Dan — and for the good wishes too. “AI has reduced the distance between thought and outcome,” that puts it perfectly, and beautifully.
      I’ve seen from experience how powerful having negative thoughts is — they attract a matching negative reality. I’m not sure how effective the opposite is for bringing good, but it’s worth trying even if it only deflects more bad things from coming.
      The existence of that quote has stuck with me since I first read it nearly 20 years ago. But there’s just something about the wording that has an effect on my brain that I just can’t memorize it. It’s a weird quirk in my brain, I guess. Anyhow, wishing you a splendid weekend too. Hugs.

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  22. I like the look of the city you created. I do like those stories of future places. I’d never read that poem before, but it was a good one to make people think. Wishing you and the kitties a lovely weekend. ❤

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  24. Thanks for sharing the inspiring poem (I’d never read it before) and your images of an utopian universe. I hope to read your utopia some day, although, for me at least, Atonement is a utopian fantasy place (even with its issues, of course)! Big hugs and love to the Scoobies!

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