Creativity Unleashed

I wish I was unemployed. Not for any length of time, mind you. Just long enough to finish the last installment of the Harry Potter chronicles. I'm not a Harry fan in the strictest sense. I did not run out at midnight back in July to procure my sacred volume of tale #7. I, instead, waited for the opportunity to read on the cheap with a borrowed copy. Now, my job is interrupting this phenomenal tale of good versus evil. Time for reading only comes in the few short moments at night before my eyes shut of their own accord, and hurried moments in the morning between slurping down breakfast and dashing off to the salt mines.

The debate of whether #7 is a worthy conclusion to a fascinating fantasy or not, is of no interest to me. What does interest me is the example of stunning imagination Ms. Rowling has put forth into our world. Harry Potter, the series, is creativity unleashed. That one woman, down on her luck, can focus her will and bring forth such intricate, universally loved arrangements of English language letters on a page, awes me and inspires me.

Ms. Rowling is living, breathing, 21st century proof that creativity is a human well of bottomless possibilities. She is proof that circumstances or station in life have little to do with creative potential. She is proof that creativity lives as a spark in all of us. If she can call forth the spark within her and run wild with it, under difficult circumstances to begin with, so can we.

We each have an untapped creative spark or sparks within us. We each have the same potential and ability to call forth that Universal light and shine it on the world. A world of one or a world of many. Our spark, our creativity may not be with the written word. It may be with clay, with paint, with power tools, with speech, with yeast. Whatever our highly personal spark may be, the world is in need of that creative light. Ms. Rowling has lit the lamp and held it high for us, we who doubt our sparks. We who think it has all been done before. We who secretly know we have the same greatness in our inner most chambers. And we do. We do.

Be brave. Be focused. Begin it. Unleash it.

The Ass-Kicking

I am currently unable to participate, to any large extent, in the happenings and gloriously interesting things of this world. My ass is in the process of being kicked. My layers of self-protection are being peeled away. My views and opinions and lenses are being adjusted in a lengthy, sometimes uncomfortable process. None of which is conducive to a general party mood or a mood of carefree abandon needful to explore the world. In the latter part of my 6th cycle of seven year cell change-overs, my life in its entirety seems up for review.

Each time my cells end and begin another 7 year run, life gets peeled and turned and shaken. Directions are adjusted and a new map needs to be drawn. New aspects of myself are brought to the surface. Outmoded, outdated ones are urged to the compost pile.

One outmoded aspect that hit the pile hard was my now former tendency, no~ make that reliable trait~to abandon my own instincts, my own inner knowing in deference to someone else's opinion. Anyone else's opinion. If I knew something to be true to my core, in the inner-most chambers of my heart, but someone came along with a louder, stronger opinion on the subject at hand, I would reliably back away from my own wisdom and assume the other must be right. Assume they must know truth more firmly than me. The totality with which I have thrown myself away and denied the voice of God as it speaks directly to my heart hit me square in the face as the summer began. I had to step back, remove the brick from my forehead, look at my life as a whole, and force myself to see clearly where I have practiced the same dark art against myself in too many areas. Where I have allowed people outside me to wield too much importance, and have too much say in the path God has set up specifically for me.

This realization has been the gift of a lifetime. A gift that will carry me forward with greater love, greater boldness and greater trust as the next 7 years unfold. And so I am allowing more layers to be peeled away, more adjustments to made, more outmoded aspects and traits to be revealed and healed. I am allowing God to direct the set-up for the coming cycle~ "leave this behind...take this with you...let go of this fear... sorry, but you really need to get over that one... love yourself more, love yourself more, love yourself more".

I can't seem to hurry along this general, needful ass-kicking. It will take as long as it takes to get the job done. The job of preparing me for greater adventure and love without condition, dreams realized and the world embraced.

My Favorite Face

;)

I know what you're thinking...

That girl has an eye for white trash.

;)

Dead End Ahead

The road I have been walking down is slowly dissolving beneath my feet. The sign to my right warns of a dead end up ahead. This road is a familiar path. It offers safety and security and predictability. The passions and interests it offered, once upon a time, can no longer be cajoled to the surface. When inner passions become smoldering ash, when interests become watery and wane, the end of the known is nigh.

Nothing in my tangible world is igniting much passion. Any psychic worth her salt would be telling me a change is imminent. Because passion is the fuel of my daily life. Passion is what keeps me interested in the workings of this sumptuous world. Passion is what drives creativity out of my cells and onto the page, onto the canvas, onto the dinner plate. Passion is what keeps the smile on my lips and the evidence of caring in the tone of my voice. Without passion, the banquet of colors that define the natural world are tinted, ever so lightly, with too many shades of grey. And I am a woman in love with color.

This lack of passion and interest in familiar things is a Universal way of preparing me to let go of what has become my defined life. It is the signal to assess what is important, assess what I cannot do without, assess what are my core attractions and needs. It is the signal to look clearly at my known relationships and release any clutches that might exist. Because times, they are a changing. The next phase of my life is calling. The phase I have asked for without even defining.

So I look for clues on the dissolving path. I look for the deer-trail in the sideline shrubbery, offering the road less traveled. I look for the smallest spark of interest that flickers to my surface, hoping it will light my way. I look for and sense the vibrations of love, the energy of love, the color of love... for there will the next phase of my life unfold. There will fresh passions ignite, fresh interests pour forth and fresh adventures roll in ecstasy at my feet.

My eyes are open.

My arms are spread wide.

My knees rest squarely on the earth.

Come passion.

Come interest.

Come change.

Come love.

Come love.

Come love.

Gratitude~ The Reprise

I was inspired today to re-post my thoughts on Gratitude. Because...I need regular reminders to embrace it and practice it.


To truly move past an issue, event, disruption or heartache, we must become grateful for its presence. We must become grateful for its lessons. Its opportunities. Its exact, right timing in invoking needful inner growth. No matter what the circumstance, we must be grateful it happened. And we must be sincere in our gratitude, or the pain, the anxiety and the victim-mentality will seep into our marrow and discolor the way we interact with the vast beauty of the world.

Gratitude is the golden key that unlocks the prison of the heart and the mind. Gratitude brings us out of denial and into acceptance. It lifts us out of chaos and into order. It removes us from confusion and brings forth clarity. It allows us to see that all we have, right here, right now, is all we truly need. It allows us to see that our lives are enough. That our lives are valuable. That our lives have meaning. No matter what illness we have, no matter what money we have or don't have, no matter who is or isn't in our lives.Gratitude is also the golden key to moving us into more loving, prosperous circumstances.

By helping us to let go of staleness, it ushers in freshness in the form of new people and new opportunities. It allows the previously unimagined to present itself. It allows greater life into life.Gratitude is the last sentence that allows the painful chapter to be done. If gratitude was the prayer we uttered before beginning anything, our lessons and inner growth would be less painful. Our clarity would not waver. Our value would not be in question. An attitude of gratitude makes sense of our past, invokes peace in our present and paves a love-filled road to our future.

Serenity in the Chaos

My life feels a bit chaotic. Unsettled. Exhausting. I have not been able to calm myself down and breathe evenly. Sanity feels tenuous. The road ahead is unclear. But my lucid self knows the key to managing stress, the key to a joy-filled life lies in creating a vacuum of calm within while the chaos whirls outside. My lucid self also knows constant serenity is not possible on our daily planet, but is possible in my internal Universe. It knows the true marker of success in life is to carry a peaceful heart where ever my road takes me.

In an effort to gain clarity and raise the peace flag within, I have set myself down in the road. I have boiled some water for rose petal tea. I have lit the $20 candle I have been saving for God-knows-what. I have cued the crickets and now...I await your wisdom and your presence to sit with me, in the middle of the road, and share your secrets for keeping serenity in the chaos.

Kahlil Gibran

And if you would know God,

be not therefore a solver of riddles.

Rather, look about you

and you shall see Him playing with your children.

And look into space;

you shall see Him walking in the cloud,

oustretching His arms in the lightning

and descending in rain.

You shall see Him smiling in the flowers,

then rising and waving His hands in trees.

Kahlil Gibran

The Good Red Road

If you are a woman who bleeds every month, be aware of the gifts your body offers. Every month, just before the curse-which-is-not-a-curse flows through your life, pay close attention to your thoughts and emotions. Pay close attention to the angst and the anger and the frustration that roil the surface of your mind. Your body is offering you a sacred gift. It is the gift of truth.

What you have suppressed and denied and ignored for 3 or more weeks~ those inner dis satisfactions that muddy the whirl of activity you call your life~ come roaring back as the dam gets ready to burst. How you really feel about a close situation, or your marriage or your job or your home or your anything that has importance in your life is brought to the surface each month to be revealed. Brought to the surface to be uncovered, uncloaked and stand naked before you in the light of day. Not to torment you, not to taunt you, not to wound you all over again. Your emotions bring forth the crap you hide from yourself so you can see clearly. So you can be consciously aware of what holds you down and holds you back. So you can choose a different road and allow yourself to be healed, to be honored and to be more loved than you currently are.

So-called PMS is truth-serum. It is the road map to a more fulfilling life. Pay close attention to every thought that runs through your mind...those thoughts are worth gold. They are your soul speaking to you loudly and clearly about what you are doing or not doing to allow your highest possible good to shine forth in your life. Without that knowledge, without that information brought to your conscious awareness, no change for the better can be instituted.

If stress and quiet desperation mark your days, if you feel hopeless and helpless and feel yourself sinking, listen intently to yourself as each monthly gift knocks on your door and invites you to hear the truth. The answers to any question you might have about your own life, lie within you. And the answers show up regularly. Honor yourself by listening to your grumbles and fears and sobs. Do not dismiss them as nonsense or simply the inner bitch revealing herself. Your body speaks the truth to you and does its level best to help you create the love and the life you deserve.

Pay attention. Write your grievances down. Listen to your heart. Take action to heal yourself. Be selfish in a healthy way. Honor the truth that lives within you. Harness the power of the good red road and follow where it leads. It can only lead to more love, more peace and more lasting happiness than you have previously known.

Artwork by: Jia Lu.......isn't it beautiful???

Recognizing Grace

Grace is an everyday occurrence. For each of us. God's love and favor are extended towards us in both large and small ways. In both the light and the dark. In both sickness and health. It is not a matter of whether we deserve grace or not for it to be given. Because we are each a child of God, grace is offered to us freely and lavishly and lovingly. If we think our days are not graced, it is because we are choosing to ignore the favored threads that weave together our lives.

Grace is rarely bestowed in an expected form. It can be covert and quiet and subtle, yet if recognized, can strengthen weak hearts, mend broken spirits and breath life into the shadow of death. The key to receiving grace lies in its recognition. What is not acknowledged or recognized cannot be received. What cannot be received is mistakenly assumed to have not been given. It is our own responsibility to learn to recognize the love and the favors.

Grace is the floral designer who puts extra love and care into the wedding flowers of a miserable bride. Grace is the unlooked for postcard from a distant friend arriving on a difficult day. Grace is coming upon a car accident 3 seconds after impact. Grace is the first person to rush to the aid of those who felt the impact. Grace is the butterfly that floats into view and distracts from sorrow and self pity. Grace is the wink and the smile and the nod of the head from strangers who pass by. It is the feather on our back stoop that causes us to bend, examine and consider something, anything other than the ongoing plague of negative thoughts. It is the sudden shift in stubbornly held viewpoints. It is rain after drought. It is pockets of peace within war. It is the releasing of friends we have outgrown.

Grace is ours to receive. It is less grandiose and more simple than we conceive it to be. It is being offered consistently and compassionately, despite our best efforts to ignore it or deny its existence. Recognizing the smallest, most subtle forms of grace leads to an awareness that we are loved and favored and glorified as an everyday occurrence.