My journal

The poetry of life: a reminder to be present

The world is full of poetry.
The air is living with its spirit;
and the waves dance to the music of its melodies,
and sparkle in its brightness.

~ James Gates Percival, American poet

The poetry of life: waves dancing — Waves dancing – the poetry of life at Maslin Beach, South Australia

I discovered contemporary poetry when I was working through 27 Wild Days, the wild writing course delivered by the perceptive Laurie Wagner. This poetry is nothing like Wordsworth’s “Daffodils” where you wander lonely as a cloud. This is the poetry of life in its rawness, emotions, and ordinariness. I was introduced to Maya Stein’s poem about being close to the bone, and words from Ellen Bass on marriage and Naomi Shihab Nye, whose poem “Valentine for Ernest Mann” was the jumping off point for my wild writing on Day 19.

These words from the second stanza resonated with me:

… So I’ll tell a secret instead:

poems hide. In the bottoms of our shoes,

they are sleeping. They are the shadows

drifting across our ceilings the moment

before we wake up. What we have to do

is live in a way that lets us find them….

Poet-to-Poet: Naomi Shihib Nye Reads “Valentine for Ernest Mann”
from the Academy of American poets

And these are the words from my pages that day:

Poems hide in the deepest recesses of your mind, on the pages filled with your writing, on the hastily scribbled scraps of paper in your bag, on to-do lists. They hide in drawers and cupboards, in the car at the lights, when you’re alone with your thoughts. Poems hide in those notebooks you fill with ink, in your sketches, and on sticky notes. Hell, some of those sticky notes are poems. They’re in the sweet caresses and gentle kisses you’re gifted sometimes. That’s the poetry of life!

Love and poetry in preparing food — Preparing food for the family – love and poetry connecting

Poems are buried in the soil you’re working in the garden, in the cake you’re mixing for that family occasion, among the vegetables you’re chopping for your dinner. They’re in the grains of sand on the beach, in the foam of the waves you’re riding on your board, in cloud shapes, and in the leaves dancing in the wind of the giant Eucalypt in your yard. Poems are sneaky. They hide in places you least expect. In moments when you’re not paying attention. In the cutlery drawer.

You have to look out for them.

poetry is in the grains of sand at the beach — Taking time to notice the poems in our life

Poems hide everywhere but we don’t see or hear them sometimes because we’ve let the busyness of life take over and we close ourselves off — from the beauty of ordinary things; from finding joy in ordinary moments; from being present for our feelings. But if you open your eyes, your ears, your nostrils, and take a deep breath, you’ll find them. You can also send them into the world if your open your heart.

You’ll find them as you walk that winding path of life — in the rocks along the way that trip you up when you’re not paying attention, in gestures and smiles, and in conversations if you listen for them. Sometimes you only hear a couple of words, but that’s enough.

the gift of poetry in nature — Nature gives us the gift of poetry

Poems are in the grass beneath your feet, in the distant views across the hills, in the smell of sunburnt grass and in the reeds growing in the dam. If you use your senses while you stay present and see the joy in ordinary moments — you’ll discover them. You may find more than you think. More beauty, more kindness, more grace, more love. This is the poetry of life.

These are some of the places where I find poems. I know that there are many other places when they can hide. So I hope that this reminder which I wrote for myself is a jumping off point for you to see the poetry in your life.

Lessons learned on the journey to a find a home

There is a road
always beckoning.
When you see the two sides of it
closing together
at that far horizon
and deep in the foundations
of your own heart
at exactly the same time,
That’s how you know
it’s the road you have to follow.

~ From the poem
Just beyond yourself by David Whyte

Journey to find a home — A farm dam in country Victoria. From our first journey when the land was still golden from Summer’s sun.

I opened my diary this week. The last entry is dated Tuesday, 5 March 2019 — Arrive at Dune Cottage, Normanville. Along with some of my personal papers, my diary has been boxed and stored to keep it safe and private while we traversed three states in our renewed search for a home. I’m not sure why I left it behind. An error of judgement and one of a number of lessons learned on the journey to find a home.

The first lesson is that you should keep your diary with you at all times if you want to stay motivated and productive. It keeps you steady. It helps to create a routine even when there doesn’t seem to be room for routine. Other lessons: you should write in your journal every day; and meditate as you’ve practiced for the past twelve weeks; and draw. I know that rituals and habits help maintain my equilibrium, yet I dropped them like hot potatoes on our road trip.

Passing through sunburnt countryside in New South Wales, early March 2019

We completed two journeys, returning briefly from the first after a month. When we set off on our first road trip at the beginning of March, summer was lingering. It was hot and the land was parched, we swam in the ocean, slapped on sunscreen and wore hats all the time. On our return to New South Wales a week ago, the landscape had changed. There were swathes of green across the hills and valleys, the sun was lower in the sky and the leaves were beginning to to turn the colours of autumn. A lot has changed since the beginning of March. Yet some things are still the same.

One thing that’s still the same is that we have not found a house. The quest has been exhausting. Driving long distances, checking the internet each night to see if we missed something that could be a potential dream house, or even for something that wasn’t. We looked for something new, a nearby town that we bypassed, a town that we’d been to previously — we tracked anything that could provide a glimmer of hope.

Our travels took us inland across New South Wales, through Albury and across the border into the state of Victoria. We passed cattle farms and wind farms, slowed through tiny country towns with only a church and a general store, and we hustled along highways. We explored the Yarra Valley through Healesville and Marysville, discovered the chestnut, apple and cherry growing districts of Myrtleford and Mansfield, and stopped in the trendy town of Beechworth.

We passed the painted grain silos in Coonalpyn, South Australia on our journey to find a home

We drove through Ballarat and Horsham, gazed in awe at the mural covered Viterra grain silos at Coonalpyn in South Australia before driving through the towns of Meadows and Mount Compass to the coastal town of Normanville. Our search in South Australia took us through the dry hills of Whites Valley, Hindmarsh Valley, Mount Jagged and McClaren Vale. Our hopes were raised and then dashed as we followed leads through even more towns.

The bald hills still baking under the summer sun in South Australia

We looked at property in Willunga and then in Yankalilla. We returned to Adelaide and considered a townhouse in the city. We found acreage among the vineyards, but there was no water for a garden. We followed trails to what we thought were perfect dream houses, to find that they were false leads.

The internet descriptions were great, conversations with the agent made our hopes soar, and we started talking about how we could use the land, about changes we could make to the house, how an extra room could be used as a yoga studio, where we could put the couches… until we arrived at each house and hope turned to disappointment. My friend Kar calls this the pendulum of emotions. She also said to go with it and most importantly, to have faith in the dream…

But the dream is fading and it’s difficult to continue to have faith in the vision. If you’ve ever been house-hunting you’ll know how it is. False leads abound. After a while we learned a few more lessons: we became savvy about trick photography — that’s everything from expanding the size of a room to double it’s true proportions, and making everything look lighter, brighter and cleaner, to making the dry grass look green — and realtor-speak, which includes lies of omission. It’s hard to gain information from some agents — simple things like the dimensions of rooms, to what’s happening on the neighbouring property. It’s caveat emptor or ‘Let the buyer beware’.

Not that all of this is an excuse for dropping the rituals. It just happened that way. And, as I said, I learned a few lessons. I made some intentional choices and set some timelines recently and they got lost along the journey over the past weeks. So there are a few unfulfilled objectives for this season. You know what they are from my previous post. I’m still working out what to do next but I know that I can’t focus on setting up websites and pitching stories. From my lessons learned, I know that what I can do is write, and journal, and meditate, and practice yoga.

Lessons learned — The Shoalhaven River and Rainer Maria Rilke’s words to keep me in flow

I accept the lessons and it’s time to move on. I’ll try to keep my word for the year ‘FLOW’ in my daily thoughts, my vision for living a passionate life close to my heart, and Rainer Maria Rilke’s words echoing in my ears. We’ve discovered rivers and towns, communities and culture that weren’t part of our original dream. Perhaps the new month is a good time to reflect on the dream. Maybe there is a different way to interpret our vision. Our plan is to take another trip. The lessons learned from the our previous journeys will serve as intentions on the road. And my diary will be the first item I pack.

See you along the way.

PS: Read David Whyte’s poem Just beyond yourself in full here

Intentional choices – a new approach for 2019

Just beyond yourself. It’s where you need to be.
Half a step into forgetting and the rest restored by what you meet.

~ From the poem ‘Just beyond yourself’
in David Whyte’s collection of poetry, The bell and the blackbird

Intentional choices to keep me moving toward what just beyond myself — Intentional choices to move smoothly with unbroken continuity, and go just beyond myself.

2019 began with an intention to be in FLOW – my word for this year. I want to move from where I am to just beyond myself, as the quote above says. One way is to give attention to my intentions, something I’ve written about previously. But to make this work, I have to take it a step further by making intentional choices.

Ralph Marston, author of the blog, The daily motivator says, “just because you can, doesn’t mean you should”. He says that the choices you make should be driven by what will make a difference in your life.

Last year, I kept loading my plate with to-dos, projects, stuff, that had me flitting from one thing to another keeping me busy chasing my tail but not moving me forward. This year, my new approach came after reflecting on how I want my days to be and what will make a difference in my life. Professional writing goals, self-care – which includes making time for drawing, and exercise are the most important things that I feel will make a difference for now.

Even though I’ve set goals each year, I’ve never been successful at staying the distance. This year I decided to set goals for the quarter. Three months seem more manageable, close enough to keep me on my toes and to keep me moving smoothly. Following the rhythm of the seasons feels good as well. Ok, I’m not quite in alignment but being in flow means easy movement, so flexibility comes into play here.

Intentional choices for my attention. The view of the Shoalhaven River ... and beyond. Where I want to be. — View of the Shoalhaven River …and beyond myself. It’s where I want to be.

My goals are simple, and really, I hesitate to share them. Sharing means accountability and I haven’t been accountable since I stopped being an employee a long time ago. But a little accountability goes a long way, I’ve decided. There are just three goals and I’m under no illusion about the work involved. But it’s one choice at a time, one step after another.

So here are my goals for the quarter:

Change my website – I want a professional persona which incorporates my freelance work, my travel articles and also a journal to chronicle my path to the passionate life I seek. I’ve vacillated between setting up a new professional website, and weaving all the threads of my life together and positioning it in one place. The jury is still out on this but there is work to do, content to be written and other small decisions to be made about business cards, logo, service offerings and clients.I’d love to hear your thoughts on this if you’ve come to that fork in the road — how to integrate the personal and the professional aspects of your life and how you decided to present this publicly.
Write and publish blog posts according to a schedule. I’ve set up the schedule, and listed the numerous ideas I want to write about, so you will be receiving more regular letters from me. I won’t overwhelm your inbox, but they will appear more often than in the recent past.
I want to see a published article (print or online, it doesn’t matter) in a magazine with my byline. This means overcoming a number of obstacles: perfectionism — accepting that something is good enough; procrastination; and my fear of rejection. Recently, I read the book Feel the fear and do it anyway by Susan Jeffers who says I should change my vocabulary from:

I can’t… to …I won’t
I should… to …I could
I hope… to …I know
If only… to …Next time

And instead of asking, ‘What will I do?” when I meet the next challenge, saying, “I can handle it.”

Tentatively, I’m going with ‘I can handle it’ for now. With my goals in mind, I list just three things I want to accomplish each day. Intentional choices each day to help me move beyond myself. Small steps to achieve big things! Some days, I complete the three tasks I set myself, other days there are demands that take me away from my work. But there’s no dwelling on that and feeling guilty. My choice is to move gently and not feel anxious even though I want to make continuous progress.

I’m also using my diary in the way it’s meant to be used. David Allen in his book, Getting things done says that a diary should only be used to note the things you want to accomplish on specific days, and appointments and activities at specific times, instead of using it as a notebook for jotting down random things. Something I’m guilty of. This seems to be working as I’m using it every day now, and it sits open on my desk in plain view, with my three things to accomplish and the the other to-dos for the day. It’s not forgotten in a drawer or under a pile of books.

So, there you have it. My professional goals for the quarter. I feel the anxious fluttering of butterflies in my stomach now, so I’m going to take a short break and give my attention to another intentional choice I made: to bring meditation into my life as part of my self-care…

Meditation - an eight week programme to help me make intentional choices — Another of my intentional choices – to follow an eight week meditation programme from this book

…I’m back after a three-minute meditation which has settled me. I bought this book as a present for my son but I’ve kept it for a while so that I could work through the eight-week course of becoming more mindfully aware.

Mark Williams and Danny Penman’s book is a practical guide to meditation, set out in weekly activities and practices which only take a few minutes. Making this intentional choice is, as Ralph Marston says, another way to make a difference in my life.

I’m at week six now. It’s another way to bring FLOW into my life — to enable the gentle process of moving continuously to unfold easily, calmly, and smoothly. I’m meditating daily and although my mind is easily distracted, I think it’s been enormously beneficial. I certainly feel calmer, less stressed about the things I can’t control, and not so anxious about all the ‘Next actions’ on my Trello boards.

Drawing as a way to keep in in the present — Drawing practice each day to keep me mindful and in flow with my daily intentions

As part of my self-care I made the intentional choice to make time for drawing which helps with my creativity and focuses my attention in the present. I’m still at the beginning of my learning but my practice has been erratic.

For starters, I decided that for the month of February I would draw snippets from my life every day. The time I spend drawing is like an active meditation. There’s just me, my pencil on the paper, and my subject — a kind of meditation. A small drawing, I’ve discovered, doesn’t take long. The drawings aren’t fabulous — I can see a lack of perspective in some and problems with proportion, but I’ve banished the demon of perfection .

Seeing the ocean is self-care. It helps me to keep in flow with my intentional choices — An Italian seascape. The ocean is a place that soothes me. A place to practice self-care

Other intentional choices, like my journal writing, which is part of my daily routine anyway, and regular exercise, apart from walking my dog, are what matter to me as well. I joined an exercise class at my local swimming pool and attend three times per week. I can’t say I love the pool (I prefer the beach) but I do enjoy being active and feeling fit). I can feel the difference in my body and it’s another way to be present. And the endorphins produced linger for quite a while afterward. So it’s a win win situation!

I know there will be days when my attention will be drawn elsewhere, such as searching for the dream house (an ongoing affair which is an overarching objective for this year and one which is going to make a huge difference to my life!). However, routine is a steadying influence for now.

My intentional choices are keeping me on the path to building that passionate life, taking me beyond myself, which is where I want to be. The rest of David’s quote — ‘Half a step into forgetting and the rest restored by what you’ll meet.’— is a good place to aim for. This means be gentle to myself, visit the beach often, walk in nature and spend time with my loves.

Have you made some intentional choices in your life that have helped you achieve life or career goals? I’d love to hear your story in the comments.

FLOW: my word of the year 2019

May what I do
flow from me like a river,
no forcing and no holding back,
the way it is with children.

~ Rainer Maria Rilke

The first three weeks of the new year have passed and I’m in continuous movement. It’s a consequence of FLOW: my word of the year. I had mixed feelings about choosing a word of the year for 2019 as the past two years have turned out quite opposite to what I thought my word for the year stood for.

Last year my word was ‘Adventure’. I write it with a capital ‘A’ because it was going to be exceptional! However, it turned out to be more about misadventure, in the forms of malaise, melancholy, and woe.

In 2017 my word was ‘create’. I love that word and its connotations: to initiate; to bring forth; cause to happen; produce; arrange by intention; dream up; execute; and my favourite — cause to come into being. (Thank you Mr Roget) It was the year that everything was going happen, to come into being — I had the intention to create something new from the cold ashes of my past work, to put the word travel before the word writer as one of my new titles, and of course, I had the dream of a house and way of life in my pocket.

What happened?

Discord, disappointment, and apathy. Doesn’t paint a good picture, does it? Yet I’ve lived to see another day, another year, with the chance to make 2019 different. With this in mind, in the last few weeks of 2018 I prepared myself to begin the new year with a new mindset, a system to keep me organised, and a guiding light to support me in my endeavours.

Five useful tools to prepare for the new year:

Susannah Conway’s Find your word e-course
A system from the book Getting things done by David Allen
Trello, a task management app
A desire to make things happen
Meditation

Flow: my word of the year 2019 — Seeing patterns and continuous movement in this graphic of my word of the year

Finding my word of the year

Susannah Conway’s Find your word e-course is a great way to discover what is important to you, how you want to feel, and to find a word that will be your companion, inspiration and cheerleader for the year. The course is a process. You receive an email each day for five days, beginning with a wonderful calming visualisation and exercise to help you think about what your ideal day would look and feel like. There are also questions and exercises to help illuminate which words have meaning for you.

The most powerful question for me was:

“What do you need more of in your life?”

First I thought I needed more magic. We could all do with a little magic, yes? ‘Focus’ was another word that made my shortlist but it seemed so imperious. Too commanding and urgent even though it’s certainly an area for improvement. ‘Delight’ made the shortlist as well. I could use more of that.

And then FLOW appeared. I flowed toward it, really. The sound of it was easy, delightful — it brought to mind a gentle stream flowing over smooth rocks and round pebbles —always moving. I turned to my new Macquarie Dictionary and Mr Roget for synonyms (of course!) and the meaning that resonated most intensely was:

To move smoothly with unbroken continuity.

After a year of fits and starts, jagged edges and scattered dreams, I’m longing for continuity and a smooth flow. A time of gentleness and grace. Self-care and self-compassion. And most of all, continuous movement. It seemed to be the perfect word to support and encourage me through 2019.

At the end of the five days, I had researched FLOW — shaken it, turned it inside out, squished it, and smoothed it back out. I had to be sure that it was the right word with which to begin the new year. I wrote about it, started a Pinterest board, coloured in designs (stuff I never did for my other words of the year). It was going to be my word of the year for 2019. I owned it!

Eight flow words and phrases I love:

unfolding
moving with grace
continuous movement
progress effortlessly
advance or rise
present in abundance
smooth, easy movement
gentle process

continuous movement — The Shoalhaven River, always moving with the tide.

Choosing FLOW as my word the year feels so significant. I’ve been reflecting on how I would like it to manifest in my life. It’s an active word (like a gentle river, always in movement) rather than a feeling word, and I like that because 2019 is my action year.

I’m grateful for Susannah’s process to reveal my word, for the reflective prompts and questions, and the suggestions on how to keep it dynamic throughout the year. I knew however, that in order to bring more flow, I had to get organised.

Oh, I know, I sound like a stuck record trotting out this old chestnut every few months. Perhaps it’s because I’ve just arrived at another fork in the road and a bolt of illumination has revealed the way ahead. In one direction, that passionate life I’m always talking about, and the other leading me to lost dreams and regret. So, no more regrets, no more excuses, no more illness and discord, just setting things up for continuous movement with a little touch of magic added.

Setting things up for getting things done

David Allen’s book Getting things done flowed toward me at this time. A practical guide to, well, getting things done, it helped me to see a different way of working and a new system for getting control of my life. It’s a way of mastering workflow. There’s that word again! The Getting things done system works on the premise of asking, “What’s the next action?”

To begin, I had to capture all the stuff that was outstanding, incomplete, or had a decision or potential action tied to it. A revealing exercise! Notes in drawers, file folders, post-it notes, in workbooks, and in various apps on my computer spewed forth into my new in-tray. Suffice it to say that a number of days and steps later and with the help of Trello, a task management app, I had a basic workflow management system set up. I’m still working with Trello, things are changing each day, getting better as I reflect on the best way forward. All the while, I’ve been playing with my new word of the year. Keeping it front and centre.

I also have a new mantra:

For added flow, I also decided to let meditation into my life again. A book by Mark Williams and Danny Penman, Mindfulness: A practical guide to finding peace in a frantic world seemed perfect. An eight week programme with a set of simple practices to incorporate into my daily life which started with a gentle introduction to mindful awareness. I’ve been appreciating my morning coffee even more since I became more aware. I’m at week three now, so more on this as the weeks unfold.

With a new system, a new perspective and new practices in place, for the first time in a number of new beginnings, the new year rolled over gently with me feeling in step and in control of my life. So far, so good. I’m happy with my smooth, continuous movement. I’ve become productive again.

Why is this beginning different?

I think it has to do with engaging with my word, being open to what the word FLOW might bring, but also understanding the vicissitudes of life and accepting what happens and working with it, whether that’s good or bad. I’m also learning about self-care. I made a decision to be gentle with myself in December even whilst putting plans and systems in place and coming to grips with software. I’m surprised at how much I achieved. And there are additional things I would like to bring into this smooth-flowing current. My drawing practice has been neglected. For a while I couldn’t sit comfortably for long enough to sketch but I’m finding it easier now and I want to pick up my pencil again. Another area I’m learning about is my personality type. I want to explore this further in order to understand myself better.

Rilke’s quote at the top of this article, appeared on an Instagram post of a friend @lauraleerussell who chose the word FLOW as her word of the year previously. I’m grateful for her sharing. Rilke’s words are beautiful , aren’t they? It’s my wish that what I do may flow from me like a river in 2019, with no forcing and no holding back. Stretching without striving.

A dear friend sent me this quote with the advice to ‘keep it simple’:

The complicated part of life is discovering how simple it is.

~ Author unknown

I’m still in discovery mode but actively searching for simplicity. I’m looking forward to the point where I discover how simple life is. Perhaps, with a little dusting of MAGIC (a supporting word for me this year), FLOW will truly manifest positively as my word of the year in 2019 and bring that simplicity to my life.

I’m hopeful!

Have you chosen a word as a companion for the year? Do you have special rituals or activities that help you to bring your word into your life? I’d love to hear about your experiences with words of the year in the comments.

Wishing you a fulfilling 2019!

Emerging from a winter of the soul

Our time comes in yesterdays, todays and tomorrows.

~ John O’Donohue

Waking from a winter of the soul and seeing the beauty around me

We had rain for thirty six hours. The kind of rain you expect in winter, although we are circling into summer. We haven’t had this kind of rain — more than 100mm — in over a year and there were rivulets winding across the lawn down to the road. Spring is over. I missed it and the beauty of new growth it brings because I’ve been moving through a dark time. A winter of the soul.

Have you ever been through a winter of the soul?

It’s a time when joy in life withers, or the warmth of human relationships turn cold, you may have had a tragedy, or your hopes or dreams were dashed on the rocks of reality. There is a sadness, a sense of failure, a loss of energy, loneliness, the inability to find beauty in the world and it feels like there is nothing new to take its place.

‘Winter of the soul’ is a phrase John O’Donohue uses to describe this bleak period and I think it sums up my experience. He says that at these times you should follow nature’s instincts and withdraw, lie low, and shelter until the bleakness passes.

I’m not the type of person who lies low, I’m the one who pushes through. Aren’t we always exhorted to push through the pain, to fake it ’til we make it, to smile even though we don’t want to because it will make us feel better? This time however, it’s been difficult to spiral out of my dark winter of the soul and I’ve been hunkering down. Letting things go. Not doing or being, or seeing.

Until the rains came.

Tapitallee Creek in the rain — Replenishing rain allowing the creek to flow again

The rain cleared this morning and the princess dog and I went for an early morning walk. This used to be part of my routine, but I’ve fallen out of this habit as I have with many things. The very things that bring peace and joy and focus. No photographs, no journal writing, no making plans, no drawing, no following my path to the passionate life I desire. There are many reasons for this but when I think of them now, they feel like excuses. I won’t bore you with the details but suffice it to say, the reasons — which seemed valid — caused me to spiral into deep sadness and discontent with my lot. A dark, cold winter of the soul. But time is a circle as is the year, which cycles through the seasons.

And just as in nature, the seasons of the soul change as time passes, as we grow older, as we learn and have different experiences.

So although I missed spring while I was in a state of melancholy, the seasons continued to turn and we are now on the cusp of blossoming into the richness of summer. It’s nature’s time to flourish and grow. A time of texture and colour, light and arrival. It’s also the time for plans to flourish. John says,

Transience is the force of time that makes a ghost of every experience.

The vibrancy pf summer — I missed spring but I’m opening my heart to the vibrancy of summer – beach walks with the princess dog, blue skies, verdant landscapes.

This morning marks a turning point for me. Walking with the princess allowed me time to reflect on where I’ve been and where I want to go. The replenishing rain, nature’s gift to the parched earth, is an omen. A sign that summertime is on the threshold of my soul. My intuition tells me that it’s time to shake off the ghosts of yesterday’s experiences, focus on today and prepare for tomorrow.

Part of this preparation is to reawaken my senses to the beauty around me. John, in his book Divine beauty: the invisible embrace says that beauty is quietly woven through our days in the simplest things — kindness, tenderness, and care, for instance, bring touches of beauty. For me, there is a whisper of beauty in picking herbs for a meal, seeing tiny grapes forming on the vines, feeling the freshness in the air this morning after the cleansing rain, watching the creek in full flow over the crossing after stagnating in small pools for so many months.

Emerging from a winter of the soul and seeing beauty in small things — My senses are waking up to the beauty in small things

I’ve been moving through the past weeks without noticing the beauty in my world but I now hear it calling me. John says,

When we awaken to the call of beauty, we become aware of new ways of being in the world.

I’m reminded of my to-do list from my wild writing session, which was about the simple things that bring me joy. I want to feel joy again, to be aware of new ways of being.

I have to pick up the pace, I’ve lost time – a whole season! There are seeds to sow, even at this late stage, the cusp of summer. I must revisit my intentions, rediscover old habits, delight in the small details of my life, become aware of new ways of being, and find joy in the ordinariness of my days.

A beautiful flower, good omen to emerge from a winter of the soul — A good omen, this beautiful flower flourishing – as I emerge from a winter of the soul

I chose the word ‘FLOURISH’ at the end of October as my word through to the end of the year but I’ve been hibernating through this winter of the soul, lying dormant. So now I’m pushing through — it feels like waking up from a troubled sleep. And like the transience of time, as nature has cycled into a new season, my dark winter of the soul, too, is passing.

It’s time to flourish!

As we move into the festive season, a time of vibrancy and light, warmth, ice-cream, and beach swims here in the southern hemisphere, but also cold and snow, warm fires and hot chocolate for you in the north, I wish you summertime in your heart and flourishing hopes and plans.

‘Til next time

PS: I’d love to hear your thoughts on a winter of the soul. Has your soul been through this cold, lonely season? How did you cope? What was it like to come through to the other side? Please, drop me a line or leave a comment. I always love to hear from you and by sharing, we all learn from each other.

PPS: Just letting you know that if you purchase any books mentioned here via a link to Book Depository, I will earn a (very) small commission. ?

27 wild days of writing

This is me starting the day with nothing except a hope
that I’ll make something beautiful out of nothing,
that I can conjure magic from scraps, a snip of a dream and a cup of coffee.
Me remembering that I’ve got this if I can just relax.

~ Laurie Wagner, Creator of 27 Powers

Wild days to-do list — Walking on the beach with *amore* and the princess – on my to-do list

Last year I did a course with the wonderfully insightful Laurie Wagner called 27 Wild Days. What an adventure of wild writing it was! For 27 days the lovely Laurie appeared in my inbox via a video, sharing wisdom about writing and to read a poem. You listened to the poem (twice), Laurie provided a jumping off point — the title of the poem, a line from it or any other phrase that came to mind — and off you went.

The premise of wild writing is to write for fifteen minutes as fast as you can, pen never leaving the page, no thinking about it — write the words as they come to you. No looking for better words. If the word “shit” comes or “kook” or “frumpy bum” — anything that sounds silly or messy (or god forbid, unacceptable!) — it doesn’t matter, that’s the word to use. It’s your truth. This is what wild writing is all about. Getting to the heart of things. Laurie calls it “putting some skin in the game”.

Some days it’s writing about stuff that you don’t want to write about, beginning with a sentence like, “If you really knew me, you’d know…” And repeating that phrase as you continue to put ink on the page. It’s about the things that are hidden under the skin. The stuff you find difficult to write about.

She says:

It’s an awesome way to move into the heart of what matters to you, and it’s also terribly exciting to write onto the edge. You will generate power. You will surprise yourself, you will not bore yourself.

She’s right. It’s revealing. Beginning this way loosens you up until you get to the story that you really want to tell. It’s a wild ride, this truth telling.

I confess that when I started, I didn’t think I would have enough to say, that I wouldn’t be able to keep pen to page non-stop for fifteen minutes. But once I started with the truth-telling, I couldn’t stop. The ink kept flowing, the words tumbled out. The best part of it was that the demon of perfection didn’t have time to rear its ugly head. Before I knew it, fifteen minutes was up.

As the days rolled on, I discovered poetry in a form I had never read before. The stuff of real life. Raw emotion. Truth. I also discovered that some of what was appearing on my pages was poetry too. Good writing. Honest. Surprising and exhilarating.

Wild!

I’d like to share some of this writing with you over the next few weeks, starting with something that I’m really good at. A to-do list. Nothing exciting about that, I hear you say. But this is a list with a difference. It’s nothing like any of my usual to-do lists. It’s inspired by Laurie’s jumping off point on Day 13 — “Things to do today” which is a line from Tony Hoagland’s poem The word.

Here’s a few lines of Tony’s beautiful poem:

Down near the bottom

of the crossed-out list

of things you have to do today,

between “green thread”

and “broccoli,” you find

that you have penciled “sunlight ”

You can read the whole poem here

Reading my wild writing from Day 13 this morning was so well-timed because I was feeling a little low. It was such a great reminder of the simple things, ordinary things that give me joy. Things that I allowed to slip from my mind.

Wild days at the beach — With my dog and my guy – barefoot on the sand

So here’s my list of “Things to do today”. It gives me joy to present it to you.

Things to do today

Enjoy a moment by yourself

Work on your plan, be productive

Walk your dog

Play

Create something beautiful on the page, or in the kitchen

Pick fresh herbs and make a salad

Smile a lot

Think positive thoughts

See the beauty around you

Kiss amore and tell him that you love him

Take a few deep breaths

Smell the roses

Really see the colours of spring

Remember the people you love

Say their names out loud and send them a wish through the universe

Change your sheets and spray them with lavender and orange

Enjoy the sunshine

Plant some flowers

Drink lots of water

Write, a lot!

Write about the things you love, write a blog post, write a list of all the things you
plan to finish

Rest your back

Have a bath

Buy yourself something nice

Get in touch with your friend Ruth, tell her you’re thinking of her

Don’t beat yourself up about the things you haven’t done, think about the great things you’re going to do

Go to the beach and walk barefoot on the sand

Draw something

Finish your drawing course

Finish something else on your list

Feel good about where you’re at right now

Meditate for five minutes

Post a beautiful picture on Instagram

Write a letter the old-fashioned way and send it to your daughter

Write one to your son as well

Find joy in the ordinary and be thankful for what’s good in your life

Be happy.

Journal writing - wild days — Beginning wild days -Day 13

These are words from my wild heart, my wild writing — unpolished, unedited. Not just for today, for other days too. Days when I need a reminder that there are good things in my world. A reminder to be happy. I hope it will inspire you to think of things to do today that make you happy. And if you feel that 27 wild days of writing could be the thing that gets your creative juices flowing, or maybe you need a little help to get some ink on the page, why don’t you hop over and see Laurie. I guarantee that you’ll be delighted, surprised, maybe even a little shocked (in a nice way) at what appears on your page as you write your way through 27 wild days.

Over to you now. I’d love to hear what’s on your list. Maybe your list is a poem?

The poetry of life: a reminder to be present

Lessons learned on the journey to a find a home