Mixed Media Paintings
I wrote this poem after I made this in my sketchbook, but only finished it last night:
Peace Underneath
On the surface of things
Droplets bounce on the water’s skin
Rain drums on skylights
The yang drowns out the yin.
***
But deep deep down
Where the soul’s hum
Vibrates the cells
And the deep dark
Holds the inner secret light
That’s where the treasure lies
In the peace underneath.
***
Inside is where the jewels are
It’s where the dance begins.
It’s not really a poem, not really a manifesto, not just a list. The words came to me while I was on the beach and I guess part of not having a name for what this is is part of allowing it to be fluid, and not to become a set of rules or a to do list. Just to keep it simple and clean.
It’s that time of year when I seem to become more contemplative and introspective {if that’s possible!}, when I start thinking about the fresh start a new year affords and all that potential waiting to be unleashed. Yay!
So as much as I’m not into partying my way into the new year, I am into giving it to myself as an opportunity. I’ve been clearing out my home and myself on all levels, making space, and as always I’m approaching the turning of the cycle with anticipation and enthusiasm for the potential that next year holds. Or, more accurately, for what I can create on its blank canvas.
And these are some {very laid back, unpressured, non committal} ideas. Less a striving to be more and better, than a ‘what I might uncover in myself’, perhaps.
brain less, heart more
doubt less, trust more
fear less, courage more
resist less, allow more
‘yes but’ less, ‘yes and’ more
do less, be more
try less, allow more
grip less, breathe more
project less, moment-to-moment more
think less, feel more
judge less, accept more
denial less, truth more
‘should’ less, ‘could’ more
force less, grace more
succumb less, surrender more
achievement less, fulfilment more
give more, receive more
love more love more love more
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I’ll be choosing my word for the year soon; I already have a shortlist! It’s the kind of tune the geek in me sings to.
My Law
by Tieme Ranapiri
The sun may be clouded, yet ever the sun
Will sweep on its course till the Cycle
is run. And when into chaos the system is hurled
Again shall the Builder reshape a new world.
Your path may be clouded, uncertain your goal:
Move on for your orbit is fixed to your soul.
And though it may lead into darkness of night
The torch of the Builder shall give it new light.
You were. You will be! Know this while you are:
Your spirit has travelled both long and afar.
It came from the Source, to the Source it returns
The Spark which was lighted eternally burns.
It slept in a jewel. It leapt in a wave.
It roamed in the forest. It rose from the grave.
It took on strange garbs for long aeons of years
And now in the soul of yourself It appears.
From body to body your spirit speeds on
It seeks a new form when the old one has gone
And the form that it finds is the fabric you wrought
On the loom of the Mind from the fibre of Thought.
As dew is drawn upwards, in rain to descend
Your thoughts drift away and in Destiny blend.
You cannot escape them, for petty or great,
Or evil or noble, they fashion your Fate.
Somewhere on some planet, sometime and somehow
Your life will reflect your thoughts of your Now.
My Law is unerring, no blood can atone
The structure you built you will live in alone.
From cycle to cycle, through time and through space
Your lives with your longings will ever keep pace
And all that you ask for, and all you desire
Must come at your bidding, as flame out of fire.
Once list’ to that Voice and all tumult is done
Your life is the Life of the Infinite One.
In the hurrying race you are conscious of pause
With love for the purpose, and love for the Cause.
You are your own Devil, you are your own God
You fashioned the paths your footsteps have trod.
And no one can save you from Error or Sin
Until you have hark’d to the Spirit within.
{some kite love in Brighton last week}
I’ve been thinking about how much we ‘save things for best’ in our lives, when we could actually be enjoying them right now. My parents have cutlery and crockery that only comes out on ‘special occasions’ {ie. almost never}. I have just done a wardrobe cull {making space for the new!} and discovered that the clothes I hardly ever wear because they are only for smart or for parties could be things I integrate into my everyday wardrobe and add an extra je ne sais quois to it! They are wasted hanging in the dark, just like my parents’ dining sets. You can’t take it with you, right?
I actually wrote a poem about this recently when I had a sudden moment of clarity that ‘one day’ might very easily never come. {Obvious, of course, but sometimes the realisations are sharper than usual.} And I’ve been thinking a lot lately about how I wait for things, like love for example, when I could easily and instantly be giving it to myself in any number of ways {and, according to the Law of Attraction, draw it to me that much more quickly too}.
In a synchronicity that no longer surprises me, I read an article yesterday via The Daily Love by Christine Hassler, called Wear Your Good Underwear. Christine makes the same point {and more eloquently than I do}; what are we waiting for?!
I really don’t know! But I for one will be wearing my black lace dress {I’m thinking with jeans and pumps for starters}, using my new special turquoise pen {for shopping lists if I feel like it} and painting with my expensive paints a lot more often, starting today. High five to that.
it’s today
There’s something I’d like to do.
A secret dream {or two},
living in my pocket.
It shines
from all the times
I took it out
to cherish it,
look forward to it,
relish it,
careful not to drop it.
My beautiful dream.
So big and so small.
One day I’ll do it, be it, have it, see it.
One day.
But wait, she said.
When is one day?
That fictional, distant, horizon-shaped day
when the stars will align
in just the right way?
That day never comes
my darling. Don’t wait.
‘One day’ is always
one step away,
it’s just a delay.
One day
is
today.