Encouraging Bliss ~ Do Not Get Rid of Your Vice

Seeking Over Stimulation ~ I have lived life like a hummingbird, that moves in a frenzied blur from flower to flower, in search of the sweet nectar of excitement and stimulation. When life gets me down, I run from the anxiety and boredom by overindulging in variety and activity. I often have felt like that child, who runs down the aisles of a toy store, fearful of choosing one toy because she will miss out on the rest. Before this time in my life, I have rarely stopped to experience my inner self, to focus on completion. I've sort of felt like that stone skipping across a lake ~ when it slows down or stops it sinks deeply. And then? Oh no ~ have I sunk too far inward? Have I gotten dissolved in the contemplative moments?

So, what's the upside of this vice? How can I transform my vice into a virtue? Well, my creativity, my ability to visual beyond what's present. That quality has served me well, wherever life has taken me. However, I could stop worrying about dissolving, or sinking into oblivion ~ when I stop ~ and taste the sweet nectar of life as its offered me. Eckhart Tolle writes of thinking as a disease ~ a cancer. Indeed, with me, its so. And this blocks my path to the present, to the here and now, to my self. It also fuels that frenzied, fluttering hummingbird, which seeks constant movement, but does not savour the moments.

I found this exercise difficult to complete. I hope I have done it some justice. I feel like I've just barely skimmed the surface.

Full Moon Dreamers ~ Pink April Moon

Full Moon Dreamboards ~ a creative way to express what we wish to manifest in a particular month. Each month has a name, a this becomes the theme or inspiration for the dreamboard. For more on Full Moon Dreamboards, visit Jamie's site.

Full Pink Moon - April - This name came from the herb moss pink, or wild ground phlox, which is one of the earliest widespread flowers of the spring. Other names for this month's celestial body include the Full Sprouting Grass Moon, the Egg Moon (the full moon before Easter), and among coastal tribes the Full Fish Moon, because this was the time that the Shad swam upstream to spawn.

Pink ~ the colour of fresh, young skin; the colour of deliciously broiled Wild Sockeye Salmon fillets; the colour of White Zinfandel (a favourite of mine); the colour of the tartest, most refreshing Pink Lemonade; the colour of bitter and juicey Grapefruit flesh; the colour of sunrise skies, also of sunset skies; the colour of the sun on a lazy and sultry summer evening; the colour of magnolias and Cherry Blossoms; (in Feng Shui) the colour of universal love.

Pink emits a soothing energy. Designer use pink to convey softness, tenderness, playfulness. Both bold and gentle could describe pink. Pink expressed joy, hope, and gentle vibrancy. I entered this world through my mother's pink door, just as my sons entered this world through my own pink door. Ahhh, pink ~ portal of life, as in the pink canal.**

As the Full Pink Moon approaches, my spirit stirs to embrace life more vibrantly, taking courage to hold hope closer to my heart, and remembering the plethora of joys that bless me in my life. I feel also, a stirring in my soul to work toward spreading hope to others with the smallest of gestures, and to embrace transformation with my whole being.

** credit to my husband, Martin, for coming up with this interpretation of and metaphor for PINK**

~ all photos taken by yours truly;

I created this mosaic at BigHugeLabs~

Wishcasting Wednesday ~ Wishes for Transformation

This week's Wish Prompt ~ What do You Wish to Transform?

And, so, this week, this holy week ... I make wishes for transformation. As the week leads me to Good Friday, and thoughts of Our Lord suffering persecution and death, and then to Easter Sunday, when he rose from the dead, I ponder what transformation means for me, in my life. Transformation dances all around me ~ in the blooming cherry blossoms, magnolias and rhododendrons, in the awakening woods. I live transformation ~ each moment I breathe ~ that's transformation.

I wish to transform the world around me, through transformation of myself. I wish to transform myself by standing firm in the present ~ living in, embracing, the now. My life encapsulates itself in the now. I wish  to transform myself by gaining a truer understanding of those around me, embracing them with compassion, rather than judgement. I wish to transform the world around me by making small gestures of hope to those who need it most.

What do you wish to transform?

Mystic Monday # 1 :: Unmarked Boxes

Mystic Monday ~ An alternate to Manic Monday.

Unmarked Boxes

by Jalal al-din Rumi

translated by Coleman Barks

Don't grieve. Anything you lose comes round
in another form. The child weaned from mother's milk
now drinks wine and honey mixed.

God's joy moves from unmarked box to unmarked box,
from cell to cell. As rainwater, down into flower bed.
As roses, up from ground.
Now it looks like a plate of rice and fish,
now a cliff covered with vines,
now a horse being saddled.
It hides within these,
till one day it cracks them open.

Part of the self leaves the body when we sleep
and changes shape. You might say, "Last night
I was a cypress tree, a small bed of tulips,
a field of grapevines." Then the phantasm goes away.
You're back in the room.
I don't want to make any one fearful.
Hear what's behind what I say.

Tatatumtum tatum tatadum.
There's the light gold of wheat in the sun
and the gold of bread made from that wheat.
I have neither. I'm only talking about them,

as a town in the desert looks up
at stars on a clear night.

How I love this poem, and the poet who wrote those words. This poem tells me that nothing really ever dies, but only changes form. One can only count on change, as a constant in life. And, in the eyes of God, we have sameness, no distinctions ~ when we return to him, the human construct of separateness melts, just the same as a water droplet that falls into a vast ocean.

The graces of God which we receive, we cannot control. The divine works, unseen, in unmarked places, and at unmarked times. He moves from unmarked box, to unmarked box. And, as for loss ~ those dear ones that lose physical form, whose matter we can no longer see, touch, smell, hear ~ remember, forms only change; they do not die. Perhaps, then, we might conjure up the image of a star exploding, shedding off layers and layers and seeding many new stars all around. Death does not exist, really. And, life cultivates life.

Project 287 :: Week 2 in Review

The Ones That Didn't Make It ~ #2

I a little tired today, at the end of this week. I did the final titration of my Valproic Acid to TID (3 times per day). I suppose my body has to get used to the increase. All in all, a great week. Enjoy the slideshow, and have a wonderful weekend!

Wishcasting Wednesday ~ Wishes for Trust

This week's Wish Prompt ~ What do You Wish to Trust?

I wish to trust myself, my inner voice ~ that one which speaks from the seat of my soul. I wish to trust my creative muse, who so oft I have felt wont to disregard and cast aside. I wish to trust God, the truth of whom has for many years, felt obliterated by my confusion, arrogance, vanity, and reckless abandon. I wish to trust in the sacredness of my marriage, which has taken quite a bruising these past few years. I wish to trust that trusting, rather than holding suspicion close to my heart,  does not make me a naive fool. I wish to trust that I have it in me, to handle the incredible responsibility and burden of nursing, once more ~ without anger, without rage, without resisting the Now.