For A New Beginning

Everyday offers up the opportunity for a new beginning. To start a fresh on a blank page. Today we went to visit our potential new companion. A beautiful 6 month old kitten rescued in October 2013 in a dreadful state who has gradually recovered to the point he is now ready to find a home. Little Rocky exemplifies the spirit for a new beginning. He doesn't appear to harbour any bitterness or cynicism for his difficult start in life. Instead he has a curious open soul, very trusting and willing to step into each brand new day.

I have spent the last 24 hours reflect on the year just past and yet as I scroll through facebook entries I came upon a friends post looking to the present and seeing the vista of newness in all it's ripe potential. And in the words of John O'Donohue perfectly summing up what new beginnings represent. New Year's are definitely not restricted to January 1st. They are open to us all the time.

Lest I forget - for a new beginning - thank you Emma Kidd for the reminder and John O'Donohue for the words.

In out of the way places of the heart

Where your thoughts never think to wander

This beginning has been quietly forming

Waiting until you were ready to emerge.

For a long time it has watched your desire

Feeling the emptiness grow inside you

Noticing how you willed yourself on

Still unable to leave what you had outgrown.

It watched you play with the seduction of safety

And the grey promises that sameness whispered

Heard the waves of turmoil rise and relent

Wondered would you always live like this.

Then the delight, when your courage kindled,

And out you stepped onto new ground,

Your eyes young again with energy and dream

A path of plenitude opening before you.

Though your destination is not clear

You can trust the promise of this opening;

Unfurl yourself into the grace of beginning

That is one with your life’s desire.

Awaken your spirit to adventure

Hold nothing back, learn to find ease in risk

Soon you will be home in a new rhythm

For your soul senses the world that awaits you.

We the leaderless

We the leaderless are all leaders now

Look to your left

Look to you right

Look all around you

What do you see

A movement for change

A desire for a better way

Anything is possible

Everything is possible

In the name of love

We are the 100%

We are the ones we have been waiting for

Now is the time

The present moment is all

Step on up

Feel the earth beneath you

Pachamama

Mother earth

Place her in the centre

Praise her

Name her

Shower your love upon her

Be sure to hug your introvert today

http://themetapicture.com/how-to-interact-with-the-introverted/

Blah

There is, it is said, a state of being and a state of doing,
as we oscillate between these two states occasionally
we get blindsided with a creative insight
ding and the lights go on - we see with new eyes
if we chose to take the new path before us
we are shifted into a new rhythm of being and doing.

This is one way of perceiving the beats and patterns
found in the music of our lives. Some of us prefer
a more steady balanced orderly being and doing dance
that breeds a certain familiarity, and there are those of us
who like the shift in gears, the change of pace that improvisation
brings with the frequent visit of the creative spark.

And then there are those other times of liminality,
the in between times, when it feels little like
doing or being or even creativity. This is
the blah state. The fog descends amongst us and sounds like
blah blah blah can be heard coming from me and you.

Today is a blah day. Inertia ... procrastination ...
and more blah de blahness ... the grinding stuckness
of never never never ending bleak outlooks
sounding like the screeching of metal on metal as brakes are
applied sapping the energy out, slowing the motion down
bringing everything round and about to an unearthly STOP!

A Shuddering, stuttering and blundering ARREST!
It is in this disquieting blackness that imagination greys
what lies dormant in the heart is the spirit of singing rainbows
multicoloured miracles that split the sky in two
between rain and shine appearing fleetingly before the eye
rainbows lifting soul and psyche up heavenward to smile again.

All there is in the blahland is hope, faith and belief
if your lucky a vague memory of what's gone before
and what can come again and again when we turn within and
search the unseen reaches of the infinite, moving through
places where magic is seeded this is our memoried landscape
of ancestral inheritance and potentiality that invisibly encircles us.

Oh singing rainbow of indescribable delectable beauty
the very jewel of great infamous stores of treasure
searched for over time in long lost stories left high and dry
on the floors of the caves of our most precious lives
to be rediscovered once again when we raise
the courage and desire to grasp and shout our own unique truth.

Stepping forth into that power only true love knows
we stand on land that heals the deepest of wounds
and covers us in a green mossy blanket of protection
so as to be able to shine out our gifts as we place
them back in service of all life human and more than human
in the greatest celebration we will ever know.

A sparkling 12 months

                     2013
                     an epic year
                     as good as it gets
                     and now I look
                     forward to the next
                     wishing for calmer waters
                     hoping for some shelter
                     and a time to renew and refresh

                     after the doing comes the being
                     back and forth
                     the cycle of all things
                     let it be so
                     for 2014
                     gentle forgiveness
                     gentle confidence
                     with each and every step
                     and learning along the way

                     for good measure
                     may I be and see the sparkle
                     shine on!

Thoughts create reality

Not had much to say for a while now. Life has been more doing than being. In the process from expected and unexpected sources I am being visited by my fears and anxiety. Triggers have and are continuing to go off all over the shop. What to do? I can do delayed gratification. Where I struggle is delaying on-coming unpleasantness. Crazy. Craziness. The mis-match of one system crashing into another. Power-over sometimes unconscious or indisguise. Whatever the form it may take my body doesn't lie. My heart sees in ways my mind sometimes placates or obfuscates. My truth is that I am not ok. Not ok with seeming power over at play, running amok. It's not ok with me, not now, not having come this far. The fear is here. Inside me.

The new insight that has been offered to me is how to turn to my fears and show warmth? Welcome in my discomfort and let it be. Not to change it or make it go away. not to grip onto it and fed the monsters. instead to get to know these parts of me. I need not demonise them.

It's ok. It's all ok. It will be ok. Whatever happens. Fight or flight is a mighty strong force to uncouple. Some say my thoughts create my reality. If my thoughts are this grim and dark am I creating this future outcome or is it simply a present reality that can be changed by shifting my thoughts into another dimension. Let's see if I can experiment with this over the coming days. Instead of assuming the worse, why not assume the best! And let the fear be.

I was told a story about observing the swirling leaves. Especially now as they have mostly fallen from the trees on their path to decay as the chill winds of winter call. The leaves fall like confetti buffeted around the ground by local gusts. They form drifts in alcoves, under bushes they accumulate and along the hedgerows they pile high. Surrounding each leaf as it descends is an infinity of space. It's as if the beauty of the dying decaying leaf is cupped in an equally beautiful illuminating glow of love.  

I came across a poem by Ben Okri called The World Is Rich.  

They tell me that the world
Is rich with terror.
I say the world is rich
With love unfound.
It’s inside us and all around.

Terror is there, no doubt
Violence, hunger and drought;
Rivers that no longer
Flow to the sea.
It’s the shadow of humanity.

There’s terror in the air.
And we have put it there.
We have made God into an enemy,
Have made God into a weapon,
A poverty, a blindness, an army.

But the world is rich with
Great love unfound:
Even in the terror
There is love, twisted round
And round. Set it free.

River, flow to the sea.

What is the love unfound in my fears? What can I set free in me? This buried treasure is bound to be found. Is it wrapped in a blanket of trust? Or trussed up in acceptance such that whatever the challenge or the outcome before me, all will be as it is meant to be, all will be well and I am ready for this reality. To see with new eyes and bear witness. No judgement. And to bring with me bundles of love, warmth and acceptance. Offering a safe seat for all to sit round this fireside and share stories of brave and gallant adventures, of times when all was lost and at sea, of moments when searing beauty rang through the valleys calling it's special song, of dark and dangerous monsters who sought to ensnare and trap my soul, of such delicacy and sweetness that my senses could barely behold and of the height and depths of the soaring tawny owl seeking to guide me home to my greatest belonging. Imagine, that is something worth thinking about.  

Russell Brand is on a roll ...

In the last few weeks Russell Brand has been stirring the establishment pot via various elements of the media advocating for a social and systemic revolution. First, there was his guest edited issue of the New Statesman. As he put it, "Total revolution of consciousness and our entire social, political and economic system is what interests me, but that’s not on the ballot. Is utopian revolution possible? The freethinking social architect Buckminster Fuller said humanity now faces a choice: oblivion or utopia. We’re inertly ambling towards oblivion, is utopia really an option?

With that question hanging in the air, Brand stepped out to speak with Jeremy Paxman on the BBC late night current affairs show Newsnight.



This piece has already had 9 million viewings on youtube alone. Interestingly despite Jeremy's classical antagonistic interviewing style, days later he voiced his agreement with the vue that people are disenchanted with politics. Why can't Jeremy have an open conversation and sharing of opinions during the Newsnight interview? Why is it he has to go on a evening entertainment show to be able to express his own views?  



Now we move into November, since the TV appearance and the magazine publication Russell Brands words have gone viral. It's stirred up a hornets nest of reactions across the political spectrum. Undeniable there are those with entrenched vested interests in the status quo who are taking the stance that Russell Brand is a vacuous waste of space spouting utter nonsense to be utterly ignored and undermined. And yet there are many, mostly the voiceless invisible ones in our communities who are nudging one another and saying 'he's got a point', 'it's about time someone said this stuff'.

I am one of those people who after realising that we live in a world facing immense scary challenges with no obvious instant answers can be overwhelmed to the point of paralysis. When I feel myself moving into a state of despair, disillusionment or nihilism the desire to reach out for my touchstones of comfort - food, TV etc is very strong. Better some method of pushing the uncomfortable feelings away than having to face up to the discomfort. And yet ironically turning to face the discomfort is the door to change, to an alternative, to freedom, to empowerment, to friendship, to reconnection with the world around me in all of it's vibrancy and uncertainty. My interpretation of Brands message, which he rightly makes clear is not new or unique to him, is to take responsibility and to participate in the world to make it a better place. DONT LEAVE IT TO THE ELECTED POLITICIANS. I ask myself how can I step up and get involved? Whatever I do, you do, we do will make a difference and don't let anyone convince you otherwise.

Where are we now in the Brand revolution? Today it's an article in The Guardian newspaper in which he continues to put forward the case that we deserve a better democratic system. "A system that serves the planet and the people" - all the people, not just a lucky few at the top table. It's time ... it's time ... it's time.

10 Rules for Being Human

Check out the list below and see where you are in this interesting reflection on being human.

There is a thread

The Way It Is

It goes among things that change. 
There is a thread you follow. 
But it doesn’t change.
People wonder about what things you are pursuing.
You have to explain about the thread.
But it is hard for others to see.

While you hold it you can’t get lost.
Tragedies happen; people get hurt
or die; and you suffer and grow old.

Nothing you do can stop times unfolding.
You don’t ever let go of the thread.

— William Stafford

We learn with the great spirits

Below are some images of the Yanomami people of Brasil. More can be found on the website of survival international.

To the Yanomami every tree, rock, mountain and creature has a spirit.

The Yanomami shamans are not only protecting their own community, but looking after the rest of the world as well. They know that our planet is changing. The sky is full of smoke because our rainforest is being logged and burnt. The rains come late, the sun behaves in a strange way. The lungs of the sky are polluted. The world is ill.

Where will we go when we have destroyed our world?

When the planet is silent, how will we learn?

Everyone is an artist

Last Friday morning I heard an English translation of a poem by Joseph Beuys. I know little of Joseph Beuys and yet what I do know tells me this is a person of deep compassion. Observing Germany and Germans post world war two Beuys noticed an unwillingness or inability to feel. Without feeling how can humans be fully alive and realise our potential. From this sense of knowing Beuys developed creative, playful and artistic ways groups of people could come back into a felt experience of life. This is where his idea that everyone is an artists comes from. Through this process of creativity, however we practise it in our lives, we create social sculpture. The words alone - social sculpture - have an magical allure to them. The idea that as individuals in a community we shape and influence the world around us and this is our act of creation is beautiful.

Here is Joseph Beuys poem, translated by Leonie Scupin.

Every human is an artist
Let go.
Learn to observe snails.
Plant impossible gardens.
Invite someone dangerous for tea.
Make little signs that say "yes"
and distribute them all over your house.
Become a friend of freedom and insecurity.
Look forward to dreams.
Cry watching movies.
Swing as high as you can with a swing in moonlight.
Cultivate different moods.
Reject to be "responsible".
Do it out of love.
Take a nap.
Pass money on. Do it now. Money will follow.
Believe in magic.
Laugh a lot.
Bath in moonlight.
Dream wild, imaginative dreams.
Draw on walls.
Read every day.
Imagine yourself to be enchanted.
Giggle with children.
Listen to old people talk.
Open yourself, dive in, be free.
Bless yourself.
Let go of fear.
Play with everything.
Entertain the child in you.
You are innocent.
Build a castle out of blankets.
Get wet.
Hug trees.
Write love letters.
 

- Joseph Beuys -

What kind of time are these

There are some few who will meet you there
in that place where judgement has fallen away
There are some few who will meet you there
in that place unknowable until the veil drops from your eyes
where questions have more meaning than answers ever will
There are some few waiting for you
holding the mystery in all its magical beauty for you to see a new
There are some few who will met you there
holding out cupped leaves in their hands to catch your tears
There are some few who will meet you there
feeding a fire for you to sit and be warmed by

These are the best of times and the worst of times
These are troubled times and times of transformation
As the old takes it leave and the new is coming into view
May we always speak in the language of trees.

Adrienne Rich: What Kind of Times Are These

There’s a place between two stands of trees where the grass grows uphill
and the old revolutionary road breaks off into shadows
near a meeting-house abandoned by the persecuted
who disappeared into those shadows.

I’ve walked there picking mushrooms at the edge of dread, but don’t be fooled
this isn’t a Russian poem, this is not somewhere else but here,
our country moving closer to its own truth and dread,
its own ways of making people disappear.

I won’t tell you where the place is, the dark mesh of the woods meeting the unmarked strip of light—
ghost-ridden crossroads, leafmold paradise:
I know already who wants to buy it, sell it, make it disappear.

And I won’t tell you where it is, so why do I tell you
anything? Because you still listen, because in times like these
to have you listen at all, it’s necessary
to talk about trees.

She Is Gone

You can shed tears that she is gone
Or you can smile because she has lived
You can close your eyes and pray that she will come back
Or you can open your eyes and see all that she has left
Your heart can be empty because you can’t see her
Or you can be full of the love that you shared
You can turn your back on tomorrow and live yesterday
Or you can be happy for tomorrow because of yesterday
You can remember her and only that she is gone
Or you can cherish her memory and let it live on
You can cry and close your mind, be empty and turn your back
Or you can do what she would want: smile, open your eyes, love and go on.


by David Harkins