five things friday: the necessity of longings and marks
Published: Fri, 05/17/24
May 16, 2024
Hello there,
How are you? How are things in your world this week? Not
rhetorical questions by the way, I really want to know. What is bubbling in your heart?
Between the news of the day and the all of daily life it can be hard to remember the tiny or not so tiny ways life is always pointing us to grow and become more ourselves. Life always giving us glimmers and mirrors of what holds meaning.
Here are some of what is
sparking my attention and pointing me towards meaning. I hope you enjoy and that you find sparks of meaning of your own.
1.
The grey view from my window this morning.
It reminded me a poem I wrote a while ago:
And what of today?
Grey with leaf
blowers working too early and too loud
Sleep clinging to my eyes as I try to bring the morning into focus
Longing for something I can't quite name mysterious and ephemeral
2.
Is this why we create in what ever way we do? To bring the mysterious and ephemeral into being? To touch that moment where the imaginal becomes tangible? To give form to the eternal, however humble, however grand? Whether words in a journal, cookies baked for a loved one (and you count as a that loved one), a spring garden, clay, paint, dancing alone in your kitchen,
bringing order to your bookshelf or the other millions of ways creativity expresses...
Don't discount the beauty and necessity of your creative longings and marks.
Lots of discovery is happening about how my creative flow wants to move now, what is supporting and not supporting my practice, and how to continue when the excitement of beginning fades.
Starting is exciting, completing is exciting (or may just a relief), but the middle, the middle is the place where the shine wears thin. This is where the grit of commitment, of devotion, of pure stubbornness must
rise to carry us through. I am here in the middle, finding the grit of my stubbornness serving me as doubts of talent and fears of looking foolish try to tempt me away from what my soul seeks to discover.
It is all part of strengthening the heart of practice- the consistency of the return. The power of practice comes in the return, especially in the doubtful, hard, maybe boring, middle places.
4.
On this grey morning the harsh sounds of mowers and leaf blowers remind me that part of growth and beauty is the messy, sometimes loud and annoying tasks of maintenance. Maintenance requires tending practices and rituals of the mundane.
Begin. Keep going. Honor the return. Repeat, repeat, repeat. I have this on post-it notes by my computer,
my art table, the refrigerator, my bedside table. Tiny spells of soul devotion I don't want to forget.
5.
A blessing for your week:
(The Citadel Oracle by Fez Inkwright)
May you be well recognized and supported in good and joyous ways.
