In a Spin

This picture by. Jonathan Snell is a painting of Hilary Thacker titled "In a Spin" is very beautiful and also I found it very inspiring. The dancer is spinning, seemingly on the spot. I looked at this picture and realised how often I work away at inner healing, using meditation, creativity etc.  Sometimes I dance through a difficult 'inside' situation and then my life dance continues and new pathways emerge. There are times , however when I suddenly realise I am using up lots of energy and really just going round in circles dizzy and perhaps exhausted.
Why do I do this? I question myself and realise that it is the intention behind the inner work that creates the energy to gently dance forward into the new whilst remaining in the now of each moment given to me.
Realising this has been exciting because now I can sit and gently look inside to feel the intention behind my choice to meditate, be creative etc. then the resolve to act becomes positive and productive!

Change.....

Smiling Lavender

Lavender is well known for having healing properties, the essential oil being used for physical and emotional injury. I live on a windswept island with a cold climate and for years I have planted Lavender plants during the warmer months then felt sad as they are not able to survive the winter. It is not only because of the cold, after all the Lavender fields of France and Norfolk survive the harshest of winter frosts. Being in a Northerly location means that the winter is dark, around the time of the winter solstice there is no brightness from the rays of the low sun which rises above the horizon for only a couple of hours a day.
Last summer I thought that I would try planting Lavender seeds and, if they grew, keep them indoors. When they eventually peeked out from their earthy bed I was delighted. They grew well and the leaves enticed me to touch as their wonderful aroma scented my fingers.
Winter came and the light faded daily until in December there was only twilight and darkness. I was sure that the Lavender would lose its will to continue growing. How wrong I was! The growing slowed until March when I noticed new shoots. imagine my surprise when I realised that there were tiny flower buds forming. 

I can still hardly believe that the Lavender is flowering in this location. Everyday I watch more buds appear and others open to greet the world. I think that because I am aware of how unusual it is for Lavender to grow here, let alone flower, I am even more amazed by the beauty. 

On my previous post I mentioned receiving an Earth Gift and discovering I had a Choice Point. Today, as I write, I want to share how the flowering Lavender has also given me a choice. The seed/plant has chosen to grow in the toughest of enviroments, even chosen to celebrate by producing heavenly scented flowers. My choice point is to acknowledge that in the darkest places of life experience I have the potential to continue to grow, to use the skills I am learning and share with the Lavender in the acceptance of the gift of life. Once again I am experiencing an encounter with healing as I watch nature's energy unfurl.

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Earth Gifts

It was a beautiful day last year. The sun was shining and the rolling hills ahead green, trees were rustling their leaves in a soft breeze that brushed my face.

Warmth surrounded me yet inside my heart was cold and heavy, a hard stone locked within. My mother had died a few months previously, many difficult things had occurred since her death, I was trying to deal with the grief mixed with emotions relating to the trauma of my younger years. There I was, beauty all around me, locked into thoughts about the past and fears about the future.

I walked a sad and lonely walk. Stopping under a tree in the shade my head hung low and my gaze was downward. That was the moment I encountered the gift. A heart stone laying in the earth. I picked it up and held it, turning it in my hand, squeezing it to feel its cold hardness. Immediately I was in the 'now' my senses were all attuned to the moment. I touched the stone, I saw the heart shape, I suddenly heard the trees, the birds. I felt a gentle warmth grow inside and I felt the heart of stone within. Compassion filled me as I recalled the work I had been doing on loving even the hurting parts of myself.

Offering my inside stone heart love opened my grief, tears fell, the reality of all around me opened. I saw the sunshine, blue sky, green hills. My thinking shifted so that I was no longer locked in the past or the future, I was in the moment. A choice point had opened before me, I could slip back into that frozen time space or ground myself in the now and BE.

Choosing to 'be' gave me the gift of remembering all the good times I had spent with my mother, enabled me to let go of the unknown future.

My Earth Gift was the realisation that in difficult times it can help if you find an object you can hold, something comfortable that you can feel without it hurting your hands. Try touching it, look at it. However ordinary the object is there will be different curves, corners, smooth or textured surfaces. Let you fingers examine the object, your eyes watch how the light affects the object. Try and focus on the object and that moment in time. Turn it in your hands, feel is it heavy or is it light........this can be very grounding as you engage with the present through your senses. You are not alone you always have your heart friend living within.

 I would love to hear feedback. To leave a comment click 'comment' below, type in the box then make a selection from the drop down menu to say who you are commenting as. ***IF YOU ARE USING AN IPAD SELECT ANONYMOUS*** there is a bug in the blogger app.  If you want to sign your comment do that in the comment box under your comment. Don't forget to press 'publish'