Welcome to this week’s art/life trail ride…September keyword/focus point: Love.
What lights you up and makes you feel radiant?
Bodhicitta Heart, Drozda, Mixed media on board, 2010
“I tell you the more I think, the more I feel that there is nothing more truly artistic than to love people.” Vincent Van Gogh
“Until you have loved you cannot become yourself.” Emily Dickinson
“Love is everything it’s cracked up to be. It really is worth fighting for. And the trouble is, if you don’t risk everything, you risk even more.” Erica Jong
I was in the garden on a recent afternoon and a swift motion pulled my attention upward…a bald eagle was gliding through the yard just above the high tree tops…there and gone.
I stood still and watched the sky.
Moments later high overhead, so high it was difficult to keep them in sight, I see a pair flying together circling, separating, coming back to slide through the bluest of skies. They smoothly pivot and ballet their way in sight dropping low then rising so high that they become almost invisible melding into the blue hue. For a full five minutes I twirl and crane my neck to watch them and … then off they go.
An hour later I’m leaving my forested neighborhood and as I come around the bend…
…a Cooper’s hawk slips in front of my windshield and disappears into the low branches of a grove of pines. A magical afternoon.
Speaking of magical…this week, in addition to birds, I watched a 2014 animated film: Song of the Sea…I’ve long been interested in this classic tale of loss of soul and after being immersed in the otherworldly quality of the films environment I went into my library and read once again Seal Skin/Soul Skin in Women Who Run With the Wolves by Clarissa Pinkola Estes. I strongly recommend this as worthy reading and re-reading any time when time seems to be running out.
Each autumn and on through the winter months we have the opportunity to turn toward the natural quieting down period where replenishment of the soul song allows reminders of:
· Why are you on the trail?
· How do you return to your heart/work?
Last month on the third Thursday I introduced you to my friend Christine Williams and her book The Listening Project. I trust that you had time to check it out on Amazon to see if it spoke to you.
Today I’d like you to meet my cyber- sister Medea Bavarella Chechik.
Medea Bavarella Chechik
I am inspired, moved and touched deeply by Medea’s honest willingness to bring the art/life of compassion into balanced action. Feisty, funny and a wellspring of thoughtfulness she will soon be sharing her production of:
WOMEN WHO LOVE WITH WISDOM & POWER, a video summit…
and we’ll all be invited to attend as her guest. I’m so honored that she has scooped us up and specifically asked us to ‘listen in’ to others lined up with a powerful message that the Dalai Lama proclaimed in 2009:
“the world will be saved by the western woman.”
Take a look at Medea’s website project called HerStoryEvolves…perhaps you will find that you would like to contribute your own story to this healing site where others may find inspiration through your voice.
I feel that the more models we have for moving through Act III with grace and courage the better we will each be at bringing our best to the world. Today I celebrate Medea’s wit and willingness to travel into new territory giving us all a chance to learn with her.
I also celebrate each one of us and our heart’s opening to the Love that surrounds us as we come closer to the turn into the quieting time of the natural year.
Exercise for the week…hone in on one or more of the entry points on the mind map below and take yourself into your sacred space…journal what you discover…and if you are willing…share in our comments.
Mind Map for Journal / Loving the Self, Drozda, 2009
See you next Thursday for our last entry in the September trail ride of Love.
Exquisite as always, Donna. Your words march in perfect step to the beat of your heart and soul.
Inspired by your post:
“I Am”, said the Sky.
And all the clouds quivered with
Tearful gratitude.
E.R.Urabe
Drown self and sorrow
In the tidal wave of Love
Flooding Consciousness.
E.R.Urabe
The Omniscient “I”
Stays focused on the changeless
Even in a storm.
E.R.Urabe
The Universe is,
From the eagle’s vantage point
Both empty and full.
E.R.Urabe
Thunderous brainstorms
Occur in silent flashes
Of inspired rest.
E.R.Urabe
Wisdom is Being.
Screw words and mental foreplay!
Climax, like the birds.
E.R.Urabe
The ripe mango falls
naturally from the tree
once it has matured.
E.R.Urabe
Silence is fertile
able to birth any thing
the mind can conceive.
E.R Urabe
Beautiful series of ‘word paintings’ Beth…I am particularly smitten by “quivering clouds”…and I often feel a a’tearful gratitude for the Sky I AM creating a tidal wave of love flooding consciousness.
😉
Dearest Trail Riding Donna-Iona, Magical, purely magical post…rooted in, soaring, lapping the shores and whispering in our ears all the while, winding and whirling, the ocean at night. Thank you for bringing us these reminders of love and joy. A big breath of fresh see air on the trail ride, much appreciation, Annie J.
Thanks and… backattcha’ Annie. I so appreciate the gem trail you leave here for us to follow…reading your words I’m able to wind and whirl with my own words through a different and more expansive window…cool how that works!