Each December you and I are offered the opportunity to check-in and acknowledge the truth of our great Inner Strength.
Interestingly our culture cranks up our distraction quotient to such a degree that in actuality many of us seem to lose ourselves in this swirl of doing and going and buying and consuming. Let’s remember our right to BE creative. Let’s engage in a two-part experiment:
First, sit still and focus on the carrots dangling in front of you at the moment. Anything that robs you of the power of your creative focus. I appreciate Thoreau’s words:
“To affect the quality of the day is the highest of arts.”
Take note of the good, the bad, and the ugly. No edits, no judgment. Simply scan the many ways that you personally recognize your tendency to be all over the map. One full minute of clock time can reveal a treasure trove of creative energy leaks. Again no judgment.
Next, set the timer and once more close the eyes and this time look within. In the last post, we posed the questions: What next? What now? What matters? In this one minute, we can open to receive the download. For each of us, the information will be individualized. There is no ‘one size fits all’ when we turn within and simply ask.
Notice the way that one minute of quiet reflection can infuse you with surprising and exciting YES! moments and memories each of which becomes an opening.
This word…YES opens doors. Click on the gateway image to return to an earlier blog post reviewing the structure for a creative approach to the winter solstice (December 21)…
At the fall equinox, Joan Borysenko reminds us in her book Pocket Full of Miracles, that as the West Gate opens we are naturally able to touch in and reacquaint ourselves with what her beautifully poetic words describe:
The light is fading and the call of dreams, archetypes, and synchronicities grows stronger. We have prepared ourselves to listen to their messages so that the wisdom of our unconscious can mature in the growing darkness. We can look forward to emerging from the underworld transformed in six months, on the spring equinox.
Reviewing the power of the fall quarter creates a foundation. Leaning into your current capacity to say YES creates an expansion. You become more than you were just one minute before. Give it a go. Sit quietly. Set a timer for one minute (as a trainer would clock a sprint). Breathe in and calm down. Close your eyes and simply observe the images and ideas that rise to meet you. Make a note of them in your journal.
December is the Strength moon/month. Great inner strength is quiet and directed. The distractions that create confusion and chaos are tamped down. We are not trying to get rid of anything. Instead, we are sitting quietly with no distractions for one minute on the clock as a way of bridging into the coming quarter, winter solstice to spring equinox. Twelve weeks, December 21 – March 20 are for reconnecting to the inner gold of your great inner strength safely stowed deep within.
Here’s my short story:
At 72.5 years on the earth living this precious human life, I recognize the need to devote a portion of my time to prepare for my death, my leave-taking. My respite care work with families and sitting at the bedside in hospice plus the passing of those near and dear to me brings this truth more clearly into my awareness with each passing season. I watch the squirrels in the yard racing about gathering their nuggets of food, stashing nuts deep beneath the falling leaves and I sense the wisdom of tending to and preparing for my own future. I sit with my Future Self. I ask her questions repeating the three posed in the last post.
I research green burials: Green (or natural) burial emphasizes simplicity and environmental sustainability. The body is neither cremated nor prepared with chemicals such as embalming fluids. It is simply placed in a biodegradable coffin or shroud and interred without a concrete burial vault. The gravesite is allowed to return to nature.
Drozda (c), Path Through My Young Forest at BBG Tree farm, 2020
I feel the breath of life hot on my neck reminding me that creative focus is my dearest friend. This last month the ability to tend both the telescope and the microscope through which my creative energy flows has been apparent. I am well trained in not allowing my attention to wander unless it is investing in a state of wonder. Or… unless I am tripping myself up as an old method of hiding my light. How do you stop yourself from shining bright like a diamond?
Preparing for the next quarter, as it fast approaches, places you into the mindset that keeps you on track, rather than jumping the track, and as a result, you can begin to imagine the coming three months with strength and the capacity to see that your choices are yours alone. As my short story unfolds I see that I can become organized on a deeper level. I am aware of where my things are and of what holds importance for me, however, who else knows? And when it comes time to sort through the work of my life’s passion for being Creative, who will know what holds importance in my heart/mind? To address this challenge/opportunity I have invited a new studio mate into my workspace:
Drozda (C), Flat File, 2021
Now I can chronologically organize my unframed paper pieces in a way that truly respects them and my investment over the decades … out of portfolios and into archival storage drawers.
I dance joyfully with the strength of being focused on each next creative step forward.
What have you discovered as one of your next steps? Have you made a note of it?
In the midst of the many distractions swirling about us at any given moment, it is truly a sign of strength to ‘make a note’ of the next step as it rises up from the silence. Take the silent minutes that you choose to take at any time throughout the days leading up to the winter’s solstice. Write, draw, dance, collage what comes to meet you.
I can imagine that in the next post I’ll share with you some of the drawings and paintings soon to be home in the flat file.
Until Next Time
~ Shine bright like a diamond ~
Much love for our shared art/life,
Iona
