We return from four days at the tree farm well rested, sleeping like stones, lulled by whip-o-will echoing calls from one side of the wooded creek bed to the other. I had not heard a whip-o-will calling til my first spring at the farm several years ago.
Watching a trio of bats dip and spiral at dusk and coming back outdoors in the wee hours before dawn to watch for the Perseid I lean in and appreciate the land as she continues healing. I become more familiar with her sounds and activity. We are now in the sixth year of finding a rhythm. Generally we are three weeks at Wren House on tranquil Lake Smith.
My kayak on Lake Smith at dusk under the full rising moon, 2016
We’re within minutes of the Chesapeake Bay to the north and the expansive ocean front beach to the east. One week each month we’re at the tree farm in Central Virginia’s Piedmont three hours to the west.
Cabin and loo at Blue Bird Gulch Tree Farm, Buckingham, Virginia, 2016
I feel deeply in love creating the art/life trail ride during this lake/bay/ocean/Piedmont plateau chapter. My art/life vision showing itself.
And that brings me to our Trust focus and challenge for this moon/month.
Trust is not a quality that can be taken for granted.
Trust is not given freely.
Trust must be sought.
We need to actively look for ways in which it is safe to Trust. We need to be explorers, detectives and sleuth out Trust in our own experience. Trust must be earned. There is no free pass. Something, some circumstance, some difficulty must be endured in such a way that we come out the other side with a new and different perspective…and then dadgummit …something else will scare or startle or hurt or disappoint and we’ll have to have the heart to endure once again…and again…
Trusting the art/life requires an uncommon courage.
Bringing heart and mind together we can choose to concentrate on the ‘Trust Life’ skill set. This is a mighty action. This appeared on my Face Book feed this week and adds even more to the Trust option:
The circumstances and ways in which we each come to Trust ourselves, others and life become as individual as our cells and cellular memories. It is never useful to compare…however it is so healthy to be curious and to inquire:
What allows one of us to take the quantum leap into the next level of Trust while our neighbor seems to be holding back?
I value the process of walking through the Natural Year applying the focus points that we use here. Yet these key qualities aren’t set in stone. The twelve touchstones that are inspired by the Natural Wheel may not resonate for you…Trust that. The idea and point is to stop madness. Cease endless spinning.
Lighten up. Laugh. Land. Get rooted…get a grip.
Find your rhythm. Your rhythm is what is going to create the Trust to prompt you to courageously move forward.
LIFE WORKS
There’s evidence all around. When engaged in the concept and quality of Trust this becomes self-evident. There is work involved. It isn’t easy…Trust that…and take the next step. The bottom may sometimes fall out. Trust that even then…and mostly then…because trusting when things fall apart is when the evidence for Trusting makes itself known.
BE STUBBORN
This moon/month take your stand!! Show up for your deepest, widest and wildest vision. Put your chips on yourself and on what is possible. Place Trust in yourself. Place Trust in Others. Place Trust in the idea and vision that Life Works. Push past your resistance. Don’t be deterred!!
Resistance has to come first. If there wasn’t resistance we would miss the critical opportunity to meet our barriers face to face. I value my personal resistance. I look for it. I want to see it coming. Resistance happens EVERY time I come to a fork in the road.
I pause. I look to the left. I look to the right. I assess the options. Then I ask to be busted if I’m holding myself back because of some unknown fear. I ask to be shown what I can take responsibility for in order to take the next step on the art/life trail ride.
I recently made a list of the times in my life where and when I was silently guided to Trust the next step. I invite you, in the week ahead of our 30 day Trust challenge to take a long walk and back at home sit quietly with pen in hand. Begin to make a list, in long hand, of the ways in which your art/life has provided you with evidence that it is safe to be safe.
It is possible to have the courage necessary to take the next step:
I Run with the Reindeer, Drozda, watercolor/paper, 18 x 24″, 1979
See you next week on the art/life trail ride…
I wonder what your next step will be!! Feel the juiciness of sharing your intent with someone you Trust. Take a stand for your art/life and for keeping the trail ahead free of boulders and debris that would attempt to hold you back.
Along with the insights of this new blog, Donna, I received the gift of seeing how important your ‘barging in’ to my inbox has become!!
) It took me quite awhile to go back through hundreds of emails to find this most recent post of yours but I was not going to be deterred! Even though the pace of life had swallowed up this new part of our trail ride together, I was prepared to thump its back hard enough to see it coughed-out again! Just finished reading it and once again, your almost-magical connection to Spirit has given me a great gift that will serve me for the rest of my life……..THANK you! Your living your dream gives me the inspiration to find a way to live mine. (Don’t forget to add “alchemist” to your many titles/job skills!)
Hi Marianne
Thanks so much for going “back through hundreds of emails to find this most recent post”…it’s great to see your message.
I’ve been immersed in Nature Painting, Art Outside the Door, Batik Animal pillows and Mono Printing…working with 40 artists at Virginia MOCA during the past few weeks. Magic happens.
During this 12 week quadrant between summer solstice and fall equinox…fast approaching…we are living the art/life full tilt with all the gusto we can bring.
It is so fantastic to recognize, as you point out, the “almost-magical connection to Spirit has given me a great gift that will serve me for the rest of my life”.
On the art/life trail ride the path extends outward to meet your Future Self…patiently waiting as you and me and WE ‘read the sign posts’ and take each next step…AH HO!!
Reading your statement that ” Resistance happens EVERY time I come to a fork in the road” resonated deeply within me .
Wow a fresh new insight on one of my own “special”issues “of stubbornness and Resistance. i had not made the connecting link as a fork in the road and the next step concept .however the picture you painted in relationship with the resistor within to having the critical opportunity to meet our barriers face to face and you valuing your personal resistance had me see the gift that I kept missing through my own personal judgment that the resistance was more of a foe than an friend . intuitively I had the awareness I needed to let it run its course and knew I was being guided just a few weeks ago my when my resistor was out in full force creating a lot of tension in my body and life .it was very clear something was preparing to shift and for the new moon cycle I was guided to share with my cycles groups the Marie – Louise Von Franz Holding Opposites quote :
“If we can stay with the tension of opposites long enough, sustain it, be true to it –
we can sometimes become vessels within which the divine opposites come together and give birth to a new reality ”
I am standing at the fork in the road asking for more clarity and the courage to trust this next step that is challenging my ability to Trust and am so close to anew path that will allow my soul to run free of the limitations of my restrictive thoughts .Thanks for the new perspective . I appreciate your insights and sharing.
~ Hello Renie ~
It’s wonderful to see you this morning!
How wonderful that you sat down and anchored this insight by writing it out…and then shared it here with us. Thank you.
There are so many of us standing on the edgy teetering uncomfortable slack rope called resistance. It’s human nature to pull back. DANGER!! DANGER!! We all stand wondering if we’ll fall and plummet with the next step.
Thanks for your reflection and for your insights and for the powerful Marie – Louise Von Franz Holding Opposites quote.
An empowering Trust topic: the tension of opposites. We’ll explore that piece of the art/life trail next time.
Until then …enjoy the pause at the fork in the road.