Choosing the Story

Something hard happened to me recently. When I asked what I was to learn, my inner knowing answered:  What do you want this to be about?

You mean, I get to choose?  I get to write the story?

I decided I wanted it to be an end to choosing fear over love. And so I am in this practice of trusting in the good, trusting that the Universe is a loving place, trusting that my inner process is taking me where I need to be.  This, as opposed to trying to control things out of fear.

This sounds so simple, yet it is a profound shift. How do I contribute to my own well-being, rather than suffering?

Would love to hear how you choose your story.

Linda Mastrangelo is a great resource for dreams and dreamwork in the Bay Area.
http://ping.fm/y4Vvc

Creative Fulfillment and Loneliness

We need the womb of winter to incubate and grow new life inside us. We cultivate seeds of intention for what we are creating in the world. Sometimes that means introspection and solitude, sometimes it means connecting only with friends who totally get you. Mostly it means being a little slower, quieter, and more spacious.

A friend is making a book, fulfilling a dream in words and images. It seems like the perfect winter project.  Yet she is in heaven and hell. She could choose heaven and immerse herself in the joys of the creative work before her, doing what she loves, and bringing her vision into vibrant, living form. Or she could choose hell and bemoan the isolation, her recent heartache, and be looking elsewhere for salvation. I hope she can find more space for all of those feelings. 

I realize this has been a common theme around me. Another friend is devoting a lot of time and energy to her creative life and trying new things to grow and heal. Yet in this self-care mode, she's coming up against a core loneliness.

When in a creative groove, do we always meet our loneliness? Does fear of loneliness keep us from going deeply with our creative work? I wonder about my novel/s, languishing for my lack of disciplined, consistent attention. Perhaps that's just a judgment. I do suspect my characters just go on living and changing and have infinite patience with me to catch up.


There's that old belief that writers live a lonely life. But tonight is a time for company, to be with my characters and to write in the company of others. In the rainstorms of winter, a safe haven.

Thank goodness for the writing workshop. That is one way I balance creative time and mutual support.  How do you?

(Collage: Friend And Flow Detail 1, by Carol Harada 2010)

Made a sample Medicine Pouch for upcoming Feb 6
Dreamwork & Shamanic Arts workshop
www.wildimagination.org/images/TibetanPouch.jpg

Here I am painting with words. www.wildimaginationwrites.wordpress.com

Ready for anything

If I can't take what happens, I'm not ready for anything. - John Cage, artist, composer

According to Angeles Arrien's Four-Fold Way, Winter is the season of the Warrior.  We embody the Warrior when we show up and choose to be present.  Doing so means we are ready and willing to be with whatever is here.  One way I'm accessing the Warrior is by volunteering at the Reiki Clinic in San Francisco. 

In Reiki, we practitioners simply show up and serve up Universal Energy to the client.  The client's body-mind system knows where and how to direct that flow of energy.  Relaxation, releasing, and self-healing all take place organically.  Being a practitioner means showing up, getting out of the way, and trusting the process. 

Being a strong conduit for Reiki and holding space for what wants to happen is a very Warrior activity.  Oddly enough, it feels easy, effortless, as if you are really doing nothing.  We take for granted the huge gift of our Presence.  By choosing to show up and be Present, we lend ourselves as witness and create and maintain a strong container for healing.

Anything can happen in life.  By showing up and choosing to be here, we are saying we can take it.  We can respond with full hearts and clear minds.

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