It will never not be shocking that we must allow our lost loved ones to become memories.
Susannah Conway
As you dispense with hurried and harried decision-making, you will find that the pause you experience will forge a deeper connection to a benevolent universe.
Julia Cameron
That which will never not be shocking is the theme of a list I been compiling. I am also listing song titles to add to the soundtrack of my life …
- The soundtrack is an ongoing list; something my son prompted me to do years ago.
- This is [the song] currently playing from the playlist (which always makes me think of my dear friend who lives in NYC; the music video was filmed there) … 🎶 “I just want to live while I’m alive”
- [This song] preceded it; (for which I have no idea about the meaning of the lyrics) 😊 I just remember listening to it + playing air guitar with my hall-mates in Willard Hall — complete with a big finish, belting out the last chorus: save my life I’m going down for the last time 🎶
📘Braveheart, I have been utilizing the “Inviting Calm” prompts from Week 3 of Living the Artist’s Way by Julia Cameron this week.
- My lists are part of my practice of [inviting calm]. 💜💜💜
This past month has been one of slow meditative days, unplanned (and yes, met with some fruitless 🙃 resistance), but necessary for my recovery and wellness.
The pause I experienced enabled (facilitated) a deeper connection to a benevolent universe via prayer and meditation, rest and being in nature, kindred conversations and art-making.
That time
I thought I could not
go any closer to grief
without dying
I went closer,
and I did not die.
Surely God
had his hand in this
“Heavy” by Mary Oliver
The current season of my living has become a practice of connecting to a benevolent universe, a time of spiritual renewal.
A time that follows a years-long, debilitating bout with depression; a time when I learned new ways to hold space for grief and rejection (feeling + naming the pain and anger).
- During that time of downheartedness and repose, I learned how to self-compassionately give time and energies to my well-being — without guilt.
- I learned to be specific (blunt) about “what hurts” — without minimizing.
- I learned to state the various details (naming names) — without apology or undue self-blame.
- I remembered (over and over) that forgiveness and offering “second chances” does not ensure reconciliation. 💔
Creative scaffolding (designated time and sequence) enables me the comfort of a starting point and structure in this space I share my process and practice with you, dear Braveheart.
- My current writing goal: 150-ish (or less) words daily as free-writing, compiling notes from my self-directed studies and chronicling ideas from (and for) my creative work. 💖 Sometimes compiled here and published, sometimes not.
These compilations allow me to document, discern and ponder my living along amidst the ever-changing details of certainty, uncertainty and random challenges mingled with the details of daily minutia and my story-unfolding. 🔮
🍀 Week 22/52 posts: 💜 inviting calm & writing for guidance | 💜 inviting calm (prompts) | daily priority | acceptance | recovery | release | 💜 [inviting calm] and tending to what you need | redirecting my energies | grounding statements | 🌗 [lunar ritual] | 😌 (yes) let it be so | review notes | for June
Some of these links are to posts I shared in the private communities I host.
