I’ve turned the television to a music station–New Age.
Don’t judge me.
Right now I’m listening to a very soothing piano piece by Bernward Koch called “Evoking Wonder” from a CD titled Walking Through Clouds.
There’s not a cloud in the sky.
I watch a purple finch crack an oily shell, strip and probe and push with it’s tongue to expose white meat. Black fragments fall.
I’ve started to read The Artist’s Way: A Spiritual Path to Higher Creativity by Julia Cameron, a book we’re going to be discussing over at Tweetspeak Poetry starting May 23.
I’m ready to begin my morning pages (again) and schedule some artist’s dates.
I’m ready to crack and strip and probe and push and let fragments fall.
I told my daughter yesterday when we went out to eat after Grace’s soccer game how I can’t wait to sit down and write every morning. But I still feel bogged down by “stuff.”
So last night I attacked the back kitchen where kitty litter dust and dust bunnies and cobwebs have taken over.
I’ve begun to declutter. To strip more stuff. Again.
So I can get to the meat.
Oh, my goodness. Out the window. There’s a hawk soaring high with two–crows?
Be right back.
********
Gone. Already.
But there are two jets passing each other, dual tails tracing their paths.
Sitting next to Julia is The Soul Tells a Story: Engaging Creativity with Spirituality in the Writing Life by Vinita Hampton Wright.
“To those who tremble at the power, wisdom and ecstasy of their gifts: may you leap into your calling and feel yourself lifted and healed in God’s mighty arms.”
I’m ready to leap and feel myself lifted.
I don’t want to miss the wonders in any moment.
So this week I’m going to spend some time clearing out the dust and cobwebs.
Stripping out some clutter.
I’m going to spend some time drinking and soaking in words.
Drinking and soaking in Him.
Do stop back, though. Perhaps I’ll share some images, some words, some links that raise me up and make me think.
Like What it Means to Have a Platform by sweet Jennifer or this by the ever deep Lyla, Job | Not a Word and these from the Still Saturday community.
God, my shepherd! I don’t need a thing. You have bedded me down in lush meadows, you find me quiet pools to drink from. True to your word, you let me catch my breath and send me in the right direction. ~Psalm 23:1-3 (Message)
Sometimes we have to clean and clear away before we can focus on the important stuff… like cleaning the window panes so we can see more clearly.
Be blessed as you drink it all in.
Glad you are going to play along with us on this one. And I Love that bird in a bath! 🙂
I am sitting her admiring your ambition and determination Sandy. I. am. such. a. slug. I’ve started The Artist’s Way twice now and hardly scratched the surface of it either time. I’m too lazy or inept to do the work.
I think I have a little missing part – the one that gives you the drive to chase the dream. It is all I can do these days to scrape together a blog post. I’m fighting the urge to just throw in the towel.
Ever since we became “retired people” all those many years ago when Steve was medically retired, I have had no semblance of a schedule in my life. I never know from one day to the next what the plan will be.
I think I make too much of an excuse of that, but it is hard to set aside a consistent time for writing. And I’m not all that sure it’s even worth the effort. I don’t feel much like a writer. Perhaps I’m just a reader? I know I’m good at that 😉
I will be cheering you on, because there is no doubt in my mind that you are a writer and that you will follow hard after the dream.
Linda, I don’t know if this speaks to where you’re at right now, but I just started reading The Soul Tells a Story by Vinita Hampton Wright. The first chapter is called The Heart-Stopping Act of Saying Yes.
She writes, “But creative gifts are resilient and quiet patient. They appear when the time is right and can adapt to an ever-changing environment. Even after being undiscovered or neglected for decades, they can walk onstage in brilliant clothes and dazzle you and those who are your witnesses.”
Maybe you got what you needed the first couple times you started that book. There’s a lot there. I hope I can finish the race. And maybe third time’s the charm. Maybe going through it together you can get a little further?
You’ve dazzled me with your writing, your devotions, your poem-hymns. I’m a witness to you being a writer! I’m cheering *you* on. xoxo
This looks to be a lovely, lyrical journey!
I love these photos you take. That bird makes me smile
Two cool things right off the bat. One, I find the New Age television music station relaxing, too. Listen to it a lot, actually. And two, I’m also reading a Julia Cameron book, The Right to Write: An Invitation and Initiation into the Writing Life. 🙂
But neither of those are as cool as your words in this. Thanks for the descriptive motivation. 🙂
We all need to do this, re-group, de-clutter, renew focus. Thanks for leading us there. Those books sound wonderful, will check them out. And I am constantly amazed at your abililty to capture wildlife. You must live in a beautiful place, like Snow Whie where the birds chirp on your shoulder. Love the bird in the bath.
Yep, you be that bird you photographed at the end there. Drinking and splashing and immersing yourself in the Water of Life. And I’ll read it and be refreshed.
Thanks for leading us there. Those books sound wonderful, will check them out. And I am constantly amazed at your abililty to capture wildlife.
I have that entire series, workbook and all, (The Artist’s Way), may I join you?
Ah yes. Morning pages.
Hmmm….. I have a copy of The Artist’s Way…
I have the yearning…
I have…
dust bunnies!!!!
Yes. and clutter too!
oh, and shiny objects to distract.
Your photos are amazing — as are you!
Thanks for the inspiration this morning.
You are making me sigh. And long. And these are good things. Julia cameras did that for me when we did The Right it Write over at the high calling. I started (and stopped) my morning pages then. But…it’s good to be re-inspired. Over and ov again.
Good grief, I hate auto-correct.