The smallest acts and the simplest devotions can seem so pretty. I’m going lightly.
Going Lightly
November 16, 2011 by
Oh, you rising star.
November 15, 2011 by
It’s been a stunning morning here. Once again, the sky is full of stacks and clumps of clouds and the wind is strong and brazen. My world is flickering in and out of light and shadow as the wind rearranges the sky — the elements are always toying with each other. I woke up chilled and have been shivering at the kitchen island, sipping cups of coffee and tea while doing some writing. When the furnace kicks in, it blows hot air directly up my pant legs. It feels like heaven. I’ve been reading from Anne Truitt’s Daybook again (and again and again), revisiting the pages I dog-eared over the summer months. This morning I passed over her writings from August 12:
“Unless we are very, very careful, we doom each other by holding onto images of one another based on preconceptions that are in turn based on indifference to what is other than ourselves. This indifference can be, in its extreme, a form of murder and seems to me a rather common phenomenon. We claim autonomy for ourselves and forget that in so doing we can fall into the tyranny of defining other people as we would like them to be. By focusing on what we choose to acknowledge in them, we impose an insidious control on them. I notice that I have to pay careful attention in order to listen to others with an openness that allows them to be as they are, or as they think themselves to be. The shutters of my mind habitually flip open and click shut, and these little snaps form into patterns I arrange for myself. The opposite of this inattention is love, is the honoring of others in a way that grants them the grace of their own autonomy and allows mutual discovery.“
ZING!
Doesn’t that pass through your heart like an arrow made of white truth with flaming fletches?!!! It does mine. How often have I pinned someone in place and prevented them from being who they are? Likewise, how often have others pinned me in place like a squirming butterfly on a white card, unable to rise into who I am? Gosh! We need to quit it! Just quit it.
________________________________________________
Three other things:
1. We have one pumpkin left. I will turn it into soup.
2. I will take the dogs walking in the sunshine and wind this afternoon. There will be quadruped riots in the snow and cheatgrass.
3. Do you ever feel yourself rising, like the first star at dusk? If so, imagine how many people out there have cast a glittering wish at the broadness of your twinkling back. You’re beautiful. Because you are. And because I say so.
xx
Winter Fire
November 12, 2011 by
I’ve been doing a dash of enameling here! ‘Tis the season for it! I find that enameling in the summertime is utterly intolerable in my un-airconditioned studio space, as I have shared before. In these cold months, there’s nothing like hunkering down in the studio with a hot cup of tea while my kiln burns bright and my work space is merry and cozy. In the winter, the days I enamel are the only days that my studio space is warm enough to work without a down vest or jacket and a thick set of fingerless gloves. I can even go without long johns if the kiln is running! Delightful! This morning, when I sat down to finish the chain on one of these necklaces, the snow was falling thick and fast outside while a blustery wind was busy pulling the last of the leaves from the trees and grapevines. I felt perfectly rosy looking out my big studio window and up into the snowy mountains. Perfectly rosy. I was playing soft, soulful music on the stereo and for the first time in a long while, my mind was as quiet as my hands while I worked. I have a gentle, white dove on each shoulder and creative work has been simple, intuitive and murmuring these past few days.
Sometimes the rankled details of the world build a thick wall, as though with russet bricks, between the easy click and whir of the mind and the ability of our hands to plainly and gracefully reach for space.
This is the happy snapping of chains, fires enough to fuse glass to metal, the ever rising.
And before I go, a tune for you!
In This Peaceful Morning Light
November 11, 2011 by
It’s a good and gorgeous golden day here — a good day to step out of a trench and say PEACE.
While walking the dogs this morning, I thought about every person who has ever fought for truth, goodness, light and right, the wars the earth has endured and how thankful I am to be as free as I am. I found myself wondering, at the end of so many wars, did people simply step out of their trenches, into the sunshine and purity of wind, greet each other as sisters and brothers (as human beings), say PEACE, and then walk away into new lives? How do wars end? How do people go on? After the bombs quit dropping, after the swords stop clashing, do we truly carry peace in our fragile hearts? I think some do and I’m thankful for them. And either way, I’m tremendously thankful for this freedom I feel, as a Canadian living in the United States on the glorious face of our amazing planet. And I am thankful for every person who has ever risked their life while fighting for truth, goodness, light and right — those are the veterans I am thankful for. Those are the good men and women I am thankful for today.
I also thought a bit about the small wars we encounter in our personal lives on a daily basis. Aren’t we all veterans to some degree? For those of us who are doing our best to fight for truth, goodness, light and right, should we not celebrate our voluntary service? Should we not celebrate our efforts? I think we should. And if we don’t feel we can celebrate the fights we take up on an individual level, perhaps we need to ask ourselves what we are fighting for and whether or not we truly desire to carry the bright lights of peace and love in our hearts?
Today I feel like I have a full view of the world around me — a comprehension of the struggles and victories of humankind. The delicate fabric that holds us together as souls, no matter which threads are pulled lose, no matter how our existence may fray and tear, there’s an inescapable unity locked tight in the definition of humanity. I cherish being human. I cherish that sum of dark and light that makes up all of our existences. Our world has a bloody and bright history dating back to the day that Cain killed Abel out of jealousy! These criss crossing stories of failure and redemption, the victory of good, the crushing of evil — this tapestry of human history ultimately makes for a beautiful story of light overcoming darkness, again and again, in the end. My heart is continually filled with hope — the hope of reconcilliation, redemption, and peace winning out, time and time again.
Today it is Veteran’s day in the USA.
In my home country of Canada, it is Remembrance day.
And I remember. I do. My heart and soul weep for the losses this world has known, and my heart and soul weep for joy for the victories this world has known — the tiny victories and the huge victories in the name of peace and good, the effort of all souls to banish evil and darkness from this world.
It is my responsibility to always choose to step out of my trench and say PEACE,
or all those who have come before me in history who lost their lives doing the same, died in vain.
There is so much good in the world,
I want to contribute to that good,
like so many others have done, before me.
Thank you for your service, all of you who are fighting or have fought the good fight.
Go in peace today, my friends.
Go in PEACE.
x
The totes are back in town!
November 10, 2011 by
I had another batch of my “I LOVE YOUR SOUL” totes made up and you can find them over in the shop today. I really like this little bag. It shines a bright message everywhere you carry it and consistently makes others smile. I feel a bit like a bright copper penny when I pop mine in the wire panniers on my bicycle and tool about town. Carry it with a purpose. Carry it as a reminder. Carry it happily and with all your heart.
Tote on, you wonderfuls, tote on.
