Sister, remember this: :: you are completely and utterly loved.:: the intelligence that grows the leaves on the trees, is also moving you. Surrender.:: your body is a miracle. It breathes, it pumps, it digests and it moves. It is God in action. Just stop. Stop right now, being so violent towards it.:: the body is earth…awakeningwomen.com
Christine Arylo has declared 2/13 as International Falling In Love With Yourself Day. What could be more appropriate than a focus on self love for women and girls the day before Valentines Day.
As each of us as women step up to the plate in our lives and bring courage, strength, wisdom, collaboration, listening, and our own uniquely wild creative expression and stories….. we become free. In this stepping up however, we must embrace our wholeness, and love every single itty bitty part of ourselves – even those parts that we would rather hide under the rug or in the bushes some place! Not always easy…
So girlfriends come out and play today – and everyday that you possibly can! Here is a video that reminds us why we are being called to action on the global, national, and community fronts of our lives. It is when we say YES! to our unique dance in life, and fall in love with ourselves, that we are able to inspire other women to do the same while living our lives FREE.
This is ALWAYS an inside job. When done with dedication and commitment you light up the world! Join the Tribe.
True Identity of a Carousel - Photo by Dewitt Jones
Falling in love with the journey is what makes life juicy! Otherwise, we put off living, as if there is something better around the bend, tomorrow, next week, next year, or in the next moment. Before we know it – our lives this time around are finished.
Time seems to be flying by these days. It is not just me that is aware of it. There are many of us that are feeling our way into a new reality. Perhaps a different location to live, the gathering of a tribe (community) to play and create with that aligns with our inner desires, dreams and values; coming into the expressions that we have kept in that silent place inside of ourselves because of fear or self doubt; or as Lone Morchstates below in a quote from The Feminine Fad: about power, truth & the new feminine, perhaps finally seeing ourselves as sacred, co-creators of the world.
“On the societal, cultural level, maybe that means we move from seeing ourselves as mere consumers, sex objects and advertising targets to seeing ourselves as sacred, co-creators of the world, because, in our hearts, we know that for every action (thought, feeling…) there is a reaction. We don’t live in a vacuum, everything affects the collective, and each person’s choices matter. My sense is that when we can tell ourselves the truth of who we are, we can also love ourselves, When we love ourselves, we begin to trust ourselves, and naturally a lot of hole-filling choices, masks and needs might just fall away. We might see more clearly. We might feel closer to our self-authority. We might actually begin to feel utterly alive and begin to breathe with Mother Earth. A sweet thought to behold.” www.divinelyfurious.com
We all know that the journey can hold deep holes we at times fall into, mountain tops where we can see clearly, and the everyday one foot in front of the other where you never know what is going to show up next. The potential for being utterly alive is constantly present in all of these places.
Will we take a breath and step into the aliveness on the unknown path, or will be choose the “safe” and deeply rutted route? There is a vivid dream that I had several years ago now that pointed me in the right direction and that I draw upon even now when I forget – which is often.
In this dream I am attempting to get to a destination of “higher learning” and many are on the path in front and in back of me. I reach the cliff ledge and see in the distance the “place” where I wish to get to. My attention is totally focused on “how to get there” thus I am assessing and watching how others before me are making it down the cliff side – including ropes, climbing gear, negotiating narrow and dangerous paths, just jumping with parachute (or without!).
“Living at risk is jumping off the cliff and building your wings on the way down.” ~ Ray Bradbury
As I stand there in indecision I take a breath and turn my head to the left – my feminine side – and see before me a path that gently winds its way to this place that I seek. Ahhh – it has been here inside of me all along!
Now there is choice! An adventure down the dangerous cliff side by finding our own unique way to traverse it is possible, but not the only option. It would be the journey from that ledge of possibility that teaches about life. It is the falling in love with it from a place of trusting, and letting go from within that informs us.
Kerri Lake, in a recent piece entitled “Once You Are On The Freeway, You Can’t Back Up” speaks of a pivotal moment in time when mind became dictator and the voice of the universe, disguised in sheriffs garb, brought her back to her senses. You will find it HERE Thank you to Sherryl Fraunenglass on A Woman’s True Voice, and Kerri Lake for this inspiration!
Sometimes it feels overwhelming to take life full on, yet the alternative is to live imprisoned in a game that doesn’t excite us. Maybe, just maybe, we can fall in love with the journey no matter how dangerous or difficult it may seem, become sacred co-creators of the world, move forward in spite of our fears and doubts, and immerse ourselves in the gravity of love.
Look at every path closely and deliberately, then ask ourselves this crucial question: Does this path have a heart? If it does, then the path is good. If it doesn’t, it is of no use. – Carlos Castaneda
Here is the cast for this post, for without each one this awareness would not have been birthed:
Shakti-Samtosha (Peace-Contentment) yoga practice
Carl, representing Health and Wellness coaching
Jan, who is unraveling the grief around the death of her beloved husband after many years of illness
Ron, who is facing an activation of the cancer that he has been living with for the past year
Adam, who is caught in his own world of mental illness, but does not know it
Lea and her personal story on returning to a state of ease
Unexpected income – who shall henceforth be named “Wealth”
Now that the stage is set, the story can be told. Have you been told that in order to succeed, or get unstuck you need to leap off of the cliff, precipice or ledge and trust that you will fly? Well I have, and in fact guided others in this free flight as well. In fact I have done it many times in my life – leaping, flying, and sometimes falling on my face – with great lessons to be learned. The question is – are you leaping away or towards yourself?
What if it is true that all the events in our life are personally orchestrated by us in order to come “home” …and without each event, each person, each experience we would not understand why we are here, and certainly wouldn’t be able to make those choices that serve our highest well being, and that of everyone and everything we touch.
This awareness may not help when we are in the midst of unbearable grief, full on fear for our lives, intense worry about financial well being, distorted thinking and a feeling of utter abandonment, or uncertainty about what our next step will be.
Yet, it is here in this rich territory of choice and head-on life that we find that it may not be as dramatic as jumping off of a cliff, but instead, like a powerful dream of mine several years ago. A realization that as you are standing on the edge trying to think your way down to “safety” or the next leap – a path suddenly appears as you turn your head to look at what is around you. A path that is uniquely yours and leads in an easeful and clear (although sometimes not seeming to) way to your next destination. All you have to do is listen, feel, and start walking…
So, here is the story. There is an older woman that has done many things in her life that she feels good about. She has given birth to and nurtured 3 boys into manhood; spent many, many years in the healing professions bringing people into embodiment through touch, breath, energy, listening, guiding, and love; has created 3 businesses on her own and enjoyed the creative process of each one; spent a total of 21 years in living relationships with men who taught her a great deal; owned houses; taught yoga; traveled to far away places, had adventures, and learned from shamans and healers; called dolphins to her in the wilds of the ocean; continues to act on her passion for writing; and adores the creative and uninhibited joy of dance and art.
This woman feels she is now at a crossroads – a pivotal point. Many options and possibilities are open to her. Does she start another business in health and wellness coaching, join a community of evolutionary visionaries, write her book, or stay where she is which is out-of-alignment with who she knows she is and what she has to bring?
In this only two day journey, the beginning is marked by a yoga practice focused on peace and contentment. A yoga practice that she has put on the shelf for a period of time. Falling into her body, breath, and surrendering her tight and contracted body she cries. The waking up has begun.
She receives an e-mail from one of her readers, Jan, that shares the fragile place she finds herself in the aftermath of her husbands death, and the knowing that she did everything she could to help him. The reader reports that she can hardly find her way to reach out to what she may need at this time. This honesty touches this woman reminding her that everyone is doing the best they can with what they have – including her, and that sometimes it is not right timing to reach out – that each person’s journey can only be chosen by them.
This is emphasized even more by her brother Rons quest for health and life in his journey with cancer, having to deal with some very difficult treatment choices – and her son Adams mental illness that has him locked within his own mind unable to accept the fact, or even be aware, that he needs loving assistance to come back to life – his life.
Waves of energy hit her and clarity begins to filter through. There doesn’t have to be a leap, free fall, or soaring as the case may be. It isn’t fear or uncertainty that make the decision not to pursue the health and wellness coaching with the large training company. An e-mail is written to Carl, the director of marketing. She now knows that it is alignment with beauty, peace, essential nature, and ease that has been calling for days now – not the path to growing yet another business, no matter how qualified she is.
On the second day of this awakening a friend Lea (www.ReplenishYourSoul.com) writes of her journey back towards ease in her life, having seen the effects of struggle and pushing patterns in body, mind and relationship over this last year. Just a gentle walk to another location inside that says here – here is where you are to be. Trust and honor what you know.
Guidance is coming in many forms now as the waking up – speeds up. A letter arrives in the P.O. box which says in the window – Pay To The Order Of – with her name on it. Unexpected income. Flow of Wealth. The message – honor your path and the flow returns.
Not making a choice because it might be “good for her to take yet another leap” – but acknowledging and honoring the place inside that says TRUST – it will be shown to you. There are many ways to return to and know your path. Listen in to your bodies messages. Just turn your head and start walking. Leaps are sometimes necessary, but always optional…
Pursue some path, however narrow and crooked, in which you can walk with love and reverence. – Henry David Thoreau
All right – I just arrived home from sharing breakfast with an amazingly creative, beautiful, naturally funny, and wise woman of 68 years. Threw on my long gauzy skirt and a deep red silky camisole – my writing clothes for the day I have decided – and plunked a piece of rich dark chocolate in my mouth. What could be better!
I am dedicating this post to you Sue, for you have inspired me to make an offer to my 50+ age women readers out there (or under if you find your way to this blog site!). I dare you (and you first Sue!) to take me up on this! Listening to Julia Cameron’s Walking in This World, the Practical Art of Creativity, read by a most wonderful reader, on my way home in the car…and reflecting on the conversations that Sue and I had this morning, I realized that WildlyFreeWoman has always been about supporting, encouraging, guiding, and at times giving a gentle kick in the butt, to women to bring their creative wild soul out into the physical world – NOW!
It is not always clear how a woman can do that with all of the other pulls on her time and attention – but from 50 on we have a new perspective, tons of life experience, more “our time” than we have ever had, and the opportunity to say YES! to our unique and individual expression – whatever that is. For me right in this moment it is sitting down at my Mac computer, or putting my favorite fountain pen in my hand, and waiting for the creator’s juice to move through me into my hands and on this page.
As Sue wove her story at the breakfast table of her recent visit to the Trappist monastery, I had very upturned mouth and tears of laughter rolling down my face. I was able to see and feel her sitting there in the chapel attempting to connect with “the Divine” as an ancient monk shuffled his way (she knew which one it was by his walk) down the aisle and sat near to her, stamping his walking stick and making snuffling noises as he moved his dentures around in his mouth. What a disturbance she thought to herself…and on the story goes to reveal some wise and profound observations – and great humor directed at our humanness.
I invite Sue to finish this story and have me put it here on the blog. The worst that could happen is that no one will read it …the best that can happen is that no one will read it – but Sue would have put something out there for public viewing and said YES to her creative expression. You can’t lose Sue!
That goes for everyone else out there that is sitting on a creative expression – or is just tentatively beginning to get nearer to “putting it out there”. Allow this to be the sacred container which births IT and YOU out into the world. Julia Cameron says, “Doubt is a signal of the creative process. It is a signal that you are doing something right…. Creativity is a spiritual issue. Although we seldom look at this squarely the creative life features the same spiritual obstacles as any other spiritual path.” Doubt can then lead to the courage to go ahead and put it out there anyway, no matter what…and yes it is a leap…and yes it is way worth it. (Besides I have the power to monitor any comments that are made public on this blog….so again, you can’t lose…)
There are women (and men!) out there that need our stories, our art, our creative expression and example to take them one more step further along in their inside journey to letting loose and breaking free of the restrictions that may keep us bound up like a tightly closed bud that is doomed never to flower, or open at all. The way I see it WE need US to do it!
So…here is the deal! Write to me about your art, creative activity, or projects; give me a website; or send me some samples if that is appropriate. Allow WildlyFreeWoman to be your creative muse and the readers of this blog to be your adoring supporters. We each have a unique expression to bring…and we each are a incredibly important part of the whole web of creative interconnection globally. The creation is not complete without our unique and individual expression.
As Marilyn Patterson in South Africa wrote to me when sending her brand new book, “Wrapped in Sunrise” in the mail – let yourself be “the kind of person that inspires others towards a greater more heart felt life expression”. Bring it on and let’s play!
Gaye Abbott
A WildlyFreeWoman
SUE RESPONDS WITHIN HOURS!! Here is her courageous launching and she promises me that a picture will be forth coming. WFW will be sending an official “Courageously Creative” certificate to each woman that brings her expression to this blog site!
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To a Very Special Wildly Free Woman and Dear Friend,
I feel as if I am being Published..me head is swelling. Several times, I have had the exquisite experience of spending even a small amount of time observing these men in robes, who we define as Monks. Are they freaks of nature, recluse on the run from life, or do they actually contribute to the world in which we live? The answer for me is a resounding, Yes they do, in ways we will never know. I learned this from My Very Dearest Friend, Thomas Merton, Trappist Monk, who left this unruly world, far too young. So now, I have told you the name of My Mentor. Now you must know my Funny Personality, so to speak, is derived from an Irish Family Background and as far back as I can remember the Exquisite need to laugh and give laughter to others.
Going to the Monastery/Abby is a place where you will actually see smiles on peoples faces. Silence evokes quiet thought, which in turn, gives us all periods of thought you had forgotten and which later appear very funny, when measured against the Seriousness of Life.
A few weeks ago, I had again decided to drive up to Lafayette, just a little north of McMinnville, Oregon for a quiet time in their garden and some meditation regarding making a decision on a special matter. While there, I left the chapel and proceeded outside to the gardens and passed the private graveyard in their enclose. Mother of God I thought, imagine sleeping next to all those dead people. Anyway, a quiet little monk came up next to me and asked, “would you like to share lunch with the brothers? “ I of course said yes. Good chance some of them would be cute..know what I mean. Anyway, we proceeded to the QUIET hall where they were all seated in SILENCE. I proceeded to go over to the table and serve myself, then proceeded to sit down and eat. I kept looking out over the tops of my glasses to see, as a lay person, what they looked like and were all about. After about 35 minutes I stood up and proceeded to leave, but not without saying,
” Thank you for the delicious lunch”. With that one of them turned to me with his finger over his lips as if to say, faux pas..then out of the corner of my eye, I observed a little old monk quietly giggling at the end of the table. Sue I said…Sweet Victory!!!!!!!!
Hopefully, as he lay on his straw mattress that night, he had wonderful dreams. Sue you Devil.
I have many such stories to give forth to those who would find them enjoyable as well as funny. At the time they happened in my life, they did not really have that much significance. In my looking back now, they were really funny and I will from time to time give forth some of these wonderful times of my life. However, as I proceeded to say to my friend Gaye, ” I cannot imagine anyone finding my stories and the Paths my life has taken as interesting. The Glory of having Intelligent/Passionate about life friends, is how they are able to observe qualities you never saw in yourself, and they, if they are true friends, are quick to remind you, ” your talents MUST be shared by the many, in hopes they too can rise above it all.
Sister, remember this:
why we are being called to action on the global, national, and community fronts of our lives. It is when we say YES! to our unique dance in life, and fall in love with ourselves, that we are able to inspire other women to do the same while living our lives FREE.
WildlyFreeWoman 