Ingredients of Inspiration

Recently I received a comment from a reader who was intrigued to know where I come up with my post entries. The response immediately popped into my head: Life. They come from life.

It’s like a big pot of stew that has grown from being awake to and aware of what is all around me. Adding elements from the smallest raindrop to the most profound quote, pulling from past experience and present moment. Things start to bubble and stir. There is musing and pondering until all of a sudden “pop” and the words fall onto the paper with my hand only an instrument.

It hasn’t always been this way for me. In fact, I have lived most of my life in a pretty structured and linear state. But once I started noticing all that is around me, I couldn’t seem to stop. There is always something to see or hear or experience. I could barely get through my walk the other day, because I was so mesmerized by raindrops. Teeny tiny drops. Millions. Trillions of them lined up along the evergreen branches and the naked limbs of winter. There they sat, just like stories waiting to be told. Which one will drop off the branch and onto the page?

Often times, it is in the writing that the words unfold. "I write to discover what I know." -- Flannery O'Connor. Mysteriously, by putting words onto paper, I find myself connected to something that my body and ancestral mind knows and carries, but my human brain couldn’t quite wrap around.

Being in nature, I know I am part of something greater, and everything down to the tiniest grain of sand or merest drop of water is part of the same thing. And so, instead of pushing the image away or ignoring it all together, I pause and ponder and become aware. I stir it into the pot that is uniquely me. This new ingredient changes who I was only a moment before which can be kind of scary, but I want to know the flavor of right now.

In this moment, I put these words out into the universe, knowing you perhaps will add a word or comment that I hadn’t considered and it will become something new. The ingredients come in a variety of measures. Stirring them in is daring. It's scary. It’s intriguing. It's a bottomless stew of inspiration - with enough to go around for everyone!

What are your ingredients for inspiration?

Virtual Visit Challenge

Inspired by these two posts at Journey to Authenticity and Voyage of DiscoverY, I have decided to create a challenge for You. Yes, YOU! Start the new year by breaking out of your comfort zone. Here we go:

1. Begin the challenge immediately.
2. Pick up your camera and take pictures of where you predominantly spend your time blogging. Include a forward facing, left and right side view.
3. Do NOT stop to tidy up, redecorate, make your bed or whatever you think needs to be done to impress others or sooth your Martha Stewart-ish ego.
4. Post your pictures (with a brief description if you like.)
5. Add your name to Mr. Linky below.
6. Optional: Tag five other bloggers whose space you'd love to virtually visit.

OK. I'll go first. Welcome to my home...

Please join me and invite your friends!!!

alchemy

alchemy… concerned particularly with attempts to convert base metals into gold or to find a universal elixir

Something in this new year leads me to believe I should consider myself a “base metal” or raw materials, if you prefer. Hmmm. Will I be turned into gold? Or perhaps discover a universal elixir? I wonder what it would elix? ☺

This year’s introduction to alchemy came in a reader comment from Pollinatrix as I wrestled with letting go of my 2009 word, Fire, while welcoming Water into 2010:

“In alchemy, fire mixed with water transforms to create spiritual power. In fact, the marriage of fire and water is thought to produce Air.”

Next, I ran across an ancient myth about a sun-scorched eagle dipping itself into clear water. "(The myth) hints of resurrection, but also hints of alchemy. The fire of the sun and the clear water are opposite elements brought into harmony in a manner that elicits change.”*

There have also been other ‘hints’ that this will be a year of alchemy including the elements of fire and water. In honor of the theme, I created the shown SoulCollage® card to help ponder this marriage. I've also decided it might be time for a re-read of Paulo Coelho's The Alchemist.

I don’t know about you, but signs are popping up everywhere in regard to my word for the year. Today, I add alchemy as a secondary word to ponder for awhile. If you haven’t chosen a word yet, I highly recommend it. It’s a fascinating way to explore new horizons!!

*quote from Animal Speak

Letting Go - Ritual

Ritual Saturday. A walk to the beach to celebrate letting go of vestiges of 2009, and to unite fire and water. My heart says to let go with fire (not of it), knowing that fire and water will both work to purify me in the coming year.

I begin today’s journey at the top of 300 stairs. Each step down a reminder to let go, until I finally reach the beach. It is windy and cold – not quite deserted. My first moments, I find sea glass – a rarity on this stretch of sand.

A small sailboat races across the Sound. “You are the boat. Life is the sea.” The sails are at full tilt. Shall I move head first into the year? A giant piece of ancient roots sits like a sentinel in the sand. It is the focus of my attention – grounded and solid.

Continuing down the beach, I seek a fire pit to burn my list of good-bye’s. I know my matches will not take hold in this mighty wind. My lone fire will not be enough. How can I burn my list? I need fire to let go. Spying a family gathered around a flame, I understand I can ask for help. I don’t have to do everything alone. Fire is meant to be shared. Someone else can help warm me.

“May I feed your fire?”

“Of course,” they respond. And so I drop my list of good-byes into the pit. It doesn’t light at first. I feel silly for a moment – old judgments stir inside my gut. The man tells me it is an “inherited” fire, left by someone who came to burn a Christmas tree. The flame is being passed. My list crinkles at the edges, bursts into flame and then it is gone – just like that. I thank them. They thank me and I realize how deeply we have shared without full explanation or many words at all.

As I walk away, there is a tugging in my heart. Did I expect to feel lighter? I have let go and now I feel a little shaky and not sure what to do next. So, I head back toward the stairs, but first I must pass through the tunnel under the railroad tracks – retracing my steps. My shakiness dissipates as I witness what is before me in mosaic-form– fire and water together. It is a sign to me that I don’t have to give up one to receive the other. I can have them both.

But, just in case my thick head won’t remember and forgets too quickly, there is another gift on the wall. “May your soul always be on fire.” I am overwhelmed by the welcoming of the Universe – God surrounding me. I am the boat and life is the sea. We are in this together.

One foot in front of the other, I begin the climb back up the steps. Step. Receive. Breathe. Step. Receive. Breathe. Upward and onward into the year. Fire inside. Moist air surrounding. Solid ground beneath my feet.

all photos taken Saturday, January 2, 2010 © lucy

Ritual

It has been said (and confirmed) that I have a knack and need for ritualization. Breaking dawn is often my time for ritual. The lighting of symbolic candles. Gentle music. Settling into a cozy corner on my daybed. Setting aside time. Greeting God. Saying, 'I am here'.

My mind wanders, but the blank page and fountain pen call me back. Books to my left. Coffee to my right. Quilt over legs and cushy pillows behind my back. Surrounded by the lilting sounds of chanting monks.It is dark and quiet inside my own little womb created here.

In the womb, we are surrounded by water. It is the air we breathe while attached to our mother. In my womb, I am attached to God. Present. We are one. For brief moments, there is no separation. I swim in the amniotic fluid that is life. No separation - like a fish in the ocean.

“You are the boat. Life is the sea,”.* We are not separate. My earthen boat of humanity is held by the sea. Surrounded. Air above. Water below. Fire within.

Where (or does) ritual manifest in your life? Also, has your word for the year found you yet?

*quoted in The Book of Awakening.

'setting sail' © lucy - taken @ shilshole bay, january 2, 2010