Monday, September 22, 2008

Monday Moment The Darkest Hour and The Dark Horse

The darkest hour is just before the dawn so the saying goes. Over the last year or so, I've had many dark hours and I should have learnt by now that those moments when I really think I am on the brink of hitting the Prozac, are the moments that precipitate breakthroughs.

Usually when I'm in the depths of despair I turn to a book and the answers I need are right there. This weekend was one of those times. After a fairly crappy three weeks of making very little progress on anything - in fact being stopped in my tracks literally three times on consecutive Fridays, I gave in and read a book: Dancing with Your Dark Horse by Chris Irwin. It's about learning a better way of horsemanship, but it's also about finding and most importantly, embracing your dark shadow side: the side we prefer to keep hidden from the world.

Our dark side - the dark horse in all of us - is part of who we are, and in fact is often the part that gives us our energy, our drive and our passion. It might be our anger, our pride, our fear, our stubbornness. We usually think of it as a negative trait that needs to be harnessed, controlled, hobbled and hidden. But what if we were to ride with this dark horse? What if we used its power to move us forward rather than hold us back?

This is my challenge for all of use this week, Divas. How can our dark horses take us forward? How can we use this inner power as a strength rather than a perceived weakness?

I don't think it is any coincidence that I have a very real dark horse in my life: Penny from Heaven. She is my teacher and my guide; she also carries many of the traits of the dark horse in me (stubbornness being one)! I'm intrigued to see what she has to teach me this week!

Monday, September 15, 2008

Monday Moment 4


Sometimes we get so busy doing what we have to do, we forget to take time to do the things we love to do, the things that nurture and feed our soul. One of those things for me is photography. When my mobile was up for renewal I specifically went for the Nokia N95 8GB because of the camera which has a super-duper lens. Now wherever I am if I see a picture worth taking I can take it, without having to carry another piece of kit with me just in case. It means I don't miss those won't-be-here-tomorrow shots either.

This picture is of the sunset last weekend as I was walking the dog up the lane.

So my thought for you this week, dear Divas, is what are you not making time for that nurtures your soul, and how can you bring it in your daily life?

Friday, September 12, 2008

I'm going to be a blackberry

I had one of those days, today. A day of techno failures and frustrations, a day when you think 'next lifetime I really don't want to be a human again'. So while the computer monitor died and I waited for the ancient laptop to warm itself up, I pondered what would I like to be next time round.

A blackberry bush is what I finally decided on. A blackberry bush because...

I'd grow wild just about anywhere I wanted
I'd be able to sleep all winter
I'd languish in the summer sun (assuming there is some!)
I'd bear an a bounty of flowers and an abundance of juicy fruits that would feed the local wildlife
and if anybody or thing really p***d me off I could rip a few shreds off them with my thorns (also useful for hooking a tasty chap!)
But the best thing about being a blackberry, is that no matter how many times you get 'pruned' you just grow back stronger, hardier and more perniciously than before!

I'm almost looking forward to it! What would you be, next time around?

Tuesday, September 09, 2008

Abundance



When the money is flowing out faster than its coming in, it's easy to forget that we are surrounded by absolute abundance. Today I was reminded just how abundant my world is. I picked blackberries from the laden hedgerows to put in my breakfast smoothie, and I found some mushrooms in the horse's field so I had them for tea. Tomorrow I am going to scrump some apples from my neighbour who has an orchard full and I'm hoping he'll let me have some of his Victoria Plums before the wasps eat them. Could be a blackberry and apple pie in the making this weekend!

Monday, September 08, 2008

Monday Moment 3 A Woman's Worth

I love this passage from A Woman's Worth by Marianne Williamson.

When a woman has allowed her passionate nature, allowing love to flood her heart, her thoughts grow wild and fierce and beautiful. Her juices flow. Her heart expands. She has thrown off crutch and compromise. She has glimpsed the enchanted kingdom, the vast and magical realms of the Goddess within her. Here, all things are transformed. And there is a purpose to this: that the world might be mothered back to a great and glorious state. When a woman conceives her true self, a miracle occurs and life around her begins again.

What wild and fiece and beautiful thoughts will you have this week, Divas?

Wednesday, September 03, 2008

Fabulous story

A lovely story from Diva friend Taj. I just had to share it.

My mom told me a story when I was little about how we all got the "dent" on our upper lips. She said that before we were born, we were one with all and knew everything there was to be known. As we were descending into our physical bodies to be birthed by our mothers, the angels accompanied us. Just before we were pulled from our mother's womb, they explained that we would need to forget what we knew to make our journey after this birth one of beautiful discovery with our fellow Earthly beings...then they laid a finger upon our lips and said, "Sshhh."

Tuesday, September 02, 2008

Just a thought

One of my favourite thoughts is from The Dance by Oriah Mountain Dreamer.

She writes: 'I want to know why I am so infrequently the person I really want to be. So I start writing, because writing is my way of searching, of opening to possible wisdom'.

The answer she gets from her spirit guides, after several months of writing, is this:

'Wrong question, Oriah. The question is not why are you so infrequently the people you really want to be. The question is why do you so infrequently want to be the people you really are.'

'Because you have no faith that who you are is enough.'

Let us all have faith that who we are is enough... because it really is! The sooner we accept that, the sooner it will be true.