Words, Blank Pages and Life.

"I saw that my life was a vast glowing empty page
and I could do anything I wanted."- Jack Kerouac

When I was at school I would love it when I came to the end of an exercise book (the note pad that we wrote our lessons into) and had a chance to start a new one. Those wonderful smooth white pages not yet sullied with untidy writing and mistakes.

I savoured that moment and was always filled with good intentions. The first page was duly written in my very best handwriting. Slowly and meticulously I formed each letter like a work of art, I wanted it to be beautiful and my heart would sink just a little if I faltered.

I wanted to keep the whole book like that, I wanted my writing to be straight and neat. I didn't want to cross things out, to make mistakes or lose focus.

But of course, with writing as with life, I did.

Sometimes my obsession with the neatness of my first page made me try too hard, my hand became stiff and unresponsive my mind was 'trying to write' not trusting that my hand knew how to do it. Other times I was rushed, uncaring, thinking of other things and my writing sprawled and stuttered across the page, punctuated with little mistakes and tripped up by smudges.

It always worked best when I was relaxed and calm, mindful of the moment and trusting my hand to function as an extension of my mind and heart, because then I would just let the words flow fluidly across the unwritten page.

I have realised as I've got older that even though the neatness of the writing is still important to me, for I am an aesthetic soul and appreciate the beauty in things. It is so much more important what meaning I am filling my pages with. What story is filling up my book?

We can, if only we realise it, choose to start a new page at any moment. Each morning is ripe for a new beginning but it is here at the turning of the year that lots of us are thinking of what we wish to write into our next year, into our next chapter.

So, I'd like to send you my blessings and wish you good writing! May your story flow and may it be a beautiful one.

"A new paragraph is a wonderful thing. It lets you quietly change the rhythm,
and it can be like a flash of lightning that shows the same landscape
from a different aspect."- Isaac Babel

The Wheel Keeps Turning

"It’s only in our minds that we are separate
from the rest of the world." - Gay Luce

The wheel of the year keeps revolving and things move on as they always do and we return again to one of the natural marker points, Winter Solstice, the longest night.

In this hemisphere the daylight hours are at their shortest and the cold and the darkness are reigning once again over the land. Things appear dead but in reality they are dormant, sleeping and gathering strength for when the light and warmth returns and the cycle begins again.

So it is with us too at this time of the year. It is the time to slow down and think over what has gone, to take the time to reflect and to gather strength. It is a time to decide what we want to bring into our lives. A time to incubate our dreams and identify the things we wish to grow in our life in the next year. Now isn't the time for action, but for planning and dreaming, for getting clear on what 'seeds' we wish to plant for the year ahead.

The time for action will be spring when the whole of nature will be bringing forth new life. We can attune to the natural cycles, live in harmony with them and use the energy to birth our new beginnings too.

"The great lesson from the true mystics
is that the sacred is in the ordinary,
that it is to be found in one's daily life,
in one's neighbors, friends, and
family, in one's backyard."
- Abraham H. Maslow

Wishing you all peace, love and joy, thank you so much for your visits and for your friendship, they are very much appreciated - Susannah x

Image - Painting by Susannah Bec

Be As A Cup - Revisited

"Be as a cup and the universe flows into you. Be as an arrow
and the universe retreats from you." - Zen Proverb

I loved this quote when I first came across it. It seemed to me that it was often so true that chasing after things can send them further away from us. Whereas the attitude of open expectation or 'allowing' lets things flow towards us.

If you have ever watched a horse whisperer you will see the same process at work, if he advances toward the horse, then the animal retreats, but if he retreats then the horse advances.

This is something that I think that most of us would have difficulty with at first, as culturally we are taught to go after the things we want.

We are so used to taking charge of the things in our life, that the thought of 'allowing' feels passive and gives us the feeling of not being in control, not 'doing' anything.

"Sitting quietly, doing nothing, spring comes,
and the grass grows by itself." - Zen Proverb

From experience I know that it takes practise and a lot of trust to 'attract' rather than 'persue', to stop pushing and allow the situation to unfold and show itself. It seems to go against what we have been taught but the more you experience this at work in your life the easier it is to be able to relax and have faith in the process.

The lesson - Be the magnet that draws things, rather than the pursuer that chases. In our allowing we enable the smooth flow of things toward us.