Sunday, June 27, 2010

Pause

Our Western society is all about rushing and achieving something immediately measurable. And this has value. It’s nice to accomplish things and build a society. One needs a certain drive in order to create things.

I think, though, that our society has forgotten how to pause. I think that in this rush to surpass and build and make the latest, greatest thing and to keep up with other nations who are surpassing and building too – whew!- our society has forgotten to balance by taking a pause.

And we have totally blocked the notion that it is in the pause that the magic really happens. It’s in the reflection, and in the moment of cessation of forward motion, that the ideas flow and the spark that is the very essence of creativity can find its way into our minds.

The great inventors and artists know this. But I think that generally the everyday person forgets, because they are so busy they feel they can’t pause. Even our days off have a tendency to become over scheduled with activity because the media suggests we have to have these elaborate social lives in order to keep up. But the trick of it all is that in the pausing, we become more productive overall. Funny, that.

Did you pause to look up this past week? We had a very beautiful Full Moon. My friends from all over the world have remarked on this particular Moon. Very lovely. Very nice energy.

I stepped out on a second floor balcony and photographed it just as the coastal fog was moving in with clouds and mist. The effect was beautiful – as if the Moon were being held aloft by celestial hands.


I sat for a bit and the clouds dissipated and made their way into other shapes and forms. I was so fortunate to be there for the moment of the clasped hands formation.

For some reason this Moon encouraged me to take out my paints and start pushing color around on paper (as Jackie would say;
Jackie of the magical paintings I adore and admire so much: http://drawingalineintime.blogspot.com)

I am not a graphic artist. It’s not how I make my living. My work is for my eyes and for my soul and will never be displayed or sold anywhere. For me pushing the colors around gives me a chance to put my shoulders down and it’s then that stuff starts appearing in my mind and suddenly problems are in perspective and solutions and plans and ideas are all lined up ready for action. If I hadn’t paused to paint, well then I’d still be churning with the problem.

As I write this we are still in the influence of the Full Moon. If you go outside tonight she will still be very round and very sweet, this Strawberry Moon.

I encourage you to take a moment and go outside and look up for a few minutes. And get still and let the calm wash over you as you realize the infinity that surrounds you and further realize that, like the moon in the photo, you are indeed supported by unseen hands. And that you do matter and that you are important and that indeed all will be well. No matter what you have to accomplish.

It’s ok to pause. I give you permission.

Saturday, June 19, 2010

Summer Solstice 2010

Happy Summer Solstice, Everyone. I hope you’re noting or observing it in some fashion.

Whether you sit back with a glass of sweet tea and watch fireflies; Whether you lie on the grass and listen to Paul Winter Consort perform their magnificent music; Whether you go for a swim and feel the water on your body on a summer afternoon; Whether you sit and look at the stars and marvel at our place in the universe, and wonder at how our planet wobbles around our own star and how the wobbling creates our seasons; However you do it, do pause. Take a moment and feel the change in the season. We are literally tipping in a different direction. Stop and take a few minutes and center yourself in the place that is our Earth; the place that is ours in the middle of this vast universe.

Because, if we each pause, we will remember to send love to the Earth. And that is part of how the Earth heals.

I sit on the cliffs and watch the pristine blue of the Pacific. How clear and clean it is. I see the kelp wash up and birds hunting in the surf. I see people and dolphins playing. Elsewhere in different waters this Solstice it is not thus. Humans have done a bad thing and the Earth hurts. We have to fix it.

Happy Summer Solstice, Everyone.