Looking for Wings

This is in response to Kat McNally’s August Moon reflective writing prompt:  What is it I do now?                

I started this summer with the intention of immersing myself in a summer project, which I joyfully entitled Creativity Cauldron Ecstatic Practice – Me-Full-Out.  It was in response to guidance and an invitation to lean-in, to deepen, and to see what a difference a sustained practice would make.  While I was/am excited to see how this shifts how and what I create, the real impetus was the promise that in doing so I could allow this immersion of creativity to overflow and spill into other areas of my life and set the pattern for how then to enter those other areas me-full-out as well.              

And so it’s been a delightful, and at times challenging, experiment.

What does it mean to live full-out as me?  In many respects I think I do this – I live an unapologetic life that no doubt some think is a bit eccentric; I’m an intuitive helping guide people into recognizing and living their soul gifts; I celebrate the everyday sacred and invite people onto the joy trail; and I believe in plugging into the guidance and support that surrounds us, always moving us toward wholeness and unity.  I’m a lot more inwardly focused than outward; I delight in creative expression; I celebrate peace and harmony but invite in just a bit of creative tension and chaos to make things interesting and invite growth.

So for me part of this experiment has been looking honestly at the places where I’m not living full-out.  It’s not that I have problems living ME, but I see how it’s as though I’ve got my volume turned down low.  You have to lean in to hear me.

And so I’ve been curiously interested, although not altogether surprised, that the projects I’ve been filling my Creative Cauldron with this summer are bigger things.  Writing with the intention of publishing books that will actually be read by hopefully large audiences; finding a way to play in a collaborative project with a friend that is asking for an immense stretch in my artistic skills; working on an aromatherapy project that is a huge and exciting undertaking; and doing lots of visioning about new offerings for my clients that feel expansive and delicious.

Because so many things interest me I often find one of the things I most need to be mindful about is my balance – being open to a great flow of creative inspiration and yet not trying to juggle so many things that I become overwhelmed and then shut down.  I’ve given up thinking there is a one-time I’ve-got-this-figured-out-finally solution to this issue.  Instead I’m learning to accept it is an ongoing whole-system monitoring that requires frequent assessment, generous doses of tweaking, a kind and gentle attitude towards myself, and when all else fails, a nap.

 I bought the necklace in the photo above last month, and now I’ve been seeing it as a reminder of Mary Oliver’s wonderful challenge that I would like to aspire to:

“I want to be improbable beautiful and afraid of nothing as though I had wings.”

And what about you – what is it you’re doing now?   Maybe you’ll be inspired to join the August Moon challenge and share that way.  But if not, I’d love to hear here.  What might you do that would make you feel as though you had wings?  Do tell – you know I love to hear.