Monthly Archives: April 2012

Full Moon Dreamboard: The Full Pink Moon

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Jamie’s prompt is this: “What are you dreaming under this Full Pink Moon? The name represents the pink flowers that so lavishly bloom in the spring. What an invitation to let yourself luxuriate in your dreams, embracing them passionately, sharing them magnificently and enjoying each precious bloom. Let’s share our dreams and make beautiful magic together under the Full Pink Moon!”

The Full Pink Moon asks: “What dreams is it time to tend?”

As I was telling my writing group today (we made full moon dreamboards together as part of our practice), sometimes when I make one, I begin the practice with an empty mind. I might have a vague sense, whisper of an answer not yet fully formed. I keep myself open, as Jamie suggests, seeing what pictures arise, which ones call to me. I’ve even been completely finished with a dreamboard and still not quite sure what the answer is, and only fully discover it as I write my blog post trying to explain it.

When I first read this full moon’s question, “what dreams is it time to tend?”, I knew my answer immediately. However, I didn’t want to fixate on it, didn’t want to reject any other answer that might want to come through, so I stayed open throughout the process–but the answer stayed the same.

It is time, kind and gentle reader, to tend to my dream of writing a book.

Wisdom, wonders and writing.
Books.
Understanding.
Offerings.
Practice.

The story beings.

Writing begins with the breath.

Creativity.
Great stories from a crumbling world.
Writing down the bones.
Freeing the writer within.
Being true to life.

The Writing Warrior.
Discovering the courage,
to free her true voice.
Read, see, listen.
Practicing mindfulness.
Presence of mind.

A magic poem, sent from the Universe, like a prayer:

Spinning, swamped, slimed, sunk
She rises, resolute
Still crowned by petals.

P.S. I am realizing now that I should make clear that the last stanza here was a true gift from the Universe, but maybe not how you might interpret that: I was looking through my stack of magazine pages, feeling like I needed just one more thing, probably words, to finish out my dreamboard, and there it was, a whole page poem, Way of the Water-Hyacinth by Zaw Gee (translated from the Burmese by Lyn Aye), of which the above is the final stanza.

Here’s a video of Lyn Aye talking about and reading the poem.

Gratitude Friday

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This post is a mashup of The Little Bliss List and Joy Jam, and as such is meant to celebrate: the little things that brought me hope and happiness this week, the sweet stuff of life, those small gifts that brought me joy this week. By sharing them, I not only make public my gratitude, but maybe also help you notice your own good stuff and send some positive energy out into the world.

1. Tiny spring flowers. How do they get them so small?! There are two huge beds of them as you enter from the south side of campus by the parking garage at CSU, tiny daffodils and tulips and a few others I can’t even name, all in miniature but such bright color, such big joy in my heart when I see them. I know the picture above looks like a regular sized daffodil, but it’s full bloom was no bigger than a quarter.

2. Susannah Conway is going to be at World Domination Summit in July, and so am I! She’s proposed a session called “Writing from the Heart” and I hope it gets enough votes to run, but at the very least, I am going to be able to tell her in person, right to her sweet face, how much I adore her. It was on my Mondo Beyondo list to do just that some day, and it looks like it’s going to happen.

3. Eating clean and drinking juice. After two weeks of this, I cannot tell you how good I feel, not just physically but emotionally. My brain works better, I am happier, I have more energy. So simple, so profound.

4. Spring. I know, I know…blah, blah, blah. But, I can’t help but mention it again–the weather, everything budding out and blooming, sitting in the backyard reading, watching Dexter roll in the grass and Sam chase the squirrels. Although, this is Colorado, so Spring weather this week meant it was 80 degrees on Sunday and snowing on Tuesday.

5. This week, I got the best (and most surprising) compliment: she called me “positive.” After years of struggling with anxiety and depression, thinking of myself as moody and dark and disgruntled, it makes me so happy that people are noticing and appreciating the change, the shift in me.

6. WILD. My writing group met today, and we had so much fun, even made Full Moon Dreamboards together. I adore those women.

7. Laurie Wagner’s Telling True Stories. Class officially starts on Monday, but there’s lots of prep happening already, lots of anticipation and excitement. To add to my own personal hysteria, I just found out that Andrea Scher, author of Superhero Journal, and teacher of Mondo Beyondo (the course that started it all for me) and Superhero Photo is going to be there too! I owe Andrea so much gratitude, that even after nine months, I still haven’t worked out quite how to communicate it–it’s just too much.