The moments that hold mystery, whether dressed in pain or wonder, wait to be treated with respect and sincerity; as if a message was carved in stone for you before you were born, and a storm has washed it ashore just in time, and you need all the help you can get to decipher its meaning. And we will be found by our teachers repeatedly—be they the moon, the thief, or the tiger—until we can uncover their meaning.
— Mark Nepo
This is a weekly publication for heart-centered warriors, swimming through this thing called life. Keeping our hearts and voices intact and open.
SELECTED POEMS
The Inside Out Mermaid, Matthea Harvey
Dear Embodied Hearts and Dancing Souls,
Calling all ye to the last Tuesday Dance Chapel for 2023, tonight! Wishing you so much Merriness and holding up a glass to your Courage, Pluck and Whimsy as you make your way through this grand adventure living from the Inside Out. May there be more of the Real You out in the world today than there was in the Beginning of the Year.
What the Fire Called Forth. For those following along, a storm was brewing in my workplace that turned into a hurricane. It picked me up into an intense swirl of activity involving phone calls and meetings all day long and writing on nights and weekends. In a process where roads to success were It was a Master Class in relinquishing control and finding a focus anyway. The hurricane deposited me back on land last week when the project was suddenly terminated.
How does this serve me? Every day was an exercise of discerning what to focus on. Many times, no one was available to guide or lead me amidst the uncertainty. Instead of looking outward for assurance and direction, I determined it. In this hot mess of an eco-system, I sometimes leapt up brandishing an imaginary sword saying, “This way. We’re going to do it this way.”
This stoked a fire underneath, the fire of getting in touch with what I wanted in the moment or out of my time. In a scenario where every actor was acing in their interest, I had to constantly wonder what I wanted. The fire purified, as fire does. In this case, it purified the motivations for my behavior so I can act in my best interest, rather than how I am “seen.”
The Lego store has a stand where you can craft your own figurine. I was delighted to find that I could create a mermaid. In searching for what the mermaid could hold, I found a pitchfork for one and a sword for the other.
An Elevated View. I stayed present in my experience and yet, there is so much I do not know or understand about how it served me. Dancing on behalf of my experience in my weekly Playgroup, my index finger and thumb on both hands formed an L, and framed the window in front of me. I stretched my fingers further out to let more of the view in. But then, my Body slowly lifted my arms and rotated the L frames so they were on a horizontal plane, not a vertical one. The resulting “shape” looked Down on the previous view from Above.
Instead of seeing the view in front of me, my Body was letting me know that with time, I could also see it below me. The slowness of my movement told me that each one of those degrees needed to see the same view from a Higher Wider perspective is a Lived Experience. That journey is made up of many moments. It comes with time.
Unexpected and Satisfying. My year can be summed up in these two words: Unexpected and Satisfying. I earned less, played more and let my Life Force out of its bag. Truly, I let my Life Force lead me this year. And oh, the places it is showing me.
I played with money this year, letting myself earn less from a paycheck, giving time to my creative desires. Allowing myself to Play with money brought me into greater harmony with it. I have a greater sense of how much I need to earn or save or can spend. This liberated me from a certain fear, especially the fear of “not enough.”
Once as a lonely college student, I stood near the library looking out at the greenscapes and walkways with all the people in flow going their separate ways. I mused on paper this gift that some people had of fitting into their landscape, like they belonged there. Not so for me, I would fret. But some how, this Life Force is forging the way. I am enjoying more closeness in my relationships, having more fun in them, and experiencing more flow. Not just online, I am finding some local connections taking root as well. This allows a deeper relaxation in my body. I am able to accept more that as I find my feet and voice in this world, the world begins to holler back.
All inner paths can lead to Peace. May it be so for you. Have your Light for Yourself, first. Its a unique Glow of Wonder all of its own.
Stay #heartwoke. To your exquisite unfolding,
Monisha
NOTES:
Dance Chapel is ON tonight, 12/19/2023