There’s something about owls —
mysterious creatures of the night,
their golden eyes, staring unblinkingly
into the shape shifting shadow
and then lightning quick —
they pounce.
fear, like a mouse, held firmly in their talons.
Devotion: what images does the word conjure up for you?
Until about a decade ago, it brought to mind images of the prayer room at home, of the temple I visited as a child, the church I sought refuge in during my teenage years when I was looking for peace.
Over the years, though, this image has changed. Devotion, for me, is no longer limited to prayer; it has become much vaster and deeper than that.
For me, devotion is about the tending of the flame: being deeply aware of my own needs and desires, inner impulses and self care. Because it is only when I am nourished and looked after on the inside that I can devote myself to the outside.Continue reading
The silence of the morning,
Broken only by the hum of the refrigerator,
The whirling of the fan,
The chirping of the birds on the big tree outside.Continue reading
It’s surprising, how you sometimes have nothing much to say.
It’s even more surprising – and unnerving – when this happens after a period of intense creativity.
But there’s a reason for the quiet…for the lack of words…the lethargy in the drive…the dip in the zest.
After every creative high comes a creative low. It’s simply a time to recuperate, to gather up seeds of inspiration once again, to go down the rabbit hole as you follow your curiosity so you can come back again, filled with wonder and words and delight and magic.
I start each morning with a moment of mindfulness, spending some time with a simple question and a single card drawn from my Tarot deck.
Each morning the cards reflect back a nugget of wisdom – it could be a simple reminder telling me to stay focused on the task at hand; a not-so-subtle push to stop day dreaming and start doing already; or an indication of a broader energy that I may need to work with during the day.
For today’s daily Tarot pull, I sat with this simple question:
What do I need to know about personal transformation?
When I drew the card and wrote down the message in my Tarot journal, I immediately knew that this was something that needed to be shared. Continue reading
If there is one question that is at the forefront of all our minds, I believe it is this: What can I do to feel vibrant, energetic and really awake and ready to embrace life?
It’s a question that has no one fixed answer. It doesn’t look the same for any of us. And yet, it is central to our well being.Continue reading
Has this ever happened to you? Periods when you felt like you are drifting along, rudderless, without any ambitions or passions?
It happened to me. It lasted roughly 4-5 long years. Looking back, it was the worst period of my life.
I felt adrift, lost and confused; I had no ambitions and no passions. I can’t remember how many articles I read during that period – articles telling you how to find your passion, how to get up in the morning with boundless energy and raring to face the day. None of them helped. I felt like I was trapped in the darkest depths of my soul and there was no way out. Continue reading
Recently, I’ve been thinking a lot about personal stories. To be more precise, about the stories we tell ourselves about ourselves. And often, these stories are whiny stories, they’re negative stories, they’re stories of lack, of doubt, of fear.
But these stories don’t serve us in any way.
They only keep us stuck and afraid and operating on a very low frequency.
A quick face painted with acrylics
How do you deal with fear? A lot of people will tell you it’s only by moving into whatever it is that you fear that you can overcome it. But how do you move into what you fear? How do you go boldly (or not so boldly) ahead into a situation that gives you the shivers? I’ll be the first to admit that I didn’t have a clue.
Then, I took up painting. And as I tried and experimented and failed and tried again, I realized – this is how you move into fear!
You move into fear by sticking with something even when you’re scared and have no idea what the hell you’re doing. It means taking a piece you don’t like and working it until you do. And if you still don’t like it, chalking it up to experimenting and experience, and then cutting it up to use as the base of another piece, so you can reframe and redo.Continue reading
I’m fairly new to choosing a word of the year – last year was the first time I did this exercise. My word was Transform. I mapped out the areas of my life that I wanted to change and put down some milestones against them. And then, I wasn’t quite sure how to make it work…how it would be any different from regular New Year resolutions that you make on 1 January and break by the end of the month – if they even last that long?