“in the end it’s all just violets trying to come to light” - Elizabeth Gilbert

First things first.  I am in the middle of a big thing, this thing is like riding the big wave, sometimes it is the dream wave taking you up and over totally smooth, the sweetest ride. Sometimes it comes up from behind when you are not ready and tosses you around, head over turkey, sand in your face.  You have to start again, paddle out give it another shot.  And sometimes you are just sitting there in the middle of the great big ocean, ripples of water just waiting for something to happen, afloat, in the meantime, dreaming, hoping for the next sweet ride.

This is where I am, somewhere out there in the ocean waiting for the wave.  I have no idea which direction it will take me, up or down, it doesn't really matter all I know is that it is inevitable like the sun and the moons dance between night and day.  

I am here because I started something and it is feeling intense at times.  It took four days and four listens to get the podcast up.  Number 3, I was worried there was too much Mamma talk.  I didn't want it to seem like I was complaining.  It is tricky when you write and particularly when it is a while ago and that is what I put down on paper and it mattered then.  Tricky.

And yes it is school holidays, which is lovely for some cruise time in between work days, yet R is like on a mission to do a 100 jobs and I am being tossed around from thing to thing.  It was good to escape to the movies - thank you girls, and it’s winter so its chilly, although I don't mind that for now.
So to remedy my anxiety, which does present itself at times. I am reading passages from Women who run with the Wolves:  Contacting the Power of the Wild Woman by Clarissa Pinkola Estes, because I am pretty sure it was the wild woman who got me into this......so if you don't have a copy buy it, it’s a bible and wonderful resource for the creative heart.  

“Creativity is not a solitary movement.  That is its power.  Whatever is touched by it, whoever hears, sees it, senses it, knows it, is fed.  That is why beholding someone else’s creative word, image, idea fills us up, inspires us to our own creative work.  A single creative act has the potential to feed a continent.  One creative act can cause a torrent to break a stone.  

For this reason, a woman’s creative ability is her most valuable asset, for it gives outwardly and it feeds her inwardly at every level: psychic, spiritual, mental, emotive, and economic.  The wild nature pours out endless possibilities, acts as birth channel, invigorates, slakes thirst, satiates our hunger for the deep and wild life”.  

Women who run with the Wolves:  Contacting the Power of the Wild Woman

by Clarissa Pinkola Estes

So there you are sacred traveler, from me to you.

MJ xo

A beautiful image from Monk’s House, from Virginia Woolf’s writing room

Resources if needing a lifeline:

Big Magic: Creative Living Beyond Fear by Elizabeth Gilbert (title quote)

Podcast Share: A Writer in Italy

For the Creative Soul:   On Being Podcast: Krista Tippet interviewing Elizabeth Gilbert Episode from 25th May 2018 

For the Writer:    Beautiful Writers Podcast:  Best of Episode 1, 1st September 2017

For the Procrastinator or Blocked Artist (same thing really):    Beautiful Writers Podcast: Steven Pressfield & Tim Grahl - Slaying Creative Dragons, 29th September 2019

For the need to live life slower:   All Being Well Podcast: People, Planet, Purpose: Interview #12 The River Cottage Lifestyle with Paul West & part 2 Interview #13 Slow Food, Slow Living with Paul West

For the Inner Life:   All Being Well Podcast: People, Planet, Purpose interview #4 Everyday Alchemy with Pia Bijkerk