Finding Calm

And so the unfolding continued,

along with challenges.

It took a bit of reorientation

into finding calm

in the midst of challenge,

but it was possible.

Finding creative ways of

meeting challenges and triggers

head on and moving through

quickly became a valued skill.

It helped to be okay

with having a tender space within

where it was understood

that some things might not ever

be completely resolved.

It helped to understand the difference

between resolution and transformation.

This quickly shifted the focus

onto the tenderness of meeting

the present moment without attachment

to future results.

It helped to remember that it was

this tender space that had

been the source of past healing

and creative processes.

When There Seemed to be None

I found life to be

more complex

than the old

boxed-in thought

that had made sense

for a while.

It wasn’t about

being on the right

team

or choosing

one clear path

over another.

It was about

becoming honest

with myself

and seeing parts of me

in others,

even the most difficult

to face

or heal.

It was about

refusing to stay

stuck in old patterns

and daring to find

creative solutions

when there seemed to be

none.

This Listening

Writing calms me

like medicine.

It quiets me.

I don’t try to understand

with my mind.

I just let it flow out

and sink in

to my heart.

Sometimes one word

shows up in a piece

and reaches where I couldn’t

reach in other ways.

Maybe it is that

I have to become

so still inside

to listen

with my whole being.

Maybe it is this listening

that calms the little parts

of me so profoundly.

— Laurie, Heart Space

Into Nothing

I have held and honored —

set it all down —

watched as it faded back

into nothing.

I have waited

as the perfect pieces

reappeared.

And I have forgotten

and pushed —

tried to make

my own inner art

into something else —

more.

I have forgotten

the importance of the holding

and remembered

as, in my frustration,

it found its own way

and revealed itself to me

again.