Today I’m aware of how important it is to be involved creatively in my life. Yesterday I spent two hours in my garden of mostly native perennials, trimming, transplanting columbine and watching bumblebees – one snuggled right into a lobelia bloom, another landed on a cranesbill.
One of the two choruses I sing in performed on Weds. night and we sounded strong. A girlfriend came and said how much she and her friend enjoyed the concert.
In my other chorus we’re learning a modern piece that is stretching me to open my heart to something I wouldn’t choose to listen to, much less sing. It’s also a piece that inspired me to write this poem, below, Walls of My Heart.
Writing poetry is such a blessing. It brings me insights that I could have missed otherwise.
Singing and gardening give me as much ballast as the other things I do for self-care. It is a way to play that is mutually expressive with others who share similar values about making music together and the gift of community.
It gives me a foundation to hold other truths that co-exist like how active non-violence has been a path to peace, a more lasting peace than war. Rev. Cameron Trimble wrote this today: “If I want to have patience when someone makes me angry, I need to practice patience when things are easier. If I want courage when I am afraid, I need to build courage before a crisis. If I hope to resist revenge after being hurt, I need a deeper commitment already inside me.”
Sigh. As you know only too well my friends, these are the times we are living in, where much is being asked of us. It is humbling to see how our inner resolve is tested and a tendency to lose faith in our shared goodness as peoples needs to be renewed again and again.
I’m curious how you find yourself practicing for these times. Self-reflective practices help me acknowledge what is present inside, not avoid or pretend that a challenge is less or more difficult than it is, live into my gifts and my strengths.
As fall approaches here in New England, one choice I’m making is how to live into this season questioning the belief that it will be difficult from a weather perspective. How can I stay engaged and be creative in finding new venues to feel the pulse of life in me, even though it will look different on the outside. Can I accept the resistance and make room for something else to emerge? We’ll see the learning that might be possible.
I wonder if you’d like to join an online exploration of aging, a season in life that offers great material to digest and compost in preparation for a fuller life. Here’s a link to the group I suggest: https://
I imagine that an open-ended offering like this might feel intimidating. How about if we made it a 6 week group instead? It would start late October.
How does that sound?
The group that meets here locally on this same topic, is finding it a rich exploration.
May you be kind and caring toward yourself in this season of great potential and great change,
Charlotte