“If you don't die of thirst, there are blessings in the desert. You can be pulled into limitlessness, which we all yearn for, or you can do the beauty of minutiae, the scrimshaw of tiny and precise. The sky is your ocean, and the crystal silence will uplift you like great gospel music, or Neil Young.” ~Anne Lamott
These past couple of weeks there seems to be a little more inner “chatter” and nervous energy circulating through me than usual; but I suppose this is nothing unfamiliar...
This seems to happen every now and again when I begin to feel myself pushing past my comfort zone and my perceived limitations, and into a zone just slightly beyond where I would naturally tend to feel most at ease.
But isn't that what life is all about? A certain amount of discomfort, challenge, anxiety, and pressure?
I suppose it simply wouldn't be the “human experience” without all of those things to keep a person on their toes.
It is in admitting when we are at capacity and are in need of a drink from the well of inspiration that relief begins to make its way in.
Lately it seems that there’s been a lot of keeping things in order, of trying to stay on track, and of managing the needs of daily life with the needs of the work that I task myself with accomplishing.
It has meant balancing my desire to be an available and loving wife and mother, along with my desire to be an income-earning creative, while also trying to carve out a way to give my thirsty spirit a revitalizing and refreshing “drink of water”, quieting the noise within my own beingness.
It feels a little like I'm tapping into reserves that are currently a bit depleted and dry, that need refueling and some fresh inspiration; but I'm not quite sure where to find the well from which to draw from in order to experience that inner quenching.
But relief will come...
It always does, and typically, in the most unusual way and at the most unexpected time.
The Creator makes certain of that.
But for now, I find a lot of comfort in simply reflecting, and putting into words the feelings that I am experiencing.
I find a sense of calm and peace as I attempt to organize my inner world and quiet the noise within a little bit.
These are things that are important for us to share openly with one another, because we each are burdened with these moments in our own way, usually experiencing them silently.
But there's no need to.
There are times when each and every one of us hear the chatter rise within our own beingness, and feel the pressures mount.
There are times when we each go through dry spells and experience moments of deep, inner thirst.
And I believe that it is exactly in those very moments that giving voice to how we feel is how we quiet the inner noise, and take the volume down on it to only a whisper.
It is in admitting when we are at capacity and are in need of a drink from the well of inspiration that relief begins to make its way in.
So...
How have you been lately? How's your own inner “chatter”?
Are you yourself thirsty, or have you found the well?
Taste what's good and pass it on.
Ingrid
“From The Heart” is a space for me to share some of my more personal thoughts on life. Here you'll find my reflections on my own inner/spiritual journey; on being a wife and mother; on being a creative; and general observations, pretty much whatever is on my mind.
I whole-heartedly believe that sharing "from the heart" with one another is what connects us, heals us, and inspires us! Glad you're here...
Roseanne
Dear Ingrid ~ and here, another serendipitous moment. I ran across this quote from AL. I think you'd like it and it resonates with your thoughts here.
Holy silence is spacious and inviting. You can drink it down. We offer it to ourselves when we work, rest, meditate, bike, read. When we hike by ourselves, we hear a silence still pristine with crunching leaves and birdsong…During congregational silences, in meditation rooms or halls, in prison cells and meeting rooms, in silent confession at church, all these screwed-up people like us, with tangled lives and minds, find their hearts opening through quiet focus. In unfolding, we are enfolded, and there is a melding of spirits, a melding of times, eternal, yesterday morning, the now, the ancient, even as we meet beneath a digital clock on the wall, flipping its numbers keeping ordinary time in all that timelessness. ~ ~ Anne Lamott, Hallelujah Anyway: Rediscovering Mercy
"In unfolding, we are enfolded.... don't you just love that?!
xo
The Cozy Apron
Roseanne, absolutely beautiful...thank you so very much for sharing that lovely quote. I'm inspired. xoxo