Gentle

Gentle

Accepting my chairs invitation to take a seat

I sink into his ancient leathery folds,

Sighing.

Crinkled, wrinkled and wise

He embraces me effortlessly

 Taking all the weight from

My aching feet

copyright 2014   Gillian Holland

Musings

The way I figure it, there are two ways to use your chair;'to live as part of life', and fully enjoy the feast that is set out before you, or to 'live apart from life', in other words just snooze your way through life. I know which I prefer, but I also know which is the easier option.

Sometimes we really do need to snooze because we are quite simply tired, but sometimes sleep is a defence mechanism. When something mega happens in life, I just want to dive under the duvet pretending it's not happening. But that doesn't really help.  We need to look at what's going on.  We need to deal with it.  Apart from that, most of us switch off from all the honking cars, traffic jams and general sabre rattling consuming our lives and assaulting our senses.  But that means we close our eyes to some of life's magic; the first snowdrop edging its way up through winter's soggy soil, the luscious flavour of dripping butter ladled onto crisply toasted toast first thing in the morning, or the curve of a hill stretching in the early morning sunshine. Most of us are far from awake when we scuttle down the stairs, stuffing something or other into our mouths, often without even taking a seat, before bumbling out of the door. Is that what life's really about? Are we really just supposed to scratch the surface? Are we really supposed to 'live apart from life!'

Don't know about you, but artwork, just isn't one of my talents. I trained as a junior school teacher at a time when art was a really important medium through which the children could express themselves. Great fun, messy but still great fun.  My art lecturer didn't rate my work one little iota.  At school we had to drop art in the third year of senior school.  Can you believe that?  All in all I was struggling. It would have helped me a lot if someone had just said 'paint what you see. Interpret what you see.'  And that what I painted didn't have to be an exact replica of the next person.  I see the way I see, and that is what makes me unique and surely should be encouraged?

I can use my chair in two distinct ways! To take a long snooze, missing out on life's magic, or to observe and celebrate the feast that is life.  I have a way of celebrating life that is uniquely my own.  I have a vision uniquely my own, and a voice also uniquely my own. I have a taste and passion for life that's uniquely my own, and they all need to be expressed.

Spirit of the chair

Spirit of the Chair

Preparing for take off.

My chair

My green chair

My magical green chair.

My everything I could ever want

 in a chair chair

We giggle together

Play together.

Dream together

Journey together.

Write together.

copyright Gillian Holland 2014

Musings

I am fascinated by Space, and how we use it, and that's not always to our advantage by the way.

I'm into my second reading of one of Dr Wayne Dyers most recent books 'Wishes Fulfilled.' He stresses just how important it is to dream and devote time to visualising our dreams as if they are already happening.  

We all need a trusted friend to share our hopes and dreams with. But one of our deepest fears is that if we share too openly they might get trampled all over and disappear into a puff of deflating smoke.

That's where my chair comes in. The one thing I know for certain, is that this silent companion will never spill the beans on my ambitions.  It's getting quite old and battered now, but I like the familiar squashy friendliness enveloping me when I plop myself down into it in preparation to write, or to meditate.

It is completely my space, a space where I can play around with ideas and words and dreams; somewhere I am not limited by other peoples ideas about me and where I can be as wild and wacky as I want to be. Who says I can't be a world famous and fabulously rich author, or the first dumpy sixty year old to swim all the seven seas!!!! The sky's the limit.

A chair, your own special chair is ideal, because it doesn't take up too much space yet its still remains your very own chair. It's imbued with your energy. And yes I do believe its worth fighting for. We just don't allocate ourselves enough me time or dream time, and without that, whether you are a writer or not life becomes too much of a drudge.

Get dreaming and remember the sky's the limit.

Now that you are no longer there.....

New Beginnings

DAY 31

Now you are no longer there

I am bereft.

Yearning for life's familiar shackles

To keep me safe

And immobile

copyright 2014 Gillian Holland

Musings

Life's can certainly be a bumpy ride. Even after lots of soul searching, it can still be very difficult to fly the nest.  Of course it's our choice whether we move forward or not, but if we are not careful it's easy to move back into the same old, same old all over again without thinking twice.  There is always safety in familiarity and our old life can stay wrapped round us like a huge security blanket.  It's somehow very reassuring, and we don't have to think too hard about stuff.

It's only natural to feel vulnerable when you are at a crossroads in your life.  Rather than hanging onto your old and probably well worn security blanket, it's time to branch out and go for a brand new line, one that takes you way outside your comfort zone.  The key thing here is that it all takes time.  When a door closes, a second one does indeed open, but there is a bridge in between waiting to lead you into the next phase of your life.

The trick here is not to push too hard,

taking one step at a time,

as we well as taking a breather between each step

to savour life's magic.

Oh and in the meantime, let life take care of itself!!!

Sometimes its a good idea to treat yourself to a little something
which represents where you want to be
and keep it where you can see it.

Coming Back to Myself

Coming back to myself

DAY 30

Coming back to myself.

I feel!

I see!

I hear!

I live!

As if for the very first time.

My stricken legs and feet

Once frozen solid with grief,

Growl and howl,

And rage,

 

Grandad -who else would he be?

Grandad - or is he?

DAY 29

I see a man

Sitting behind a cake

With lots of lighted blue candles on top.

Nothing more

Nothing less

copyright Gillian Holland 2014

Musings

Part of a medium's training is to describe what they see, rather than  place their own interpretation onto what they are looking at.  You might be tempted to say it's this man's 60th birthday.  But all we can say from the information given is that he is sitting in front of a cake.  

It's very easy to make these kind of judgements, when we are really interpreting things through our own world vision.....and that couldn't be further from the truth.

In fact judgements especially harsh criticisms make it much more difficult to connect to Spirit at all!  By describing exactly what you see, rather than what you think you are seeing,  may recreate a very special memory for your recipient that has absolutely nothing to do with birthdays at all and connects them to their loved ones on the other side of life.

In day to day living, we can still make this kind of bloomer as well.  It's actually very difficult not to judge. We are doing it all the time to try to make some kind of sense of things around us. The other day I went out for a coffee and of course just had to have a piece of cake.. There were no prices anywhere to be seen, so I chose a small bakewell tart; economy size thought I!!  How wrong can a girl get? When the bill came, this tart proved to be one of the most expensive options I could have chosen!!! I am sure the management leave the prices off deliberately!! (But isn't that another judgement?)

Gillianx

Rose

DAY 27

We communicate

In the Silence

This rose

 and I.

She held in my heart

Me in hers.

copyright Gillian Holland 2014

Small stone Big Smile

DAY 29

Small stone