finding-my-bliss

On this the last day of 2013 I got up early to meditate, I have been following Andrew Harvey's recommendations for centering prayer meditation which involves going inward and focusing on some chosen aspect such as love, peace, faith etc. Over the past few years I have deepened my resolve to meditate as a means of relaxation which has helped me enormously to get through some difficult times. Pain seems to have been a dominating factor in my life for much of the last few years, either physical or mental pain.  This time last year I was in such a deep dark place feeling like I was at death's door physically, and thinking about it now sends a shudder down my spine. Prior to this the personal mental anguish of caring for my daughter through her own mental breakdown was excruciatingly painful... Continuing on this year has brought sad news of people I know who are going through their own painful trials, having faced Christmas with loved ones knowing th...

This more than any other time of the year is the time to shine, like the proverbial 'morning star' and send out sparkles... I have been seeing sparkles everywhere and want to send them out... Why do I want to sparkle and transmit my sparkles to you? Because I want to catch your attention, and why do I want to catch your attention? Is it my ego wanting to be stroked, or something like that....? Nothing wrong with being stroked,  we all seek love and wish to be caressed from time to time, we all thrive on a bit of attention, my two fur-ball boys will testify to this... However it runs much deeper than this, it's because we as sisters need to send loving sparkles out to each other on a regular basis, we need to sparkle and seek sparkles to nourish each other like loving she deer, knowing pack love cares for and looks out for one- another. An interesting fact is that Does live in the same home or territory for generation after g...

How can you love someone you have never met physically? I found myself wondering this evening... I continued to ponder physicality, what is this? I have read and I'm sure it is true that the very stuff stars are made of can be found in our human cells... Tonight I look out with my love on our winter skies we spot the planet Venus, The Evening Star, I am in awe of this planet's beauty ~  Venus Every year she appears at this time, shining brilliantly and I feel very emotional because it brings me close to the Creator of all beauty and all things... Again speaking of beauty and closeness, I have never met this one person but I feel very close to her because she is made of the same stuff as you and me and the stars and she shines just as brightly shedding her light and love on all who come into contact with her... Although being miles away the distance is nothing but the beauty of her soul is everything - we connect, like the stars, we are star sisters, sharing the same...

On the shortest day, I'm sending the longest love, to Haiku-ing Hearts Oh ! and a very Happy New Year.... Late for the post but sending anyway to ;~) Haiku my Heart Recuerda mi Corazon Also to all my other lovely bloggy friends.....x

Journeys, ending too soon, memories fading, already, like clouds drifting across the moon... Tell me please, will you? Where did time go? Has it vaporized? Or is it in store somewhere else ready to rise and flow?

Before I head for sea, surf and sand I need to post a SOOC SOOC Straight out of the Camera! Old camera at that!!

I have to cut my Mary Meditations short, us two are flying off to the coast where cyber-space is prohibited!! Be back soon....

Wish on a haiku float through a window of love greet hearts in mid air... My window reflecting in the Christmas bauble. Yesterday was a day of creative flow, I captured the mood and reflections... The news of Mandela's death became all the more poignant after losing our dear Joe, both great men in their own right, sharing a loving and giving spirit, so I honour this week by using my window of time to share the same message. Peace Sharing with: Recuerda mi Corazon

Mindful of Mary, move gently among mortals, make manifest love... My mind has been heavenward these last few days, today I have been playing with a Christmas bauble of the Virgin, I held her to the light to photograph, I noticed the sun shining through the silver backing... and as if by magic there she appeared the Virgin and Child peering at me from the stars! Sharing with: A Virgin a Day Recuerda mi Corazon

I could not put my mind to posting yesterday hearing the news about Joe, I did spend a lot of time thinking about him and our connection and I describe this in one word 'affectionate' he always called me 'Ms Foxy', how I will miss this, and of course everyone else who knew Joe's affection will miss this too... The other thing about Joe that floods my mind is his capacity for the spiritual which is an even deeper connection to me. I think about the wind, his pilgrimages to the desert on his beloved motorcycle.  His great love for Mother Earth which he spoke of in connection to Mary as being a constant motherly provider, and his closeness to all of nature.  I have been scrolling Joe's blog posts to find one that's close to my heart, that describes his desert experience, his connection to the Great Spirit but it is like trying to find a needle in a haystack so many travelling posts, so what's the message here? It seems to me that Joe never let l...

Breathe in and breathe out, sit with eventide Mary open up to peace... Sharing with: A Virgin a Day Recuerda mi Corazon

My simple Mary, all that is deeply knowing, pure essence within. Sharing with: A Virgin a Day Recuerda mi Corazon

Rest on a haiku, drawing from deep still water, float on the ether... I have come to appreciate the art of haiku as a meditative practice, the benefits are similar to meditation as a means for calming the mind. My own process ~ Search through my image files until I connect with my intuition (deeper knowing), I sit with the image for awhile, I do not struggle for words, I wait until they surface! Whether they fit in with recognized traditional haiku formula or not  is secondary to the intention ~ Align the Divine, connect to the stillness within, allow for flow ~ a peace inducing practice. And of course I promote this peaceful practice by sharing the love with ~ Haiku my Heart Recuerda mi Corazon By Note ~   Having participated in this  Haiku my Heart  gathering for about 3 years now as a means of connecting with like minded lovelies, this morning I came to a whole new realization, a new way of thinking about this tradition. I attuned ...

I spied with my little eye, tiles, trees, triangles... So after I intuited what was already there calling my attention, after I aligned the Divine, I reached for my camera and just went right on ahead and painted...!

Rapid cycling is a term sometimes used in explaining states of mental health, I am given to 'rapid cycling'!  It comes as part of my creativity package! When I'm cycling downward the feeling is low, low, like I get to feeling life is a chore, so darn hard work! Conversely it is true for up-cycling. I get high as a kite, way up high, light and in love with my life! This is why I'm prepared to put up with the lows without any medical modifications... I want to be 'present' to all the parts of my life, the entirety of me, for this is how I am able to express my unique. This is how I 'Define the Divine' as beautifully expressed in this post by   Connie at   Dirtyfootprints Studio ~  It's Art !  The post describes my way of saying the same thing, I call it ~ 'Align the Divine', I resonate so much with this thought of connecting back to Source and our using the unique expressions we each have as a means of illuminating the gif...

Say it with flowers, pure essence of expression love's distillation... Linking with Haiku my Heart Recuerda mi Corazon

Yours intuitively.... SF

It is a hauntingly beautiful day, I feel like I'm creating my art in the moments as I type, my art being my 'intuitive expressions' either in words or image... There is such a chilled out sound coming from my radio, blending with the wind outdoors and brilliant sunshine illuminating every autumn shade, this combination always puts me in the mood to create, it's an incubator for the intuitive process and that illusive feeling that I want to hang onto forever... sigh. Our belongings are in piles throughout the house, waiting to be up-loaded, we should be on our way by now I'm thinking, lapping up the miles to my home, journeying to the place of connection, my beloved ocean. This trip has been eagerly anticipated for over a year since we last visited Whitby. It has been postponed! The lady over the phone said "there have been gale-force storms predicted for this evening, we advise you to put-off your trip for a day, we cannot take responsibility f...

During this time of transition and re-focusing my passion, I'm looking to my images either at the point of shooting, or post editing  (if any) to inform my journey, inquiry. To see what it is that has arrived in the moments that capture my heart. An ongoing investigation as to how I  'Align to Divine', with a view to inspiring others along this route. For sure colour and form, hues, texture and balance all have their place and there are technical experts out there for advice on such matters, but for me that 'essential' something, something other is what I'm looking for, what I want to explore. What was going on for me in those moments, the moments the sun shone after days of soggy rain for example! Rain soddened earth and two mutts having creepy visitors within their coats was the scene!!! Washing, everything that could be detached and laundered at 60 degrees was, also taking forever in the machine, hanging dank and heavy around the house. Air lade...

I've been taking note, sifting and sorting both physically and mentally, I like to have a good old clear out now and again, to re-evaluate the worth of things... Parring down to the essentials and simplifying has always been a way of life for me ~ My motto is if I don't use it, appreciate it, believe in the worth of it then it has to go... This is my 495th post, I am also nearing my four year blogging anniversary and thinking about where I am going with it all. I'm not saying I'm about to give up my beloved 'FMB' but that I feel I have become somewhat scattered, maybe even a little lost!  Initially it was all about my images, I was in photography heaven for two whole years, shooting, posting and writing.   I was eager to post and took current advice to just let my blog 'evolve' which I did. I'm glad to say I did for I have met some wonderful, soulful bloggers over the years and experienced a real sense of belonging and love, but here...

I am searching my image file as I type, I need an image to match and express my emotion, there are not many for my images are mostly soft, my emotion is not... I've found one but it is a little on the subtle-side, I need to intensify, sharpen, define, deepen... I'm feeling red rage, the need to rant, riot, respond... breathe in, breathe out ~ sigh... My daughter's mental health downturn has meant she's been off work sick for sometime, she knows she cannot return to her work, the organisation who employ her have no alternative but to terminate her employment, she understands this... but the method of dismissal, the legal implications, the monster of a system that has been created for this purpose is one that makes me feel SICK. They are taking a sledge hammer to crack a tiny seed, my tiny seed, I'm feeling Red Rage. Intuitively yours....SF

This morning's breeze is stirring the Tamarisk tree outside my window as I tap these keys, wondering how to release all of the words wanting to escape in some-kind  of meaningful way onto the page... The breeze is reminding me of imminent change ~> Yesterday halfway along the road to my Developing Photoshop course I made a sudden decision, a knee-jerk reaction I know! But my intuition was pressing me, saying 'this is not the way', so a u-turn became necessary! I don't like knee-jerk reactions, they have in the past led to some bad decision making that I have regretted, but the voice was strong, I knew I could no longer ignore it. My love affair with photography keeps me grasping for connection with like minded souls, which I never seem to come across, the number of image processing courses I have taken over the last twenty years I've lost count of... My yearning though is much deeper than remembering some technical magical manipulation, turnin...

Paradise a place to pause, . . become poised, ready for presence, . . for peering into the realms of possibility. Linking with Postcards from Paradise Recuerda mi Corazon

Our haiku-ing hearts forever young and in love holding each other... For my friends over at Haiku my heart Recuerda mi Corazon  

After the journey's rocky terrain petered out, the place of emotional release and point of red-rage painting the path began to even as the days unfolded, the heart being held and cradled by soulful searching and supported by kind comments of encouragement from kindred spirits. What's left is a visual journey document, a point of reference, notes to self, to keep close to heart for the future fortification, a life journal going forward... Pages to add treasured comments, suggestions and ideas... Pages for quotes, poetry, and pretty things... Pages for more mystical meanderings and imagery... I will continue to visit these pages, add more little visual messages as the days continue, I will book mark the stages as and when from now to infinity... Thank you all for holding me in loving kindness through these days, my daughter is past the worst, she/we continue to battle with mental health issues, perhaps battle is not the correct word here, pe...

A little detour... a shelter along the way place for perspective I've been by the coast for a few days, the place where my heart resides, my favouite place to just B e, to contemplate, gain some clarity on life's journey, recharge.... Of course this is the place that brings me home to my true-self, the thing that fuels my passion, the enigmatic surge that drives me to capture the moments, that mysterious something that is so hard describe... But if I could bottle up that mysterious 'something', that beautiful feeling, I would do so and ship-it out to all of you... Hope you all find a place to just  B e...... Linking with Haiku my Heart Recuerda mi Corazon

Intuitive path a journey to finding self under harvest moon As I said at the outset there would be emotions involved on this journey, that at starting point the terrain was just a sketchy outline but likely  we would encounter some emotional landscape, needing inner  strength to see it through... See first post * here * I wanted the path of the journey to reveal itself to me intuitively, I felt like I needed to pour my personal emotions into paint at this point, but how do you paint anger frustration fear? Looking at the journey document there seemed a natural little place ready mapped out to lay the first drop of raw paint emotion. At the centre there was a stitched outline of a heart shape that I hadn't noticed previously. it popped right out at me... The most fearful part of a painting journey is always the first splash of colour, it felt right that red paint be used here to express my emotion, along with sharp and swirling lines expressing my conflic...