Small Things That Quicken The Heart

When the spirit is feeling a bit blue, sometimes it helps to eat something bright and alive, from nature. 

If you have a garden, picking fresh flowers and salad greens for lunch is sure to quicken the heart. 

Here is a mixture of calendula, borage, nasturtium, and fennel from my garden. 

What a delicious mixture to add to a pot of rice and tuna!

This week has been incredibly difficult in many ways, but it is the small things that make life worth living. Something as simple as a special, fresh lunch can be enough.

Bursting Into Flames - the Horrific Short Life of a Phoenix

Interesting conversation yesterday.
I am walking past an earthquake-torn historic building and someone goes, "We in Christchurch will rise again - like the Phoenix!"
"What - bursting into flames?" I replied
"Well yes, but, wait, not like that - ok, maybe a bad example."
We laugh and walk away from each other.
Yeah, I get what they are saying. Phoenix dies and is reborn from the ash of it's former self.

Big deal.

There's got to be an easier way, me thinks.

When I learned that the Creative Every Day 2011 theme for the month of June was "metamorphosis", I groaned. I really, really did. Sometimes life feels like one painful unfolding of dry onion layer after dry onion layer. I've taken so many healing, Landmark, NLP, hypnosis, counselling, The Journey, yoga and flower essence classes that if I met Oprah on the street tomorrow - she probably would tell me I was doing too much "self-help" and needed to sit my ass down.

Everything has changed for me this year - everything. Where I live, my friends, my job, my university courses, my future. Not all bad changes, but they are big - and definitely take some getting used to. Living in a town that has been half-destroyed by earthquakes, it feels as though metamorphosis fills my every waking moment and every dream. Just down the street from me neo-gothic and historic buildings have crumbled to bits, and new buildings are already being erected to replace them.There are days, like today, when I just want the ground under my feet to (literally and figuratively) STOP moving.

 So, ok, you get the picture. Lots of changes.
Does that mean that I will jump up and down and not do the challenge?
Of course not.

The challenge of using the metamorphosis theme for creativity has actually prompted me to think about some positive, life affirming changes that I might like to make with my life and my art. Many changes I've experienced are those I have had no choice in - call them acts of god, they happen, and you just have to deal with them when they do. But what types and forms of metamorphosis might I like to explore that is actually of my choosing?

Good question.

And does all metamorphosis and change have to involve bone-breaking, flesh burning, soul tearing, cathartic stages of transformation?

God I hope not.

To explore this question I stayed up last night writing a series of poems based around the theme of metamorphosis, and I will be editing and posting them on here as the month progresses. Subjects included the way that books and reading stimulates changes within people, how old age changes people and their sense of self, how simple words and acts can render changes unto a relationship with a loved one forever.

The exercise was helpful, enabling me to write fast, loose, not worrying what came out, just moving from one poem to the next very quickly. It's a great way of shutting up the left-brain from analyzing too deeply, scrutinizing too hard, and just getting into the flow. By the end of the poetry jam session I slipped off into a contented,  creatively-satisfied slumber.

Metamorphosis happens all around us, every day. The seasons, the tide, the dresses of the moon - constant cycles of transformation and difference, always connected with a deeper, more natural balance.

That's the sort of personal metamorphosis I would like to invoke into my own life.

The Phoenix can keep it's dramatic catharsis and fiery death cries.
Some things, like writing, like life, can just be simple.

The New Zealand Earthquake

My apologies for the delays in updating and posting on this blog of recent, as my home in New Zealand has recently been hit with a series of devastating earthquakes.

Today is my first day back in my home and office, as well as my first day with running water and sewage. There is little damage to my home, but many are not so lucky. Some people have lost plates and dishes, others have lost everything. Aftershocks can still be heard, like bombs dropping in the distance. 

There is cleaning and rebuilding to do, and all the while life must go on, and I must continue to send out work in order to pay for the bills and the mortage. 

I have just posted the following on the e-zine, Wildberries, which I am editor for:

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Hello and my apologies for the delays in releasing the second issue of Wildberries.

With the continuing earthquakes we have been experiencing here in New Zealand, in addition to family illness, this issue is very late indeed. With the most recent 6.3 earthquake on Friday, 22nd of February, there will unfortunately be even more delays. 

This national tragedy has claimed jobs, homes and lives of people close to me. My own job is now lost, as the health shop where I worked was brought down to rubble along with countless other buildings and businesses. It will take time and energy to rebuild, and even more time and energy to heal. 

Let me finish my saying that while these are dark times for New Zealand, my home, it is also a time when creativity, inspiration and hope are needed most. While Wildberries and other projects will take longer then originally planned, they will still go ahead, and like life, they will move on. 

My love to everyone out there, and my thanks for your support and understanding. I will be posting more regular updates on progress at my blog The Rabbit Hill. 

Joel Le Blanc

Editor 

P.S. If anyone can spare funds for a donation to the Christchurch Earthquake Appeal, please go to: http://www.redcross.org.nz/cms_display.php.  Thousands of families are still without clean water, electricity, sewage and shelter. Every little bit helps.

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Once I have been able to catch up on more of the workload that is piling up around me, I will hopefully be able to catch up on personal projects, especially those concerning Wildberries and this blog as well. 

Thank you to everyone for your support and encouragement through this difficult period. 

All the best,

Joel Le Blanc