Over ten years ago, a fortune teller caught me off guard and rather enthusiastically declared I had been a healing witch, a green forest dwelling witch, in a past life. I’ll not lie, that lady struck a few chords that night but that’s perhaps a story for another time. She also scared the hell out of me!
I’m not a big believer in having your fortune told. In fact, she was only perhaps the third or fourth “fortune teller” that I have ever had a conversation with, and it was only the second ever and, to date, last “reading” I’ve had. I had mis-understood what I was walking in on, and my guard was down. Her initial exuberant greeting rattled me, and my guard remained down while I was in her company.
She was adamant that I was a healer or had been in a past existence. She claimed I had lived in a forest and been well respected for my abilities as a green witch.
Well, if she says so….
Her words echoed back to me earlier this evening as I went for a walk with a friend through some local woodland.
It had been a long day. There’s a lot going on in my world just now and some of it was preying on my mind, leaving me feeling tense, more than a little sad and rather stressed out.
As we explored slightly off the beaten track, through some trees and woodland, I felt a weight lift and an air of calm descend. It was a noticeable shift in my energy. Definitely, a shift for the better. For the first time in a while, I felt at peace with myself.
Maybe the fortune teller from all those years ago was right….
A few months ago, a close friend gave me a piece of advice . (I may have mentioned it on here before – can’t quite recall at this precise moment in time) Paraphrasing slightly, what they advised was to keep writing, keep taking lots of pictures, lie on the beach and stare at the sky. Basically- do more of what makes me happy.
Those words have echoed back at me regularly over the past 9/10 months and, wherever possible, they have been words to live by.
Taking time for yourself in this crazy world isn’t selfish. It’s called self-care. It’s essential.
So, what have I done?
Well, I’ve kept writing and typing Book Baby 7. I’m onto my second notebook and I’ve typed 10 000 words.
I’ve taken hundreds and hundreds of photos. Very few of these have people in them and, of late, there have been more than a few flowers. Here’s just one to give you a flavour ( absolutely no idea what kind of flower this is but I love it!)
I haven’t sat on the beach …yet…but I have walked it many many times over the months.
Last week I shared the above photo as part of my photoblog and commented that it would make a good story prompt. It triggered a few creative thoughts but it was a dark poetic thought that fought its way to the surface.
PINECONES
Promising peace and privacy.
Insulation from the world outside.
No pain could reach through the low hanging branches.
Echoes of the past flooding her mind.
Crawling inside to lie curled on a bed of pine needles.
While out meandering earlier, I was thinking about this week’s blog post and wondering what to write. You’ve probably noticed but its very rarely that these weekly posts are planned much ahead of them being posted.
The various paths and trails around me caught my eye……
How different would life be if a different path had been followed or explored?…. that’s definitely a thought for another day but here are a few of the options I passed along the way.
His inbox was crammed full of unread mails – most of which were advertising junk. Before this infuriated him further, he tweaked his junk mail filters, then returned to his inbox. There was one email from Maddy that caught his attention. The subject heading was “Silver Lake album and merchandising artwork.” He opened the message, scanning the details about a band meeting scheduled for Friday to discuss the attachments. Jake opened the first of four attachments to reveal the three draft designs for the album cover, each significantly different. Instantly his eyes were drawn to the distinctive signature on the drawings. He opened the other three attachments and found a variety of other designs tagged as t-shirt proposals and miscellaneous. One proposed album design caught his eye – a dragon, with its wings spread out nestled inside an intricate Celtic knot. The twist of its tail reminded him of the Celtic trinity that was in the band’s logo. When had Lori found time to complete this portfolio? Why hadn’t she told him? Suddenly, he desperately wanted to talk to her, but it was four o’clock in the morning. Smiling for the first time since Monday, Jake reached for his phone and turned it on. A barrage of text alerts pinged through – he ignored them for now. Quickly he typed, “Love the designs. Love the Celtic dragon knot. Love you. J x”. He hit send.
(extract from Stronger Within, book 1 in the Silver Lake series)
If you want to read more then check out the Silver Lake series today
The dark days of winter are behind us (the temperatures are still lingering though) and the world is starting to look like a brighter place.
I’ve said many times on here that I’m a creature of habit and, much as I love going for a walk at the end of a busy day to clear the “work stuff” from my head to make room for the “creative stuff”, I do tend to walk the same routes. However, as Spring moves towards Summer, these familiar routes are forever changing.
How?
The flowers are all starting to bloom and their colours make it a rainbow road instead of a grey one. Don’t believe me? Here, take a look for yourself..
Let’s make a wish that, when it arrives, Summer is a long hot colourful one.
“Surfside, let’s take this down a bit for a moment. This is a new one for us. This is “Stronger Within,” he said, then added, “Lori, this is for you.”
It was the song he had sung for her in the sun room; the first song she had ever heard him perform. Gone was the rough, rock voice and the soft, husky, haunting vocal had returned. His range was fabulous and he nailed all the notes. The acoustic melody rang out crystal clear across the crowd. It was perfect. A moment that would live with Lori forever. No one had ever sung just for her so publicly.
Up on the stage Jake was playing and singing with his eyes closed. He didn’t want to see the rest of the crowd for this song. In his mind, he was back in the sunroom, playing just for Lori. Lost in the moment, on stage, in front of almost a thousand people, he realised he had fallen in love with her.
If you want to read more then check out the Silver Lake series today
One little word. That’s all it took the other day to raise my spirits and make me smile.
No, it wasn’t spoken out loud. It was a text message.
With that one word, it showed me several important things.
Firstly, the person who sent it had thought about me, at least briefly, that day. That in itself is a beautiful thing in this selfish world.
Secondly, having thought about me, they took the time out of their day to type and send the message. It might have only taken them a few seconds, but it was still an investment of their precious time.
Thirdly, they cared enough to want to send the message.
I’ll leave that thought there for you to contemplate……
Oh- and for the curious among you – the word was “morning”.
Everywhere you look these days someone or something is encouraging you to look after your wellbeing whether that be mental or physical.
No one is challenging or questioning the fact that the last year or so has been hard. We’ve been forced into living under “lockdown” restrictions that none of us had ever experienced or thought they would experience. We’ve been isolated from our families and friends. We’ve seen our favourite pastimes forcibly removed from our lives and it’s no doubt taken its toll on many.
Personally, I feel we’ll be living with the echoes of the Covid 19 Pandemic in our lives for a long time yet as the world gradually tries to regain and sustain some level of “normality.” For many, who have suffered loss or trauma, life may never feel the same as before. 2020 will be etched into history as the year that stopped the world.
In all this melee, there’s one part of our psyche that perhaps been forgotten.
When did you last check up on your inner child? Are they ok?
It only hit me the other day that I’d been neglecting my own… and I feel more than a little guilty about it. She’ll think that I’ve abandoned her for the “grown up world”!
There’s an inner child lurking in all of us.
The thought struck me last Friday morning during my early morning run (at a snail’s pace). My route takes me past a small, neglected playpark and, as I looked over at the two swings hanging still, a thought crossed my mind. When did I last play on the swings?
Yes, I know I’m a fifty-year-old woman before any of you say anything.
As I headed for home, I thought back. I’ve always loved playing on a swing. Trying to swing high enough to reach the sky. I remembered loving going round the corner to play in a childhood friend’s garden because she had a swing. I remembered playing on the swings in various parks that my mum took me to when I was wee. Who else remembers worrying about falling through the hole in the middle of swings made from old tyres? I remembered loving slipping out to play on the swing set behind a house we stayed in for a week while we were on holiday in the USA when I was ten. I loved that swing as it was set in among some pine trees and underneath it was a bed of dried pine needles. It was a shady haven from the scorching sun of the summer heatwave of 1980. I remember another old rickety swing at house we stayed at for long weekends in Kilchattan Bay, Bute. I spent hours on that swing…well there really wasn’t much else to do. Years later, I remember taking my own kids to the park to play on the swings. Many times, I’ve sat on the swings that I ran past with my teenage Baby Girl when she felt troubled or anxious. Sitting there together helped to calm her down when teenage life got tough. I guess subconsciously I was showing her how to stay connected to her inner child.
And the last time I played on the swings? Last year, around this time, during the first lockdown. Boy Child and I went exploring the hills and woodland near where we live and found ourselves at the back of the local caravan park. We stumbled across their playpark by chance, and he rolled his eyes as I made a beeline for the swings.
My inner child is an important part of me, and I now realise I need to reconnect with her. Life has become too serious of late. Maybe its time to build some time into the day/week to play and be silly and to enjoy some innocent childhood pastimes.
I guess what I’m saying is that you’re never too old to reconnect with that inner child. So, jump in puddles, build sandcastles on the beach, skim stones, colour in or draw or simply play on the swings.
Coral McCallum 