Growing. Healing. Revolving. Believing.
Flow Cycle – Struggle. Release. Flow. Recover.
Being in Flow starts with, yep, Struggle.
Perhaps experienced as grief, sadness, disconnection, a loss of story/identity/dreams…
Ever been in this boat?
Check out Dr. RBF’s post on ‘The Struggle is Real’
And you know what? The trepidation of struggle can still be frightening. Fall is coming and so is winter. Storms. Wind. Cold days. Darkness. What will we do? The vibrations of this small coastal town rock through my senses like a memory of childhood being set free.
Funny that the places that can be magical to most, connecting love, creating joy for families and couples can haunt others of us.
Dark. Cold. Wet. Empty. ALONE. Cannon Beach Winters have always haunted me through younger days looking at stormy seas.
And yet a craving has arisen for this aloneness, this stillness, passing through. Laying in the middle of the street. Just to hear HER. Just to feel the HEARTBEAT underneath. Thump thump. Thump thump. Thumping. Delicately.
Write she says. Write your way through.
And so I have listened to find the space where listening becomes clearer.
A path that’s becoming less of a mirror.
Creative Direction.
Inspired Action.
I’m not much the type. But I know how to listen. I know what’s just hype.
It’s all about follow through. Your Action. Your Reaction. Your Response. Your Truth.
Blended Grace in the middle of Self Discovery. Self Compassion. Hard Truths. Soft Hearts. Subtle sweeps of movement allowing surprises to discover you.
Listening. Churning. No more bleeding apart. She whispered to me softly, There’s another way to your Heart.
Re – Treat, She inspired me…
In September I was posed with the question: How Do You Treat Yourself?
Christi Krug and her Wildfire Writing ways knows how to allow the movement of surface listening swoop into the depths of deeper creating. I looked around the room at all my other comrades in sight. Pens wielded like swords. Notebooks as pathways to our souls. Megaphones blaring in the night.
I’d forgotten about that part…
How do I TREAT myself?
Blindly committed to a mission wreaking havoc on my heart.
Check out this article by Dr. Sarah Sarkis to read more about being ‘Blind to Our Blindness’.
I started all of this out of L O V E. A deep and inner commitment to Live Alive. To BE LA. To forge my way through a Spritual Path that I have not been given.
Or have I? What a joy it has been to create pathways to and through the layers of my very own Heart. Knowing each and every turn. Because I have experienced and walked this path. Watching the transformations and blessings right before my very own eyes.
W r i t i n g A N e w S t o r y
Weaving through the L,
blasting through the O,
sliding down the V,
and ending in the E.
Wouldn’t it be cool if Love was spelled….. LOVELOVELOVELOVELOVELOVELOVE… ?
Reminds me of Emily Fletcher’s analogy, “If you’re asking the Universe for FOOD how does it know what you want? Are you saying Breakfast? Lunch? An egg sandwich? Spaghetti?” So when a server comes to you with spaghetti and you wanted eggs but all you asked for was FOOD, how can you complain?
Wondered if this is the same with LOVE. What kind of Love do you want? Breakfast? Lunch?
Soft. Love. Embracing.
I wonder if life is a process and discovery of our refinements in accepting and receiving Love into our lives? Showing up. Learning what we’ll accept. What feels good to us. What actually resonates. And then shifting when we learn something. When the tides turn. “Oh, Love like this… Treat myself like this… Ok.” That feels better…
~ Don’t Be So Hard on Yourself ~
It just doesn’t feel good to have to work So Hard. G R I T… Facing blank pages alone, again and again and again. Get comfortable being uncomfortable, they say… But it SUCKS. It sucks until we can flip these cards. Sometimes giving up or perhaps letting go and just allowing the cards to flip themselves. A friend told me that’s what ‘release’ is actually like and you can do it sooner while “trusting the process”. (Active Recovery helps if any of you are here.) And I remember again that it’s not about Hustle,
Life is about A L I G N M E N T.
S l o w D o w n
Wait, I’ve been here before: North Fork 53, Tea & Sustainability in Nehalem
One Year Ago following my bliss, my curiosity, what I was really interested in!
Ex-hale. Like a g-a-l-e. Wind passing through…
“You write your own ending dear,” she said to me, “Don’t forget to stand apart.”
So many writings left untouched because it’s gotta be good enough to pierce you with my Heart.
But that’s what I’ve been doing! I call her out by name.
Yes, but watch the reaction, it’s all just the same.
Trust. The. Process.
is said by another friend… oh. my. goodness, there it is again.
I am reminded “We’re in this together,” by Georgia of Blue Chip Minds.
R E M E M B E R I N G
A greater calling is whispering softly.
Remembering to celebrate the best parts of you and me.
The door I’ve swung open slams shut in an instance.
Yelling so loud, “This takes Guts. This is not all Glory.”
“If it was easy everyone would do it,” an old voice chimes in.
Well Shit, I say to myself. Looks like it’s time to start again.
R E L E A S E
The sweet smell of Surrender flowing graciously through my pen.
I come home to myself in the mornings honoring who I am not who I have been.
“I didn’t know you wrote lyrics Lara,” her hand on my shoulder.
“That was a lifetime ago,” I say, “Those years when I was older.”
The rhymes just keep happening.
“A way of thinking,” she says like she’s been here before.
A panic courses through me, tears falling softly… I wonder,
Has this all been in my head thinking I’m on some inner journey to a loving core?
Walking blindly through the tales again of other’s old lores…
Reminders to gently hold:
Breathe
Relax
Center
Let Go
Tenderly
SOFTNESS
New pathways to remember. I’m seeing a trend.
“Exert to Give. Relax to Receive.” – Guru Singh
The RIVER of feeling…
So come to me now. Say me by name.
To remember the integration and forget this is a game.
Metabolizing stories letting them go…
Walking into the arena of this Living Show.
My life moves have been messy with beauty to impart.
The love that churns inside of me I gave away my heart.
Stop! She says. No more.
No need to live that life any longer.
She gets up and tells me the time is now to:
“Show that old story the door.”
What will I do? Will I remember my name?
You’ll fremember more than you can imagine…
S o f t S t e p s travelling these days.
To remember a better future one must make amends with the past. For bitterness and pain amidst love can hardly ever last. Sinking underneath into foundations becoming mossy roots holding us so tight and dear. Doubt entrenched as safety locked away is really just fear.
You have not forsaken me, Love lives another day.
Even through the struggle and heartache I never went away…
L O V E ~ winding through again open hearted soul
How could I have ever thought you left with each loss?
Even when I thought it was the door of death that had the biggest say.
This LOVE landing softer than the tip of a tongue,
Showing up uncannily in a different form.
Alone on the cliff like a childhood memory.
No, this one runs deeper, this one isn’t even me.
The weight of the world does not stand on these shoulders,
I have been taught to allow Giants to embrace boulders like holders.
My feet in their hands, I reach to the sky…
I’ve been shooting at the stars and forgetting what’s in front of my eyes.
G R A T I T U D E
The wind blows across my face, I smell the soft flowers blooming
You mean I can be happy right here?
Answer the phone that’s gratefulness calling.
But why am I still rhyming if this cadence is an old start?
Your assumption is a change maker, whoever said lyrical poetry wasn’t really art?
Listening deeper.
Responding truer.
We are ONE in this story.
No perfection necessary.
The messier the better.
Paint brush is ready.
This is how I treat myself: with smooth strokes of love, embracing friendship, connection, family, forgiveness, existent friends, early morning decaf coffee, blank pages, fun pens, art supplies, creativity studios, homemade dinners, projects together, open fields, music, singing outloud, freedom, laughter, honesty, playfulness and hugs because that’s what I F R E M E B E R through Giving the reception gets clearer and clearer. And I know I’m amongst friends.
O U R G A R D E N
I belong here. Right here. I’ve found my own path. There’s nothing I can show you. Everything you need to know is deep within your own laugh.
And so we’ll keep creating because that’s what we do. We let the magic of creativity inspire us to keep shining through. Brighter days. Fuller pages. Honest love. Truer cards.
Faithful narrators…
I heard someone say. Reflecting the feeling onto each balanced day.
Creativity Studio Plans:
Organized, white, clear, clean
Firm, compact, yet smooth
Library reading chair, maybe PURPLE
Twinkling Lights & Cozy Blanket
Soft, squishy chair
Coat rack, shoe spot, slippers?
Art Supplies
LONDON ~ HAWAII
Standing desk
Creativity desk
Mmmmmmmm…..!
STARTING HERE — With New Insulation!
Welcome to the new Creativity Studio!
Sometimes the Struggle gets Easier when we remember to release a little softer.
We open up that inner space to know we can see our way through… Struggle shakes turning into a do-si-do. Click of the heels!
So I just keep reminding myself how to do this like it’s an ART… allowing the gratitude, inspiration and love to be here. And to remember it’s not about what separates us to keep us apart. It’s about our ability to connect through the pain and imagining brighter days where none of this happens again.
T r e a t Y o u r s e l f T o o . . .
And if you have made it this far along the journey of Lala’s Life Garden blogs I’d like to offer a gift to one of my readers. Shoot an email on over to LalasLifeGarden@gmail.com and share one miracle that you’re grateful for this Summer (don’t worry those will be kept private).
You’ll be entered into a drawing for a Lala’s Life Garden T-Shirt!
Winner will be drawn before the end of October!