Dare to Blossom Blog
August 2022 Time for You, Time for Me
Reflections: Time for You, Time for Me
"Midsummer Magic" Art Sale, ends 31st July
Dare to Blossom Monthly Circles on Zoom - a choice of day and time
Future deep-dive programmes
Reflections: Time for You, Time for Me
"Time for You" is the theme for the August short programme, running for four weeks, with Zoom gatherings on Wednesdays at 11.00 am, with a taster circle on Wednesday 27th July). (see more details below)
Today my thoughts turn to "time for me". I don't know if this is true for you, but I know I find it easy to keep on being busy being busy. Especially for those of us who are self-employed there always seems to be 'more' to be done - writing, planning, publicity, marketing, supporting the people in my community.
And yet, sometimes I notice that I could be a better friend to myself, a better coach maybe, and suggest - gently, as I would to others - that maybe I would benefit from slowing down, taking time for myself. Reading is one of my greatest joys and I will be gifting myself for time for that pleasure. And for spending time with my own journal, and out in nature just being, being present and alive.
Cats are the supreme examples of how to relax into the moment so here is one of Sparky enjoying the sunshine back in 2015. (although I tend to sit in the shade in the summer these days).
July 2022 Letting go
Reflections: Letting Go
"Midsummer Magic" Art Sale
Dare to Blossom Monthly Circles on Zoom - a choice of day and time
Future deep-dive programmes
Books in my reading pile
Reflections: Letting Go
Letting go can sometimes be the hardest thing... whether it is a choice, something to celebrate even, or if it is something that happens against my will. Either way, there is a form of grief attached to letting go of anything. For me, it was a long time before I recognised that grief has so many forms, and is prompted by so many different circumstances in my life.
When I realised that grief was the emotion I often feel when 'letting go', and that I could feel a complicated mix of joy and grief, it began to make more sense to me. Every change in life involves releasing something.
This theme, this thought of 'letting go' was prompted by something I was celebrating - pressing the 'Send' button on the email to my publisher, Alice at the Golden Dragonfly Press, with the final version of the manuscript for 'Your Compass Rose Speaks: Rediscover Your Inner Wisdom'. The final version for now of course, once the Press has worked their magic in editing and formatting, I will see a proof and have another opportunity for final tweaks before the book is published. This a perfect example of a joyful celebration with a tinge of sadness.
Other instances of letting go in my life have been leaving jobs, mostly for me through compulsory redundancy due to closure of the organisation or at the end of funded programmes in the public sector. And then there is decluttering, choosing what things are 'beautiful, useful, or bring me joy' and letting go of those that do not. Books in particular become such precious friends that some I really cannot pass on. And yet, the clearing creates literal and metaphorical space for the new to arrive in my life.
The biggest letting go is the death of someone I love. This month is the second anniversary of my brother Roger's sudden departure through a heart attack. A huge shock to us all. The loss never lessens, and yet things do change. We are connected in very different ways than we were in life. Unlike last month, when I wrote about being 'Ambushed by Grief', here, now, I am at least partly prepared. Prepared to feel sad, and prepared that - maybe not this year, maybe some time in the future, I will not feel quite the same way. I read something recently about how loss, and grief, never goes, yet it becomes incorporated into who we are as we continue living our days, difficult as carrying on feel at first.
Here is the last photo I have of us together, in September 2019, one I know I have shared here before.
June 2022 Ambushed by Grief
Reflections No 1: Ambushed by grief
Reflections No 2: Taking stock
Taster Circles and the next Compass Rose programme: 'Weaving Shadow and Light'
Dare to Blossom Monthly Circles on Zoom - a choice of day and time
Reflections No 1: Ambushed by grief
I had begun writing a practical piece about taking stock as we come to the middle of 2022, and then... this morning grief sprang up and slapped me - anyone who has ever lost someone (or experienced any other grief, (here are many losses in our lives), will know this feeling I am sure.
Scrolling through my ‘memories’ on Facebook, as I enjoy doing each morning, with all the photos of my walks and fun things I have shared on this day over the years, there it is - a sweet photo of someone who died suddenly. And here come the tears.
The words above were the ones I chose to share with my community on Facebook, some of whom know me very well, and others less so. I also wrote: "PS I chose this painting as I don’t want to share the photo, and the bright sparks of connection are still there."
The photo that 'ambushed' me was taken in 2015, by the motorcycle dealers where my brother bought a classic motorbike - I remember being surprised then as my brother didn't take part in Facebook as far as I know, but presumably he had given them permission. I had shared their post, and had forgotten - even though I imagine it would have popped up last year too.
I thought of sharing that photo here, and now I have decided not to do that, maybe another time, maybe not.
May 2022 The Magic of May
Reflections: The Magic of May - a photo journey
Last chance to join the next six week Compass Rose programme: 'The Key to Your Inner Guidance'
Dare to Blossom Monthly Circles on Zoom - a choice of day and time
Reflections: The Magic of May - a photo journey
Springtime in Cornwall, such a wonderful time. We have had a cool spring here, in contrast to some areas in the southeast of the country. There have been primroses out for a little while, the tiny blue spring squills are flowering on the cross-cropped grass where the sheep and cattle graze on the cliffs, and the very first pink of the sea thrift is just appearing.
I was a little concerned and missing out on a 'bluebell walk', a tradition I love to follow at least once each year. However, this week - in spite of having a long 'to do list' (including writing these words for you), I consulted the weather forecast and my diary and decided that my first priority on Monday morning would be to drive to Respryn Bridge on the River Fowey. (I am so very lucky - those of you with commitments to an employer as I used to have for many years may be envious of my flexible schedule).
As I drove away from the windswept north coast of Cornwall, I began to see the larger trees, many of them in leaf, and a few bluebells in the hedgerows. Once I arrived, finding the carpark quiet, I set off along the river bank. Rather than a 'reflection' in words this time, I am simply sharing photos - taking you with me on the walk up through the woods and then around the glorious gardens of Lanhydrock House full of azaleas, rhododrendrons, camellias, magnolias.
View up-river from Respryn Bridge
April 2022 - Flow
Reflections: Flow
'Turn the Key' focused coaching session
An invitation to the next six week Compass Rose programme: 'The Key to Your Inner Guidance'
Dare to Blossom Monthly Circles on Zoom - a choice of day and time
The birthday giveaway, each month up to November
Reflections: Flow
Flow - how do you experience this? Losing myself in creative flow is one of my favourite things. Or in reading, walking in nature, listening to music. Maybe for you it is in cooking, running, swimming?
If you have ever watched a small child absorbed in something you will have seen the very essence of being in the flow - and you may have experienced their frustration at being interrupted by an adult saying 'Time for bed...' The tyranny of time, the rule of a clock, can sometimes feel like the enemy of flow for me.
And yet, balance is important too. In fact, I am noticing that right now - I have been sitting at my desk working on putting together the various parts of this newsletter for you for quite a while now. Really enjoying the process, thinking I have all the time in the world - or rather, not thinking about time at all. Now I notice it is thirty minutes later than the time I told myself I would stop for a break, for a stretch, and a cup of tea.
So, now I need to interrupt my own flow (despite my inner child wanting to stay on, and keep writing...) and do those things.
March 2022 - The Key is You
Reflections: The Key is You
The Dare to Blossom Rediscovery Cards No 2
"The Key is You" Coaching Package - and a special offer for you
Dare to Blossom Monthly Circles on Zoom - a choice of day and time
Reflections: The Key is You
As you can read below, "The Key is You" is the name of a new coaching package I am offering. Here, rather than talking about that, I wanted to reflect on the process of choosing this title and how that opened a treasure chest for me during a Magic Carpet Ride.
'Keys' have been arriving in my life for quite a while now. Someone contacted me out of the blue because she had found one of the jewellery boxes that I used to sell enamel work in, with my name on. She looked me up and discovered I now offer life coaching. It was an amazing moment when she told me that the box no longer contained a piece of jewellery - just a key.
And then, last autumn I decided to gift myself something special for my 70th 'turn around the sun', my 70th year, that began after my 69th birthday on 3rd November. I opened a newsletter that I receive regularly from Jo Anna Dane - one I only occasionally open and read, much like you may do with this newsletter. I looked at the wonderful 'Bespoke' options she creates as unique pieces, and decided on a Bespoke Oracle. Jo Anna explained that they take time to create, and delivery would take several months. Anticipation was a big part of the enjoyment, as well as my own Dare to Blossom cards, I love exploring insights from other decks of all sorts. Knowing someone was creating an oracle deck just for me, one that no one else in the world would ever have - well that was so deliciously exciting.
While I was waiting, my January 'Goddess Guidance' piece arrived from Amy Palko, it was The Sphinx, and contained these words:
"The image that I've got is of a set of keys and a series of locked doors before you. Each door represents each day of your month, but they don't feel like an obstruction or a blockage, because in your hand you hold all that you need to granted you safe and open passage."
More keys.... And then, when my Bespoke Oracle package arrived in the middle of January, I made myself a cup of tea and opened the beautifully packed delivery. There was a cloth pouch, with a big key image on one side, and 'The Oracle of the Keys' on the other. There were two packs of cards in green tissue paper (arranged that way to make the parcel as thin as possible to go through the mail). Keys! My goodness - how interesting.
I have been turning one card a day, there are 44, and with a few days at weekends I have missed, I have not yet read each card. Every one has a different key shape cut out and fixed to the bright green card. On the third day I drew 'The Key of Mary' - even more special. I am not ready to share more details or images just yet, maybe I never will, perhaps these cards truly are just for me - that will be as it will be as time passes.
And all this led me to a Magic Carpet Ride of my own, where I was shown a beautiful golden treasure chest containing gifts for my 70th year. Each time I visit, I find all my family and friends, some still living and others in the place where they have left their human selves behind, all there to celebrate with me. Each time I find a golden key in my pocket that hums when I touch it. When I place the golden key in the lock in the golden chest, the lid lifts up by itself. The first time I could just see golden light. My mother was there, and she said "Your gift today is hugs, lots and lots of warm hugs." She hugged me and so did everyone else.
The next time, my gift was Rest - deep peaceful sleep. And so it goes. I go there every so often in my personal meditation practice, and sometimes when working with the current group on the six week programme.
During all these personal discoveries I realised that each of the parts of the Compass Rose that I work with in groups and in one to one coaching could be seen as a key. A key to unlocking our inner guidance system, connecting with the Compass Rose we each have within us. Our inner wisdom whose quiet whispers are sometimes drowned out in the hubbub of everyday life.
I had some fun browsing online and bought a bag of little brass-coloured keys, each a different shape.
I have been experimenting with finding backgrounds to photograph them on, I rather like this purple satin....
