My Writer’s Box

Tags

celebration, craft, creativity, elements, imagination, play, writing, writing prompts

Last week I shared a post by http://www.itmeanshappyone.wordpress.com about creating your own ‘Writer’s Box’ in which to collect inspiration and food for the imagination! Well, this afternoon I made mine…

 

This Writer’s Box is made of Flowers, Failure, Friends and Family, and honours the four elements; one side each for Earth, Air, Fire and Water.

Flowers: because the original box held the base of a bouquet of flowers sent to me by a dear friend, and part of the top is made of crocheted flower petals which were…a

Failure: …because they didn’t turn out the way they were supposed to, and weren’t used for their intended purpose…but I kept them. The scarf which lines the box also failed to turn out well enough to become the gift it had been intended as, but now softens and warms this nest, also fed by…

Friends: several of the items contained in the box were given to me by friends and…

Family: … including the card which I cut up and shared across the box’s four sides:

 

We must not allow the clock

and the calendar to blind us to the

fact that each moment of life

is a miracle and a mystery

H G WELLS

 

As I was making the box it occurred to me that creativity needs us to be soft, open and yielding as FLOWERS if we are to grow our unique gifts, and we must never fear FAILURE for if we do we’re beaten before we begin, and besides, this is how we grow and learn, as long as we have FRIENDS and FAMILY around to support and encourage us when we’re struggling, and to celebrate us when we shine.

 

 

This box of wonders and wanderings – through the memories and thought trails lit up by the responses arising from connecting with these items – will ever remain open and incomplete, as I will no doubt continue to add and use and discard elements of its contents, but I will share with you a few to be found there now…

Images:

 

Miscellaneous:

 

Gifts from nature:

 

Bits of previous creative projects:

…among other things.

 

While making this treasure trove of trinkets I chanced upon another aspect of creativity:

Creativity is endlessly inventive and generous, for I found all that I needed immediately to hand. The urge to create, if truly opened to, will overcome any obstacles or perceived ‘lack’ and find abundance and beauty in all that it meets.

 

I’ll let you know how I get on the first time I make use of the box, but for now I DARE you to make your own! It’s soooooo much fun! And the process feeds itself – who knows what you’ll find when you start searching… Enjoy!

Blessings

Harula x

 

 

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A dream diary…of little steps

Tags

alive, celebration, crafting, creativity, dreams, goals

What do goals taste like?
Hard work, sweat and tears
What do dreams feel like?
Magic whispers sending us wings
Listen to those whispers
and you’ll be far beyond those goals
before you even notice
you’ve been flapping your wings…

This morning I realised I’d been spending a lot of time setting goals for surviving, and not enough on listening to dreams for ‘alive-ing’… So I made another little notebook, from a birthday card and cut up recycled envelopes, in which I wrote my three biggest dreams, and in which I will record, each day in a single sentence for each dream, one small step I took towards realising it…

Because you can’t wait
for dreams to come true
You gotta make ’em… xxx

I Will Be Faithful T0 Me

Tags

celebration, courage, creativity, faith, joy, poem, poetry, song, soul, spirit, trust

This is a song I wrote a while back, before I started blogging. It feels appropriate to remind myself of this feeling right now. I can remember singing it as I was cycling home from work in the sunshine, looking forward to a day off the next day…just singing and singing to remember it as the joy and playfulness filled me, pedaling at full speed until all my breath was used up and I finally got home to write it down. Enjoy 🙂

 

I’m creating a sacred day tomorrow

Whatever else comes

I will be faithful to me

Celebrating creator me tomorrow

Whatever else comes

I will be faithful to me

Singing, and dancing and playing the day away

Writing my seminal works in a cute cafe

Coffee and cake and a pizza to take away

***

I will honour the joy in me tomorrow

Whatever else comes

I will be faithful to me

Celebrating the love in me tomorrow

Whatever else comes

I will be faithful to me

Kindness and laughter will follow me all the way

A smile and a wink and a joke makes a happy day

Hugging you tight till the sadness has flown away

***

I will honour the God in me tomorrow

Whatever else comes

I will be faithful to me

Celebrating the God in me tomorrow

Whatever else comes

I will be faithful to me

Sitting there silently listening the day away

Hoping and praying a better world than today’s

Knowing I’m never alone

Not in any way

***

I will live now as if there’s no tomorrow

Whatever else comes

I will be faithful to me

I will open my arms now to every joy and sorrow

Whatever else comes

I will be faithful to me

Letting go fearlessly nothing can worry me

Open my heart and my mind and I’m truly free

Giving myself and all beings the space to be

What we are

 

 

 

I’m gonna sing, sing, sing…

Tags

celebration, choir, harmony, joy, poem, poetry, singing, song, unity

Truth hides in paradox –

The soul in the singing

so tangible in the silence

of an audience so moved

they daren’t clap yet

 

The home found in harmonizing

transcending the pathways

of melody and words

to create a belonging so deep

 

that when the coach finally stops

it’s hard to leave that space

to physically go home

so we sing each other through the door

 

Cups of joy spilling over

in eyes that shine with the sacred

and from glasses filled in a moving coach

by hands unsteady with celebration

 

To be one in such a whole

is a feeling so expansive

the ‘I’ can shrink

for what we do together

just can’t be done alone

 

 

I wrote this the morning after I performed (a week ago) for the first time with the local choir I joined in January. It was a very joyful, powerful experience and I was in tears with the emotion of it all the following morning…and that’s when I turn to poetry. When something is just too beautiful to keep to myself, I have to write it out and share…

 

 

Christmas Acrostics – Day 6

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acostic, acrostic, advent, celebration, challenge, christmas, cradle, creativity, mother and child, poems, poetry, rock, writing

image credit: http://investinthearts.com/christiannahunnicutt.shtml

Welcome to day five, for which I was given the word Cradle. Enjoy:-)

Why not have a go at a Christmas acrostic yourself in the comments! I’d love to read yours. And you too could make a suggestion of a Christmas word for me to use as the basis for the next acrostics I write – I really appreciate your ideas!

 

C ome, let me rock you a while

R elax in the safety of my arms

A nd feel the loving strength of my heartbeat

D on’t fret, precious one

L eave the worries of the world to me

E verything’s going to be alright

 

Christmas Acrostics – Day 5

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acostic, acrostic, advent, celebration, challenge, christmas, creativity, holly, poems, poetry, star, starlight, writing

image credit: http://crazy-frankenstein.com/christmas-star-wallpapers.html

Welcome to day five, for which I was given the word Starlight. Enjoy:-)

And do come back tomorrow for ‘Cradle’, or why not have a go at a Christmas acrostic yourself in the comments! I’d love to read yours. And you too can make suggestions of Christmas words to use as the basis for the next acrostics I’ll write – I really appreciate your ideas!

 

S taring into the depths of the night sky

T akes you on a journey back in time,

A s many of those stars you see are long extinct, yet

R emain the gifters of a light still patiently traveling towards us

L ove too travels long distances,

I ntimately resonating in our very cells,

G uiding us unwaveringly towards the miracle of

H omecoming, where outer and inner worlds meet

T he windows of the soul opening to welcome divine light

 

Christmas Acrostics – Day 4

Tags

acostic, acrostic, advent, celebration, challenge, christmas, creativity, holly, poems, poetry, writing

http://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/gardening-blog/2012/dec/24/holly-new-forest-christmas

Welcome to day four, for which I was given the word Holly. Enjoy:-)

And do come back tomorrow for ‘Starlight’, or why not have a go at a Christmas acrostic yourself in the comments! I’d love to read yours…

 

H e refused to pay for anything nature gave freely

O ur Grandad, so we followed him along woodland paths

L aid thick with their beautiful autumnal carpets

L eading us to the prickly leaves and bright red berries

Y ou were our own Wise King of Christmas

 

 

Christmas Acrostics – Day 3

Tags

acrostic, advent, celebration, challenge, christmas, creativity, poems, poetry, writing

www.shutterstock.com

Welcome to day three, for which I was given the word – Celebration. Enjoy:-)

I’d love it if someone would give me a word for tomorrow’s acrostic, please just write it in the comments below, or why not have a go at an acrostic yourself! I’d love to read yours…

 

C andlelight flickers its golden glow, courageously

E ncroaching on the darkness of the pre-dawn

L ike the first rays of an

E veryday sun

B reaking over the horizon to

R epeat a pattern both

A ncient, and yet still magic

T hanking life for another new day

I want to sing with the joy

O f the daily dawn chorus –

N ot just for Christmas

So much to celebrate!

Tags

africa, books, celebration, contemplation, creativity, gifts, gratitude, inspiration, joy, land, life, poetry, rwanda, writing

I know Christmas and the speedily approaching New Year are reason enough, but I’ve a few more reasons to celebrate…

1: I leave for a return visit to Rwanda in…just four days!!! It’s been six years since my soles last touched African soil and I can’t wait to see my dear friends…what a wonderful (and warm!) way to start 2013! I created a new blog a couple of weeks ago to share this adventure if you’d like to find out more and keep up with the latest while I’m there…

http://beathaandherboys.wordpress.com/

2: Yesterday I discovered that a poem I submitted to a magazine had been commended! OK, no, I didn’t have al poem in print yet but, my name was on the competition page and this was only the second time I’d submitted to this magazine…thank you Writers’ Forum! Want to read the poem?

https://wordsthatserve.wordpress.com/2012/11/20/wishfree/

3: Yesterday I reconnected with a friend I haven’t heard from in about a year. We met in Rwanda and I wanted her to know I was going back soon as we had shared great times there together, though she’s now based back in her native Canada. I emailed and had a very enthusiastic (with no complaints for lack of contact…phew!) reply in less than half an hour…how cool is that!!!

4: I’m gonna go to Rwanda PC free – yep, no computer. I’ve become a little too attached to my electronic friend and, luckily, I received three (!!!) beautiful notebooks as presents over Christmas! So it’s back to pen and paper for me for three weeks…with the odd visit to an internet cafe of course…

There are more but…as four matches the number in my ‘days till I leave for Rwanda countdown’ it seems appropriate.

I’ll leave you with a poem written during my time in Rwanda all those years ago, in celebration of women…especially those I’m blessed to call Mother, Sister and Gran!

If women ruled the world

If Mugabe wasn’t in power

but replaced by my grandma instead

many less crops would be failing

many less men would be dead.

 

She’d invite the white farmers to tea

to tell them the problems at hand

and ask them to share willingly

their knowledge as well as their land.

 

If Mbeki wasn’t in power

but replaced by my mother instead

many less jets would be purchased

many more kids would be fed.

 

She’d sell all the things that weren’t needed

and invite the whole nation to dinner

and so all ‘her children’ could prosper

her lifestyle would daily get simpler.

 

If G.W. wasn’t in power

but replaced by my sister instead

many less bombs would be falling

many less innocent dead.

 

She’d spend half the budget on welfare

save millions each day on defense

for she’d simply meditate in the morning

and protect us with a bright white light fence.

 

If Mr Blair wasn’t in power

but replaced personally by me

many more Brits would be smiling

and university would still be free.

 

Then I’d call on my grandma in Zim,

and my mother below in S.A.

and my sister in the U.S. and then…

we’d love the world’s troubles away.

 

So, what reasons do you have to celebrate?