the point isn’t getting my wish (though cool things have emerged from wishing), it’s learning about my relationship with wanting, accessing the qualities…
wanting can be hard, it is easy to feel conflicted about it, and the reasons for that make this a surprisingly subversive practice…
this is the 369th week of wishing, come play!
chorus
I am changing the echoing
chorus in my mind from
regret regret regret regret
to learned something useful / new level of the video game
and, yes, hello new level of the video game
this is new
spins
I used to not like spins and turns and swingouts in dance
because they made me dizzy
and then I didn’t like because I felt scared or
maybe intimidated, not even sure why,
and then they didn’t scare me at all
I just didn’t like spinning
and now I do like spinning as well as practicing
I can even do some without falling on my face
and also when I fall on my face, I no longer grimace
but I still get frustrated with all the bits
that aren’t working, yet at least, and
there is something in here about
remembering that the Slow Motion Montage
is, in its nature,
something that takes place over time
gradual but also inexorable
it will get better
that is a good reminder for me
it’s something Esther Gokhale says a lot
you don’t learn something and keep getting better at it
you learn-and-forget, learn-and-forget, learn-and-forget
each time convinced you’ve lost it completely
but then the re-learning and re-remembering
gets better and easier
until eventually the new way lives in your body
and even if for a moment you forget,
you no longer freak out in the moment of recognizing the forgetting,
just like I no longer make the face when I fall
what do I wish for this week and beyond?
peacefulness
quiet
stars and moon
connected in/with nature
immersion in water
freedom of movement
recognizing where I have options I didn’t see before
intimacy with muse
being okay with the dark and the
big wild unknown
and of course better spins
metaphorically and at the studio
a steadiness and new trust
hmmm tell me more about peacefulness
when I say peacefulness what kind of peacefulness
is this peacefulness
that is the clean language version of what I want to ask
I am not sure how I feel about that name
but sometimes, often, I like to ask questions and skip stones this way
peaceful for me =
internal + external
both the state of mind and also
the conditions that allow for the state of mind
and also
the insistence on getting these
I have not been very Crown On about this
and am just now noticing to what extent I have
neglected to insist on the conditions that support my
peacefulness
who is the me who is very clear about peacefulness
ah, Stella under the stars of course
Stella who is a star
Stella who learns about stars
Stella who navigates by the stars
and who knows how to become a star
I had a dream the other night
my mother was still alive
and I had just learned that she had been a hollywood star
once upon a time
(in the world of dreams)
and I asked her if you can forget how to be a star
once you have been a star
but she said oh of course not
once a star always a star
you won’t forget it
and then she hugged me and I woke up
the mother I have in my dreams is
not that much like the mother I had in life
but they are both very intense
what are the superpowers of Stella Under The Stars
- Insisting On Supportive Conditions and Environments
- Being completely unapologetic about Taking Up Space
- Resentment levels: ZERO
(maybe because she is so clear and committed regarding the above?) - attuned to her wild witchy self
- shoots rainbows from her fingertips, no big deal
- always Congruencing, and effortlessly
- immerses in states of quiet
- releases the past, while receiving the treasure from having gone through it
- knows her limitations but respects them so much that she doesn’t see them as limitations, but rather uniquenesses (is that a word?)
- loves the dark
- goes dark both strategically and as a way of being in the world
- has astounding equilibrium
- can respond to X with love but also does not agree to X in her space
- lives by Do Less, Choose Ease, Savor This Moment
- is a cat, a panther, a pole dancer, and all kinds of trouble
- follows the stars, of course, and trusts in her star-state of being
- knows how to appreciate and celebrate her progress and achievements (this is the superpower that seems the most impossible and remote for me, even harder than shooting rainbows from fingertips)
eleven
my business, in the form of this website, is eleven years old this month
is that not amazing
and I will be forty this year
a few years ago I made a promise about
[a thing that would happen] at forty or by forty
this week the Bridge of Pleasure & Freedom reminded me
of that love-infused commitment, and said
you have to do this now
and you have to trust that it is right
it is a little bit scary, like spinning,
and I am asking for ease
and patience
a question
what is needed
what does it feel like to be someone who celebrates
myself and what I have made-and-done-and-been-and-become
as easily as I can for the people I love
where is the bridge
and a blessing
judaism has a blessing for just about everything and
this week I have been calling on a blessing
that I made up but maybe I didn’t
it is something like
thank you for this opportunity to
say no to something that is
such a clear no
next level of the video game is here
appreciating the beacons of no
what do I know about my wishes?
I am here
I am here
I am here
right now in this moment
echoing and reverberating
and if I can take one thing from these past eleven years here
I would like it to be the ability to trust
that yes, this presence is enough
now
97 degrees fahrenheit (36 celsius) tomorrow in Portland
and I am escaping, again, to the coast
to be in the sweet fog
and then in the darkness and the water
letting go of whatever needs letting go of
because I can feel
what wants to come in
under the stars
the superpower of deep listening
last month was HARMONY, with the superpower of hearing the melody, and August is MUSE, with the superpower of Deep Listening, and that is exactly what I am doing
thank you, past-me, for being such a good namer and calling this into being
last week’s wishes
last-week-me wished a wish called prowess …
and this wish is/was treasure, it is bringing me not only more balance and grace (internal and external) but much more calm when I am out of balance and grace, and it is also helping me figure out how I can be a beacon and an activist while also maintaining the quiet I need to function…..
invitation: come play with me…
you are invited to share many !!!!!! about what is here,
or share appreciation or anything sparked for you while reading, including any stories you wish to let go of, any adventures you wish to welcome
deposit wishes, gwishes, superpowers, qualities, ingredients, intel, possibly in code
safe space for creative exploration asks us to let go of care-taking and advice-giving
wishes are never late because whenever you wish is the right time for wishing
here’s how we meet each other’s wishes: oh, wow what beautiful wishes
♡
Follow
* <3 *
Beautiful.
I have a wish that feels tender and important: I would like to have the superpower of being loving and present and vivid, dammit, *vivid* even when I am physically someplace distant. I want to glow love across many miles, so that it can be felt by those who want to feel it. I want geography to not be a barrier.
May it be so!
Oooo, just felt a Kathleen-zing!
May it be so!!!! <3 <3 <3
Forty. Eleven.
Makes me think of Grandma’s Feather Bed.
“It was filled with the feathers of forty-leven geese…”
Wishing you the comfort and warmth and security of lying back in grandma’s feather bed and letting the muse join you along with those 4 hound dogs and the piggy we stole from the shed.
“Once a star, always a star”
That’s perfect! Now I know what to get my friend for her 40th birthday!
Thanks!
Now that I’ve read through to the end of the post, I’m having so many sparks!
I’ve just re-remembered that I’m an artist!
And really, it doesn’t matter what kind of art I do, because it’s MY art!
And copious exclamation marks are part of my individual, beautiful form of expression!
<3 <3 <3
“And really, it doesn’t matter what kind of art I do, because it’s MY art!”
YES!!!!!!!
Shehecheya-no! <3
My favourite story about the dark:
Old Man Coyote had just finished a long hard day of hunting. He decided to set up his camp for the night. After supper, he sat by the fire and rubbed his tired feet from the long day’s walk. He took his favourite moccasins out of his bag and noticed that there was a hole in the toe of one of them. He looked for his special bone needle to mend the moccasin but couldn’t feel it in the bag. Old Man Coyote started to crawl on his hands and knees around the fire to see if he could see or feel the needle. Just then Owl flew by and landed next to Old Man Coyote and asked him what he was looking for. Old Man Coyote told Owl his problem. Owl said that he would help his friend look for the bone needle. After he made one swoop around the area of the fire, he told Old Man Coyote that he didn’t see the needle. Owl said that if it was around the fire, then he would have spotted it. He then asked Old Man Coyote where he last used the needle. Old Man Coyote said that he used it quite far away, somewhere in the northern direction, to mend his jacket. Then Owl asked him why he was searching for the needle around the campfire. Old Man Coyote said, “Well, it’s much easier to look for the needle here because the fire gives off such good light, and I can see much better here.”
-from Jo-Anne Archibald, An Indigenous Storywork Methodology
Wishing wishes about wellness, in all its metaphorical and non-metaphorical forms.
Wishing wishes about ease.
Wishing wishes about wellness and ease for the yeoman magnet-men.
Wishing wishes about answers.
Stella’s superpowers sound like a pretty good definition of peacefulness to me. I feel some un-peaceful places in my let go as I read the list.
I’m feeling – what? Disconnected, not quite present, not quite able to be present, as if being present would be too much, would hurt too much, as if I’ve lost the way to being present.
Some of it’s because it’s August, and the autopilot is on the fritz. And some of it, which is connected with that but which I think is also its own thing, is having had it with [being a percussionist] in any way that requires me to be loud and out there, and possibly having had it with [being a percussionist] at all.
What do I want?
I do not want [being a percussionist] to come back harder. It is all wrapped up in [trying to be good] and I have had it with [trying to be good]. If it’s going to come back, I want it to come from inside me, not to be a sort of uniform that I’ve put on to try and fit in with the rest of the band.
I want to be me. I want to find out who that is. I want to be present. And I want being present not to hurt, not to be such hard work, not to be so scary.
may it be so <3
We’ve been in a fever of Congruenting this weekend, and it feels good. Many Congruenting Capers have been planned, and i’m happy with the way I’ve been getting thru them
Isle du Rhum–back a few years ago, in order to deal with a bunch of scary wills/legal/financial planning that i had to do but resisted, I metaphored the whole shebang as a pirate op. Isle du Rhum is the proxy for the whole enterprise, and various sub-capers all fit onto the island. A few weeks ago we took big steps in Securing the Keep, Stashing the Loot, Arming the Fleet and investing the Crew. The harbor master even gave us a very concise Rutter, so in stormy weather i’ll be able to navigate the course. I have a few more capers to do with regard to this, and i think i’ll put those on the list for this week, becuase i am really in a great place of getting shit done and i want to continue.
OPeration Scary Sequin – yes it was a drag when Advanced Training fell thru. BUT not having that expense and the time away from the house RIGHT NOW has been very helpful. I am continueing to practice and work out, but i need to steo both up.
Operation Gold Star – took my own advice, wrote a love letter to the project, and today set up an altar to it. I need to make this more central, I know it. why am i afraid.
wishes for this week:
-sustained easy movement
-energy for extra ops this week
-i can go the distance
– early bedtime
-finding clues
-remembering my dreams
-being okay with letting go
-prioritize Best Practices, esp White Flowers and AM pilates
-work thru the routine
evening sit.
“knows her limitations but respects them so much that she doesn’t see them as limitations, but rather uniquenesses”
oooooh yes! Liking that very much!
First time I’ve been to your blog. I really like it! I was just reading peacefully when suddenly I see the name Lubbock appear and my eyes bulged! I am from Lubbock and let me tell you, One Guy from Italy is an amazing pizza restuarant. So cool that it was mentioned. I am hoping to continue blogging and develope a following such as the one you have done yourself. Keep up the awesome hard work!