Echoes

Is it just me or has the whole world gone stark staring mad overnight? Nothing makes sense to me at the moment, but with financial chaos, heartbreaking scenes in Israel and Gaza - it seems like every man and woman alive is facing a crisis of some sort. I loved all your comments on the last post. As I read somewhere recently - crises happen in every lifetime, what matters is how you respond to them. Misssy's simple 'just write, will ya?' has given me a kick up the backside - which after all is what we are all doing for one another I hope. Don't know about you, but I'm going to write my way out of this. In the meantime I'll leave you with this from the Irish mystic John O'Donohue. He abandoned orthodox religion to find his own way, and his books like Anam Cara are - for anyone else treading a shifting path - highly recommended. I hope this helps:

Beannacht
("Blessing")

On the day when
the weight deadens
on your shoulders
and you stumble,
may the clay dance
to balance you.

And when your eyes
freeze behind the grey window
and the ghost of loss
gets in to you,
may a flock of colours, indigo, red, green,and azure blue
come to awaken in you
a meadow of delight.

When the canvas frays
in the currach of thought
and a stain of ocean
blackens beneath you,
may there come across the waters
a path of yellow moonlight
to bring you safely home.

May the nourishment of the earth be yours,
may the clarity of light be yours,
may the fluency of the ocean be yours,
may the protection of the ancestors be yours.
And so may a slow
wind work these words
of love around you,
an invisible cloak
to mind your life.

~ John O'Donohue ~
(Echoes of Memory)

TODAY'S PROMPT: If my experience is anything to go by, people need their books, films and music now more than ever. Going to bed early with Alan Bennett this week has kept me going. His alternately glorious and grumpy observations are so true to life - and the diary entries are fascinating. I loved how he talked of seeing favourite paintings unexpectedly in a gallery 'Oh hello, fancy seeing you here'. In a couple of sentences he gives you a snapshot - snatches of overheard conversation or fleeting images. It's proof again you don't need hours a day to write - all it takes is a pen and a piece of paper, and keeping your eyes and ears open. Sketch word pictures of the life around you. Two of my most treasured journals are those filled travelling around the world. There are enough word sketches (and literal sketches), in there to keep me writing for years once I get round to them. Closer to home, it's time to lift up our heads and look around - open your senses, pick up your pen - just write will ya (thanks Misssy).