Category: Creative

Another month has passed and another writing circle is complete. A smaller group this time, yet it is super powerful and insightful to share a creative space with likeminded individuals who have a passion for the written word. The inspiration this week was ‘Five Things’; these five things then formed the framework for our warm up exercises, those being to list five things that annoy (*iss) us off, five things my old school friends would say about me, and five things that I want to achieve in this life time. Our pens got writing.

Go where your energy takes you

With our responses gathered, we were then asked to quickly pick up five items from around us and tell the group what they were. From here we were invited to pick one of the items we’d selected and to write five words we associated with it, a second item to write a memory, a third to write the best thing about it, the fourth to write five words that describe it, and finally the fifth to capture if this object could speak, what would it say. Our response to these questions is not something to heavily think about, the idea is to be intuitive and to go with the first thing you get. Some of my answers surprised me, others made me laugh, but mostly it was a fun exercise to participate in and then share our responses with the group.

After, a rather poignant question followed… “What is the story your soul wants to hear?” Where is the energy in the prompts you’ve written? In the interest of sharing, unfiltered, here’s what I wrote…

I am not the person I was before,
The me that held quiet and hid behind the door,
I once was bullied with words and emotion,
Children can be cruel with the words they spout,
The words that fly across the playground as they shout.

I was fragile and scared,
Afraid to be me,
Socially inept and quite; shy and boring,
Everyone probably reduced to snoring.

But I did have friends,
I remember now,
Not the ones from Ashcombe,
Born from a cow.

Anna and Heidi were always there,
We stuck together a bit like glue,
Laughing and being silly, we really weren’t cool,
But who really cares when you’re at school?

We had lots of fun on trips to Wales,
Swimming in the sea probably looking for whales,
Spouting water from jets that at night time sparkled,
Lighting the surface with shimmer and grace.

North Wales and Devon were totally fun places,
We adventured to the beach for my 18th birthday,
So many fun memories flooding back to be now,
These weren’t born from the cow.

Fast forward to the last 10 years,
And with my friendships I have no fears,
I’m comfortable being me in my own skin,
Sometimes with the help of gin.

My Leopard wreaks havoc when these friends come to stay,
Games endlessly played into the dark night of day,
We laugh, we dance, we sing, we chant,
We swim naked too when we have the chance,
They’ve seen all of me, Worts and all,
Yet still they come back for laughter galore.

The Leopard spells joy and celebration,
Laughter from every nation,
British, French, Italian, Sardinian and Australian,
Our intuitive minds are our line of communication,
We’ve travelled together, holidayed too,
To the French Riviera and the real Africa – not a Zoo.

Soul Safari is our energy and vibe,
These people truly are my tribe,
They accept me for who I am,
Happy, and sad, and resting in the sand.

Joy is the word I want to remember,
I feel it’s important to feel joy and surrender,
Surrender to the warmth that is within,
There’s nothing to hide, no immoral, immortal sin.

Laugher and friendship bring me back to me,
The me that’s short for EP,
EP has EB the funny skin thing,
That I don’t let stop me doing anything.

BE the difference,
BE the change,
BE the energy,
BE insane,
Insanely happy,
Insanely joyful,
Insanely loving,
With my heart full.

Thank you for giving me the space to write,
They’re beautiful these sessions as my pen takes flight,
High into the clouds, way up in the sky,
Enabling my creativity to explode like a custard pie!

I prefer custard tarts if I’m brutally honest,
Have I always been so modest,
I’m not even sure what that really means,
But what’s lovely here is I feel heard and seen.

Thank you for this space,
Thank you for this time,
I sense it’s time for us all to shine.

My bottom is numb so I’m going for a wee,
I’m also going to stretch like a tree,
A tree with its roots that are strong and vast,
A tree that’s looking forward not anchored to the past.

Image on Pexels, Leopard photo by Satria Bagaskara.

To understand more about EB, the condition I have known as Butterfly Skin, visit charity DEBRA UK.

Last night was pretty special. For the first time ever, I attended and participated in a writing circle hosted by a friend, who is an avid writer, she’s currently writing her second book, and also leads writing retreats and workshops worldwide.

The session was titled ‘Women who run with the Wolves’, a term I’m not familiar with. It’s also the title of a book authored by American Jungian psychoanalyst Clarissa Pinkola, who writes about myths and stories of the Wild Woman Archetype, the book was on the New York Times best seller list for 145 weeks. I’ve now ordered it so I can familiarise myself with those myths and stories.

Connecting with my spirit guide

During the writing circle we were invited to introduce ourselves and talk about our spirit guide, if we knew what ours is – it’s not a fixed thing and often changes, shifting and evolving. With introductions complete, we listened to a guided meditation that concluded with us being invited to put pen to paper and go with the flow, writing freeform with whatever words came forth. I’ve participated in and lead several guided meditations over the years and they are a fabulous tool for tapping into our intuition and creative side. This is the first time a poem has flowed.

From the origins of my spirit guide, the horse, in the 25 minutes that followed the meditation, unedited and unfiltered, here’s what I wrote…

There’s hay on the hills the horses say,
Come eat, come chat, come rub, come neigh,
It’s time to play, its May come play,
there’s always time to play in the day,
When folks come past, they’ll look and stare but we don’t care,
We’re a mare – A MARE!
When people pass by, they’ll look and learn,
To play and gurn, to play is to learn.

When work becomes play, there’s fun in everyday,
No looking for more because it’s at your door,
It’s in your soul, the one that was stole,
But it’s made a return, like Saturn,
It’s been round and around, it has rings round it,
But now it’s your time to run rings around it.

Come play my angel, this horse has wings,
A mythical creature so strong and elegant,
So graceful and strong, she has presence,
Presence of mind to be at peace,
Presence of mind to feel at ease,
Presence of mind to connect to her heart,
And feel it beating powerful – from the start.

Take your time and gather your wings,
It’s time to fly and discover new beginnings,
It’s time to be at peace with your soul,
They’ll always be time for rock and roll.

Come for a ride, jump up for a hack,
I promise to fly you safely back,
We’ll soar over mountains, high in the sky,
Feeling the breeze, the lightness of flight,
You’ve been weighed down, it’s time to gain height.

Take a step forward every day,
One hoof at a time and we’ll gather momentum.

Be brave, be strong, be grounded, feel the earth,
Mother Nature is telling you it’s time for rebirth.

Put your hand and arms around my neck,
Feel the warmth and strength of my spine,
It runs from your neck,
And into mine – devine,
Together we are stronger, a dynamic pair,
Let everyone stand and stare.

Being still is not inaction,
It’s actually strength and attraction,
Go deep inside and feel your soul,
It’s always welcoming, just like a baby foul,
Whose legs might be doddery, they wobble and swing,
Yet quickly they are strong, supporting everything.

Let your roots find their way, they know the ground,
And also, how to make ‘THAT’ sound,
The one that calls us back together should we part,
We’re always together – ‘HEART TO HEART.’

Be strong my angel, be strong and pure,
For no one can truly ever be sure,
Be calm, be curious, be passionate, be brave,
You’ve been too long in this dark cave,
The light is bright and it leads the way,
Back up to the hill where there is hay.

Take time to pause, eat, look at the view,
It’s beautiful in the mountains, you might even see some fountains,
Fountains of ideas, where laughter and creativity flows,
Straight from your head and down to your toes,
Your toes have tread carefully but they’re growing strong,
Now you are ready to ring your gong,
The gong of love, the gong of freedom,
Rippling energy out into your kingdom.

Be brave, be curious, be passionate, be strong,
Now it’s time to ring your gong,
No need to stand back and ponder anymore,
No need to wait for someone to come knocking at your door.

Be brave, be curious, be passionate, be strong,
Step barefoot outside and ring your gong,
The gong of magic, the gong of truth,
The gong of rhythm, the gong of youth,
Your heart is strong, your heart is pure,
It’s time to let freedom ooze from your core.

Photo by Pixabay – Horse image