I got the first piece of advice from a sweet Jesuit nun in grad school. It worked. So I added the second part. I was a long-time celibate urban mystic. And as you can imagine, there were lots of emotions and longings to sort through. I chose to use rising crescendos of energy (whether rage or rhapsody) purposefully. I milked the feelings, and turned them into fuel.
I found that anger was best for cleaning things. And horniness was best for creating things. When Life wants to come through you, it can feel aphrodisiacal. Like warm whispers on your neck. That is Life readying you -- indoctrinating you with desire. It’s no different from sap filling a tree, or salmon spawning its eggs. Life's Fire shoots up, into an irrepressible mandate that something must get made. If not love, then art. Or a meal. Or, maybe, a book. I’ve spent the last several years percolating. Metabolizing. Sublimating. All kinds of revelations and stimulations. So much so, I’m gonna pop. I mean, publish. The way to cross the bridge between light-filled THOUGHT and love-influenced FORM is to direct your concentrated vigor downward -- from your head, through your heart, and into your loins, where erotic and procreative power reside. My creative journey has tapped into a lively shade of red. More frank. Less coy. Adult. Blessing and integrating ALL that I am. Sacred and sensual. Stardust and flesh. Her capacity
to Be With Other was epic. She had a way of making you feel so seen and held. So she was entrusted to help lots of mamas birth their dream-babies. And this was fine until her own womb filled, with light. Life. She reconfigured things. Cleared clutter. Made room for her own dream-baby. At night, she heard belly-whispers that encouraged and prepared her: "I am coming for your big love. I am a handful, a heart-full, and am envious of distraction. Tend to me, and I will tend to you. Together, we will bless even more people than you ever did before." What kind of dream-baby announces itself like this? Apparently, my kind. The first (of many) is due Mid-November. __________________________________________________________________________________ I'm curious: Have you had a similiar shift in your creative life, where your emphasis changed from supporting the delivery of others' work (midwife), to directing the delivery of your own work (mother)? How did that creative transition feel to you? How did it impact others? |
The question "How are you?" is PROFOUND. But it has been watered-down to a synonym for "Hello." Forced or fake auto-responses of obligated okay-ness are expected. (And if you are going through something tragic, it really doesn't matter! Every social encounter OPENS with this well-established Ritual of Insincerity.) The question "How are you?" prompts an answer that begins with "I AM _____________." This means many times each day, you are invited to SPEAK THE MOST POWERFUL STATEMENT that can be spoken of yourself. And the socially-expected thing to do, is be QUICK + SLICK with your answer. For a change... TAKE YOUR TIME, and tell your truth. ✍🏾 |