{"id":1859,"date":"2015-12-03T21:03:47","date_gmt":"2015-12-03T21:03:47","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.donnaionadrozda.com\/lifecycle\/?p=1859"},"modified":"2015-12-04T02:16:53","modified_gmt":"2015-12-04T02:16:53","slug":"shake-your-wings","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.donnaionadrozda.com\/lifecycle\/shake-your-wings\/","title":{"rendered":"Shake Your Wings"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Novemberlight_BBG_2015\"<\/a>December Sky at my retreat farm, Drozda<\/span><\/h4>\n

You knock at the door of reality. You shake your wings, loosen your shoulders, and open. <\/span><\/strong><\/em>
\nRumi<\/span><\/h4>\n

Welcome to our weekly art\/life trail ride\u2026Like many of us I stepped back from routine last week to be with family. <\/span><\/h4>\n

I’m deeply grateful to have a wonderful and funny clan to hang out with. We have sassy fun\u00a0and are thankful to be in one another’s company.<\/span><\/h4>\n

Cultivating an attitude of gratitude is a smart pack-a-long for the art\/life trail…all year long.<\/span><\/strong><\/h4>\n

Take a moment and name ten things that you are grateful for.<\/span><\/h4>\n

Many of us have kept gratitude journals or gratitude lists from time to time. There is\u00a0a potent\u00a0power to keeping a specific documentation; a place to deposit evidence of ways in which your art\/life works. I call it a Grace Account and when you have it at the ready you can make withdrawals when you\u00a0come upon obstacles and obstructions on your\u00a0art\/life path.<\/span><\/h4>\n

Let’s\u00a0gaze at the\u00a0grace\u00a0of the art\/life trail. Let’s make an X marks the spot. You know…like an old treasure map. <\/span><\/h4>\n

\u00a0\"treasure-map-1190518\"<\/a><\/h4>\n

We need to have tools to\u00a0get us through the narrow passes and danger zones. It helps to have a support network so together\u00a0we might\u00a0gaze upon\u00a0all that is actually good and true and beautiful about living the most rich and flourishing\u00a0art\/life.<\/span><\/h4>\n

This week I place my X to mark my grace filled\/treasured spot by sharing\u00a0Gary Snyder\u2019s poem:<\/span><\/h4>\n

\"Journalpage2012\"<\/a>Journal Page, Drozda, 2013<\/span><\/p>\n

Gratitude to Mother Earth (After a Mohawk Prayer)<\/span><\/strong><\/em><\/h4>\n

Gratitude to Mother Earth, sailing through night and day<\/span><\/strong><\/em>
\n and to her soil, rich, rare, and sweet
\nIn our minds so be it.<\/span><\/strong><\/em><\/h4>\n

Gratitude to Plants, the sun-facing light-changing leaf and fine root hairs,<\/span><\/strong><\/em>
\n standing still through wind and rain, their dance is in the flowing spiral grain
\nIn our minds so be it<\/span><\/strong><\/em><\/h4>\n

Gratitude to Air, bearing the soaring Swift and the silent Owl at dawn,<\/span><\/strong><\/em>
\n breath of our song clear spirit breeze
\nin our minds so be it<\/span><\/strong><\/em><\/h4>\n

Gratitude to Wild Beings, our brothers and sisters teaching secrets, freedoms, and ways self-complete, brave, and aware<\/strong><\/em>
\nIn our minds so be it<\/span><\/h4>\n

Gratitude to Water, clouds, lake, rivers, glaciers holding or releasing , streaming through all our bodies salty seas
\nIn our minds so be it<\/span><\/strong><\/em><\/h4>\n

Gratitude to the Sun, blinding pulsing light through trunks of trees, through mists, warming caves where bears and snakes sleep\u2014he who wakes us\u2014
\nIn our minds so be it<\/span><\/strong><\/em><\/h4>\n

Gratitude to the Great Sky who holds billions of stars\u2014and goes yet beyond that\u2014 beyond all powers and thoughts and yet is within us\u2014<\/span><\/strong><\/em><\/h4>\n

Grandfather space The Mind is his Wife
\nSo be it<\/span><\/strong><\/em><\/h4>\n

\"dreamboat1\"<\/a>Dream Boat #1, Drozda, Acrylic\/board, 30 x 30″, 1997<\/span><\/p>\n

We\u2019re at the place in the moon\/month when gratitude is natural…this takes place each month one week before the new moon. Mark your calendar…get to know this last week before the new moon as a culminating time period. In Buddhist practice this would be when we are ‘grateful to everyone.’<\/span><\/h4>\n

The Introspective\/Death & Rebirth moon cycle closes on December 11. \u00a0At that point we’ll cross over into the Strength Moon. Begin now to call in your Strength…be willing to be the one who stands for what is good and true and beautiful.<\/span><\/h4>\n

Consider the Strength that has accrued for you throughout the 3 quadrants that we’ve moved through thus far: spring, summer, fall. It makes sense to note what you’ve grown and to be willing to go out to your tree and pick it.<\/span><\/h4>\n

X-ercise: <\/span><\/strong><\/h4>\n

As the push and pull of the season cranks up it’s a beneficial time\u00a0to note the polarity and the duality of the 12 keywords that carry us month by month around the natural calendar. <\/span><\/h4>\n

The 12 keywords give us 12 focus points that ferry\u00a0us around the ‘medicine wheel of the art\/life’\u00a0year by year.<\/span><\/h4>\n

January Clear Seeing<\/strong> is balanced by July\u00a0Growth<\/strong><\/span><\/h4>\n

February Renewal<\/strong> is balanced by August Trust<\/strong><\/span><\/h4>\n

March Refine<\/strong>\u00a0is balanced by September Love<\/strong><\/span><\/h4>\n

April Clarity<\/strong> is balanced by October Experience<\/strong><\/span><\/h4>\n

May Wisdom<\/strong> is balanced by November Introspection\/Death & Rebirth<\/strong><\/span><\/h4>\n

June Illumination<\/strong> is balanced by December Strength<\/strong><\/span><\/h4>\n

The keyword for your birth month represents your birth gift on the natural calendar. Pay attention to how much this quality has helped nurture you…or not. Perhaps you’ve been unaware of the potential that it offers as a creative focus point. During this next year you might find that paying it mind causes it to expand.<\/span><\/h4>\n

See what sits as your opposite\u00a0keyword. We view this as\u00a0your birth challenge. Again, the sense of connection to the energy of this quality may or may not be on your radar…consciously open up the space.<\/span><\/h4>\n

Use the tension between these two points as\u00a0a creative tool on your art\/life trail ride. Notice the way that these two qualities provide\u00a0you a focus for the times when stress\u00a0comes to visit. Like positive and negative battery poles these two points can fuel the momentum\u00a0that carries you forward.<\/span><\/h4>\n

X-ample: I\u2019m born in February. My birth gift is the ability to Renew. It comes to me easily to start something and to see the possibility. On the other side of the wheel sits my challenge point: Trust. This is an area where I have been mightily tested. <\/span><\/h4>\n

Time and again, in my formative years I got\u00a0tripped up, injured, betrayed and even violated. Slowly and surely I have learned to navigate the terrain in my art\/life staying on\u00a0the most open path knowing that can be trusted. I continue to develop the capacity to see that it is safe for me to trust the art\/life and <\/em><\/strong>to flourish during my\u00a0trail ride.<\/span><\/h4>\n

What\u00a0do you discover when you sit and contemplate the relationship between your pair of opposites?<\/span>\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0<\/span><\/strong><\/h4>\n

Opposites dissolve<\/span><\/strong>
\n within Nature’s Oneness where<\/span><\/strong>
\n Silence is golden<\/span><\/strong><\/h4>\n

Bright words lose their sheen<\/span><\/strong>
\n in the pure, perfect Presence<\/span><\/strong>
\n of a morning mist<\/span><\/strong><\/h4>\n

\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 Elizabeth Urabe<\/a><\/span><\/h4>\n

Since this is a creative X-perience…have a bit of fun and consult your\u00a0thesaurus; look up your two keywords, use them in conversation and include them in your journal entries…begin to notice the way that these partnering energies push and pull your creative reins. Creative tension is a necessary tool in your art\/life saddle bags.
\nTension and stress… when used in service to breaking new trails… enhances the ride. A good rider holds the reins with gentle authority knowing that too much pressure in one hand or the other will create stress\u00a0and confusion\u00a0for our steed.<\/span><\/h4>\n

We can break new inner creative trails during the winter months. This is the\u00a0time to move through the inner landscape noticing the visible clues as to where the next path fits into the scheme of the art\/life. Distractions can\u00a0be pushed back. We can take a long view and look ahead toward spring. <\/span><\/h4>\n

\"sunsethorsesgrazing\"<\/a><\/h4>\n

I am a working\u00a0Heartist\u00a0<\/i>with more than thirty years of practice in supporting the creative best in each of us to come forth and shine.\u00a0<\/i>Join the movement:\u00a0make joy the vocation of your mind<\/b>.<\/span><\/h4>\n

\u00a0\"Droz_Nov_2014\"<\/a><\/h4>\n

Connect with\u00a0the uplift of \u2018Luna See\u2019 and\u00a0Lifecycle<\/a>;\u00a0time\u00a0management tools for aligning with natural creative rhythms. Discover and uncover the ecstatic thrill of \u2018making life the master peace\u2019.<\/span><\/h4>\n

Let\u2019s travel together\u00a0into realms of calm and\u00a0renewed heart-centered emphasis.<\/span><\/h4>\n

Through our shared journey with our\u00a0monthly newsletter\u00a0 \u2018Luna See\u2019 and the\u00a0creative consult service \u2018Lifecycle\u2019 you will discover and expand your ability to experience,\u00a0express, create and contribute your deepest\u00a0and wisest <\/i><\/b>most\u00a0authentic gifts to this unspeakably beautiful world.<\/span><\/h4>\n

<\/h4>\n

 <\/p>\n

<\/h4>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

December Sky at my retreat farm, Drozda You knock at the door of reality. You shake your wings, loosen your shoulders, and open. Rumi Welcome to our weekly art\/life trail ride\u2026Like many of us I stepped back from routine last week to be with family. I’m deeply grateful to have a wonderful and funny clan […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[36,79,2,3,32],"tags":[37,46,22,98,95,96,43,49,38,58,16,97,34],"class_list":["post-1859","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-artlife","category-buddhism","category-natural-time-management","category-slow-time","category-starting-over","tag-artlife","tag-cycles","tag-donna-iona-drozda","tag-elizabeth-urabe","tag-gary-snyder","tag-gratitude","tag-lunar-phases","tag-masculinefeminine-time","tag-natural-time-management","tag-nature-art","tag-slow-time","tag-thanksgiving","tag-tibetan-buddhism"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p6htPT-tZ","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.donnaionadrozda.com\/lifecycle\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1859","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.donnaionadrozda.com\/lifecycle\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.donnaionadrozda.com\/lifecycle\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.donnaionadrozda.com\/lifecycle\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.donnaionadrozda.com\/lifecycle\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1859"}],"version-history":[{"count":13,"href":"https:\/\/www.donnaionadrozda.com\/lifecycle\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1859\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1878,"href":"https:\/\/www.donnaionadrozda.com\/lifecycle\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1859\/revisions\/1878"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.donnaionadrozda.com\/lifecycle\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1859"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.donnaionadrozda.com\/lifecycle\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1859"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.donnaionadrozda.com\/lifecycle\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1859"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}