No Precedent

An honorable human relationship — that is, one in which two people have the right to use the word “love” — is a process, delicate, violent, often terrifying to both persons involved, a process of refining the truths they can tell each other.  – Adrienne Rich

 

So after many moons coming and going, after much research into the many theories and philosophies…. I’ve narrowed it down to this…
When it comes the four letter word, Love
The “romantical” type if you like,
The one you save to for the altar, I want a love like there’s one there’s never been before… No Romeo or Juliet or any other mythical tale.
I want a love without a precedent, one that’s going to make me cry tears of joy and tears of pain, as I grow, because real love is hard work, but it’s also fantastical and worth the trouble.
I want the kind of love that sets you free and resurrects you from the dead, I want a love soul deep, no pretension, no ego, no petty games, but playfulness…
I want the love I can bare my soul to and also make passionate love to.
I want a love with a honorable man, who has the guts to be himself, to be real, to be raw, to be vulnerable…
To accept he’s afraid, but still dare…
I want a goddam warrior of love, just like I am… someone who’s been to to hell and back knows which side he likes best…
So he works hard to make heaven on earth…
A man who knows nothing valuable in this life comes easy, but can still laugh and take delight at the little things in life…
Someone who can be happy with who he is, where he is and what he has while working for what he wants…
Someone who can be honest, that he’s got no idea what he’s doing, but he’s trying and he’s willing to work hard and everything once.
I want someone with a courageous, compassionate heart just like mine.
Someone who’s not afraid to love himself, and love me the same way, because we are both crooked and scarred but still worthy of a love divine.
Someone who knows there’s more to this life than the material things we leave behind, the knowledge our minds can amass, and feelings of a million things at once.
Someone who knows this life is made of little moments called now,
So he’s not willing to postpone, his dreams, his life, his love
Maybe I’m asking for a lot…
But when it comes to this “romantic” kinda love nothing else will do,
Because I want a love that can revolutionise the word.
Because that’s what love is and that’s what it does.
So I know I’m not asking for too much
Love is mysterious, everlasting and divine
Sadly, our society has distorted our views of love so much most of us don’t even know what we want when we say we are looking for love…
Thus, why sadly many so called “romantic enterprises” fail dismally time and time again.
Because most of the time this relationships are based on fleeting feelings of lust or physical attraction. Often times, the person we thought “we loved” and saw as our “saving grace”, who would offer us all the satisfactions we yearned for in a lover, disappoints us with their humanity. They weren’t in the end; all that we had fantasised them to be based on our expectations created by outside influences, our experiences of “love” in childhood and often what the media or culture around us preaches “love” should look like…
Oftentimes we are deceived with the idea, that a loving relationship should should look like two people meeting, “falling in love” at first sight, being totally compatible in everything, reading each other’s minds, hardly ever being in any conflict or disagreement and living together happily ever after? I think not.

The truth is, in my understanding, love, is a not just a fleeting feeling but a universal truth and cosmic force and virtue, which we have in all of us and it’s our moral duty to nurture and share this love, which translates into, kindness, compassion, understanding, patience, forgiveness towards every being in the planet, including ourselves, “good or bad” irrespective of our self righteous judgement, I really could and am called to love anyone and everyone. Especially those who we think are less deserving are those who need love the most.

But when it comes to this “life companion”, kind of love, where agape, philos and Eros, are combined, that is something else…
A true blessing from above, something designed by the divine, when you find that special someone who is just somehow “easier” to love than most.
That special someone who you feel this magnetising attraction to for some strange but wonderful reason, beyond physical exterior…
Who you feel a “connection” to that you just can’t understand, you’ve only just met but yet they are so familiar, and you can be so intimate with, as if you’d known them for a while already… somehow you feel secure and safe in their presence, someone who feels like home.
That someone who’s smile, makes you smile,
You want to best for them, and you are willing to sacrifice, make concessions and commit. But this comes with ease….
Although real love is hard work, with this special person is less so.
Because you both on the same boat, keeping afloat, paddling together to the shore
And you know, you won’t let go.
You are in it, for keeps, for real.
You are willing to work hard to make your garden bloom and shine with an ever present spring, but when winter comes, you’ll know that’s also, alright because the trees you planted have solid foundations, in a deep understanding of love, which can endure any weather.
So you treasure the garden and gardener, you’ve got beside…
Because for some reason with this one particular person…
You felt a sparkling soul connection,
Even though a there was million others who would’ve fit in all your intellectual boxes
And expectations of what love “should” look like…
Other’s who made you horny perhaps,
But there just was no magical spark, that “je ne sais quoi”
Which is only ignited by this one special person you feel drawn to…
Your soul recognising in the other clay from the same terrain…
A magnetising pull, almost instinctive hypnotism to this one special person…
Where as when with the million others, who intellectually qualified as potential lovers there was simply no, “divine spark”, even though you tried, but it just didn’t come…
This things, I’ve come to believe you can’t force, but they are mysterious blessings from above given to you when the time is right.
Your reason can’t explain, your ego tries to defend, and you are feeling perhaps, shit scared, excited, and a million things more at once, so just you have to surrender to this feeling of love inside.
To the universe and his funny ways…
Perhaps the answer will be revealed much later.
So when it comes to “relationships” and
love, I want that other soul, who to come home to at the end of the day,
And endlessly conversate about our days…
How it’s rough out there,
Someone you with you can rant and complain to, without fear of being judged.
Because you both understand you are not perfect; you are human, but that perfectly alright. You are still divine, in your beloveds eyes.
Someone you can be silly, confide with in the most childish and intimate things…
Someone whom with you sulk, and then discuss what was behind all of that, healing the wounds from the past.
Someone who inspires you to be a better man, but still accepts your broken self.
I want the love that can heal, it hurts but it’s real… the love that is not afraid of tenderly exposing the wounds, suppurating the pus…
And gently, lovingly, soothingly, sensually, little by little, letting the pain drain away….
Becoming a better a man, by the side of your beloved…
Not by hiding our vulnerabilities and insecurities, but by being authentic and grounded
And so transcending your egoistic humanity. Accepting each other as broken and flawed but still intrinsically worthy of love.
Two souls helping each other evolve.
And why not, heal the world, because we’ve done our work, what else are we here for?
This is what I want, not to satisfy my ego, but liberate my soul… and my beloveds too.
Someone who inspires you to be a better man, but still accepts your broken self.
Someone who’s willing to go with you go on this roller coaster, you don’t know what love would look like, but that’s alright, you are making it up, as you go along…
Theres no blueprints stablished, thats all rubbish…
Your writing your own version of happily ever after, guided by your loving heart.
By the divine; rising above the ego, and ways this world tells you “love” should be like so…
You make your own rules, your own vocabulary, your own tribe.
You found one of your kind, and that’s a blessing divine.
And sometimes we’ll just sit together in silence,
Because our souls are communicating in ways our minds are not understanding…
So we just let go,
And embrace in passionate love.
Love is an intimate friendship set on ardent fire, that’s true.
But sadly most people don’t even know what friendship is,
Keeping it all at surface level, we hide behind our ego…
Friends are someone you can be frank to and they accept you,
Friends are so hard to come by; because we are all so screwed up…
So to find love, that’s something from another world, something worth fighting for, and dying for.
When I’m on my death bed, its ok if I have a million regrets…. of things I “should’ve done”, but I don’t want one of them to be not loving hard enough, with all my heart.
That’s my mission in life.
To love and to let everyone know, love is the only way to go and antidote to all the ailments of the world.
And when I find that special person with whom to tango.
I won’t let go, in fact I couldn’t even I tried, because our destiny would already be written in the testament of the stars.
It’s true, I love everyone…
But with this one special creature, I would let them know day and night how much they mean to me, how I’m so so glad they are alive…
I would write poetry about them all the time, they’d inspire stories in me I never knew I had…
With this one special person, we would face hell and it’ll be ok though, because we are both warriors in love, with the most potent weapon, there’d be nothing we can’t face
With this one special person, we’d grow old together, we’ll see how time draws lines in our face and our bodies deteriorate; yet we’ll still love and be attracted to each other, because what unites us is beyond the cover…
We’d understand each other with just a look, we’d know what’s going on, our minds would be in synchronicity, we’d understand each other’s moods and looks, yet at the we’d still surprise each other, because we are different and cherish our differences, we’d let there be space in our togetherness, and encourage each other to pursue our individual dreams and respect our autonomy and admire our different abilities so we’d communicate our wishes and feelings clearly and honesty, without pretention or fear, but eventually after the many years it would all be almost effortless, because our communication is just great, we both understand the foundations for a solid relation.
With this one special person…
I don’t know what it would like…
But I’m exited, I can’t wait, but I must be patient… to find out
Maybe we’ll marry
Maybe we won’t
Have children? I don’t know….
Because the story is not just up me, but we’ll write it together with the prince who decides to his reserved place next to me and together we’ll sail this ship, into our own horizon and treasure island.
Where we’ll live happily ever after, we’ll make sure of that, because we’ve been to hell and back and we know which side we like.
We’ll create our own paradise.
All I know is this love won’t have a precedent.
Nothing like it, ever before.

“For one human being to love another: that is perhaps the most difficult of all our tasks… the work for which all other work is but preparation.” Rainer Maria Rilke

To Love Oneself…

To love oneself…

What does this even mean?
We all have different understating of the word love…
A fleeting irrational, animal response? A mere feeling?

Most often people relate the word love, to “romantic love” between two people, in a relationship, but even the meaning and understanding of what a relationship is so distorted nowadays… We are more “connected” than ever, but more isolated than ever before, especially from our own selves. The only real home and sure source of love we’ll ever find, our own souls.

I believe real love is more than just a feeling.
Real love is a verve, and a most potent sacred force making the world go around…
Unfortunately, language often impedes us to make sense and even express of all our feelings…
The same with love, which yes, is also a feeling of affection, care…
Eros love, includes attraction and feelings of lust…
But real love goes beyond fleeting momentary feelings, real love is a virtue and a divine gift.
I shall attempt to deconstruct or sketch a clear picture of what this love looks like:
First of all, real love encompasses the words:
Kindness
Compassion
Acceptance
Understanding
Patience
Forgiveness
Attention
Empathy
Care
Resilience
Precede the word “unconditional” before all the above…
Now I could go into defining each of the above as well, but I trust we can all look up the meaning of the afore mentioned and get a clear understanding of what they all mean.
Although these words might look all “fluffy” and rosy, rainbows and butterflies, spring everywhere…
They are actually the most difficult things to practice, for us humans, trapped in our ego shells, but they are the most powerful and redeeming forces for any one of us.
So when it comes to self love, where to start?

First by accepting yourself, sounds simple right? Easier said than done.
Accepting our messy, broken selves who everyday we try to change according to societies expectations of what we “should be” as humans.
From a young age we are made to feel inadequate and ashamed of our short comings, some more than others….
So this is the beginning, accepting who you are warts and all, and realising you are not just your “mistakes”, “defects”, but realising that these things are actually what shape you into the unique wonderful individual that you are.
Realising that it is through these struggles you are actually being polished into the diamond that you are.
Realising that there’s nothing wrong with you, you are just the way god, the universe, the providence, nature, whatever you wanna call it intended you to be… Perfectly you.
This is the first step to self love.

Acknowledging yourself in all your glory as not just a pile of negative adjectives of everything the world told you, you “should be”, but being real with the truth of who you are, and being proud of that. Sure, you are not perfect, you could have a million defects which you want to change but we all do, but the first step in changing or “improving” any of those defects or bettering yourself in any way, is by first acknowledging who you are in the first place, acknowledging and loving ourselves into “better” versions of ourselves, not outcasting or berating ourselves for certain parts we are not quite proud of or we don’t like.

For example you could have a fiery temper, and tend to feel anger which you often try to deny, keep contained or reflect onto other people, until eventually you explode… and then you give yourself even more of a hard time for “losing control”, or being an asshole, or a bad person or whatever the condemning thought might be.
The first step is to have compassion towards ourselves, for having all these feelings and unhelpful thoughts, being human and vulnerable and simply not perfect.
Then gently, being aware of certain tendencies or unhelpful habits we might’ve picked up throughout the years for whatever reason, and try to transform them into something more helpful for ourselves and others.
For example that anger, passion, all that energy can be a powerful force for transformation, for taking action towards a noble cause with compassion and benevolence above all. Because we know hate or any destructive action doesn’t benefit anyone, it only damages all parties involved.

So it’s about acknowledging yourself in all your glory and go from there…
To illustrate this, in my experience, I’ve always been an anxious person for as long as I can remember, given my “difficult” upbringing, trauma etc…
For years I tried to negate, hide this anxiety and deep sadness I felt, I just didn’t want to acknowledge them because the feelings where too painful, they were real, but I thought they were a nuisance I had to ignore and just “get on with it”. I lived totally disconnected from my emotions, trapped in my mind, telling myself how “I should” feel instead of owning up to my feelings and which lead to years of destructive behaviour. First of all, I hated myself for all the things I should be and I wasn’t, I hated myself for all my “mistakes”, so often I kept myself isolated, I lived behind a mask, never showing my true self, all my pain. It was only when I opened the doors of my own heart to myself that I could be free…

I started to feel deep compassion for myself, because my anxiety and sadness where there for a reason, I’d had a difficult past, I’d gone through some very rough things that would leave anyone sad and anxious, and there was nothing I could do about the past, the past was done, but my emotions which I didn’t allow myself to feel, where still stuck there because I never allowed myself to process them…
So I started by accepting my past and the feelings that came with them, and realising how it was ok to feel everything that I was feeling. What’s more, I realised these experiences where actually a gift, these deep suffering allowed me to become a more compassionate person towards those in pain, these experiences taught me how to forgive, myself and others.
These experiences taught me the way to love.

Now I realise, there’s no such thing in the universe as mistakes, everything happens for a reason even if we don’t realise it or understand it at the time, everything is a lesson, everything is working towards the evolution of our better selves…

So back to loving myself,
This means forgiving myself for all my mistakes, things on retrospective I could’ve done better? But hey! We all try to do the best we can with what we have with what we have and what we know at the time, so what’s the point in dwelling on the past?
We can only learn, and move on, wiser than before.
Second, loving myself means being true to myself, in all aspects.
First, it means acknowledging my past, all it’s pain and owning it. It means acknowledging all my emotions, not judging them as good or bad, just allowing them to be there, and have compassion for how hard it is sometimes to feel a million things at once that my brain can’t even process.
Loving myself means chasing my dreams, it mean having the courage to break out of my shell and create a life I’m proud of, a live that reflects my values….
Loving myself means loving others around me as well, and not being ashamed of this love, not being scared of being who I am but beaming proudly all this Love I carry within me because, heck it’s a treasure I’ve worked hard to find, literally through many years and tears.
In practical terms it means, acknowledging all my moods, all my physical sensations and acting mindfully to take care of each one. It means being present to my life every second. Being grounded in love.
It means accepting my body as it is, scarred, hairy and all.
It means nourishing it with healthy food, it means giving it the rest it needs.
It means taking care of my mind, nourishing it with wisdom, allowing it to rest and have some fun as well.
It means taking care of my emotions and listen to what they are trying to tell me…
It means making peace with myself, from the constant war… it means working with me not against me…
It means unity, mind, body and spirit…
It means learning to trust myself, my gut, my intuition.
It means being true to my values and beliefs and not be ashamed of being who I am
It means having patience with myself…. having endless compassion for my ego and anxious mind.
It means living a life that makes me happy even if others don’t understand…
It means being in touch with my real self, my soul, endless love.
It means being a compassionate, nurturing mother towards myself.
It means being deeply aware at every time of what I’m feeling and thinking, and grounded, respond accordingly.
It means being mindful and present to my life.
It means acknowledging all my desires and feelings and not keep them exiled or be ashamed of them.
It means reconciling my heart and mind.
It means spreading that love I have within me with others and everyone around me in any way I can…
It means trying to make the world a more loving place.

“To know thyself is the beginning of wisdom.”
― Socrates

On Love…

“Your task is not to seek for love, but merely to seek and find all the barriers within yourself that you have built against it.” Rumi

The meaning of life is simple,
Yet impossible to conceive or achieve when you are trapped in your ego prison.
Of egoistic reason and exiled feelings….
I believe we are here from love and to love.
We are here from a highly intelligent, complex, divine, magic, loving universe…
Through which its marvellous, chemistry and loving science,
Allowed us humans , such intricate creatures to blossom.
To be alive, against all odds.
The privilege of having the awareness, that you are real, that you exist, that out of the infinite number of possibilities… somehow there was you.
That’s an act of wonder and love.
To be on this earth, to discover who we are, beyond all we are told we “should be”…
“Should be doing” or becoming…
We already are, love,
It’s in us, its in all nature around us…
We feel it, we are one.
Despite what the ego, or egoistic reason says…
Despite all the “reasons” why…
We shouldn’t love…
Or what is love even?
Despite our distorted views or understanding of what love is; we are all hungry for it and we all deserve it, and not just crumbs or cheap imitations.
Sadly, our modern society has turned love into almost a kind of commodity you have to have to work hard to earn, or if you are lucky find somewhere…
This is the ego which tends to separate, when love unites and accepts.
When we realise, who we are, love, we can’t help but love,
The ego doesn’t control our spirit, we are beyond shallow reasoning
To feel and cherish all that the mind can’t explain.
There’s nothing more powerful in the world than love, God…
Universal unity and acceptance.
Breaking us free from fear, from the separations of illusion and superiority the ego has created.
Love restores, love reminds us we are all the same, despite our outside shells, and different tastes,
Love reminds us that we are enough, we have enough, to exist, to simply be…
The loving universe that bought has us into being is looking out for us…
Love is already within us, all around us in nature, love is in the air we breath and water we drink, in all the elements.
Love is everlasting, and present in your heart, you just have to make contact to that fountain inside that will never run dry.
Love is strength, love is courage to try again.
Love is that nurturing, compassionate mother, we all have within us.
Love brings our higher selfs to light, love sees our broken parts but doesn’t dwell in our wrongs or punishes us for coming short.
Instead it compassionately helps to try again, how you can do it better, but it’s ok if you don’t always get it right, love accept things as they are.
Love is fervent faith… in the universe, in the power of love itself.
Love is courageous, it doesn’t shrink at the ego.
Instead it kindly tries to understand what made it so, where it hurts, why so much pain? Why do you put all these defence and pretence?
Real love reminds us thats it’s ok to be broken and flawed, the mortal, fragile humans that we are. Perfectly imperfect us. Like everything in nature and creation, we are fallible, ever changing and metamorphic, full of errors, sickness and mistakes but that’s perfectly ok.
Nature in all it’s wisdom lovingly accepts and nurtures every creature in their native state, facilitating their thriving and dying in the circle of life.
Flowers don’t compete or compare their beauty against each other they simply bloom and freely grant us with their fragrance and harmonious charm because that’s intrinsically who they are.
In the same way, leaves in the trees don’t resist the changing of the seasons, their colours turning green, yellow or pink, they simply let go into the flow because they know it’s all an act of love, from the sage Providence.
Loving nature than reminds us, that our natural, wild, “beastly selves” if you like, are ok as they are. There’s no need for striving for perfection or illusions concocted by the ego, we may be horrible but also wonderful, despite it all, always deserving of that unconditional love and affection we so deeply crave, yet we deny ourselves, for a million illegitimate reasons our illusions of self righteousness which impede us from grasping and appropriating of this divine love, freely available to us all.
Above it all, the soul just wants to feel at home, secure, at one, at ease with everything else… from the love source where it came from.
We don’t have to learn how to love, it’s a natural instinct ingrained in all of us, we simply have to kindly deconstruct all the barriers we have built against it and if possible refine and deepen our understanding of love, how we can demonstrate, express, and put our love, this passions, into use for ourselves and everyone around us.
Love is already within us, we can feel it, we were born with it.
Often in romantic relationships we are looking for that one person who we can feel secure enough to show our sensitivity, insecurity, and vulnerability, and inevitable neediness, the most intimate, our wounded selves, what’s always been there but for some reason, for our survival, in our sad modern culture of “dog eat dog”, we’ve learnt we have to hide from the world, so we don’t get hurt, again.
But in this way, in guarding our hearts with heavy armours against hurt and masking our tender vulnerability we are also impending love from entering and blossoming in our hearts. The love we are after so much, we also keep at bay, because we are scared of being vulnerable, with the potential of getting hurt again. Often we are so disconnected form our own hearts that we seek for illusions of love on a superficial level, ones which flatter the ego. But the beauty and magic of true love is when you allow that one particular person to journey with you into the depths of your bleeding heart; kiss and repair your wounds one by one.
In reality, it’s not our fault that we’ve built all these barriers against love, as we grew up we were hurt, so we devised all these mechanisms and ideologies to keep us from experiencing that pain, again and again.
But know that we are aware we can choose to let those barriers down and expose our vulnerable open hearts, with love to give and receive…
In this process of being brave and open hearted, it’s important to understand that those who hurt us, are people who are hurting themselves, we shouldn’t take it as a personal attack but as a reflection of their conflictive state. One can only respond with love and compassion towards this person, and pray they find peace, acceptance and love within their hearts.

Truth is we are all broken, and hurting and just to be loved and accepted. And cherished for who were are…
We are tired of the world telling us all we should be…. so we often run away to unhelpful habits…
But when you have, find, surrender to love, you can be at ease, because you’ve found peace and home within.
What the world can say doesn’t hurt you anymore, because you stand firm in your truth, broken, flawed, but loved and that’s awesome.

“The meaning of life is to find your gift. The purpose of life is to give it away”  Pablo Picasso

 

 

The Enemy Within

Things impeding me from loving myself…
Things I don’t confess to anyone else, not even myself…
I had a difficult childhood, to say the least…
I really could write a whole book…
My family had good intentions I know, but they just didn’t know how to raise an emotionally healthy child.

I’m afraid, it was a bit like the blind raising more blind for generations on end…
I won’t start from the start, I’ll save that for my memoirs, but to summarise…
I grew up believing I wasn’t worthy of love, I was taught that I had to earn my worth and affection, somehow, through hard work…
This resulted in me being an extremely anxious child, perfectionist, high achiever… all to be “accepted” and hopefully loved by my family and peers.
I never had many friends growing up, I was always quiet a school, and kept a lot things to myself…
I grew up believing I was weird and different from everybody else, given my family situation… I never had a “stable” home, like everybody else, a mum and dad under one roof, siblings and a pet… My upbringing was all over the place, I was like a hot potato my family passed around… from relative to relative, in their attempt to provide me with a better future?
So, I guess I thought I couldn’t reveal myself to other people or they’d think I’m weird, and I’d be shamed and outcasted, so to spare myself this pain, I isolated myself and found solace, in books and writing, and painting and in anything creative where I could escape my grim reality into the wonderlands of my imagination.
In one of those “shufflings” from family member to family member I ended up moving to Australia permanently, just to be abused by my disturbed step mother. The fairytale of Cinderella, literary became my life. Unfortunately, the fairy godmother is yet to appear but I haven’t lost hope…

I was 12 at the time, and found myself in a new country of which I knew nothing about, I didn’t speak a word of English, and away from my mother, the only person in my life, who I’d always felt had unconditional love for me and felt secure around but because of her social condition, and absurd revolts in my family which I’ll never understand, I never got to spend as much time with her as I would’ve liked to…
Emotionally things became pretty dire, when I moved to Australia, although I was now living in a beautiful country, in a nice house, I didn’t have a home, I felt very much lost and abandoned; my world inside was the Machu Picchu ruins I’d left back home, except my ruins also had the the gloomy aftermath of the Hiroshima bomb, not a pretty sight. Lucky it was all inside, and I was always all smiles…
My emotionally unavailable, workaholic father was hardly ever home and appeared to not take much interest in my emotional health. Unfortunately, this is a family trait since he was raised in the same way… I don’t blame him, although at the time I remember feeling quite resentful, and often questioned if he loved me or cared about me at all… I know now that his way of showing me his love was by working hard so he could buy me things me and a good education, which was always important, above all, in his family culture…
I remember “running away” from home on several occasions to see if he’d come looking for me, he never did. He was totally oblivious to the abuse from my stepmother, he didn’t believe me, it was my word against hers. I always lost.
At school, I didnt have any friends. First because of the language barrier, and later my insecurity and shame kept me from approaching anyone. Eventually, I made friends with other “rejects” as we were called… Academically, I was still a “high achiever” and a perfectionist still, but given all the other stuff I had going on in my personal life, much to my distress, I didn’t do as well as I would’ve liked to or knew I could, and for this I was always deeply resentful to my father, for never supporting me. I saw and felt envious of all the other kids with parents who were always there for them, picking them up and dropping them off at different events, doing anything and everything for them, I had to beg just to receive any “extras”. I had to complete a list of cleaning chores every weekend just to be allowed to see my friends, the few I had. If I wanted anything other than the bare essentials for existing, all hell broke loose, so I just didn’t bother and resigned myself to a miserable existence. By this stage I was very depressed although I did not know it at the the time, I remember crying myself to sleep for weeks on end, wondering if life was worth living, why my back luck, if there was a god where was he? Why was I Suffering? Why me? Why me?…
At 13, I developed OCD, and because my “rituals” and nervous “tics” (turning lights on and off repeatedly, asking the same question over and over, etc) disturbed my stepmother even more I was sent to see a psychologist. I saw her three times, until she suggested to have some sessions with my father and stepmother to deal with the underlying issues behind my anxiety. They refused to engage in any sort of therapy so I stopped going, she gave me some tips on what to do with the rituals, I took some of it board, it kind of “worked”. I just learnt to internalise the anxiety, so that it wasn’t apparent to others and keep it quiet, I learnt how to “hide it” better.
The cherry on top for me was the fact that I was flat chested, I remember being 13, 14, 15… and waiting… but boobs never grew. I remember seeing all the other girls getting bras and looking like women, whereas I was still as flat as a board. I got this from my mother who has very small breasts but at least something there, whereas I was zilch, zero, nada… I hated myself with passion for this.
I could not tell anyone about my teenage body inadequacy, there was no one I trusted enough to talk about my body issues and since at this time I had very little contact with my mother, first of all because communication back then wasn’t as easy as it is now. Also, I think part of me found it easier to deal with the pain of being away from her by just pretending she didn’t exist anymore. So nonetheless, my lack of boobs became another one of the monsters haunting me all the time… My body, just me in general… defected goods. My mind was a mess, my body wasn’t right… my family was nuts… and I couldn’t talk to anyone about it all. I kept shit bottled up for years.
I didn’t even know what was going on for me… I learnt to numb my feelings and dissociate, put on an act… of everything’s ok, people pleasing…. When inside I was crumbling.

At 16, I couldn’t take my stepmothers shit anymore, I’d decided I’d take “control” of my life and move out of home much to my fathers disapproval. I seeked refuge with an aunty of mine, I was “lucky” I suppose, to have some extended family nearby, who knew about my evil stepmother. My aunty was willing to help, unfortunately, she lived in a different state, which meant I had to leave my school, right at the most crucial time, the last year of high school, which supposedly marked your entry into university or not…. Although I wasn’t sure whether or not I wanted to go to university or what was it I wanted to do after school, other than to do something in the creative arts, which had always been one of my hobbies and outlets, but one which sadly, my family never nourished, not surprisingly…

Either way, I ended up moving states, changing schools and developing a full blown eating disorder. Quite rapidly I became anorexic. I did not what I was doing, I obviously did not set out to achieve this. If you are a reading this and know nothing about eating disorders I suggest you get informed. Eating disorders are not a fad or a trend or a diet or a conscious decision a person makes, but a serious and life threatening illness just like cancer or diabetes…

Anyway, this is how it happened for me; I was 16 at the time and “taking control” of my life… so I thought. I decided I’d start eating “healthy” as part of “renovating” my life. I remember always wanting to have a flat belly, a “bikini body”, I was flat chested so much to my distress there was nothing I could do about that, other than plastic surgery (which I did later on), but at this stage I thought I could “improve” other parts of my body, mind and spirit, I devoted myself to exercise, “eating healthy”, reading and doing art. I desperately wanted to be a “better” person other than poor, defected me… Things started spiralling out of control relatively quickly though… I started doing zero school work, I just couldn’t stop exercising a certain amount each day, I was very strict on what I ate and my meals started decreasing more and more, I couldn’t stop thinking about food… At this stage none of my clothes fitted me anymore, I was skin and bones. I remember looking in the mirror and seeing myself looking gaunt, tired and tragic and thinking how ugly I was and how somehow my exterior for once reflected exactly what was going on inside, a bloody nuclear war. So I hid in baggy clothes…
At this stage I’d never heard of eating disorders before, I had no idea about anorexia or bulimia or that things as such existed… I didn’t know what I was doing had a name.
But I knew something wasn’t right, although it was hard to admit it, I knew I was less in control of anything than before… exercise and food had taken over my life, I felt I wanted to die, I did not know what to do, I felt desperate and helpless, my attempt to be in control had failed dismally. It was then when I called my father, who I hadn’t talked to in months, crying my life out and pleading for help, I was desperate willing to do anything, I just wanted to be ok… and be “normal” for once in my life. My father, being a doctor himself knew nothing about eating disorders, but he asserted I go and see a doctor immediately. Which I did, everything happened very quickly after that first doctor’s visit which my aunty very kindly assisted me to. I remember her being very worried the poor thing, not knowing what the hell was wrong with me, why I was acting very strange… she was very kind and sympathetic towards me; and for that I’ll always be eternally grateful, I wish and hope I can somehow repay her kindness just when I needed it the most.
But back to the story, after a quick blood test, which revealed my emaciated state I was told to pack my bags I was being admitted to hospital. I remember feeling somehow relived, that maybe there was hope for me but also shit scared not knowing what was ahead…

This was just the beginning of a roller coaster “recovery” battle head on with anorexia, bulimia, my self hate in general.
My first admission was to a psychiatric hospital where they diagnosed me with infamous anorexia nervosa, a diagnosis which no one in my family understood, neither did I, all I knew is I was scared to eat, stop exercising and the prospect of gaining weight terrified me. Even though I knew I was stick thin, I just didn’t want to be worthless and fat, on top of that. After a week at the initial hospital, I was transferred to another clinic with an “eating disorder program”, where I had a three month stay until I reached a “healthy” BMI and with the help of a few inpatient psychology groups I only just started to scratch the surface of the surface of the massive boulder under all the anorexia symptoms.
Unfortunately after this first admission, now at a healthy weight, my family and me were all under the impression I was “cured”. Also unfortunately, the treatment for eating disorders in Australia at the time was mainly focused on re-feeding you to a “healthy weight” and that’s about it… When I was discharged nobody told me I should see a psychologist, psychiatrist, dietitian… have any sort of follow up, things which I learnt much later on are essential for any chance at ongoing recovery. But I was simply told “see you later”… which they did, time and time again, I relapsed. Once too many times, more than I like to admit.

In between hospital admissions I tried to do something with myself, take up study, design, social work, theology, have different part time jobs, in pretty much any industry you can think of… You name it, I’ve tried it… I managed to make a few friends, have a boyfriend, save enough money to have the boob job I always wanted… I tried to live my life as “normal” as I could, but it was all an act… I was still very much unaware of all my internal conflicts and self hate… Although my symptoms were somewhat “controlled”, and I tried to appear “normal”, I was just trying to fool myself and keep my family and everybody around me happy.
Internally I was still very much struggling… Eventually anorexia turned into bulimia, which was a whole another sort of hell. The good news was, I eating now! I was eating alright…. enough to feed a family of five for a week every night and vomiting it all back up, staying up all night doing this. I was working full time as a “Disability Support worker” during the day, not eating anything all day of course , but drinking litres of water and coffee just to get me through the day to earn the pay check, to pay my rent and spend the rest on food I would vomit in self loathing… Looking back I really don’t know how I survived this self flagellation. Needless to say, I couldn’t go on with this torment for too long, after about a year of this “binging and purging” vicious cycle (as this inferno is referred to in the industry), I admitted I had a problem with another type of monster this time called bulimia… which resulted being more expensive than anorexia I must add! I was broke and broken inside, now more than ever.
By this stage however, I was made much more informed about eating disorders and the treatment available. Although my family still and to the day do not understand much about my condition, I researched online, eating disorder treatment centres in Australia where I could check myself in. I ended up travelling interstate to a clinic with a new and reputable “ED” program, it was there where finally, I started making some breakthroughs into the anorexia/bulimia iceberg. Unlike the clinics I’d been to before, where it just was all just about the food and weight. At this clinic, the doctor and psychologist tried to explore with each client what was driving their eating disorder, as they did with me. After I was discharged from their 40 day program, which I returned to a few times later, they recommended I try “schema therapy” to treat the root of my problem with a psychologist in my city. So I did, I was determined to do anything to “recover”. Unfortunately, my family, my father in particular, who never understood the problem was not very willing to support my treatment financially, which meant sessions with a psychologist/dietitian were scarce, whenever I could afford them or whenever my father felt merciful enough to give into my begging for help.

Throughout the years I’d seen many psychologists, all of which apported a bit of wisdom I suppose, CBT, DBT.. all the therapies, you name it, I’d try it. Self help books, I’d read them all, but to be honest nothing seemed to make that big of a difference in my emotional state. Until, I met my “schema therapy” psychologist, Catherine, who knew me better than I knew myself. Only here, I became aware of parts of me I dissociated from, my “abandoned child”, my internalised, punitive father and step mother, who although I’d long ago stopped living through their hell, I was still tormented by their voices… The enemy within.
And this is a constant battle still, I still struggle to accept, love myself.
Í still restrict my eating.
As much as I’d like to say this is a happy ending I very much don’t know…
This is only a very brief outline of “my story”,
I’d like to say I’m “recovered”, but I’m not.
What is that even?
“Normal”? No one is, that much I’ve learnt.
I’ve also learnt that everything happens for a reason, although I may not understand it at the time, I believe there is a God syncing the universe, not necessarily punishing or rewarding people for their actions, but I believe there is a higher power overseeing this cosmic, comical tragedy… one which we just can’t comprehend with our tiny human minds and huge ego’s…
I don’t know if it’s a he or a she, if he/she wrote the bible or the Koran or any other holy book. But I believe the Universe works in weird and wonderful ways, a bit like me, I try to tell myself…
I know the antidote to my self hate is love, but heck….
Love, sounds so fluffy, so easy, breezy and wonderful, when the truth is, everyday I struggle, I wrestle, I slither and grapple on the filthy floor to even reach an inch of love for myself.
Going through this torbellino, has had its “plus sides”, I suppose… If you want to find a positive to every negative and “see the glass as half full” rather than “half empty”.

This quest for “recovery” has pushed me to “better myself” in a lot of ways I would not have otherwise ever been interested in exploring. I’ve discovered I’m really curious in understanding more about how the human mind and our emotions and body’s and “beings” in general and how we work… I’m deeply interested in what you’d term as, psychology, philosophy, spirituality, natural medicine… all of course with the hope of finding a “cure” for my internal ailments. I contemplate the meaning of life everyday…
I’ve also rekindled a passion for writing, one which I had as a kid but because of all the other shit I had going on, never pursued…
I’ve also developed compassion and understanding towards others, I’ve learnt to forgive and give others the love I can’t give myself.
I just yearn to break free of this jail where I keep myself captive, just surviving…
I know I still have a very long way to go on my “recovery”, although I don’t have a long way to go in life, I’m 28 and I feel I’ll soon be dead and I’m still struggling, the thought which makes me feel sick to the depths of my soul.
Who would’ve thought, loving yourself, would be the hardest task of a lifetime…
The opposite is so much easier, running a marathon each day, restricting my eating, depriving myself from living…
But I’m not giving up… until my last breath.

The doctor at the last clinic I went to, his name was Peter, who became like a father figure to me, ironically enough he resembled a lot my stern grandfather, (who my father got his charm from). But anyway, Peter had the motto of “turtle steps”, slow and steady wins the race. And I really took his advice on board.
I don’t know if I’ll ever see Peter again, for my sake I hope not, in an inpatient situation anyway. I hope to stay clear off hospitals for as long as I can and hopefully it’s all “up hill” from here, but I really don’t know…

If theres one thing I’ve learnt last year though, is that anything is possible, and you can expect the impossible, in both a good and not so good way.
Life give you lemons and melons in ways you least expect it. And it’s all to polish you and make you a better person, better than your former self.
We are here in this earth to learn love, compassion, patience… all the virtues and wisdom, oftentimes through suffering, for the evolutions of our souls, I have a feeling…

My story is not yet finished, and heck this is only the prologue of the prologue, which despite my perfectionistic tendencies, which in the past would’ve prevented me from posting this, I’m gonna do it. Even though I’m highly dissatisfied with it, even though it’s far from perfect, even though I’ve left so many important parts out, even though I’ve written this having only had about three hours sleep from the insomnia that’s been haunting me lately, (obviously from all my unresolved unconscious issues).
I’m going to publish this, because one of the things I want to do this year is to be true to myself, who ever that is… Let go off the rosy mask I try to put on and present the raw, real, broken, limping me.

I’ve learnt the clock is ticking and there’s no better time to do the things you want to do than now! Tomorrow, might never come, no one guarantees me I’ll live to see a new day, I’ve literally been close to death so many times…

So I’m determined to be brave, bite the bullet, and live my life the best I can, with what I have and can/know-how, now.
Be happy now, despite…
So this is part of my truth.
I’ve taken off my mask, so please excuse my ugliness….
But I’m daring to peak outta my shell for a little bit and face the world…. and man it’s bright out there, so turtle steps…
And with this, here’s the minuscule glimpse, into “my story”….

Beaming Hearts…

My heart will forever be open, for you to arrive and walk past… Come and go as you please. I’m not here to tease, but to make you feel at ease, show you how I miss your sweet mystic… Remind you how you really are unique.
I’m quite comfortable walking around barefoot and naked, exposing my soul, just the way I am…
Without much to give other than the one most precious thing I have, sharing my love…

For what are we here for if not to embrace our full quirky humanity and make love large to life and all it’s wonders… Make love to our sadness, to our grief, to our anxiety, to our fear, to our shame and insecurities…

Compassionately ameliorate all the wounds bleeding in our being and resolve the enigmas tormenting our psyches…Learn to cherish, nurture and infuse in our pain and difficulty, grow stronger and transform our virtuous souls…

To learn how to put our egos aside and rest in the ever expansive inclusive awareness of our interconnected essence as one universal family. One constant intermutating living organism that is this world as we know it… Assimilate and exercise a new compassionate way of being, a more benign alternative, where there’s no more or less, in fact we are all the same, yet authentic and invaluably valuable at the same time. Where we are all safe to simply be unapologetically ourselves in all our magnitude…
Although we are living in a ticking time bomb, although we are floating in the middle of ambiguous air, perhaps in the middle of impending doom… Where nothing is guaranteed, yet anything is possible… Where strife and pain are very real, yet we can still rest in peace because we are grounded in love… We have roots reaching down into the earth’s very core, impregnated with the life-giving, benevolent, loving nature of the universe… And so know that through this sturdy, hardy, love we can endure anything, we can achieve anything, we can live and experience everything…

 
For what is life if not one massive playground, with no safety rails…
A laboratory where we are free to experiment and draw our own conclusions, learn our own lessons…
A collective cosmic drama made up of a million of individual stories in which each one of us is the main characters and authors our own novels… A monumental play in which each day the universe is witness to our laughter, satisfaction and sorrow, our many victories and defeats yet one where the only audience to please is really our own souls…
So I’m not here to spend my days living in the sidelines, I’m not interested in a shallow virtual reality, I’m not here to hold back and be my own captor, to retain my impulse and thirst for life, to experience things which satisfy my soul… I’ve got cards to play and I’m out to risk it all… Life is a gamble and I’ve already won the major prize of living life each day, lovingly, from my heart, spreading kindness wherever I am…

 
So I’m not afraid of getting hurt.
My heart has been constantly broken and repaired from the day I came I into this earth.
One thing I’ve learnt is that love is wonderfull and love can be pain, but nevertheless love redeems itself. Since it’s been said that when you love until it hurts there’s no more pain, only love remains…
Love is the antidote to hate, love is magic, love is alchemy… Love reintegrates the shattered pieces animosity leaves behind… Love cleans up the mess of scarcity, injustice and malice… And lovingly, compassionately, ever so graciously, turns them into lessons for the soul, more valuable than gold.
Pain and love, go hand in hand, love makes pain worthwhile. Pain is the murky elixir in which sometimes our hearts have to maride, to grow tender and allow for love to shine through…
Love is the noble paladin which greets and meets harsh words with turning the other cheek. Love looks at fear and insecurity with sympathetic and understanding eyes and invites them to come inside, not fight but hear their discharge and realise there’s a middle way, where it can all coexist in harmony, past the momentary chaos, it’s all part of life…

 
So regardless of your history, you can put aside your misery. Pure and true love and life are freely available to anyone, anytime, you just have to rewire your mind. Silence the cognitive, analysing critic creating your punitive and unforgiving reality and instead start to listen to your instinctively kind and courageous heart, it knows the way, it’s really wiser than we think.

 
Because somewhere along the way you learn that knowledge is not wisdom, money is not fortune, you can have abundant company and still feel alone. You can have everything and anything you ever wanted yet still not be happy or satisfied, you can search the world over looking for love and peace yet still not feel complete, for this things are only found within, whenever, wherever you are… At any time, you can start the journey and follow the trail for coming home, listening to the yearnings and guidance of your soul…
So even though it can be a long, bumpy road, know you are not alone…
As for me, I will never get tired of proclaiming the miracle of everyday…
The miracle of being, of breathing, of thinking, of feeling…
Of creating whole galaxies out of nothing but ethereal passing mementoes of my imagination…
If you are not consumed by the wonder of everyday life, you are not doing something right… So it’s time to take off the glasses of rigidity, of cynicism, of expectation, of lies… And instead look at life with organic vision and appreciate the beauty and magnificence of every second no matter where you are or what you are doing… Every second has the potential for magic, it’s up to us to unlock it…
So go out and make love, make magic, make divine life happen… despite the tragedy, in the middle of the agony.
Draw a smile upon your heart.

“Let my soul smile through my heart and my heart smile through my eyes, that I may scatter rich smiles in sad hearts.” –  Paramahansa Yogananda

I love you naked

To you beautiful dear stranger…

I see you and I love you, as you are, with all your quirks and all your fears.

With your freeting, anxious mind.

With your many mistakes and defeats, with your gloriously messy life…

There’s nothing wrong with you, you are perfectly imperfect you.

I love your eyes, your sad eyes from which many tears have come.

I love your mouth, that which eats too little or way too much. That which can never find the right words to say…

I love your stubby nose, that with which you can savour the fresh healing Spring.

I love your ears, those which expectantly waited for words of love…

I love your hair, that which you waxed, dyed and cut yet it’s still there graciously trying to keep you warm.

I love your crooked teeth, those sturdy yellowy soldiers you haven’t brushed enough.

I love your bulging belly, that one you so desperately try to flatten.

I love your flat chest, even though it’s now silicone clad.

I love your neck, sustaining your skull and the chaotic brain inside.

I love your thighs, those reduced from persistent exercise.

I love your back, your crooked spine.

I love your behind, that one that’s bony and flat.

I love your arms, those you use to give your favourite; hugs…

I love your fingers, those tipping this words…

I love your legs, those you used to run away from yourself, those that every time found their way home…

I love your feet, those bearing the weight of your existence.

I love each one of your toes, those for whom you don’t usually spare a thought.

I love your body whole, that martyr you often reject, that one which made you feel ashamed…

I love your crazy mind…

I love your lonely soul…

I love your bleeding heart…

My whole life I felt like something important was missing… Like I’d been abandoned and was all alone, defected and incomplete. 
My whole life I was always uneasy, restlessly looking for that something missing, for that someone I had to find, to feel love, to feel whole.

I thought I had to become, to strive, to transform into something other than me. 
I thought maybe one day I would graduate into being, that one day I would earn my worth.

Little l did I know that someone I was searching for was closer than I’d ever imagine, it was you all along…
The love of my life looking right back at me… ever-suffering you.
Through the good times and the bad you stood by me, patiently, benignly waiting for me to come to my senses and see you, acknowledge you, embrace you and love you like I am now, wholeheartedly and fiercely, like it’s the only thing I know how to do…

 
Because I’ve realised there will another you, who loves me as much as you do, who has so much love to give so freely, often to be rejected, but now I’m ready to receive it. I’m ready to commit. I’m ready to take on the world with you by my side, even when it’s dark, I’ll have your back. I’m sorry I made you cry and tell you to shut up. I promise to cherish you and fan the flames in your heart. Together we’ll chase dreams, together we’ll comfort and pick each other up, now together we will never be alone. I won’t never ever leave you behind, on you I’ll never give up.

 
I’ve realised now I was always whole, full of mighty potent love, bringing me back to life.

 
So watch me now as I open the door, please come inside… Watch me as I lift you up and carry you to me, sit in my bed, it’s not the most comfortable but it’s all I’ve got.
I’m broken and I’m broke, without many assets but this one precious heart to be your confidant, to write you poems and bring you flowers, to take you dancing and together explore the world.

Everything I have, all that I am is yours now, to treasure and to nurture the way only you know how… To dissect and discern, to decipher and to probe, to find the answers I don’t even know….

Let me dry the tears from your eyes, let me brush your hair back and run my fingers through your mane… Let me stroke your arms just the way you like it, let me make you tea, the one you wanted. Let me cook you food it won’t make you fat.

In my arms you are safe dear, you can rest. Your secrets I won’t tell. I won’t judge and criticise. You can put down your mask, your shield and armour, there’s no need to hide, you are free to be, free to feel, free to shine, blow out and reignite. 
The load you carry around, I’ll help you unpack, make yourself comfortable, feel free to lay back…

Inhabit this humble abode, this physical vessel, mind and soul are yours to forever honor and uphold.

You are enough, you have always been enough.

Lets stop this fight, it’s time we made up.

Welcome home

Being Free…

Freedom is breathing in deeply, exhaling and opening my eyes to the miracle of my existence…
Freedom is the liberating prospect of a inexhaustible possibilities….
Freedom is unlocking my throat and shouting out the top of lungs, having my voice heard, recording my thoughts and breathing life into my emotions, leaving a foot print and permeating my essence into the world…
Freedom is flicking my wand and spinning my dreams into reality…
Freedom is falling asleep at night and imagining Utopia… Living in Utopia
Freedom is smiling when I’m sad.
Freedom is right when there’s left
Freedom is love when there’s hate
Freedom is forgiveness

Freedom is not giving up.
Freedom is challenging the odds.
Freedom is devising another path.
Freedom is becoming lady luck, playing my cards right.

Freedom is knowing there’s calm after the storm, withstanding the storm.
Freedom is dancing in the rain, being soaked but remaining ardent inside.

Freedom is seeing shining sparkles in the dark.
Freedom is finding the intrinsic beauty of all things…
Freedom is planting the tree of kindness in desolate, rocky terrain and inviting everyone to feast on the fruits.

Freedom is waking up to my humanity, my temporality, that I’m dying.
Knowing that one day it’ll all be over, nothing lasts forever, no feeling is final.
Freedom is letting come and letting go, letting be…
Freedom is assimilating the impermanent and transient nature of all things.
Freedom is condensing into a droplet and merging with the ocean, sky… Air…
Everything and nothing.
Freedom is surrendering to the now.
Freedom is laughing at myself, at the absurdity of the critical importance of all my vain errands.
Freedom is providing that suited-up, politically-correct, stern individual who every day shows up in my mind to take care of business, a place to loosen up his tie, put the agenda aside, cancel all meetings and show up for the most important of all affairs and enterprises, this minute.
Freedom is knowing we are not invincible, becoming acquainted and accepting of the bounds of our flawed, imperfect mortality.
Freedom is being able to be anything in the world but still choosing to be ourselves.
Freedom is knowing you are enough.
Freedom is knowing this moment is just right.

Freedom is the metamorphosis of our hearts.
Freedom is the stillness of our minds.

Freedom is trust, freedom is faith.
Freedom is courage.
Freedom is risky and ambiguous.

Freedom is closing our eyes and jumping, knowing our wings will unfold or we’ll fall, but either way, somehow, we will land. Knowing gravity.
Freedom is not the absence of rules but accepting the rules, and playing by the rules.
Freedom is clarity, and the potential for anarchy

Freedom is an internal revolution.

Freedom is invoking and awakening the chameleon, the lion, the gazelle, the Phoenix… All the wild, mythical creatures dormant in our souls.

Freedom is falling from the tree, becoming ripe, becomes whole…
Freedom is seeing our reflections and blemishes we hide, hearing our suppressed yearnings and subconscious demands…
Freedom is knowing ourselves and having a fair trial.
Freedom is drafting up our personal constitutions and emancipating every realm of our being…
Freedom is commanding our energy and accepting responsibility for the waves we make…

Freedom is an everyday riot.
Freedom is rising above the physical constrains of our bodies and illusory prisons of our minds.
Freedom is enduring captivity and oppression.
Freedom is a repented, reformed convict.
Freedom is a faithful, devoted slave.
Freedom is being condemned for life but in spirit soaring high.

Freedom is our downfall.
Freedom is our human contradiction.
Freedom is fantasy.
Freedom is truth, the maximum expression of an unreal reality.

Freedom is catching glimpses of, sometimes touching the Divine.
Freedom is eternal awareness.
Freedom is rare, freedom is quiet.
Freedom is precious.

Freedom is our right.
Freedom is ours for the taking.
Freedom is waiting.
Freedom is being.

“None are more hopelessly enslaved than those who falsely believe they are free”  ― Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Courage, dear Heart

This walking in the dark; through the cool mist, trying to palpate the face of uncertainty… Feeling the abrupt wind slap my face and pierce my core as it gushes past me, thrusting my body forward and back, diligently, ever so carefully whispering at me rushes of air from every angle…
Walking at the mercy of the elements’ temperament and capriciousness, with no protection or life-cover, no road map or compass…
Guided exclusively by my curiosity and rapid heart beat…
Like a babe left alone to feebly, clumsily almost comically start to stumble and take his faltering first steps…

This fascinating exploration of the most remote, dark cave, in the utmost depths of fantastic, uncharted, new-lands, where no predecesor has ever gone before…
Where it will lead or what I may find nobody knows.
And so I take a deep breath and keep walking…
This floating in the infinitude of Unknown space, of endless, unexpected possibilities…
Of fleeting comets, shining stars, supernovas and black holes, alien constellations and whole different worlds…
Where my next breath is not guaranteed.
No one knows with exactitude just how long this oxygen tank will last.
And I know this illusory ground I walk on is shifting quicksand…
Any minute I could step on a trapdoor and fall through.
I know this for I’ve already fallen through.
I’ve been falling from the minute I was born…
And where I will land nobody knows.
Or if I ever will. So why am I expecting a landing? Or to reach a destination?
Expectantly awaiting the next station and missing the breathtaking view along the way.
And so I take a deep breath and continue plummeting through this cosmic tunnel….

Like an autumn leaf being graciously swept in whirlwind through a congested maze of concrete, in a confounding metropolis comprised of a million different landscapes… Dark-alleyways, leafy-boulevards, underground subways and bunkers, rooftop patios in sky-scrapping lego block buildings, opponent monuments, secret hideaways, public arenas and amphitheaters, shopping malls and amusement parks, quiet parks and deserted parking lots, junkyards and serene lagoons, shady neighbourhoods and privileged quarters, a whole array of different landmarks and destinations, inhabited by a colourful assortment of a million different races and ethnicities of busy human ants, young and old, rich, poor and everything in between… Where and at whose feet this leaf will land is anyone’s guess…

So is this falling through life… left, right, up, down, forwards and backwards, sideways and swerving, slowly and fast, spiralling in every direction, life is no straight line.
Nothing is guaranteed, and just what we’ll see and be presented with is anyone’s guess… The present always being a surprising gift for us to unwrap the minute we open our eyes for a brand new day…
Despite our calculations and best predictions and expectations, despite a certain degree of the predictability perhaps derived from monotonous and sheltered existences… As much as we’d like to think, we know where we are going and try to cruise control, the reality is there are a million different external factors affecting our existence over which we have absolutely no control over, and really the only thing we can control is the presence we have in this very second.
For the past and future, are right now as much as an illusion as the dreams we carry inside.
Unsettling, freeing and empowering realisation all at the same time.
And so I take a deep breath and continue gliding through this whimsical rabbit hole…

And so I’ve realised that’s its this process of falling, of walking and being swept, of journeying along that counts…
Because somewhere along the way we become what we are, we grow into our own skin, we find the guts to grow the balls, to bite the bullet and brace ourselves for an ever present winter… To show up for our existence no matter what the weather.
It’s about realising this tumultuous falling is our evolution…
Realising that through this process, through time, through experience, through the many wounds which heal to become scars, we develop a shell, an armour, a protection from the weather and impending chaos of the outside, which then prevents the disruption or minimises the impact of any external turmoil on our internal ecosystem and inner harmony…
It’s about not just helplessly falling anymore, but dexterously unfolding our wings, those we never knew we had to begin with and purposefully going along with the flow of life…
It’s about growing strong and hardy along the way…
Yet at the same time conserving our essence, the ingenuity with which we started, remaining authentic, cultivating our keen, sensitive hearts and becoming ever more vulnerable and intuitive at the core.

It’s about integrity; becoming whole. A fusion of mind, body and soul.
It’s about having what we say and do align. It’s about reconciling our hearts and minds.
It’s about conquering our fears and shining the light on the scary shadows that use to give us a fright at night. It’s about realising our limitations, and making peace with our imperfections. It’s about daring to speak our truth, untying the knots on our throats and breaking free of the bindings tying our limbs, hearts and minds and daring to start crafting our visions and living our dreams, regardless of contrarian opinions or pessimistic forecasts… It’s about expecting things to go wrong but daring anyway, because we know we’ll be ok. Because we’ve realised there’s no such thing as failure but that every mistake is a valuable life lesson, regardless of how awful it might feel, how wrong it may seem or how difficult to overcome it might be.

It’s about falling and getting back up again and again and never giving up, changing course if necessary but continuing to march. Its about no longer constructing our castles up in the ethereal air of false promises and passing illusions, but in the solid ground in which we’ve fallen, in the rugged reality of our flawed humanity in an imperfect world, where things don’t always go right and without fail we will make mistakes.
It’s about opening up and welcoming pain and difficulty, because we’ve realised that it’s through the fire that we are polished.

It’s about daring to be accountable for all our actions and taking responsibility for our existence. It’s saying “Yes, thats my mess and I will clean it up”, “That’s the bed I made and I will lay in it”, “Yes, I fell, but I’ll get back up again.” It’s about learning to mend the ruptures in the fine linings of our souls, recognising where we’ve gone off course and then gently and compassionately, picking ourselves up, kissing better our own wounds, nursing back to health own our souls and once recuperated dare to try again and build the bridges between where we are and where we wish to get to…

It’s about seeing our rise and fall as alchemy, a process of transfiguration.
It’s about collecting life lessons, like pebbles along the way, souvenirs for our souls.

It’s about understanding that we are the creators of our own luck and architects of our own destinies, because no matter where life may take us, ultimately we do have the power to decide what we settle for and what we strive for. Wether we choose to be passive victims of our circumstances or choose to take mindful action and take ahold the reigns of our life’s. It’s about exercising our full beings, mind, body and soul and growing flexible and open minded, tolerant and resilient. Letting our hearts marinade in suffering’s potion, grow tender and be cleansed of ego’s condemnation and futilely vain agenda. Letting go of what we think life should be and accepting what is, trusting, hoping, knowing that everything is working out for a higher good… Trusting that everything we may encounter along the way is serving a purpose, even if the reason is not immediately obvious or agreeable with our perception.

It’s about realising that just because things don’t go our way, it doesn’t mean it won’t be ok, but learning to trust the Universe and it’s wisdom, the Mystery and many things we can’t understand… Being ok with not knowing and letting the uncertainty excite us not paralyse us.

Because we’ve realised there’s no such thing as dumb or random luck. The universe is wise, and in all its wisdom it has allowed for human life to flourish. And so we can rest in the knowing we are ruled by these mighty wise laws we might never be able to fully comprehend or decode with our limited human sciences, so we do well to respect and uphold in revenrence and awe and coexist with the Mystery.
Embracing the Mystery. Because one thing is for sure, if the universe and all its wonders have conspired for us to alive in this very second is not for us to just merely exist but rather to thrive; to become a full expression of our humanity, exploit our gifts and talents, experience a full range of emotions, take a hold of our existence and leave a print where we are standing…
To flourish like crazy beautiful wild flowers, which withstand natural and man-made oppressions and against all odds bloom and delight us with all their splendour…
Like every other living creature lovingly crafted, so are we, called to unravel to our full potential, fulfil our purpose of being uniquely ourselves and so find our own beat and style and join in the rhythmic, kaleidoscopic dance of life…

It’s about realising this journey is not of becoming or achieving anything in particular but rather realising and fulfilling who we already are in all our magnitude.
It’s about becoming acquainted with ourselves, realising there’s no need to “find ” ourselves in external sources, or try to construct makeshift alien identities and looking outside for external validation… But instead turning inward and befriending the stranger that’s been with us for from the start, our worst enemy and best friend. Its about opening the doors of our hearts, coming home to ourselves and filling that vacant seat of honour in the thrones and driving seats of our lives. Letting go off everything we’ve learnt we should be and embracing and nurturing everything that we are… both the good and the ugly.
Because we’ve realised that’s it’s only when we accept what’s already there that we can become anything else we might wish to be….

It’s about realising that no matter what life will throw our way, we will be alright…

Because despite the 99.9% of things we can’t control there is one thing we are the sole and rightful governors and custodians of, ourselves.
And it’s in this .1% where our freedom and power lies…
It’s about realising that despite where the currents of life may take us, we have the power to create our realities wherever we are, through what we choose to pay attention to, through our attitudes, through our actions…
It’s about becoming aware of this enormous power and with it, this great responsibility.
It’s about understanding that every action has a reaction, and although we are free to choose, we are not free from the consequences of our choices…
It’s about learning that, that which we saw we will harvest… Good, bad, or nothing at all.
Not because there’s a patriarchal, condemning judge or law enforcer overseeing the universe who will give you punish or reward each person according to their behaviour but simply because of physics and laws of the universe which although we might not be able to fully to comprehend we are all bound by and no one can escape… And although we may try to deny it, although our intellects may try to device loopholes, and we may try to philosophise and argue white into being black, the reality is we can’t fool ourselves, our hearts intrinsically know right from wrong. Wether we choose to uphold it and act accordingly we all have a moral code we are born with, ingrained in us at conception.

So its about understanding that wether in this life or the next, call it karma or law of reaction or whatever else you like, it will catch up to you, eventually.
But even if never does, it’s good to do good anyway, for we are the sole espectators of our own lifes from beginning to end and from our consciences we can’t hide.

It’s about understanding that life can either be seen as the most absurd tragedy or trivial black comedy in its entirety, scripted by the most accomplished sadist author with a questionable, crude, sense of humour… Or as the greatest fable, an epic saga; tales of love, truth, justice, courage, a testimony to the sacredness of the human spirit.

A universal saga of boundless proportions, the greatest story ever told in which these empirical, timeless virtues will always rule supreme and will always overcome despite the adversity, endless hurdles and torrential curve-balls thrown our way…

Tales in which each one of us is called to be the author and main character, heroes and villains…
Tales which will tell of the many dragons we slayed, the many frogs we converted into royalty and of all the many times we ventured off and climbed into the tallest tower of the greatest castle in the highest mountain of a far far away land to liberate and revive many a damsel in distress… Tales which will tell of the many tempting apples in which we met our downfalls, our many Waterloos, and kryptonites… But then, just when we thought we were done for and as our oppressors were preparing to have their final laugh, the miracle happened and something in us resurrected, we embodied yet another superpower we didn’t even know we had; courage, resilience, hope, a human heart…

It’s about realising that as protagonists and authors ourselves, we have the privilege and power to choose the genre these tales are written in, even if the backdrop and scenes have already been set for us, we still have free reign to choose the next plot twist, the moral of the story and even if not necessarily how it will end, we can choose what we lived for and what we dared to die for.

So I’ve realised that in this wonderful precipitation that is life, all that’s required is for me wholeheartedly show up, to say “Yes” to life’s audacious invitation, to come forward, let life’s mystic envelop me, take me into her sturdy, playful arms and propel me onto this miraculous journey, all I need to do is be fully present for each marvellous and terrifying moment. So even though I have no idea where I will land… All I know is it’ll be alright.

For I’ve been falling long enough now to understand life has a funny way of always working out…
So I’m learning to let go of the way I think things should be and just relax, be patient and trust the intuitive sophistication of the flowering of life, everything in due time… As long as I’m present and living from my heart, taking advice from my mind, honouring my past and exercising its many lessons while expecting and equipping myself for an unexpected future, no curve-ball can do no harm, but everything is simply another chapter in my epic saga…

And so I’ve realised that in this life everything we are called to do is to continue plunging and rising again, perforating celestial stratospheres, pushing the boundaries of our human limitations, forever breaking new ground and reaching milestones we didn’t even know existed… Falling ever deeper, bonding ever more intimately with tantalising uncertainty and the ambiguity of life… And in the process, graciously unfolding ourselves, shedding our cocoons and exposing glimpses of our hearts through the magnifying covertures of our actions; the deeds and tales, legends of what we dared to do or regretfully neglected to in this animated, awesome vortex out of which anything can be expected, but where nothing is for sure and only one thing is guaranteed, no one will come out alive to tell the fantastic tale, all we can do is fully live it while it lasts…

So I take a deep breath and keep on walking, floating, falling high into the open everlasting, limitless heavens… Now with my eyes wide open, relishing at the views, taking field notes, and photographs, collecting momentoes, making pit stops to stretch my legs, talking to other travellers and making friends along the way. My heart heart is now exposed and our only protection is the love it radiates, and it’s sheerly obscure skies ahead…

“Be patient toward all that is unsolved in your heart and try to love the questions themselves, like locked rooms and like books that are now written in a very foreign tongue. Do not now seek the answers, which cannot be given you because you would not be able to live them. And the point is, to live everything. Live the questions now. Perhaps you will then gradually, without noticing it, live along some distant day into the answer.” ― Rainer Maria Rilke

Human; all too human…

I want to speak for those who do not have a voice…
I want to pay attention to those who are never heard…
I want to understand the misinterpreted and translate the obscure, blurry, hieroglyphics between “us” and “them”…
So this is for you who are hurting, taking refuge in those dark corners of an eternal night, hiding or left behind.
I want you to know you matter and are a part of this as much as those who are up on stage, whose glossy images are propped up in shining lights and who’s names the walls ricochet…

I want to let you know you who are hurting, that your pain won’t last forever.
You are not alone alone in your struggle, we all carry within us a yoke it seems sometimes we can’t bear…
We all have monsters tormenting us… Our hearts all keep secrets… Emotions no one can escape…
We have all been blessed and cursed with sentient hearts, thinking minds and conscious consciences not letting us sleep at night.
We are all learning as we go along, we all just want to get by and if we are lucky thrive…
How or why we arrived at the grand theme park that is life, no one really knows, all we can do is try to enjoy the ride and take in and put out as much as we can, while we can…
Everyone is doing the best they can, with what they’ve got and with what they know…

Life didn’t come with instructions…
Although there’s many manuals we’ve made up, many theories we’ve conjured up… Truth is no one knows you better than you know yourself.
The trick is to attentively listen when your heart speaks, kindly quiet your mind, reconcile the two and together, synthesised, in harmony lead your life… To be aware of the ego and the games it plays…

To have compassion for your frail humanity and in this know you are not alone. And so extend that compassion to everyone around you, for we are all fallible and finite and its hard for all of us…

Because pain is an unavoidable natural phenomenon of life we all must learn to bear the best way we know how, and this is constant transmutable process…

Because hopefully through our pain we will learn. Because every battle scar makes our souls more noble and sturdy.

Because every pain beared is another monster slashed, another mountain conquered, another medal earned.

Because without without pain and difficulty we wouldn’t know stillness and satisfaction…

So know this…

In your shame, you are not alone… When someone made you feel defected, almost alienated. When you weren’t being accepted and didn’t feel appreciated, needed to be validated… For all the times you were rejected, nastily degraded, your self-esteem negatively affected… For every time you wanted the earth to swallow you whole, or quickly crawl into an imaginary hole. For every one who ever said you weren’t good enough, and ridiculed you with scornful laughs. For every instance you felt profound humiliation was your condemnation. For every time you were teased, made fun of and mocked, insultingly provoked. For every time you had to endure some sort of abuse, treated offensively without excuse, left to in shame suffuse and your pride reduce. For every instance you were ever left questioning your worth, depreciating your soul… For all the mortifying secrets you keep locked away in your heart, wanting to be erased by your mind. There’s someone here, who can see past that brave but frail, fake smile, someone who knows you really ain’t alright, someone who knows that those words really hurt deep down inside, that those actions were vulgar… There’s someone here who’s been there too, affirming your truth in its entirety and sharing in the mutual embarrassment…

In your fear, you are not alone… For all the sweaty palms and racing hearts, for all the times you felt paralysed, when horror had you petrified… When you were close to panic, so you started acting erratic. For all the times you got chills down your spine in the face of something scary, real or imaginary… For every time you ever felt intimidated, but resolved to not let terror leave you incapacitated so a risky feat you initiated. When your monsters were incarnated but you bravely motivated of courage you appropriated and another phobia vindicated. For all the seconds spent in the grips of impending doom, when unsettling uncertainty seemed to loom. For every time dread held you back or you impulsively betrayed your heart. For every time you closed your eyes to jump but you either froze or run…. Through that constant anxiety, feeling like something bad is going to happen… Through your courage and bravery, there’s someone here who’s been too, holding your hand, having your back, being your cheering squad, telling you you’ll be fine, it’ll pass, you’ll see it through the other side…

In your sadness, you are not alone… For every time you felt down in the dumps, like nothing could cheer you up. For every time your sou’ls wounds were bleeding and needed some compassionate healing. For every broken heart and every tortured poem penned at night. For every goodbye kiss and every the lover that you miss. For every tear shed and illusion shred, when heartache seemed to spread… For every time you felt depressed and by woe possessed. When anguish was a constant state, when you felt like misery was here to stay. For every ending and melancholy tolerated. For every hour spent in sorrow and mourned like there was no tomorrow. For every time you felt your world was coming to end, for every moment of overwhelming despair. There’s a someone here who’s been there too, consoling your heart, padding your back, providing you the tissues to have a good cry… Telling you that although it now hurts, the pain too will come to an end, you will smile again, time will heal and kiss those aches away and even though I can’t repair your loss know that love will once again grow…

In your anger, you are not alone… For every moment of consuming fury, for every instance you were left you fuming. For every occurrence that made you bitter and made your sunshine wither. For every time you felt you needed to yell to express your discontent. For every second of exasperation, perhaps caused by a repetitive incidental irritation. For every of moment of perceived injustice, perhaps you witnessed something destructive, so by anger you were made captive, enraged and disgusted. For all the times you wanted vengeance, amend a debt left pendant, regardless of repentance but thought twice and realised violence was just more petulance, anger wasn’t the answer so you controlled your temper. For every thirst of revenge, wanting to let loose and wrench, satisfy a vindictive quench. When you were victim of an aggression, perhaps in the middle of a contention… For every second of impotence and frustration, when in indignation you demanded an explanation. For all the episodes of uncontainable rage, for every time you felt betrayed, like the world was just not fair, and nobody gave a care for your welfare. There’s someone here witnessing your cause, hearing your discharge and giving you a glass to smash… There’s someone here to remind you that don’t have to be hash back, gotta cut the world some slack, resentment will only harbour more hatred, so just breath and left off steam, let the anger move through you and be released…

In your envy and jealousy, you are not alone… For every time you were disturbed by the thought your lot was being threatened, your territory being invaded, so your turf had to be defended. For every time you were suspicious your brother’s intentions could be malicious. For every time you caught yourself lusting, onto foreign objects grasping. For all the times you viewed your brother as your rival, concerned for your survival. For all the times your insecurities bred resentment opportunities. For all the times you felt possessive, mistrustful and obsessive. When your ego started whining, after what’s not yours pinning… For every time you were by greed possessed and started to covet what was on the other side of the fence. For all the times your eyes were bigger than your belly and you didn’t believe in sharing. When you just weren’t satisfied with what you’d been supplied, what you had wasn’t enough, you wanted to accumulate more stuff. There’s someone here who’s been there too, eyeing off the neighbours goods, but reminding you that life is not a competition, your brother is not your opposition so put down your ammunition and let go off your needy disposition. Instead count your blessings and don’t obsess over your earnings. Realise there’s no need to be stressing your assets are extensive and through life you are progressing. There’s someone here who’s been there too, to remind you to appreciate your current state, see it’s already great, there’s really nothing missing so let go of greedy wishing, what you’ve got is sufficing, so instead start grinning, you are already winning, life will keep on giving. Desire can drive you crazy but gratitude is a better attitude. So remember you you’ve got enough, you are enough, life’s already lush…

In your loneliness, you are not alone… For every time you felt secluded like by the world you were eluded, from humanity excluded. For all the times when someone’s absence made for a desolate ambiance. When you felt like a recluse solitude had produced. For all the times you felt abandoned and yearned for a companion. For all the times your friends were no where to be seen or you felt you didn’t fit in, like an outsider trying to squeeze in. When you were surrounded by many but seen by none, when you felt like a stranger from a foreign land. So you sat alone questioning your worth far away from home… When your loved ones weren’t near, and there was seas between you and those you held dear… There’s someone here to keep you company to alleviate the solitary agony, together in harmony. Theres someone here to interrupt your desolation to remind you are part of a global congregation, we are all in relation. We can be together in unity, a solidary community, like humanity is supposed to be. Theres someone here to remind you even though you are alone, doesn’t mean you are not loved, there’s always someone near just a call away on the phone… Also, remember sometimes solitude can be a welcomed state where you can meditate and your own company appreciate…

In your worry and doubt, you are not alone… For every time your mind raced with a million possible scenarios of what could do wrong. For every time you forgot if you left the stove on. When you just couldn’t seem to let it go, when preoccupation seemed to grow, anticipating woe or regretting what happened long ago. For all the endless sleepless nights when you thought the money wouldn’t be enough, wondered why life was so rough and things at home were tough. For all the times you wondered how long the struggle would last, your world was just spinning too fast and had a gloomy forecast . For all the times anxious thoughts disturbed your peace of mind, when just you couldn’t leave the past behind and wanted to rewind. For all the times your mind obsessed over a concern, perhaps money you had to earn, or how to increase your return, so on the same thoughts you would churn until your head would ache and burn, when stress became stubborn, constant and nocturn and ruminating turned into a detrimental pattern. For every time your mind made up a dramatic story, a mental purgatory with an endless repertory. For all the times your mind made a mountain out of a molehill, against your will stress made you ill, you just needed to chill so you took a pill. For every time you had a burden to solve, come to a resolve but your problems just seemed to evolve. When your imagination became stressful, just plain painful. For all the moments of indecision, wether to listen to your intuition or your logical cognition. For all the times you felt pressure, questioned by a demanding oppressor. Know there’s someone here to not telling you to “just relax”, but handing you a worry jar. Without any wise advice other than to listen to your heart. There’s someone here to remind you breath and run through your pros and cons list. There’s someone here with whom to brainstorm, your worries transform and something relaxing perform…

In your illness, you are not alone… When the medicines just don’t seem to work, when the doctors don’t know what’s going on, when you just want your biology to cooperate and to be healthy once again. In your physical, mental, emotional impairment, despite all that keeps you incapacitated… There’s someone here who’s been there too, now holding onto hope with you, saluting you for your strength in the face of ill health and encouraging you not to give up. You will win this wellness fight, you will heal and you will thrive. You will find the remedy to cure your malady because you believe in positivity…

In your mistakes and your regrets, know you are not alone…. For all the times your ego was deflated and your grand plans never consolidated, when you were utterly devastated. For all the times you chocked, those words were never evoked, your intentions weren’t invoked, your proposals were revoked, things just didn’t go as you hoped. For all the times you fell flat on your face and encountered disgrace, felt like a hopeless case, stuck in an adverse place. For all the times you felt you were swimming against the current, your path was errant seemed apparent, the world was noncompliant, instead it was being defiant, you were up against a cruel giant. For all the times you felt like the biggest fool, prone to ridicule and treated yourself cruel. For all the times you just couldn’t forgive yourself, when the enemy was your own self. For all the things looking back, you wished you had said and done, all the missed opportunities, unexplored possibilities, unexploited abilities, suppressed impulsivities, alleged liabilities, perceived fallibilities in light of uncertain probabilities and pre-cautious proclivities. There’s someone here who’s been there too to remind you that what matters is you tried and weren’t afraid to fly, fear defy, your courage testify and tenacity exemplify, so your mistakes you will rectify and your victories will multiply. When you feel disheartened, chin up for trying. Life is a learning curve, no ones perfect, so errors come to expect, it’s not an inborn defect, you just can’t always be correct, there’s nothing wrong with your intellect, so don’t lose your self respect and instead confidence reflect. There’s someone here to remind you to go easy on yourself for at some point those regrets were exactly what you wanted, otherwise you wouldn’t have acted, but you dared and experimented, it all went as destiny intended for your knowledge to be upgraded and another lesson learned consolidated. Hindsight is always 20/20, mistakes are ordinary and although they might be awry they make you hardy and savvy, so greet nicely and use them wisely. Remember it’s never too late start over, you can still recover, of the world you are an explorer, inner strength you will discover, even if you have to go slower, you are only becoming stronger. Sometimes life does give second chances, so don’t dwell on your current circumstances and keep on making advances…

In your struggle, you are not alone… For all the times when you felt completely overwhelmed, when nothing seemed to go your way, it was all hazy and gray, you carried a deep dismay and became a sad display, wanting to throw it all away or runaway from all the disarray, yearning for a sunnier day. For every time you felt misunderstood, like the world was all aloof… For all the times you felt you were running out of strength, it all too intense, your problems seemed immense, you were tired of pretence, challenged in every sense, so you prayed for extra defence. For all the times you were stuck in a dark place, perhaps a bad habit trying to replace but the cravings were too intense that you just couldn’t tolerate so relapse would replay and then the guilt would suffocate, from your conscience you couldn’t escape, the mistakes you couldn’t erase so the problem would complicate and a vicious cycle would replicate.
For all the times you couldn’t see the light at the end of the tunnel, it was all a constant struggle, you were surrounded by trouble, your world was all a jumble and you had started to crumble. There’s someone here who understands you ain’t super human, you don’t always have to have a plan, although you may feel pressure to be a “top-gun” and get it all done, the reality is not always fun you are allowed to come undone. You are allowed to feel tired and uninspired. You are allowed to have had enough and want to leave it all behind… It’s ok to unwind, however not by hardship be defined or to adversity confined but instead once realigned wisdom find, become kind and of sound mind, of service to mankind…

In your humanity, you are not alone… There’s someone here also made of flesh and bones, another sentient, animated soul taking on a temporal physical role… In your preference for certainty, battling internally, wondering about eternity. In your wanting to be special, somehow differential, you are indeed intrinsically essential, donned with a unique potential. In your ever changing identity, blotchy integrity, mental complexity, emotional intensity, spiritual tendency, need for transcendency, beyond pleasing aesthetically and succeeding financially, regardless of race and theology and any other different philosophy or separating ideology. In your wild imagination, ingenious creation. In your endless contradictions, quirks and addictions, all your ambitions and afflictions, in all your aversions and leisurely diversions. In your inclination for indulging in pleasures and desires, searching for what your soul requires… In your wrestling with God, filling that existential void. In your need to control, life taking its toll… In never giving up hope, always learning to cope no matter how steep the slope, walking in life’s tightrope. In being your own worst critic, harshly analytic, sometimes fatalistic, not wanting to be a cynic but remaining optimistic, aiming to be realistic, ever artistic with a stroke of mystic. In your vulnerability, most important ability. In your mortality, sobering reality. In your constant search for meaning, incessant thinking, dreaming, seeking, needing, breathing, feeling, living… There’s someone here who bleeds the same blood and breaths the same air, a mirror reflection extending a fraternal hand, looking into your eyes, past the facade and pantomime. There’s someone here who speaks your silent language, no words necessary, hearts speak directly, always truthfully and valiantly, tirelessly… There’s someone here too, someone like you, someone like me, someone human, all too human…

Your Masterpiece

“This world is but a canvas to our imagination” – Henry David Thoreau

This life, this one ever expansive cosmic canvas of inexhaustible, unlimited potential yet also a finite one, bound and constrained by the concrete frames of our mortality….

So… what am I splashing across? Am I languishingly copying monotone, weary and tattered templates for the sake of putting something down, or am I pausing, letting my spirit impregnate and reign over my body and be fully awake before I paint? Aware and in awe of the humbling grandiosity of the task?
First vowing in reverence and honouring in each step this magical blank space before me in which anything and everything is possible…

The day we came into this earth we were all gifted with a precious brand-new, limited-edition canvas, exclusively crafted for each one of us to take ownership of and work our magic on… To bring about that original melody and symphony of colours, which one else but ourselves can unravel…
Thus in life, in the 24 hour cycles we are repeatedly lovingly allotted for an uncertainly certain limited time, it is our divine responsibility to emancipate ourselves from the incarcerating shackles of our own inhibitions, lovingly ameliorate our preconceived handicaps and let loose, carpe diem and paint large… Paint a range of different landscapes, whole different worlds and entire new galaxies only our own particular set of neurons can conceive, only the blood running through our veins can feed and our own irreplaceable hearts feel…
It is our task, to let down those constricting heavy iron gates and let our hearts run free, escape and mingle in unison with our ingeniously restless minds…

At any given time, we all have the chance to stop scribbling our days away or mindlessly doodling to pass the time until we die… Although it might not come automatically since its not our default state, although this is no easy, effortless exercise and make no mistake, certainly no child’s play or leisurely walk in the park, but rather, perhaps the most seriously crucial and gruellingly audacious yet also the most rewarding and overall lifesaving task we will ever embark on in our lifetime; to make the conscious, constant and irrefutable decision to rip off those bindings and stop silencing and soothing our naturally fervent and passionate hearts and souls with synthetic tranquillisers and artificial props…
At any given time, we all have the chance to wake up, open our eyes and see the miraculous temporal potentiality of life as it is, and so wide-eyed, perky and determined rise up from our comfortable yet incapacitating beds of conformism, of fear, of pear-pressure, of not taking chances, of unwillingly fabricating listless lacklustre and lifeless reflections of a life… One’s which perhaps look good at first sight but after a while disfigure to reveal their morose reality…. The desolate, cold and passionless landscapes, empty of meaning which once we are finished tracing and once the trance of business and momentary distraction have worn off leave us feeling hollow, confused and defeated….

It’s refreshingly freeing and inspiring to realise and paint with the conviction that there’s really no rules or set instructions, although implicitly there might be expectations and implications of what it’s meant to look like…
If I am to deviate from the common trend there’s every chance I maybe scrutinised and shunned, perhaps labelled or deemed as a “failure of an artist” or “just not good enough” by those undiscerning critics rigidly sticking to contemporary fashions… So I should strive be more Picasso and less me… Aspire to imitate the archaic hindering definition of “greatness” and “success” they’ve been sold… To create a “masterpiece” based on the stereotypical yet also wavering model of what life is supposed to look like… One which clearly depicts all the imposed and expected milestones in ones lifetime, one familiarly comfortable to the observer; a house, a car or two, a mum and dad, all busily toiling 9 to 5 while attempting to raise and provide for their three kids and a dog…

But really at the end, where is the jury panel who will appraise our paintings and publish their final critique? When will the auction of our paintings take place transforming us into either revolutionaries best sellers of the art world, or merely mediocre struggling craftsman?

Truth is, we are here to concoct this colourfully messy adventure of a life for no one but ourselves, the only audience to please is your own soul.
The reality is everyone is too busy and preoccupied with painting their own painting, at the end, all you are left is what you’ve got, whatever it is you drafted while you had the time…
So maybe it’d wise to stop being so concerned about what others are painting or their opinion of our progress…

When painting, the boxes people may try to pack us into or the labels they may attempt to print across our representations should be the least of our worries.
To be deemed “average” or be granted any other unflattering comment is only a reflection of that persons particular circumstances and only valid in their own enclosed personal sphere. Other people’s opinions are merely fleeting words which have absolutely no power and validity if we ourselves choose not to validate them and uphold them as our truths. Only we have the authority and power to “define” ourselves, even though each one of us is an innately complex, dynamic, forever evolving and enigmatic being, who’s very nature escapes classification… Thus,  it’s only up to our own command, to outline and determine our character through our own manifestations, intentions and the quiet ambitions of our souls and so letting our actions do the talking louder than clearer than any words…
Nonetheless, it remains a fact that our actual figures, our shading, our lines and waves will always be a little too sharp, a little too bright or a little too wobbly or not enough for some people while at the same time those same designs will be pleasantly received and cherished by others…

To paint and so to live with the aim to people please is a fruitless, futile and heartbreaking endeavour…
The reality is we are collective of millions of unique individuals, with tastes and preferences as unique, varied and numerous as the entirety of humanity itself, thus it’s only natural that we are not always going to be everyone’s cup of tea all the time… Therefore, why sacrifice and betray our own souls, our unique essence, our unique impetus and character by striving to paint something we hope presumably other people may like, trying to hit an illusory fictional target hypothesised by our insecurities… In this way we are not doing anyone a favour but regretfully only ripping ourselves off and being prevented from painting a true masterpiece, one which flows from our DNA, one born and true to the vivacious life-force of the innermost, intimate workings of our hearts and so one which brings contentment not only to our own souls but like ripples in a pond, has the unintended effect of spreading amongst the surrounding bystanders that contagious satisfaction of a genuine, beautifully enacted, virtuous representation of an exquisitely rich life, one nobly depicted in courageous integrity and authenticity.

That’s how art, that’s how life works…
So pay no attention to what others may say, and instead let the colours, smell, shine, every aspect of the paint captivate and enthral you, be so engrossed in your work that the endless opinionated banter blends in with the chirping of the birds and alchemically serves to fuel your inspiration…

If that’s who you are… If that is your experience, if that’s what you are thinking/feeling, if you are being authentic, as long as you are painting from your heart then you can’t go wrong… in the process you are merely creating your own style, one which probably won’t be understood or appreciated until after your time, if ever?…
But that’s not the point anyway, to paint for external gratification, validation or approval?…
You paint, because you paint, because you don’t know any other way to be… Than to be wholeheartedly dedicated and devoted to the art of life.
If others can be moved and respond positively to your painting, if others approve of your style and like your interpretation of the subject, that’s a bonus, but that’s not the aim of painting.
I paint what my heart dictates… Emotions are the muses inspiring my creations…
And maybe you find that certain types of yellow, orange or light red suit you better than the murky tones of grey… Maybe you find that love inspires in you roses, while fear, jealousy, anger, make for a mean thunder storm… Maybe anxiety and uncertainty are the nimbostratus and tornados swiping through the flowers you sculpted earlier… But that’s ok, it’s all just the weather…
So I don’t I don’t know what will happen, I don’t know how this piece will turn out.
I’m not here to make a profit, I’m not here to impress critics or the rest…
I’m here to paint to my hearts desire… To paint my canvas full of all shades of the prismal rainbow and contrast it with the charcoal of the starriest of nights. To try and experience and depict the whole cosmos of possibilities only limited by my imagination and how much I am willing to risk, bargain, gamble and trust that mischievously cheeky keeper of the perplexing future…

If I can diligently and skilfully paint my days away like a a pro and may be in some way help inspire others to start painting from their own hearts or maybe trace a flower for as tiny as it might be then I could happily put my brush down…

So don’t be afraid to splash technicolor across and sideways, be bold, be brave. Let your heart be stamped on the canvas of your life and sing along in rhythm with the bittersweet harmony of life… Whistle while you work…

“Art washes away from the soul the dust of everyday life.”
― Pablo Picasso