Night Bloom / Morning Light

Claire art, dreams, journaling, synchronicity ,

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERAI struggle this morning to remember my dreams and feel frustrated when I can’t. As I sit with my morning tea and journal, I glance out the window and notice the Night Blooming Cereus is covered in blossoms.

Quickly, I grab my camera to take a few pictures, knowing the blooms will soon close in the bright light of day. I click off several frames from different angles and head inside to plug the photo card into my computer.

As I scan through the photos, this shot jumps out from the others. I am struck by the beauty of the rays of sunlight, the glow the sun gives to the bloom’s petals, and how the very core of the blossom glows with green iridescence.

As I write, I recognize the similarity between these night blooms and my dreams. They both fade quickly when day arrives. And yet, if you look closely, you will see the daylight carries the colors of what bloomed in the night. Perhaps even the forgotten dreams bring their gifts into the new day.

Peace in the Eye of the Storm

Claire evolution, ShiftingPoint, transformation , , ,
TranscendingTheStorm
Art: Transcending the Storm created by Claire Perkins aka Artful Alchemist on Polyvore.

As I pulled on my “Be Peace” T-shirt this morning in celebration of the International Day of Peace, I was reminded that the outer manifestation of peace can only come from carrying the experience of peace within you – no matter what’s going on around you.

The first time I really GOT that viscerally, my body delivered the message to me through dancing to the 5Rhythms developed by Gabrielle Roth. It’s a meditative dancing practice in which five different rhythms (flowing, staccato, chaos, lyrical, and stillness) are danced in order, creating a wave of movement and energy in the body.

One day I was playing around with the usual order of the 5Rhythms – mixing them up into different sequences. I danced through a pattern of chaos, followed by stillness and then back into chaos.

When I danced into that final segment of chaos I discovered that it felt completely different from the first cycle of chaos. The stillness I had just moved with was carried into the chaos, shifting it, softening it. Same music, completely different experience.

We can do this in our lives as well by practicing inner peace daily – through meditation, nature, art, dance, deep breathing or anything that works to create stillness within. Having established that vibration of stillness and peace inside ourselves, we can carry it into any situation we encounter – no matter how chaotic, stressful or challenging it might be.

SelfolutionaryShiftingPointTake time each day to create peace within you. The peace you carry within can transform any stressful or chaotic situation. YOU will become the peace in the eye of the storm.