Solstice....

Well, it's been a long time between blog posts. The longest time every probably. Sorry about that for those of you who regularly read. It's winter here in Indiana and I am surrounded by more snow than I have ever seen in my life. Learning how to live in it is interesting in a 'do I need to buy snow pants, how do I get my car door unfrozen' kind of way. I have moments of being amazed but it and then moments of being just utterly pissed off and wanting to get back to my Australian summer.

I am sitting here listening to the final mix of the new live cd...it's bloody fantastic, if I must say so myself. It feels so nice to have captured such a beautiful show. The audience members sing like angels and clap and whoots like devils....it's wonderful. Someone just asked me if the pre-sale is still going.....it is, and you can find it here: http://www.martinelocke.com/pages/presale.php . Hopefully will be ready for posting by mid February and then I will start to plan cd release shows around the country.

So, it was solstice Tuesday night and for the first time in 700 years that coincided with an eclipse. It felt like a very powerful time to me. I watched the eclipse via a webcam in Chile (coz of aforementioned snow blocking the sky here) and felt in myself like it was an amazing thing to witness. I wrote my intentions out and mailed them to myself via futureme.org - it's set to send me an email in one years time. Such a freaky concept. Tuesday night I went to a solstice party and they had a fire out back for people to burn the things that they wanted to leave. For me, I had to burn things to do with my time in the church. Guilt and feeling responsible. It's very strange to have found all of that inside myself still after so many years being away from it. But there it was.....and there it went.

Happy holiday to you however you celebrate them and I hope that you get the chance to take a moment and think about what it is you are willing to let go of during this solstice time. Things that don't serve you anymore. Let them go.

xxM

the days of our lives....

Elizabeth Edwards passed away on Tuesday from breast cancer. A lot of you would most likely know who she is but google will be able to tell you if you don't. One of her last quotes moved me deeply today as I try to work out where my brain is at and why it feels all so muddled with this life of mine. I share it with you, as it was shared with me, to offer a remembrance of the shortness of life....


“The days of our lives, for all of us, are numbered. We know that. And, yes, there are certainly times when we aren’t able to muster as much strength and patience as we would like. It’s called being human. But I have found that in the simple act of living with hope, and in the daily effort to have a positive impact in the world, the days I do have are made all the more meaningful and precious. And for that I am grateful.“ –Elizabeth Edwards

Cracked....

I get it.
I know how it feels.
Reminding myself of the old Chinese tradition of filling cracks with gold. That cracks were seen as a valuable part of the history of the piece that held it. Filling it with gold brought attention to the crack...honored it...made it all shiny and bright.

I am choosing to learn to honor and respect my cracks. Remembering they are a part of who I am. Not to hide them away in shame or embarrassment. To own them.

Gulp.

Maybe tomorrow I will honor them. Today I am a little weary of them.

Xxm

“I am Me. 

 

In all the world, there is no one else exactly like me. 

 

Everything that comes out of me is authentically mine, because I alone chose it -- I own everything about me: my body, my feelings, my mouth, my voice, all my actions, whether they be to others or myself. I own my fantasies, my dreams, my hopes, my fears. I own my triumphs and successes, all my failures and mistakes. 

 

Because I own all of me, I can become intimately acquainted with me. 

 

By so doing, I can love me and be friendly with all my parts. 

 

I know there are aspects about myself that puzzle me, and other aspects that I do not know -- but as long as I am friendly and loving to myself, I can courageously and hopefully look for solutions to the puzzles and ways to find out more about me. However I look and sound, whatever I say and do, and whatever I think and feel at a given moment in time is authentically me. If later some parts of how I looked, sounded, thought, and felt turn out to be unfitting, I can discard that which is unfitting, keep the rest, and invent something new for that which I discarded. I can see, hear, feel, think, say, and do. I have the tools to survive, to be close to others, to be productive, and to make sense and order out of the world of people and things outside of me. 

 

I own me, and therefore, I can engineer me. 

 

I am me, and I am Okay.”

 

`Virginia Satir