Choosing Love by Meredith Gaston

Choosing Love by Meredith Gaston

Choosing Love by Meredith Gaston

Choosing Love by Meredith Gaston

Choosing Love by Meredith Gaston

Choosing Love by Meredith Gaston

Choosing Love by Meredith Gaston

Choosing Love by Meredith Gaston

Choosing Love by Meredith Gaston

Choosing Love by Meredith Gaston

Choosing Love by Meredith Gaston

I hope you have enjoyed this book tour through Choosing Love:Replenishing Our Hearts by Meredith Gaston.

Internationally acclaimed artist and author Meredith Gaston's Choosing Love will open you to love: love for self, love for others, romantic love, love of life and love for everything in our world.

Through advice, meditations and practical exercises, Meredith shows us how to embrace opportunities and step into our miraculous world of love.

Living a life of love begins with building on our wellbeing. By sustaining joy and inspiration and by paying mindful attention to ourselves and our world, we can expect our lives to flourish. When we nourish ourselves we can be there for others, with compassion and understanding. When we allow ourselves to shine, we grant others permission to do the same. We needn't go through our day-to-day lives feeling alone or isolated – the joy of love is all around us.

Bones

Special objects that we bring into our homes imbue the space with what is meaningful to us. Finding something suddenly of interest without knowing why - is part of living a magical life. It may create a feeling or a memory from a time that you are unclear about. What is it that this object brings to me in my living right now? Having a few items is what makes something so special. Filling a space or home with too many things just overwhelms us. The interesting story about our home objects connected to our everyday lives offers us information about the biography we carry.

When we are young we come into our childhood homes and places without having a choice in what that is - in the mundane world. On a different level what lives in the spiritual realm perhaps - the unconscious maybe - there is this idea that we have a connection to how things develop in our biography. Of course belief systems vary in these theories. I do believe that we are connected to a greater life energy - spiritual life energy - that is awash in a plasma that whirls around us in ways that we do not often understand. This feeling is most likely concretized if one has had experiences in life that offer them glimpses into another world. I have had those experiences - so it is perfectly comfortable for me to embrace this ethos in my life. I think that most people have these experiences. It is easy to overlook these moments if our attention is elsewhere. One way I think most people have experienced incredible moments of beauty is - Nature Connection.

With Nature we can feel those powerful feelings of a connection to something much bigger than ourselves. It is undeniable as we stand before a tree, or in our gardens, or seeing the sky above or the rush of a river flowing by us as we stand on the edge. As a world view enlarges it becomes less important to fill our spaces with many items that may in fact diminish a focused energy in our homes and spaces. Imagine if we must choose one or two very important items in our lives and be content with that. This small box of bones is a treasure of meaning and beauty and significance to me. It would be difficult to articulate how one person’s treasure is meaningful to each of us. It is really only something the individual might understand. That is enough for it to be significant. It is this human ability to imbue objects with attachment and meaning that offers us a glimpse into why perhaps we get in over our heads with too much or too many things.

making vessel

One way of finding objects - would be to bring special handmade items into your life and home place. A simple vessel made by a potter can offer so much. It can contain many items over its lifetime. Water that is filling with the sun or moon on a shelf for hours can then bring that energy into your body when you drink it. Flowers that you have gathered on a walk can remind you of your time outdoors. A holder of things. Find what matters to you. Imbue the vessel with who you are and it becomes enlivened with your uniqueness.

A Gathering Basket

A gathering basket will go many places with you. It will go on picnics, haul things around the garden, bring things upstairs with you and carry your items along on a walk. With each carrying time - the basket becomes more important to you - more useful to you. Even more meaningful to you. You may begin to use the basket to create a display when you are not using it as a tool. In this way we find objects that resonate with us in our life. I think a basket is a very useful item to carry in your life. Containers offer use and beauty. Taking care of these objects that live with us will bring to us an art piece to drape our living around.

In our living with objects we find. We find memories that resonate with what that object represents for us. Even if we do not know it consciously. Even when we are drawn in and do not know why. I think that finding enduring beauty can be of use in a world that is over run with too much. Too much of endless meaningless searching. Carefully bring along a few objects of poetry that hold a thread woven across the years. Let the threads sew together that which has carried you along so far. A kind of visual museum of your life - curated in simple and useful or magnificent to only the life ways that you know about. Your own secret magical treasure. Let that meaning find you.

A Writing Exercise: Find an object in your life that holds meaning for you. Write about what you see, feel and understand about this object in your life. What can you discover about yourself that offers you a glimpse into what this holds for you?

Handmade Mug

“Wherever we touch life we form it. It’s an old teaching that man is a microcosm of the universe. If you really feel and internalize that knowledge, it is quite a thing to be a human being, to touch with the hands but also with a thought, a feeling, or a dream.”

— M.C. Richards

Tea Kettle

Today I am thinking about Life Ways. At The Bone Lines - we talk about simple - rustic - ancient - time honored - ancestral - worn. This is a place to come to settle and trust in yourself. It is a step away from the over culture that we are living in. I offer a slow moving way into developing insight about our own biography. The cloak of story is what we are here to carry and let unfold. I hope that you will find that you are most welcome here. It is a place in the woods where Life Ways with an edge is offered. Are we not all walking on some sort of edge? The edge of somewhere else. The edge of becoming. We find the edge is where the most diverse things can be discovered. Along the edge - things come and go. We walk from the edge of the wood out into a field. From a fields edge perhaps we find ourselves walking among the thatch of our own internal edges and how these rub up against the world.

Think about the edges of a map. The curving lines and patterns are really just random places that have been drawn on a piece of paper and declared “a place”. This is just a thought line made to keep containers of organization on land ownership. We are on the edge - visiting a place. In reality - we are all one place. A beautiful vision of ocean and land. It is here we walk and live and breathe - are born and die one day. All together we are here. If we take this to heart in our every day lives - we will find that the edge is - our bodily outline carved into the sky. The sky blankets around our shoulders as the stars twinkle in our eyes.

I want to share with you here the Life Ways that I have lived. It is a story that is outside of what is typical. It is a story of weaving a folk way of living. An embrace of healing ways is woven throughout. A basket holds a harvest of tools to make a life out of your own marrow. My frame is held in place by poetry and myth. Building a simple life made by hand is at the center of what we do here. We build our meaningful lives over many years. We have taken our life in our own two hands and wrangled it this way and that. Shaping and molding - adding to and taking away the forms that might need to change. It isn’t always easy. It is rewarding though. To live this way requires a giving up of some things. There is no such thing as having it all. Don’t let anybody tell you that. You do not need to know everything all at once. Is is a slow living orchestra happening within each of us that lives here.

I can offer here a pictured story of a family that lives within a wide ethos of curiosity and exploration. We accept that life is nuanced. We are excited by the idea of growing in our learning each and every day. Dialogue and discussion opens up our very own Chautauqua - leading us in divergent directions. One way of thinking about this is Home - School. How we have gone about learning in our own way at Home. This is not to imply that being a self taught individual is what I am discussing here. Though self-led learning is our ethos. I am simply saying that Home is where our Life Ways take place. It is where we have grown into who we are. It is the base of all our wild exploration.

It is a place that has arisen out of a lifetime of experience. I hope to grow this space into a community of like minded people looking to wander in similar ways of interest. Story - Myth - Imagination - Magic - all hold a strong presence here. It is through this lens that offerings will be shaped and released into the wild. A strong belief in our own ability to learn and find the answers to what we need also lives here. That most likely looks different for everyone.

a window in

So, a window in - a beginning. Writing here will be varied, as that is how I live. What begins to form will embody a life unfolding. I hope that others will join in with the interest that they have in living or moving toward living a life of slow growth. The layers that can exquisitely exist is a vision that I tenderly hold for all of us. May kindness and good things find you.

Today the Moon is in Virgo. Wednesday is named for the god Woden, who is paralleled with the Roman god Mercury - both gods shared attributes of eloquence, the ability to travel, and the guardianship of the dead. The gods Woden (also known as Odin) and Mercury have been associated since Scandinavian and Roman cultures crossed paths. Under Woden’s supervision, the earth and sky were created from the dead body of a giant named Ymir. Woden also created the first man and woman from an ash tree and an alder. Woden also established the laws of the universe. Mercury was the messenger of the gods, alson with being the patron of science, the arts, travelers, and athletes.

Of course words, story, myth and meaning have a wide ranging deep well to draw from for our own lifeways. Creating our life as its own story or myth, is a magical way to live. It is not escapism but, a very intentioned way to live. We can work with a story for a period of time - to see what bubbles up from its essence. One way of working with story and biography is too look at images. When we take in an image in a dream like gaze - its own journey may begin to unfold.

Artistic Exercise: Browse through the images here today. Slowly look through the photographs and find one that your eye is particularly drawn into. You can begin by just gazing at the image. Perhaps save the image and print it out to look at a later time. Write down some quick impressions. What awakens in you. Write about a time in your life that this image reminds you of. It can begin as an exact moment - later switching to a bit more abstract.

Does the time in your life that you are recalling relate to the image in a particular way? Look more closely at both the image and what is coming up in your minds eye. Write this down. Perhaps a story begins to form. This is an activity to help you wander through your own storied life. Attempt to write in a continuous fashion without editing as you go. What is showing up? How does this resonate with your life today? Are you feeling good - are you feeling badly? Bring to the page what is speaking to you the most in this moment. The importance of looking at this later on can reveal hidden layers of beauty and surprise for you. I hope that this finds helpfulness for you. You also might explore an image with a particular idea in mind. Sort of like an oracle today. What does your business need more of from you currently? At the upcoming family gathering - how might this image give you some new ideas to approach a challenging family member?

* Remember as always - take good care of yourself with these Biography Exercises. Keep going as long as feels comfortable. Try to take a break and come back to the image and exercise later on if you are feeling discomfort - that you feel unable to handle. Ask for support if you need it. Please do not attempt to work with emotional feelings that feel too overwhelming for you to handle alone. Find a trusted support person.

*I think that we are resilient beings. All people deserve the right to self exploration and creative expression. Trust in yourself. The resources for this are not always present. These exercises I offer here are for you to work with on your own - in the privacy of your own space. See what comes from them. Part of developing resiliency in a time when resources are often lacking is finding ways to self-develop in strength. Of course mental health support is often needed and required. However, as human beings - for millenia humans offered care to one another. A time may come in the future when - we have developed ourselves enough - to hold one another in caring support. I trust that you will do what is needed for you in this time.

““Story, as it turns out, was crucial to our evolution — more so than opposable thumbs. Opposable thumbs let us hang on; story told us what to hang on to.” ”

— Lisa Cron

The fire will hold you. It is an elemental part of who we are. We work with our story of our own life - our biography. As we find embers to work with - the bits of our life story that need tending - it is a gift of warmth of what often appears to us. May the home fires create a warm place for you to gather your thoughts.

Books

A Working Life by Eileen Myles

Painting Is the Sky

That’s not a new thought
& every single thing u
Built is a perch
6 black crow
And one tiny bird
On a wire says whatever
We own the sky
And half of us
Cat our blackness
Over there
The orange & pink
& yellow where the road
Ends and it doesn’t
End. Mountains
Fill the view & disappear
When night falls
What’s that word
About gathering the future
It means this
p.161 a “Working Life” by Eileen Myles

- from prolific poet, activist and writer Eileen Myles, a “Working Life” unerringly captures the measure of life. Whether alone or in relationship, on city sidewalks or in the country, their lyrics always engage with permanence and mortality, danger and safety, fear and wonder.

Writing Down the Bones: Freeing the Writer Within by Natalie Goldberg

p. 8 - First Thoughts (An Exercise)

1.Keep your hand moving. (Don’t pause to reread the line you have just written. That’s stalling and trying to get control of what you’re saying.)
2. Don’t cross out. (This is editing as you write. Even if you write something you didn’t mean to write, leave it.)
3.Don’t worry about spelling, punctuation, grammar. (Don’t even care about staying within the margins and lines on the page.)
4.Lose control.
5.Don’t think. Don’t get logical.
6.Go for the jugular. (If something comes up in your writing that is scary or naked, dive right into it. It probably has lots of energy.)

These are the rules. It is important to adhere to them because the aim is to burn through to first thoughts, to the place where energy is unobstructed by social politeness or the internal censor, to the place where you are writing what your mind actually sees and feels, not what it thinks it should see or feel. Explore the rugged edge or thought. Like grating a carrot, give the paper the colorful coleslaw of your consciousness.

Writing Down the Bones: Freeing the Writer Within by Natalie Goldberg

A Room of One’s Own by Virginia Woolf

A Room of One’s Own by Virginia Woolf

In this classic essay, Woolf takes on the establishment, using her gift of language to dissect the world around her and give voice to those who are without. Her message is a simple one: women must have a steady income and a room of their own in order to have the freedom to create.

Let me know what you are reading in the comments!

Entering Phantoms By Firelight

We visited Old Sturbridge Village for the Phantoms By Firelight event. It was a gorgeous night outdoors as we gathered with many others to walk throughout the Village. Old Sturbridge Village is a recreated 1830’s rural New England town. I have been coming to this museum since I was a child. It has been here for 75 years now. As it is not far from my home, I have visited here many times during all seasons over all these years. I often took my young daughter her to museum classes where we would spend the day living as people in the 1830’s did. Learning about daily life and participating a bit in the experience of OSV is such fun if you are interested in history. More recently there has been an effort to create a more inclusive picture of history in the US that includes Black and Indigenous People’s history and exhibits.

The daily home life of people of this time period is a draw for me as it portrays the simple lifeways of people living in a rural village at this time. The pursuits of gardening, home keeping, farming, weaving, basketry, hand sewing, herbalism, crafts are all shared and discussed here. Often there are workshops to attend to learn and study more.

Tonight our visit was a bit different. OSV has a Phantoms by Firelight event throughout October that includes an entertaining version of spooky.

Cyrkus Vampyr

Cyrkus Vampyr was the troupe that came to entertain us. It was a magical experience with little ones and adults tromping about in costumes to celebrate the night.

Hair Mourning Weaving

Inside this house was a woman weaving and creating mourning pieces out of hair.

Here we talked to the shop keeper about the goods available during the time. The gorgeous baskets above are all handmade. People back then would do side projects to try to earn money or trade goods with others to fill in with things that they needed. The shop keeper said - try not to think of things as - something costs this much money. Often things were traded to acquire what was needed. It is different than today where we just spend our money on what it is needed. You might have a couple of baskets - not many. Somehow it seems if we as a culture could embrace slowly made, handmade - we might begin to appreciate having beautiful, long lasting items - just fewer - in our home. Instead of the desire to want more. When I visit Sturbridge Village - this living picture always stays with me in the days afterward.

Bonfire On The Green

Story by firelight. This is something that people just naturally gravitate to. Still - we draw up to the fire. The warmth of a fire and good company seems to be something we naturally seek together. We as humans have been telling stories for as long as we have been on earth.

Coffin Making In The Woodshop

Coffin making by a resident woodworker. This man is 6 foot four! He said that perhaps this would be his coffin that he was making. They make a couple of coffins each year in the village. Long ago coffins were made individually for a person when they died. A simple coffin shown here that is completely handmade would have cost about 1 dollar. That would have been a couple of full days wages. The How Many Nails jar was a traveling game that people could participate in the village for the event. Oh, the scent of wood is one of my all time favorites!

Candlelight

Lamplight

Handmade Lantern

It was a lovely night. Meteor showers were up above in the clear night - just after nightfall which isn’t commonplace for meteor viewing. The village isn’t typically open in the night time so it was special to be able to walk around in a quiet place in the dark - only lit mostly by candlelight in hand made tin lanterns. The shadows and squeals were a moving wonderland of color and dream like pictures. A home diary of perhaps a bit of what the world looked like in one corner of the world in rural New England for white settlers in the 1800’s.