Tuesday, January 31, 2012

Writing from the soul

I started attending a Writing From the Soul group when I was in Bali, and now, thankfully we continue online. We meet on Sunday nights for a very powerful hour and a half. There are people in Bali, Canada, Equador and the U.S. in our little clan. We are given a short prompt and then we write for ten minutes. Not thinking, not editing, just writing from the soul. Not from the head. Hearing what our unconscious has to tell us. I close my eyes and type and the words flow and I don't even know what they are until I read it aloud to the group. It's been an amazing exercise and I am continually surprised at what happens. 

One of the recent prompts was "In A Place Where Trees Can Speak" 
This is what my soul had to say about that:

In a place where trees can speak it’s a magical forest. Where fairies live and flit around in the trees as the trees speak to them. They tell the secrets of the ancients. They know all the wisdom there is to know in the world. In this place the trees stand in a circle and share the truth of the universe. We only have to listen. It’s damp and mossy and warm there. I am enveloped in the trees. They hold me with their branches and warm me and care for me. They speak to me and tell me all I need to know. I just need to listen. To put my hand on the rough bark of the tree and listen to what they have to tell me.



The ancient souls. Keepers of the universe. The trees may laugh at us as we fumble through our lives. Thinking we know everything and that we rule this planet. We know nothing. But we are learning as we go. Falling down and making mistakes along the way. Skinning our knees and putting many band aides on the scrapes until we forget the mistakes we made. When the last one heals we forget. But how long before the scrape does not heal? We may have one scrape too many. Do we have enough band aides in the bathroom mirror cabinet? Enough salve to keep the bacteria out?



In a place where the trees can speak is where I want to be. They know their stuff. They write books and speak a beautiful soft whimsical tree language. It’s there is we want to hear it. The face on the trees…. Reminds me of the wizard of Oz. Magical place where trees can talk and dance and wave their limb arms and tell stories and warn us of our misdoings.



Let us sit in the center of the trees of wisdom. Gather and soak in the message. The meaning. The love the encouragement. We can do it. We can pull out of this mess. Turn the tide. Pull back from the edge just when we’re about to fall off into the abyss.



Listen. Listen to the trees. The bark is rough but the words are soft and silky and warm and inviting and enveloping. The roots are as deep as time. The first bit of time started with the trees roots and all that knowledge is soaking up in them. Dancing with the trees and the wind. Blowing the dust from out of my roots. I want to be a tree hugger. Why is that a negative term? We should all hug trees as part of our everyday existence. Maybe things would be different then. Holding hand with the trees. Listen to their language and their hearts. Wooden hearts. Not a bad thing for a tree.


Thursday, January 26, 2012

Sundance Film Festival 2012

I've had a lovely week of seeing films at the Sundance resort. They have a small screening room and it's nice and intimate. Park City is where the bulk of the festival happens but there are hundreds of people there and one would have to be in the right energy zone for that. I started to go up one day last week but the snow was too intense.

On Tuesday I saw Mosquita y Mari - a lovely coming-of-age film about two hispanic girls in California.

Wednesday was The Comedy, a film about a group of privilged young men in Willamsburg whos inherited wealth "breeds indifference and recreational cruelty". Very troubling and very well done film.

Later that day was West of Memphis, an incredible documentary about 3 teens who were wrongfully convicted of killing three young boys in Memphis in 1994. They were released in 2011 and one of the young men was there for the Q&A. I was so inspired and impressed by him. He was like a Buddha. While in prison he did not see the sunlight for 7 years. He turned to meditation and study and had no anger inside him at all. He said he made the concious choice to not harbor poisonous anger and resentment that could and would eat him up. He chose to live in the present and make the most of his life. wow.

Last night I saw COMPLIANCE. A highly disturbing film based on actual events. A man called a fast food restaurant and claimed to be the police. He said that one of the employees had stolen money from a customer and had the manager hold her in the back room. He instructed her to strip search the girl and degrate her in many ways. The manager did everything she was told to do. It was unbelievable that someone could be so stupid and follow along so blindly. As the film progressed, many people got up and walked out. Angry and upset at the film.

At the Q&A, the filmmaker told us that this actually did happen. Over 75 times until the perpetrator(s) were caught. The man behind it was a obvious person with mental problems, but was angry because he wanted to be a policeman and was denied the job. The filmmaker was able to get the video recordings of several incidents and police records. It was absolutely incredible and made me think a lot about how we as human beings blindly follow along and do was someone in authority tells us to do.

I'm happy to be here in Utah during this time. The festival is an important event in the community and gives us all a chance to appreciate great art in filmmaking and expand our personal horizins and perspectives.

Sunday, January 22, 2012

Utah snow

I am enjoying my time in Utah. We got the first major storm of the winter yesterday and it was a good one. I was on my way up to Kamas to see Taylor and Julian and about one mile into Provo canyon, everything changed. It was raining when I left and suddenly it was a white out blizzard and there were cars spinning and off the road everywhere. Red and blue police lights whirled around and tow trucks pulled smashed cars out of the river. That's when I turned around and came home. Sad not to get to spend the day with family but not worth the risk. Later on the news I saw that they closed the canyon completely.

I decided to go to a movie and ran into some friends there. Their daughter works at the theater and they were kind enough to give me a complimentary pass. Later I went to a sushi place and had tea and yummy food and wrote in my journal and perused the Sundance Film Festival catalog. A lovely afternoon before coming home and relaxing in a nice warm house.

I am feeling lots and lots of gratitude for many the blessings in my life.







Tuesday, January 3, 2012

Happy 2012!!

I had the privilege of ringing in the new year with my dear friends - The Goodwill family who I've known for more than 20 years, in downtown Salt Lake City. We got a beautiful room at the Grand America Hotel and had a lovely time. Our other friends Craig and Lance joined us and we had dinner at a sweet little place near Pioneer Park called Tin Angel. We all laughed and talked late into the night and munched on delicious. local organic food and wonderful wine.

We got back to the hotel in time to watch fireworks being shot off all over the Salt Lake Valley from our 21st floor view. I couldn't imagine a better place to be to celebrate this auspicious beginning.

In the morning we had yummy breakfast in our room while we talked about the year ahead for all of us.

We went over to Craig and Lance's beautiful home for a meal of home made soup and sandwiches while football games played on the tv as background entertainment while we chatted away.

I feel honored to have known these friends for such a long time and to have had so many crazy wonderful adventures with them so far.....trips to the wine country, countless parties that they have thrown, concerts, plays, movies, but mostly fabulous parties throughout the years. We have watched our children grow up together, and now Craig and Lance are raising their own beautiful twins who are 8 years old now. Our shared stories are what we have and they are good ones!

My heart is full of blessings and optimism as I move into a new time on earth. It feels to me like a time of reawakening. A time of taking it to the next level. A rebirth of sorts....evolution. There are things that must be done this year that have never been required before. An awakening is taking place for all of us here. Things are shifting and evolving at a molecular level and beyond. Are we ready? The train is leaving and it's best if we're on it.

Jai Jai 2012!

Devan and Grandma Pete

Kelly, Devan, Pete and Amber - New Years Day 2012

a sunshiny day at the park

Playing at the park with Nana

gorgeous day at the park

Julian is loving being outside

Making cookies with Nana