There Is Only One Story

If you are, or ever have been an avid film buff or book worm, like I used to be you soon come to realise that there are only so many stories to be told, only so many songs to write, before you come back to the same idea.  I watched Eat, Pray, Love for the first time this weekend and was astounded at how much it mirrored my life. The journey to the golden city as I have called my story is the idea that we are all going home.  The journey to the heart space is where we all want to be but we feel like we have been banished from the garden of Eden. How to we get back in?

So many films tell this story, I don't want to bore you with an endless list but the obvious ones like: The Lord of the Rings, Harry Potter, Superman, Star Wars, they all tell the story of the meek, the small or the outsider finding their inner power by the initiation of the 'heroes journey' and returning home.
With so many stories about children leading the way, Harry Potter for instance always knows better then his teachers, or women trying to find their path I wonder if the male population doesn't feel slightly pushed aside. At the beginning of my journey to finding my way 'home' about 12 years ago I was told it would be the children leading the way. This is because as they have only been here on this Earth a short time they haven't been shut down by our limiting thoughts and cynical ways. The only way back to the garden is with an open heart and an open mind. Unfortunately we have been told for so long to believe in only what we can see and touch and not what we can feel we have lost all connection with our trust and faith in love and the vast energies and truth that we can discover with that connection. These are all feminine aspects and although we all carry both masculine and feminine energy within us I feel many men feel it is unmanly to connect to this world. The pain this causes in shutting ourselves down to these beautiful feelings has left many of us feeling bereft and in the wilderness. We blame ourselves and then do not feel worthy of returning home, like the prodigal lover.

I feel it is time to let go of all our fears, open ourselves up to all the possibilities life offers us and open the doors to our hearts. All these films are here to show us the way. I'm hoping that if our male energy cannot respond to the more touchy feely films on offer then maybe the disaster film is the way in. Humanity loves to believe in the doomsday idea of transformation, but I feel 2012 is a year of opportunity not an end. What the disaster movie does offer, however, is the chance to enter the idea of proving ones worth and solving the greatest problem we are facing, whether it is a meteor or global warming or simply overpopulation we have to make this world work for all of us. Unfortunately the answer isn't with technology or explosives, although technology will come into play after the shift has been made. First we have to learn to step back into our hearts, discover compassion for everyone and learn to live harmoniously within ourselves and so with our whole global community. We have to fall in love with ourselves and forgive ourselves before we can go home.

This is the message in all these films, whatever the scenario, or the setting or who ever the hero is, there is only one story and one journey. Let's hope we all make it home soon.

The Creative Spark

As a musician and writer the search for the creative spark is a lifelong quest. Understanding how we reach that place of illumination has always fascinated me especially after connecting with Chrissy Philp and her beautiful study of the brain as a map of the cosmos in her book ‘The Golden City’. My interest in balancing the worlds of science and spirituality are colliding with great force at the moment and Jill Bolte Taylor’s Ted talk about having a stroke in the left hemisphere of her brain and the gifts that brought her, together with the article in the Guardian recently which was an extract from Jonah Lehrer’s ‘Imagine: How Creativity Works’ (pub. Canongate Books) have greatly enriched my journey. In Lehrer’s piece he discusses the idea that before the insight, the left hemisphere has to have given up all hope of finding what it has been looking for. In that moment of dispair it stops ‘trying’ and quietens so that the right hemisphere can be kicked into action. I feel this will resonate with anyone who has had any moments of insight of creative inspiration.

The Changing Face of Europe

 

No one said this year was going to be easy and for me sometimes a slow deep breath is a good way to begin any process. Its so easy to launch into something head first and realise may be there was perhaps a better approach. With Greece struggling to put its best foot forward I do worry when the media uses so many images to mirror pre-war Germany with songs from ‘Cabaret’ for instance. I think we need to be very careful to learn from the past not just remember it and so recreate it.

Well spring is truly here, the blossom is nearly over but the wind and rain is making us think we’re still in March or have we skipped to November? Our weather has never been good at sticking by the book but this is surely raising some eyebrows once more. I think it’s important to remember that the sun’s activity is very powerful at the moment and this has been felt all over the world with earthquake and volcanic shifts. Whatever energy the sun is shifting this is always felt by the Earth and so we cannot help but feel it too. We need to acknowledge this and recognise that we may be affected in more ways that we might realise. This does not remove responsibility of our actions but helps us to understand ourselves and any unusual behaviour that might be shown. Remember to enjoy the ride.