How I Found Inspiration

Nike of Samothrace, Louvre Museum, Jordis 2013

I was invited to take part in the 3.2.1 Me Challenge by Sue Vincent https://scvincent.com/2018/08/26/its-all-downhill-from-here/.

The rules, are simple:

1 Thank the person who nominated you.

2 Provide two quotes on the subject you are sent by that person.

3 Invite three other bloggers to take part (if they so wish) in the challenge. See invitations at the end of the post.

Thank you, Sue for your wonderful post on Time, and for inviting me to write about Inspiration.

How I Found Inspiration

I enjoy writing a great deal and have since I was a young girl. Actually, I started out reading poetry as soon as I learned the alphabet when I was around three years old. My mother had a copy of Rumi’s Poetry that I would practice reading out loud but did not yet understand the meaning of his words, however they did shape my heart at a young age.

I continued to grow with writing and reading by my side and always dreamed of writing my own book of poems, or a novel, but I never quite got around to making it happen. I had tons of excuses; life got in the way, not enough time in a day, not good enough, on and on…

Although, “We must never stop dreaming. Dreams provide nourishment for the soul, just as a meal does for the body.” Paulo Coelho, The Pilgrimage

I never did stop dreaming, just kept searching outside of myself for inspiration.

However, continued to follow my heart and finally met Steve Tanham, Sue Vincent and Stuart France in England at the very first weekend gathering of the companions at The Silent Eye – A Modern Mystery School. That weekend was the beginning of the end of stifling creativity.

For me “A Modern Mystery School” wasn’t a jump into the unknown but rather a welcome and exciting step into a new future of possibilities.

And indeed, there I was…. participating at the Silent Eye’s first weekend, set in England’s Peak District National Park at the Nightingale Center, “The Alchemical Marriage,” an eventful weekend that changed my always the same life of strife to freedom and full self expression.

I generally visit every year, and the companionship, camaraderie, creativity, and joy that we experience during those weekends in England truly inspire and carry me until the next visit.

As Rumi wrote so eloquently, “with love there is no reciting of scripture, no teacher-student anything, only silly pranks, games that mean nothing, and lots of laughing.”

We share to our heart’s content, we laugh deep roaring cheer, we cry and shed tear after tear, as we play with wonder and in awe of our transformations of the past year.

And yet with this companionship there is study, the first lesson of which is to remember to listen to your soul.

I practiced and listened and practiced listening and then practiced speaking for what seemed an eternity, when suddenly one day all at once, I met myself, with no garments, uncovered and whole. Almost immediately after this recent breakthrough, I started my own blog, desertrose.blog and published the first poem from the depths within, “The Dancer.”

True inspiration comes from letting go of the always listening and the comfort of the known. To let it fall away and allow the discovery of who you are at your core. The inside of you, the one that shines, and speaks from your heart.

Therefore, I share with you this quatrain from Rumi,

“Listen to the Lord of all birds, parrot free of any cage, child of a soul-secret, king of language, breaker of cages, Listen to yourself, and break out of your cage.”

I would like to invite Jan Malique https://strangegoingsonintheshed.wordpress.com/, Hélène Vaillant https://helenevaillant.com/, Willow https://willowdot21.wordpress.com/to write on the topic of Renewal.

© Jordan